donald trump

'Increasingly senile wackjob': Expert says Trump too broken to destroy democracy on his own

Comparative politics professor Lee Morgonbesser tells the Bulwark that Trump’s opponents need to understand the how President Donald Trump does so much damage to democracy while also seemingly losing so much of his mind.

“A decade into the Trump era, there remains a fundamental tension in the way critics and opponents think, write, and talk about Donald Trump,” said Morgonbesser. “He is alternately a conniving destroyer of republican institutions or a mentally and emotionally debilitated, increasingly senile wackjob. Both accounts have much to recommend them. There is evidence to support both, and each helps explain the man and his effect on American politics and policy.”

It's “flattering” to say Trump is implementing the so-called “authoritarian playbook” in his second term by firing inspectors general, appointing unfit loyalists and launching investigations into his political opponents. This would put him in the field with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and India Narendra Modi. But Morgonbesser is confident Trump is more in the “mad king” classification comparable to Caligula, Charles VI, Henry VI and Peter III.

“There are plenty of reasons to give credence to this theory, too,” said Morgonbesser, referring to Trump’s weird fade-outs at campaign events where he repeatedly paused rallies for twenty minutes or more just to listen to piped-in music as the crowd waited awkwardly.

“He regularly confuses the names of places (for example, conflating Afghanistan with Alaska and then Alaska with Russia) and people (‘Tim Apple’ for Tim Cook and ‘Kristi Whitmer’ for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer).”

Morgonbesser also cites Trump claiming on numerous occasions that he had run or was running against Barack Obama for president, and asserted, erroneously, that his uncle had taught the Unabomber.

“His speech patterns have become so obviously nonlinear that he himself nicknamed his style ‘the weave.’ He has spent an inordinate amount of time and attention on the Kennedy Center,” Morgonbesser adds.

Resolving the contradiction between the “wily authoritarian” and the “mad king” means understanding that Trump’s fading mind must rely on administers and advisors to continue his march to American authoritarianism.

“The ‘personal Trump’ spends much of his time on social media, calls in to cable news shows on a whim, watches unhealthy amounts of television, and is often seen with flagging energy,” said Morgonbesser. “The collective Trump, including his staffers, allies, informal advisers, and appointees, can together tirelessly do a significant amount of work.”

But “time may not be on Trump’s side,” added Morgonbesser.

“He is already 79, showing signs of deteriorating health, and liable to be under considerable stress for the foreseeable future. And he does not seem mentally robust, which is too bad for him and too bad for the United States,” Morgonbesser said, while adding that even a deteriorating ‘mad king” … can wreck just about everything they touch.”

Read the Bulwark report at this link.

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'Bothsidesism!' GOP Pundit cornered on the difference between hyping lies and stating facts

U.S. historian Tim Naftali corrected Republican strategist Lance Trover on the difference between hyping dishonesty and calling out the truth on CNN’s “Table for Five.”

The debate kicked off when “Table for Five” host and CNN Anchor Abby Phillip asked Naftali if Democrats should stop using words like “fascist” when describing the antics of President Donald Trump, especially in the aftermath of the assassination of divisive influencer Charlie Kirk.

“When you use apocalyptic language, you're basically saying if the other side wins, it's over,” said Naftali. “In other words, you're saying the stakes are so high that you should contemplate the kind of actions that we don't want people to contemplate. So, I think the … apocalyptic language should just stop.”

“However,” continued Naftali, “if you find — and I have seen it myself — elements of authoritarianism and of the authoritarian approach to government, which seem to emanate from the current White House, as long as you can point to it and explain what you mean, as an analyst, you are responsible to say that.”

“So, [Trump’s] a fascist,” Trover said accusingly. “That’s what you’re basically saying.”

“Lance … my father survived a pogrom in Bucharest in WWII. I am very, very careful about how I use the term Naziism,” Naftali said. “Authoritarianism is something that can exist outside of the genocidal work of the Nazis. it is perfectly appropriate, as an analyst to talk about authoritarian regimes. These are regimes that speak of elections in a way that suggests they don't really want them to happen, or that the ones that go the wrong way [for them] were flawed…”

“That’s bothsidesism,” Trover said.

“It’s not bothsidesism,” Naftali insisted.

Phillip conceded that the issue did not look to “be resolved at this table today.”

- YouTube youtu.be

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What 'voters don’t want': Republican firm warns insurance costs will doom GOP in midterms

Research reveals businesses will be hit with an increase of 9 percent or more on insurance costs in 2026, and they will push the burden of that cost onto employees and potentially spark retaliation at the polls, reports the Washington Post.

