Election 2024

Although the MAGA movement and much of the Republican Party are still quite loyal to President Donald Trump, there are some major divisions within his coalition.

Trump aggressively reached out to Silicon Valley tech bros in 2024, enjoying strong support from Tesla/SpaceX/X.com leader Elon Musk as well as billionaire donor Peter Thiel. But longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon, host of the "War Room" podcast and former White House chief strategist in the first Trump Administration, is an outspoken critic of Trump's alliances in the tech world — including his alliance with billionaire venture capitalist David Sacks, the president's artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency czar.

In an article published on December 5, The Verge's Tina Nguyen describes the tensions between Trump's tech bro allies and MAGA Republicans who believe those alliances aren't serving him well, including Bannon.

"Washington lawmakers had barely finished processing the news that Congress would not put a state AI law ban into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) when a new rumor began trickling out of the White House on Wednesday, (December 3): President Donald Trump would, indeed, sign an executive order that would ostensibly assign the federal government the ability to punish states for writing their own AI laws," Nguyen explains. "There was the possibility that it would be as drastic as the one that had leaked from the White House weeks before, which would have given David Sacks, billionaire venture capitalist and the White House's AI and crypto czar, immense influence over setting AI policy…. Steve Bannon's 'War Room' devoted a massive segment on Wednesday night, sounding the alarm that the order was still alive, and hoped to re-run the playbook that they'd used to kill last summer’s attempt at an AI moratorium."

Nguyen adds, "Their argument against a moratorium has grown more nakedly far right ever since."

Tweeting her article on December 5, Nguyen noted, "It’s inevitable that Trump will sign some sort of executive order about AI pre-emption, simply because he’s stated that he wants it done. But the broligarchy's pursuit of a moratorium has made the concept politically radioactive. Case in point: MAGA hates it.

Many MAGA Republicans, Nguyen emphasizes, view AI technology as a recipe for major job losses.

"Recent polling indicates that a vast, bipartisan majority of Americans oppose the idea of a state AI law moratorium," Nguyen observes. "And few demographics are more hostile to the idea than the Republican MAGA base, who have long distrusted Big Tech and view AI as a threat to job security, traditional family values, and the mental health of their children. Backing a moratorium would be disastrous for potential Republican presidential candidates aligned with the MAGA base, such as Vice President JD Vance."

Read Tina Nguyen's full article for The Verve at this link.

When Tuesday night, November 4 arrived, Democratic strategists were on pins and needles as they awaited returns in 2025's off-year elections. And there was a lot of good news for Democrats, from double-digit victories in gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey to landslide wins in three Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention votes.

Those elections were widely viewed as a referendum on Donald Trump's second presidency, giving Democrats some optimism about the 2026 midterms.

Now, Democratic and GOP strategists are paying close attention to a U.S. House special election in Tennessee that will be held this Tuesday, December 2. With former Rep. Mark Green having retired from Congress, the election finds Democratic State Rep. Aftyn Behn up against Republican Matt Van Epps.

Reporting for USA Today in late November, reporters Joey Garrison and Zac Anderson explain, "Fresh off Democrats' domination in the off-year elections, a congressional race in Tennessee has become an unlikely test for whether a national blue wave is building that could produce a seismic shakeup in next year's midterm election."

Behn and Van Epps are competing in a very GOP-leaning congressional district. Yet Behn is surprisingly competitive in polls.

"Tennessee's 7th Congressional District was never supposed to be competitive," Garrison and Anderson report. "It's the creation of Tennessee's Republican-controlled legislature, which drew its boundaries in 2022 by splitting Democrat-stronghold Nashville into three districts, each dominated by conservative rural counties and different Middle Tennessee suburbs. One was District 7, which includes parts of Nashville's Davidson County and 13 other countries."

The USA Today reporters add, "Trump won Tennessee's Congressional District 7 by 22 percentage points over Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. But both Democrats and Republicans are bracing for a close election next week. A poll from Emerson College Polling/The Hill found Van Epps leading by only 2 percentage points, 48 percent to 46 percent, within the survey's margin of error. Even if Behn doesn't win the race — something that would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago — a defeat by single-digits could signal major trouble for Republicans in the 2026 midterms."

Read the full USA Today article at this link.

In right-wing media and on Manosphere websites, a MAGA theory known as "The Great Feminization" is receiving a great deal of attention. The theory argues that the more influence women have, the more business, government, law and education deteriorate.

Many feminists are calling out the "Great Feminization" theory as blatant misogyny, but the criticism isn't limited to liberals and progressives. In an opinion column published by The New York Times on October 23, Never Trump conservative and evangelical Christian David French lays out a variety of reasons why he finds the theory painfully flawed.

French points to an essay by Helen Andrews that was published by Compact Magazine on October 16 and headlined "The Great Feminization." And he takes issue with the reasoning of Andrews and others who are promoting the theory.

