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Iowa Dogfight: Trump's Ruinous Policies Shaking Up Ruby-Red State

Iowa Dogfight: Trump's Ruinous Policies Shaking Up Ruby-Red State

President Donald Trump’s policies have hurt farmers so badly, Republicans are getting nervous that they could flip the state in both its Senate and gubernatorial elections.

“Well, number one, this is Iowa and the tariffs are hitting them really hard. Before the tariffs, Donald Trump had a 52 percent approval rating in the state — still not super great for Iowa — but he is currently at 42 percent,” The Bulwark’s conservative founder and political expert Sarah Longwell wrote on Tuesday. “Farmers are losing money, even with the federal subsidies that are trying to offset the impact of the tariffs.”

She added that “soybean farmers are losing about $75 an acre. Trump's one big, beautiful bill kicked nearly 100,000 Iowans off their health insurance. And [Republican Gov. Kim] Reynolds is one of the most unpopular governors Iowa has seen in a while.” In addition to complaining that the school vouchers program requires students to go down to four days a week of schooling, many voters also believe that “the six-week abortion ban they enacted there in Iowa, which people think is too extreme. And then there's this issue of cancer water, which I had not heard about until I started focus grouping in Iowa — but essentially you've got a lot of chemicals going into the water, and a lot of people in Iowa say that they're experiencing incredibly high cancer rates.”

As a result of all these issues, “Cook Political Report currently rates this race as a toss-up. So that's interesting for Iowa — they've got a toss-up for governor. Democrats looking strong.” Reynolds is not running for reelection, but Democratic nominee State Auditor Rob Sand has focused on her unpopular record and is expected to tie his eventual Republican opponent to Reynolds’ governorship.

“Now let's move to the Senate,” Longwell wrote. “We also have an open Senate seat because [Sen.] Joni Ernst has decided not to run again. There's no Republican primary because Ashley Hinson, who is a sitting member of Congress — she's been there for three terms, she's a former state rep, and she was also a news anchor in the state — is the de facto Republican nominee. But the Democrats have kind of an interesting primary. There are two of them: Josh Turek, who I think is likely to win, and Zach Walls.”

She added, “Now, Josh Turek — if you don't know who he is or you haven't seen him — he's in a wheelchair. He has spina bifida, and his dad had exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. He's knocking on doors by pulling himself up step by step. He's also a four-time Paralympian and a two-time gold medalist.”

In April, The Economist/YouGov conducted a poll which found that farmers are overwhelmingly opposed to Trump’s tariffs and Iran war, as both policies have raised prices on farmers on important products like fertilizer and gasoline. Despite these concerns, farmers remain one of the most staunchly pro-Trump groups and refuse to abandon their support, instead hoping that he will provide them with economic relief.

“A recent Economist/YouGov poll suggests such troubles are now commonplace,” wrote The Economist on Monday, referring to farmers who struggle to make ends meet thanks to Trump’s policies. “27 percent of rural respondents said it would be ‘impossible’ to cover an unexpected $1,000 bill. It would be easy to blame Mr Trump for the downturn. After all, he campaigned on promises to bring down prices and revive the heartland. But rural America does not.”

The article continued, “The president’s favourability rating is higher among rural voters than among any other group in our survey. Most still think he is doing a good job. In interview after interview with The Economist, farmers said they trust the administration—but that they need help to recoup the losses its foreign policy is causing them.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Right-Wing Lawyers Are Already Squabbling Over January 6 'Slush Fund' Spoils

Right-Wing Lawyers Are Already Squabbling Over January 6 'Slush Fund' Spoils

President Donald Trump has reportedly received a $1.776 billion settlement from his own IRS over his allegation that the agency owed him money for a contractor who leaked his tax returns — and the money is now inciting a full-blown MAGA civil war.

Now, according to commentator Will Sommer, this settlement is causing a civil war within certain ranks of the MAGA movement.

“In April, lawyer Mark McCloskey bowed out of his quixotic quest to win reparations for January 6th rioters,” The Bulwark’s Sommer wrote on Monday.

Although McCloskey’s fellow lawyer Peter Ticktin remained on the case, McCloskey himself claimed last month that he was sick with a terminal lung disease and would not be able to continue assisting January 6th rioters. Yet once Trump announced the settlement, “something miraculous happened,” Sommer wrote. McCloskey suddenly announced his health had improved enough that he could resume the cases.

“The convenient timing of McCloskey’s return to health has not gone unnoticed in the fractious world of January 6th participants, with some reparations-hungry rioters mocking him for coming back right when the money looks set to start flowing,” Sommer wrote. “Meanwhile, according to a series of bitter emails from the two lawyers that I reviewed, Ticktin appears furious that his onetime partner has returned for a piece of the action.”

Sommer quoted Ticktin as writing to his clients over the weekend, “I never stopped representing you, money or no money. I would never quit.”

Sommer argued that this feud may foreshadow the future of this settlement.

“The bad blood between these two looks like a preview of what’s ahead for the right, as January 6th rioters, other Trump world figures who faced investigations, and their lawyers scramble to position themselves for a potential windfall,” Sommer wrote. “Trump today officially settled his lawsuit against the government he leads in exchange for that $1.776 billion ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund,’ which will purportedly be paid to the victims of ‘weaponization and lawfare.’”

As Ticktin told Sommer, “I didn’t realize finding out you can make money can cure cancer, but apparently you can.”

Sommer added in his article that “the January 6th rioters have been treated inordinately well, given that they attacked police officers, stampeded the U.S. Capitol, and interrupted congressional proceedings in an attempt to overthrow the results. They were pardoned on the first day of the second Trump administration, freeing many from their incarceration and saving many others from serving any prison time at all. Some J6ers were even refunded the restitution payments they were ordered to make.”

Making matters more confusing, according to Sommer, Trump’s Justice Department has done little to clarify matters as to who will get paid and how.

“Meanwhile, the DOJ has provided painfully little guidance as to how the new slush fund will be doled out,” Sommer wrote. “The department put out a barely-over-one-page memo Monday morning, in which it made clear that once the funds were deposited ‘the United States has no liability whatsoever for the protection or safeguarding of those funds, regardless of bank failure, fraudulent transfers, or any other fraud or misuse of the funds.’”

He added, sarcastically, “Seems failproof!”

According to Forbes reporter Allison Durkee, Trump’s so-called “Judgment Fund” is only allowed to pay people or entities that are direct parties to the lawsuit — which includes only the president, his sons and a family business. As such, Trump may have to pay taxes on the amount, and other individuals cannot access the money without going through Trump and his associates themselves.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


'Freedom 250' Prayer Wall Showcases Christian Nationalist Aggression -- And Despair

'Freedom 250' Prayer Wall Showcases Christian Nationalist Aggression -- And Despair

President Donald Trump and his administration are urging Americans to turn to Christianity to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, and part of that involves submitting public prayers to his so-called "Freedom 250 Prayer Wall," an online virtual monument. Yet according to a recent report, the wall's prayers reveal that American Christian nationalists do not feel there is much to celebrate… but they remain steadfastly loyal to Trump’s agenda.

