Retribution on behalf of the president is now the Justice Department's primary focus

The president argued Americans «don’t have certain talents» while defending the H-1B worker visa program

Epstein said Trump was «that dog that hasn't barked»

As SNAP benefits lag amid a government shutdown, retailers are stepping in to help families get food

The latest in the «Predator» franchise is a rallying cry for the underestimated to find strength in each other

A close ally of the Ukrainian leader is the target of a major graft probe that reportedly involves the FBI Read Full Article at RT.com

London ignored Moscow’s position on Ukraine during an attempt to reopen dialogue earlier this year, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Read Full Article at RT.com

The rampant corruption in Ukraine is becoming “obvious” even to Kiev’s Western backers, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Read Full Article at RT.com

A $100-million graft scandal has blown the issue of systemic graft in Zelensky’s Ukraine wide open Read Full Article at RT.com

Venezuela has announced a “massive deployment” of troops in response to the US naval armada approaching its waters Read Full Article at RT.com

House Democrats on Wednesday released emails from Jeffrey Epstein, in which the deceased financier accused of child sex trafficking said that President Donald Trump «knew about the girls» and that Trump even “spent hours« at Epstein's house with one of the victims. The emails are the biggest proof yet that Trump—who has denied knowledge of Epstein's sex trafficking and called the scandal surrounding the files a “hoax”—is lying about his involvement in Epstein's crimes as he seeks to block the files the government has on his former friend from ever becoming public. Based on the emails released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, it’s easy to see why Trump doesn’t want the documents to be seen. In one email from 2011 that Epstein sent to convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein wrote: »i want you to realize that that dog that hasn't barked is trump.” x🚨BREAKING: Oversight Dems have received new emails from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate that raise serious questions about Donald Trump and his knowledge of Epstein’s horrific crimes. Read them for yourself. It’s time to end this cover-up and RELEASE THE FILES.— Oversight Dems (@oversightdemocrats.house.gov) 2025-11-12T13:31:14.921Z Epstein added that a victim, whose name the Oversight Committee redacted, “spent hours at my house with” Trump. In another email exchange from 2015—when Trump was first running for president—reporter Michael Wolff told Epstein that Trump could get a debate question about his relationship with Epstein.  When Epstein asked Wolff how Trump should respond to such a question, Wolff replied: «I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn't been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt. Of course, it is possible that, when asked, he'll say Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in a Trump regime.» And in a third email from 2019 to Wolff, Epstein wrote about a victim who was at Mar-a-Lago, saying of Trump, «of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.» “Oversight Dems have released serious and disturbing emails today about the Trump and Epstein relationship,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), ranking member of the Oversight Committee, wrote in a post on X. “An email from Epstein alleges Trump ‘spent hours at my house’ with a victim. We won’t stop until we end this White House cover-up. Release the files, NOW.” Democrats released the emails on the same day that a discharge petition—which will force a vote on a bill that would require Trump to release the Epstein files—is set to gain the required number of signatures. That's because House Speaker Mike Johnson is finally going to swear in Arizona Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, who will be the 218th signature on the petition, giving it a majority. Johnson had refused to swear Grijalva in for nearly two months, keeping the House out of session in order to have an excuse to now seat the Arizona Democrat so that the discharge petition would not get a majority. But now that the House is returning after an insane eight-week-long recess, Johnson has to swear Grijalva in, and the discharge petition clock will begin. That means the House will vote on whether to release the files in the coming weeks, likely in early December. Republicans will have to decide whether to do what polls say voters want and vote to release the files, or instead vote to protect Trump, as Dear Leader demands.

A cartoon by Mike Luckovich. Related | Epstein files vote on the horizon as shutdown nears end