“Voters don’t want to see people losing their health insurance,” said analysts for Republican polling firm Fabrizio Ward.

“Health insurance costs in the United States are on track for their biggest jump in at least five years,” said the Post, “adding turbulence to an uncertain economy and boosting expenses for millions of Americans already beset by inflation."

But for the 24 million enrollees of Affordable Care Act insurance plans, the news is far worse. The end of enhanced federal subsidies for that program means that their costs are expected to rise by more than 75 percent next year, according to KFF, the nonpartisan health policy organization.

With inflation the top concern for many Americans, and far-reaching discontent with health care, The Post reports the spike in prices in both government-sponsored and private health insurance “could make the costs of coverage an issue in the 2026 midterm elections.”

A Gallup poll in December reported “Americans’ rating the quality of U.S. healthcare has fallen to the lowest reading in 24 years, and views of healthcare coverage nationally remain broadly negative.”

Now, even Republicans opposed to the government insurance program are fretting about the rapid rise in prices and the end of the Obamacare subsidies.

The other new force behind the price hikes are the expectation of import tariffs, with some insurers already telling regulators that expected tariffs are raising insurance prices, according to the Post. A document from United Healthcare of New York states that the organization built a price impact of 3.6 percent into initial submitted rate filings to account for “uncertainty regarding tariffs and/or the onshoring of manufacturing and their impact on total medical costs, most notably on pharmaceuticals.”

A May letter to the U.S. Commerce Department from the American Hospital Association warned that the U.S. gets nearly 30 percent of its active pharmaceutical ingredients from China.

Read the Washington Post report at this link.

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'Massive Mafia-like blackmail operation': Why 'spooked' Trump is 'scrambling' over Epstein

President Donald Trump has weathered scandal after scandal, including bankruptcies, public divorces, lawsuits and the possibility of imprisonment, according to American Conservative writer George D. O’Neill Jr.

“In spite of all this, he was able to persevere and vanquish or at least neutralize his opponents and twice win the presidency. It was an amazing test of personal fortitude and focus. Even his detractors were impressed,” writes O’Neill. “Yet after successfully navigating all these daunting travails, Trump appears to be spooked by calls from his own base to release the Epstein files. His bizarre and extraordinary response to the recent publication of a birthday card given to Epstein and bearing Trump’s signature only intensifies the serious concerns of the American public.”

O’Neill said this is a problem for Trump because the people around him had campaigned on releasing these files, and Trump made his own contributions to the call for transparency.

“But for the past six months the administration has been scrambling and emitting lame excuses to explain why these files don’t matter and should remain concealed from the public,” wrote O’Neill. “This is quite a reversal and contradicts their campaign pronouncements.”

O’Neil expressed doubt Trump is merely trying to avoid personal embarrassment.

“Who or what has been able to cause the Republican leadership in both houses of Congress to babble silly excuses and obvious deceptions to justify their efforts to conceal this information from the public?" he asked.

O’Neil said Trump is proving himself to be among the secretive elite that American voters despise: “The American public increasingly feels that no matter what they vote for, the political elites generally ignore them,” he said, adding that the Epstein saga is “a glaring continuation of the long practice of our government's hiding unseemly policies and practices” repugnant to the voters.

“We had to wait more than six decades for the government to finally provide proof that the ‘lone gunman’ who killed President John F. Kennedy — Lee Harvey Oswald — had been a CIA asset," said O’Neill. “This was no surprise to anyone who had paid attention over the past six decades, but why did we have to wait so long to see the official corroborating documents? What else is still hidden and why?”

It’s enough to make you think there's “a massive Mafia-like blackmail operation” with “inordinate power over our leaders,” said O’Neill. “Hopefully, there are enough honest people in Washington who can overcome the pressure from those who would conceal the truth.”

Read the full American Conservative report at this link.

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'Bratty children at Mar-a-Lago' party while Americans are 'financially squeezed': analyst

President Donald Trump’s cadre of millionaires couldn’t be more clueless and tone deaf, says columnist Jennifer Rubin on the Contrarian.

“At a swanky private dinner last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened to punch Bill Pulte, Federal Housing Finance Agency director ‘in the f------ face’ … like a “petulant 3rd grader,” Rubin writes. “The backdrop of a temper tantrum provides an even more disturbing picture of the world in which MAGA oligarchs operate.”

“At a moment when Americans who are already financially squeezed face huge cost increases in healthcare, housing and energy, the bratty children at Mar-a-Lago North exist in a world of their own,” Rubin said.