“Many of the prayers are deeply personal,” wrote Religion News’ Karen E. Park. “For example: ‘I am believing God for a new vehicle, furniture and beds for our place. Thank you.’ –Texas, May 13. Or ‘Pray for daughter in law to get help for bipolar schizophrenia. . .My heart aches, I know God is in control.’ — California, May 12. Another person says they are going through a ‘bad divorce,’ but knows ‘God is my lawyer and he will make things right.’”

These prayers, which show Americans dealing with problems exacerbated by poverty — affordability issues involving health care, transportation, housing and legal services — are juxtaposed with faith in Trump’s Christian Nationalist agenda.

“But in Prayer Wall sections dedicated to ‘Country’ and ‘Military,’ the devotional language of Christian nationalism emerges clearly,” Park reported. “Here is one example from Missouri, May 11: ‘Lord Jesus, King Jesus dawn our nation from the festering pit we have fallen into the past decades. Destroy our enemies physical and spiritual. Allow us to be the city on the hill you desired us to be. Allow us to discipline ourselves and other nations for your glory alone. We love you and rededicate ourselves now in your holy mighty name Jesus, Amen.’”

On another occasion, someone prayed, “Lord Jesus please hear our cries for this nation and the world. You and only You can truly fight this battle we are in. This spitiritual [sic] battle against evil. I pray for our leaders to seek You in all they do, trust You and Your plans for this nation. That You would protect them and their families as they believe and trust in You. I pray Psalm 91 over this nation, especially verse 11: ‘For He will give His angels orders concerning you, to protect you in all your ways.'”

As Park observed, the hundreds and hundreds of prayers show an America caught between the pain of deteriorating quality of life in Trump’s America and their ongoing loyalty to the president and his agenda.

“The fusion of the theological and the political has long been part of American religious life. Historians have noted the persistence of providential language in American politics from the Puritans onward — the belief that the U.S. possesses a unique divine mission and stands in a covenantal relationship with God,” Park wrote. “But the prayers collected on the Freedom 250 site reveal how intensely devotional that language remains for many Americans. The nation is imagined as more than a political entity, but as a spiritual project whose fortunes rise and fall according to both divine favor and satanic power.”

He added, “The language of spiritual warfare appears repeatedly on the prayer wall, across all categories. Participants pray against ‘darkness,’ ‘evil forces’ and enemies ‘physical and spiritual,’ as well as attacks on Christianity itself. In many cases, the boundaries between political opponents, cultural change, demonic influence and national decline are impossible to separate.”

A recent Pew Research Center survey discovered that the overwhelming majority of Americans do not identify as Christian nationalists. While only 10 percent identify as Christian nationalists, 31 percent who Christian nationalism and 59 percent have no opinion on it. Similarly only 13 percent want the separation between church and state weakened while 54 percent support it and 32 percent have no opinion. Overall, it does not appear Trump’s push for more Christianity in government has been effective.

“It hasn’t resulted in major shifts in the landscape,” Public Religion Research Institute’s president and founder Robert P. Jones explained. “In other words, they’re not pulling people into that worldview. They’re basically just appealing to a small subset of Americans who already hold those views and who just happen to be their political base.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Election Deniers Are Running For Governor Across America —And Will Try To Steal 2028

Election Deniers Are Running For Governor Across America —And Will Try To Steal 2028

President Donald Trump continues to falsely claim that he won the 2020 presidential election — and now that fabrication is fueling the agendas for a new generation of potential Republican governors.

Michigan Republican strategist Jason Cabel Roe argued that the emphasis on supporting Trump’s election denial is “silly because they know better,” wrote The Washington Post's Dan Merica, Patrick Marley and Clara Ence Morse. The former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party then added “but, you know, it’s still what the base wants to hear.” Despite this obsession, however, Roe added that voters are far more concerned about the economy and the price of gas.

“There’s enough muddying of what everybody’s feelings are about election integrity at this point — and maybe even a little exhaustion with relitigating an election that was six years ago — that I just don’t know that it really matters to voters,” Roe explained. His position was supported by a March NBC News poll which determined voters are mostly concerned with inflation and the cost of living, followed by threats to democracy.

The Republicans running for governor in their respective states on election denier platforms include Minnesota's Mike Lindell, who founded MyPillow; Arizona's Rep. Andy Biggs; Georgia's Lt. Gov. Burt Jones; Pennsylvania’s Republican treasurer's Stacy Garrity; Wisconsin's Rep. Tom Tiffany; Michigan's state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt and Rep. John James; and California's Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.

In addition to demonstrating their fealty to Trump, election denying also means these candidates could try throwing out valid vote counting efforts in the 2028 presidential election if urged by the White House.

“This is an important issue,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, chair of the Democratic Governors Association, a group preparing to make Republicans’ history of election denialism a key issue in 2026, said at a speech. “But it’s not the only issue, and it shouldn’t necessarily be the lead thing. Almost everyone in this economy is struggling because of [Trump] and these folks that are running, these election deniers, were willing to do anything for this president. So, their past attempts to steal an election were to steal it for a guy that’s made life tougher. They’re certainly not going to stand up to him to try to make life easier.”

As conservative columnist George F. Will wrote in February, Trump has thoroughly litigated his claims of election fraud, and they have all been found wanting.

“Someone should read to him ‘Lost, Not Stolen,’ a 2022 report by eight conservatives (two former Republican senators, three former federal appellate judges, a former Republican solicitor general, and two Republican election law specialists),” Will explained in The Washington Post. “They examined all 187 counts in the 64 court challenges filed in multiple states by Trump and his supporters. Twenty cases were dismissed before hearings on their merits, 14 were voluntarily dismissed by Trump and his supporters before hearings. Of the 30 that reached hearings on the merits, Trump’s side prevailed in only one, Pennsylvania, involving far too few votes to change the state’s result.”

Will added, “Trump’s batting average? .016. In Arizona, the most exhaustively scrutinized state, a private firm selected by Trump’s advocates confirmed Trump’s loss, finding 99 additional Biden votes and 261 fewer Trump votes.” Therefore he wrote of Trump, “The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”


Fending Off Drunk Image, FBI Director Patel Withdraws Into  'Panic Mode'

Fending Off Drunk Image, FBI Director Patel Withdraws Into  'Panic Mode'

President Donald Trump’s FBI director, Kash Patel, is reportedly in “panic mode” as he scrambles to save his job amidst reports of excessive drinking.

“FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the polygraphing of more than two dozen former and current members of his security detail, as well as other staff, and has been described as being in panic mode to save his job and find leakers among his team, according to two people briefed on the development,” MS NOW’s Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian reported on Thursday. They added that Patel reportedly “walled himself off” from senior leaders at the FBI because of the multiple media reports about his drinking impairing his leadership.

