Freedom Writers Collaborative

Freedom Writers Collaborative

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Freedom Writers Collaborative is a multi-state Indivisible chapter that is truly a grassroots operation providing messaging and social media content inspired by our progressive allies. https://freedomwriterscollaborative.org/

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Freedom Writers Collaborative
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Trump suffers humiliating defeat to Obama in masculinity poll

dlvr.itTrump suffers humiliating defeat to Obama in masculinity pollPresident Donald Trump has suffered an embarrassing defeat to former President Barack Obama in a new national poll exploring masculinity. The Bulwark and Pablo Torre Finds Out released a poll, which found that 59 percent of American adults view Obama as a stronger role model for men, while only 37 percent said the same of Trump. Trump was right at the bottom of the list when respondents were asked whether he represented a positive example of masculinity. 55 percent said the president was not a strong male role model, leaving him with a negative 18-point net rating. However, Obama earned a positive 28-point net rating, which is a huge 46-point gap between the rival presidents, which puts the spotlight on how the public feels about Trump’s desire to portray himself as a political strongman. The results were not split across party lines, as 23 percent who voted for Trump identified Obama as a stronger male role model. Trump finished last among the politicians, athletes and entertainment figures who were included in the survey. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth performed slightly better than the president, but only 28 percent of respondents considered the Pentagon chief a strong role model for American men, while 39 percent disagreed. With younger adults between the ages of 18 and 29, Hegseth plummeted, with 34 percent rejecting his image as a strong male role model. The Bulwark report shows a contradiction between Hegseth’s efforts to project masculinity and toughness and how the public views him. The Pentagon chief has put an emphasis on his masculinity ideals, such as proposing a testosterone replacement program and physical fitness tests, along with his war on beards. He has also fat-shamed people whom he considered overweight and frequently participates in physical training with military personnel. Actor Matthew McConaughey had one of the strongest ratings, posting a positive 33-point net score, followed by Obama at 28 points and NBA legend LeBron James at 25 points. California Gov. Gavin Newsom didn’t fare well with a negative two-point net rating, with 35 percent identifying him as a strong male role model and 37 percent disagreeing. YouGov carried out the online poll of 1,417 U.S. adults between 10th and 14th October. The results were weighted to reflect the adult population, and the margin of error reported was 3.6 percentage points. Trump has frequently attacked Obama, describing him as a "weak leader," but has recently complimented his ability to walk down the stairs of the White House as he deals with the physical decline that usually comes with advanced age.
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Right-wing freakout exposes GOP’s insidious contempt for their own voters

dlvr.itRight-wing freakout exposes GOP’s insidious contempt for their own votersThe latest ridiculous freakout from President Donald Trump and his MAGA followers has once again exposed just how "stupid" they think their voters are, according to the hosts of MS NOW's Morning Joe. Earlier this week, at a midterm rally in Ohio, former President Barack Obama took a brief aside to mock the overly gold renovations that Trump has done to the White House, and the Oval Office in particular, calling it out with a pointed comedic jab. "What's with all the gold? He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened up a Cheesecake Factory," Obama said. Certain right-wing pundits attempted to spin that remark as Obama making fun of the Cheesecake Factory restaurant chain, arguing that it exposed him as snobbish and out-of-touch with everyday Americans. Other observers countered these criticisms, pointing out that the reference to the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was the actual point of the punchline. Trump himself appeared rattled by the remarks during his own rally appearance, defending his ability to renovate buildings "very good, [and] very beautifully." During the Tuesday morning broadcast of Morning Joe, co-host and former congressman Joe Scarborough went off on Trump and the other MAGA acolytes for their attacks on Obama's remarks, arguing that it shows how much contempt they have for the intelligence of their voters. "The fact that they take a very funny Barack Obama joke and go, 'Oh, the guy whose middle name is Hussein has stepped into it,'" Scarborough said. "We can now say he's un-American for making fun — no, not making fun of The Cheesecake Factory, making fun of all the fake gold that Donald Trump has slathered all around the White House. So it's again, time and time again, they think their viewers are so stupid that they're not going to be able to connect things... 'They closed the rural hospitals, my trucking company's out of business, but he made a joke about Donald Trump that had the words "Cheesecake Factory" in it. I'm voting for the Republicans.' Like, do they really think people are that stupid?" "Well, it's the desperation," co-host Willie Geist said. "As one host said yesterday on Fox News, this is the deplorables moment, just like [with] Hillary [Clinton]. This is it. Again, as Joe just said, no, it wasn't a joke about The Cheesecake Factory. It was a joke about Donald Trump's supergluing pieces of cheap gold all over the White House and making it look as cheap as it does. The other part of this is, do they really want to have a contrast about who the elitist is? If we're comparing Barack Obama to Donald Trump, the guy who is building a ballroom bigger than the white house, the guy who wants to build an arch, who wants to take over the Kennedy Center, the guy who lives in a castle by the sea, the guy who made [$2.3] billion since he took over[.] Do you really want to have that conversation here?"
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Intel officials pull back curtain on Trump DOJ’s election 'doomsday' plan

dlvr.itIntel officials pull back curtain on Trump DOJ’s election 'doomsday' planNational security reporter Ken Klippenstein is hearing from more sources inside President Donald Trump's administration that his Justice Department is trying to craft a "contingency plan" to possibly intervene in the Nov. 3 election. Three officials with knowledge of the discussions inside the administration revealed that there is a "doomsday" scenario that some think is "improbable but not impossible." Recently, Trump has even hinted that Trump might do something major if there are things like foreign interference, claims that noncitizens voted or other chaos at the polls, said Klipperstein. “Nobody knows what the president might do if the midterms don’t go his way," said one intelligence official who served in the first Trump administration. Axios reported Monday that Trump's new lawsuit in Alaska is only one of the lawsuits Attorney General Todd Blanche plans to file. So far, he's also attacked California, trying to remove 20,000 voters from the rolls at the last minute. This is happening while the DOJ is also trying to indict Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook; after the FBI raided Rep. Ilhan Omar's (D-Minn.) Washington residence; after the DOJ indicted Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas (D), a big Trump critic; and as the department is making a third go at indicting former FBI Director James Comey. Blanche has even admitted openly that he could move to block a state from certifying the election results. “Yes, of course there’s scenarios that we could all come up with hypothetically, you know, some doomsday scenario, for example, right?” he told reporters. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon told "60 Minutes" that everything would remain normal “absent some shocking contingency that is unexpected." "These remarks, sources explain to me, are not just rhetoric. There really are contingency plans," said Klippenstein. Foreign cyberattacks by pro-Trump hackers in Russia, for example, could spark action from the Justice Department. “If we need to put in federal controls as opposed to state controls,” Trump said way back in February. “If they can’t do it honestly and it can’t be done properly and timely, then something else has to happen." Trump went on to say that there is a need for federal controls over elections and not leave it up to the states, despite the role of the states being outlined in the U.S. Constitution. A few weeks after that interview, Trump met with state governors about the possible "doomsday plan." The DOJ began preparing scenarios that would trigger federal action. "Under the law, the Attorney General may seek a temporary restraining order or injunction when a violation has occurred or there are reasonable grounds to believe that one is imminent," Klippenstein warned. "The Justice Department could also ask a court to delay finalization of a particular election as part of its argument that the law has been broken." "Reasonable grounds," he noted, is a judgment call that will depend on which court and which judge is overseeing the case. “There is no general presidential or attorney-general power to suspend elections or veto a state’s results simply by alleging fraud,” one government lawyer says. “The administration would need to identify some statutory violation, present supporting evidence, and justify whatever particular remedy it is requesting.” Even if the DOJ can come up with something, the lawyer said, “There is no law covering a federal government takeover." The former Trump intelligence official asked whether Trump could even sign a classified emergency order to justify intervention. “Could Doomsday involve some continuity of government argument? You just never know with Donald Trump," he said. “If all else fails,” Trump could put “pressure on officials, undertake unsupported litigation, or even issue unlawful executive orders.” That could then provoke a riot like Jan. 6. Still, the planning inside the DOJ continues, the government lawyer said.
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WV GOP can't remove House candidate after eye-popping racist posts