Politico reported the recent inaugural dinner and birthday party at Executive Branch, “the ultra-exclusive Georgetown club created by and for Trump world’s uberrich” included “a long table for the 30-some guests set with top-of-the-line crystal and china.”

But Bessent hurled an expletive-laden diatribe after catching word Pulte “had been badmouthing” him to Trump.

“Why the f--- are you talking to the president about me? F--- you,” Bessent told Pulte. “I’m gonna punch you in your f------ face.”

“When the international trade system is melting down, the independence of the Fed is imperiled, unemployment and inflation are ticketing up, job growth has practically flatlined and Americans by a healthy margin think the economy is getting worse, the oligarchy is whooping it up in high style,” Rubin writes. “So much for Republicans’ economic populism — or their political antennae.”

But average Americans know the economy is going downhill, said Rubin, as do honest investors and employers. Now, it falls to Democrats to convince enough voters that Democrats understand how tough things are while Trump and his ilk throw parties with fine china.

“Dems can argue that while Bessent, Pulte, and the other economic illiterates live it up at MAGA extravaganzas surrounded by candelabra, Democrats can be counted on to make life easier for everyone else,” writes Rubin. “With a simple agenda (e.g., a humane and effective immigration plan, respect for Fed independence, returning the ACA and Medicaid to firm footing, repeal of the tariffs/consumer taxes, investment to keep pace with the green energy revolution), Democrats can offer the economic leadership that MAGA carousers could never imagine, let alone provide."

Read Rubin's full column at this link.

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'Put two and two together': Conservative argues CNN told hosts to be soft on Trump-Epstein

Bulwark editor Jonathan V. Last believes CNN news anchors are suddenly dancing delicately around the topic of Donald Trump’s connections to friend and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to fend off a vengeful and litigious president.

“It’s a little weird,” Last said of two interviews CNN hosts had with Congressional Democrats on Wednesday. Last used CNN anchor John Berman’s interview with Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.) as an example.

“Again, you know, Donald Trump has not been named in any connection or charged with any wrongdoing there,” Berman told Min after Min referenced Trump’s myriad connections to Epstein. “Take this for what it is, but [convicted sex trafficker and Epstein partner] Ghislaine Maxwell said, you know, she never saw Donald Trump or anyone, for that matter, engaged in any wrongdoing connected to Jeffrey Epstein."

“… But then later on in the day, CNN had another Democrat on, and this time it was [anchor] Brianna Keilar who said the same thing about there not being any wrongdoing,” Last told Bulwark White House Correspondent Andrew Egger.

“We should note — it’s important to — there has been — we’ve seen no sign of wrongdoing on Trump's part,” Keilar told Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) after Casar told Keilar: “Where there’s smoke there’s fire” when it comes to Trump and Epstein.

“This time, that just sort of comes out of nowhere in the course of their conversation,” Last told Egger. “And, uh, I'm just speculating here. … But it sure sounds to me like somebody at CNN has given on-air personalities a talking to about making sure that they say in interviews that Donald Trump has not been connected to any wrongdoing.”

Egger answered that “it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together here.”

“I mean, obviously, news outlets are worried. They've got reason to be worried. They know that the White House's story on all this stuff makes no sense. And they know that when the White House's story makes no sense, their first and last tool in their toolkit has been is to sue the parties responsible for breaking the news,” said Egger, referencing Trump’s $10 million suit against the Wall Street Journal for reporting the existence of Trump’s incriminating letter to Epstein before Democrats on the Oversight Committee released the letter to the public.

“But the fact that the Wall Street Journal's reporting has been vindicated has not led the White House to back off,” Egger added. “The fact that their lawsuit is going to remain ongoing has in fact been one of their main talking points in responding to the latest tranche of news. And, you know, it's plainly that the higher the temperature gets here, the more they're pressing down the pedal of litigation.”

Eggers suggested the White House may be personally putting pressure on national media leaders “behind the scenes” or CNN leaders are “pre-complying and trying to get out in front of possible litigation” from the White House.

Last said “that is a problem with corporate owned media.”

“And—shameless plug! Not a problem with the Bulwark where this is all we do. So, we'll just say the stuff that's obvious: [Trump’s] connected to wrongdoing. He has done wrong things. Many people are saying, with tears in their eyes, that Donald Trump is doing wrongdoing.”

Hear the Bulwark podcast at this link.

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'The White House is scrambling': Epstein scandal forces Trump to act like 'a typical politician'

The Guardian reports the Epstein scandal has thrown President Donald Trump as no scandal has before.

