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GOP Candidate Vows To 'Shield' Musk From Probe Into Mass Deaths Caused By DOGE

GOP Candidate Vows To 'Shield' Musk From Probe Into Mass Deaths Caused By DOGE

A staunch MAGA Republican is begging Michigan voters to elect him senator by arguing that if they do not, one of President Donald Trump's billionaire allies might be investigated for allegedly illegal actions costing millions of lives.

In a fundraising appeal sent on Saturday and reported by the Detroit Metro Times on Wednesday, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) told voters that he would oppose any investigation of Trump's close ally and the world's richest man, X CEO Elon Musk. Rogers is the presumptive Republican nominee for that state's Senate race this year.

“When you stand with my Senate campaign today, you are directly shielding Elon Musk,” Rogers wrote. Begging for an “immediate, urgent contribution right now to protect Elon and save America," the Michigander described rumored Democratic plans to investigate the billionaire as a “socialist retaliation plot” that reminded him of “Soviet Russia and communist Cuba.” He argued that "they cannot control Elon, so they want to destroy him."

Democrats like Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) are calling for Musk to be investigated in large part because of his work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which implemented sweeping spending cuts that experts point out weakened America's national security apparatus and capacity to fight infectious diseases.

DOGE particularly targeted the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which was founded by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to provide foreign aid to impoverished nations in the form of assistance with global health, environmental protection, education and cultivating democratic institutions. The Trump administration has even tried to eliminate USAID entirely, although they cannot legally do so without congressional approval.Experts who spoke exclusively to AlterNet described Musk's USAID cuts as extremely costly from a humanitarian standpoint.

"Elon Musk, singularly, as head of DOGE at the beginning of this administration, through his cuts has led to the deaths of millions," Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease doctor and professor of medicine at the University of California–San Francisco, told AlterNet. "He was the executor of really dismantling USAID — essentially, the work to help the world's poorest children has been decimated by the world's richest man."

Gandhi added, "I have a project in South Africa, and I can stand absolutely firsthand witness since he also executed the cuts to South Africa — meaning on February 7th, the Trump administration put out an executive order that said we will give no assistance to South Africa because of their 'egregious actions,' like supporting the ICC [International Criminal Court] case against Israel, or they think South Africa is committing a white genocide – all of that means that there's no funding going toward South Africa, even his home country. And I have seen firsthand the effects on deaths, on advanced HIV, people dying of tuberculosis, not able to get HIV medications or preventative medications. Elon Musk is singularly responsible for the deaths of millions."

AlterNet also spoke with Sarah Nichols, a former implementing partner with USAID (pre-DOGE cuts) who worked on projects from Liberia in Africa to Guatemala in South America to the Pacific island nation of Indonesia (specifically the region Timor West). She witnessed firsthand the devastating human toll of Trump's and Musk's USAID cuts.

Like Gandhi, Nichols believes Musk should be investigated for his role in those cuts.

"He absolutely should, and that's just standard government protocol," Nichols told AlterNet. "I was actually in the audience of one of the recent hearings with a House committee and [Office of Management and Budget director] Russell Vought, and I think it was a Republican congressman who asked Russell Vought if there would be an after-action report on DOGE so that they could see what DOGE had accomplished and whether there was any cost savings. And Russell Vought said that they would not be doing any after-action report. And that is bizarre to me, as someone who used to work with the government, because every project always had an after-action report so that you could see whether there was improvement."

Reaching out to AlterNet after the article's publication, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said that “all Trump administration reforms across the executive branch have eliminated red tape while making our government more efficient and responsive to the agenda the President was elected to implement.”

Rogers' cling to Musk appears counter to good campaign tactics considering Musk's growing role as a political pariah among the voting public. Last year, Musk landed a ‘blowout’ loss, in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race that gave Democrats a court majority with a 4-3 lead -- which has only expanded in followup state elections.

Since 2025, Musk appeared to have pulled away from directly intervening in politics after voters' negative reaction in Wisconsin.

