This piece is a great illustration of how the long-term effect of Trump’s destruction of US institutions won’t be felt in a dramatic market collapse, but rather in permanently worse economic conditions, and lower prosperity. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... So long, American exceptionalism

The lead prosecutor in the high-profile case involving an alleged Chicago gang member soliciting the murder of Greg Bovino is unexpectedly leaving leaving the U.S. attorney's office just weeks ahead of trial Story: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/l...

Venezuela’s opposition leader and MAGA activists are dusting off 2020 Stop the Steal fantasies as Trump threatens war with the country.

I'm not sure if people realize the murder strikes are taking place across a large region. It's quite staggering. www.newsweek.com/map-us-strik...

Extremely curious what the famously non-corrupt and non-transactional leaders of Turkmenistan did to persuade the Trump administration to loosen these entry requirements

For the past few months, I have been looking at what President Trump's mass deportation agenda really looks like on the ground in NYC for a TPM series. We're about halfway through it and I'd like to show you what we've done so far. talkingpointsmemo.com/feature/life...

Tis the season

"'We can defeat the left by outbreeding them,' he said... 'God says, go make babies. Go have sex. And we’re the only ones that anybody ever wants to have sex with. You ever met a lib? They are hideous...'" Read @joshkovensky.bsky.social on today's GOP talkingpointsmemo.com/news/new-yor...

I wrote about this experience here: talkingpointsmemo.com/news/new-yor...

"What is different is the violence … the violence that is permeating his administration. ... They're willing to break the law to actually facilitate their agenda." talkingpointsmemo.com/feature/unde...

rare post that gets better with every single word

Currently at the New York Young Republican’s annual gala, where the MC is 18-year-old streamer Matan Even. Introduced as a “landlord activist,” he is singing the SpongeBob theme and bombing, to boos

BREAKING: Democrats and Republicans in Congress just voted to pass the Protect America’s Workforce Act to restore federal workers’ union rights – the first time the House has voted to overturn a Trump executive order in this term. https://bit.ly/4oNyBQc

Dear Slim,

In a previously unreported letter, the Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman asked Israeli president Isaac Herzog to pardon Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

ffs

Fetterman expressed surprise when I confirmed we had a copy of the letter he wrote to Israel President Herzog, pushing for a pardon for Netanyahu. “I know you guys use things like leaks but I don’t know who did that.” Story from @joshkovensky.bsky.social + me: talkingpointsmemo.com/news/fetterm...

Scoop, w the incomparable @kateriga.bsky.social: John Fetterman asked Israel's President to pardon Netanyahu in a previously unreported letter talkingpointsmemo.com/news/fetterm...

When @dfriedman.bsky.social discovered a Goodreads page tied to the email of a top Pentagon official featuring “Asian wife sharing” books and other pornographic works, he did what any reporter would do: ask the Pentagon questions. The very next day, a threatening email from Jack Posobiec arrived.

JUST IN: Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Snell just confirmed, at the prodding of U.S. Magistrate Judge Keri Holleb Hotaling, that this motion for dismissal followed a "no bill" from a grand jury. That means the grand jury refused to indict.

Bongino saying the quiet--and cynical--part out loud. In other words: I was making money shoveling conspiracy bullshit without having any facts and conning my audience to make a buck. After I leave the FBI, I will get back to that. What a confession.

As far as I can see, this nat sec strategy is far harsher on Europe than on Russia. There is no mention of a threat from Russia or of deterrence, only that "re-establishing strategic stability" is a priority. Europe is cast as a major threat to freedom. A radical, dangerous document.

NEW: Federal agents wearing tactical gear and wielding assault rifles busted into an apartment in Jackson Heights Thursday morning as a helicopter hovered overhead, according to eyewitnesses and video obtained by THE CITY. buff.ly/hbjzh2q

News: Senate Dems punting discussion of leadership/Schumer to after '26 elex. Dems call it a "distraction" to debate Schumer. There's been NO discussion in the caucus about anyone challenging him Blumenthal: “the caucus is still firmly behind” Schumer. “I don’t foresee a leadership challenge"

Some useful reporting here. I recognize the dilemmas faced by elected Dems in NY, and behind-the-scenes efforts to avert a full-blown federal invasion of NYC may be worthwhile, but it's important to recognize that folks are organized in NYC and are point-blank not going to "accommodate" this shit.