"The supposed feminine commitment to 'empathy over rationality, safety over risk, cohesion over competition' manifests itself as the dread wokeness and ultimately destroys institutions and professions — that's the core thesis of an essay by Andrews that was based on a speech she gave at the National Conservatism conference in September," French explains. "Both the essay and the speech are generating an immense amount of conversation."

French takes issue with the argument that men are inherently logical while women are inherently emotional.

"When you encounter the young men of the new right — their faces all too often twisted in rage — 'rational' is often not the first word that comes to mind," the conservative columnist laments. "Andrews vastly understates the role of emotion in masculinity…. As the workplace has become more inclusive, Americans have become more prosperous. As women have gained more political power, our nation has become more just. Consider the immense and positive social changes in the United States since women won the right to vote in 1920."

French continues, "That's not because women are better than men, but it is a consequence of bringing half of humanity, with all of the gifts and talents of countless millions of women, into full and equal participation in our national life. In many ways, Andrews' piece is an essay-length argument for the old Ben Shapiro line, 'Facts don't care about your feelings.' Facts, in this telling, are rational and masculine. Feelings are irrational and feminine. Facts can be trusted. Feelings cannot. That's an impoverished view of moral reasoning."

French argues that MAGA's "right-wing gender wars" of 2025 "are committing the very sins they attribute to the enemies they detest."

"Their emotions have gotten the best of them," the Never Trumper writes. "In the name of masculine toughness, their fear and insecurity lead them astray."

David French's full New York Times column is available at this link (subscription required).

President Donald Trump's allies, from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) to House Minority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minnesota), are going out of their way to demonize the No Kings Days protests scheduled for this Saturday, October 18 in cities all over the United States. According to organizers, roughly 2500 protests in opposition to Trump's policies will take place.

Johnson is claiming that the protests will be full of Antifa and "pro-Hamas" agitators and have a "hate America" theme. But MSNBC host and former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele, in his October 16 column for MSNBC's website, argues that MAGA's "unhinged" talking points attacking the No Kings events are detached from reality.

"House Republican Whip Tom Emmer claimed that 'you'll see the hate for America all over this thing when they show up' for the rally," Steele explains. "Sen. Roger Marshall claimed protesters were being paid and suggested the National Guard might need to show up. Trust me when I say these comments aren't spontaneous. When I was chairman of the Republican National Committee, I sat in countless meetings where we carefully crafted the talking points for the week, fine-tuning the language so everyone from local lawmakers to friendly cable news pundits could stay on message. But when we did that, it was to keep someone from upending the party message by saying something unhinged."

Steele adds, "This time, the unhinged comments are the message."

The Never Trump conservative goes on to argue that Trump allies are offended by the "No Kings" messaging because they want Trump to have the dictatorial powers of a monarch.

"Organizers of the 'No Kings' protests have a simple message: America is a democracy, not a dictatorship," Steele observes. "It's right there in the name of the rally. So it's bizarre to see Republican leaders seek in advance to paint this as dangerous, unpatriotic astroturfing…. Whether opposing King George or a wannabe king named Trump, our civic resolve to protect this fragile experiment remains the same."

Steele continues, "But Trump-era Republicans do not want to govern for the American people anymore. They want a king. The same party that once celebrated individual liberty and limited government now demands loyalty to a single leader, punishes dissent and attacks the free press. Which is why any unrest this weekend will be used to justify further erosion of our civil liberties. But the protesters gathering on Saturday know this. They are not radicals; nor are they a dangerous threat except to those who seek to strangle freedom of speech. They are citizens who refuse to accept authoritarianism as the new normal."

Michael Steele's full MSNBC column is available at this link.

This Saturday, October 18, roughly 2500 No Kings Day protests will, according to organizers, be held in cities all over the United States. The demonstrations are expressing opposition to President Donald Trump's policies and are a follow-up to the No Kings Day protests held four months ago on Saturday, June 14, when the flagship event in Philadelphia reportedly attracted over 100,000 participants.

Allies of Trump, from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, are going out of their way to demonize the No Kings gatherings. Johnson is claiming that the protests are "Hate America" events consisting of Hamas supporters and Antifa agitators, but in fact, the June 14 gatherings were much different from the way the House speaker characterized them and drew a wide range of participants — from liberals to centrist Democrats to democratic socialists to right-wing libertarians and Never Trump conservatives.

Now, Bessent has a new talking point against the No Kings protests and is blaming them for the partial shutdown of the federal government, which has been going on for half a month.

The New Republic's Edith Olmsted, in an article published on October 15, reports, "Republicans are rushing to recast upcoming protests against President Donald Trump as anti-American rallies that are somehow prolonging the government shutdown. During an interview on CNBC Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blamed the Democrats for a lack of movement on reopening the federal government, claiming that they were waiting to move until after the 'No Kings Day' rally planned for October 18 opposing the (Trump) Administration's authoritarian tilt."

Bessent told CNBC, "No Kings equal no paycheck."