Reprinted with permission from AlterNet

Flamingo Fiasco: Property Dispute Shadows Ivanka's Albanian Resort

Flamingo Fiasco: Property Dispute Shadows Ivanka's Albanian Resort

President Donald Trump and his children have long faced accusations of corruption, as the Republican leader openly and his progeny openly do business with foreign countries despite the appearance of conflicts of interest. Now one of those controversial business deals — a planned resort in Albania that would destroy an ecologically-protected flamingo sanctuary — just saw a plot twist that left a conservative commentator literally laughing out loud.

“Should we talk about the Albania resort?” The Bulwark’s Will Sommer asked his colleague Tim Miller. Sommer was referring to the attempts by Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner to purchase islands in Albania from an alleged mob-linked figure, prompting widespread protests that have threatened Prime Minister Edi Rama’s regime. After reviewing the history of the fight over the Albanian 1,400 hectares, Sommer and Miller described the latest news report: that Artur Shehu, the businessman who sold them the land, never actually owned it in the first place.

“I think these are the highs and lows of doing business in a country like Albania, you know,” Sommer told Miller. “On one hand, maybe you can get them very quickly, the deeds.”Laughing, Miller told Sommer he “almost spit out my coffee” at the comment “highs and lows of Albania,” then allowed his colleague to continue with his point.

“But on the other, those deeds might not be real,” Sommer warned Miller. “So basically what's going on here is that there is a village, as I understand it — there's a village involved here, and the villagers say, ‘Well, no, actually this is our land, you can tell because we all have houses and we live here.’ But he claims, ‘No, I have the deed.’ And so the allegation is that he basically forged the deeds and sold — then he said, ‘Okay, Jared and Ivanka and various Gulf sheikhs, you give me the money and here's your deed, and now you can build your resort.’”

After Miller expressed disbelief that the Rama administration did not do more to weed out any potential legal issues with the deal, Sommer characterized it as a dispute in which “Jared and Ivanka say, ‘I will enter that on the side of the cocaine trafficker.’” He also pointed out that the issue has harmed Albania’s standing with the European Union, which it wishes to join, both because it threatens wildlife and because security forces beat up a Greek citizen protesting the resort.

“I don't think it's worth it, Albania,” Sommer said, with Miller adding “you gotta feel for the flamingos. Innocent bystanders, all this — they just want their land.”

In June, the UK-based Independent ran a story covered by reporter Zana Cimili about how Albania became involved with the Trump children."Albania's government champions the Adriatic Coast development as a transformative venture for the nation, aiming to boost its high-end tourism sector and support its bid for European Union membership," Cimili said. "However, the project, which encompasses an abandoned island and a stretch of seafront on Albania's southern coast, has sparked criticism from environmental groups and detractors of the long-serving Socialist Prime Minister, Edi Rama."

Since late May, Cimili added, "excavators and other heavy machinery have entered the area, opening access routes, digging into the sand, clearing land among pine trees and installing fencing, Environmental groups from Albania and elsewhere in Europe condemned the work, with one prominent local group charging that long-protected habitats are being 'irreversibly destroyed'…. Albania's state anti-corruption agency has confirmed it opened an investigation related to the project but has not disclosed details."

Cimili continued, "The government says the land earmarked for the project is privately owned. But competing claims have emerged questioning the privatization — a common type of legal dispute."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

'He's Gonna Flip!' Democrats Predict Fetterman Switch As Weird New PAC Debuts

'He's Gonna Flip!' Democrats Predict Fetterman Switch As Weird New PAC Debuts

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is widely regarded as one of the most conservative Democrats in the Senate, frequently abandoning his party during key votes to align himself with President Donald Trump.

Now some political analysts believe Fetterman may ditch the Democrats altogether.

“He's gonna flip,” anti-Trump Republican strategist Rick Wilson posted on X on Thursday. Similarly former Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA) posted on X that there was “another betrayal from Fetterman but look on the bright side, we’ll get Republicans to burn their money before Pennsylvania fires him.”