dlvr.itWV GOP can't remove House candidate after eye-popping racist postsA Republican House of Delegates candidate in Berkeley County remains on the ballot after authoring several racist posts on social media that targeted Black women and Muslims. He reportedly called the Confederate flag “beautiful.” Chris Clagett’s social media activity, first reported by West Virginia Watch in September, drew ire from House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay. “If the voters of Berkeley County choose to send that attitude to the House of Delegates, it will be a lonely place,” Hansshaw told MetroNews in an interview last month. If elected, Clagett could be left off House committees, giving him little input in the legislative process. Early voting is underway across West Virginia and continues through Oct. 31. Clagett faces Democratic challenger David Michaels in the race. State law prohibits the West Virginia Republican Party from replacing him at this point if Clagett had chosen to resign. “The West Virginia Republican Party condemns the language used on social media. It is not reflective of the values of our party nor the values of our candidates running for office,” said Josh Holstein, chair of the West Virginia GOP. The West Virginia Democratic Party called for Clagett to withdraw from the race “because he is unfit to serve the people of this district.” Clagett did not return an email for this story nor has he responded to previous interview requests about his social media activity. He confirmed he authored the posts during a radio interview with Eastern Panhandle station WRNR about the social media posts. In January, Clagett posted on X, “Maybe because black women are the most ill-mannered, ill-behaved, loud-mouthed demographics on the face of the Earth. Does that clarify it for you … ?” He responded to a post that said, “They always think saying I’m not doing anything means they’re not resisting arrest.” He told WRNR radio hosts that, “context is everything,” then later said the post he responded to with the words “ill-mannered” included Black women “behaving in exactly the manner I described.” Clagett is running to represent the 91st District in the House, which covers mostly southern Berkeley County. He ran unopposed in the May primary election. The district is heavily Red. Clagett’s political platform focuses on medical freedom from vaccinations, immigration enforcement and curriculum reform in public schools. His fundraising activity has been light, with the latest campaign filing showing he has about $2,800 in cash on hand. Michaels has $10,307 cash on hand with about a week to go until Nov. 3 Election Day. He has focused his campaign on locality pay for teachers and improving infrastructure in Berkeley County during its population increase. No candidates with the Constitution Party, Libertarian Party or Mountain Party filed to run in the race. The 91st district has seen a string of controversies involving its Republican House candidates. Previous candidate Joseph de Soto was arrested after making terrorist threats against sitting lawmakers. House Republicans in January voted to vacate the seat instead of expelling de Soto, saying it was the correct way to deal with the seat since de Soto was on house arrest and never sworn in. De Soto switched his party affiliation to Democrat before his arrest, prompting an ongoing legal challenge from the state Democratic Party that the seat should have been filled by a Democratic candidate under state law. Gov. Patrick Morrisey appointed Ian Masters to the House seat after Republican delegate-elect Joseph de Soto, who won the November 2024 election. Last summer, Masters denied allegations that he was responsible for an antisemitic comment made by a private Instagram account that used his name and is linked to an organization he recently led. Masters is not seeking reelection.
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Donald Trump crossed a boundary — and it will cost the GOP everything

dlvr.itDonald Trump crossed a boundary — and it will cost the GOP everythingThe midterms are eight days from now, and the story of the election is probably going to be about Hispanic voters. They moved toward Donald Trump in record numbers in 2024. They are now swinging back to the Democrats. Gerrymander efforts by the GOP to hold the House could backfire because of Hispanic voters. They could end up deciding control of the Senate. The conventional wisdom is that they flipped back because of inflation, but it’s clear Trump’s broken promise is about more than that. Many Hispanic voters believed the president would not deport peaceful, law-abiding immigrants. He was lying, but many didn't believe the truth. They believe it now. A new Times poll found that more than a quarter of Hispanic voters personally know someone who has been arrested, detained and deported by ICE. “The very inhumane way our current administration goes about immigration enforcement is terrible,” a Hispanic voter, a Democrat, told the Times. “People are being treated like hardened criminals, when they hadn’t done anything actually wrong while they’re here.” This is an important distinction. If the reason for their flipping is inflation, the Republicans can conceivably hope to win them back in time by following through on a future promise of lowering costs. But if the reason is not about anything tangible but instead about trust in the GOP's intentions, Donald Trump may have crossed a line beyond which there is no return. Time will tell whether I’m right, obviously, but we’ve been here before. In California, prior to 1994, Hispanic voters supported Republican candidates in robust numbers. The party was conservative. It produced Ronald Reagan. It sent Republicans to the Senate. Yet Hispanics found a home there. Many believed it was a means of achieving the American dream. That changed dramatically after Pete Wilson was elected in 1991. The Republican governor set in motion a series of actions making it clear what his party really thought of the state and the place of Hispanics in it – California was a white man’s republic and they did not belong. The most notorious of these was Proposition 187. It was a ballot initiative Wilson pushed for while running for reelection. It denied state services to undocumented immigrants, including health care and public education. To their shock, voters approved the measure in 1994. Beforehand, Hispanics could believe the GOP's party line – if immigrants work hard and play by the rules, the doors of opportunity and freedom would open to them. Afterward, it was no longer possible to believe that. The welcome mat had been pulled. The truth has been revealed. Prop 187 triggered a political backlash that has defined the Golden State since. California hasn't voted for a Republican presidential nominee since 1988. The last Republican senator, John Seymour, was defeated in 1992. And Pete Wilson was the last Republican governor. (Arnold Schwarzenegger's tenure doesn't really count.) It's widely believed that Wilson permanently enfeebled the state's GOP. He did so with a profound act of betrayal. Comparing Trump to Wilson is tricky. California isn’t America. But the betrayal is similar, if you’re being charitable, or acutely worse, if you’re just following the facts. Nearly a million immigrants have been deported since Trump returned to power. Most of them are from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia and Venezuela. As many as 80 percent of them do not have a criminal record. More than 500 US citizens, most of them Hispanic, have been detained by ICE. Some immigrants have been deported to places they have never known. (Cubans in South Florida, for instance, are being sent to Africa.) Legal immigration has dropped by half, according to Cato. The government is denying virtually all asylum seekers. That’s not to mention what this president has done to the children of immigrants. Over the summer, The Marshall Project compiled the numbers from January 2025 to August: “8,592 children arrested by ICE; 8,755 children detained by ICE; 562 babies and toddlers detained by ICE; 198 children in ICE custody per day on average; 54 percent of child releases from ICE detention ended with the child being deported; 22,565 deportations of children by the federal government; 1,460 deportations of children taken from the interior of the US.” It's not that Donald Trump wants to get rid of a few bad apples. It's that he wants to get rid of all apples. The apples have clearly heard the message. And they are now making choices. Last week, the AP reported that states deciding Senate control are seeing a surge in early voting. “In Texas, early voting is up 74 percent compared with 2022,” the AP said. “In Kansas it’s more than doubled. Maine, North Carolina and Ohio also have seen increases of more than 30 percent in early in-person and mail voting compared with the same point in 2022.” Pollster Tom Bonier said Saturday early voting in Texas is nearly 3 million. “More Hispanics have voted than did at this point in the 2024 presidential election,” he said. Young voters are driving the surge. “Hispanics under the age of 30 have not only exceeded their total turnout at this point in 2024, they have almost doubled it.” Of the vote totals in Texas so far, Bonier estimated 217,000 were cast by people who did not vote in 2024, half of them being Hispanic. A common explanation is Hispanic voters are mad about the economy. Prices are too high. Wages are too low. It's harder to get by. But that's almost insulting, as it cheapens the scale of the injustice. Pete Wilson undermined people's material conditions, too, but that's not all he did. He profaned hope. He sabotaged the American dream. His party was punished for it. To be sure, it's too early to know if Donald Trump's party will face the same or similar fate. However, what we do know is this: no Republican can win the presidency without Texas. If the Republicans are not worried about losing the Hispanic vote there, they should be.
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Elon Musk just threatened me with prison. Here’s why I’m not backing down.

dlvr.itElon Musk just threatened me with prison. Here’s why I’m not backing down.On Saturday’s “Coffee Klatch” podcast, I said: Democrats ought to “defund Musk” and lay “the groundwork for nationalizing” Starlink and SpaceX. (My full Coffee Klatch argument is here.) This seems to have set Elon Musk off. He posted to his 241,700,000 followers: “Stealing companies is a serious crime. Prison for Reich.” I’m not particularly worried about being imprisoned — although Musk does have influence over Trump, and Trump has criminally charged Americans who have done no more than express opinions he dislikes (see: Ilhan Omar, Reid Hoffman, Brad Lander, et al.). I assure you I’m not going to be intimidated by a tweet by Musk. I’ll continue to criticize him for making decisions — such as squelching his Starlink satellite service to Ukraine — that should be made by people who are responsible for U.S. foreign policy rather than by an unaccountable tycoon. I’ll continue to campaign like crazy for Democrats in the upcoming midterms, and urge voters to throw the Republican bums out. I’ll continue to highlight the connections between great wealth and grotesque power during our Second Gilded Age — of which Musk has become Exhibit A. Elon: You may be the richest and most powerful man in the world, but I’m tough as nails. I’ve stood up to bullies my whole life, starting with playground bullies who went after me because I was so short. You think I won’t stand up to you? Okay, I’m aware of my privilege. I come with a platform. I’ve held high-level jobs in our government. And I’m an old person with little to lose, anyway. I worry about what Musk’s impulsive bullying is doing and has done to others more vulnerable than I am — people who work or have worked for him, women he’s allegedly coerced into signing nondisclosure agreements, people he’s done business with, people he’s threatened and racially denigrated and pushed around his whole life, voters he’s deluging with TV ads for Republican candidates. I also worry about the federal workers who have been hurt by his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Americans who have been harmed by his wanton destruction of public services, and people around the globe who are worse off because of cuts to USAID pushed by Elon’s DOGE. We now have a bully-in-chief in the Oval Office and the world’s wealthiest bully dictating American foreign policy — both of whom are now pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into our elections in order to avoid accountability. Will people speak out against these two consummate bullies, or remain intimidated into silence? One week to go until the midterms. Maybe then we can begin to defund Musk.
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Kushner accused of massive 'Iran-contra'-level scandal

