In February, Steve Bannon said on his podcast, “You’re damn right we’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November.” Yesterday, the President announced he wants an “Election Integrity Army” in every state this November. It is worth asking why anyone would want armed agents at the polls.

Former DOJ employees have filed an emergency lawsuit to stop the Trump administration’s repainting of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Must read from Robert Kagan: www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

NEW: Sec. Sean Duffy announced that he participated in a reality show about his family's months-long road trip across the country, sponsored by several companies regulated by the Transportation Department. We're asking the DOT inspector general to investigate.

Late last Friday, the Hawaii State Legislature approved a historic measure that would effectively undo the corrosive effects of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

Sen. Kelly is correct. You cannot win a war when you can't articulate its clear objectives.

The cost to repaint the Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC blue is now estimated to be over $13 million. Trump initially promised it would cost only $1.8 million. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/u...

* SAUDI ARAMCO CEO NASSER: ENERGY SUPPLY SHOCK THAT BEGAN IN Q1 IS THE LARGEST THE WORLD HAS EVER EXPERIENCED * SAUDI ARAMCO CEO NASSER: IF HORMUZ DISRUPTION CONTINUES FOR A FEW MORE WEEKS, NORMALIZATION WON'T HAPPEN UNTIL INTO 2027 @reuters.com

They’re used to false facts. How about Citizens United’s “no need to worry about corruption, all the political money we just released is going to be transparent: you’ll know who the donors are”?

After randomly dropping crates of weapons into Iraq and expecting Iraqi Kurds to magically be the ground force for a war with Iran, Trump now claims the Kurds, whom he has repeatedly betrayed, “just take, take, take” and are disappointing for refusing to act as his mercenaries.

Ted Lieu is sounding the alarm: the Iran War exposed just how unprepared we are. The U.S. started running low on defensive munitions in less than 60 days. Now imagine a prolonged conflict with China or Russia..

So, what, 15, 20 million really?

The Trump administration is censoring federal data on climate, public health, hunger, maternal mortality & more—just because it doesn't fit their narrative. We can't govern on ignorance. Truth matters. Science matters. The American people deserve transparency, not erasure. op:@interval_news

Suspending the federal gas tax would require an act of Congress. n.pr/4uA9Udk

US Foreign Policy Rule No. 1: Screw the Kurds.

Reminder that Tom Homan was reportedly caught accepting $50,000 in cash in a paper bag at a Cava restaurant. Kash Patel’s FBI dropped the case. Trump went quiet. The rest of us are still waiting for answers.

But suspending the excise taxes — 18.4 cents per gallon on gas and 24.4 cents a gallon on diesel — requires an act of Congress, and pausing it would cost the federal government about a half billion dollars a week. www-cbsnews-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.cbsn...

NEWS --> Top Virginia Dems have decided against exercising a procedural end-run around the State Supreme Court ruling that cost Dems four House seats, the Dem leader of the state senate tells me. This will anger Dems who wanted an aggressive response. Details here: newrepublic.com/article/2102...

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries sends letter to Dem colleagues alerting about a Thursday briefing to "discuss the steps Democrats are taking to advance the largest voter protection effort in modern American history".. Adding "Democrats will take control of the House"

"You may say 'That would be crazy!' Perhaps. But that’s what people thought about refusing to hear the nomination of a SCOTUS justice, right until Republicans did it in 2016. That’s what they thought about the mid-decade redistricting Trump ordered, but Rs did that too." — @paulwaldman.bsky.social

“.. Latest Gallup poll shows that when asked if now is a good time to find a job, only 43% of Americans ages 15-34 say yes ... that is down from 70% in 2023.” - Schwab

Over at “One First,” I wrote about how the redistricting chaos we’re seeing in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia is something #SCOTUS *chose,* and how it belies both the entire purpose of the “Purcell principle” and the Court’s claim that it’s staying out of the political process:

They brought a shotgun into the boxing ring while we screamed that the rules said they had to put it down. They’re not going to do that. So it’s fucking time we start playing by the same rules. open.substack.com/pub/santiago...

Crucial point from @ariberman.bsky.social on the pod: Dems have already tried leading by example as a way to try to entice Rs to deescalate the hardball. It failed. Time to try something else: Dems must now engage in redistricting Total War. Our exchange on this: newrepublic.com/article/2102...