Both men cited a recent article from a publication that specializes in local news and pointed out that Fetterman recently created joint fundraising committees with a Republican from his own state, Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA).

“First spotted by Politico on Wednesday, Common Ground PA was announced as a new joint fundraising committee,” wrote The Center Square's John Cole on Thursday. “Common Ground PA filed with the Federal Election Commission, known as the FEC, on Monday. They list four joint fundraising participants: Every Vote PAC, Pennsylvania Honor, Fetterman for PA, and Friends of Dave McCormick.”

Cole added, “Fetterman is listed as the leadership PAC sponsor for Every Vote PAC, while McCormick is named as the leadership PAC sponsor for Pennsylvania Honor.”

One Republican political consultant explained that it is highly unusual for senators from opposite parties to form joint fundraising committees.

“This would seem to be a very intriguing development, and a further sign of the close coordination on not just policy, but now political issues between Senators McCormick and Fetterman,” Christopher Nicholas, who also published the PA Political Digest, told Cole.. “What most is of interest to me now is who do they want to support through this new joint fundraising committee?”

This is not the first sign Fetterman may leave Democrats altogether. Earlier this month he defended the president who called him his “favorite Democrat” on a podcast with Logan Paul, who also identifies as a Trump supporter.

"Some Democrats now are actually running on the ‘f—— Trump' — I mean literally, that's in some of their commercials, you know, honestly," Fetterman told Paul. "And this idea — and if you call someone on their side as, like, ‘they're fascists,’ then that means that people that I know, and I love that voted for him, you know, that must be — they are fascists. And they are not. These are good people. They love our country no less than they do. It's just having different views and, you know, trying to find a way forward in a deeply divided country... I refuse to do that. People forgot that we're all Americans, and we actually need each other."

By contrast, in June Fetterman parted ways with Trump over the president’s then-negotiation with Iran. Fetterman, a staunch supporter of Israel, has supported American military action against the Middle Eastern country.

"Nuclear dust, that’s the reason why we’re here. This is why I was reasoned and OK with setting myself politically on fire to be the only Democrat for the last 90 days voting against these war powers acts. Presidents always talk about their legacy. At this point, if you cave just for political convenience, what kind of legacy is that?" Fetterman told Emily Jacobs at The Jewish Insider.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Enraged By Supreme Court Mail Ballot Decision, Trump Blames Amy Coney Barrett

Enraged By Supreme Court Mail Ballot Decision, Trump Blames Amy Coney Barrett

President Donald Trump is reportedly “livid” at a Supreme Court judge he appointed for not siding with him in his desire to force states to not count mail-in ballots when they arrive after Election Day.

“He is completely livid over the mail-in ballot ruling,” CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes said on Monday. “And of course, part of this is about the justices who decided to rule against him in this case. Just a reminder — this was the Republican National Committee challenging a Mississippi law that allowed mail-in ballots that came in after Election Day to still be counted.”

She added that “if you look at the justices who voted against Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee, one of them sticks out in particular, and that is Amy Coney Barrett — whom President Trump himself appointed to the bench. Trump has been growing increasingly frustrated. We've reported multiple times that behind closed doors he has slammed Amy Coney Barrett, saying that she has not stepped up and has not done basically what he put her in place to do.”

Trump has particularly focused on reducing the influence of mail-in ballots and on passing the SAVE America Act because, as he has admitted, he hopes to disenfranchise enough Democratic voters that Republicans can retain control of the House of Representatives and Senate.

“We have heard from senators up and down that they just don't have the votes to get it through, that there aren't enough Republicans who support it,” Holmes said. “And now we're hearing that the White House as well as Speaker Johnson are putting a lot of pressure on members, working the phones, to try to get this through whatever way they possibly can. You heard President Trump saying this is now more important than ever.”