dlvr.itKushner accused of massive 'Iran-contra'-level scandalPresident Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is accused of being in a scandal one commentator compared to the Iran-contra scandal which marred President Ronald Reagan's administration. Describing the recent book "Princes and Theives" by investigative journalist Matthew Cole, The New York Times' Fintan O’Toole reported on Monday that "if Cole’s claims are accurate, Kushner’s political and financial relationship with the U.A.E.’s president, Mohammed bin Zayed (widely known as M.B.Z.), constitutes what must surely be the worst case of U.S. foreign policy being conducted outside the law and democratic oversight since the Iran-contra scandal during the Reagan administration in the 1980s." O’Toole continued, "In that affair, government officials secretly sold arms to Iran and used the proceeds to fund — against the explicit orders of Congress — a violent right-wing insurgency in Nicaragua. What Cole alleges is, if anything, more consequential: that Kushner worked with the U.A.E. to shape U.S. policy across the Middle East and that, in the course of this work, he was given access to bank accounts containing roughly $2 billion." He then emphasized that none of the allegations made by Cole have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. "Cole’s most significant sources remain anonymous," O'Toole wrote. "Recurring attributions in his notes include “a confidential source with direct knowledge” and “author interview with source who attended the meeting.” It is equally important to acknowledge that Kushner declined to be interviewed for Cole’s book. His lawyer described Cole’s allegations as “crazy, false and defamatory” and last week threatened legal action against Vanity Fair, which published an excerpt from the book." O'Toole added, "To Cole’s credit, he recognizes that, even after five years of digging, “much remains unknown about Kushner’s relationships and agreements with the leaders of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and, especially, the United Arab Emirates.” What we have, then, is an incomplete and contested account of those dealings." Kushner has also been faulted for his unorthodox style of communicating as a diplomat, which some experts argue lacks any appreciation for the craft of sensitive international negotiations. "In the waning hours before the U.S. went to war with Iran, this February, Jared Kushner held a meeting with Iranian negotiators in Geneva — one last chance to avoid a conflict that would plunge the region into chaos and shock the world economy," reported reporter Derek Filkins in September. "Afterward, Kushner dismissed his counterparts as unworthy of his time. 'Lots of tricks,' he told reporters. 'They're basically playing games with us all over the place, and it's very, very slippery.'" Filkins added, "Kushner, the boyish-looking son-in-law of Donald Trump, has been given an extraordinary brief in recent years. Along with Steve Witkoff, the president's special envoy, he has been charged with ending wars in Gaza, Ukraine, and just about anywhere else they might break out. Kushner, who is 45, has little regard for the craft of diplomacy."
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'Sickened' George Conway tears apart Trump admin's 'moral' collapse

dlvr.it'Sickened' George Conway tears apart Trump admin's 'moral' collapsePresident Donald Trump's offer of $5,000 to every American voter if Republicans keep Congress during the midterms is "sick" and speaks to the "moral" problems in the Republican's administration, at least according to two conservative commentators: attorney George Conway and political consultant Sarah Longwell "He's dug himself in on that," Conway told Longwell on a podcast for The Bulwark. "At the same time, the one thing he was promising to make things better was $5,000 a head, right? Nobody believes that. They're truly affected by the diesel prices. They can't afford things they normally could. $5,000 ought to be a real sale item. Of course, anybody who actually does the math — $5,000 times however many people you want to give it to — will say we can't afford that. But they don't believe it. And that says something about late-stage Trumpism, doesn't it?" Longwell agreed. "It does," Longwell told Conway. "There was a great woman in the focus group who said something like: He said there were going to be DOGE checks, and there were going to be tariff rebates, and now there's supposed to be $5,000 if they win. This dude owes me $22,500, and I'm never going to see it. Most people at this point are hip to the fact that it's not coming. But you know what's even sadder? When you get people in the group who say, well, I heard he was going to give us this dividend, so I check my account and look for it, but it hasn't come. The sadder thing is when people believe him and think there's money coming, and they spend it..." Conway interrupted, "It's never coming." After the two described how some Trump supporters will actually expect and depend on the president's promise despite his previous broken vows, Conway noted that Michigan's Democratic Seante candidate "Abdul El-Sayed made this great point. I wish we had the clip. I think it was last week. He talked about how part of what's going on with Trumpism is that people don't want to admit they were wrong. He said it better than I've ever said it. And to your point, it's not just that people don't want to admit they're wrong. People don't want to admit they were fleeced, that they were taken for fools. Do you sense a difference now? Not all Trump voters, obviously — not all three-time or two-time Trump voters — but are there people in the electorate feeling like, okay, I bought into a pile of lies and I was had?" Longwell speculated, "There are sometimes people who describe it that way, but most people don't, because people are psychologically motivated against saying they were wrong." Speaking to AlterNet in September, former Social Security Commissioner Martin O'Malley described the proposed $5,000 divided as a "bribe." "I don’t think that’s socialism or capitalism, that’s bribery," O'Malley told AlterNet. "That’s paying people to vote a certain way. If he stood outside a polling place in Baltimore and around the corner from it was offering to give people $5,000 to vote for him, they’d put handcuffs on him, if he were a citizen. So that’s not capitalism or socialism, that’s just straight-up bribery."
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CBS news staff eye mass escape plan as MAGA pivot hardens: report

dlvr.itCBS news staff eye mass escape plan as MAGA pivot hardens: reportEven though billionaire David Ellison is widely criticized for seemingly turning CBS News into a pro-President Donald Trump outlet, he is reportedly going full steam ahead with plans to streamline CBS News and presumably also make it more MAGA. "David Ellison is offering buyouts to employees at CBS News and other Skydance properties," reported The Daily Beast's Laura Esposito on Monday. "The Trump-friendly billionaire is extending the offer to employees at the vice-president level or below with 15 or more years of service, the New York Post reported on Monday. Employees in the U.S., as well as the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries are eligible." She added, "The shake-up comes as Ellison, the son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, succeeded in his bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery under the Skydance Paramount umbrella—after months of fielding legal hurdles and accusations that the deal would create a monopoly." Esposito continued, "Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz announced the voluntary buyouts alongside a mandatory in-office policy at the newly merged company." “In their joint email, Ellison and Kreiz wrote, "As we bring our teams together, we recognize that not everyone will see their future here, and we respect that. To give eligible employees the option to move on in a way that works for them, we are introducing a Voluntary Buyout (VBO) Program.” The Ellisons are also under fire for recently purchasing CNN. Earlier in October, longtime CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour said she was leaving shortly after Ellison would become the new executive. "After more than 43 years at CNN, Christiane has decided that the time is right to begin a new chapter," CNN chief Mark Thompson said in a statement. "Early in 2027, she will scale back her CNN International show, Amanpour, to once a week. The program will conclude in May, and she will leave CNN at the end of June." In September, CNN journalist Kara Swisher told podcaster Scott Galloway that should could not imagine staying under Ellison. Galloway told Swisher, "When you show up to whoever it is you show up to at CNN and say, I want out of my contract, they jump up and say, ‘Congratulations, no problem.’" Swisher concurred, but said: “No, I’m just saying. I just don’t want to work. They don’t want me. I don’t want them, and I have been very explicit." She also said, “I think they are terrible media owners. I’d rather work for Rupert Murdoch."
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Psychologist exposes the grim mission driving Trump’s ultimate endgame