Johnson, at a press conference, told reporters, "Let’s see who shows up for that. I bet you see pro-Hamas supporters. I bet you see antifa-types. I bet you see the Marxists in full display. The people who don't want to stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic, and that’s what we're here doing every single day."

Bessent's claim that the No Kings protests are to blame for the shutdown is generating a lot of comments on X, formerly Twitter.

KrassenCast's Brian Krassenstein tweeted, "You hear that America? Scott Bessent just said that 'no kings equal no paycheck.' Seems pretty pro kings to me."

X user Pramod Sharma wrote, "Bessent's 'no kings, no paychecks' remark is a cynical deflection from the administration's shutdown failures, undermining protest rights and distorting reality. It's a troubling prioritization of politics over governance. #NoKings #GovernmentShutdown."

New Jersey resident Kimberly Clem posted, "Now they're blaming the shutdown on the NO KINGS PEACEFUL PROTESTS?? Seriously, f— these lying m— and RELEASE THE TRUMPSTEIN FILES!!"

X user Maddened Ranter commented, "Such BS. The rally has nothing to do with the shutdown. It was planned months ago. @SecScottBessent always lies. It's not crazy to protest a president who clearly wants to be a dictator and king. That is not what the US is about."

Another X user, Mark Cavanaugh, wrote, "The two events are not connected but these GOP ghouls certainly seem scared by the No Kings rallies. Funny since NO KINGS is a founding principle of our government."s

Read Edith Olmsted's full article for The New Republic at this link.

Conservatives often mock the physical appearances of liberals and progressives, and vice-versa. While the right stereotypes Millennial left-wing activists as having purple hair and a lot of tattoos, liberals and progressives point to the stereotypical American flag shirts worn by people on the right.

But in an article published by The Guardian on October 15, journalist Einav Rabinovitch Fox describes a trend on the right that is different from stereotypical conservative attire: "fascist" fashion.

"Fascism is back in style," Fox reports. "Forget the old symbols: swastikas, nooses, Confederate flags, skinheads' shaved heads and combat boots. Extremism has a new look, and it is as fashionable as ever. Today's extremist styles are more diverse and more subtle. Beyond t-shirts that advertise blatant racism, polo shirts with coded symbols create a shared in-group identity and signal support of violence to other believers."

Fox adds, "Tradwife-style prairie dresses and beauty regimens promote conservative visions of family. Clothing is a powerful tool to spread fascist ideas to promote authoritarianism and recruit new members to this cause."

According to Fox, the "the far right's weaponization of fashion" has a long history, going back to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the late 19th Century.

"Fascist movements have long understood the power of aesthetics," Fox explains. "In 1920s Italy, Benito Mussolini harnessed black shirts and the ancient Roman symbol of the fasces — a bundle of sticks with an axe, which stands for power and authority — to build his power and his brand. German clothier Hugo Boss, a card-carrying Nazi, designed the uniforms of the Schutzstaffel (SS) paramilitary and the Hitler Youth. Hate came with a slick, tailored look."

Fox continues, "In the U.S., the white robes of the Ku Klux Klan and burning crosses have long been trademarks of white supremacy. In the 1980s, the original fascists' skinhead successors appropriated and repurposed bomber jackets, shaved heads and combat boots as their distinct form of military-ish chic. Now, welcome to fascist fashion 3.0."

According to University of Georgia professor Monica Sklar, these 2025 fashion express one's sense of identity.

Sklar told The Guardian, "The idea is not being quite a subculture but to be embedded in the power structure. Instead of coding things to move away from the masses, this fashion is coding things to move into the masses."

Read Einav Rabinovitch Fox's full article for The Guardian at this link.

During an early October broadcast of her SiriusXM show, former Fox News host Megyn Kelly attacked ex-MSNBC host Joy Reid and former CNN host Don Lemon for their recent comments on Black-on-Black crime. Kelly accused both Reid and Lemon of "racializing" crime statistics.

Reid discussed Kelly's comments during an appearance on Tommy Christopher's Substack show on Thursday, October 2, and she had some scathing words for the far-right SiriusXM star.

Reid noted that Kelly "took selfies with Alex Jones," adding, "She's become a troll. Her thing is just trolling…. She's basically the blonde Laura Loomer. That lady is saying who's a real journalist?"

The former MSNBC host noted that after leaving Fox News, Kelly "failed as a dayside host because they tried to make Megyn fun and approachable and girlfriend material —and clearly, she's not that."

Reid, in the past, has described Kelly as "the ultimate mean girl" — a description she doubled down on during her conversation with Christopher.

Reid told Christopher, "She's one of the angriest, most miserable rich people I've ever seen in my life. Like, she's so angry. I mean, I guess the premise of her show is: It's your angry ex-wife. What is the purpose of that show? The premise of it is: I'm the meanest blonde you've ever seen."

Although 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris carried a handful of western states — including California, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon and Washington — Nevada and Arizona were nail-biters that Donald Trump won by single digits in the end. Utah, however, remained deep red, with Trump winning it by 22 percent.