She added, “And I will tell you, Erin — I'm told by a White House official that President Trump is unlikely to sign that bipartisan housing bill. He'll just let it go into law. He's not going to veto it, but right now he views actually signing it as a betrayal to his base. He has promised to get the Save America Act through before he signs any major legislation, so he's willing to potentially not sign this very widely supported housing bill in order to try to push the Save America Act forward.”

Speaker to AlterNet earlier this month Dan Vicuña, the senior policy director for voting and fair representation at the good government nonprofit Common Cause, accused Trump of attempting to suppress mail-in voting, demand stricter voter ID laws, obtain access to voter rules to conduct mass purges and threaten to install ICE at polling places in order to rig the 2026 midterm elections in his favor.

“What they all add up to is a desire to avoid any accountability to the voters in the midterm elections — to ensure, to preordain the outcome of a midterm that he thinks is going to go badly for him,” Vicuña told AlterNet. “We know, from the Big Lie of the 2020 election to spurring on a violent revolt to overthrow a free and fair election, that he has no respect for democratic norms, for the voice of the people. This is entirely about his own power and his own ego. He will even invest in protecting that ego and protecting his power at the expense of the needs of the public. People are suffering with high gas prices and affordability issues, and he does not care. All that matters is protecting his power, and he has no interest in whether he does that through democratic means.”

Vicuña added that Trump’s attempts to national elections could also be illegal.

“I think some of these attempts to federalize, to nationalize elections are clearly illegal,” Vicuña said. “You've seen some of that overreach already struck down — attempts to order independent agencies to force a strict voter ID requirement on people. That has been rejected. Common Cause is in court challenging the latest executive order to turn the United States Postal Service into some election administration agency and to create a further bureaucratic layer to make it more difficult to vote by mail. In terms of the president's authority to order around USPS, it's illegal. In terms of USPS's authority to become some sort of national election administration agency, it far exceeds the legal authority that Congress gave to the postal service. The statute describing what kind of work the postal service would do is about postal service work — processing mail and selling stamps. It has nothing to do with election administration.”

Republican lawmakers have reportedly complained that Trump has given them an “impossible task” by demanding that they pass the unpopular SAVE America Act. Trump has recently said that he views a popular bipartisan bill to create affordable housing as a “yawn” and that he cares about the SAVE America Act more than that.

“I do think, though, he is focused on making sure that our elections have some semblance of faith, trust and confidence, which they have been losing in this country for decades,” former White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley told MS NOW on Monday. “You'll remember around 65 percent of Republicans did not believe that Joe Biden won the election.”

When anchor Kasie Hunt pointed out that the only reason so many Republicans doubt the election is because Trump has repeatedly spread misinformation about it, Gidley tried to deflect, inspiring laughter. Gidley later claimed Trump is “not obsessed” with stopping voters, eliciting more laughter from inside the studio.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


New Reporting Shatters Trump Narrative On Reflecting Pool 'Vandalism'

New Reporting Shatters Trump Narrative On Reflecting Pool 'Vandalism'

President Donald Trump claims that his Reflecting Pool renovations failed because third-parties vandalized the institution — but a new story based on internal documents provides a different version of events.

“President Trump says the peeling blue coating and algae blooms that mar his $16.4 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool are the fault of vandals working with ‘knives’ in the ‘dark of night,’” in a story broken by The New York Times’ Maxine Joselow and David A. Fahrenthold on Tuesday. “But government documents obtained by the Times show that while National Park Service workers found two cuts in sections of foam between the pool’s expansion joints, those were not directly related to the ‘American flag blue’ coating that is now peeling, or to the algae that has turned the pool a bright shade of green.”

They added that the documents show workers struggling to deal with problems in their renovations even as officials in the Trump administration insisted the pool was in excellent condition.

“The pool had been drained, resealed and then refilled by June 5,” the Times reported. “Four days later, Park Service workers discovered holes, cracks and peeling caulking in parts of the pool, along with cuts in sections of the foam, according to the documents.”

Yet there is no evidence the cuts were put there by saboteurs. Instead their provenance is “unclear.”