dlvr.itPsychologist exposes the grim mission driving Trump’s ultimate endgameBefore President Donald Trump took office, there was no widespread movement in America to annex Greenland or Canada. No one thought we should prioritize renaming the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, renovating the East Potomac Golf Links or destroying the White House's East Wing to build a ballroom. Yet millions of Americans support these things now, for no other reason than Trump wants them. And because these millions of Americans enable Trump's most grandiose whims, the rest of us seem to underplay the fact that those wishes are in fact signs of a profoundly disturbed mind. This is not mere grandstanding; Trump has draped his image over the Justice Department building and slapped it on passports, openly claimed to be America's all-time greatest president and even compared himself to Jesus Christ. Because Greenland is controlled by Denmark, America's NATO ally, Trump's threats of conquest have weakened that crucial international alliance. Similarly, by convincing Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to seek long-term trade agreements with China and the European Union, his public boasts that Canada will become "America's 51st state" (and private meddling in the ultimately-unsuccessful Albertan separatist movement) have led to a trade war loss instead of a victory. In short, the gusts that blow through Trump's mind send chills through the worlds of global diplomacy and rattle the foundations of American democracy to their foundations. It therefore behooves us to better understand the mind. And few are more qualified to do so than Dr. Alan D. Blotcky, a clinical and forensic psychologist who wrote more than 40 articles for Salon, NY Daily News, and The Independent. He has written extensively about how we can accurately assess Trump's motives through his public words and actions. In this exclusive interview with AlterNet, Blotcky made it clear that Trump's mind is not literally disconnected from reality. He is simply motivated by something terrifying — a desire to be "the last standing hero." The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity, context and length. Forensic psychologist's verdict: Trump is not psychotic. Matthew Rozsa: In 2021, you argued that President Trump was, quote, "not delusional and knew exactly what he was doing." Do you still believe that, or has anything shifted? Dr. Alan D. Blotcky: Yeah, I still believe that. I don't think he has a psychotic illness. I think he's a malignant narcissist who thinks that if he thinks something or believes something, that he can convince the world that it's the truth. So no, I don't think he has a delusional disorder. I don't think he's psychotic. I think he knows what he's doing. Matthew Rozsa: It sounds like you're saying that he is so narcissistic, he believes through sheer force of will he can create the world that he wants. Is that correct? Dr. Blotcky: Exactly. Matthew Rozsa: How is that not a form of psychosis? Dr. Blotcky: Well, I think he knows that many things that he believes are not true. It's his narcissistic game that he plays. He sees everybody else as pawns to be manipulated, and so he manipulates the world around him to fit his needs. But I don't think his particular beliefs are so fixed that he does not understand the difference between the truth and not the truth. He doesn't care, but he knows the difference. Matthew Rozsa: There is a difference, though, between not caring about truth versus fiction and believing one can transform fiction into truth: that one can take a fiction and, by repeating it often enough and getting others to say it often enough and sifting through evidence often enough, you can turn that fiction into the reality in which the rest of us live. Trump seems to have that. Dr. Blotcky: Yeah, that's exactly what happens, and that's exactly how it works. And he's not a very smart man, but he knows that exquisitely well. He knows that if he repeats something over and over and over again, that a certain percentage of people will begin to believe it. Especially as president, he's this ultimate authority figure, and there's a certain percentage of the citizenry that will believe what he says because, after all, a president wouldn't lie, would he? Matthew Rozsa: It isn't so much that they don't think the president would lie, it's that they don't think he is lying when his lies are ideologically convenient for them. So for example, when he insults Somali immigrants or trans people, somebody who is already xenophobic, racist and/or transphobic is going to believe those lies because they're already inclined to. That is my take, anyway. Dr. Blotcky: No, that's exactly right. And that's why those are the people who are his strongest supporters, because they align with his ideology, and they don't care if he's corrupt or criminal or deceitful or morally bankrupt. They don't care as long as it fits their ideology, and so they support him and they will support him to the end. Matthew Rozsa: If Trump is manipulating the rest of us in a way that I think can objectively be described as malicious, or at the very least unempathetic, is there any way to manipulate him back so that he doesn't cause too much harm to the aforementioned marginalized groups or to democratic institutions or to global security? Dr. Blotcky: Well, you know, if you go back and look at all of my writings back in 2021, I always believed that ultimately pushing back on the truth with him would ultimately marginalize him and that ultimately he would be rejected. The problem is that all the Republicans in Congress have succumbed, and their silence has enabled him to be the bad president that we have. If they did their job like they were supposed to do, he would be marginalized, and even if he had been reelected, he would've been marginalized, but there's no pushback in Congress. And I did not anticipate that. I guess I probably should have, but I did not anticipate that. But to answer your question, I think the way to deal with him, the only way to deal with him, is to push back, is to keep presenting the truth and the facts to not only him, of course, but to his supporters and to the country as a whole. The problem, again, is the free press, in my mind, has fallen down, has succumbed to him as well. They have not published nearly as many articles as they should about his false and distorted and inaccurate and harmful beliefs and views. So I think it's been difficult to deal with him because the entities around him have not pushed back like I thought they should or would. I hope that answers your question. Forensic psychologist's verdict: Trump supporters are motivated by money and fear. Matthew Rozsa: It does, but it also raises another one, which is the reason they capitulate. Whether you're talking about law firms like Paul Weiss or media outlets like CBS, or you're talking about universities like Dartmouth, whether you're talking about Congress, Senate and House, the reason they capitulate is because the minority of Trump supporters is large enough and wealthy enough that they can bully majorities into submission. Dr. Blotcky: Exactly. And it ultimately comes back to money and fear, you know. The rich people, the billionaires, the controlling people in these entities have succumbed to him out of fear, and they wanna maintain their financial status, and so they're not gonna buck him because he'll take them to court. He'll file lawsuits against them. He'll stop federal payments. He'll do whatever he can do to damage them, and they're not willing to take the high ground and the morally right ground to deal with him. And so that's part of the capitulation that has gone on in this country. Matthew Rozsa: My additional concern is that as this movement follows Trump with cult-like devotion, they themselves will display some of the malignant narcissistic behavior that you describe. Before you respond, let me give you two examples: one policy, one interpersonal. The policy example is, before Trump's obsession with conquering Greenland began, I never recall hearing anyone in this country seriously talk as if we were going to break our NATO agreement and invade Denmark to take their territory. The fact that we suddenly, on a dime, adopted this position for no other reason than one man came up with it, to me, is one sign of malignant narcissistic traits spreading. One man's narcissism suddenly infects millions who support him. Maybe not a majority, but a large enough minority that they have an impact. And the other example is, I've had several encounters with Trump supporters who are very violent, emotionally and even physically, because of how strongly they believe in him. That too, to me, speaks to a tendency that Trump has to make everyone feel as if his problems are theirs. I apologize for being so long-winded, but I wanted to be thorough. Do you understand the question I'm asking? Dr. Blotcky: Yeah. Look, here's my position about this, and people don't talk about this, and this may sound overly cynical or fearful. I think Trump ultimately wants to destroy everything around him so that he is the last standing hero and rich person in the world. He doesn't care about democracy, he doesn't care about this country, he doesn't care about people. All he cares about is chaos and violence, and he could care less about the destruction of America. All he cares about is the grifting that he's doing so that he can walk away with billion after billion after billion, and he can say to everybody in the world that he's the richest, the smartest, the best, superlative you can find in every area. So he doesn't give a damn about this country. And any of his supporters that think that he does is a joke, in my opinion. Forensic psychologist's verdict: Forensic psychology helps you understand Trump. Matthew Rozsa: Now, you are a specialist in forensic sciences. I would argue that Trump is in many ways a literal criminal, from his financial crimes to the allegations of sexual misconduct against him. As somebody who studies criminal minds, what kind of mind does Trump have? Is he more similar to a serial killer or to a conman or to a domestic abuser? How do you typologically understand Trump? Dr. Blotcky: I would say he's more like a conman. You know, he has the mind of a conman criminal. His position, and I've heard him say it, maybe not in so many words, but he essentially says, "If you don't stop me, then what I do is okay, and it's on you. If I rob a bank and you don't stop me from robbing the bank, then me robbing the bank is fine." That's the way a conman and a criminal think, and that's how he thinks. He doesn't have a moral compass. He's reacting to everybody else, and if you don't stop me, then it's fine that I do it. And if you do stop me, then I'll go on to my next endeavor. And that's what he does. Matthew Rozsa: So to what extent do you think your professional and academic background gives you a unique perspective on Trump? Dr. Blotcky: Well, I don't know how far into this you wanna get, but let me just say this. You know, one of the criticisms of these kind of comments is that I've never met Donald Trump, I've never interviewed Donald Trump, I've never evaluated him. So that's an important limitation in our discussion, in any of these discussions. And that's why the Goldwater Rule continues to be a principle that we stand behind as much as we can, because it is conceivable that Donald Trump personally and his personal life is different than his public life and his public persona. I think the chances of that are not strong, but it's possible. And I wanna say that, and I want that on the record. Matthew Rozsa: I understand that's on the record. Is that all you have to say on the subject? Dr. Blotcky: Well, I wanna highlight that because I don't wanna be misunderstood. It's conceivable that he's different, but we do have lots of records of him over the last 10 years. We have pictures and recordings and interviews and statements, and so we have a ton of material to try to base our opinions as best we can. But look at his behavior. Look at how many people have been hurt. Look how unempathetic he is. Look at how many lives have been hurt and harmed and even ruined by him. Look at how many people died during the pandemic because of his lies and inaction. So I just say look at his behavior. I urge others to look at his behavior, not just at his claims, because as we all know, he lies more than any public official in the history of America. Matthew Rozsa: Where I struggle is knowing that he displayed many of these traits even when he was a young man, and now that he is older, there are some who think that there are indications of cognitive decline, but in fact, it may just be the same toxic traits that he had as a young man, but now as an old man. Or it could be both. What are your thoughts? Dr. Blotcky: Yeah. I mean, again, I haven't interviewed him or evaluated him. He's 80-something years old. I suspect with whatever medical problems he obviously has, there's a likelihood of some cognitive slippage, but I still say it is his personality traits that are causing the problem, not his cognitive slippage. Matthew Rozsa: I agree to a point. I interviewed someone named Dr. S. Jay Olshansky. I'll pull up the quote. Are you familiar with Olshansky? Dr. Blotcky: I am not. Matthew Rozsa: Well, Olshansky is a University of Illinois Chicago emeritus professor best known for developing the biodemographic paradigm of mortality. He studies how to slow aging and help humans reach the upper limits of their potential lifespans. When I interviewed him, he said, "I don't trust audio that I hear. Those can be doctored and altered. I don't trust opinions of others based on video and audio because those are often influenced by politics. Bottom line is, I think very few people have any valid basis for drawing any conclusion about cognitive functioning about the president." He was adamant that anyone who has not personally met Trump is not able to offer an informed diagnosis of his mental state. But at the same time, we can observe that he slurs his words. We can observe that he falls asleep during meetings. We can observe that he engages in odd, obsessive fixations like renaming the Kennedy Center or renovating the East Potomac Golf Course or trying to annex Greenland or starting a trade war with Canada. And notice how, while the earlier issues are pettier, the larger ones begin to have international implications. At what point does it become necessary to disregard Olshansky's warning? Dr. Blotcky: Well, that's the ultimate question, and I think you'll interview a hundred different professionals and you'll probably get 100 different answers. I think when democracy is being attacked the way it is, mental health professionals should speak out, but that's my opinion. The APA takes a different view of that, and I think that's why there's so much silence among mental health professionals, and that's why they have virtually been silent during these past two years. But the ultimate question is, at what point is it okay to voice your opinions and to raise issues? And that's why I think it's important to understand our limitations when we do so, the limitation being that I have not interviewed him, I have not evaluated him. It is possible that he is different personally than he is in his role now. But I think people should speak out, and that's my opinion, but other people's opinions are just as valuable as mine. Matthew Rozsa: I have gone through my list of questions. Is there anything else you'd like to say about these subjects? Dr. Blotcky: I wish the people that we talked about earlier, whether it be the mainstream media or members of Congress, would push back more. I think that would be in the service of democracy, and it's what we need, and that is what is failing us.
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Psychologist flags 'weird' Trump dementia signs — and they’re getting worse

