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Republicans have spent the past week since the California election complaining that it takes too long to count the millions of votes in the state where 80 percent of ballots are mail-in. Yet, when it came to one of their own members, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was quick to swear in a Republican who won a special election in the state where he claimed fraud was rampant.

Rep. James Gallagher (R-Ca.) was sworn in on Wednesday, taking over the district of the late Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Ca), who passed away on Jan. 6, 2026.

Gallagher was leading in the Tuesday election results last week at 62 percent, and the Associated Press declared him the winner, ABC 10 reported.

Roll Call publisher Nathan Gonzales couldn't help but notice the hypocrisy of Republicans who have spent the past week alleging something untoward was happening with the election, but found the election acceptable enough to swear in the new lawmaker.

"Republicans must feel comfortable enough with election integrity in California to swear in a new member before the election is even certified," wrote Gonzales.

Primaries in California last week allowed for any ballot that was postmarked on Election Day to be counted. So, they wait about a week to ensure all ballots have been received and can be counted. The delay prompted a new round of vague accusations about corruption or wrongdoing in the election by Republicans. The far right was particularly angry after Los Angeles mayoral candidate, ex-reality TV star boyfriend Spencer Pratt, was shut out of the general election after he came in third in the state's all-party primary. Incumbent Democrat Karen Bass will now face a challenge from within her own party from Nithya Raman.

“No way this could have happened. Rigged Election!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. In a separate post, he added, “Two great Republican Candidates are being cheated.”

In another post on Thursday, Trump ranted in all-caps, “The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS.”

GOP candidate Steve Hilton said he was "happy" with the results and that he hadn't seen any evidence of election fraud.

Signature checks must be done with mail-in ballots along with other security checks. So it can take longer, Democracy Docket explained in a fact-check on Monday.

President Donald Trump and his billionaire backers are engaged in “magical thinking,” warned a conservative commentator on Wednesday — and their mindsets are putting America in danger.

Describing America’s economy, Jonathan V. Last in The Bulwark wrote that “the funniest part of this whole thing—the real sorcery—is that the world’s financial markets agree that we’re in a great place and the current status quo is amazing.” Since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28th, Last noted that “America spent in the neighborhood of $30 billion on the war; the world experienced the worst oil shock in recorded history; inflation is running very hot; there’s been something like $58 billion in damage to infrastructure in the Middle East, which has curtailed industrial outputs independent of the shipping crisis; global companies have lost at least $25 billion in revenue because of the war; and yet the S&P 500 is . . . up since the war started? Way up?”

He added that, instead of the stock market reflecting the economic pain felt by ordinary Americans, “in two days’ time, we will have the biggest IPO in history. SpaceX will shatter records. It will be valued at close to $2 trillion dollars. It will make Elon Musk the world’s first (acknowledged) trillionaire. It’s going to be the most obscene financial orgy in a century. Like watching John D. Rockefeller and Louis XIV spitroast Caligula.”

Last concluded that SpaceX is pricing itself at an outlandish level, $28.5 trillion, even though “the sum total of all goods and services exchanged everywhere on the planet—is $123.6 trillion. So SpaceX is telling investors that the company could scale to a quarter of the entire planet’s annual economic output—give or take.” Characterizing this as practically impossible, Last compared the growing stock market with Trump’s ongoing characterization of the Iran war as successful despite common sense evidence to the contrary.

“This is true in the same way that it is true that Iran’s ‘anti-aircraft is gone’ and that ‘lots of oil is getting out’ of the Strait of Hormuz,” Last wrote. “For a bunch of structural reasons (which we will talk about tomorrow), I expect the SpaceX IPO will go great, even though the stock is, like Trump, full of s———.” He speculated that the magical thinking for both SpaceX stock and the Iran war cannot survive forever, although it is unclear what will end it and what the consequences will be for the world once that happens.

Last is not alone in saying that there is something suspicious about the stock market under Trump. Writing for The Washington Post in May, financial columnist Matthew Lynn said that “a Rose Garden announcement triggers panic on Wall Street, then a post on Truth Social sends stock prices soaring. A promise of upcoming news launches a market rally, which slumps when the actual news is delivered that evening.”

In short, it seems like investors are so intimidated by Trump that they buy and sell based on his whims rather than based on the natural ebb and flow of the markets. In this way, the administration can depict the economy as thriving regardless of the experiences of ordinary people.