“While a June 9 report by the U.S. Park Police described the cuts as ‘razor blade slashes’ made along a 20-foot-long stretch of the foam, the administration has yet to present evidence supporting that assertion,” the Times reported. “The documents reviewed by The Times described them as two 171-foot blade cuts but did not address how they were made.”

He added, “By June 16, workers had noticed that chunks of blue sealant that covered the pool’s bottom were peeling and floating to the surface, the documents show. That sealant was separate from the foam in the pool’s expansion joints, which allow its concrete slabs to expand and contract.”

Additionally, the workers found that they could not succeed in killing the algae that was blooming in the pool, and turning it swamp green instead of clear blue, despite installing devices for that purpose.

It was also recently reported by Politico/E&E reporters Kinnia Cheuk and Heather Richards that the Reflecting Pool will not be ready by the 4th of July celebrations as Trump promised.

"President Donald Trump's beloved Reflecting Pool liner — now peeling and cracked — won't be fixed before Independence Day celebrations, according to the California company that supplied the waterproof coating,” Cheuk and Richards reported. “That news will sink Trump's wish to have the pool looking pristine for celebrations of the nation's 250th birthday."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

MAGA Extremist Just Won GOP Primary To Serve As Nevada's Top Election Official

MAGA Extremist Just Won GOP Primary To Serve As Nevada's Top Election Official

Former state lawmaker Jim Marchant just won the Republican primary for Nevada Secretary of State, according to a report by The Answer Detroit. Marchant’s victory will set him up to oppose the incumbent, Democratic Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, where he can potentially try to overturn the results of the 2028 presidential election on either Trump’s behalf or that of one of his supporters.

Marchant has spent his recent career baselessly questioning Nevada’s voting security and promulgating the debunked claim that he and Trump were victims of election fraud in 2020. In that year, when Marchant was defeated in his race for Nevada’s 4th Congressional District by Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford, while Trump lost to then-Vice President Joe Biden.

In 2020, Biden defeated Trump in the popular vote by 81.3 million to 74.2 million and by the same Electoral College margin (306-232) by which Trump defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. As conservative columnist George F. Will wrote in The Washington Post in February, Trump’s claims of being robbed have been indisputably 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 explained. “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.”

“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. “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.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Trump Pressuring House Republicans To 'Expunge' Both Impeachments Of Him

Trump Pressuring House Republicans To 'Expunge' Both Impeachments Of Him

President Donald Trump is planning to hassle Congress to expunge his impeachments.

The president is trying to get Republican lawmakers to remove his impeachments from the record even though legally such a move is impossible, reported The Wall Street Journal’s Annie Linskey, Olivia Beavers and Natalie Andrews on Thursday.

“It should be done because I did nothing wrong,” Trump told the Journal. “It was a rigged deal—it was a whole rigged situation.”

The Journal noted that this could backfire, saying “Any move to attempt to erase the two impeachments, in 2019 and 2021, would open up a debate about Trump’s past behavior in office, forcing GOP lawmakers to relitigate charges of abuse of power, obstruction of Congress and inciting an insurrection. Facing the prospect of losing their majority in the House, Republicans are trying to shift focus to the economy and high costs, the issues that voters care about most.”

Yet even though “the measure likely wouldn’t be considered until after the November election,” the issue could still become a political lightning rod. “Trump has posted news clips about voiding the impeachments on his Truth Social account,” the Journal reported. “But this week, he played down his own role in the effort. ‘If they want to do it, I’m honored by it,’ the president said.”

The Journal added that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R—LA) has discussed the resolution with Trump. He has also discussed it with Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz

“I think it makes a lot of sense the more the evidence comes out, the more we know they really were sham impeachments,” Johnson told the Journal, later adding that “we were saying it at the time, now we know. And they make a very compelling case that it should be expunged from the record, because it was a hyperpartisan attack job.”

Speaking with this journalist for Salon in 2019, Dershowitz — who later defended Trump during one of his impeachment trials — denied that he would ever refuse to step down if he lost an election, which is what prompted the impeachment at which Dershowitz did not represent Trump.