“With control of the strait, Iran emerges as the key player in the region and one of the key players in the world. The roles of China and Russia, as Iran’s allies, are strengthened; the role of the United States, substantially diminished.”

Afghan father, former U.S. military ally, dies in ICE custody in North Texas (TCL: Every last one of these concentration camps needs to be visited and investigated by Democrats.)

The US did NOT contact airline passengers who flew with people known to have been infected with hantavirus. Cool cool.

A top Trump appointee at the Interior Department acknowledged that she has been involved in changes to grazing policies that benefit ranching businesses like her family's, according to a video of her remarks — a claim that some ethics experts say could violate federal law.

I am bringing back the Russian Digest. Here is this week! Ukraine Strikes Deep Inside Russia, Secret document reveals Russia’s plans to aid Iran, Caspian Sea Provides Strategic Trade Route for Iran, Russia’s top secret spy school teaching hacking and election meddling, and much, much more…

Last month, Donald Trump claimed Iran "agreed to everything" and was handing over their uranium. Today, he’s threatening to "blow up" anyone who touches it because it’s still there. It’s not just the lying, it’s the terrifying incompetence. He is too inept and dishonest to keep us safe.

Did you know every MAGA influencer is in a group chat with people close to the administration where they’re regularly given scripts? They also have a website to sign up for influence campaigns that they never disclose. They’re making bank off of lying to you.

The foundation of our democracy is burning to the ground. It did not begin with Trump, but he stoked the flames. The conservative Roberts Court did not light the match, but it has repeatedly declared fire hydrants, sprinklers and smoke detectors illegal. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/the-...

Steve Rattner Exposes How Trump Quietly Sabotaged Obamacare and Crushed Working Families Healthcare costs are exploding after the Trump-era ACA sabotage. Steve Rattner explains who pays the price and why it matters.

The redistricting news for Democrats has gone from bad to worse.

"So what needs to happen now - and it needs to happen now - is that Democrat-led states need to set aside procedure and redraw the maps. New York, New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Maryland, and Colorado need to get it done. Do it in 2026 if possible. By 2028 is non-negotiable."

Republicans are trying to make it illegal for Democrats to win federal elections. Democrats really, really shouldn’t play along.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito leaned on an erroneous claim that Black voter turnout now tops white voter turnout, in his Callais v. Louisiana ruling that gutted the Voting Rights Act, reports The Guardian. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Why did Trump pardon drug trafficker and Honduran president Juan Hernández? According to leaked audio tapes, it was an initial payment in part of a agreement between Trump, Bibi, and others to take down Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum. english.elpais.com/internationa...

Kevin Morris, a researcher at the Brennan Center for Justice, said that Alito’s claim is “simply not factual,” and that the turnout gap had “exploded” over the last three years. trib.al/8N53FLm

This chart shows why Democrats can’t unilaterally disarm while Republicans are gutting civil rights laws to pass ever more extreme gerrymanders. Dems could redraw several states by 2028—but if they don’t, the GOP could make the House winnable for Dems in anything but the biggest wave election

This assessment assumes typical turnout: “Republicans have roughly 10 more House seats that favor them than they did just 10 days ago.” High turnout can defeat gerrymanders. And Senate races are statewide, so this doesn’t affect them. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/09/u...

A must-read thread 🧵

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OTOH, fully agree with this from @gregsargent.bsky.social: “those Democrats who warned that the ballroom was a ‘distraction’ from kitchen table issues effectively hand-waved away those darker intentions, proceeding as if they don’t carry big stakes for our civic well-being and democratic future.”

This is the crux of my argument in this piece: Let's not play dumb about the real intent behind Trump/MAGA bullying Dems to accept the ballroom, which is to get them to symbolically submit to dictatorial rule by getting them to genuflect before Trump's building of a Caesar-like monument to himself.

Pregnancy-related deaths went up 56% after abortions were banned in Texas. 88% of those were preventable. MAGA is screeching about California giving new parents free diapers. Tell me again how these people are pro-life and care about women. 🙄

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There it is. Republicans’ SAVE Act is not about protecting the right to vote – it’s about putting up barriers to make it harder for certain people to vote. Senate Democrats will block this anti-democracy garbage from ever becoming law.