I often get asked why markets aren’t more freaked out by Trumpism. Here are a few theories, including: are you sure they *aren’t*? open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

“Trump’s ego poses clear and present dangers to American democracy and American world leadership,” David Frum argues. “An ineffective anti-Trump movement is an indulgence American democracy cannot afford or accept.”

Worth rereading in light of today’s events.

But what if Maduro’s involvement in the drug trade was an “official act”?

The irony of this being done by a president who himself does not recognize the legitimacy of elections is too much to take.

Marco Rubio is reportedly saying Maduro will stand trial in US courts. Which means it’s now the US administration’s position that US courts can hold foreign presidents, but not the US president, accountable for crimes.

“He spent the next 48 hours in a large room with 150 other men — in a room he was told was intended for 80 people. There were three metal toilets. The lights were always on.” “They never turned it off,” he said. Estrada had no bed, no mattress, no blankets.”

How did I escape MAGA? #LeavingMAGA #ileftmaga #maga #richlogis #escapingmaga

Comical, @wsj.com.

"Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm, but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves." TS Eliot, 1948

"I’ve come to believe that, when you’re very young, it makes sense to err on the side of delayed gratification. But as you get older, you really ought to err on the side of gathering rosebuds." www.thebulwark.com/p/do-it-now-...

President Trump posts an image and writes “Windmills are killing all of our beautiful Bald Eagles!” The image is a dead falcon at an Israeli wind turbine, as seen in this 2017 Haaretz story.

Millions of peoples' health insurance skyrockets in a few hours. Let's check in on the president.

LOUISIANA: ICE officer pleads guilty to sexually abusing Nicaraguan detainee for Months “while she was under his authority”

The results of Musk’s chainsaw.

A SWAT team threw 30+ grenades into an innocent man’s business while chasing a suspect. L.A. left him with a $60,000 bill. His livelihood was destroyed. A federal court says he’s entitled to $0. Whatever your politics, that’s a travesty. reason.com/2025/12/29/i...

I feel like "attention hacking" is most of politics now. The Minnesota aid fraud story is becoming a perfect example. Recap: In 2022, the Biden DOJ filed the first charges against dozens of fraudsters, many of them Somali-American, who'd fleeced a state food aid program. (1/x)

Born deaf and blind, she's caught in Trump's anti-diversity crusade: A program for deafblind children helped 3-year-old Annie Garner, born with poor vision and no ears, learn to communicate. The Trump admin cut the program's funding over diversity goals. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/u...

A day after part of a missile fired by the US hit their village, landing just meters from its only medical facility, the people of Jabo are in a state of shock and confusion villagers say Jabo is not known for terrorist activity and that local Christians coexist peacefully with the Muslim majority

Leaving MAGA hosts weekly support groups for friends & family of those in the thrall of MAGA. To learn more, visit here: https://leavingmaga.org/support-group/

Carol of the Bells ("Shchedryk") from Ukrainian Defenders at Sofiivska Square, in the heart of Kyiv. Merry Christmas, friends! 📹: miarodriges / Threads

“Despite being the highest-profile supposedly “worst of the worst” deportees during the Trump administration, none of the CECOT deportees appear in the DHS “worst” arrests database” www.cato.org/blog/dhs-doe...

“I’m 84 years old. Threats against my life expectancy are kind of hollow. I don’t have much time anyway. I’m more concerned that our democracy is at risk because of the trends against the rule of law.” www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...

The tyranny of conspiracies #leavingmaga #ileftmaga #tyranny #conspiracies

National Guard is not ICE. This is not what they volunteered to do, but they have to follow orders and so far the orders are mostly to stand around doing not much of anything. Don’t take out your anger at the top on the men and women at the bottom.

NEW: RFK Jr.'s new infatuation with a Danish model. (Look, sometimes a headline is just RIGHT THERE and you have to go with it.) www.thebulwark.com/p/robert-ken...

In 2023 I became obsessed with videos of dads in cargo shortswaiting in parking lots during Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. So when she came to town, I grabbed a camera and headed down to talk to them. I thought it'd be funny. It turned out to be something else entirely.

Ever year, thousands of trucks are involved in fatal accidents. In 2022, fatal large truck crashes peaked at an average 16 deadly crashes per day. In the last few months, less than a dozen such crashes involved people who DHS claims are unlawfully present. From that, a moral panic has been created.

Commentary: What a cop out. What a weak, disingenuous governor pretending to be helpless. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said he didn’t want to sign another voter suppression bill into law before he signed a sweeping anti-voting measure into law last Friday. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/12/23/w...

Here you go, and for free, even www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Betty Reid Soskin, the National Park Service’s oldest ranger, has died. She was 104.

It used to be that the United States would use Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to transmit truth across the borders of repressive regimes. Now the work of American reporters, having been censored, is being smuggled across the border to reach Americans.

U.S. border agents caused a traffic incident, then exploded into the home of the driver, a U.S. citizen, arresting him for alleged damage to federal property. Here's the latest from Visual Investigations, on Border Patrol's militarized tactics in cities: www.nytimes.com/video/us/100...

SCOOP-1: The @nytimes.com has confirmed the following previously unreported donations/pledges to the WH ballroom: ▶️Miriam Adelson’s foundation: $25m ▶️Lockheed Martin: $10m ▶️Palantir: $10m ▶️Ripple: $5m ▶️Parsons: $2.5m ▶️Roblox CEO: $2.5 Here's a gift link. There's more in the story 🧵…

My segment on CNBC today Gottlieb: ‘If We Go to the Danish Model and We Substantially Reduce Vaccination … We’re Going to Have to Build New Pediatric Hospitals’ grabien.com/story?id=562...

Agents illegally detained dozens of US citizens and demanded that they prove their citizenship. We need to defend our private property rights against trespassing government agents.

The misinformation about Chaplains needs correction. My latest in @thebulwark.com

Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.

It all started in 1955 with a misprint in a Colorado newspaper and a call to Col. Harry Shoup's secret military hotline. Shoup played along with the tiny voice who called, and a tradition was born. From the NPR archives.

WASHINGTON (AP) — At least 16 files from Epstein release disappeared from DOJ webpage, including photo of Trump, with no explanation.

Woman comes to US at age 6. Graduates nursing school. Work permit. No criminal record. Snatched and imprisoned by ICE for 6 months now. About to be forced back to Honduras. A life destroyed and one less nurse. Merry Christmas. www.nola.com/news/educati...

The contrast between ordinary citizens courageously confronting Trumpist bullying, and billionaires and CEOs obsequiously bending the knee– this spectacle in its clear simplicity provides a lesson we should not forget.

“That is the most insidious corruption…Trumpism gets its defenders to insist terrible things could never happen…Until Trump does the thing. At which point these same people insist the thing which could never happen must happen. That it is right, good and necessary.” open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

"Americans have responded: No. These are my neighbors. These are my friends. We go to church together. She carpools my kids to school. Our children play soccer together." @adriancarrasquillo.bsky.social on the Americans who stood up, in the latest Huddled Masses: lnk.thebulwark.com/4s6Zdi4

“Here’s how many cases of voter fraud Rokita, Morales found after suing the feds” electionlawblog.org?p=153332

Mitt Romney: Tax the Rich, Like Me “I believe all Americans should be able to strive for financial success. But we have reached a point where any mix of solutions to our nation’s economic problems is going to involve the wealthiest Americans contributing more” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...

(2/2) President Kennedy proudly stood for justice, peace, equality, dignity, diversity, and compassion for those who suffer. President Trump stands in opposition to these values, and his name should not be placed alongside President Kennedy's.