Yet one of Utah's biggest employers, an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) center in Ogden, is being adversely affected by the mass layoffs of federal workers being carried out by the Trump Administration with the help of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Now, Ogden is receiving another financial blow thanks to the partial government shutdown that went into effect on October 1.

MSNBC's "Morning Joe" took a look at Ogden's troubles in a report aired on Friday morning, October 3.

Reporting from Ogden, MSNBC's Rosa Flores described the "trickle-down effect" that the IRS center's problems are having in the Utah city: When IRS workers have less money to spend, the local businesses that they patronize also take a hit.

Flores emphasized that the businesses' "bottom lines" are hurting, adding, "There's also an emotional toll to the business owners who really devote their heart and soul to those businesses."

Flores interviewed Larry Whitnack, a 78-year-old man who, she reported, "had a coffee shop here on this street for 20 years," Jesse Jean's Café, before he had to close down. The business, according to Whitnack, suffered a range of hardships — from a previous government shutdown to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A tearful Whitnack told Flores, "It was family. The people we got to know — and so many have come and gone. So many have lived and died that it's provided life experience for me I never would have had without Jesse Jean's Café."

Flores told MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire, "You probably heard the emotion in Larry's voice. And he said that that pain is the price of human connection. And he said that human connection is what's missing in Washington right now. That human connection is what he says can cross the divides and unite America."

During the United States' 2024 presidential race, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris warned that if Donald Trump won the election and followed through on the steep tariffs he was proposing, Americans could look forward to much higher prices. Yet it was Trump who, according to polls, had the advantage on inflation, hammering Harris and then-President Joe Biden relentlessly on that issue. And it was enough of an advantage for Trump to narrowly win the popular vote by roughly 1.5 percent.

Many polls cited the economy as a top reason why a small majority of voters favored Trump over Harris in the end. But now, eight months into his second presidency, Associated Press (AP) polling is showing that what was once Trump's greatest advantage — the economy — is now a major weakness.

Associated Press (AP) reporter Linley Sanders, in an article published on September 24, explains, "Once strengthened by economic issues, Trump's approval is now relatively low on the economy — and he's leaning on his stronger issues of crime, border security and immigration. Concerns about the economy and immigration helped propel him to the White House, but polling over the past year shows that Americans' faith in the Republican president's handling of the economy is low — particularly among independents — and his approval on immigration has fallen slightly."

Sanders continues, "Now, Trump's strongest issues are border security and crime, but there were signs of potential weakness on crime in the most recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research."

According to AP/NORC, only 37 percent of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy. And Trump fares slightly worse on his handling of health care, with 35 percent approval.

However, Trump enjoys 55 percent approval on border security, according to AP/NORC found that. And his overall approval, AP/NORC finds, is 39 percent.

Although four U.S. presidents have faced articles of impeachment — Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump — none of them were actually removed from office via a U.S. Senate trial. Johnson, Clinton and Trump were found "not guilty" in their Senate trials, and Nixon stepped down as president in August 1974 before a Senate trial had a chance to come about.

Americans who witnessed the Watergate scandal first hand — including Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks and journalists Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and Dan Rather — have often been asked to compare Nixon and Trump. And all of them have said, without hesitation, that Trump is much worse. Woodward described Trump as "far worse than Richard Nixon."

In an article published on September 23, Salon's Heather Digby Parton stresses that Trump is crossing lines that Nixon wouldn't have dared to cross.

"Until very recently," Parton explains, "the consensus among historians and political observers was that Richard Nixon was the most corrupt president in American history. There had been other scandals, of course, but none of them featured the same crude, gangster quality of Watergate, the details of which shocked and appalled the American people as they were slowly uncovered between 1972 and 1974. We learned that the president of the United States acted like a common thug in private, issuing orders to his enforcers in language closer to that used by the mobsters featured in the recent hit movie 'The Godfather' than the dignified leader of the Free World."

But Parton argues that even though "the Nixon Administration's corruption and abuse of power was overwhelming," Nixon "was an amateur compared to Donald Trump."

"When the evidence in Watergate became undeniable," Parton explains, "Republicans in Congress abandoned Nixon. Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater famously led a delegation of congressional Republicans to the White House and told the president he would be impeached and removed from office. Nixon was forced to resign. But Trump has gone farther than Nixon ever contemplated."

Parton continues, "After his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, along with the infamous events of January 6, Trump was rewarded with a triumphant return to the White House four years later. Now, as his corruption and retribution have gone into overdrive, he maintains the full and enthusiastic support of his party.

Heather Digby Parton's full article for Salon is available at this link.

MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) has drawn plenty of criticism in opinion columns and op-eds published by MSNBC, many of which describe her as a far-right conspiracy theorist who is more interested in performative antics than in governance. But an op-ed published by MSNBC on September 9 is quite favorable to MTG, applauding her recent efforts on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein survivors.

