It’s astounding how the GOP is waking up in a world of hurt, seemingly only now realizing how much trouble they are in. All year long, the numbers told the story, as did the special elections and the anger about tariffs and the war. But now Republicans suddenly seem to realize it’s all for real, defying Trump and criticizing him. It’s all too late as conditions have deteriorated rapidly, with polls showing the Senate very much in play and MAGA operatives and podcasters fretting about big losses in the House…
The Supreme Court, in good news, ruled for a third and final time that Missouri could not use its new gerrymandered maps. But this week the Supreme Court handed down a bad ruling allowing the federal government to let states use a database that shares personal information to check if noncitizens are voting—a database with a bad track record. While it’s something to be concerned about, legal advocates have been cautioning against alarm right now and reassuring people that it will have limited, if any, impact on the upcoming midterms. But the Trump administration has other plans in place, and we have to be alert…
The ban against CNN, MS NOW and Politico has been on-again, off-again, as the Trump administration for hours appeared to defy a judge’s ruling, only to let the outlets back into the White House—but then attempted to ban some of their journalists from the state dinner with the Chinese leader. And now Trump has banned CNN from Air Force One. This is all a vile attack on the press and a brazen challenge to the judge’s order. But Trump is also hurting himself by not having cameras on him because the other TV networks that share pool footage have shown solidarity and refused to participate in the pool. Trump has actually seemed jarred by this, wondering out loud why the cameras weren’t there after he banned the outlets…