“Typically full of brio and swagger, the White House is scrambling this time because Trump is behaving so out of character,” reports the Guardian. “For years, he has inverted the politician’s playbook by saying the quiet part out loud and flaunting misconduct in public. When, in a 2016 presidential debate, Hillary Clinton accused him of dodging taxes, Trump retorted: ‘That makes me smart.’”

“But now, he is acting like the thing he always scorned: a typical politician,” the Guardian adds.

When faced with scandal in the past, “the Trump of old” would have done the opposite and released every page of the Epstein files, as he promised during his campaign, says the Guardian, even if the emerging facts proved personally incriminating.

“Better to brazen it out, lie about it and deploy some whataboutism than prolong the stench of secrecy," according to the Guardian. "Instead, he has berated reporters for harping on the subject. On Tuesday the man who usually has a comment on everything told NBC News: 'I don’t comment on something that’s a dead issue.'"

And the Guardian reports he’s also made “crude efforts” to clear his name, becoming the first sitting president to sue a media outlet for defamation when he targeted the Wall Street Journal for reporting the existence of the now-revealed birthday book and letter. That move could cost Trump dearly as Journal lawyers now have an opportunity to depose Trump about his relationship with Epstein.

“The flailing leaves Trump’s pugnacious team in unfamiliar territory,” reports the Guardian. When congressional Democrats published the damning 2003 birthday letter — complete with Trump’s characteristic one-word signature — White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich sprang into action, posting pictures on X of Trump’s evolving signature over the years and writing: “it’s not his signature.”

This convinced no one, said the Guardian. And when reporter Maggie Haberman asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt why is Trump in the documents if he claims he didn’t sign the birthday card or other documents released by Epstein’s estate, Leavitt fumbled.

“The president has one of the most famous signatures in the world,” said Leavitt. “The president did not write that letter. He did not sign those documents.”

“Leavitt will have to do better than that,” reports the Guardian. The implication that “a cunning time traveler … skipped back 22 years to plant Trump’s signature” in documents in hopes of blowing up his future presidency just isn’t cutting it.

“Trump’s response to the scandal is very un-Trumpian," the Guardian reports. "Nothing could do more to fuel speculation that something truly devastating is contained within their pages."

Read the full Guardian report at this link.

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Trump slammed over 'reckless and failed' military operation that killed unarmed fishermen

In his first term, president Donald Trump personally approved a Navy SEALs team secretly planting an electronic device on a North Korean fishing boat. The device would let the United States intercept the communications of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during high-level nuclear talks with Trump.

But in an explosive report, the New York Times wrote that the team failed their mission in a deadly way. Fearing that they had been spotted, the SEALs opened fire on the boat, killing the innocent fishermen onboard.

Trump never publicly acknowledged or notified key members of Congress who oversee intelligence operations, either before or after the mission. That lack of notification may have violated the law, reports the Times.

Social media exploded at the news.

“Yet another example of Trump's reckless and failed approach to dealing with nuclear-armed North Korea,” posted Arms Control Association Director Daryl Kimball on X.

“If this had happened under Obama or Biden the media would have crucified them,” said another X commentator.

Constitutional law professor Anthony Michael Kreis called the maneuver “an absolute disregard for Article I powers,” on X, adding “Good thing we’re giving the Dept. of Defense nicknames.”

Another critic snidely described the drama on X as “future Nobel peace prize laureate” Donald Trump killing “a boat full of fishermen then didn’t tell Congress about it.”

“Dude… can the U.S. negotiate in good faith… like, at all?” demanded another critic on X.

Raw Story News writer Alexander Willis described the incident on X as the nation being “exposed” for greenlighting a deadly failure.

The NY Times said the White House declined to comment.

Read the New York Times report at this link.

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'Signals flashing red': Republicans fear Trump's economy 'could cost them dearly'

Axios' Zachary Basu reports President Donald Trump's effort to “rebrand the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act can't mask a grim reality: His economic approval is collapsing, and the data underneath is only getting worse.”

“Trump is in danger of getting trapped in the same ‘vibecession’ dynamic that doomed President [Joe] Biden — only this time, the structural signals are flashing red and Trump's signature legislation is toxic," he wrote.

According to the outlet, Republicans are already panicking, fearing “inflation could cost them dearly in the 2026 midterms, warning Trump has only a few months to reset his trajectory on voters' most important issue.”

Pollster G. Elliott Morris puts Trump's approval rating on inflation and the cost of living at -24, nearing Biden's lows during the peak of the 2022–23 price surge. His favorability on jobs and the economy overall is better, but still underwater at -13.