In the op-ed, Ray Brescia — a law professor at Albany Law School in Upstate New York — argues that Greene has become an increasingly valuable advocate for Epstein survivors and the push to make U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) files on him public.

MTG joined Reps. Ro Khanna (D-California) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) at a bipartisan September 3 press conference on Capitol Hill, where survivors of Epstein's sex crimes spoke and the Georgia congressman vowed to keep fighting on their behalf.

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"Most GOP lawmakers are defending — or at least avoiding criticizing — the president amid the Epstein 'hoax,' as (President Donald) Trump continues to call it," Brescia explains. "Yet one of his most ardent supporters, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has said she will side with the survivors of Epstein's sex trafficking operation. And Greene can use one of the most powerful tools of her office to aid them. With calls to release the files from across the political spectrum growing louder and louder, the Department of Justice and Republicans in Congress have largely run interference for the president."

Brescia continues, "They've professed a commitment to justice for the survivors, but blocked any efforts at meaningful transparency. In July, Speaker Mike Johnson sent the House home early for its summer recess to prevent more votes on proposals to require the Justice Department to release the Epstein files."

Khanna and Massie are trying to gather enough votes for a petition calling for DOJ to release all of its files on Epstein — and MTG has signed the petition even though Trump considers a signature a "hostile act."

"In the face of this stonewalling and threats," Brescia observes, "the survivors are speaking up more than ever…. If Epstein's victims also name names, they could quickly find themselves defendants in defamation suits, too. That's where Greene — and the Constitution — come in. Thanks to the 'speech and debate' clause in the Constitution, members of Congress have immunity for statements and acts carried out as part of their official duties, especially when they make statements within the legislative chambers or pursuant to their legitimate legislative powers…. That immunity allows Greene to say, as she did last week, that if the survivors 'want to give me a list, I will walk in that Capitol on the House floor and I'll say every damn name that abused these women. I can do that for them, and I’d be proud to do it.'"

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The Albany Law School professor adds, "Unlike the victims who might speak out, then, Greene, Massie and any federal legislator who wants to communicate the testimony of the victims would be completely immune from claims of defamation for their statements."

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Ray Brescia's full MSNBC op-ed is available at this link.

MAGA Republicans have found a new way to troll liberals and progressives during the Summer of 2025: posting sorority dance videos online and claiming that they are "triggered" by them.

The videos are appearing on TikTok, YouTube and X, and MAGA pundits are claiming that liberals and progressives are deeply upset by images of young sorority members dancing in miniskirts and short shorts — especially if the women are white and blonde.

In a biting article published on August 22, Salon's Amanda Marcotte argues that this trolling campaign is not only "dumb" — it is also totally hypocritical in light of MAGA Republicans' history of attacking women for enjoying themselves.

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Countless MAGA Republicans, for example, were furious when an old video of now-Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) dancing surfaced.

"It's not mysterious what’s happening here," Marcotte argues. "Republican pundits found a massive success distracting the MAGA base from Donald Trump's Jeffrey Epstein scandal by pretending there was some major progressive outcry against a sexy ad featuring Sydney Sweeney. Liberals didn’t really care, and right-wingers were forced to create AI videos to manufacture 'evidence' for this non-existent outrage."

The Salon journalist continues, "Eager to keep distracting the public from Trump's myriad of scandals and failures — while also having an excuse for public horniness — MAGA influencers tried to cook up a similar fake controversy about sorority dances. But what makes this all especially pathetic is that, typically, MAGA social media prefers to throw a screeching fit about the loose morals of women who dance in online videos."

Marcotte goes on to cite specific examples of MAGA Republicans becoming furious over videos of women dancing.

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"Last summer," she explains, "MAGA posters rage-stroked over a video deemed 'Gen Z boss and a mini,' which featured women in an office dancing and chanting about how they see themselves in the world. Right-wingers fumed, 'This is cancer'….. This followed a similar freakout during Mardi Gras last year, when X users melted down over a video of a group of college-aged girls dancing to hip-hop at a gas station in Louisiana. This, in turn, followed another MAGA tantrum over a college-era video of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., dancing with friends, which was held out as proof that she was a 'clueless nitwit'."

Marcotte adds, "After years of dancing videos being wielded as a rhetorical weapon against women's rights, we're now expected to believe, as right-wing pundit Megyn Kelly declared, that MAGA wants young women to be 'hot and together and free and unmasked in every way.' This was self-evidently dumb, and not just because of the obsessive re-litigation of a pandemic that ended when all these sorority girls were barely out of junior high. Thanks to Republicans overturning Roe v. Wade, young women aren't as free as they were before. It's a reminder of how depraved right-wing attitudes are around sex that they expect young women to be 'hot,' but to not have sexual desire of their own — much less act on it."

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Amanda Marcotte's full article for Salon is available at this link.

When Vice President JD Vance turned 41 on Saturday, August 2, he celebrated with a family boating trip in his native Ohio. And according to reporting in The Guardian and later, the Daily Beast, Vance went to great lengths for the celebration: He contacted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asked for the water level to be raised.