“The director has also avoided meeting this week with some key operational leaders of the bureau, the people said, raising concerns inside the FBI about Patel’s ability to stay abreast of pressing threats and investigations in order to make the best decisions,” Leonnig and Dilanian addeIn addition to being angered at reports of him drinking (which prompted Patel to sue The Atlantic for covering them), Patel is also upset for reportedly ordering SWAT agents to protect his girlfriend, country music performer Alexis Wilkins, in Nashville, as well as for using a government jet to travel for a so-called “date night.”

“MS NOW reported in February that Patel decided to fly to Milan, Italy, on the government jet to watch the U.S. men’s ice hockey team in the final games of the Olympics,” Leonnig and Dilanian wrote. “At the time, a spokesperson for Patel said in an on-the-record statement that the Italy trip was for business, and Patel was attending several security and partner meetings. Videos emerged shortly after Team USA won the gold medal of Patel in the men’s ice hockey team’s locker room, joining a victory celebration by chugging beer, spraying alcohol in the air and jumping up and down and cheering.”

They added, “The images infuriated the president, according to sources who spoke to MS NOW at the time, and he told Patel he didn’t like the optics of a director drinking while claiming to be on a government business trip.”

Speaking to MS NOW on Thursday, former FBI Assistant Special Agent Michael Feinberg told anchor Katy Tur that Patel’s alleged poor behavior has demoralized the bureau he was appointed to lead.

"Most FBI agents feel — I do not know a single agent who, like me, left, nor do I have any friends whatsoever still in the Bureau, who have a single positive thing to say about his stewardship," Feinberg told Tur on Thursday. "Nobody agrees with every director's every decision. I was there for [Robert] Mueller, for [James] Comey, for [Christopher] Wray, and for a brief time for Patel. And the difference is, with the first three, you might have disagreed with their decision or their policies, but you had respect for their intellectual credentials. You had respect for their professional achievements. You had respect for their temperament and their character, their integrity. Patel brings no intellectual credentials to the job. He has no relevant experience whatsoever that would have enabled him to do this well. And as near as we can tell, he has no integrity. So it's unclear what anybody would look up to."

Feinberg continued that "I have never seen morale in any organization as low as it is in the FBI right now," from Patel characterizing the FBI as a "diseased temple" to dismissing criticism of him as being motivated by the agency supposedly having a liberal bias.

"I'd humbly suggest that allegation alone has no basis whatsoever," Feinberg explained to Tur. "In reality, people who work in law enforcement and national security are not exactly known for being leftists. These aren't people singing the Internationale and celebrating May Day. I think it's pretty fair to call most of them, at least on the law-and-order side, right-leaning."

Despite these reports, FBI spokesman Ben Williamson argued that the reports about Patel’s performance are political. “The only people in panic are the ‘panicans’ in the media pushing out false stories because they spend zero time covering the record-breaking success in reduction in crime at this FBI," Williamson told MS NOW.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Stuck In 2020: Trump Prosecutor Targeting Georgia Election Workers

Stuck In 2020: Trump Prosecutor Targeting Georgia Election Workers

A prosecutor appointed by President Donald Trump has Georgia election workers in his sights.

“Fulton County, Georgia, is trying to fend off a subpoena from a federal prosecutor in North Carolina seeking contact information for thousands of poll workers from the 2020 election,” The Guardian’s George Chidi reported on Tuesday. “The subpoena, issued in April by Dan Bishop, the interim US attorney of North Carolina’s middle district, demands the county provide rosters of election staff members who served in the November 2020 election, including their identification by name, position, residential and email address and personal telephone number.”

Fulton County attorneys are responding by trying to quash the federal grand jury subpoena by saying it is a politically motivated act of harassment, adding that even if election fraud had occurred in 2020 it would now be past the statute of limitations.“Election workers are the referees of our democracy, and they’re going after the referees,” Michael McNulty, policy director for the voting rights organization Issue One, said in a statement. “This is about intimidation of election officials for 2026, and taking executive branch control of elections in 2026. Election workers are supposed to be getting gratitude and protection from the federal government, not being targeted by it. This is a sign of authoritarianism, not a democratically oriented government.”

In January, the FBI raided Fulton County’s clerk of courts and board of registration to seize about 700 boxes of original 2020 election materials, claiming they were part of a criminal investigation. Kurt Olsen, Trump’s “Stop the Steal” lawyer from the 2020 election, initiated the raid. As conservative columnist George F. Will recently explained, Trumpers continue to push the lie that the 2020 election was stolen despite all of their claims being disproved.

“Someone should read to him‘Lost, Not Stolen, a 2022 report by eight conservatives (two former Republican senators, three former federal appellate judges, a former Republican solicitor general, and two Republican election law specialists),” Will wrote. “They examined all 187 counts in the 64 court challenges filed in multiple states by Trump and his supporters. Twenty cases were dismissed before hearings on their merits, 14 were voluntarily dismissed by Trump and his supporters before hearings. Of the 30 that reached hearings on the merits, Trump’s side prevailed in only one, Pennsylvania, involving far too few votes to change the state’s result.”

Will added, “Trump’s batting average? .016. In Arizona, the most exhaustively scrutinized state, a private firm selected by Trump’s advocates confirmed Trump’s loss, finding 99 additional Biden votes and 261 fewer Trump votes.” Therefore he wrote of Trump, “The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”

In addition to relitigating the 2020 presidential election, some observers believe Trump is laying the foundations to overturn the 2026 midterm elections if Republicans lose seats as anticipated.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Pollster: Even Trump Supporters Dismiss Assassination Attempt As 'Staged'

Pollster: Even Trump Supporters Dismiss Assassination Attempt As 'Staged'

President Donald Trump was the target of an assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents Dinner in April — but many of his own supporters seem unwilling to believe the official story.

“It turns out that Trump supporters, already swimming in a sea of other conspiracy theories, don’t necessarily trust the WHCD shooting story presented by the feds, either,” wrote The Bulwark's Will Sommer on Monday, juxtaposing widespread liberal skepticism about the shooting attempt with the comparatively more surprising right-wing response. “That’s one of the big findings of a recent focus group conducted by Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell’s Longwell Partners of nine people who voted for Trump at least twice (in 2020 and 2024). Those nine people were picked for the focus group because they all now say they disapprove of his presidency.”

Sommer added,” As for the WHCD attack, six participants said they believed the assassination attempt attributed to California teacher Cole Tomas Allen was ‘a psyop.’”

Sommer proceeded to quote some of the ex-Trumpers who expressed doubt about the assassination attempt story. One focus group member observed that “it doesn’t make sense that somebody should be able to get that close this many times in that way to the President of the United States,” while another pointed out that “I can’t even go to a baseball game and bring in a can of Diet Coke . . . or a concert without a metal detector or them emptying my pockets.”

A third, noting how Trump and his supporters immediately began calling for a White House ballroom (one of Trump’s longtime and controversial projects) very shortly after the assassination attempt occurred.

