From suddenly removing and re-releasing images of Trump to preemptively rejecting accusations against him within the Epstein documents, the DOJ is acting less like the nation’s chief law enforcement agency and more like Trump’s personal law firm. Democracy Docket

Rather than complying with federal law, the DOJ appears to be more concerned with protecting President Donald Trump. Democracy Docket

If 2025 has taught us anything, it is that Trump is not invincible. He is not all powerful. In fact, if 2025 is any guide, much of what he attempts will fail, or will cause significant political damage to his own party. Jay Kuo

The right’s culture wars have now spilled over into open combat on their side, and MAGA is beginning to split apart at the seams. Jay Kuo

With Trump’s hold on the party loosening, JD Vance is hoping to retain control of the MAGA movement. But to keep the peace, he must welcome in the very white supremacists who would see his own wife and children stripped of their citizenship and deported. Jay Kuo

At the Turning Point USA convention, popular right wing influencer Ben Shapiro used his speech to blast Tucker Carlson, for platforming antisemites like Fuentes, calling it “an act of moral imbecility.” He also attacked right-wing podcaster Candace Owens as a “fraud” and a “grifter.” Jay Kuo

The presence of actual Nazis in the Republican Party, as we saw in leaked group texts from the Young Republicans and amplified by figures like Fuentes and the winking nods of Jack Posobiec, finally proved too much for some. Jay Kuo

Russia hopes to inflict on Europe what it so successfully did on the U.S.: a concerted effort to polarize and poison domestic politics. Europe must face this threat on its own while we try to restore sanity to our own government. But our allies have stepped up rather than stepping back. Jay Kuo

These are difficult times for U.S. working families as affordability becomes a daily struggle. Trump routinely labels affordability a “Democratic hoax” while his acolytes fan out to claim that the poor economic outlook is still somehow Joe Biden’s fault. Jay Kuo

The effects of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” will be felt by poorer Americans next year as its massive cuts to Medicaid force the closure of rural hospitals and nursing homes. Food assistance programs will also be severely impacted, and states are already cutting services in anticipation. Jay Kuo

Trump came into office pledging to lower prices for consumers on Day One. Instead, he sent inflation higher through his disastrous tariffs, and his party allowed healthcare premium subsidies for the ACA to lapse and skyrocket. That soured voters on Trump and led to his low approval ratings. Jay Kuo

Judges and juries are aware of the politicized nature of these prosecutions and are acting as a backstop. That greatly complicates efforts by Bondi’s DOJ to do the bidding of her boss. It turns out, political persecution requires institutional buy-in, and that is far from guaranteed. Jay Kuo

Trump had hoped to see the U.S. military on the streets of our cities to suppress and cow any opposition to his rule. That is now less likely to happen; the Supreme Court referenced the Posse Comitatus Act in its ruling, signaling it viewed Trump’s domestic military campaign with skepticism Jay Kuo

The White House very much wants to make an example of Abrego Garcia, but instead it is revealing precisely how lawlessly and contemptibly it is behaving. Meanwhile, Abrego Garcia remains a free man. Jay Kuo

DOGE did massive damage to our government, stole our private data, will likely kill millions of the most vulnerable people around the world, all while saving nothing for us in the process. But now it is dismantled, its leader pushed out of direct influence. Jay Kuo

Elon's fall from grace was so complete that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was willing to throw him under the bus and confirm him as an “avowed ketamine user,” one who was probably using drugs while shitposting on social media. Jay Kuo

Not only was their work a bust, so was Trump’s relationship with Musk. Their very public spats—culminating in Musk declaring Trump was in the Epstein files—led to Musk’s departure from the government. Jay Kuo

But the group did not do what Mr. Musk said it would: reduce federal spending by $1 trillion before October. On DOGE’s watch, federal spending did not go down at all. It went up. Jay Kuo

The U.S. Postal Service finalized a postmark rule that could increase late mail-in ballots for rural voters. Even in states with grace periods, mail voters submitting ballots a day or two before Election Day could now risk their votes not being counted. Democracy Docket

Source: The Guardian search.app/doqJK SGN!