Guardian reporters Stephanie Kirchgaessner and David Smith explain, "JD Vance's team had the Army Corps of Engineers in Louisville, Ohio, take the unusual step of changing the outflow of a lake to accommodate a recent boating excursion on a family holiday, The Guardian has learned. The request from the U.S. Secret Service was made to 'support safe navigation' of the U.S. vice-president’s security detail for an August outing on the Little Miami River, according to a statement by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Vance was spotted in the south-western Ohio area on 2 August, his 41st birthday, according to social media posts that noted he was seen canoeing on the river, a tributary that Caesar Creek Lake feeds into."

The reporters add, "One source with knowledge of the matter who communicated with the Guardian anonymously alleged that the outflow request for the Caesar Creek Lake was not just to support the vice-president’s Secret Service detail, but also, to create 'ideal kayaking conditions.'"

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Vance's weekend boating trip is generation a lot of comments on X, formerly Twitter — many of them downright scathing.

Journalist and former Columbus Dispatch reporter Darrel Rowland tweeted, "JD Vance’s team had water level of Little Miami River raised last week for family's boating trip, per The Guardian. Incident raises questions of exploitation of public services, but Secret Service says it was requested for 'safe navigation.'"

Literature professor Anne Margaret Daniel commented, "JD Vance had the level of the Ohio River raised by draining part of a lake so his family rafting trip would have plenty of water ('for safety' was the excuse). We need a new word for the worst person, the absolute worst person."

In a separate tweet, Daniel wrote, "All these things, really: sick and selfish, and giving not a single solitary damn for the environment in any way (which is to me demonic)."

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X user Andrew Coyle sarcastically posted, "They're against the elites. JD Vance's team had water level of Ohio river raised for family's boating trip."

Another X user, Piyush Mittal, remarked, "JD Vance’s team had water level of Ohio river raised for family's boating trip. Power has really gone to his head, hasn't it?"

X user Dane Southard wrote, "You have Got To Be f------ Kidding Me. Taxpayers paid for JD Vance to have the Army Corps of engineers Raise the water level of an Ohio river, JUST so he could improve the kayaking conditions for his birthday outing."

Canadian X user Asa Rochester commented, "For better or worse you don't have to worry about that kind of stuff in Canada."

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During his 2024 presidential race, Donald Trump repeatedly claimed that he was the election's real economic populist — not Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. Trump vigorously attacked the Biden Administration on inflation, vowing to bring down prices if he returned to the White House. And that messaging worked: Trump narrowly defeated Harris and won the national popular vote by roughly 1.5 percent.

But in a scathing opinion column published on July 11, Sidney Blumenthal — once a senior adviser to former President Bill Clinton — attacks Trump's "big, beautiful bill" (which he signed into law over the 4th of July Weekend) as a total betrayal of his 2024 campaign promises.

"Donald Trump's so-called 'big, beautiful bill,' which will eviscerate the living standards, healthcare and aspirations of his white, working-class base, conclusively draws the curtain down on his MAGA populist conceit — the most elaborate charade in recent American political history," Blumenthal warns. "The price will be staggering: $1tn in cuts to Medicaid; throwing 17 million people off health coverage closing rural hospitals and women's health clinics; battering food assistance for families, children and veterans; the virtual destruction of U.S. solar and wind energy manufacturing; limiting access to financial aid for college; and, according to the Yale Budget Lab, adding $3tn to the national debt over the next decade, inexorably leading to raised interest rates, which will depress the housing market."

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Blumental adds, "These are the harsh, brutal and undeniable realities of Trumpism in the glare of day as opposed to his carnival act about how he will never touch such benefits."

The former Bill Clinton adviser argues that although Trump "lies constantly," he "has never concealed his intentions."

"The wrong question is: whom has Trump betrayed?," Blumental argues. "The right question is: whom hasn't he betrayed?.... His MAGA devotees may love him for the objects of his hatefulness. They don't register that someone whose nature is to betray everyone will surely betray them."

Blumental adds, "They may not even grasp that their betrayal has already happened."

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Read Sidney Blumenthal's full column for The Guardian at this link.

During a Tuesday afternoon, June 24 appearance on MSNBC, Ivo H. Daalder — president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during Barack Obama's presidency — expressed fears that President Donald Trump is alienating the United States' allies at a time when the U.S. needs them the most. Daalder told MSNBC's Chris Jansing, "Allies make you strong…. Donald Trump, for 40 years, has not believed in alliances."

Daalder is not alone in worrying about the United States' longtime alliances, including alliances with fellow members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Although Trump is attending the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands, fears that the U.S. has become unreliable are not uncommon in Europe — where governments are increasing their military budget and hoping that doing so will appease Trump.

But according to The Guardian's Damien Gayle, some Europeans fear that increased military spending will mean less money for social spending and scientific research.