“I feel like it was a ploy to get his ballroom that he wants, and that’s his reason,” the commenter explained. Still another participant expressed doubt about the assassination attempt during the 2024 election in Butler, Penn., comparing it to Nazi propaganda and speculating that there was “a paintball or something in his hand that he squished on his ear because I think he wanted to gain some support.”

Longwell, speaking with former Republican speechwriter David Frum, argued last week that people are overall distrustful of Trump and American leaders in general.

“It just doesn't make sense to me that we have our leader — who is supported/protected by what is supposed to be the … the most dominant military force on the planet,” one Trump voter told Longwell. It doesn't make sense to me that there have been this many close attempts on his life when we have all these other presidents recently who haven't really had that issue.”

Last month The Telegraph’s Ed Cumming also reported widespread doubt among Trump’s own supporters that the assassination attempt even happened.

“In recent months, former Trump supporters, such as Tucker Carlson, have suggested the FBI was involved in the Butler attack. Joe Kent, the former US National Counterterrorism Center director who resigned over the Iran war, used an interview with Carlson to raise his own doubts, including claiming – without evidence – that investigations into the Butler shooting were shut down prematurely,” Cumming reported. “Some prominent right-wing accounts have suggested that Saturday’s incident may have been staged, too, possibly in order to facilitate Trump’s ballroom.”

He continued, “Despite the rapid destruction of the old building, the new facility has run into trouble recently. In March, Judge Richard Leon temporarily halted construction, upholding a complaint by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) that Trump’s planned improvements required congressional approval. Work has resumed after an appeal, but is only allowed to continue until another hearing — due to take place on June 5 — is held.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


The Progessive Bros Who Hit Back At Trump -- And Win Points With Young White Men

The Progessive Bros Who Hit Back At Trump -- And Win Points With Young White Men

President Donald Trump is widely believed to have the unwavering support of a majority of white men — yet some so-called liberal “bros” are fighting to change that.

In a profile of liberal influencers Harry Sisson and Jared Shult, USA Today’s Jay Stahl recently observed that the New Yorker and Texan (respectively) aim to build the Democratic Party’s support among Generation Z — and especially with other young white men like themselves.

“Two of the left's best-known young straight white men, they punch back at MAGA movement members with Trump's stinging style,” Stahl wrote. “These influencers stoke online backlash and invite criticism from the right while charming casual fans and Democratic loyalists.”Quoting Jess Rauchberg, a Seton Hall professor who studied digital culture, Stahl observed that “‘the larger attitudes’ about young white men such as Shult and Sisson shifted as Trump's second term enters its second year. Now, the Democratic Party relies on figures like [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear to help get messages across and relate to white men.”

Much like Trump himself, the two men openly insult and mock their opponents as a means of building their political movement.

“Sisson uses his own identity to confront what he views as Trump's failure to deliver on campaign promises,” Stahl wrote. “He antagonizes Trump acolytes, offering snarky comments on headlines rather than reading the news.”

Stahl added that “Shult and Sisson follow each other, posting gym photos flexing their physique, co-opting Republicans' ownership of masculinity. They also regularly jab Trump over his past ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Conservative online commenters respond by calling them gay.”

By contrast, Shult and Sisson argue that the negative feedback demonstrates that they are engaging their audience. They also argue that they have an agenda beyond simply helping Democrats win elections.

“Shult said he wants to curb the loneliness crisis among young men and address their growing disillusionment by displaying masculine empathy,” Stahl explained, quoting him as saying “‘I'm trying to find ways to just promote the idea that, 'Hey, you can be a guy, and you can also like lifting, you can go hunting, you can do normal (expletive), you can be a very masculine man,' but then also talk to your close friends about things you're dealing with, or go to therapy, or whatever it is.’”

Shult buttresses this message with a non-traditional image for a Democrat.

“A Texas A&M alum, Shult is a self-described lover of the gym, the outdoors and ‘side quests’ (one-off adventures) as seen in his Instagram bio,” Stahl explained. “His flow haircut mimics the style of some members of the U.S. men's hockey team, whom Shult said looked ‘bored’ when they attended Trump's February 26 State of the Union address.”

He added, “He grew up with happily married parents in affluent Frisco, Texas, and started posting content as a high school sophomore. He later joined a Christian youth group that influenced his online content. Shult says he underwent a public deprogramming with his Christian faith during his freshman year of college. He instead found faith in progressive politics.”

Sisson, by contrast, had been a “liberal superstar” since his teenage and college years and described himself to Stahl as “a basic dude who wants the life ‘I envisioned when I was young.’”

He added, “‘I want a robust debate again,’ he said. ‘I want to have a space in politics where we can make a change.’”

Stahl is not the only journalist to identify variables that may prompt young white men to turn on Trump. Fortune business editor Nick Lichtenberg wrote last month that “the White House promised a manufacturing renaissance. Instead, the factory floor keeps shrinking." He added that the blue-collar job market, which some men associate with “traditionally masculine” forms of work and which Trump promised to stimulate if reelected, has taken a major hit during his second term.

“The blue-collar job market has been slowing for more than a year, with jobs in manufacturing and construction racking up roughly 150,000 net losses on an annual basis as of March,” Lichtenberg said. “During Trump's first year back in the White House, the manufacturing sector alone shed 108,000 jobs—even as the administration touted a coming 'manufacturing boom.'"

Lichtenberg concluded, "The irony is sharp. The same working-class men the MAGA economy promised to rescue are sitting out a hiring boom in the fastest-growing sectors of the U.S. economy because those jobs are considered women's work. Meanwhile, the factories they're waiting to return to keep shedding workers."

Supporting Trump also hurts men in their personal lives. A recent survey analyzing more than 1600 people of all political persuasions demonstrated that believing in conspiracy theories associated with Trump (such as denying the 2020 election’s outcome or opposing vaccines) causes men to be viewed as less kind, less intelligent, and less honest than people who embraced left-wing conspiracy theories, politically neutral conspiracy theories, or no conspiracy theories at all.

“Disclosing conspiracy beliefs in online dating profiles undermines impressions of warmth, intelligence, and trustworthiness, which are important for online dating success,” the authors of the study for the peer-reviewed journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin wrote in their conclusion. “Right-wing conspiracy beliefs were particularly stigmatized, with liberals being harsher in their judgments and conservatives showing greater leniency. In some cases, conservatives even preferred profiles sharing right-wing conspiracy beliefs, highlighting the role of political attitudes in shaping these perceptions. The plausibility of the conspiracy theory also shapes judgments, with implausible theories eliciting stronger negative reactions.”

They added, “Overall, our findings emphasize the stigmatizing nature of conspiracy theories in the online dating context. Future research could examine the role of visual cues and other factors that might influence people’s perceptions of conspiracy theories in online dating.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Trump Hosting Another 'Orgy Of Corruption' In Palm Beach To Push $Trump Memecoin

Trump Hosting Another 'Orgy Of Corruption' In Palm Beach To Push $Trump Memecoin

President Donald Trump claimed he would “drain the swamp” upon being elected, but a new report on a lavish party to be held at his Mar-a-Lago estate contradicts the promises of reform embedded in that claim: The top 297 investors in his meme coin $Trump will attend an April 25th “conference” at the swanky mansion.

