Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) lost it during a confirmation hearing with President Donald Trump's surgeon general nominee, Dr. Casey Means.

Means, a wellness coach and influencer, accomplished her medical degree but never went through a residency program, leading critics to question some of her qualifications. She currently doesn't have an active medical license.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had questions about vaccine policy and studying vaccines.

After Sanders asked his questions, Mullin began with a targeted attack on Sanders.

At one point, he attacked Sanders for supporting the Affordable Care Act, which Mullin claimed was no longer affordable.

"No, I support a national healthcare program which would cut the —" Sanders said shouting over Mullin.

"I'm sorry, it's my time," Mullin said as Sanders talked over him.

"But you're attacking me!" Sanders exclaimed.

"Nah, I'm pointing' out facts!" Mullin yelled back. "You can say what you want I'm just pointing' out facts."

"No. You're pointing out lies," said Sanders.

Mullin went off on a bit more in his speech before saying, "I'm sorry, I ranted too long."

"Yes you did," Sanders quipped.

That's when Mullin lost it.

"I'm sorry, I didn't ask your opinion on that. If I cared about your opinion I would ask you. But I don't care about your opinion. You're part of the system. You're part of the problem," Mullin raged.

"You've been sittin' here longer than I've even been alive!" Mullin continued.

Sanders was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006. Before that he was elected to the U.S. House in 1991. Mullin was born in 1977.

"This is your problem!" Mullin said. "You should have fixed this a long time ago. You've been railing' on it so long, what have you been doing?"

"I decided not to run for Surgeon General," Sanders quipped, moving back to speak to the witness.

"That is something we'd never accept," said Mullin.

Overcoming a series of scandals that experts feared would sink his campaign, former oysterman Graham Platner defeated Gov. Janet Mills in the Maine Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday.

Platner entered the election with high hopes, as supporters embraced his economic populist message. Yet despite receiving high profile endorsements, including from the democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Platner’s campaign was bogged down by a series of scandals. First it came out that he had a Nazi tattoo on his chest, which he claims he chose without realizing its fascist origins. Then it was revealed that he had made racist, homophobic and sexist comments on Reddit boards, including claiming Black people are bad tippers and that victims of sexual violence needed to take accountability. Next it was revealed that he had shared intimate tests with multiple women while married, with a former campaign adviser accusing him of misleading people about this and other aspects of his past.

Despite these potential political liabilities, Platner convinced enough Democratic primary voters that he could defeat the incumbent Republican to prevail in the primary. He will now face off in the general election against Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) — with one caveat. If more scandals come out against Platner, Democrats can try to convince him to withdraw and pick a replacement candidate at a convention in July.

Despite their many political differences, President Donald Trump and liberal economist Robert Reich have something in common: Both will be turning 80 in June (Trump on June 14, Reich on June 24). Reich, in a Guardian column, lays out some reasons why he believes that Trump is suffering from "diminished capacities" and should be removed from office for the good of the United States.

Reich and Trump, both born in June 1946, are in the older ender of the Baby Boom generation (former President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, all octogenarians born in the early 1940s, are members of the Silent Generation — not Boomers). Different people age differently; Sanders, at 84, still sounds very sharp and focused in speeches. But Reich argues that Trump is sounding increasingly "diminished."

"I do not wish Trump ill," Reich writes in The Guardian. "While he hasn't shown a shred of compassion for anyone other than himself, this doesn't justify any of us lacking compassion for him. It's also in the interest of the U.S. and the world that he be physically and mentally able to discharge the duties of his office. So, we have reason to be concerned about Trump's visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last week for what the White House described as a 'routine annual dental and medical assessment.'"

Reich stresses that as someone who is about to become an octogenarian himself, he knows how much time can take its toll.

"Trump turns 80 next month," explains Reich, who served as labor secretary in the Clinton Administration. "I feel entitled to comment on the practical meaning of this milestone because I'll also turn 80 next month. He was born 10 days before me. Let's just say that reaching it doesn't mean altogether good things, unless you consider the alternative. Even in a healthy person, small things begin to break down as one approaches 80."

Reich continues, "Everything takes just a bit more time and effort. Joints ache. Energy isn't quite as abundant."