The Trump administration is really, really into offshore oil and gas drilling, but maybe not so much where Republicans have to actually see it. Hence the plan to force California to accept oil rigs dotting its shores and doing some cool oil spills while sparing states like Florida.  Surely it’s just a coincidence that this move targets a blue state with a governor who President Donald Trump hates while giving the red state where Trump lives a pass, right? Offshore drilling in state waters has been banned in California since 1969, after a huge oil spill near Santa Barbara. But state waters only extend three miles from shore, so anything after that is apparently fair game for federal drilling. No new leases have been issued since the mid-1980s, but Trump is here to change that.  Clean up crews remove oil-laden sand on the beach at Refugio State Beach, site of an oil spill, north of Goleta, Calif., on May 20, 2015. Part of how you know what a trash deal this is, just a way to target California while rewarding some pals, is that the company the administration is backing for this, Sable Offshore, is already an environmental nightmare in the state. Sable owns a pipeline in California, having purchased it from the previous owner.  Did we mention that before Sable bought it, the thing sprang a 140,000-gallon leak and trashed beaches from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles? Sable bought it and was apparently so eager to start that it overlooked obtaining permits, for which the California Coastal Commission fined it $18 million. The California state attorney general recently sued Sable on behalf of the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, thanks to Sable’s habit of discharging waste into state waterways. And the Santa Barbara district attorney filed felony criminal charges against the company in September for the harm it has caused to wildlife and the pollution of the state’s waterways.  It will surprise literally no one that Sable’s CEO, James Flores, has ties to Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. So, since Sable is being thwarted by California for state drilling, why not get the nod from the administration for federal drilling off California’s shores instead? Sable dropped them a line to see if they couldn’t pretty please get some expedited permitting so they can drill in federal waters. Trump with Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Somehow all of this enthusiasm for drilling is more muted when it might happen along a red state coastline. South Carolina’s governor just wrote to the administration to ask to be exempt from Trump’s plan to open both the East and West Coasts up to offshore drilling, because their coastline is pristine.  Trump had already helpfully put a moratorium on drilling off of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina during his first term because Republicans in those states were concerned about oil spills hurting tourism and fishing. Florida’s GOP senators want a little more reassurance, though, so they’ve proposed a law banning offshore drilling for just Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.  Environmental catastrophe for me, but not for thee.  The whole thing feels akin to the 2024 survey on the glorious return of manufacturing to American shores, in which 80% of Americans agreed with the statement that “America would be better off if more people worked in manufacturing.” Switch that to “I would be better off if I worked in a factory,” and that number plummets to 25%.  The administration’s enthusiastic embrace of fossil fuels keeps running into a big problem, which is that even fossil fuel companies are not as enamored of the whole thing as Trump is.  The L.A. Times spoke with Dan Pickering, head of a Houston-based investment firm, who said energy companies will likely be eager to pay for new drilling leases off Louisiana and Texas, where they already have infrastructure, but California gets a big meh. “California is going to have either no interest or very low interest, with a much smaller subset of players.”  Clark Williams-Derry, another energy industry analyst, told the L.A. Times that “Nobody really wants offshore oil, except for maybe Texas and Louisiana. In my mind, this is at least in part politically motivated rather than substantively motivated.” You don’t say.  Trump has the same problem with coal, which is that even coal companies don’t really want it. A recent attempt to get coal companies to bite at the opportunity to mine on public land in Montana drew a bid of a fraction of a penny per ton of coal. Companies that own coal-fired plants want to shut them down and phase them out, but instead, the administration is forcing them to stay open.  And now, perhaps, California gets forced to accept offshore rigs and all the risk of oil spills that they bring. But never the pristine shoreline of South Carolina or Georgia, and certainly never ever in Florida.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took time away from overseeing unjustified air strikes against alleged drug boats to revisit another of his battlefronts: the war on beards. "Whether you're an airborne ranger or a chair-borne ranger, a brand-new private or a four-star general in the Pentagon—you need to beat height and weight standards and pass the PT [physical training] test twice a year,” Hegseth said at the Northeast Indiana Defense Summit on Wednesday. “I also said we don't need to be in [a] military of beardos anymore.”  x x YouTube Video Hegseth wasn’t finished pushing his latest thinly veiled bit of racism.  “Do you know how many troops claim to be Nordic pagan?” he continued. “Suddenly, it's become like this real religious—fake religious—affiliation inside the Pentagon where troops claim to be Nordic pagan so they can grow a beard, and no one challenges them on it because no one's upheld standards for a long time. Now a quarter of the platoon’s sporting beards because they're now suddenly Nordic pagans. We're not doing that stuff anymore.”