No president will refuse to step down if his opponent is elected in his place,” Dershowitz told Salon. “It just will not happen, and the American public would never tolerate it.”

Discussing the Wall Street Journal story, CNN correspondents agreed that Trump’s attempt to scrub the impeachment is both purely symbolic and likely to resurrect the Ukraine coercion and election-denying scandals that prompted those impeachments in the first place.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


'Rigged!' Trump And MAGA Furious Over Pratt's Defeat In Los Angeles Primary

'Rigged!' Trump And MAGA Furious Over Pratt's Defeat In Los Angeles Primary

President Donald Trump and his movement of MAGA Republicans are venting their rage online after Republican reality TV star Spencer Pratt lost to two Democrats, Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman, in the Los Angeles mayoral race.

Because Trump has accused all of the politicians he opposes of cheating, tracing all the way back to the 2016 Republican Iowa caucus, he naturally has accused Bass and Raman of cheating Pratt. MAGA Republicans online are taking notice.

"I'm at the rare intersection of: - Was rooting for Pratt - Thought he was good for the LA political conversation - Dislike California's election administration laws and policies - But understand how the process works,” posted an X user named Stephen Richer.

Similarly Republican pollster Frank Luntz observed "reality TV star Spencer Pratt says he ‘will be done with trying to live in LA’ if he doesn't win the mayoral election. Yesterday, he was surpassed in the Los Angeles mayoral primary for the second run-off spot in November."

Another Republican wrote going by Dr. Terry Simpson on X wrote that "I'm a Republican. Los Angeles is roughly 50% Democratic and about 10% Republican. Any candidate who wants to lead this city must win support well beyond the Republican base. Spencer Pratt didn't lose because voters didn't understand he was independent. He lost.”

Other Republicans reacted with the outrage that Trump is trying to stir up, even though there is no evidence that anything illicit is occurring in the California election.

"A 43,000-vote swing just handed Nithya Raman the edge over Spencer Pratt in LA,” an X user who goes by jay plemons posted. “The exact size of the city's homeless population. Ballot harvesting from shelters, universal mail ballots, and late drops made it happen. Coincidence?"

Similarly X user Mark Mendlovitz wrote, "The large variance of Pratt and Raman but not Bass should be setting off screaming alarm bells."

Even House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested there might be fraud in California, despite the fact that he also acknowledged there is no proof. Instead he cited the absence of evidence as being in itself suspicious.

“I'm not saying it's rigged,” Johnson told CNN’s Manu Raju on Monday. “I'm saying it stinks to high heaven. And everybody knows that. Let's remove the appearance of impropriety. Let's have, what a concept, let's have votes on an election the day of the election. That's what many states are able to do. I think California is playing around with this.”

After Raju asked Johnson if he had proof the election was improper, he admitted that “I don't — some of these efforts are so diabolical and so far upstream that it is impossible to prove. But I think everybody knows instinctively something is wrong here. And that's a concern. We need people to believe in the integrity of our election system.”

Trump, who attempted a coup after he lost the 2020 presidential election to then-Vice President Joe Biden, is reportedly falsely accusing the California election of being stolen as a preparation for denying the results of the 2026 midterms, which are also expected to swing against him.

“By baselessly framing Ms. Raman’s rise as a Democratic scam, Mr. Trump extended his long-running project to erode public faith in elections — and gave an unusually clear preview of how he could greet any disappointing results for his party in November, when control of Congress is at stake,” wrote The New York Times' Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman on Monday. “He has been anything but subtle about his desire to limit the ability of Democrats to vote by mail, implying, with no evidence, that simply choosing that widely used means of casting a ballot is inherently suspect.”

Swan and Haberman added, “Addressing a gathering of Republican lawmakers in March, he said the way to hold their majority was to pass a strict voter identification law cracking down on mail ballots. ‘It’ll guarantee the midterms,’ he told them, warning that failure would bring ‘big trouble.’”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

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.”