“According to a recent report from the financial research firm Fundstrat, Trump was the driver of the five best trading days on the S&P 500 index since the start of his second term,” Lynn wrote. “And he was also responsible for its five worst trading days. Such as? On April 3, 2025, the S&P 500 fell 4.8 percent when Trump announced ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, and it bounced back 9.5 percent when most were suspended six days later.”

He added, “None of the five best or worst trading days under Joe Biden were driven by one of his announcements. During Bill Clinton’s eight years in office, only one of the five worst days could be pinned on the president or his administration, and none of the best. Sentiment on the stock market was routinely driven by interest rate announcements, corporate earnings or economic data. Not by the guy in the White House.”

While the term "Manosphere" is used to describe an array of anti-feminist ideologies —from MGTOWs (Men Going Their Own Way) to PUAs (Pickup Artists) to incels (involuntary celibates) — another term, "Womanosphere," is being applied to the Manosphere's female allies. Turning Point USA, the MAGA group led by founder Charlie Kirk's widow Erika Kirk, is a bastion of "Womanosphere" activists and influencers. Describing Turning Point's recent 2026 Women's Leadership Summit, The Atlantic's Elaine Godfrey emphasizes that a variety of women spoke — from some who sounded "a little feminist" to one who doesn't believe that women should vote.

"If the conservative Manosphere is associated with protein powder, pomade, and ancient Rome," Godfrey explains in The Atlantic, "then the conservative Womanosphere is its aesthetic opposite: a frilly wonderland of gingham tablecloths and Bible verses, as soft as goose down and as cotton-candy pink as Polly Pocket's Country Cottage. Which is why the cannons were so startling. Before each speaker took the podium at Turning Point USA's annual Women's Leadership Summit to advise feminine gentleness in all situations, tall columns of magenta smoke blasted from both ends of the stage, and the music's bass dropped, rattling the skulls of all 3,000 women in the ballroom of the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter. This year's event was full of such subtle contradictions."

Godfrey continues, "It is difficult to tidily define womanhood, or to attach to the term a set of clear expectations. Yet Turning Point, the conservative organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk, professes to understand womanhood deeply — so deeply, in fact, that it holds a conference every June to elucidate the concept: Womanhood is getting married as soon as you can, and having babies — more 'than you can afford,' as Kirk often advised. It is embracing God and renouncing feminism."

But Godfrey stresses that the messages and viewpoints at the 2026 Women's Leadership Summit were more "diverse" than "in year's past." And she cites podcaster Alex Clark as one of the speakers who felt "a little feminist," telling attendees that "never getting married is not a failure."

"In her speech kicking off this year's event," Godfrey notes, "Erika Kirk gave advice you might hear at any Christian empowerment conference: Count your virtues and hone them…. Other speakers offered predictable messages: They railed against abortion and shared Christian wisdom on dating and motherhood…. But the overall message of the summit was, admittedly, a little hard to parse."

Godfrey continues, "After several speakers reminded the young ladies in the audience that family should be their top priority, another presenter advertised an array of job-training programs for women hoping to become phlebotomists or plumbers. Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany cheerfully declared, 'I believe there could be a future president of the United States in this room today.'"

Allies of Ken Paxton are pushing AI-generated photos of his Democratic opponent James Talarico dressed in women's clothing.

"If you were making a list of 1,000 adjectives to describe this guy, 'masculine' would not be one of them. I mean, if a stiff breeze came by, it would blow him over like a feather," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told Fox News on Monday.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller claimed that Talarico was "transitioning into a female." Talarico is not transgender or gay or a vegan.

The New Republic's Brynn Tannehill noted that Paxton has been a scandal-plagued attorney general who narrowly avoided indictments for securities fraud and bribery. Paxton allowed a child predator to serve one day in jail and to avoid sex offender registration. Paxton has been involved in multiple cheating scandals. Despite this, Republican strategists have focused on Talarico eating a meatless breakfast wrap and his unwillingness to eradicate transgender people.

Tannehill compared the tactic to Nazi propaganda. During the 1930s and 40s, Nazis would accuse political opponents of being Jews or having "Jewish blood." Tannehill said Republicans are using similar tactics, but targeting the LGBTQ community.

Tannehill noted that Republicans have used claims that Democrats are forcing children to undergo sexual reassignment surgeries at school, despite transgender individuals representing 0.5 percent of the population.

"Republicans offer a vision of manhood that is meant to look like a parade of Aryan Übermenschen but instead comes across as a depressingly absurd circus sideshow," Tannehill wrote.