Rep. Nancy Mace's unhinged ranting about an airport is nearing its third week, with the South Carolina Republican now alleging that she was the target of a conspiracy by airport staff to target her for extra surveillance.  For days, Mace has been seeking revenge on staff at the Charleston International Airport, in South Carolina, after an embarrassing news report dropped on Halloween about how she allegedly berated law enforcement officers and Transportation Security Administration staffers at the facility over an allegedly delayed security escort.  After an incident report filed by the officers was publicized, Mace threatened to file a lawsuit against the airport and others for defamation. But on Tuesday, she posted a new deranged conspiracy theory to her congressional website, claiming that she was «subjected to inappropriate surveillance and targeting by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Charleston International Airport security personnel (CHS)» and called for staff at the airport «to come forward with information» about her supposed mistreatment. Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, shown in February 2024. «I was allegedly 'randomly selected' by TSA and the Charleston Airport for extra surveillance. What are the odds? It gets better—I've been told I'm the ONLY elected official who got this special treatment. Totally random, I'm sure,» Mace wrote in a post on X late Tuesday night, along with an image of herself with the text «ESTABLISHMENT ENEMY #1» superimposed over it.  «To whoever greenlit this amateur-hour intimidation tactic: Did you think I'd be scared? Or flattered? Go ahead and make my day. Waste your time, waste taxpayer money, waste whatever credibility you had left,” she continued. “HOLD THE LINE.» I, too, was randomly selected for extra TSA screening on Saturday when my family and I traveled home from Florida. I do not think I was the subject of a conspiracy. Rather, I was randomly selected by the TSA staffers who are currently not being paid because the government remains shut down. Like a normal person, I allowed them to swab my hands and went about my travel day. But not Mace. She instead continued to harass airport staff, saying in posts on X that her selection for additional screening at the airport «is the stuff of the DEEP STATE and BIG BROTHER,» and that her lawsuit against the airport «may bring South Carolina's Attorney General down in flames with it, and several others.» Mace's bizarre, one-sided fight with an airport has members of her own party flummoxed. South Carolina Sens. Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham, both Republicans, have individually praised airport staff and criticized Mace's outbursts. «It is never acceptable to berate police officers, airport staff, and TSA agents who are simply doing their jobs, nor is it becoming of a Member of Congress to use such vulgar language when dealing with constituents,» Scott wrote in a Facebook post. «Not only are these officers sworn to protect us, but we also take an oath to represent them. We work for them, not vice versa.» “I concur with [Scott’s] statement when it comes to the men and women who provide security at the Charleston International Airport,” Graham wrote in a post on X. The editorial board of The Post and Courier, which is based in Charleston, also flamed Mace for her abhorrent behavior. Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, shown in June. The editorial board wrote: «Rep. Mace's foul language and her attitude toward security and other airport staff were out of bounds. Most people would have apologized after such an embarrassing display, perhaps explaining that they were understandably angry or even frightened and said things they now regret. Not Nancy Mace. Nancy Mace has built her public persona around using socially unacceptable language. If I cursed at these underlings, she told a news conference last week, I should have cursed more.» Even right-wing media personalities are raising questions about Mace's mental health in the wake of her public meltdowns. “There’s something wrong with Nancy Mace. And I’m not a fan of hers, and it’s increasingly because she’s not mentally well, and it’s really clear she’s not mentally well, and I don’t know if she has friends who can do an intervention with her, but Nancy Mace needs a real intervention, right-wing radio host Erick Erickson said on his program. Mace, for her part, is running for governor in South Carolina. She faces a crowded primary for the GOP nomination against fellow Rep. Ralph Norman, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, and state Attorney General Alan Wilson. A recent poll shows Mace and Evette in a statistical tie, though it was conducted before the airport brouhaha.  Erickson said he doesn’t think Mace will win the primary, and that he worries for her if she loses. “She’s using her privilege in Congress to smear other people to advance her own career, which, in and of itself, is bad, but then her reactions to the blowback out of Congress is—I’m really worried about her mental well-being,” Erickson added. “That’s not the behavior of a normal person.”

Kristi Noem's DHS propaganda campaign depends on costumes, ICE raids — and Corey Lewandowski

As millions gather on Saturday, Trump looks for a pretext to invoke the Insurrection Act

Imagine if Regina George grew up to cover up for a fascist

The president's ruthless consolidation of power is continuing unabated

From Zohran Mamdani’s Fox News debut to AOC and Bernie Sanders’ CNN town hall, the limelight is finally on the left

A cartoon by Pedro Molina. Related | Even Fox News says hell no to Hegseth's ridiculous demands