The liberal economist notes that Trump is experiencing "bruised hands, swollen ankles, bouts of drowsiness, exceedingly long blinks during official meetings…. and erratic, if not off-the-charts weird, behavior."

"What's he afraid of?" Reich writes. "Probably that the American public will catch on to his diminishing capacities…. But if Trump can't remember where he put, say, a top-secret memo or why he entered the Situation Room, or if he expresses bizarre impatience, it's a potential risk to the nation and world…. The evidence continues to mount: Trump is clearly incapable of satisfactorily discharging the duties of president of the United States."

Reich adds, "The sooner the 25th Amendment is invoked, or he is impeached, the safer are America and the world."

Democrat Chuck Rocha cautioned that President Donald Trump is putting himself in an awkward position with GOP leaders who might lose in primaries yes still hold office through the end of the year.

"Lame ducks" are typically called that because their influence wanes as it comes closer to the end of their time in office. In this case, however, there is still more than six months left for these Republicans to flex their power and cause trouble for Trump with no repercussions.

Sen. Bill Cassidy lost his primary race last week and voters in Kentucky will decide on Tuesday whether or not Rep. Thomas Massie (R) will remain as well. Massie has been a thorn in the side of Trump for the past year as he works to uncover the specifics about the Jeffrey Epstein files.

"Let me say this real quick," Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha said in his thick Texas accent during a CNN panel discussion. "You think about these primaries and you think about — I make light of it. But if Massie was to lose tonight, he's still in Congress till the end of the year. The Louisiana senator who just got beat in his primary, who dared to go against Trump, he's still going to be there till the end of the year."

Trump has been celebrating his victory in Indiana, where his aides worked to remove a slate of Republicans from their state legislative seats after they refused to support his redistricting effort in the state.

"Watch these folks who are all out of give-a-damns who have already lost a race. They're going to be a spur in the side of all these folks in Congress," Rocha added.

The narrow Republican majorities in the House and Senate give both Cassidy and Massie enormous power, particularly if they don't have anything to lose.

Cassidy, for example, chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee with Sen. Bernie Sanders, and he has the power to run a scorched-earth strategy. The committee is made up of progressive Democrats and a number of moderate Republicans, including Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who could lose her seat in November. Cassidy doesn't have much to do for the next six months, so he could begin calling hearings to hold people in Trump's Department of Health and Human Services accountable.

Democrats are betting controversial candidate Graham Platner is their best chance to unseat U.S. Senator Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who has not lost a race since she first won her seat in 1996. But scandal could sink his campaign even after Tuesday’s primary, handing Collins a clearer path to a sixth term.

Bloomberg opinion columnist Ronald Brownstein writes that the voting will “illuminate the one thin path that could allow” Democrats to “avoid that fate.”

“Polls show that Collins and Trump are both weaker in Maine today than during her last reelection in 2020, which could allow even Platner to beat her,” Brownstein writes. “Yet the oysterman’s many vulnerabilities increase the odds that, as during that 2020 race, Collins could improbably survive in this blue-trending state.”

According to Brownstein, Platner’s scandals may not be his only vulnerability.

He needs to win over Maine voters who disapprove of Trump. “In the 2018 and 2020 elections, the exit polls found that every Democratic Senate incumbent and challenger nationwide won at least 89% of voters who disapproved of Trump — except in Maine, where Sara Gideon, Collins’ 2020 opponent, won only 71% of them.”

A recent poll, taken before his latest scandal, shows Platner only winning 74% of them.

Brownstein explains that if Platner were to decide to drop out of the race by July 13, the Democratic Party would be allowed to replace him on the November election ballot. He notes that currently running for governor are several candidates who likely would meet the expectations of Platner’s coalition.

One of three candidates currently running for governor could replace Platner should he drop out before the July deadline.

“Former State Senate President Troy Jackson, a fifth-generation logger with deep working-class roots, has been endorsed in the governor’s race by the state AFL and Senator Bernie Sanders and would probably be the easiest replacement for Platner supporters to accept,” says Brownstein. “Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (who has greatly raised her stature since she lost her 2014 Senate race to Collins) and former state House Speaker Hannah Pingree (who might be the strongest statewide candidate of the three) also have many liberal supporters.”

