I hotta say, trying to convince a crazy conspiracy peddler that there’s isn’t a dangerous pedophile ring at the highest levels of government by locking her in a secure White House facility with you to get her to block release of the Epstein files is probably going to backfire. Jay Kuo

Trump then promised to give every American a $2,000 “tariff rebate . . . without increasing the debt.” Of course, Trump has no power to unilaterally allocate funds to Americans from the US Treasury, especially not $430 billion, which would definitely increase the deficit. Robert Hubbell

Argentina’s leader Javier Milei appears to have received more financial support from the U.S. than the $20 billion. The U.S. withdrew $870 million from its account at the IMF shortly before a similar sum appeared in Argentina’s IMF fund in time for that country to pay an $840 million debt. HCR

Representative Jason Crow reminded Really American Media that Trump has been “using tariffs to enrich himself and his family,” using them to get golf course deals in countries around the world, as well as to punish countries Trump believes are hurting his right-wing allies. Heather Cox Richardson

Representative Richard Neal (D-MA), the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said the administration was “putting out a fire that they started and claiming it as progress.” Heather Cox Richardson

Autocracy spreads in darkness and democracy spreads in conversation. History has shown that to us. Your conversations with the opposition don’t need to be hostile. The point is to have them be humanizing. We need to re-humanize to avoid the worse case scenarios. That starts with empathy Miles Taylor

That was always the plan for the second term — to “flood the zone” — or as one of Trump’s deputies told me, a “shock and awe blitz” to overwhelm any opposition. Miles Taylor

Don’t retreat into the doomscrolling bunker. Authoritarians rely on exhaustion. They want you overwhelmed. Trump’s closest lieutenants know that. You know how I know? Because they bragged about it. Miles Taylor

Cabinet officials were having serious conversations among ourselves about how dangerous the president’s lawlessness was — and no one had the guts to say it. As Jefferson said, that job belongs to “the people themselves.” So folks needed to know. Miles Taylor

I'm not being flippant when I say the Donald Trump I met is a creepy and corrupt man who wishes he were a tyrant. Don’t take my words for it. Take his. And if someone if such deeply deficient character can crowd-source repression, we can crowd-source principled defiance. Miles Taylor

ICE continues to terrorize our communities—they took 50 people in Los Angeles alone yesterday!—and it seems certain that Trump’s approval ratings will continue to plummet due to that as well. We will start to see more and more Republicans peel away from him. Institutions, too. Jessica Craven

Everything seems to be both escalating and coming unravelled at once, doesn’t it? It’s impossible to predict where it will all end, but it seems increasingly clear that it won’t be good for Trump. Jessica Craven

The wide margins of victory on November 4 and shifts in support for Trump among independents, Latinos, and young voters suggest that the newly created “safe” Republican seats in Texas may be vulnerable to being flipped by Democrats in 2026. Robert Hubbell

While it may be audacious to predict that Trump will start a war to create a diversion, who could have believed that Trump would order the House of Representatives to shut down for 40 days to prevent a vote on the discharge petition? Robert Hubbell

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No one believes that Venezuelan drug cartels are engaged in armed conflict against the US. The rationale is a sham, and anyone who relies on it risks criminal and military prosecution for killing non-combatant civilians. Robert Hubbell

While we should not be surprised that Trump would start an illegal war to create political cover for a sex scandal, we should be outraged that Trump has turned the federal government into a “long con” in which the American people are the “mark.” Robert Hubbell

Trump has converted the executive branch into a corrupt enterprise whose sole purpose is to protect and enrich the president. Robert Hubbell

We are watching the ideology of the far-right MAGAs smash against reality, with President Donald J. Trump and his cronies madly trying to convince voters to believe in their false world rather than the real one. Heather Cox Richardson

It's actually true that monthly payments would be lower on a 50-year mortgage, but not that much lower. On the flip side, though, how much will an extra two-decades worth of mortgage cost you? It turns out the extra cost would be staggering. Mary Trump

Donald’s presidency is not about governing. It’s about extracting as much money and power as possible for himself and his inner circle of grifters. It’s all a big grift. Mary Trump

Donald Trump is scared. He is scared of what’s in the Epstein files — so scared that keeping them concealed has been a central preoccupation of his second term. Dan Rather

America's most notorious child rapist, Jeffrey Epstein, said this man was the worst person he'd ever met. Let that sink in.

Emergency meeting at White House with congressional members to plan how to respond to Epstein emails, but not one meeting during the shutdown to address health care costs. I mean, not surprised, but it’s just galling af. He will wage war, literally, to avoid the Epstein discussion. Just wait.