dlvr.itPsychologist flags 'weird' Trump dementia signs — and they’re getting worseOn Monday, a widely cited psychologist warned that President Donald Trump is displaying “more signs of apparent neurological decline.” According to Dr. John Garrison, the involuntary vocalizations, confusion, motor control problems,and inhibition problems Trump displayed at a string of rallies over the weekend could suggest seizure, dementia or some other neurodegenerative disease — and it’s getting worse. While watching a recording of the rally, Garrison begins by noting “an involuntary vocalization” similar to other uncontrolled sounds Trump has been making while speaking lately. What’s more, the president simultaneously makes a number of twitching motions with his hands, arms and face that Garrison links to the vocalization, explaining, “I think this was all part of the same event, and in terms of what this event could be, we could be looking at seizure activity. We could be looking at a lesion in the brain related to having a stroke or something like that. We could be seeing effects of dementia. There are a wide variety of neurological possibilities when we're observing something like this.” Moments later, Trump appears to be “struggling with language production,” and here Garrison refers to another recent rally to emphasize the president’s emerging speech problems. “The quality of his voice was odd,” notes Garrison. “The way he moved his hands was odd. I think he is struggling with motor functioning. These types of unusual behaviors are expected when someone is experiencing a neurodegenerative disease or when they are having neurological dysfunction. But,” he warns, “we're seeing this progress. We're actually seeing it get worse over time.” This brings Garrison to a glaring example of Trump’s “poor judgment and his inability to inhibit his behavior.” During a Sunday rally in Michigan, Trump made a comment about singer Nicki Minaj’s “beautiful” posterior. According to Garrison, this was a clear sign that the president is displaying increasingly “impaired social judgment. He's always said things that were wild, but now they're more frequent, they tend to be more sexual, and they tend to be more unusual. So something like this is not only impaired social judgment -- it also shows sexual disinhibition." As Garrison elaborates, "Sometimes people with dementia make unwanted sexual statements or observations that can be very uncomfortable, and that may be exactly what we're seeing right here.” In light of Trump's accumulating symptoms, Garrison concludes with a warning: “It shows impulsivity. It shows a whole host of problems that we're dealing with, and I think have been getting worse for President Trump lately… He seems to be using worse judgment and having a much, much harder time controlling his behavior.” - YouTube www.youtube.com
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The bishop presiding over Mar-a-Lago just smacked down Trump’s photo op

dlvr.itThe bishop presiding over Mar-a-Lago just smacked down Trump’s photo opPresident Donald Trump has relied heavily on Catholic voters to win power in the White House, but now many Catholic leaders are turning on the president — including the one who presides over the region that includes Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. "I wish to remind all the faithful of the Diocese of Palm Beach that the Catholic Church does not endorse or support any political candidate or political party," wrote Bishop Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez on X on Monday. "The Catholic Church remains a nonpartisan community of faith, whose sacred mission is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in full communion with our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, and the College of Bishops." de Jesús Rodríguez added, "While the Church upholds its responsibility to proclaim moral principles and promote the dignity of every human person, it does not engage in partisan political activity. Any action or statement by a member of the Church that may be perceived as an endorsement of a political candidate or party must not be construed as representing the official position of the Catholic Church or the Diocese of Palm Beach." He concluded, "Such actions, when undertaken in the name of the Church, even in the form of 'prayers' or 'blessings,' are contrary to its nonpartisan mission and should be regarded solely as expressions of individual political preference." This is not Trump's only recent row with Catholic leaders who claim he is trying to exploit their faith for his political gain. "Two Catholic bishops have accused the White House of taking advantage of a meeting and prayer with President Donald Trump, saying the moment was 'exploited' or 'manipulated' less than two weeks before the midterm elections," reported Newsweek's Jordan King. "Milwaukee Archbishop Jeffrey Grob and the Bishop of Des Moines, Iowa, William Joensen both issued statements after the White House distributed photos and video footage of them praying with the president during a meeting on Thursday which they attended, along with 10 other bishops." King continued, "The White House invitation to the bishops — extended in September — offered discussion about such issues as immigration enforcement, religious worker visas, abortion and use of federal tax credits to support private education, according to Joensen and Grob." The disapproval with Trump's seeming attempts to appropriate Catholicism have reached the American west. "James Golka, the archbishop of Denver — who laid hands on Trump during prayer, told the Denver Catholic newspaper that he was 'heartbroken' at how the meeting had been seen," reported and Financial Times' Amy Kazmin in Rome and James Politi in Washington. "'I understand that many people saw the video posted by the administration 12 days before an election as an endorsement,' he told the Financial Times. 'That was never my intention.''" The White House told the Financial Times through spokeswoman Taylor Rogers, "There has never been a greater president for Catholic Americans than President Trump, and his strong record proves it: he stopped the weaponization of the federal government against Christians, proudly defended and expanded our religious rights, pardoned pro-life activists, stopped the chemical mutilation of our nation’s children, and protected parents’ rights."
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MAGA merch shops across the country close as Trump 'peaks'

dlvr.itMAGA merch shops across the country close as Trump 'peaks'On Monday, a new report revealed a rising crisis in MAGA world. According to the Guardian, stores selling merchandise focused on President Donald Trump are closing across the country as “political reality” sinks in among his supporters: the lame duck president’s era is coming to an end. “MAGA retailers find themselves confronting a challenging political reality,” writes the Guardian. "That the president is an unpopular lame duck with no reelection campaign on the horizon to fuel sales.” As Ron Solomon, who runs the online retailer MAGA Mall, told the outlet, roughly 20 stores across the U.S. sell Trump merchandise, but over the past year, at least four stores nationwide have shut down, including in states where the president overperformed in 2024. “He's no longer a viable business model for entrepreneurs because he has peaked,” explained Wes Alker, a Trump supporter who frequented a store in Pennsylvania. According to the Guardian, the closures come amid a wider sales slump for MAGA merchandise, as retailers selling hats, T-shirts, and other items bearing the president’s likeness and slogans have seen a steep sales decline. Some retailers blamed economic conditions, with inflation driving up prices even for official Trump merchandise. Trump’s approval rating has plunged to historic lows in recent months as voters have become increasingly angry with cost of living issues and the ongoing Iran war, the consequences of which have spiraled out with no clear end in sight. The MAGA merch sales drop, however, began even before the president’s approval cratered. In January, the Trump Store in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, announced it was ending its brick-and-mortar operations after six years in business. “The store has kind of run its course,” explained owner Mike Domanico. “You know, it's been six years and the elections are over. Trump's not gonna be in another election, even though he'll be part of it.” David Russell, who frequented the store, noted, “Most of the stuff they sell was to promote Trump. He's already in this last term. You can't do much more for him than he's already gotten.” A Trump superstore near Knoxville, Tennessee, closed later in the year, and owner Bill Hays said outright that some of the president’s policies – like the DOGE spending cuts – had hurt business. He also mentioned that some customers were choosing to have their purchases bagged instead of wearing their new Trump gear out of the store. “People were not wearing their colors, so to speak, like they did before the [2024] election," Hays said, noting that his sales had plummeted to $20,000 a month from a high of $200,000. “After the inauguration, I think a lot of people felt that their job was done,” he said. But a few MAGA shops are still staggering on. Rob Cortis, who runs the Trump Unity Bridge Shop in Michigan, told the Guardian that he doesn’t plan on closing. “There’s still the chance that Trump always pulls rabbits out of his hat,” he said. “Is he gonna run in 2028?”
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Christian predicts 'turning point' over Trump’s 'corruption'