Maine progressive activists in their conversations with Brownstein remain dedicated to Platner. “But each offered only praise for Jackson, Bellows and Pingree.”

The stakes for Democrats are high — and not only for Maine. Collins’ seat is considered must-win if Democrats are to retake control of the Senate.

“If Democrats don’t flip Maine, they will need to capture Senate seats in at least three states that Trump won by double digits in 2024,” says Brownstein. “That’s a daunting task.”

Billionaire Tom Steyer is officially out of the 2026 California gubernatorial race.

Steyer lost to both fellow Democrat and former United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra and a Republican, former Fox News host Steve Hilton. While Becerra was able to advance to the runoff relatively quickly after Election Night, Steyer and Hilton continued to face off against each other until Tuesday night.

Working against Steyer was the fact that he would have needed roughly one-third of the remaining roughly 1.3 million votes, including from populous counties like Fresno and Riverside that are not home to large numbers of the high-income progressives who were more likely to back Steyer.

“Tom Steyer ran for governor of California as a climate crusader endorsed by Bernie Sanders’ political organization, Our Revolution,” wrote MS NOW’s Armand Manoukian on Thursday. “He also spent at least $216 million of his own money on the race — and in the end, that was the only thing voters seemed to remember. With nearly 58 percent of the vote counted, he is running third.”

“The timing is unkind to the ultrawealthy,” Manoukian added. “In a March YouGov survey, 77 percent of adults said the wealthy have too much political power, and 52 percent said the government should try to reduce the share of wealth held by billionaires. More than half of adults told a May Politico poll that cost of living is the ‘worst they can remember.’ Against that backdrop, self-funding candidates — once a recruiter’s dream — have become a harder sell.”

Speaking to this journalist for Salon in 2020, Steyer argued that his political philosophy is based on the idea of regulating the free market to protect the environment and workers’ rights.

“People always want to say ‘free market,’” Steyer told Salon at the time. “I mean, those were the words you used, ‘free market economic structures.’ There are no free markets! Every market has rules. And so do we need to change the rules in the market? Heck yes! The whole idea of a free market, like God came down and in the state of nature created a free market? There’s no such thing. And just think about the labor market: Once upon a time, I could have hired a 12-year-old kid for 25 cents a day and worked him for 14 hours a day. Can’t do it now.”

He added, “You know why? Because they changed the rules. Because all markets are driven by rules. I will say this: unchecked capitalism in this respect has failed and will fail. The way that we’re going has failed and will fail.”

In late April, the U.S. State Department, under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, announced that it will be issuing a limited-edition United States passport featuring an image of President Donald Trump inside. But Senate Democrats are voicing their opposition to the plan and attacking it as wildly inappropriate.

A group of mostly Democratic senators, according to CNBC reporter Justin Papp, laid out their concerns in a letter sent to Rubio on Wednesday.

The group of senators was led by Oregon's Jeff Merkley, and other Senate Democrats who signed the letter, Papp reports, included Nevada's Jacky Rosen, Maryland's Chris Van Hollen and Virginia's Tim Kaine. Independent centrist Sen. Angus King of Maine signed it as well; King technically isn't a Democrat, but like another New England senator who doesn't have a party affiliation — self-described "democratic socialist" Bernie Sanders of Vermont — he caucuses with Democrats.

In their letter to Rubio, the senators argued, "The U.S. passport has never — and should not now — feature an image of a sitting U.S. president. We ask you to halt these plans given the anti-democratic impact this decision will have."

Papp notes that Trump, during his second presidency, "has made a point of putting his name and likeness on a variety of things" — including, recently, U.S. passports.

"His image appears on the 2026 America the Beautiful National Parks annual pass and will appear on a 250th anniversary gold coin, while another effort is afoot to get his face on a special edition $1 coin," Papp reports. "Also in honor of America's 250th, Trump’s signature will appear on dollar bills — the first time a sitting president will leave such an imprint on paper currency in the history of the U.S. Federal departments around Washington, including Agriculture, Justice and Labor, have hung banners from their facades featuring Trump's likeness…. Meanwhile, GOP lawmakers this Congress have introduced legislation to put his image on Mount Rushmore, rename Dulles International Airport in his honor and declare his birthday a national holiday. And Trump is pressing for a 250-foot 'triumphal arch' to be built near Arlington National Cemetery and a $40 million 'statue garden' of 'American heroes' near the National Mall."

