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Legal expert blisters 'pack of fools' Supreme Court for 'crazy' behavior

The Supreme Court has become notorious for either overturning longtime legal precedent to do President Donald Trump's bidding — such as gutting the Voting Rights Act and making it easier for him to impede mail-in voting — or coming perilously close to doing so, such as when four judges voted to overturn the 14th Amendment's birthright citizenship clause. Speaking for the podcast Politicon on Thursday, a legal expert agreed with a political strategist and a journalist in describing the status quo as "crazy."

The conversation began with how Trump's administration will make bizarre legal arguments to the Supreme Court, which nevertheless treats those statements as potentially valid instead of self-evidently absurd.

"It's amazing the stuff they'll say," former top Justice Department official Pam Karlan said. "I don't know if you've taken a look at the Postal Service's 95-page explanation of its final order, but there's this moment in there where they say, 'Well, of course we can tell you how to do your ballot envelopes, because we've got this stuff that tells people how to send human remains through the mail.'"

"... Which is crazy talk," Karlan added.

Journalist Albert Hunt singled out one judge, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who centrists attempted to reassure liberals and moderates would not move to the far right despite being jammed through by President Donald Trump before the 2020 presidential election. Four years earlier, when a vacancy appeared shortly before the 2016 presidential election, Senate Republicans refused to confirm President Barack Obama's nominee Merrick Garland on the grounds that they needed to wait until the election's outcome.

"Everyone knew she would be very conservative on social issues, abortion and the like, but there was a sense that maybe she would be more of a swing vote on other issues," Hunt said. "The New York Times even did a front-page piece on that. That doesn't appear to be the case. She seems to be pretty much in lockstep on most of these issues with the rest of the Republicans."

Political consultant James Carville, who helped elect Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential election, described the Supreme Court as a "pack of fools."

"The birthright citizenship case, okay, I've read the 14th Amendment," he explained, adding that he had done so "20 times." "How clear could the language be?" The birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment states, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

"The language is clear," Karlan said. "And until five or six years ago, this would've been a nine-zero case at the Supreme Court, and it's just a sign of what people sometimes call the Overton window, that crazy ideas move the court to crazy places over time. And that's really troubling. But yeah, you're absolutely right. If you read that language, it's clear."

Carville offered a cynical observation about the Supreme Court's motives.

"Even Justice [Clarence] Thomas admits that the 14th Amendment does mean that the Bill of Rights applies to the states," Carvile said. "He just thinks it's not through the due process clause, he thinks it's through the privileges and immunities clause. Now, the one effect that that would have, which really gets back to your point about birthright citizenship, is then the provisions of the Bill of Rights would only apply to citizens and not to other people because the Privileges and Immunities Clause is only about citizens. I mean, down the road, we could see some crazy stuff. I mean, we're already seeing crazy stuff, so..."

He concluded, "Yeah. I don't know why I say down the road."

Trump's DOJ now risking contempt in Epstein obstruction: judge

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have longstanding relationships with the late child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, along with Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. The administration has also, simultaneously, refused to fully disclose the Epstein files. Now, despite a judge ordering them to start working with the legal process on Epstein-related matters, Trump's associate attorney general is refusing to do so — and risking contempt of court in the process.

"DOJ risks contempt in Epstein Files litigation, does not comply fully with Judge Sullivan's order to explain withholdings & provide handwritten notes," Politico journalist Josh Gerstein reported on Thursday. He included an attachment to a document by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward explaining their reasoning.

"The Plaintiff’s Proposed Order, if entered by the Court, would require the Department to submit to the Court handwritten notes underlying the EFTA Numbers 01245620; 02858481;02858491; and 02858495," Woodward wrote. "It would also require a declaration from 'Defendant Todd Blanche, or a representative of the Department of Justice … with personal knowledge' regarding the Federal Register notice required by § 2(c)(2) of the EFTA."

Woodward added, "The Defendant asks that the Court not require a declaration regarding the Federal Register notice and not order production of 'the underlying FBI interview notes that formed the basis for the FD-302 interview reports' requested by Plaintiff. Dkt. 32. To the extent that the Court is inclined to enter such an Order, the Department asks that the Order be stayed."