dlvr.itChristian predicts 'turning point' over Trump’s 'corruption'President Donald Trump has "done great damage to Christian witness" alongside the "catastrophic damage" he has done to the country as a whole, but as one Christian political activist wrote for The Hill, a "turning point" is coming soon away from this destructive "corruption." Svante Myrick is a Democratic politician best known for his tenure as the progressive former mayor of Ithaca, New York. He now heads up People for the American Way, an established liberal political activism group founded by TV icon Norman Lear. In his latest column for The Hill on Monday, he wrote about the damage he has witnessed Trump inflict, both from the perspective of an American and a practicing Christian — and argued that voters are finally sick and tired of it. "What could make people more cynical about politics than Republicans who loudly declare their devotion to the Constitution but abandon the rule of law, embrace or excuse Trump’s self-dealing and devote themselves to making it harder for people to vote?" Myrick wrote. "And what could make people more skeptical about Christianity than religious leaders who pose as champions of truth while embracing or excusing Trump’s lying, cruelty and relentless attacks on the dignity of his political opponents? How about leaders who preach that political engagement is a Christian duty, but then viciously smear Christians who don’t share their belief that Trump was anointed by God?" Myrick also argued that the treatment of avowed Christian Democratic midterm candidates — like James Talarico in Texas and Adam Hamilton in Kansas — has been particularly "revolting and revealing." "MAGA pastors and pundits have savaged the faith of Talarico, who has respectfully challenged Republican colleagues in the state legislature who fly a banner of Christianity while enacting harmful policies. For that he has been insulted as a 'fake' Christian and much worse — a 'tool for the devil' and 'son of Satan,'" Myrick detailed. "All while avowedly Christian leaders rally around Ken Paxton, one of the most notoriously corrupt figures in American politics. "Vice President JD Vance, who notably tried to school the pope on the application of Catholic social teaching, outright lied about [Adam] Hamilton’s faith and declared that the author of 30 books about Christianity was not a real Christian. It was as pathetic as it was dishonest." The political right's use of faith, he added, has for decades been contrasted by their pursuit of policies that have "made people’s lives more fragile and less free." Under Trump, these evangelical conservatives have undertaken a sinister "deal," in which they have looked the other way on his "greed and amorality" in exchange for him granting them greater and greater political power. Now, however, as "religious right leaders are doubling down on their devotion to Trump," voters seem sick of the game, for now. "Polls suggest that plenty of American Christians, including many who voted for Trump in the past, are done with his bigotry, bullying and indifference to the ways his policies are making life more difficult and less affordable for millions of families," Myrick wrote. "That gives me hope. But there are good reasons not to be complacent... polls may not be capturing the impact of the religious right’s big data and big money driven voter turnout operations that are spending tens of millions of dollars to try to preserve Republican majorities in Congress and ensure that Trump can continue to operate without oversight or accountability. And I’m afraid that whatever illegal schemes Trump’s team might employ to interfere with the elections or refuse to honor the results, he will be able to count on the support of many of the religious right figures who have backed his other lies."
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GOP insider begs Republicans to help Democrats 'rein in' Trump

dlvr.itGOP insider begs Republicans to help Democrats 'rein in' TrumpOn Monday, a longtime GOP insider and war expert declared that Republicans should help Democrats “rein in” President Donald Trump. According to military historian Max Boot — who has advised several Republican presidential campaigns over the past 20 years — the time has come for the GOP to push back against Trump’s “terrible foreign policy instincts.” While foreign policy rarely has a major impact on domestic politics, writes Boot in the Washington Post, “this midterm election promises to be different. If, as now appears likely, this turns into a ‘blue wave’ election, Republicans can pin a great deal of the blame on President Donald Trump’s foreign policy and trade agenda — and in particular on his foolhardy decisions to launch trade wars with many countries followed by a ‘forever war’ with Iran.” According to Boot, these “unforced errors” are driving inflation and, in turn, Trump’s historic unpopularity, and “he has nobody but himself to blame.” As Boot elaborates, a new study has shown that — despite Trump’s claims to the contrary — Americans ended up footing 90 percent of the bill for tariffs in the form of inflation. At the same time, costs hikes have been exacerbated by the skyrocketing fuel prices caused by Trump’s war on Iran. Oil prices have shot up by 60 percent, and diesel prices are even worse with an increase of 70 percent. All told, the conflict accounted for a third of the inflation increase, and the war has cost every U.S. household an average of $1,100. In an effort to ease inflation, the Fed has been forced to hike interest rates, resulting in rising mortgage rates. Americans are not happy about any of this. As Boot notes, while Trump claims the affordability crisis is a “hoax,” voters are feeling the economic squeeze. Boot points to a recent Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll, in which 75 percent of respondents described economic conditions as “not so good” or “poor” – a major increase compared with the mere 34 percent who said the same during Trump’s last midterm election in 2018, when Democrats picked up 40 House seats. By a margin of 40-33, voters now trust Democrats more than Republicans on the economy. What’s more, Trump’s “desperate” attempts to bring down prices have included unpopular moves like buying diesel from Russia. According to Boot, “That is unlikely to have any appreciable impact on prices, and it won’t help Trump’s slumping approval numbers, either. The more that Trump is seen as siding with Russia over Ukraine, the more he finds himself on the wrong side of U.S. public opinion. A recent Economist-YouGov poll found that 66 percent of registered voters sympathize with Ukraine compared with only 3 percent who sympathize with Russia. YouGov also found that Volodymyr Zelensky is the most popular foreign leader in the United States; his 53 percent approval rating is far higher than Trump’s. So insulting Zelensky, as Trump does with distressing regularity, isn’t a smart strategy for reversing the president’s crumbling popularity.” Not only has Trump’s war — exacerbated by trade wars — caused greater economic turmoil than other infamous conflicts like those in Iraq and Afghanistan, but Trump is now signaling that he plans to ramp up attacks after the midterms. He's even suggested starting another war. In light of all this, Boot closes with a plea to his fellow conservatives, concluding, “Trump would be hard-put to engineer a more unpopular or more unsuccessful foreign policy if he tried. Republicans are likely to pay the price next week. Let us hope, for the sake of the entire world, that some of the Republicans who are left in office will be more willing to work with Democrats to rein in Trump’s terrible foreign-policy instincts.”
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CBS legend warns of 'disaster' as network turns into Fox News under Trump

dlvr.itCBS legend warns of 'disaster' as network turns into Fox News under TrumpCBS veteran Dan Rather has called his former network a "disaster" and charged that its leadership has turned it into a version of Fox News. Rather, who turns 95 on Saturday, didn’t hold back over the changes at CBS News in an interview with Variety published Monday. He argued that President Trump and corporate interests have been the beneficiaries of the shake-up. He described it as "in many ways a disaster," with the damage going well beyond the employees who were still working at the network. He blamed the turmoil on the increasing influence of billionaires in American journalism and their ties to political power. He was very specific in his criticism of CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, accusing her of taking the network down the path of becoming "a version of Fox News" since she'd taken over the newsroom. “You judge a person by what they do, and what she’s done is she’s quickly turned CBS News in the direction of being a version of Fox News, perhaps a little more palatable," he said. "But I didn’t know her beforehand, and I don’t know her now. Frankly, we didn’t hear much about her until she was rewarded with many millions of dollars for her company and then paid to come in and start destroying CBS News.” Weiss was appointed following the 2025 completion of the Skydance merger with Paramount, the parent company of CBS, by billionaire David Ellison. Ellison is a Trump ally, and Weiss had previously founded The Free Press, which Paramount acquired. Rather maintained that the new ownership had enabled Trump to do something he'd long desired, namely to damage 60 Minutes, the investigative program that the president has lashed out against repeatedly. "The wreckage of CBS News is everywhere," Rather declared, warning that the changes were still continuing and that they would be very difficult to reverse. His comments come after months of turmoil at 60 Minutes, with long-serving correspondents Scott Pelley and Sharyn Alfonsi among those axed as part of a massive management shake-up. Both were praised by Rather for standing up to the changes they felt would undermine the program's journalistic independence, especially Pelley, who took the opportunity to publicly challenge the new management. He said journalists needed to "start challenging the power," even if that meant there were professional consequences for speaking out. Pelley had previously accused management of introducing political bias into CBS reporting. CBS News has denied the allegations of political interference, stating that editorial decisions were made with the intent of improving both accuracy and fairness. The standoff also comes on the back of Paramount's controversial $16 million settlement of Trump's lawsuit over the 2024 60 Minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Paramount didn't issue an apology as part of that settlement. Rather previously criticized the settlement as a surrender to the president's pressure, and he now goes on to criticize the direction of the network. The former CBS Evening News anchor, who spent 24 years at the network, made it perfectly clear that his criticism was aimed at management, not at the many journalists who are still with the network.
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White House leaker raises ominous question about Trump’s post-election plot