“According to the invitation, the top 29 holders of $TRUMP will have a ‘VIP Reception with YOUR FAVORITE PRESIDENT, and other Superstar guests!’” reported The Daily Beast's Mary Papenfuss on Sunday. “Join the ‘most exclusive crypto and business finance conference in the world,’ the announcement gushes.”

Papenfuss added, “The last time the president mixed his crypto business with politics was at another highly controversial crypto fête a year ago at his Virginia golf club, where the top 220 $TRUMP investors gathered. Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren bashed the event as an ‘orgy of corruption.’ Guests spent an average of $1.37 million (in real dollars) purchasing $TRUMP, the Daily Beast reported at the time.”

Notably the earlier dinner, which netted an average investment of $1.37 million per guest, had among its guests the crypto billionaire Justin Sun who has been accused of SEC market manipulation — allegations that were quietly dropped by the Trump administration shortly before he attended. Furthering accusations that Trump is providing favors to those who pay him or his administration, he launched one billion $TRUMP coins three days before his inauguration, collecting a transaction fee on every trade as well as on the coins he directly sells.

“It is essential that Congress fully understand the extent to which President Trump and his family are profiting off of his cryptocurrency ventures," Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Adam Schiff of California.

Indeed, Trump’s generosity to the crypto community has even been at the expense of other crime victims. Earlier this month, The Trace released a report which revealed that the Crime Victims Fund, which was created by the 1984 Crime Victims Act to fund "state and local programs including domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers and child abuse treatment programs,” has been effectively defunded by Trump. This is because the program is funded primarily by “criminal fines and penalties from convictions in federal cases, typically white-collar prosecutions." Yet his pardons have removed $113 million that would have gone to the fund, with most of the lost money occurring due to a single crypto pardon.

"Most of that figure is from a single case," The Trace report explained. "Last year, Trump pardoned HDR Global Trading Limited, the owner and operator of the crypto exchange BitMEX, which had been ordered to pay $100m in fines for flouting anti-money laundering laws. Trump issued the pardon, the first for a corporation, just hours before the payment was due. Because the pardon calls for the 'remission of any and all fines, penalties, forfeitures, and restitution ordered by the Court,' that $100m will never make it to the Crime Victims Fund."

Steve Derene, a co-founder of the National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators who helped craft the original 1984 bill, told The Trace that “what really drives the fund are these very large, very few cases, which are all corporate cases. Just a couple settlements can really mean the difference in keeping this fund afloat.”


The Startling Facts That Melania Left Out Of Her Jeffrey Epstein Speech

The Startling Facts That Melania Left Out Of Her Jeffrey Epstein Speech

President Donald Trump’s wife, First Lady Melania Trump, delivered an unexpected White House statement on Thursday denying her controversial links with the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein — yet a recent report suggests there is more to the story.

“Epstein even claimed that the first time Trump slept with his now wife was on his plane, dubbed the Lolita Express,” The Daily Beast reported. “In her statement, Melania said she had never been on his plane.”

The report added, “The pedophile spoke extensively with author Michael Wolff in August 2017 for his bestseller Fire and Fury, two years before he was found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019. Authorities say he died by suicide.”

Speaking at her unexpected press conference, the First Lady denied any links to Epstein. She also claimed that her name was not mentioned in any of the documents in the Epstein Files. Some of her claims were demonstrably false. For example, in 2002 Melania Trump sent an email to Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell in which she initiated by saying “HI!” and signed it “Love, Melania.” Maxwell meanwhile referred to then-Melania Knauss as “sweet pea.” Additionally, a 2016 email to Epstein from a redacted sender mentioned that Melania first met her future husband through Epstein.

“I remember flying back with Donald on his plane the first weekend I went to visit you in Florida was the weekend he met Melania and he kept on coming out of the bedroom saying’ wow what a hot piece of a--,’” the unknown sender wrote in the email.

"Be cautious about what you believe," Melania Trump said during her Thursday press conference. "These images and stories are completely false. I am not a witness or a named witness in connection with any of Epstein's crimes. My name has never appeared in court documents, [unintelligible] victim's statements, or FBI interviews surrounding the Epstein matter."

Wolff is currently in the middle of a lawsuit with Melania Trump, confirming on his Substack on Thursday that at least some of the details about which he is being sued are unrelated to Epstein. Wolff said that Melania Trump does not live anywhere near the White House, with her relationship to Trump himself being “remote at best.” Although the Trumps want to move the lawsuit from New York where Wolff lives to Florida, where they allegedly live, Wolff argued that Trump actually lives in New York, especially while her son attended New York University.

"Basically, she has never left New York. She is trying to live the life of a superstar in New York," Wolff alleged.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Critics Roar As Trump Delivers 'TACO Tuesday' With Iran Ceasefire

Critics Roar As Trump Delivers 'TACO Tuesday' With Iran Ceasefire

President Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iranian civilization unless it capitulated to American demands on Tuesday morning, then walked back his pledge on Tuesday evening — continuing his “Trump Always Chickens Out” (TACO) pattern, which many on social media quickly pointed out.

"After promising to destroy Iran, Trump agrees to a ‘TACO Tuesday’ two-week ceasefire,” wrote AF Post shortly after Trump’s Iran announcement. Similarly an account called “Republicans Against Trump” pointed out the president’s convenient flip-flop.

"BREAKING: Donald Trump agrees to suspend U.S. bombing of Iran for two weeks, ‘This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE!’” the account posted. “TACO.”

Similarly Kyle Kulinski, a talk show host, immediately drew attention to Trump’s vacillating on his vow to commit genocide against Iran.

“Trump TACO hits,” Kulinski posted on X. “Any minute now Iran will say they didn’t agree to anything at all. Genocidal threats and war profiteering market manipulation. Get this man THE F--- OUT OF THE OVAL OFFICE & INTO PRISON.”

Another X user, who goes by Ross Hendricks, described how he believes Trump’s TACO tactics in Iran will negatively impact gas prices.

“For those who care… I’m officially out of the long #oil trade,” Hendricks wrote. “Had a good run, bought many dips on endless TACO headlines, but this one feels different. Stakes are simply too high for Trump not to TACO here. As always, I could be wrong and maybe we’re headed for $200. But the easy money has been made IMO and Im happy to simply watch from the sidelines”

Journalist Tara Palmeri, noting how Trump used Pakistan’s diplomatic overtures as a pretense for backing off on his threat, used that fact to make a culinary pun off of Trump’s reversal.

“So Trump is ordering Pakistan to make him a TACO, but definitely do it, please,” Palmeri wrote. Perhaps thinking of the same fears that motivated Trump to back down, X user Oliver Alexander posted about how the president may have still inspired violence despite his reversal.