The warning arises from an ongoing suit by reporter Katie Phang, who grabbed a huge win against Blanche and his effort to keep the Epstein files under wraps. After months of stalling by the Trump administration and ignoring the letter of a new law demanding the release of the sex-trafficker’s files, Sullivan demanded insight on DOJ-redacted information on potential Epstein co-conspirators in his trafficking scheme.

Trump, who repeatedly promised to release the Epstein files during his 2024 campaign, has since found his White House "paralyzed" by his obstruction on that issue. In addition to being accused of sexual misconduct by at least 20 other women over the course of his life, Trump was also allegedly linked to at least incident of one sexual abuse supposedly facilitated by Epstein. He was friends with Epstein from the 1980s until they had a falling out over a business transaction in the 2000s.

Surprise as Trump finally blows Wall Street's trust: report

President Donald Trump's ongoing war on the Federal Reserve has been so persistent, it has started negatively impacting the economy. Now the economic editor of a conservative website is warning that Trump's economic policies are so erratic, two officials who otherwise were regarded as reliable are being met with unease on Wall Street.

"Within days of Mr. Bessent’s confirmation, at least, it was obvious this was a misjudgment," The Bulwark's economics editor Catherine Rampell wrote for The New York Times on Thursday. "One of his earliest actions as secretary was giving DOGE access to the sensitive Treasury payments system, which disburses some $6 trillion in payments annually. This was supposedly to investigate “fraud,” but it also was an attempt to help the Trump administration unilaterally freeze payments required by Congress. (A federal judge restricted DOGE’s access before this happened.)"

She added, "Soon after, Mr. Bessent also allowed the I.R.S. to share confidential tax data with immigration enforcement — undermining decades of work to convince immigrants that if they paid their taxes honestly, the payments wouldn’t be weaponized against them. (Federal judges have blocked that, too.)"

Rampell continued, "Now, after criticizing his predecessor for allegedly trying to juice the economy ahead of an election, Mr. Bessent appears to have attempted exactly that. Last week, he announced that the U.S. Treasury would ramp up repurchases of its long-term government bonds, a move intended to reduce their interest rates (which could in turn reduce the cost of mortgages and other financial products). Midterms are looming, and looser money tends to make for happier voters. Mr. Bessent’s plan backfired. Instead, after a brief dip, bond rates rose."

In short, the market realized that Bessent's plan would do nothing to address rising inflation, the dangerous national debt and the ongoing economic problems posed by AI.

"If anything, Mr. Bessent’s buyback play (announced along with comments insisting we can grow out way out of debt) only deepened those suspicions. It made Treasury leadership look feckless," Rampell wrote. She had similar reporting on how the markets are responding to Trump's Federal Reserve pick, Kevin Warsh.

"Mr. Warsh, like Mr. Bessent, has had a wobbly start to his tenure," Rampell wrote. "His most recent news conference was something of a disaster; Mr. Warsh either would not or could not articulate what the Fed’s plan was for tackling inflation, or why that plan did not appear to include interest rate increases. (Mr. Trump is demanding rates be lowered.) At one point Mr. Warsh seemed to suggest the Fed might switch its main yardstick for measuring inflation, raising concerns about backdoor attempts to soften the central bank’s commitment to reducing inflation."

She continued, "To make matters worse, Mr. Trump himself weighed in. He insisted that Mr. Warsh really truly wanted to reduce interest rates, but couldn’t because 'he’s got a board, and it’s a political board.' Days later Mr. Trump renewed his efforts to fire one of the members of that Fed board, which the Supreme Court had prevented him from doing. Markets were not happy about any of this."

Rampell is not alone in her assessment of Warsh. Speaking with AlterNet earlier this week, an economic adviser to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama broke down the problems with Warsh.

"My own guess is that he'll wait until right before or right after the election to raise rates, because he doesn't set policy alone — interest rate policy is made by a committee at the Federal Reserve comprising the seven members of the Board plus five of the regional bank presidents, and there's increasing pressure among them to raise rates," Dr. Robert J. Shapiro explained. "They're letting him put it off a little while longer, but there's no good news on inflation. Just this week, Trump announced 50 percent tariffs on our largest trading partner, Canada, which will further increase inflation. The markets don't have much confidence in Warsh anymore, so they're pricing in a higher-than-normal likelihood that he'll cut rates — even though I don't think he will — and in anticipation of the inflation that would result, they're raising long-term rates."