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"Analyses drafted in anticipation of a NATO Summit beginning on Tuesday warned of the opportunity cost that higher military spending would pose to the continent's climate mitigation and social programs, which are consistently underfunded," Gayle explains in an article published on June 24. "The alliance's leading member, the U.S., and its Dutch secretary general, Mark Rutte, expect members to agree to proposals to dramatically raise defense spending targets from 2 percent to 5 percent of GDP. But critics say the focus on military spending, which comes on top of big increases by European countries over the past few years, overlooks the risks to security posed by environmental breakdown and social decay."

One person who is sounding the alarm is Sebastian Mang, senior policy officer at the New Economics Foundation (NEF).

Mang told The Guardian, "Europe's public finance debate has never been about what we can afford, but what governments choose to prioritize. Having already committed to higher defense budgets, plans to raise spending even further expose the double standard applied to investment in climate, housing and care. If extraordinary sums can be mobilized for the military, with far lower economic returns and much lower social benefits, then the refusal to fund a just transition and stronger public services is clearly political, not economic."

Chris Hayes, chief economist at Common Wealth, is speaking out as well.

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Hayes, not to be confused with the MSNBC host, told The Guardian, "Demands for further increases to military spending have a stark opportunity cost, prioritizing clean energy would deliver the energy security whose absence was so painfully exposed in 2022."

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Read The Guardian's full article at this link.

The 1973 dystopian sci-fi movie "Soylent Green "— which starred Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson and took place in 2022 — depicted a hellish world in which widespread pollution and global warming had led to severe food and water shortages as well as widespread hunger and desperation. Now, in 2025, a newly released study finds that severe weather is threatening crops in a major way — and that the production of some key crops in the United States could decrease by as much as 50 percent by the end of the 21st Century.

The study was published by Nature.com on Wednesday, June 19 and was, according to CNN's Laura Paddison, "eight years in the making." It was conducted by a group of scientists, including Solomon Hsiang of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, and illustrates the link between food supply and climate change.

"Of the many impacts of the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis," Paddison reports in an article published by CNN that day, "damage to the global food system is one of the most terrifying. But the overall impact of climate change on crops — and how much it can be offset by farmers' adaptations — has been hard to establish and hotly debated…. The scientists analyzed six crops — maize, soybeans, rice, wheat, cassava and sorghum — in more than 12,000 regions across 54 countries. Together, these crops provide more than two thirds of humanity's calories."

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The CNN reporter continues, "They also measured how real-world farmers are adapting to climate change, from changing crop varieties to adjusting irrigation, to calculate the overall impact of global warming. Their findings are stark."

Paddison notes that according to the study, "every 1 degree Celsius the world warms above pre-industrial levels will drag down global food production by an average of 120 calories per person per day." Hsiang warns that this will increase food prices.

Hsiang told CNN, "If the climate warms by 3 degrees, that's basically like everyone on the planet giving up breakfast…. This is a major problem. It's incredibly expensive. As a species, we have never confronted anything like this."

Paddison reports, "Wheat, soy and maize — high value crops for a lot of the world — will be especially badly affected, the study found. If humans keep burning large amounts of fossil fuels, maize production could fall by 40 percent in the grain belt of the U.S., eastern China, central Asia, southern Africa and the Middle East; wheat production could fall by 40 percent in the U.S., China, Russia and Canada; and soybean yields could fall 50 percent in the U.S."

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The CNN journalist adds, "The only staple crop that might be able to avoid substantial losses is rice, which can benefit from warmer nighttime temperatures…. Global warming will be particularly devastating for the U.S., where it's projected to reduce yields by 40 percent to 50 percent for all staple crops except rice, Hsiang said."

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Read the study at Nature.com and find CNN's coverage here.

In an article published on Tuesday, June 17, Axios' Natalie Daher laid out a timeline of Democratic officials who have been arrested in connection with President Donald Trump's immigration policies — including Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka on May 9, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan in Wisconsin on May 13, U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver on June 10, and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) on June 12.

The most recent example Daher cites is New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a mayoral candidate arrested at an immigration court on June 17.

Many MAGA Republicans are applauding the arrests, claiming that they were interfering with the activities of the U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE). But one conservative who is calling out Padilla's arrest as "disgusting" is Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina).

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Padilla discussed his arrest during a June 17 speech, and the following day, Tillis spoke out on the Senate floor.

Padilla was arrested a press conference being held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. After being physically removed, he was thrown to the floor and handcuffed.

Tillis, during his speech, told the U.S. Senate, "Mr. President, the last thing I'm going to leave you with is: I sat on this floor yesterday while Sen. Padilla was speaking. And I have to tell you that the events that occurred — and I’m saying this because now I hear about a dustup in New York, folks — Alex Padilla, I consider a friend.… His emotions were at a 10 because of some of the things that he's seen occurring in terms of ICE detention, ICE raids."

Tillis continued, "I agree and disagree with him on some of the policy, but folks, we've got to get to a point where elected officials have to take some responsibility for their actions."

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The North Carolina Republican stressed that Padilla, as a U.S. senator, had a right to be in a federal building on June 12.