Tannehill also pointed to Trump Cabinet secretaries' exercise videos. Robert Kennedy appeared in a hot tub with Kid Rock in a workout video. Secretary Pete Hegseth has posted videos of push-ups and pull-ups, and appears to use fake plates to make it look like he's bench pressing over 300 pounds. Hegseth was forced out of the National Guard before promotion beyond the rank of major.

Tannehill said the pattern reflects what she called "performative masculinity" that relies on emotional reactivity. She pointed to Trump's angry rants on Truth Social and reports that he threw ketchup at walls during moments of rage.

The 2026 Texas Senate race has emerged as one of the nation's most contentious matchups.

Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian and first-term state representative, has built his campaign around economic populism and social justice issues, positioning himself as a progressive alternative to the incumbent Paxton. The race reflects broader national divisions over cultural issues and leadership style. Paxton, who has served as Texas attorney general since 2015, has positioned himself as a tough-on-crime conservative while facing ongoing legal scrutiny.

Political analysts have noted that the reliance on personal attacks and cultural grievances by Paxton's allies suggests an attempt to shift focus away from substantive policy debates. The use of AI-generated imagery represents an escalation in disinformation tactics during the 2026 cycle, raising concerns among election security experts about deepfakes and their potential impact on voter decision-making in crucial swing races.

President Donald Trump is continually sabotaging the GOP and his own presidency, according to this one-time biographer, due to how much his endless ego makes him blind to the fact that voters hate the decisions he is making.

Michael Wolff is a veteran author and reporter, best known for his extensive coverage of Trump's life and political career, based on access to the man himself and sources within his inner circle. In the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, "Inside Trump's Head," he argued that Trump's relentless campaign to "impose" his will, likeness and beliefs onto the country is backfiring on his badly as it stirs up voter hatred.

“He is doing things... which are fundamentally to his detriment," Wolff said. “What Trump has tried to do is impose himself on virtually every aspect of American life or even... world life. And the problem with that is that if this starts to go wrong, everything then begins to remind everyone that Trump is responsible for this. Everything becomes a negative for Donald Trump.”

Trump most recently experienced this public backlash when he opted to attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals at New York City's Madison Square Garden. When he was shown on the jumbotron during the national anthem, the audience booed him mercilessly, and later that night, he embarrassed himself further by appearing to fall asleep.

The Daily Beast also noted that 51 percent of Americans either strongly or somewhat disapprove of Trump's planned UFC event, which is set to take place on his birthday this weekend and has seen a gaudy 5,000-seat venue built on the grounds of the White House.

“He’s created a set of symbols here that... are going to hurt him rather than help him,” Wolff said. “He shows up at the game in New York and gets booed. He destroys... the White House environment for his own satisfaction and grift.”

“It does feel a little bit like this is all closing in on him,” co-host Joanna Coles added. “At least in that moment when he stormed out of the interview with Kristen Welker on NBC’s Meet the Press.”

“This is literally the way he is with everyone,” Wolff continued. “The people around him — his aides, friends, family, you know, Vance, Rubio, Susie Wiles — everybody faces this: that he won’t stop talking, that you can’t disagree with him, that there really is no debate... Why is he putting the UFC on the White House lawn when that is obviously a mistake of just a political perception that you would not want. But he can’t see that.”

President Donald Trump was reportedly sent to military school when he was just 13 because his parents felt like he had a "wise guy" attitude, was a bully to other students and had impulse control issues.

“He talks about it as almost this, you know, rite of passage,” Trump biographer Timothy O’Brien, author of TrumpNation told PBS Frontline in 2020. “He said to me that when he arrived at the military academy, for the first time in his life, someone slapped him in the face when he got out of line.”

One of Trump's classmates spoke to the Daily Beast about his impressions of the would-be president when he was young. Art Davie, Trump's bunkmate, recalled Trump as playing the victim from a young age.

“He was very upset and frustrated that the school did not recognize that he should have been promoted faster,” Davie recalled in the interview.

Trump would also constantly claim that he was the best at everything.

“He was an egomaniac when he was 16,” Davie said. “He was a great flag-waver for himself. He wanted everyone to recognize he was the GOAT in everything he did out there.”

While Trump was a decent baseball player, soccer was not his game.

“I remember Trump and I getting in an argument about the fact that he’s the GOAT when it came to soccer,” Davie recalled. “I said, ‘No, in baseball, you could say you’re the GOAT.’”

But that wasn't acceptable for Trump. “He said, ‘I should have been a captain this year. I’m not a supply sergeant,’” Davie remembered.

Trump then grew fascinated with the Kennedys, Davie explained.