“Iran waiting until the second Trump posts his TACO ceasefire on Truth Social to launch a ballistic missile volleyball at Israel is peak 2026,” Oliver wrote.

Earlier this month ABC's Kathryn Diss pointed out that Trump’s TACO strategy, though seemingly able to extract concessions from Iran, could have blowback in the long term.

"As someone who tends to shoot from the hip, it is conceivable to imagine that Mr. Trump didn't fully comprehend the global impact his threat would have," Diss said. "Or perhaps he even thought that Iran would back down."

Diss added: "The Hormuz crisis, which has crippled global energy markets, has become a key issue preventing Mr. Trump from ending the war. With global energy markets reeling, it's likely the president's advisors informed him that carrying through on the ultimatum could send markets spiralling further, causing global chaos. And this is something Donald Trump doesn't want."

Former Republican consultant Rick Wilson shared a similar observation earlier in April.

"Have we reached the point where the TACO trick only works if he actually TACOs, you know?” Wilson explained. “And he hasn't. He's still going all in on this war."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

'Not Good': Trump's Courtroom Bullying Could Backfire In Humiliating Loss

'Not Good': Trump's Courtroom Bullying Could Backfire In Humiliating Loss

President Donald Trump may have attended Wednesday’s Supreme Court session in person to intimidate the judges, but if so his effort likely backfired, according to one expert.

“President Donald Trump bulldozed yet another longstanding norm of American government on Wednesday by becoming the first modern president to attend an oral argument of the Supreme Court,” CNN’s Aaron Blake wrote on Wednesday. Characterizing this as an effort to “browbeat” the judges, Blake elaborated that “Trump has made no secret that he wants these justices to feel the pressure. He savaged Kavanaugh in 2021 for occasionally ruling against him despite Trump having stood by his nominee during an arduous confirmation process in 2018. Trump has also frequently attacked Justice Amy Coney Barrett as she has emerged as a tough vote for him. And after the tariffs decision in February, Trump said both Barrett and Justice Neil Gorsuch were an ‘embarrassment to their families.’”

Yet Blake noted that despite Trump’s obvious desire to change the Supreme Court’s tune on cases pertaining to his administration, “he chose to do this at a particularly inauspicious time. Over the last few weeks, a series of rulings have gone against him on some high-profile issues” including those involving his efforts to kill the Voice of America, exclude mainstream media for Defense Department briefings and sanction Anthropic for not allowing the Pentagon to do whatever it wants with their technology.

“On Tuesday alone, judges both overturned Trump’s order ending NPR and PBS funding and halted Trump’s efforts to build a new ballroom on the White House grounds — which might be one of Trump’s most prized initiatives right now,” Blake added. “None of these cases are over. But they add to an increasingly ugly picture of how Trump’s policies have fared in court. (Because the courts take a while to act, that picture has come into focus slowly.)”

For these reasons, Blake anticipated Trump’s effort to strong arm the Supreme Court with his presence could backfire.

“It could make the justices — and other judges — feel more like they have to stand up for their branch of government, lest it look like Trump is controlling them to some extent,” Blake said.

Independent of Trump’s arrival, there are reasons to believe the Supreme Court will rule against Trump. He is challenging birthright citizenship, which was enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution in 1868 and guarantees citizenship to every human being born in the United States. Because a constitutional amendment can only be changed by ratifying a new amendment, and not through executive orders as Trump has tried, the case against his effort seems cut-and-dried.

Per Supreme Court reporter Jimmy Hoover from Law.com, "After a friendly question from Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts right out of the gate expresses skepticism of the Trump administration's central argument: that children of undocumented immigrants are not 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States. He calls the [solicitor general’s] argument 'very quirky.'"

Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett also seemed ready to reject Trump’s argument, and even Brett Kavanaugh pushed back several times. Because the three Democratic judges are also expected to vote against Trump, this means the president could lose by a margin as high as 6-3 or 7-2.

"It was clear over the past few hours that the justices, the majority of them, are deeply skeptical about his executive order limiting birthright citizenship,” CNN reporter Paula Reid said on Wednesday about the Supreme Court hearing. “Even the three conservative justices he appointed do not appear to be willing to side with his administration's interpretation of the 14th Amendment.”

Legal analyst Elliot Williams, a former federal prosecutor, told CNN that things could tilt against Trump in a way shocking even to contemporary observers.

"You could see an 8 to 1 decision here,” Williams said. “It's not out of the question. Certainly, there are five votes that were quite skeptical of the president and probably more. This was just not good."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


'Not The Owner!': Bush Judge Emphatically Rejects Trump's Gaudy Ballroom

'Not The Owner!': Bush Judge Emphatically Rejects Trump's Gaudy Ballroom

President Donald Trump must stop demolishing the White House’s East Wing in his effort to build a ballroom, ordered a judge appointed by one of Trump’s fellow Republican presidents.

“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” Judge Richard Leon, who had been appointed by President George W. Bush, said in his decision. Denying Trump’s assertion to preexisting authority to destroy parts of the White House and pay for the new construction with private funds, Leon agreed with the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States that likely “no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have. As such, I must therefore GRANT the National Trust's Motion for a Preliminary Injunction, and the ballroom construction project must stop until Congress authorizes its completion.”

Leon later reiterated, “unless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorization, construction has to stop!"

Journalist and lawyer Julie DeCaro commented that Leon’s decision, though legally correct, came far too late to prevent the destruction of the historic building wing.

"It would have been great to get this opinion before he demolished the East Wing, but no one moved fast enough,” DeCaro posted on Bluesky. “It's a metaphor for his entire administration."

DeCaro is not alone in feeling dismayed that Trump was able to destroy the East Wing without meaningful resistance. After Trump first announced his destruction of the East Wing, the White House received over 9,000 pages of public comments and almost none of them were supportive. Observations included "complete DISASTER,” an “eyesore,” an “abomination,” "NO GAUDY FAKE GOLD STUFF ALL OVER THE PLACE,” “no one wants to be in an adjunct building in a large crowd with lengthened security protocols” and “appalling.” D.C. preservationist, Alison Hoagland, said that “constructing a ballroom is possible, but it should be deferential to the White House, not overwhelming,” while Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) spoke out in protest.

"The stark images of the East Wing demolished in mere days were deeply disturbing to Americans who cherish preservation of our nation's history," Turner said. Similarly former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) referred to Trump as a “jackass” for destroying the East Wing.

"This jack—— in the f—— White House is destroying a permanent structure that can't come back," Walsh said. "He can't do this on his own! There's a rigorous, rigorous process to mess with the restructuring, structural changes of the White House, and he just blows right through all of that!"

In addition to destroying the East Wing, Trump announced earlier in March that he will destroy Tennessee Flagstone pavers on the West Wing Colonnade installed by President Thomas Jefferson to replace them with a black granite installation, which he also says he will pay for himself. The Jeffersonian originals will be sent to a nursery for safekeeping. On this occasion, ripping out Jefferson’s physical legacy symbolizes Trump’s opposition to his political legacy.