Tillis told his colleagues, "Sen. Padilla should have found a better way to elevate his concerns to the secretary of Homeland Security rather than going in there and having that dust-up."

"Having said that, there were clearly people in that building that knew he was a U.S. Senator," Tillis continued. "So the minute he was removed from that situation in that briefing room, then they should have treated him with respect and allowed him to disperse. It was disgusting to me to see somebody wrestled to the floor, anybody, but particularly a U.S. senator that's in a federal building."

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Watch Sen. Thom Tillis' speech at this Mediaite link.

This Saturday, June 14 in Washington, DC, President Donald Trump will celebrate his 79th birthday with a large military parade.

Trump is billing the event as a salute to the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary, but many critics are arguing that the parading isn't really honoring the military — it is really an exercise in self-aggrandizement on Trump's part. And the No Kings movement is responding to the parade with large protests that will be held in cities all over the United States, from Boston to Atlanta to Seattle to Chicago.

Will Selber, a military veteran, lays out his criticisms of Trump's June 14 parade in an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark the day before the event: Friday, June 13.

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"On Saturday," Selber explains, "nearly 6600 soldiers, 150 military vehicles, and a range of aircraft are scheduled to form a grand military parade, ostensibly to celebrate the United States Army's 250th anniversary, which also falls on President Donald Trump's 79th birthday. The entire event is estimated to cost between $25 million and $45 million — but the real costs are much greater…. For his part, President Trump, who has long boasted of his affection for authoritarians, is using this spectacle to boost his tough-guy image at home and abroad."

Selber continues, "While he stands in review in D.C., active-duty marines and National Guard will still be in Los Angeles, ostensibly keeping 'violent insurrectionists' from causing chaos. So as Trump celebrates the military, and attempts to merge his legitimacy with its, he will simultaneously be using it, possibly in violation of the law, against American citizens."

Trump, Selber warns, is using the military in a self-serving way — from the June 14 parade to sending U.S. Marines to Downtown Los Angeles in response to tense protests.

"Trump's politicization of the military and militarization of politics poses a significant threat to the armed forces," the veteran explains. "While every president uses the military to boost their image to some degree, no president has used the military to legitimate harsh partisan rhetoric as Trump has, underscoring concerns that he is attempting to make the military loyal to him, rather than the Constitution. While Americans continue to view the U.S. military favorably, associating the military with President Trump and the Republican Party threatens to jeopardize bipartisan support for one of the few remaining trusted institutions in American life."

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Selber adds, "Trump's recent speech at Fort Bragg is likely a harbinger for this weekend's event. During his recent trip, he disparaged California Gov. Newsom and former President Joe Biden, eliciting boos from active-duty service members. Soldiers were also spotted buying partisan merchandise on base. Trump would like the country to believe that the military is populated entirely by MAGAs and is therefore implicitly loyal to him. This is not true…. If Trump really supported the troops, he'd help them do their jobs and reintegrate back into civilian life when their service is over. But as his parade so obviously demonstrates, he's really only interested in the troops supporting him."

Will Selber's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.

This Saturday, June 14, the No Kings movement will be holding large protests all over the United States — from Seattle to Chicago to Philadelphia — to express opposition to President Donald Trump's military parade. And Brevard County, Florida Sheriff Wayne Ivey, a far-right MAGA Republican, is drawing vehement condemnation for remarks that critics say are threatening nonviolent protesters with violence.

At a press conference on June 12, Ivey told reporters, "If you spit on us, you're going to the hospital and in jail. If you hit one of us, you're going to the hospital and jail. And most likely get bitten by one of our big, beautiful dogs that we have here. If you throw a brick, a firebomb or point of gun at one of our deputies, notifying your family where to collect your remains at. Because we will kill you, graveyard dead. We're not going to play."

Ivey's comments are drawing a lot of negative reactions on X, formerly Twitter.

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The Grio tweeted, "Florida Sheriff Wayne Ivey had quite the message for protesters expected to hit the streets ahead of an anti-Trump rally on Saturday: 'We will kill you.' The law enforcement official's rhetoric has been condemned and comes amid ongoing protests in LA."

X user MeloDramatical wrote, "White supremacy is the greatest threat we face as a nation."

Another X user, Auntie Smartassey posted, "No one should become violent, Sheriff Wayne Ivey. Explain why the president pardons cop beaters? What validates their violence in your eyes? People who fight for human rights should face prison or death? But violence in the name of Trump is okay?"

Florida resident Kirsty Johnson posted, "This is Sherrif Wayne Ivey from my home county, his being an a------ isn't new, but openly & unapologetically saying he will brutalize and even MURDER folks is f------ sick. Pathetic, pathetic men and 'officers.'"

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Democrat Kim Brideau wrote, "F--- the fascist sheriff."

Douglas E., @DouglasE4True, a self-described Antifa supporter, posted, "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. How many times must the cops show themselves as white supremacist thugs/goons to be believed?"

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