By Stephanie Armour for KFF While plowing a wheat field in rural Washington state in the 1990s, William Wallace spotted a gray plane overhead that he believed was releasing chemicals to make him sick. The rancher began to suspect that all white vapor trails from aircraft might be dangerous. He shared his concern with reporters, acknowledging it sounded a little like “The X Files,” a science fiction television show. Academics cite Wallace’s story as one of the catalysts behind a fringe concept that has spread among adherents to the Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, movement and is gaining traction at the highest levels of the federal government. Its treatment as a serious issue underscores that under President Donald Trump, unscientific ideas have unusual power to take hold and shape public health policy. The concept posits that airplane vapor trails, or contrails, are really “chemtrails” containing toxic substances that poison people and the terrain. Another version alleges planes or devices are being deployed by the federal government, private companies, or researchers to trigger big weather changes, such as hurricanes, or to alter the Earth’s climate, emitting hazardous chemicals in the process. Several GOP lawmakers and leaders in the Trump administration remain convinced the concepts are legitimate, though scientists have sought to discredit such claims. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to investigate climate and weather control, and is expected to create a task force that will recommend possible federal action, according to a former agency official, an internal agency memo obtained by KFF Health News, and a consultant who helped with the memo. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears during a budget hearing before a House subcommittee at the U.S. Capitol on May 14. The plans, along with comments by top GOP lawmakers, show how rumors and conspiracy theories can gain an air of legitimacy due to social media and a political climate infused with falsehoods, some political scientists and researchers say. “When we have low access to information or low trust in our sources of information, a lot of times we turn to our peer groups, the groups we are members of and we define ourselves by,” said Timothy Tangherlini, a folklorist and professor of information at the University of California-Berkeley. He added that the government’s investigation of conspiracy theories “gives the impression of having some authoritative element.” HHS is expected to appoint a special government employee to investigate climate and weather control, according to Gray Delany, former head of the agency’s MAHA agenda, who said he drafted the memo. The agency has interviewed applicants to lead a “chemtrails” task force, said Jim Lee, a blogger focused on weather and climate who Delany said helped edit the memo, which Lee confirmed. “HHS does not comment on future or potential policy decisions and task forces,” agency spokesperson Emily Hilliard said in an email. The memo alleges that “aerosolized heavy metals such as Aluminum, Barium, and Strontium, as well as other materials such as sulfuric acid precursors, are sprayed into the atmosphere under the auspices of combatting global warming,” through a process of stratospheric aerosol injection, or SAI. “There are serious concerns SAI spraying is leading to increased heavy metal content in the atmosphere,” the memo states. The memo claims, without providing evidence, that the substances cause elevated heavy-metal content in the atmosphere, soil, and waterways, and that aluminum is a toxic product used in SAI linked to dementia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, asthma-like illnesses, and other chronic illnesses. The July 14 memo was addressed to White House health adviser Calley Means, who didn’t respond to a voicemail left by a reporter seeking comment. High-level federal government officials are presenting false claims as facts without evidence and referring to events that not only haven’t occurred but, in many cases, are physically impossible, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California. “That is a pretty shocking memo,” he said. “It doesn’t get more tinfoil hat. They really believe toxins are being sprayed.” Kennedy has previously promoted debunked chemtrail theories. In May, he was asked on “Dr. Phil Primetime” about chemicals being sprayed into the stratosphere to change the Earth’s climate. “It’s done, we think, by DARPA,” Kennedy said, referring to a Department of Defense agency that develops emerging technology for the military’s use. “And a lot of it now is coming out of the jet fuel. Those materials are put in jet fuel. I’m going to do everything in my power to stop it. We’re bringing on somebody who’s going to think only about that.” DARPA officials didn’t return a message seeking comment. Federal Messaging Deploying chemtrails to poison people is just one of many baseless conspiracy theories that have found traction among Trump administration health policy officials led by Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist before entering politics. He continues to promote a supposed link between vaccines and autism, as well as make statements connecting fluoride in drinking water to arthritis, bone fractures, thyroid disease, and cancer. The World Health Organization says fluoride is safe when used as recommended. Delany, who was ousted in August from HHS, said Kennedy has expressed strong interest in chemtrails. “This is an issue that really matters to MAHA,” said Delany, referring to the informal movement associated with Kennedy that is composed of people who are skeptical of evidence-based medicine. The memo also alleges that “suspicious weather events have been occurring and have increased awareness of the issue to the public, some of which have been acknowledged to have been caused by geoengineering activities, such as the flooding in Dubai in 2024.” Geoengineering refers to intentional large-scale efforts to change the climate to counteract global warming. “It is unconscionable that anyone should be allowed to spray known neurotoxins and environmental toxins over our nation’s citizens, their land, food and water supplies,” Delany’s memo states. Scientists, meteorologists, and other branches of the federal government say these assertions are largely incorrect. Some points in the memo are accurate, including concerns that commercial aircraft contribute to acid rain. But critics say the memo builds on kernels of truth before veering into unscientific fringe theories. Efforts to control the weather are being made, largely by states and local governments seeking to combat droughts, but the results are modest and highly localized. It isn’t possible to manipulate large-scale weather events, scientists say. Severe flooding in the United Arab Emirates in 2024 couldn’t have been caused by weather manipulation because no technology could create that kind of rainfall event, Maarten Ambaum, a meteorologist at the University of Reading who studies Gulf region rainfall patterns, said in a statement on the floods. Similar debunked claims emerged this year after central Texas experienced devastating floods. The Government Accountability Office concluded in a 2024 report that questions remain as to the effectiveness of weather modification. Research into changing the climate has been conducted, including work by one private company that engaged in field tests. Still, federal agencies say no ongoing or large-scale projects are underway. Study of the concept remains in the research phase. The Environmental Protection Agency says there are no large-scale or government efforts to affect the Earth’s climate. “Solar geoengineering is not occurring via direct delivery by commercial aircraft and is not associated with aviation contrails,” the agency says on its website. Widespread Misinformation Misperceptions about weather, climate control, and airplane contrails extend beyond the Trump administration, scientists said. In September, a congressional House committee hearing titled “Playing God With the Weather — A Disastrous Forecast” involved two hours of debate on the once-fringe idea. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who chaired the hearing, has introduced legislation to ban weather and climate control, with a fine of up to $100,000 and up to five years in prison. Marjorie Taylor Greene outside the Capitol in May 2024. Some Democrats objected to the nature of the discussion. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) accused Greene of using “the platform of Congress to proffer anti-science theories, to platform climate denialism.” Frequently citing chemtrails, GOP lawmakers have introduced legislation in about two dozen states to ban weather modification or geoengineering. Florida passed a bill to establish an online portal so residents can report alleged violations. “The Free State of Florida means freedom from governments or private actors unilaterally applying chemicals or geoengineering to people or public spaces,” GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a press statement this spring. Meanwhile, the chemtrail conspiracy has permeated popular culture. The title track on singer Lana Del Ray’s seventh studio album is entitled “Chemtrails Over the Country Club.” Bill Maher dove into the chemtrail myth on his podcast “Club Random,” saying, “This is nuts. It’s just nuts.” And “Chemtrails,” a psychological thriller, wrapped filming in July. Social media has given wing to the chemtrails concept and other fringe ideas involving public health. They include an outlandish belief that Anthony Fauci, who advised both Trump and President Joe Biden on the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, created the AIDS epidemic. There is no evidence of such a link, public health leaders say. Related | EPA chief clashes with MAGA over weather conspiracies Researchers say another false belief by those on the far right holds that people who received covid vaccines could shed the virus, causing infertility in the unvaccinated. There is no evidence of such a connection, scientists and researchers say. More severe weather events due to global warming may be driving some of the baseless theories, scientists say. And risks occur when such ideas take hold among the general population or policymakers, some public health leaders say. Climate researchers, including Swain, say they’ve received death threats. Lee, the blogger, said he disagrees with some of the more far-fetched beliefs and is aware of the harm they can cause. “There are people wanting to shoot down planes because they think they are chemtrails,” said Lee, adding that some believers are afraid to venture outside when plane vapor trails are visible overhead. Related | RFK Jr. fails to solve yet another MAGA conspiracy There is also no evidence that plane contrails cause health problems or are related to intentional efforts to control the climate, according to the EPA and other scientists. The memo and focus at HHS on climate and weather control are alarming because they perpetuate conspiracies, said David Keith, a professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago. “It’s unmoored to reality,” he said. “I expected there were documents like this, but seeing it in print is nevertheless shocking. Our government is being driven by nonsensical dreck from dark corners of social media.”