GOP alarms blare as another deep red race slides out of the ‘Solid Republican’ slot

Republicans were already well aware that they were facing an uphill battle in their fight to retain the U.S. House and Senate, as well as many local state races, but until very recently the question of a seat being anything but “solid Republican” in retiree haven Florida was nothing to expect — until now.

One of the top political prediction websites in the country says Republican candidate Byron Donalds is the favorite for Florida governor, but politicos were shocked to see the nonpartisan organization shift some expectation toward Democrat David Jolly.

The Cook Political Report on Thursday moved the race from “Solid Republican” to “Likely Republican.”

“Florida Democrats had long been more bullish on the open governor’s race than the Senate contest. That’s in part because gubernatorial races are typically less nationalized than federal ones, but also because Democrats have a strong ticket in former GOP Rep. David Jolly and his running mate, former Democratic Rep. Gwen Graham,” reported Cook Political Report on Thursday. “While Jolly trails Trump-backed Rep. Byron Donalds by more than a 10-1 margin in fundraising, his ability to potentially reach out to independents and disaffected Republicans makes this a unique contest that could possibly become competitive.”

“With that in mind, we are moving this race from Solid to Likely Republican,” Cook continued. “Jolly would still need a significant financial boost to mount a robust statewide television campaign and have a real shot. For now, Donalds enjoys an overwhelming financial advantage.”

Jolly told reporters recently that he does need “resources to reach the mark, … that this is a cycle where you can get outspent 10:1 and still win.”

The Democrat also predicted that money was going to “come in” as President Donald Trump’s dismal polling and doldrum economy continued to push voters out of favor with Republicans.

Jolly served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 13th congressional district from 2014 to 2017 as a Republican, but after leaving office, he became a prominent Republican critic of Trump and later switched his party registration to run as a Democrat for the Florida governor’s race. He said much of his party switch had to do with the Republican Party’s cultlike devotion to Trump.

The Democratic Governors Association released a poll by conducted by Hart Research showing a statistical tie in the race, with Jolly at 46 percent and Donalds at 45 percent. Florida news reports other polls have shown Donalds up by at least five percentage points.

Conservatives slam 'pathetic' Trump's gaffe-riddled boast

President Donald Trump is being widely blasted on the social media platform X for posting that he was America's greatest president — a post that neglected to mention 11 of America's former chief executives, including the most influential recent Republican president, Ronald Reagan.

The post, which originated from Trump's own Truth Social platform, showed Trump rank himself as America's greatest president. He followed that by listing as great Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson; as near great Theodore Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland, John Adams and James K. Polk; as average Bill Clinton, John Quincy Adams, James Monroe, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Madison, Martin Van Buren, William Howard Taft, Chester A. Arthur, William McKinley, Andrew Johnson, Herbert Hoover and Benjamin Harrison; as below average John Tyler, Calvin Coolidge, Millard Fillmore, Zachary Taylor, James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce; and as failures Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Ulysses S. Grant, Warren G. Harding and Jimmy Carter.

He neglected to mention 11 presidents, including Reagan, and also defied the historical consensus that Buchanan is one of the worst presidents of all time because of his overseeing the outbreak of the Civil War. Yet conservatives and others online were quicker to jump on the Reagan oversight, as well as the perceived egotism of Trump posting this at all.

Conservative outlet The Bulwark's Andrew Egger wrote "Literally opened Twitter to tag @JonahDispatch into this and this was the first tweet I saw haha" He was referring to ight-wing website The Dispatch's Jonah Goldberg, who said of the post that "this is so sad and pathetic."

Mark D. Tooley, President of the Institute on Religion & Democracy, a Christian think tank," described it as "interesting that Reagan & Eisenhower missing altogether." Similarly The Independent' DC Bureau chief Eric Michael Garcia"What do conservatives have to say about Trump saying FDR is great but not listing Ronald Reagan?"

Meanwhile Retired Air Force Col. Moe Davis posted "Damn! First the flake went after the lake, and now this. Rumpled Thinskin is melting down fast."

Three-time Trump voter hammers president for squandering second term on 'nothing durable'

Republican strategist Melik Abdul says he’s voted for President Donald Trump three times, but he now complains that Trump failed a coalition that could have realigned "American politics for a generation—not for one term, but for the era that follows.”