dlvr.itWhite House leaker raises ominous question about Trump’s post-election plotPresident Donald Trump is preparing his next strikes to hit the Middle East once the election has finished, according to a CNN report. The details come on the heels of comments Zeteo's Asawin Suebsaeng cited from one Trump advisor who said, “It’s moron time, again." The Trump aide said that following Nov. 3, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is repackaging the old strategy of endless bombing to see if they can get a "win" out of the Iran war. They will begin 96 hours after the president makes the order, CNN reported. "Sufficient forces are now deployed in the region to carry out the potential attacks, the sources said," according to CNN. "The scope of new US military operations would likely go beyond efforts to simply 'mow the lawn' or maintain the status quo by striking radars, launchers and other Iranian assets that can be quickly reconstituted — as has been the case since Trump halted full combat operations earlier this year, the sources added." Thus far, that has not been a successful strategy for Trump, and the bombing he thought would end in a few weeks has now continued for eight months. “It will be a big effort,” said one Trump official. Former and current US officials who are aware of internal military planning discussions agreed. They believe it's a question of "when," not "if," Trump intends to issue a "go-order." Officials agree that he is leaning toward issuing the strikes again. The report also noted that Iranian forces know more about the U.S. tactics being used and their goal is to ensure destroying targets is considerably more difficult. One senior Pentagon official told CNN, “The Department is a planning organization, and its job is to develop and execute military options ordered by the President.” For most of 2026, the Strait of Hormuz has blocked quick oil shipments from Iran and other states that use the waterway. The result has been a major increase in fuel costs worldwide. Those higher prices could ultimately destroy Republicans in the midterms. Behind the scenes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing the U.S. to renew the strikes as his own election approaches this Tuesday. “Netanyahu really wanted and tried to convince Trump for a joint attack in Iran before the elections, and Trump did not give a green light,” an Israeli security source told CNN. If Netanyahu loses the election, The New York Times previously reported, it will be much harder to persuade the U.S. to back new war plans.
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Yale dean warns corporate US 'cowards': Your 'dirty deals' will be exposed

dlvr.itYale dean warns corporate US 'cowards': Your 'dirty deals' will be exposedJeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean of the School of Management at Yale, sent a strong message to corporations about upcoming accountability. Sonnefeld spoke to MS NOW host Stephanie Ruhle on Monday about nationwide anger toward corporations. "Do you think corporate America, the corporate leaders that you speak with every day, are taking notice or in some way taking action around public sentiment really turning on the wealthiest of the wealthy?" she asked. "This administration, Donald Trump, will say, 'We don't have an affordability problem; that's made up.' That's absolutely not the case. And people across this country are frustrated and angry. Are business leaders are starting to pay attention?" She pointed to the income inequality protests in France and wondered if Americans were willing to rise up too. Sonnenfeld explained that over 60 major businesses in Minnesota came together to fight back against ICE after the protesters were shot in Minneapolis. "When there is a line that's crossed, they will respond," he said. "And they did in 2020. We got 100 major business leaders to come out and say that these elections were fair and free, and they were the ones who canonized it and certified it before anybody when Trump said the elections were rigged." He thinks that business leaders are prepared but that it must be a specific kind of business leaders. He cited the Business Roundtable, a group of CEOs of America's leading companies, who he said are useless. "Forgive me for saying this," he prefaced. Ruhle interrupted, "Not forgiving you. Just say it." "They're cowards," Sonnenfeld said of the Business Roundtable. "However, amazingly, the historically very conservative National Association of Manufacturers, which is, you know, over 2000 businesses — there are only 200 in the business roundtable. [It's] easy to organize them. They don't stand by each other. They all get attacked. Jamie Dimon gets attacked by banks, you know, of course, JP Morgan, the CEOs of Walmart and Coca-Cola. These iconic companies get attacked because they're not standing by each other. But the National Association of Manufacturers uses collective action to protect each other and push back on trade issues," explained Sonnefeld. It prompted Ruhle to note that small businesses don't have the power to lobby Congress or make major gifts like gold phones and private jets that they can give the White House to get a trade exemption. "It's 95 percent of the business leaders. They are. But certainly the oligarchs are the ones we have seen have done these Faustian deals, and they pay the price for it," Sonnenfeld added. Ruhle said that "in a quid pro quo presidency," they can offer something to him. "Small businesses can't," she added. That's why he urged collective action and called on business leaders and clergy to speak out. Ruhle then asked if all the corporations that wrote big checks for Trump's ballroom are ready to face Congress because investigations are coming. Sonnenfeld agreed that they're worried. "And some of these deals that look pretty dirty — are very worried people who've been tied in with family members. That's a whole other show. But I think that we can see that a great reporter for this network has come out with a list of all these dirty deals, and we're going to see that people are going to be held accountable," he closed.
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Todd Blanche warned: A presidential pardon can’t save you from state prison

dlvr.itTodd Blanche warned: A presidential pardon can’t save you from state prisonFormer chief of staff to Homeland Security, Miles Taylor wants to see state governments go after President Donald Trump and his allies for their attempt to steal the 2020 election, particularly now that Trump is trying to change the election again. In his Monday column, Taylor argued that the Trump administration is preparing to challenge unfavorable midterm election results through lawsuits filed with the Justice Department. He thinks the DOJ will pressure election officials and possibly interfere with certification. But Taylor also warned that loyalty to Trump will not necessarily protect them from prosecution or professional consequences. A new Justice Department lawsuit filed last week seeks to block Alaska from certifying its Senate election if Republican Dan Sullivan loses, citing potential confusion with another candidate with the same name. The differences between the Dan Sullivans is obvious on the ballot. "The brazenness is remarkable," wrote Taylor. "On October 22, DOJ sued Alaska to bar the state from certifying its Senate race if Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses to Mary Peltola, on the theory that a second man named Dan Sullivan on the ballot might confuse voters. The election hasn’t even happened. Yet Trump told reporters he personally directed it, and even Senator Sullivan’s campaign said it never asked for DOJ's intervention." Another federal effort tried to segregate California ballots linked to suspected noncitizens, arguing that inaccuracies in the underlying data undermine those efforts. The district attorney ultimately admitted he may not have accurate information on the voters. Former federal prosecutors chatting about it couldn't help but laugh. All of these actions pair with Trump's demands for voter rolls, prosecution threats and federal monitoring, as an intimidation campaign rather than routine election oversight. Taylor interpreted officials’ refusal to rule out blocking certification as evidence that the administration may contest results it dislikes. "DOJ has fired off letters to all 50 states threatening election officials with prosecution. The Department has already brought thirty lawsuits seeking the voter rolls of various states," Taylor cited. "They’re deploying a thousand federal 'monitors' to the polls, and armed agents were literally knocking on voters’ doors in nine states until a judge blocked it last week as voter intimidation. A DOJ official tells NBC that more states could be sued before or after Election Day, leaving open the possibility of ballots being frozen right through certification. And Todd Blanche says that blocking certification is a 'doomsday scenario' he won’t rule out." But if the administration thinks it can pardon its way through election interference, Taylor said it should exercise caution. Taylor explained that presidential pardons cover federal offenses, not state crimes, and argued that presidential immunity does not automatically shield advisers, lawyers or prosecutors. In fact, he argued, officials who unlawfully pressure state election administrators could face investigations under state laws addressing threats, conspiracy, forgery or election interference. "So to Trump’s henchmen, let me offer a friendly reminder before you move to decertify election results or prevent the peaceful transfer of power: the man you’re doing this for is putting you at risk… he doesn’t care about you… and even if he did, he cannot save you from accountability," Taylor closed.
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'He can test it': Trump's Pentagon chief threatened with congressional reckoning

dlvr.it'He can test it': Trump's Pentagon chief threatened with congressional reckoningPete Hegseth has received a threat from a top Democrat warning the Pentagon chief that he could face subpoenas and a congressional investigation over his handling of military promotions and be forced to answer. Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., the incoming chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said Democrats would investigate allegations that Hegseth engaged in racial and gender discrimination if the party wins control of the House in November, The Washington Sun reported Monday. “We will have subpoena power, and he can test it if he wants to,” Carter warned, adding, “This is a new and improved Democratic Party, and we enforce the rules. The time to play nice is far spent.” The warning follows reports that Hegseth stopped the promotion of at least 45 senior officers who were on the military promotion lists, more than half of them women or Black officers, according to an investigation by The New York Times. The report found that Hegseth's vetting process included officers' speeches, public statements, photographs, and participation in diversity programs. Only eight of 201 officers who were nominated for promotion to general or admiral in the first seven months of 2026 were women, making it the smallest proportion in over two decades. Carter accused Pentagon leadership of unfairly targeting service members based on their race or gender rather than rewarding their military service based on established norms. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell denied the allegations of discrimination, saying military promotions were awarded on merit: “As we’ve said before, military promotions are given to those who have earned them,” he said in a statement, continuing: “The Department will never consider the color of a service member’s skin or their gender as a factor in promotions. Under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, meritocracy reigns supreme at the War Department.” Hegseth argued that diversity initiatives elevated race and gender over meritocracy. However, some lawmakers and military advocates believe the Trump administration is prioritizing political or ideological alignment over military qualifications Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee are already documenting the Pentagon's actions as they consider their options for investigations into their conduct. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the committee's top Democrat, said the oversight is focused on Hegseth's decision-making, but the committee has yet to decide whether to launch an investigation. Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation that would put limits on the reasons why officers can be removed from the promotion list, including written documentation justifying the move. Military advocates warn that blocked promotions hurt morale and staff retention by leaving qualified officers uncertain about their future and opportunities to advance in training. With the midterm elections just one week away, it won’t be long before we find out if Hegseth will face a congressional reckoning as promised by Democrats.
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History repeating: What Nixon's secret tapes reveal about Trump