“[Jefferson’s] 'empire of liberty' offered the potential to dismantle the artificial hierarchies inherited from the past and imbue all aspects of life with the promise of freedom and happiness," Dean Caivano, an assistant professor of political theory at Lehigh University and author of A Politics of All: Thomas Jefferson and Radical Democracy, told this author for Salon Magazine in 2024. "Although this idealized image of a free and harmonious American society is undeniably marred by the institution and legacy of slavery, overlooking the role of education and science as prerequisites for freedom and equality diminishes our ability to assess the historical and contemporary limits of American democracy critically."

Caivano contrasted this with Trump’s attitude toward science, which "relies on reactionary, draconian, and dogmatic thinking. By launching a direct assault on the scientific community, Project 2025 undermines the foundation of an enlightened citizenry that Jefferson held in high regard. The project advocates for dramatic cuts to research and development, promotes climate denialism, and seeks to hyper-politicize public health and STEM fields."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Mike Cernovich, Original MAGA Influencer And Pizzagate Promoter, Turns On Trump

Mike Cernovich, Original MAGA Influencer And Pizzagate Promoter, Turns On Trump

President Donald Trump is losing many once-staunch members of his right-wing base because they view him as “a lame duck and a loser,” according to a conservative commentator.

“Mike Cernovich is not just one of the original MAGA influencers, he’s arguably a paradigm case—the ever-active operative/influencer who just won’t stop coming up with crazy new ideas,” wrote The Bulwark’s Will Sommer on Monday.

Describing Cernovich’s evolution from a manosphere influencer in the early 2010s to a pro-Trump conspiracy theorist in 2016, Sommer pointed out that Cernovich in November described Trump’s D.C. “as a city consumed by corruption, with Trump appointees filling their pockets with impunity.” He added that Cernovich himself commented, “During recent visit in DC, the talk of everyone was how overt the corruption was. It’s at levels you read about in history books. In nearly every department. Lots of, ‘Do people just think Democrats will never win and they’ll all get away with this?’” On March 25 he tweeted about big trades that seem to coincide with major Trump administration news, “It was a scandal when Hunter Biden did less than this. New MAGA does not care.”

Sommer noted that Cernovich is not only upset with corruption.

"Whatever effects the ayahuasca may have had on his mind, Cernovich’s case is interesting to me because it signifies a generational fissure breaking out within MAGA,” Sommer observed. “A massive, multi-front fight over Israel, antisemitism, and the assassination conspiracy theories surrounding Charlie Kirk has been driving much of the discontent on the right. But there is also a class of original Trumpers like Cernovich who appear to be pivoting away from the president. They are convinced that he has fallen short on his promises and have been around D.C. enough to see how unethical and corrupt the administration is acting. They also increasingly look at Trump, embattled by the Jeffrey Epstein case and the Iran war, as a lame duck and a loser.”

Cernovich is not alone among Trumpers who are turning on Trump. Earlier in March, right-wing podcaster Joe Rogan said “America is great. Make America greater? I’m down. But Make America Great Again, and then it becomes a movement of a bunch of dorks. A lot of them are these really weird, f------ uninteresting, unintelligent people who have got something that they cling to.”

Shortly after Trump invaded Iran, Rogan described the war as “crazy” and the president’s supporters as having been “betrayed,” adding, “He ran on no more wars: End these stupid, senseless wars. And then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it.”

On Monday The Bulwark’s managing editor Sam Stein told MS NOW that Trump is “losing control” of his own movement.

“I think the risk for Trump here is twofold,” Stein told MS NOW host Katy Tur referring to both Rogan and another right-wing podcaster who has recently turned on Trump, Andrew Schulz.

“These are the podcasts that were gateways to a whole slice of the electorate that was just politically curious — not politically active — but they did get involved in 2024, and they got involved largely on behalf of Donald Trump,” Stein said. “Andrew Schulz, Rogan, and others activated them. But the other risk is that they're now potentially turning Donald Trump into a cultural punchline — that he's an idiot, that his supporters are dorks, that he's been fooled into doing all this stuff, and that he is a failure.”

He added, “Donald Trump, for better or for worse, has had an incredible ability to shape perceptions of himself and the cultural relevance that he has. And to a degree, he loses that control when these people turn on him — when his own supporters turn on him. That hasn't really happened in the entirety of his political career.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Kent Conundrum: Nazi-Adjacent Trump Aide Resigns To Protest Iran War

Kent Conundrum: Nazi-Adjacent Trump Aide Resigns To Protest Iran War

President Donald Trump is denouncing Joe Kent, his former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, for resigning in protest over his invasion of Iran. Now a respected columnist is warning Trump’s critics that although Kent may be correct in opposing the Iran war, that does not mean he is on the side of anti-Trumpers.

It just means that “it’s getting crowded under” the bus under which Trump keeps throwing people.

“How does media ― legitimate media ― cover a story in which a bad person does the right thing?” wrote Bill Goodykoontz of the Arizona Republic. “File under: A stopped watch is right twice a day. And more chaos from the Donald Trump era, and how that has affected media coverage.”

Goodykoontz then praised CNN anchor Dana Bash for explaining when covering the news that “Kent is not a typical intelligence official. He is a Trump appointee known for his ties to White nationalists, Nazi sympathizers and an embrace of the Jan. 6 conspiracy theories that we have seen so much (of) on the far right."

Goodykoontz said that “that is the perfect way to place Kent into context, and it should be repeated every time the story is updated. Good for Bash. (All the cable news networks covered the resignation, but Bash's was the most clear and efficient that I saw.)”

As for Kent’s fate, Goodykoontz expressed a rather blase attitude.

“Who gets thrown under the Trump bus next, and how will the media cover it?” Goodykoontz said. “It's hard to say, but it's getting crowded under there.”

Trump’s invasion of Iran is also harshly criticized by many of his fellow conservatives. Contributing to the conservative publication The Bulwark on Tuesday, commentator Jonathan V. Last wrote that Trump’s behavior is “stupid,” citing as one example that “mining the Strait of Hormuz is the single biggest danger America faced heading into any conflict with Iran. How did our commander-in-chief plan to deal with it?”

He added, “Six months ago the Navy decommissioned its four Avenger-class minesweepers that had been stationed in Bahrain precisely to deal with Iranian mines.”

Joe Rogan, a popular right-wing podcaster who openly supported Trump in the 2024 presidential election, admitted earlier in March that some Trump supporters felt “betrayed” by his invasion of Iran.

“Well, it just seems so insane, based on what he ran on. I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right?” Rogan said in an episode of his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience. “He ran on, ‘No more wars,’ ‘End these stupid, senseless wars,’ and then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Nuclear Expert Says Trump's Iran Argument Lacks Even 'A Scintilla Of Evidence'

Nuclear Expert Says Trump's Iran Argument Lacks Even 'A Scintilla Of Evidence'

President Donald Trump, like the previous Republican president George W. Bush, incorrectly claimed that the Middle Eastern country he wished to invade possessed a nuclear weapon. Unlike Bush, however, Trump never even attempted to create a convincing argument as to the nukes' existence.

