There is a close relationship between Trump and violence — not just the attempts on his life but also the violence he’s unleashed on the world, the violence his ICE and Border Patrol agents have caused inside America, the violence he has incited among his followers. Robert Reich

Tonight will be different. After years of boycotting, Trump will be at the event, but there will be no roasts. Instead of a comedian, the event sponsors are having a mentalist. They want to make sure Trump is not offended. Marc Elias

I wouldn't eat dinner with Donald Trump if he paid me. I would rather have a root canal than mingle and make small talk with his cabinet and cronies. The only thing I want from Trump and Republicans is to defeat them in court and at the polls this November. Marc Elias

Palantir could be seen as less a business enterprise at this point than a front for a project of dystopian domination of societies who are short-sighted enough to allow it access to national security structures and assets. Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Palantir’s document argues for an authoritarian military-and-tech alliance under the guise of a moral duty to save civilization. It advocates “hard power” in the world, and the further fusion of surveillance and AI technologies and law enforcement for domestic control Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Their goal has been to burrow into informational, economic, administrative, and media systems of democracies and turn them to their own purposes so they may create a paradise of moral and every other form of deregulation: a world where rules and the rule of law do not apply. Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Alex Karp, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and others are on the warpath. They've invested billions of dollars and huge amounts of time and social capital in the project of capturing a superpower and using the information ecosystem to spread racism, biopolitics, and a Fascist systems of rule Ruth Ben-Ghiat

There has to be accountability for the past to secure girls' and women’s futures. As for us, we owe it to the survivors to refuse to forget, to refuse to be distracted. It is all of our voices, all of our focus, that will help the survivors get to the truth. And all of us deserve that. Joyce Vance

What has become clear with the release of the files is that very powerful men, and even some women, in this country and in other countries, were involved in or at least complicit in concealing a ring that trafficked young girls internationally. Joyce Vance

Epstein survivors suffered acts of abuse over an extended period of time, only to be ignored when they went to law enforcement, discounted when Epstein received his sweetheart deal, and treated as though they themselves were at fault. They deserve more than empathy—they deserve justice Joyce Vance

Fossil Fuel Production is killing us and our beloved planet earth. www.texastribune.org/2026/04/23/t...

About 2.5 million documents are said to remain undisclosed, and the documents that have been released are heavily redacted, frequently obscuring the identity of perpetrators. Approximately 30 pages of documents regarding allegations about Trump and a minor girl have not been released. Joyce Vance

Only explanation... S T A G E D.

This indictment will make it more difficult for nonprofit civil rights groups to track domestic terrorism in a moment when the FBI and DOJ seem to have abandoned that work. This indictment is a warning. Joyce Vance

If you want to learn about white supremacists, you have to talk to them. You can’t get the information you need from the outsiders. You need access to people who are not choirboys. SPLC obtained it, then used it for precisely the purpose they told donors they were going to use it for Joyce Vance

Dismantling hate groups is SPLC’s goal. Educating young people to “vaccinate” them against hate’s efforts to recruit them is one way. Information is the best disinfectant and SPLC uses it to great effect. DOJ will have to prove that donors were defrauded beyond a reasonable doubt Joyce Vance

The Justice Department wants us to believe that one of the nation’s leading civil rights groups, the people who broke the Klan and expose white supremacist groups cropping up in its wake, is supporting racism and domestic terror, that they’re responsible for whipping up the frenzy. Joyce Vance

They’ve turned their focus to protecting Christians from discrimination and preventing eligible Americans from voting. Attacking the nation’s civil rights group is on, starting with the indictment filed this week against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in Montgomery, Alabama. Joyce Vance

Republicans redistricted Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio, in addition to Texas, to net 9 more seats. Democrats think their redistricting of California, and Utah, will get them 6 seats. While the temporary redistricting of Virginia will give them 4 more seats. Heather Cox Richardson

Trump began this mid-decade partisan gerrymander race with his pressure on Texas to rejigger its maps to give Republicans more House seats. That prompted California to retaliate. Heather Cox Richardson

The Republican majority on the NC State Board of Elections blocked a proposal to prepare local officials for scenarios involving ICE agents at polling places or attempts from law enforcement to seize ballots — despite warnings that such threats are no longer hypothetical. Democracy Docket

While Republicans in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina have forced new congressional maps into law without going to the voters for approval, Democrats in California and Virginia have leveled the playing field by making their case to voters. Democracy Docket

Trump’s cries of “rigged” no longer function as credible allegations; they operate as a political strategy, one that conditions his audience to reject any democratic outcome that fails to deliver him or his allies a win steadily eroding confidence in the system he claims to defend. George Cummings

Trump simultaneously claims overwhelming Republican success and a near-even split, suggesting both dominance and victimhood in the same breath. George Cummings

