Intelligencer

Ed Kilgore details the worst-case midterm scenario for Democrats, including four good reasons for tempering the blue-wave optimism, from polling errors to turnout surprises to Senate-race realities.

While Attorney General Todd Blanche ranted on TV news shows, he doesn’t have the Constitution on his side.

The (imaginary) talk that explains Trump’s Bill Maher rant. You can see everything that Trump was trying to express in his longest-ever Truth Social tirade. But only if you make up half the conversation.

Then Trump, in his Saturday-night speech, complimented Nicki Minaj for having “one hell of a beautiful ass.”

If wannabe Trump successor J.D. Vance fails the midterms, particularly back home, will enough Republicans still want him around in 2028?

Leon Rose and William Wesley went from kids at a South Jersey shoe store to kings of the NBA. Then, their unlikely friendship powered the Knicks’ title run.

President Donald Trump has worked hard to every key group that swung him back into the White House, and his MAGA base is now all he’s got left. Here are seven ways he lost his 2024 coalition.

Kara Swisher told Pivot co-host Scott Galloway that Elon Musk’s recent threat that she would go to jail or ‘die by the sword’ was ‘toddler behavior.’

Trump soft-launched a New Mexico rename. At a rally in Iowa, Trump said he’s “just kidding” about renaming the Atlantic or Pacific oceans. But later, he casually referred to the state “New America.”

Iowa GOP candidate for governor Zach Lahn isn’t in Kansas anymore, except when he often is. Welcome to the midterms’ weirdest residency work-around — which may help deliver the race to Democrats.

New York’s EMS crisis could kill you. Emergency response times continue to rise as low pay squeezes more EMTs and paramedics out of the workforce. Mayor Mamdani and other city leaders have to do more, Errol Louis writes.

New York’s EMS crisis could kill you. Emergency response times continue to rise as low pay squeezes more EMTs and paramedics out of the workforce. Mayor Mamdani and other city leaders have to do more, Errol Louis writes.

The second season of the hit podcast ‘Sold a Story’ explains how we’ve forgotten the art of teaching kids math, writes Alexander Nazaryan.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wanted Dwight Eisenhower’s globe. The priceless WWII artifact now has a hole in it.

Warnings about the AI apocalypse are clashing with AI-generated jokes and memes, which have become normal after an era of slop and backlash.

The president keeps admiring other men’s bodies at his rallies. So if you’re voting solely based on who has a MAGA-approved butt, you’re in luck.

Trump-backed billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy appeared “unbeatable” in Ohio. Now, he’s getting desperate.

Republican Congressman Tom Kean Jr. disappeared for months. As he fights for political survival in the midterms, he’s barely emerging from the shadows.

The Ohio congressman, a Trump protégé, has been accused of child abuse and spousal abuse and of having a history of violence.

As the spate of nasty new midterms attack ads show, driving up turnout by hard-core supporters is all the GOP has left. They’re going to leverage fear and loathing as far as they can, Ed Kilgore writes.

The latest Alina Habba controversy involves a billionaire banker, a $50 million deal, and a Trump pardon.

Elizabeth Holmes’s partner is in ‘stealth’ mode building Haemanthus, a health-testing company using AI and lasers. The company says it’s not ‘Theranos 2.0.’

New York City schools chancellor Kamar Samuels submitted to an interrogation by Nikole Hannah-Jones at a town hall about school integration, but he didn’t have much to add about his and Mamdani’s plans.

In Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder’s groundbreaking documentary You Can See Everything, the Theranos founder looks and acts startlingly different from the woman who appeared on the cover of Forbes. That’s no accident, writes Sarah Jones.

A generation of retirees are spending more time than ever on their slop-filled, scam-riddled feeds. It has become their adult children’s job to save them.

Richard Grenell and Alina Habba Mildon are at the center of a swirling Trumpworld scandal involving the Kennedy Center.

According to the latest midterm polls, Democrats could make major headway in Trump-state gubernatorial races, while also flipping legislatures and building trifectas, Ed Kilgore writes.

Trump helps out by dropping antisemitic slur at Kansas rally. The president’s comments defending Senator Roger Marshall on Monday were like an onion of things he shouldn’t be saying.

You shouldn’t feel bad for feeling bad for Elizabeth Holmes, Ryu Spaeth writes. Let the feelings flourish.

Freshman Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff is breezing to victory and can likely loan some support and some money to hard-pressed ticket-mate and gubernatorial nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms. A blue sweep could make him a serious factor in 2028.

James Dolan is doing all he can to kill the Knicks’ vibe. Thankfully, the luster of June’s title win is impossible to scrub away.

After a string of defeats for Democrats, Angie Nixon is the party’s unlikely Senate nominee in Florida. The progressive fighter has a plan for how to beat Republicans — whether the national party likes it or not.

Was Katie Zacharia just a ‘pawn’ in a feud between Susie Wiles and Natalie Harp? Disagreement between the White House chief of staff and Trump’s ‘human printer’ is a recurring theme in all the gossip about the press secretary’s disastrous tenure.

Democrats are close to a cinch for flipping the House, but there are a lot of close races, and the Senate still depends on turnout and possible polling errors.

Kimberly Guilfoyle reportedly tried to enlist Pete Hegseth and Rupert Murdoch in her final days as ambassador to Greece.

The department has done institutional damage to itself by targeting a congresswoman just weeks before the midterms.

Former Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino still wants to “Deport them All.” And he wants to sell some bourbon.

In a recent speech, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth promised to rid the military of ‘fatties’ and ‘radicals.’ This campaign against woke has found few Reds at West Point — but it has upended military education, leaving alumni and professors angry.

State violence has been largely embraced by Trump and the MAGA right. Pete Hegseth wants to broadcast it.

When Long Island congressional candidate Chris Gallant’s bondage photos leaked, he decided to lean in instead of dropping out. It seems to be working.

Katie Zacharia is out as White House Press Secretary in half a Scaramucci. She flunked her appearances on Hannity and Fox & Friends, much like the bar exam, and it seems that was the final straw.

Plus everything else I’d like to ask New York Governor Kathy Hochul and her challenger Bruce Blakeman.

One week later, questions still remain about the ICE shooting of Oscar Belgal. Two investigations are underway, the footage is incomplete, and Belgal’s lawyers say the agents never identified themselves.

Trump has left Pete Hegseth hanging over his livestreamed execution debacle, and it could be a sign that the president will soon finally be willing to get rid of him, too.

Katie Zacharia didn’t pass the bar exam in China, or anywhere. The new White House press secretary said she thought it was okay to call herself a “lawyer,” but not an ‘attorney,’ despite failing the bar exam in California.

The Politico report on Susie Wiles follows several top female administration officials being replaced by men.

In China, the fear of getting left behind by AI has created a powerful new prosperity gospel. Now everyone — rich and poor, old and young — is rushing to learn it as fast as possible.

James Dolan is hosting a fundraiser for Bruce Blakeman, Governor Hochul’s Republican rival, at Madison Square Garden ahead of the Knicks’ final preseason game.

James Dolan is hosting a fundraiser for Bruce Blakeman, Governor Hochul’s Republican rival, at Madison Square Garden ahead of the Knicks’ final preseason game.

In the debut episode of ‘High Stakes,’ podcaster Hillary Clinton tells Kara Swisher she’s a ‘walking Rorschach test,’ reflects on weaponized health scares, and marvels at the ‘crazy cult’ of surgically altered Trump worshippers in the White House.