As we begin 2026, a new development threatens to undermine voting by mail. A recent rule change at the USPS means that postmarks will no longer reflect the date a piece of mail was deposited at a local post office. Instead, postmarks will be applied at a regional processing facility. Marc Elias

A direct line connects Trump’s attempted coup five years ago to his capture of Nicolas Maduro last weekend. Both were lawless. Both were premised on the hubris of omnipotence. Robert Reich

The moral purpose of civilized society is to prevent the stronger from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Otherwise, we’d be permanently immersed in a brutish war in which only the fittest and most powerful could survive. Robert Reich

All Americans, and the entire world, must remember. Robert Reich: The most shameful day in American history open.substack.com/pub/robertre...

More women have nearly bled to death during miscarriage under Texas’ abortion ban. Experts say the trend paints a troubling picture of the harms of unnecessary delays in care. “This is striking,” one doctor said. “The trend is very clear.” (Published July 2025)

The Donroe Doctrine

The romanticization of slavery and the “Old South” as a praiseworthy “lost cause,” warning bells should be going off. Recasting traitors from that era as heroes and purveyors of a desirable way of life to return to permitts the Klan to rise and white supremacy to flourish. Joyce Vance

Now with the 5th anniversary of January 6, we live in a world where the president has pardoned the “patriots” convicted for planning an insurrection and storming the Capitol. Trump made sure no one faces accountability for January 6, least of all himself. Joyce Vance

Despite Republican majorities in the House and Senate, only 61 bills passed both chambers this year. Of those, 22 were disapproval resolutions overturning Biden administration regulations. 2 others were bills renaming federal buildings.

My friend @charlotteclymer.bsky.social has written about Mark Kelly’s distinguished military career. This is not to be missed. open.substack.com/pub/charlott...

So the oil is there, but it will take years and $100 billion to get it out of the ground. In the meantime, maybe Trump has a plan to help rebuild Venezuela’s authoritarian government. Spoiler: he doesn’t. Dan Rather

Secretary of State Marco Rubio took the administration’s message about its strikes on Venezuela to the Sunday talk shows this morning. It did not go well. Heather Cox Richardson

Republicans in Congress own this corrosive collapse of our constitutional order and that their submission to Trump’s will now stands as one of the greatest dangers to our nation and to the global order America claims to defend. Senator Booker

The Constitution is unambiguous: Congress has the power and responsibility to authorize the use of military force and declare war. Congress has a duty of oversight. Congress must serve as a check, not a rubber stamp, to the President. On this count, Congress has failed. Senator Booker

Again and again, the president has exceeded his authority, defied congressional intent, trampled the separation of powers, and broken the law - while Congress looked away in cowardice and submission. Senator Cory Booker

Time and again, Congress, led by Republicans, has chosen spineless complicity over its sworn responsibilities. There has been a stunning absence of accountability. Senator Cory Booker

Today, many leaders will rightly condemn President Trump’s unlawful and unjust actions in Venezuela, and I join them. But just as glaring, and far more damning, is Congress’ ongoing abdication of its constitutional duty. Cory Booker

Presidents since at least George H.W. Bush have claimed a share of Congress’ power. But Trump, who is uniquely interested in amassing presidential power, has the potential to move on from Venezuela and keep going, if Congress doesn’t step in and assert itself. Joyce Vance

Peter Thiel is leaving California if we pass a 1% tax on billionaires for 5 years to pay for healthcare for the working class facing steep Medicaid cuts. I echo what President Roosevelt said with sarcasm of economic royalists when they threatened to leave, ‘I will miss them very much." Ro Khanna

The Kennedy Center is ending the year with a new round of artists saying they are canceling scheduled performances after Trump's name was added to the facility. Stephen Schwartz, the composer of “Wicked,” also announced that he would no longer host a gala there. Jessica Craven

California is officially drought free and reservoirs are at 120% of average levels. Jessica Craven

Much attention has been paid to the hundreds of millions of dollars Big Law pledged to causes championed by Trump. Far less attention has been given to the amount of pro bono legal work that is no longer available to groups challenging the Trump administration or GOP-controlled states. Marc Elias

Swalwell: He couldn't run a casino, and now he's going to run a country in South America while he fails to run a country in North America?

Venezuela without Maduro is better off. But removing Maduro through an illegal war, undermining the duly elected opposition leader, and claiming that the US will “run” Venezuela is a recipe for disaster. Robert Hubbell

Our investigation developed powerful evidence that President Trump willfully retained highly classified documents after he left office in January, 2021, storing them at his social club. He then repeatedly tried to obstruct justice to conceal his retention of those documents. Jack Smith

Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power. Jack Smith

The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts. Jack Smith

Trump has no self-awareness and only a tenuous connection to reality. Jack Smith’s testimony and investigations are merely cognitive dissonances standing between him and his delusional self-image as a president who towers over Washington and Lincoln combined. Robert Hubbell

John Roberts will spend the rest of his days slowly realizing that he has secured his place as the worst Supreme Court justice in our nation’s history because he violated his oath to uphold the Constitution in the worst possible way at the worst conceivable time. Robert Hubbell

While John Roberts’ “Presidential Get Out of Jail Free Card” frustrated justice, neither Trump nor Roberts will escape with their integrity or their reputations intact. Robert Hubbell

The judgment of history will be that Trump committed the crimes included in the two indictments obtained by Smith and that a fair jury would have convicted Trump on all counts. Robert Hubbell

How did the US, a nation that once eliminated measles, smallpox, and polio, allow people to wander through life and transportation hubs unvaccinated, clueless, and ripe for infection? The answer lies in a toxic stew of right-wing ignorance, arrogance, and political opportunism. Cliff Schecter

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