Courts intervene in election-related disputes all the time, and the presence of a Republican judge cutting against the Democratic-backed outcome only further dismantles the idea of a one-sided conspiracy. George Cummings

When Republicans redraw maps, it is strategy; when Democrats do it successfully, it becomes “rigging.” George Cummings

Republicans in states like Texas and Florida have pursued efforts to redraw districts for partisan gain without voter approval, yet Trump singles out Virginia as uniquely corrupt, revealing his outrage is not about process but about outcome. George Cummings

It’s becoming increasingly clear that Trump and his allies are trying to put their thumb on the scales of the 2026 midterms. They’ve spread false conspiracy theories about voting machines and voter rolls – and reporting shows those claims are now being used to justify federal action. Joyce Vance

At least eight key election security programs have been gutted since Trump took office. This is a coordinated effort to ensure there are no guardrails left when Americans go to vote in 2026 – everyone must understand what’s at stake. Pro Publica

The federal officials who stopped Trump from overturning his 2020 election loss have been systematically removed and replaced by the same people who tried to help him do it. Pro Publica

Since Trump took office, nearly all federal election protection programs have been eliminated, severely defunded, or had nearly all their staff removed or reassigned. Pro Publica

Trump called the Virginia amendment “a blatant partisan power grab" warning that “yes” result would leave Virginia Republicans “wiped out in terms of representation.” Trump didn't mention that he launched the redistricting wars by pressuring Texas to do the same thing Democrats just did. Jay Kuo

Both California and Virginia submitted their maps to voters via ballot measure. By contrast, Republicans in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina passed their maps through captured legislatures, behind closed doors, with no public ratification. Jay Kuo

Democrats wrestled Republicans to a draw in the partisan gerrymandering wars of 2026. That result wasn't foreseen in the initial panic and doomsday predictions when Trump convinced the Texas legislature to engage in gerrymandering to give Trump the “five seats” he said he was “owed.” Robert Hubbell

When presidential aides tell reporters that they’ve had to keep a president out of the room because they believed his impatience wouldn’t be helpful, what they’re really saying is they’re dealing with someone who’s so irrational they don’t trust his judgment. Robert Reich

The victory in Virginia tonight reminds us that the people will defend democracy. Virginians who care about fairness didn’t just win an election – they have stopped Trump’s attempt to steal the 2026 midterms. A message to the White House: We will fight everywhere. And win.

Steve Bannon warned that “demonic” Democrats will impeach Trump and gerrymander congressional districts nationwide if they win today. Democracy Docket

A year after igniting a national redistricting arms race by pressuring Texas to redraw its congressional map, President Donald Trump warned that if voters pass Virginia Democrats’ "unjust" redistricting plan today, it would be a “disaster" for Republicans. Democracy Docket

And now the country is paying the price because of the individuals that Donald Trump chose to nominate as part of the Trump cartel that’s now doing great damage to the nation, and the fact that Senate Republicans, like helpless sheep, went along with it all. Speaker Hakeem Jeffries

it’s extraordinary to me that Senate Republicans confirmed people like Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, Pete Hegseth, RFK Jr., and Kash Patel. All of them. Deeply unserious and deeply unqualified. Speaker Hakeem Jeffries

Secretary of labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, abruptly resigned after accusations that she has abused her position, drinks on the job, and has had an affair with a subordinate. She is the third person to leave Trump’s cabinet: all are women. Heather Cox Richardson

I tell you what, never before have we seen so little effort to hide so much corruption. The Mar-a-Lago Mafia has taken American corruption to spectacular new heights Senator Jon Ossoff

We are spending billions to keep our entire navy in the Strait to fecklessly fail to open a waterway that wasn’t closed until Trump’s pointless war of choice closed it. He’s just burning your tax money. Senator Murphy

While the strikes did kill Iran’s top leaders and badly damage its military, the Iranians closed the Strait of Hormuz. Trump didn't foresee this outcome, although he was warned of it. He told his team that the Iranian government would give up before it closed the strait. Heather Cox Richardson

The recitation of Patel’s accomplishments has more to do with PR than it does with a lawsuit about specific claims about his drinking and job performance, which have little to do with how the FBI as a whole has performed its work since he came to the Bureau. Joyce Vance

The least we can all do is flip Congress in November, so senators and representatives who care about this country can oversee the departments of the government and try to remedy some of the wreckage that Trump and his appointees have wreaked on America. Robert Reich

I’ve seen government work for the people. I’ve witnessed public servants who care deeply and bust their asses in service to this country. I know how important government can be if it’s doing the job it should be doing. Robert Reich

Trump’s most reliable voters — the ones that powered his two presidential wins and kept him afloat in turbulent times — are abandoning him in droves... Dan Pfeiffer