dlvr.itHistory repeating: What Nixon's secret tapes reveal about TrumpPeople have long debated whether President Richard Nixon (1969-1974) — who won the Republican presidential nomination three times and the presidency twice — was crazy. Experts today have the same fear about President Donald Trump (2017-2021, 2025-present), who like Nixon was the GOP nominee thrice and the president twice. Whether it's his incoherent rambling to threats he might follow through his threats to use nuclear weapons to commit genocide, the 80-year-old president is giving many who follow politics reason to stay awake when they should be sleeping. Yet is this anxiety justified? America once had another president that was widely rumored to be mad, a literal drunken wife-beating brute. None of those rumors about Nixon have ever been verified, but they persist nonetheless, and for all of the rumors about his unfitness to serve it is objectively true that both America and the world survived 1969 to 1974 intact — and, in some ways, better off for it (like the existence of the Environmental Protection Agency, for which we can thank Nixon). To further explore what the Nixon era can teach inhabitants of the Trump era, I reached out to Luke Nichter, a Nixonologist and professor of history at Chapman University. He also edited two volumes of Nixon's White House tapes. Is Trump crazy — and was Nixon? Matthew Rozsa: Now I want to talk about Trump’s seeming decline in mental health. It is difficult to do this because of the Goldwater Rule, although technically that only applies to psychiatrists, and in general it is considered best practice not to diagnose people from afar. At the same time, we now know, to bring this back to your earlier point, half a century later, that Nixon was succumbing to severe alcoholism and would fly into rages. Seymour Hersh claims that Nixon may have even beaten Pat. Even if that isn’t true, he certainly behaved in a way that could fairly be described as mentally incompetent. And I would argue that if all of that is true, the American public should have known immediately, so that they didn’t have a man who was unfit as president. Do you think people with examples like Nixon in mind should be similarly concerned about Trump? Luke Nichter: It’s a fascinating question, for two reasons. One, to the extent this kind of behavior is documented by medical or other professionals, those records are often exempt from disclosure. When I did my last book, on the 1968 election, I finally located the LBJ health records in the Johnson Library. They asked me not to pursue that, because as long as the daughters are alive, they really didn’t want to open up this personal material, since it wasn’t considered political. After all, the president is also a private person. They’re a father, they’re a spouse. We like to think of politicians as belonging to us, with everything on the record, but they do have private lives, even if the realm of their private life seems to be getting smaller all the time. So it’s very difficult to get records of this type opened for any president. I’m talking about Lyndon Johnson, more than 60 years ago. With JFK, in some cases the records about the true nature of his health, beyond what was at the Warren Commission, are not open. So it’s not unusual at all that there’s a lack of transparency in this area. My second point, on Nixon: There’s almost no evidence that Nixon behaved in the way you describe or that Seymour Hersh described. And I’ll say that with a caveat. We have 3,400 hours of Nixon recorded. We have a lot of complete days. We don’t have him after he goes to sleep, but as soon as he wakes up, he works pretty much all the time. So we have from breakfast until night on a lot of days from 1971 to ‘73. Unless there are tapes on this subject that have not been released, there’s no evidence that he was an alcoholic. I can probably count on one hand the times I hear ice cubes in what sounds like a tumbler glass. I don’t know what’s in that tumbler glass; these are audio files, not video files. But it’s very rare. It’s possible that the behavior you described occurred before or after the ‘71 to ‘73 tapes, or in a location that wasn’t taped. But we have more audio of Richard Nixon than, I think, of any other human being in history. That’s a big statement. So if he was out of control, we’d be able to hear it, right? Lots of times. There’s very little evidence to support that. But again, my disclaimer is that the taping ends in July of ‘73, so perhaps in his final 13 or 14 months in office, that description is accurate. Rozsa: I didn’t know there were people who challenged the veracity of Seymour Hersh’s allegations to such a degree. I knew they were controversial. Nichter: I should be clear: I’m not challenging anyone. The tapes are what they are. I don’t manipulate the tapes, obviously. Rozsa: Obviously, the tapes were all in his working quarters. Those events, if they had transpired, would not likely have occurred there. Nichter: But also personal quarters, because there’s one location in the White House residence itself that was taped. Nixon would take work home in the evening, and he would make phone calls from a little room adjacent to the Lincoln Bedroom, which he called the Lincoln Sitting Room. He usually worked late into the evening there. He made a lot of phone calls from that space, especially to the West Coast, to take advantage of the time difference. So even there, on his personal time, away from the West Wing and the formality of the Oval Office, we get a glimpse into his personal life. I don’t know that he really had a personal life. He worked all the time. He enjoyed work. But even in the residence itself, those recordings back up what I’m saying. What can the Nixon story teach us about Trump? Rozsa: Then I have to ask, to bring this back to the modern situation: What do we know for sure about how Nixon’s people and the public handled his seeming issues, whatever they may have been, and how should we handle what we observe with Trump today Nichter: It’s a great question, and it’s difficult to fully explore, because I don’t know the truth of Trump any more than I really know the truth of Nixon. I expect political people to do political things. That’s not a very bold statement, but they cover things up. They build a narrative, they defend that narrative, they fight counterattacks, they look for gaps or weak spots in their narrative. The taping system ended in July of ‘73, when Nixon came down with viral pneumonia. That’s one of the only times on the tapes you can hear discussions of his health, and I think those were released because it became a public matter. Since it was already disclosed publicly, there was no problem making the tapes that pair with what was disclosed available. And you can see the management of how Nixon was going to go to the hospital. You have to make it sufficiently urgent, otherwise it looks like there’s a cover-up, or he’s trying to get away from the press. But you can’t make it seem like he’s too sick. There’s actually collusion on the tapes between Ron Ziegler, the White House press secretary, and the doctors over what temperature they can say Nixon has. They’re saying, “How about 99?” Well, that doesn’t sound serious enough. “How about 104?” No, because now people will worry the other way, that he’s going to die. I forget the exact number they settled on. It might have been 101 point something or 102. It sounded important and severe, but you don’t want the stock market to crash over fears the president’s going to die. At the end of the day, these are politicians. They do political things. So it wouldn’t surprise me if what I just described about Nixon is being done for Trump. It was done for LBJ, and it’s done for every occupant of the White House. Rozsa: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. Before we part ways, is there anything else you’d like to say about this subject? Nichter: No, you’re terrific. I’ve been asked a lot of questions about the tapes, and you dug out some goodies I’ve never been asked. That’s a testament to your legwork before we spoke.
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John Oliver has an idea for how to fix Donald Trump's broken brain

dlvr.itJohn Oliver has an idea for how to fix Donald Trump's broken brainPresident Donald Trump had a bizarre moment at a rally that even comedian John Oliver questioned as evidence that something was seriously wrong with him. During his Sunday show, Oliver showed a clip of Trump's random "URRPP!" exclamation during the rally in South Carolina for Darline Graham, sister to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R), the Daily Beast called it. Snopes referred to it as "EHHH!" At the top of the show, before he jumped into his big story, Oliver played the Trump noise. Mid-sentence, the president erupted into a sound that left even those behind him questioning what was happening. “In South Carolina this week, when he tried to talk up their governor, things, even by his standards, got a bit weird," said Oliver Trump rambled about former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R), saying that he didn't want her to be governor, so he moved her over to the UN. Then the sound erupted. “I’m sorry. We all heard it. What was that noise?!” Oliver said, playing the clip. "What was that noise?" He played it again. “Yeah, whatever happened there wasn’t good. It feels like a real you need to unplug him and then plug him back in situation ‘cuz that’s not a human sound,” Oliver joked. He went on, “That’s the noise Eeyore makes when he" climaxes. "That’s a fact. That’s a fact! You don't want him to be happy?" Oliver then went into his full story, which issued a big warning for the Republican Party that they should stop recruiting Nazis to run for office. He mentioned Peter Oberacker, a Republican candidate for New York’s 19th congressional district who posted a photo of his grandfather on Veterans Day. Except his grandfather was dressed in a Wehrmacht uniform. “Yeah, not great!” exclaimed Oliver. “If that is the only picture that you have, maybe consider having no pictures of him! You can sit Veterans Day out. No one will think that’s weird.” “Everything about that screams, ‘Nazi!’” said Oliver, adding, “Well, almost everything. To be fair to the Nazis, unlike Elon, they at least looked sharp in their suits.” He continued, claiming, “It does feel that the Republican Party has been getting way too comfortable with some, at best, Nazi-adjacent shit,” including Paul Ingrassia, Trump’s nominee to the Office of Special Counsel, who withdrew his nomination after leaked group chat messages revealed him saying, “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it.” And Brandon Herrera, a Republican nominee for Texas’s 23rd congressional district, who posted a YouTube video in 2022 where he referred to the MP-40 as “Hitler’s street sweeper,” followed by footage of him and a friend goose-stepping to a Nazi marching song. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sarah Burris (@sarahburris) - YouTube www.youtube.com