“Kennedy had become a media star, and Trump once said something to the effect of, ‘He doesn’t even have to boast,’ meaning that the media picked up on the fact that he [had] a star quality," Davie recalled.

Their quarters became an obsession of Trump's because if they passed periodic inspections, they'd get a silver star on their right sleeve.

Trump took it "seriously," said Davie.

Their bunk was also where the M1 rifles — minus their firing pins — were stored.

“[The lieutenant colonel] was teasing us about the fact that we had the guns, and I said, ‘Yeah, but only pop guns,’” Davie remembered. “Trump thought that was irreverent. He was furious with me. He said, ‘You were talking to them like they were on the streets in Brooklyn.”

He said it became a serious argument between the two and has always wondered if that's why they were separated when school resumed after the holiday break.

“What I do know is that they separated us, and I went down to Section 9, which was behind the main barracks, and everybody down there was kind of an oddball. We all got single-bedroom rooms," Davie told the Beast.

Davie finished school in Manhattan. But there was one detail that Davie recalled after his time at the academy: Trump's five draft deferments. He noted that Trump earned a nickname among the academy alumni: “Cadet Bonespurs.”

Trump's father managed to get him the deferments to keep him out of the Vietnam War. The mockery has followed him throughout his presidency, with even members of the U.S. Senate using the term to ridicule Trump. Eight years ago, Stephen Colbert opened his show with a new fake G.I. Joe doll called "Cadet Bone Spurs."

Davie ultimately joined the Marine Corps and was shipped off to Vietnam for just under a year.

“I think that Trump was always looking for something to glorify what he’s doing,” Davie said. “Now they’re talking about maybe making it some sort of a permanent Lincoln Memorial type of structure, which I think is crazy.”

A 2018 interview with the daughters of the podiatrist who gave Trump the diagnosis revealed that their father would recall the "favor" he did for Fred Trump to keep his son out of Vietnam.

"Elysa Braunstein said the implication from her father was that Mr. Trump did not have a disqualifying foot ailment," the New York Times reported.

“But did he examine him? I don’t know,” she said.

Former Sen. Bob Kerrey (R-Neb.) has called on Trump to reveal the X-rays that would prove he had bone spurs.

In the United States, presidents can be removed from office by either impeachment or the U.S. Constitution's 25th Amendment. Donald Trump is the only president in U.S. history who was impeached twice, but he was acquitted in both of his U.S. Senate trials. And the 25th Amendment hasn't been used to remove Trump from office, although law professor Kimberly Wehle believes that it should be.

Wehle, who teaches law at the University of Baltimore and was a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in the past, lays out a case for removing Trump from office via the 25th Amendment in an op-ed for The Hill.

"Unlike during Trump's first term, when the possibility of invoking the Constitution's 25th Amendment was at least openly debated, no one in Trump's close orbit will now speak truth to power," Wehle explains. "In this context, we must talk honestly about the compounding signs that the oldest-ever elected president is physically and mentally unfit for office."

The 25th Amendment, Wehle notes, "permits the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet — or another body designated by Congress — to declare that a president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office." Wehle laments, however, that the chances of that happening "now seem more remote than ever."

"During Joe Biden's presidency, debate over his fitness for office was deafening and came from both sides of the political spectrum," Wehle notes. "Voters should demand the same level of scrutiny for this president. ... Trump's apparent naps amid high-level meetings have become legendary — reportedly numbering some 13 instances, including at a December 2025 Cabinet meeting while Secretary of State Marco Rubio was speaking; during remarks at February's inaugural 'Board of Peace' meeting on Gaza negotiations; at an April Oval Office meeting; and during a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke."

Wehle continues, "Critics have begun calling him 'Sleepy Don' — a pointed echo of his old 'Sleepy Joe' label for Biden. A February 2026 Reuters-Ipsos poll found that a majority of Americans, including 30 percent of Republicans, say Trump has become erratic with age. On April 14, House Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) introduced legislation establishing a bipartisan, independent commission to activate the 25th Amendment process. Says Raskin, 'Public trust in Donald Trump’s ability to meet the duties of his office has dropped to unprecedented lows as he threatens to destroy entire civilizations, unleashes chaos in the Middle East…. We are at a dangerous precipice, and it is now a matter of national security for Congress to fulfill its responsibilities under the 25th Amendment.' He is not wrong."

President Donald Trump got torched online after his latest gaffe during an Oval Office event, with numerous observers arguing that he had inadvertently created the perfect midterms attack ad for the Democrats.