July 4 will mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Declaration Independence. It was on July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia that the United States' Founding Fathering officially declared American independence from Great Britain, and Trump is using the America 250 celebrations to promote himself. But Democrats are pushing back against Trump's proposals.

In their letter to Rubio, the U.S. senators warned, "Using our nation's semi-quincentennial to elevate the profile of the current president risks turning a unifying national milestone into a vehicle for personal promotion. Proceeding would risk politicizing a document that is central to our national identity and could result in unnecessary and wasteful costs to the American taxpayer."

This Monday night, June 8, President Donald Trump is planning to attend an NBA Finals game at New York City's Madison Square Garden. But the Queens native is unpopular in his home town, which is predominantly Democratic. And according to the Washington Post reporter Dan Diamond, Trump is "widely expected to be showered with boos" at the NBA (National Basketball Association) game — where the New York Knicks will be competing with the San Antonio Spurs.

Trump, Diamond reports, was invited by Knicks owner James Dolan.

"Some sports fans and analysts have urged Trump not to attend the game — commentator Stephen A. Smith said it would create an unnecessary spectacle — or pledged to jeer the president," Barrett explains in the Post. "Online betting services also predict Trump will be booed in his visit to deep-blue New York City and the Knicks' arena, Madison Square Garden. The team's fans are famously unforgiving — quick to taunt rival players, the team's own stars and recent New York mayor Eric Adams just days after his inauguration."

Barrett continues, "As an added frustration, Trump's presence will create logistical hurdles for the roughly 20,000 other attendees, who have been told to arrive at least two hours before tip-off because of the enhanced security measures that follow the president."

Dan Pfeiffer, who served as an adviser to former President Barack Obama, suggested that the high price of NBA Finals tickets could make Trump less likely to be booed at Madison Square Garden.

Pfeiffer told the Post, "(A) typical Madison Square Garden crowd would boo the daylights out of Trump, but he might benefit from a crowd willing to spend $10,000 to sit in the rafters."

Harrison Fields, a former White House deputy press secretary, told the Post, " New York City and an NBA audience might be considered hostile territory, but when has that ever stopped the president?"

In a June 5 post on X, sportswriter Shea Serrano encouraged NBA Finals attendees at Madison Square Garden to "boo this m– – so thunderously when they show him on the jumbotron that my TV vibrates off the wall."

Serrano told the Post, "His decision to attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals will do for the game what his participation in seemingly everything does: make it actively worse, in one way or another, for everyone else involved."

Progressive New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, an ally of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) is also expected to attend the game and, according to Barrett, "has been embraced by some fans for his willingness to join them in the rafters."

If there is one lesson that has emerged from the 2026 midterm election primaries, it is that Democrats and Republicans react very differently to ultra-rich candidates.

“Tom Steyer ran for governor of California as a climate crusader endorsed by Bernie Sanders’ political organization, Our Revolution,” wrote MS NOW’s Armand Manoukian on Thursday. “He also spent at least $216 million of his own money on the race — and in the end, that was the only thing voters seemed to remember. With nearly 58 percent of the vote counted, he is running third.”

“The timing is unkind to the ultrawealthy,” Manoukian wrote. “In a March YouGov survey, 77 percent of adults said the wealthy have too much political power, and 52 percent said the government should try to reduce the share of wealth held by billionaires. More than half of adults told a May Politico poll that cost of living is the ‘worst they can remember.’ Against that backdrop, self-funding candidates — once a recruiter’s dream — have become a harder sell.”

Steyer is not alone in falling prey to this problem. In San Francisco, Saikat Chakrabarti fell short in seeking retiring speaker emerita Nancy Pelosi’s House seat. Former venture capitalist Eric Jones similarly fell short in California’s 4th congressional district. By contrast, Republicans still reward candidates with deep pockets.