The files released to date continue, in defiance of the law, to redact the names of co-conspirators and perpetrators, and not just the victims. Among the redactions are likely the identities of some of the “friends” Trump referenced while shouting at MTG to back off from naming names. Jay Kuo

Threats upon family members of anyone who doesn’t toe the MAGA line are distressingly common on the right. But instances when the president himself drives the stake of fear deeper are less common, and we should take note when it happens. Jay Kuo

Hateful bigotry is fine inside the Trump regime as long as the hateful bigots are loyal to Trump. Meanwhile, the regime is trying to rid America of people fighting hateful bigotry. Hate is the defining ideology of the Trump regime. Robert Reich

In Trump world, fawning loyalty always trumps hateful bigotry. Robert Reich

Violating the War Powers Act should be an impeachable offense that results in conviction and removal from office. We should impeach and convict Trump because he violates the Constitution daily by ignoring the Constitution’s grant of war powers to Congress Robert Hubbell

It should shock all Americans that Trump has been carrying on an undeclared war since September while the political and media establishments seem nonplussed. Robert Hubbell

Trump continues to do his best to roil the financial markets by threatening to fire and sue Fed Chair Jerome Powell for “gross incompetence.” Robert Hubbell

Trump continues to serve as Putin’s “useful idiot” by spreading baseless Russian disinformation designed to disrupt peace negotiations. Robert Hubbell

Monday’s news reminded us that Trump is continually violating the Constitution and flouting the rule of law. That might explain a dramatic backlash against Trump among young men—a cohort that pundits had declared to be “lost” to the Democratic party only a year ago. Robert Hubbell

Jeffrey Epstein, his sordid life, how he died and who helped him recruit girls to abuse is horrific to contemplate and difficult to follow. That is by design. Those in high places don’t want you to know the truth. Our president, a longtime friend of Epstein, who doesn’t want you to care. Dan Rather

Trump appears to be disintegrating, rotting, collapsing before our eyes, mentally and physically, and Republicans in Congress—first of all with the vote to release the Epstein files—are breaking from him. Rebecca Solnit

Trump was mentioned more than 100 times in the Epstein documents released on December 23. Heather Cox Richardson

The Justice Department has not released many of the documents as required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but those few that have come out reveal proof that Trump has been lying about his involvement with the convicted sex abuser Epstein. Heather Cox Richardson

Christmas Eve news dump of ‘a million more files’ only proves what we already know: Trump is engaged in a massive coverup. The question Americans deserve answered is simple: WHAT are they hiding—and WHY? Justice delayed is justice denied. Release the files. Follow the law.” Chuck Schumer

Excellent Question….. Hey MAGA – Putin has been murdering Christians in Ukraine for years. How do you feel about Donald Trump never once standing up for them? 🤔

Not sure I understand why the Trump administration cares about Christians in Nigeria and not Christians in Ukraine

And the lies just keep rolling out. Now claiming a “million more documents” have suddenly been discovered, the DOJ warns it’ll take weeks to turn over everything. I connect the document dots & track the lies back to Jan of 2025, proving the obstruction is the point. youtu.be/oO1x1Q9nxkA?...

Trump spent 10 years modeling the exact opposite of leadership. 10 years of cruelty framed as strength. 10 years of mockery, insults, and grievance elevated to the highest office in the land. 10 years of praising strongmen, Putin, Xi, and Orbán, while attacking democratic institutions Thom Hartmann

The numbers are in. More people watched the bootlegged 60 Minutes CECOT segment than watched Trump’s Kennedy Center Honors on CBS.

If the American Economic Association can permanently ban Harvard economist Larry Summers for conduct fundamentally inconsistent with its standards of professional integrity, the American Bar Association should ban Lindsey Halligan, and the American Medical Association, Vinay Prasad. Robert Reich

Congress has passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and Trump’s DOJ is violating it, flagrantly. The cover-up, as we’ve learned, is frequently as important as and can be even worse than the crime. Joyce Vance

DOJ has come off as the gang that can’t shoot straight, releasing parts of the files and then taking them back down, then putting them back up. Some of the redactions were accomplished incompetently and can be pierced. The survivors deserve better. Joyce Vance

Flying on Epstein’s plane isn’t proof of criminal conduct. But concealing facts about a relationship with him is. Trump has certainly tried to minimize their friendship despite numerous photos showing them partying together. Joyce Vance

Musk’s announcement that he was stepping back from DOGE may now be seen as yet another ruse, given that it coincided with plans for DOGE expansion. This doesn’t sound like a group that is going away, it sounds like one that’s digging in like a parasite. Ruth Ben-Ghiat

The apparent goal is to create a “single centralized database with vast troves of personal information about millions of US citizens and residents,” which could be used for government surveillance, as a report by Brookings warned. Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Media outlets believed Musk when he announced in May 2025 that he was “stepping back." In fact, DOGE has entrenched itself within the Trump administration and continues to exercise significant, unorthodox power as a parallel civil service loyal to Musk and his hand-picked associates Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Trump’s behavior is not merely “unpresidential.” It is increasingly unmoored, and the fact that such conduct is now treated as routine says less about its normalcy than about how dangerously accustomed we’ve become to watching decline in real time and calling it style. George Cummings

The repeated pattern of declaring things true because he says them, and reacting with hostility to anyone who questions them, suggests a growing dependence on fantasy as a substitute for governance. The louder the claim, the more it seems designed to drown out doubt.. George Cummings