On Wednesday, Trump was taking part in various events in the Oval Office of the White House, including one honoring the team behind his Reflecting Pool remodeling and another to mark the signing of the $70 billion immigration enforcement funding bill. At one point during the day, he took questions from reporters and was pressed about what he thought about the latest report showing that inflation had reached major levels in the U.S.

Instead of expressing remorse or offering comfort to voters struggling with high prices, Trump shared his "love" for the development.

"No, I love it. I love the inflation," Trump said, before explaining that his optimism was based on oil barrels purportedly seized from Iran. "You know why? Because as soon as this war is over, do you know we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil? You know who doesn't know? Iran until right now."

It was the first part of that statement, however, that prominent observers on social media seized upon, suggesting that it would make perfect fodder for Democratic attack ads about his lack of care for the state of the economy.

"Yet another tailor-made ad for the Democrats this midterm season," Zeteo reporter Justin Baragona posted to BlueSky.

"Trump admits his pointless war is making your life more expensive, and he loves it," The Tennessee Holler, a popular liberal political account, posted to BlueSky.

"'Sir say something good about the economy?' 'I love the inflation,'" financial reporter Ed Zitron, a prominent AI critic, posted to BlueSky. "'Something else?' 'I have eaten fifteen dollars in coins this morning and they were very tasty.'"

"If you're a reporter who's going to ask Republicans about Trump's latest blunder, be sure to have the audio with you ready to play," author and commentator Kevin M. Kruse posted to BlueSky. "Ask them how they feel about Trump saying, 'I love the inflation,' then play the clip, then ask them again. Just get the phrase spoken on film repeatedly."

"WOW: Trump says ‘I love the inflation’ after consumer price index hits 3-year high," radio host Dean Obeidallah posted to BlueSky. "Trump reminds us he doesn't care about working class Americans. And the flip side is his oligarchs are making record profits. The entire GOP MUST pay the price for this in November."

"If that’s not an ad for the midterms I don’t know what is," popular liberal political creator Joanne Carducci posted to X.

"If we had a media that worked, Trump saying 'I love the inflation' would be in every headline and news broadcast," writer and reality TV star Hemant Mehta posted to X.

"People can't afford to feed their families," Democratic Illinois Governor and 2028 contender J.B. Pritzker posted to X. "Your struggle is a joke to him."

Senate Republican Majority Leader John Thune was noticeably absent from Wednesday’s Oval Office bill signing ceremony — but top House and Senate leaders — including Speaker Mike Johnson — were present, cheering on the president. Thune did take time to talk with reporters, where he tied Wednesday’s surging inflation numbers to Trump’s Iran war.

The Washington Examiner’s David Sivak asked Thune directly why he wasn’t present at the president’s signing of the $70 billion reconciliation bill to fund ICE and the Border Patrol, or to talk about FISA legislation with Trump.

Thune noted that Speaker Johnson is “down there anyway” and that he and Johnson “talk regularly,” Sivak reported.

Thune appeared to suggest that there might not have been an invitation, adding, “I don’t know that we got asked, but I’ve got stuff going on here, as you know.”

Thune spelled out the inflation connection to reporters, as Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio reported.

“The sooner we get the situation in Iran stabilized, the Strait [of Hormuz] opened up, those [inflation] numbers will trend in a better direction,” he said. “But obviously right now there are important national security objectives we’re trying to achieve.”

“The American people realize that if we’re heading in the right direction and the trendlines are good and the confidence is good long-term — which I [think] it will be because of all the other things we’ve done on the economy — then obviously people will start to see improvement,” he also said. “It may not happen overnight, but it will. But at least for now, we’ve got to do everything we can to keep the pressure on [in] getting the situation in the Middle East resolved.”

Getting the situation in Iran resolved was not how President Trump appeared to approach Iran on Wednesday.

“Iran’s Military is a complete and total mess,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn’t even exist anymore – They have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action. The Bully of the Middle East is dead!!! They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!”

In that Oval Office meeting, Trump also slammed Iran, saying that the U.S. would hit Iran hard again on Wednesday, and insisted the Iranian government is “playing us for suckers.”

Thune has distanced himself from the president over time, refusing his repeated demands to pass the controversial SAVE America Act — legislation some call voter suppression — to kill the filibuster, and to fire the Senate parliamentarian. He has also opposed Trump’s intelligence nominee. Thune tried to persuade Trump to back Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), but the president endorsed Ken Paxton instead — and Paxton went on to defeat Cornyn in the May primary runoff.