Abdul told a CNN panel that he regrated how Trump has squandered the alliance he built when he retook the White House nearly two years ago.

Abdul’s confession kicked off during a discussion between the CNN anchor and Center for American Progress CEO Neera Tanden about Trumps corrosive crusade to put his name on the Kennedy Center in spite of legal and judicial decisions against the move.

“The fact that the president likes to spend so much time and energy trying to get his name on buildings and creating a stamp for himself is just an odd distraction,” said Tanden. “I think most Americans are actually focused on how expensive gas is and the Canadian trade war that [Trump] decided to have.”

“The Kennedy Center is an important institution, and I think most Americans still see it as the Kennedy Center,” continued the former Biden Domestic policy advisor. “And it's just odd that … the president spends so much energy focusing in on putting his name on it, and this whole thread around a demolition. I mean, the idea that the Kennedy center would be demolished because he can't get his name on something — outrageous seems to be just too small a word for how fundamentally stupid this is.”

At that point Abdul popped in with a confession.

“I'll say this, and I'll be the Republican to come on CNN—and they're probably going to attack me for it,” said Abdul, referring to a Newsweek article he wrote called “What’s Left of Trump’s Legacy if He Burns It All Down.”

“In that article, I talked about these very sort of things, the things that are not your kitchen table sort of issues that voters are concerned about, things that are symbolism. And Donald Trump spends a lot of time fighting for this symbolism. And what could possibly end up happening is that, unlike in his first term, you see a lot of asterisks in the second term — things that courts had to overturn, things like the Kennedy Center. So, it ends up being a lot of asterisks because he's fighting for symbols that really only appeals to the base of the party.”

“I talked to Republicans today. They probably won't come on here and say it, but we would much rather Donald Trump talk about the midterms and his policies and how we win the midterm and keep his governance in place than talking about things like [the Kennedy Center.}

In his article, Abdul argued that Trump “wasn’t elected only to win. He was elected on the promise that a working-class, multiracial coalition could outlast him and remake the Republican Party for good.” But instead, he blew his credit “turning inward, chasing fights that thrill the faithful but build nothing durable."

- YouTube youtu.be

Conservative goes ballistic as Trump paves the way for an attack on NATO

Dyed in the wool conservative Nick Catoggio tells the Dispatch that President Donald Trump has managed to succeed where many other U.S presidents have failed — in pushing Russia into a hot war with the rest of NATO, that is.

“Strange as it may sound, in many ways this is an opportune moment for Putin to confront the West,” wrote Catoggio, citing Trump’s CIA chief fretting that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is mulling the prosect, and considering it soon.

But why would Russia try it now? Because even more so than usual, “an overextended White House is compelled by circumstance to think twice before involving America in any new wars,” Catoggio answered.

“Logistically, the U.S. is in no position at the moment to wage a two-front war of its own,” Catoggio reports, citing a Wall Steet Journal report claiming Precision Strike Missile and Army Tactical Missile Systems are crucial to repel a Russian land invasion.

“Thanks to Trump’s folly in Iran, we’re a little short on both,” Catoggio rants.

But Trump is more than a president with a wasteful bonehead in charge of his military. He also cultivates “fecklessness and ideological sympathies” with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“Trump has always craved détente with authoritarian Russia; no president since the Cold War has been more reluctant to confront Moscow militarily than he is,” said Catoggio. “He’s also a ripe target to be terrorized by an ‘escalate to de-escalate’ ploy, as he’s been bleating about the Ukraine war as a prelude to World War III since his last presidential campaign — and chastised Zelensky about it to his face during the latter’s infamous Oval Office visit in 2025.”

Worse, the president is also “chronically aggrieved at Europe,” said Catoggio, particularly after America’s NATO allies declined to “join his silly war in Iran.”

“It’s easy to imagine him reacting to news of a Russian invasion of Poland with a shrug: ‘They didn’t help us with the Strait of Hormuz, why would we help them with Putin?’ I wouldn’t even put it past Trump to dial up the Kremlin and offer to recognize their authority over the territory they’ve seized if they can persuade Iran to reopen the strait. He’s a fan of quid pro quos, you may have heard,” said Catoggio.

If nothing else, Trump might refuse to join a military effort to push Russian troops out of NATO territory because he’s afraid of what a war in Europe would do to the U.S. economy.