CNN’s Harry Enten described Trump’s -13 rating on jobs and unemployment as “a 24 point drop since January of 2025. “Biden … was in the basement. and yet Donald Trump is even lower down than him,” Enten said. “You can barely get an elevator that goes that low.”

Meanwhile the worst that Trump can do appears to already be done with the passage of his budget bill, meaning “Trump has few levers left to pull,” Axios reports.

“Poll after poll shows Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill Act — which extended his 2017 tax cuts while slashing Medicaid and other safety net programs — is the most unpopular major piece of legislation in years,” Axios reports, and Trump campaign officials acknowledged the PR crisis in a closed-door briefing, urging Republicans to call the bill the "Working Families Tax Cut Bill."

Democrats say that’s not going to work, especially with the Congressional Budget Office reporting the poorest 25 percent of households will lose money under Trump’s law while the richest reap the benefits.

Inflation is creeping higher, the labor market is softening, layoffs rising and economic activity is contracting in on itself, Axios reports. “Trump may wind up learning Biden's hard lesson: You can't convince voters the economy is strong when their lived experience tells them it's weak.”

Read the full Axios report at this link.

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'Details still remain murky' as Trump admin struggles to keep new story straight

The New Republic reports President Donald Trump’s administration keeps changing its story to justify an unprecedented military strike on an alleged Venezuelan cartel boat transporting drugs.

Department of Defense officials privately expressed concerns that the government had changed details of its story about the strike that killed 11 people, according to a Thursday report by the New York Times.

The New Republic reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio telling reporters the ship was travelling to Trinidad, Tobago, or “some other country in the Caribbean.” But after Trump claimed the ship was on course for the United States, Rubio changed his claim to align with that of the president.

International drug traffickers “pose an immediate threat to the United States, period,” Rubio said Wednesday, according to the New Republic. “If you’re on a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl or whatever headed to the United States, you’re an immediate threat to the United States.”

“Shifting the narrative to center the United States is particularly concerning considering the fact that the Trump administration has yet to produce a legal authority for the use of military force against cartels,” wrote New Republic writer Edith Olmsted.

Trump claimed this week that the eleven crew members were “narco terrorists” that belonged to the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, which the executive branch has labeled a terrorist organization.

But Olmsted said that designation does not serve as a legal basis for a combat strike, and added that the government has “offered no evidence to support its claim that the boat occupants were drug traffickers, despite Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claiming administration officials “knew exactly who was in that boat” and “exactly what they were doing.”

“The actual details still remain murky beneath the Trump administration’s shifting narratives, and the government has been anything but transparent about the military strike, which may prove to have been illegal,” Olmsted wrote.

Read the full New Republic report at this link.

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'A test case': Outrage as Army vet who had top secret clearance is arrested by the Trump admin

Veterans and legal analysts say the Trump administration’s arrest of a former army sergeant and roadside bomb victim marks an escalation in the administration’s attacks on first amendment rights, reports the Guardian.

Officials arrested Afghanistan war veteran Bajun Mavalwalla II for “conspiracy to impede or injure officers” after joining a demonstration against federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Spokane, Washington.

“Here’s a guy who held a top-secret clearance and was privy to some of the most sensitive information we have, who served in a combat zone,” said Kenneth Koop, a retired colonel who trained the Afghan military and police during Mavalwalla’s deployment. “To see him treated like this really sticks in my craw.”

The Guardian reports Mavalwalla was not among the more than two dozen people arrested at the scene of a June protest that left a government van with a broken windshield. Nevertheless, FBI officials arrived at the door of Mavalwalla and his Afghanistan war veteran wife one month later.

According to the indictment, Mavalwalla and his co-defendants “physically blocked the drive-way of the federal facility and/or physically pushed against officers despite orders to disburse and efforts to remove them from the property”.

Video shows Mavalwalla, who has no criminal record, locked arms with other demonstrators to block a gate.

Mavalwalla has pleaded not guilty, and the Guardian reports Richard Barker, the former acting US attorney for eastern Washington state, resigned before signing the arrest warrant.

“I am grateful that I never had to sign an indictment or file a brief that I didn’t believe in,” Barker wrote on Linkedin.

However, replacing Barker is Trump-appointed acting US attorney Pete Serrano, which the Guardian reports as having filed an amicus brief at odds with the 14th amendment. Serrano also has no prosecutorial experience and has described Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol rioters as “political prisoners.”

Luis Miranda, former chief spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, told the Guardian Serrano appears willing to test the waters for Trump’s use of political detainment.

“He’s a test case to see how far they can go,” said Miranda.

Read the full Guardian report at this link.

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