As New York officials plan for a possible surge of immigration agents and National Guard troops, officials face a stark choice: accommodate or fight back. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/new-yor...

A really nice figure of population and partisan malapportionment in national legislatures around the world from Beramendi, Boix, Guinjoan, and Rogers (yassified by The Economist) priceschool.usc.edu/wp-content/u...

The cherry on top here is Clinton pivoting from the "usual suspects" to recounting how she commiserated with Condoleezza Rice about the injustice of it all

Hillary Clinton blames TikTok and “totally made up” videos for young people’s views on Israel and Palestine. She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.”

The Kremlin pitched the White House on peace through business. To Europe’s dismay, the president and his envoy are on board.

D.C. Shooting Suspect ‘Could Not Tolerate’ the Violence of His C.I.A.-Backed Unit in Afghanistan “The units had been trained for nighttime raids targeting suspected Taliban members, & were accused by human rights groups of widespread killings of civilians.” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/u...

The Trump administration has reacted to a small scale lone wolf attack by in DC announcing a sweeping collective punishment, using the organs of government to heap blame on partisan rivals, and potentially dissuading anyone from collaborating with US forces abroad for a generation.

Many demonstrators were arrested; fewer were charged. And of those charged, most cases crumbled away. Federal prosecutors declined to pursue some cases; in others, judges or grand juries declined to let them proceed. But the hyper violent conduct of DHS goons intimidates their staunchest critics.

I spoke to a few of the Chicago protestors who fended off federal criminal cases against them. One still faces harassment, another is looking for a lawyer to sue the government: talkingpointsmemo.com/news/chicago...

A good follow-up with some of the defendants against whom the cases were dismissed.

BREAKING: “After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador. “

EXCLUSIVE: US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff advised Russia on how to pitch Ukraine plans to Trump, in audio files reviewed by Bloomberg

WAPO: “.. Russia is unlikely to accept changes that the U.S. and #Ukraine are negotiating over in the new peace plan to end the war ..” @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...

“Within the White House, Trump and his lieutenants aren’t planning on letting up…Trump has told some advisers that he wants RICO prosecutions and conspiracy charges leveled against the six Democrats, a source with direct knowledge of the matter tells Zeteo… zeteo.com/p/how-we-gre...

Great article. Regarding the 600,000 armed forces limit, I believe Mark Galeotti cited an unnamed British source that Ukraine can’t afford that large an army in peacetime.

NEW: ICE has finally released post-shutdown detention data. The latest data reveals that a full 40%(!) of people arrested in the interior and held in ICE detention have no criminal record; no criminal charges or prior convictions. That is up from just 4% when Trump took office.

Exclusive: First interview with negotiator in the room in Geneva. Ukraine's First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya tells me the US and Ukraine drafted a new peace deal but left the most politically sensitive elements to be decided by the countries’ presidents. www.ft.com/content/883e...

Really looks like the United States is about to launch a regime change war against Venezuela with: -No casus belli -No authorization from Congress -No allies or international support -No plan for a post-Maduro Venezuela -No preparation for any sort of stabilization or containment of the fallout

The main Russian demand since before the 2022 invasion has been for Ukraine to give up its sovereignty. Back then, Russia wanted Ukraine to create autonomous regions that were under de facto Russian control an internal veto on big foreign/domestic policy decisions

Really informative BBC story showing the complexity of the supposed peace plan as told through Ukrainian soldiers reacting to it www.bbc.com/news/article...

We spent a year investigating billionaires for @washingtonpost.com. We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave $1.1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans. washingtonpost.com/politics/int...

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services is not a fan of the Trump admin’s Ukraine peace plan.

Laughing at Donald Trump saying he'd definitely feel comfortable living in Zohran Mamdani's New York on the same day that half the consultant brain-poisoned Democratic party voted to condemn socialism