“[It] wouldn’t be the first time that he sold out to a rogue regime to spare himself a presidential legacy of economic hardship,” said Catoggio.

But Trump is already looking like a meek, weak leader, and a Russian invasion would compound his “show of weakness in Iran with a second, more consequential show of weakness toward Putin.” After enough surrendering the kids on the schoolyard “whom you’re hoping to bully in the future might begin to draw certain lessons about you,” said Catoggio.

“My guess is that the president would approach a Russian incursion into NATO territory the way he’s approached U.S. backing for Ukraine, splitting the baby by reducing America’s support without ending it altogether,” he concluded.

WSJ tears Trump apart over latest move on the economy

Lisa Cook is a member of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors who has been repeatedly targeted by President Donald Trump. He has tried to fire her and been repeatedly denied the ability to do so, but nevertheless has persisted in that agenda — even as his meddling in the Federal Reserve has created worse economic conditions for ordinary Americans.

Now The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, despite its conservative-leaning views, is blasting Trump for his ongoing war against Cook.

"Are we really doing this again?" The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board wrote on Thursday. "President Trump last year tried to summarily fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, accusing her of lying on a mortgage filing. That removal lost in June at the Supreme Court, which held in Trump v. Cook that she is 'entitled to notice and some opportunity to respond.' Well, now she has had both, after an exchange of letters this month."

They added, "The White House wrote Ms. Cook on Aug. 5 that Mr. Trump 'is considering removing you,' recapitulating the allegation that in 2021 she obtained two mortgages, weeks apart, attesting that both would be her primary residence. Her attorney wrote back Wednesday, recapitulating her defense that this was an 'inadvertent oversight' since Ms. Cook sought the mortgage for a 'Vacation Home,' and the lender knew where she actually lived."

As Cook pointed out in her reply through her attorney, "“In 1993, President Trump reportedly acquired ‘primary’ residence mortgages for two different Florida homes just seven weeks apart," as did both Attorney General Todd Blanche and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. The Journal highlighted this issue.

"The details matter, because the law says Fed Governors may be fired only 'for cause,'" the Journal explained. "It’s no secret that these claims about Ms. Cook’s mortgage are a pretext, dug up by MAGA chihuahua Bill Pulte. Yet the Supreme Court declined for now to take a position on the substance. After Ms. Cook gets due process, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, courts may 'assess the validity and sufficiency of such charges.'"

Denouncing this as a "frivolous political fight" analogous to Trump trying to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America" because of the trade war he started against Canada, incorrectly saying his inauguration crowds were the biggest or using Sharpie to alter a hurricane map, the Journal concluded by also bringing up another one of Trump's attacks on the Federal Reserve.

"By the way, when is the Fed’s inspector general going to release a report on the central bank’s building renovations, which the Trump Administration sought to turn into a criminal investigation of former Chair Jay Powell?" the Journal wrote. "Clearing the air on that would be a public service."

Speaking with AlterNet earlier in August, Dr. Robert J. Shapiro — an economist who advised Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and presided over four budget surpluses under the former in contrast to Trump's unprecedented $40 trillion national debt — explained how Trump's war on the Federal Reserve is hurting the American economy.

"Trump has been attacking the Fed for as long as he's been in office for not cutting interest rates," Shapiro explained. "But you don't cut interest rates when inflation is rising, because cutting rates stimulates the economy — meaning you increase demand without increasing supply, so prices go up. Powell refused to cut rates because he said, in effect, 'We're in an inflationary period; once we contain inflation, we can cut rates.' Trump has made that much harder by increasing inflation through both the tariffs and the effects of the war on Iran. Even [Kevin] Warsh, Trump's handpicked successor to [Jerome] Powell, hasn't cut rates. But the market believes there's a significant possibility that he will, given the pressure Trump has been putting on him — and in anticipation of that, they've been driving long-term rates up."

He added, "We'll see what Warsh does. My own guess is that he'll wait until right before or right after the election to raise rates, because he doesn't set policy alone — interest rate policy is made by a committee at the Federal Reserve comprising the seven members of the Board plus five of the regional bank presidents, and there's increasing pressure among them to raise rates. They're letting him put it off a little while longer, but there's no good news on inflation. Just this week, Trump announced 50 percent tariffs on our largest trading partner, Canada, which will further increase inflation. The markets don't have much confidence in Warsh anymore, so they're pricing in a higher-than-normal likelihood that he'll cut rates — even though I don't think he will — and in anticipation of the inflation that would result, they're raising long-term rates."