“Trump hasn’t presented a scintilla of evidence that Iran represents an imminent nuclear or missile threat to America,” wrote Joseph Cirincione, national security analyst and anti-nuclear activist, wrote on his Substack on Sunday. “He has skipped the laborious process of manipulating the intelligence, presenting false reports and assessments, of trying to convince the American people, the Congress, our allies and the United Nations that there was an urgent necessity to go to war.”

Instead of creating a large body of supposed evidence that could be presented to the public, Cirincione said that Trump relies “on friendly and compliant media to amplify his lies over and over” and a “slavish Republican majority in the House and Senate who parrot his lies and refuse to hold any open hearings on the war or debate an authorization resolution.” The president has even tried to curtail the First Amendment right of the press to critique their activity.

“As part of his effort to consolidate Trump’s authoritarian rule, his Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is threatening to revoke the licenses of broadcasters who ‘want us to lose the war’ by reporting stories unfavorable to the administration,” Cirincione wrote. “Trump is also aided by legions of well-funded groups backing the far-right government of Israel who are happy to support a war that they believe will destroy a country they consider the arch-enemy of Israel.”

The anti-nuclear activist also commented that Trump is better serving the agenda of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than he is his own.

“I have been in Washington for over 40 years and I cannot remember a time when Netanyahu did not want to invade Iran,” Cirincione wrote. “His persistence paid off. He finally found an American president so stupid that he would do what every Republican and Democratic president since Ronald Reagan refused to do: start a pointless, enormously costly war with an adversary on the other side of the globe that, however odious, posed only secondary threats to America.”

Ironically, Trump spent months prior to invading Iran (and, before that, Venezuela) demanding that he be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America,” Trump told Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre earlier in March regarding being snubbed. He later added, “I’m no longer interested in it [the Peace Prize]."

In the words of Steve Schmidt, a Republican strategist who advised Bush, Trump’s exchange with Støre showed Trump has no interest in peace and wishes to wage war.

“No man of violence and venom can resist the siren song of modern warfare, which, after all, is just a game,” Schmidt wrote for his Substack, employing the term “game” sarcastically “This is Trump’s team: Hegseth, Rubio, Vance, Cain, Bondi, Noem, Kushner, Witkoff, Musk, Weiss, Ellison, Hannity, Graham, Patel. Never have so many nitwits commanded so much power. They are a terrifying bunch, to say the least.”

Schmidt concluded by writing “war is no game. Yet, it is treated as such by a group of vile men and women who are playing with human life as if they were gods. Trump is no god. There is no divinity lurking around Trump. There is only blackness. Only death. Only misery. Only wreckage. Only corruption.”

Earlier this month, a former employee for Trump expressed concern that the president will ultimately cause a nuclear war over Iran.


“Few Americans realize how close the president took us to the brink of nuclear war in his first term before aides talked him down,” Miles Taylor, the Department of Homeland Security chief of staff during Trump’s first term, wrote regarding the president’s warmongering against North Korea at that time. “What the public didn’t know at the time — and until years later — was that the president’s team was worried he might start a nuclear war.”


Now That White House Has Finally Booted Noem, Will Bondi Be Next?

Now That White House Has Finally Booted Noem, Will Bondi Be Next?

President Donald Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday — and, according to a prominent columnist, Attorney General Pam Bondi ought to be next.

“Back in Trump 1.0, Noem’s firing would have been just another Thursday,” wrote The Guardian’s Arwa Mahdawi on Saturday, pointing out that Trump frequently fired advisers and cabinet secretaries during that administration. Yet Mahdawi argued Noem’s firing may indicate a reversal of that trend, given that there is “currently a target on attorney general Pam Bondi’s back.” Five House Republicans joined their Democratic colleagues on Wednesday to subpoena Bondi to learn more about her controversial handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. One day later, Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) filed articles of impeachment against Bondi.

“While the Bondi subpoena is unlikely to result in justice for Epstein’s victims anytime soon, it is nevertheless a welcome development,” Mahdawi wrote. “Unlike her televised testimony before the House judiciary committee in February, this will be a closed-door hearing where she will be under oath and subject to perjury laws. This means she may be forced to answer questions more directly instead of just talking about the stock market.” The columnist added that forcing Bondi to testify keeps the Epstein files in the news despite the president’s attempts at distraction.

Mahdawi also drew attention to the contents of recently-released Epstein files that the Justice Department had previously withheld involving a woman making sexual assault accusations against Trump.

“These accusations have not been verified and the Guardian reported last week that some of the claims appear to contradict what is known about Epstein’s life in the early 1980s,” Mahdawi reported. “Nevertheless, there are a lot of questions currently being asked as to what other documents the justice department may have ‘accidentally’ not released. No doubt Bondi will soon be able to give us all some non-answers.”

When Bondi testified before the House regarding the Epstein files, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) asked Bondi to apologize to the survivors for how the incomplete way in which the Epstein files have been released up to this point.

"Attorney General Bondi, you apologized to the survivors in your opening statement for what they went through at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein. Will you turn to them now and apologize for what your Department of Justice has put them through with the absolutely unacceptable release of the Epstein files and their information?" Jayapal asked Bondi. She refused to reply, instead criticizing former Attorney General Merrick Garland.

"I will reclaim my time because I asked a specific question that I would like you to answer," Jayapal repeated. "Will you turn to the survivors? This is not about anybody who came before you. It's about you taking responsibility for your Department of Justice and the harm that it has done to the survivors who are standing right behind you and are waiting for you to turn to them and apologize for what your Department of Justice —"

Bondi also controversially deflected a question about the Epstein files by demanding that Trump receive credit for then-recent gains in the stock market. When Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) seemed to laugh at Bondi's evasion of the question, she said "I don't know why you're laughing, I hear you're a great stock trader.” Other Democrats could be heard shouting, "What does the stock market have to do with it?"

Bondi has also failed to successfully pursue Trump’s political enemies as the former president wanted. Conservative commentator Tim Miller wrote in The Bulwark earlier this week that “another big loss for the Trump Justice Department in their Keystone Cop efforts to go after their political foes. For all of you know, the awful fascist advances of this administration, the one thing that continues to bring us joy is just the utter incompetence and failure in their effort to weaponize the Justice Department to get revenge against their political foes.”

Miller then pointed out that both Trump and his attorney general, Pam Bondi, had promised to prosecute former President Joe Biden for using an autopen and stealing the 2020 presidential election (which he did not do).

“Remember all those? Has anybody gone to jail for any of those yet?” Miller asked. “Supposedly Joe Biden stole the election in 2020. It's interesting that some of the biggest proponents of that case — Donald Trump, [FBI Director] Kash Patel, Pam Bondi — haven't been able to find any of the ‘perpetrators.’ So nobody's in jail for that."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet