With American democracy under assault I’m glad I have these two guests for today’s program. Democratic Congressman @repdangoldman.bsky.social and Atlantic writer @anneapplebaum.bsky.social join me at 4p ET/ 1p PT live on Substack and later on YouTube. See you soon.

“.. They’re going up and up,” he said. “You wonder, ‘What is your breaking point?’” @bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Look at that huge jump in Trump's wealth in 2025. Americans can't afford groceries or health care. But the Trump presidency is working out great for Donald Trump. www.forbes.com/sites/danale...

Rather than working to keep our govt funded and providing the services Americans rely on, the Trump-Vance admin is posting divisive political messages. We must continue to call out their unlawful actions and get answers for the American people.

Today, HUD officials posted divisive political messages on their website. There are laws in place to keep federal agencies nonpartisan. This is not just unAmerican – it’s unlawful. That’s why we’ve launched an investigation.

Operation Storm Rider! - $7,500🎯 #ToonieTuesday UPDATE Yahoo Tooniacs - $4,413 so far to keep the Riders flying, but more is always needed. If you can’t donate, quote tweet the main post below with your own message. Get more eyes on the appeal. See our post below ⤵️ for info #NAFO #Ukraine #FNDRUA

After delivering his opinion in the case, Young then ends by inviting the anonymous sender to stop by the courthouse: “It is here, and in courthouses just like this one, both state and federal, spread throughout our land that our Constitution is most vibrantly alive…”

To explain: At the start of his opinion, Judge Young includes an anonymous note received by his chambers, which reads “Trump has pardons and tanks..what do you have?” Responding to the note, Young says we have our “magnificent Constitution” and “here’s how that works out in a specific case —“

To the 22 million Americans who will see their health insurance premiums spike if Republicans get their way on this shutdown: Trump, Mike Johnson and Republicans in Congress say that you are all “illegal aliens”.

Your White House medical team today.

Hegseth proudly announces he is bringing back bullying

Actual history teachers: um, no

Hegseth's words seem especially chilling in light of his whitewashing of the Wounded Knee Massacre as a heroic "battle" only a few days ago. The message would seem to be that the Trump Administration is willing to forgive any atrocity US troops may commit as an "earnest mistake."

Imagine you're an air group commander who left your aircraft carrier in the West Pacific and flew across the world and filed into a Quantico auditorium to sit there listening to this

Hegseth defends soldiers who didn't want to get the COVID vaccine, which reminds me of this: www.reuters.com/article/worl...

Exclusive: In the first half of the year, upheaval from the Trump administration’s foreign aid freeze delayed the delivery of hundreds of USAID shipments of antimalarial and HIV medical supplies to regional warehouses in dozens of countries. The consequences were deadly.

"Some legal experts have called it a crime to summarily kill civilians." "Some legal experts have called it a crime to summarily kill civilians." "Some legal experts have called it a crime to summarily kill civilians." "Some legal experts have called it a crime to summarily kill civilians."

Putin right now

he’s like 10 minutes into this thing and already broadcasting classified information to a live national feed.

The flew the entire military leadership in so they could see for themselves that the Secretary of Defense is a mouthbreathing dipshit and the Commander in Chief is a senile, weak old man who might keel over at any moment.

Link: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

New from 404 Media: Google just removed seven years of political advertising history from 27 countries. Google's Ad Transparency Center no longer shows political ads from any countries in the EU. Much harder for accountability now. www.404media.co/google-ad-tr...

Trump appears to really be struggling with the lack of audience reaction. What a low energy, meandering, incoherent dumpster fire of a speech this is

If Joe Biden's speaking cadence was a major news item that the press saw fit to opine about for days, why are we not hearing a peep about the noticeable slur coming from Trump in this speech? Don't tell me, I already know.

Captive audience at Quantico. Clearly doing one of his famous WEAVE speeches. 🫩😵‍💫😣😔

This is an evergreen, but if Joe Biden had given a speech like this, every reporter in America would’ve had their head exploded. Instead, we get shrugs.

Oh my god

Of COURSE they decided to livestream this shit show. Nothing like the terminal field grade lecturing career senior leaders on PT standards to really galvanize support.

Says the guy who brings his wife to all his meetings because he’s too drunk and incompetent to function without her.

Well… the whole world can now see that the emperor is naked. How embarrassing.

I don't want 100 troops sent to Chicago. It's a major escalation that must be opposed. I also want folks to understand that the agents that have been attacking us at Broadview are more heavily armed and elaborately, tactically outfitted than National Guard troops would be. We're already in some shit

President Trump characterized the country as being at war at home, explaining to hundreds of senior military officers that he was refocusing the military to help law enforcement domestically which will be a "major part for the people in this room."

The fact that this guy is an idiot and also utterly ridiculous does not diminish how dangerous he and Trump are. In fact, they are a useful distraction from it.

Republicans control all branches of government and refused to negotiate with the Democrats, but the shutdown will be a “Democrat shutdown”? Okay 🤪

The professionalism that our most senior military commanders exhibited with their silence today despite repeated attempts by Hegseth & Trump begging them to please clap was encouraging, & should be an example to all troops when they try to exploit them for partisan politics. bsky.app/profile/atru...

Operation Storm Rider! #ToonieTuesday UPDATE Orcs take precautions, and mine their bridges in case they are pushed back. Look what the Riders found. Look what the Riders did! But they use up 100s of drones each month, so keep the Toonies coming. $𝟮,𝟮𝟬𝟱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 $𝟳𝟱𝟬𝟬 𝘀𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝗿. #NAFO #Ukraine #FNDRUA

Trump summoned the top American military officers stationed around the world to VA to tell them that the enemy they should be primarily concerned with now is American citizens.

This is quite a banner on the official website of the U.S. Dept of Housing and Urban Development

Interesting for Hegseth and Trump railing about “political correctness” after the admin spent two weeks policing what people can and can’t say about Charlie Kirk

The Pentagon’s top generals and admirals listened with little visible emotion as Trump spoke, according to pool reports. Laughter occasionally followed a joke, but Trump’s attacks on former president Joe Biden were met with silence.

Things I've found worth reading, in these circumstances. fallows.substack.com/p/preserving...

Now comes the part where everyone tells me I missed the Sekrit Signals about how today was the beginning of something something something Look, we have plenty of trouble. But this meeting was Hegseth trying to bully the senior officers into respecting him. I don't think it worked.

Paris prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into the death of 58-year-old Nkosinathi Emmanuel Mthethwa near the Hyatt Regency hotel.

#ToonieTuesday UPDATE 💙💛

Dear journalists: please do not make it sound like he was coherent.

He billed the taxpayers millions to fly every general to Washington to hear this weirdo drivel.

Trump brags to military leaders about his strikes on boats: "They don't want go fishing. I don't blame them. There will be no fishing today. It's amazing what strength will do."

She told America. We told America. Now, it's here.