Good grief. “Summers also routinely asked Epstein for his thoughts about Trump and who he would appoint after winning in 2016. “recall ive told you „ i have met some very bad people „ none as bad as trump,” Epstein wrote back. “not one decent cell in his body.” “

Trump didn’t “bark,” presumably to the authorities, because Trump knew Epstein and was close to him. If he ever tried to speak up about Epstein, he would likely wind up implicating himself. Jay Kuo

QAnon and MAGA must come to terms with a mind-blowing twist. Rather than taking down the pedophile ring, Trump himself was part of it all along. The QAnon call came from inside a Florida mansion. Jay Kuo

Sherlock Holmes solved a case by noting that a dog didn’t bark at a crime scene because it knew the perpetrator. Absence of evidence proves guilt. Epstein wrote: “the dog that hasn’t barked is Trump. XXX spent hours at my house with him. He has never once been mentioned." Heather Cox Richardson

Georgia’s election board agreed to stop conducting its business through private email accounts after a settlement with a government watchdog group. The deal represents a win for transparency as Republican board members ramp up efforts to restrict voting ahead of the 2026 election. Democracy Docket

What has motivated the Trump administration during its first 10 months? A desire to be an autocrat, revenge against political opponents, the implementation of Project 2025 but it is clear the White House is obsessed with containing the damage from the Epstein Files. Democracy Docket

Judges determined that three of Trump’s temporary U.S. attorneys have been serving unlawfully, after finding that Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi bent vacancy laws to get around the Senate confirmation process. Democracy Docket

Between 1978 and 2024, CEO pay has grown an astonishing 1,094%. Meanwhile, the typical worker’s compensation has grown just 26%. Stop and re-read that sentence again. Those numbers should infuriate you. Patriotic Millionaires

Trump’s SSA commissioner, Frank Bisignano, using chaos and coverups — weaponized agency data, sabotaged the phone system, and is pushing policies aimed at privatizing core SSA functions. He appears to be weakening the system so it can be privatized, as alluded to in Project 2025. Robert Reich

A whistleblower inside the SSA raised the alarm about a massive data breach that involves the largest exposure of Social Security numbers in history: an upload of private SSA data for every American — roughly 300 million people — to an unsecured private server tied to Elon Musk’s DOGE Robert Reich

Georgia-Pacific, maker of Brawny, Sparkle, and Angel Soft, is owned by Koch Industries, which funds right-wing political networks, including the architects of Project 2025. Choosing alternatives is one of the easiest, most direct ways to defend democracy and protect the environment. Network NOVA

The briefing feels less like a communication and more like a performance of The Trump Administration: A Musical Review, complete with choruses, solos, and a finale reminding everyone that if something good happened, Trump did it, and if something bad happened, Democrats did it. George Cummings

The $2,000 tariff-funded checks—Trump’s beloved economic unicorn: Leavitt assured everyone the money is coming; they just need to figure out how to turn tariffs into cash that can simultaneously erase the national debt, send every American a check, and bankroll the government. George Cummings

In Leavitt’s retelling, Republicans, like a band of noble firefighters, bravely fought the inferno they themselves ignited and deserve medals for eventually extinguishing it. George Cummings

According to Leavitt, the 43-day shutdown—the longest in U.S. history—was entirely the Democrats’ doing, despite the small detail that the shutdown was launched by a Republican president refusing to sign a clean CR. George Cummings

Patel measured death potential of fentanyl the same way Trump measures crowd sizes—by projecting fantasy numbers onto reality and hoping no one brings up math. George Cummings

The Epstein shutdown is over, and now we’re on a track to learn the truth. Transparency means releasing the files. Not conducting interviews with someone who wants a pardon or selectively releasing only the documents that do you the least damage. Joyce Vance

Given everything we know about Donald Trump, everything he has said about girls and women, it’s hard to envision what innocent behavior he would have been engaged in for “hours” spent with a victim of abuse at the scene of the crime—Epstein’s home, where sexual abuse was rampant. Joyce Vance

Donald Trump bragged about grabbing women by the pu**y and barging into rooms of partially dressed young pageant contestants. A jury concluded he assaulted E. Jean Carroll in a dressing room. So nothing that’s in the Epstein emails is a surprise. It’s confirmation. Joyce Vance

While it is true that Trump is motivated in his pursuit of power, it is also true that he is driven to conceal the thing that threatens that power: whatever is hidden in the Epstein Files. Marc Elias

Trump bragged about grappling women by the pu**y & barging into rooms of partially dressed, young pageant contestants. A jury concluded he assaulted E. Jean Carroll in a dressing room. So nothing that’s in the Epstein emails is a surprise. It’s just confirmation.

Dismissing the importance of the Files ignores who Trump is and who he has always been. Trump is the guy in the Access Hollywood tape. He is the man who paid off a porn star to conceal an affair. He is the person found liable for sexual assault. He is a “short fingered vulgarian.” Marc Elias

If you look back on the last year, it seems increasingly clear that the White House has been obsessed with containing the damage and fallout from the Epstein Files. Marc Elias

We have shut down the government to protect Donald Trump and how close he is to the Epstein Files. Congressman Eric Swalwell

Prior to the shutdown, Democrats were 1 member short of forcing the vote on releasing the Epstein Files. Adelita Grijalva, newly elected AZ Democrat, provides the final vote needed. For that to happen, she has to be sworn in, and for her to be sworn in, the House had to be in session. Marc Elias