It’s such a boring cliche to say that when it comes to President Donald Trump, every accusation is a confession. But just because it’s a cliche doesn’t mean it isn’t depressingly, grindingly, predictably true.  That’s why it should come as no surprise that Trump is planning on using the Internal Revenue Service to criminally target left-leaning groups. In some ways, the only surprise is that it took him this long to get around to it.  The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a Trump ally, Gary Shapley, is set to replace Guy Ficco, the career head of the agency’s criminal investigative unit. Shapley is making a list, which always bodes well, right? This is a list of liberal donors and left-leaning groups that Trump wants to go after, and Shapley is the guy to do it.  Shapley’s main achievement at the IRS before this was ceaselessly investigating Hunter Biden and styling himself a “whistleblower” for doing it. So, pretty much the perfect guy to oversee Trump’s ridiculously illegal attacks on his political opposition.  George Soros, founder and chairman of the Open Society Foundations Of course, of course, of course, the Journal reports that billionaire George Soros and groups affiliated with him are on the list. Last month, The New York Times reported that a senior Department of Justice official had drafted plans for multiple U.S. attorney offices to criminally investigate Soros’ Open Society Foundations.  What for, you might ask? Well, arson and material support of terrorism, of course!  That’s patent nonsense, an absurd attempt to connect any random act at a protest Trump doesn’t like to some vast shadowy organized leftist criminal rebellion, but there’s no one stopping Trump from doing this, so why not expand to using the IRS as well, right? And to be perfectly clear: Shapley is being turned loose to do criminal, not civil, investigations here.  Recall how much conservatives howled over the fact that the IRS under former President Barack Obama had the goddamn gall to carefully review the applications of conservative groups for tax-exempt status? Even viewed through the most uncharitable lens, the Obama administration subjected those groups to heightened scrutiny in the application process at most—and even that is debatable.  They pretended that was weaponization, but this is what it really looks like. This was the inevitable next step after Trump’s designation of antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. Sure, there’s no such thing as a domestic terrorist organization designation, and there’s no such thing as antifa as a defined group, but that’s the whole point: the definition is so deliberately mushy that it allows him to say any left-leaning group is terrorism.  Related | As IRS allows churches to endorse candidates, Texas pastors may gain political power At the same time, when it comes to conservative churches, the IRS has been ordered to stand down and no longer enforce the Johnson Amendment, which had prohibited them from endorsing candidates. Those organizations now get to keep their tax-exempt status while preaching right-wing endorsements from the pulpit, but on the other side of the aisle, not so much. Meanwhile, some folks like Vice President JD Vance and Sen. Mitch McConnell are going to have to update their talking points. And Ohio GOP Rep. Warren Davidson? This is not the time to be calling for the IRS to be closed because “It’s an agency that can be weaponized. And I think those kinds of agencies should just go away.”  Guys, weaponization is good now! All my cool dudes love weaponization! What’s the point of seizing all the levers of power if you can’t use them to prosecute the opposition? Please revise your rants at your earliest convenience and let Shapley get to work.