“In South Dakota, political newcomer Toby Doeden, a car dealership owner, steered $4 million into his own campaign and outpolled the sitting governor in the GOP gubernatorial primary,” Manoukian wrote. “In Georgia, Rick Jackson, a billionaire healthcare executive, jumped into the Republican gubernatorial primary as a political unknown, pledging to spend $50 million of his fortune, then spent closer to $80 million.”

Manoukian added, “Running on the slogan ‘From Foster Care to Billionaire,’ he blanketed local television and advanced to a June runoff, knocking out Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. He’ll face Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who has funded his own campaign to the tune of $17 million.”

MS NOW’s Ja’han Jones similarly reported on the waning influence of Big Tech executives on Wednesday.

“Multiple candidates backed heavily by Big Tech executives floundered in Tuesday’s primary elections, as concerns about the corrosive effects of new technologies such as artificial intelligence tools continue to mount,” Jones wrote. “The clearest examples came in California, where tech executives spent ungodly amounts of money attempting to make sure their chosen candidates emerged victorious.”

To illustrate his point, Jones listed California gubernatorial candidate San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who lost despite being funded by tech executives like Google co-founder Sergey Brin and pro-Trump Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, as well as Ethan Agarwal, a tech investor funded by pro-Trump Silicon Valley executive Marc Andreessen and who challenged Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) by opposing Khanna’s proposed one-time 5 percent wealth tax on billionaires.

A prominent conservative commentator recently argued that Democrats and Republicans are both applying a double-standard regarding seemingly disqualifying scandals for their Senate candidates in key races.

“Maine Democratic Senate primary candidate Graham Platner and Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton are different candidates dealing with different scandals,” wrote The Bulwark’s Joe Perticone on Tuesday. “Paxton’s infidelity is not the same as Platner’s, nor is Paxton’s pattern of corruption and other moral shortcomings the same as Platner’s Nazi tattoo and history of racist comments online. I am not equating their wrongdoings, nor do I propose doing so.”

Perticone is referring to the reports that Platner — an oyster farmer — had extramarital affairs, supported homophobic and sexist comments online and has a Nazi tattoo on his chest. Paxton has also had multiple extramarital affairs, fired whistleblowers, is accused of multiple financial crimes and participated in Trump’s coup attempt after the president lost the 2020 election. In 2023 he was impeached by the Texas House of Representatives on abuse of office and bribery charges, although the Texas Senate later acquitted him. Both Platner and Paxton are now considered by polling experts to be potential political liabilities to each of their parties’ chances of controlling the Senate after the 2026 midterm elections.

“I asked some senators from both parties, many of whom either jettisoned all principles after coming to Washington or came to power in the first place simply by not having any, whether Americans should demand more of their elected officials on the character front,” Perticone wrote. “Yes, they all seemed to agree: Americans should hold politicians from the other party to a higher standard.” He then cited comments supporting Paxton from Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, John Kennedy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas as well as Democrats backing Platner including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont (technically an independent) and Andy Kim of New Jersey (whose response to Platner was wishy-washy).

“Selective moralizing has been around in politics as long as the profession has been practiced. The prominent Republicans who admonished Bill Clinton for his peccadilloes in the 1990s were hardly men of high character themselves,” Perticone continued. “White evangelicals grew more supportive of Donald Trump the more his traditionally sinful behavior came to light. Many Democrats who admonished Trump for his character are now biting their tongue about Platner. That’s the way this stuff goes.”

While ha acknowledged understanding why partisans on both sides might support Platner or Paxton despite these scandals, simply because they don’t want their party to lose, he warned there is a practical as well as moral consequence to this attitude.

“Candidates like this are still a massive risk, and not just because we don’t know what is yet to come out about either,” Perticone wrote. “Just consider the recent spate of expulsions, resignations, and absences in this Congress alone. Very thin majorities are often just one scandal away from stopping regular business for an entire chamber.”

Since 2016, when Donald Trump shattered the Democrats’ blue wall by winning working-class voters across the Midwest, a cottage industry has sprung up on the left dedicated to answering a single question: How can Democrats win back the working class?