Trump’s revenge scheme in DC is dead and buried: sources

President Donald Trump’s revenge scheme against various individuals he has publicly deemed political enemies is officially defunct -- at least according to several sources, in no small part because of his failure to successfully prosecute a man he wrongly accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. Indeed, that trend is even extending to cases that would normally be considered airtight.

The Daily Mail's Charlie Spiering reported on Thursday that the citizens of Washington DC are treating Trump’s Justice Department like an organization which deliberately targets innocent people rather than a good faith actor, and they are responding accordingly. When they targeted Olympic canoeist David Hearn by incorrectly saying he vandalized the Reflecting Pool, for example, the case was seemingly rejected for that reason.

“The bigger problem now is that [USAG Jeanine Pirro's] office has struggled to land seemingly airtight cases, with Washington's jury pool deeply skeptical of the administration's prosecutions, say sources,” Spiering wrote. “Juries have twice deadlocked over two suspected MS-13 ringleaders, sending both trials to mistrials this week. The deadlocked juries are a sign that there is deep skepticism surrounding Pirro and the Trump administration among DC citizens.”

Those defeats seem bound to continue unabated, sources tell the Daily Mail, despite Pirro's demonstrated willingness to take controversial or outright false cases to trial.

“Jury nullification is a serious problem in DC,' a legal source following proceedings in the city said,” Spiering observed. “Jury nullification is when jurors deliver a not guilty verdict even though they believe the defendant has broken the law.”

He added that this is indicative of a deeper systemic issue.

“The deadlocked juries are a sign that there is deep skepticism surrounding Pirro and the Trump administration among DC citizens,” Spiering said. “Those defeats will likely continue, sources tell the Daily Mail, despite her willingness to take cases to trial.”

He added, “'Jury nullification is a serious problem in DC,' a legal source following proceedings in the city said. Jury nullification is when jurors deliver a not guilty verdict even though they believe the defendant has broken the law.”

The Daily Mail explained that Pirro ultimately kept her job despite her recent failures by convincing Trump of the uphill battle involved in prosecuting these thin cases.

“During the closed-door Oval Office meeting, she personally detailed the Reflecting Pool case evidence to him,” Spiering stated. “The President was angry but understanding, a source familiar with the meeting previously told the Daily Mail.”

Apparently Trump has cooled off toward Pirro, perhaps recognizing on some level that the Justice Department has undermined its own credibility by pursuing weak and blatantly political cases.

“'I don't think that she's on thin ice now, I just think Trump was [furious] about the case,' another source told the Daily Mail. 'It was kind of a dumb case. It wasn't going to go anywhere and she was fully honest with the President about it,’” Spiering reported.

The Washington Examiner reported earlier this week that DC residents are so outraged at Trump’s political warfare that they are deliberately joining grand juries and receiving instructions on how to refuse to pursue cases the president is clearly trying to prosecute for political reasons. Similarly, people throughout America are joining forces to revolt against Trump’s attempts to rig the upcoming midterm elections.

Trump’s family money fair game after Dems 'maul' GOP in November: report

Times UK Washington writer Katy Balls reports there is no question what target Democrats are putting in their sites should voters deliver them the House, Senate or both in November.

It’s a big, slow target — and it’s very easy to hit.

“There’s a running conversation in the bars of Washington these days: when to cash out? It’s not about closing the tab. It’s when to call it quits and swap the long hours and (comparatively) low federal pay for the private sector,” said Balls. “Karoline Leavitt, Donald Trump’s press secretary, is off to focus on her family (she gave birth in May). But a great many others are looking to the midterm elections and deciding to skip what may well be the misery of a lame-duck presidency.”

According to Balls, Democrats are making known to DC ears how difficult they plan to make that lame duck.

“If the Republicans are mauled on November 3, as is widely expected, it will herald a new world of investigations, subpoenas and an increasingly rattled boss. Already it’s not uncommon to hear MAGA figures talk in the past tense about a presidency that still has over two years to run.”

“It didn’t have to be like this,” says Balls, quoting “one of the party’s prospects” speaking to her anonymously. “But we did Iran and we didn’t do Epstein.”