President Donald Trump wants Americans to know that after months of embracing royal rhetoric and referring to himself as “king,” he doesn’t think of himself as one.  Trump’s revelation came on the eve of the nationwide “No Kings” protests during an interview with Fox Business conspiracy theorist Maria Bartiromo that aired on Friday morning. x x YouTube Video Bartiromo asked him if he believed that the planned “No Kings” rallies are connected to the Republican-initiated government shutdown. “The king—this is not a king. They’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Trump replied. As is often the case, Trump was lying. It isn’t protesters who have referred to Trump as a king. In fact, the entire protest movement is about the notion that America is not a monarchy and that Trump does not have unchecked royal powers as he has so often asserted. The No Kings website explains that “The president thinks his rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty.” Trump triggered much of the “no kings” rhetoric against him when the White House posted “long live the king” alongside a Photoshopped image of Trump wearing a crown in February. Trump also posted “he who saves his country does not violate any law” that same month, making it clear that he sees himself above the rule of law—like an out-of-control monarch. More recently, Trump has declared himself America’s “chief law enforcement officer,” which is a falsehood asserted to justify prosecuting his political detractors. Last week he even bragged that “we took the freedom of speech away,” which is a constitutional right of every American. Republicans have been attacking and smearing the “No Kings” protest movement nonstop, even absurdly asserting that the protests are violent with a “hate America” message and consist of “antifa-paid protesters.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has even repeatedly claimed that the movement was somehow responsible for the Republican’s government shutdown: “‘No Kings’ means no paychecks. No paychecks and no government.” It was already clear that Republicans feared “No Kings.” Trump’s decision to crawl away from his own rhetoric before a single protester has shown up to this new round of events speaks volumes about his weak standing on the issue of executive overreach.

In a battle of optics and performance, Portland is primed to meet the moment