The result: Trump’s approval rating has ended up tracking Joe Biden’s as the cost of living bites for many Americans.

Seeing the iceberg, Trump’s rats are already hitting the water and swimming, reports Balls. Within the last month, Trump has lost senior White House aides, including his chief liaison to Congress, his pardon attorney and his chief counsel.

“More officials approved by the Senate have left Trump’s second administration than during the first 18 months of any other 21st-century administration,” reports Balls.

Some of this is standard, she said, because aides rethink their futures in every political cycle. But it’s also an extreme case of trepidation driving people to grab their resumes.

“Prediction markets, Washington’s favorite pastime, give the Democrats a 47 per cent chance of winning both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Even if Republicans lose just the House, the mood in Washington will change overnight. Even Trump openly claims he’ll “be impeached … If we lose the midterms.”

Pfft. Impeachment could be “the least of Trump’s worries,” said Balls, as Democrats mull a series of Capitol Hill investigations into Trump family finances, the funding of Trump’s pet projects and the handing of government contracts to friends and associates.

“The Trump family’s ventures into cryptocurrency and work with sovereign wealth funds are all being discussed by Democrats as potential targets,” said Balls. “One idea going round is to start with the companies and individuals that have made big donations to Trump’s pet projects, such as the White House ballroom, where estimated costs have at least doubled to more than $400 million.”

And all of this is “likely to come against a background of more checks on Trump’s executive powers, which will only darken the president’s mood and could turn ugly,” said Balls. Trump hates losing. When a court stopped him from processing the visas for 75 nations he canceled all of them. When he was told to take his name off the Kennedy center, he threatened to demolish it.

“Expect more such wrath, particularly abroad,” said Balls. “If Democrats really succeed in checking Trump, burying his agenda and bogging him down in a running battle with vexatious investigations, he’ll spend more time on foreign affairs where it is easier to act without congressional approval. If a frustrated president is thwarted in Washington, action in Cuba or even an escalation of the current trade war with Canada may start to have appeal.”

C-Span callers hang 'idiot' Trump by his toes in searing spate of takedowns

Daily Beast reports C-SPAN callers showed no mercy to President Donald Trump during a sizzling flurry of Thursday hate-calls.

Florida Republican Max complained that Trump’s aggressiveness on trade just delivering the scare it used to.

“Right now, I think what we need to focus on primarily is Trump’s tactics on trade now compared to his first term, where his aggressiveness seemed to kind of yield results, whereas now I think nobody really buys it anymore,” said Max. “I think everybody’s just like, ‘No, you’re not gonna really do anything.’ And frankly, I just find it all to be, uh, very disappointing that not even he seems to realize that and he’s just embarrassing himself. It sucks, and everything’s expensive.”

Ryan, another Florida caller, identified himself as a Trump voter in 2024 but now regrets his vote.

“Honestly, I voted for Trump in 2024. Starting to regret it,” Ryan complained. “You know, his policies are getting more and more draconian. I just do not like the whole direction where this is coming.”

Maryland Republican Virginia demanded even more harsh response to Trump’s policies.

“This man needs to be removed from office, and Congress is just not doing their job,” she said, revealing her frustration over tariffs on lumber and what they could do to Americans already fighting with inflation.

Daily Beast reports voters across the political spectrum dialed into C-SPAN early Thursday to deliver their critiques of Trump’s self-induced conflict in the Middle East and sprawling tariffs.

Doug, an independent voter in Ohio, predicted that “the tariffs are gonna kill the American worker.”

“They’re going to hurt our economy, And I feel the same way that Doug in Canada feels about Donald Trump: he’s about the biggest idiot ever made. … We lost in Iran, we’re gonna lose this trade war. What is his problem? And he wants to build a goshdarn throne room. He calls it a ballroom, but it’s his own throne room, and I don’t like any of it from this man that we got as president. He’s an idiot, and he’s gonna cause nothing but trouble.”

President Donald Trump’s approval ratings have hit a record low during his second term, with widespread public dissatisfaction heavily tied to the ongoing war with Iran and escalating trade conflicts. This rapid decline marks a steep departure from the beginning of his second term, as voters increasingly express deep skepticism over his administration's handling of the economy, inflation, and foreign policy.

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