A day afterTesla board unveils a ten year stock option package for Musk, worth up to one TRILLION dollars, or $275 million per day for ten years, Trump admin urges an appeals court to block the order to release SNAP payments to 42 million impoverished Americans. This is what oligarchy looks like.

First review for my new book American Carnage: How Musk, Trump and DOGE Butchered the US Government. www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews... Please spread the word about this book, and the stories of the federal workers I profile in it, as well as their families, whose lives were upended in 2025.

What happens when a fascist decides he is also an architectural genius? The East Wing of the WH gets demolished... sfreporter.com/columns/lett...

The most extraordinary political speech I have heard in years. What a breath of fresh air. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOQT...

My latest Nation column, on ICE forcing asylum seekers to report for hearings, and then arresting them at those hearings... And on the rise of an oligarchy that chooses to fund ballrooms but not foodstamps. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Alternating between reading about summary executions -- aka war crimes -- US is carrying out on daily basis on High Seas, based on nebulous secret evidence; demolition of WH; and Trump's tamper tantrum (employing the syntax skills of a five-year-old) against Canada. The age of Fascist Idiocracy.

Thought experiment: Ponder how GOP would have reacted had Obama or Biden decided to demolish half of White House to build a soup kitchen or pre-school for poor kids in its place? Now ponder GOP silence as WH is destroyed to make way for a $300 million vanity project ballroom for DJ's oligarch pals.

When I lived in a historic house in Sacramento, we couldn't even replace windows without planning permission. In most cities, you can't add a floor to your house, or a granny flat in backyard without permitting process. So, how can DJ wake up one morning and simply decide to demolish half the W.H.?

Well, this is a pretty goddamn perfect metaphor for what Trump is doing to the country... www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

The "kinetic strikes" that Hegseth and Trump are glorying in are nothing more than state-sanctioned assassinations. When the most powerful country on earth embraces and flaunts a policy of killing civilians, we are in truly fascist terrain. www.cnn.com/2025/10/22/p...

The president is behaving like a brutal, churlish warlord, using the shutdown to punish "Democrat" agencies and Blue-leaning cities and states. This isn't how democracy is supposed to function. Here's my Santa Fe Reporter column on what is going on. sfreporter.com/columns/lett...

My Truthout article on how Trump, RFK Jr and Russell Vought are using the govt shutdown to further corrode public health agencies. truthout.org/articles/tru...

Well, that's a kick in the teeth to history/heritage/respect for the past etc. It sure better be a beautiful ball room!! www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Millions took to streets on Saturday in No Kings protests. It was a joyous, peaceful affirmation of democratic values. Trump responded with an AI-generated video of him wearing a crown, and bombing New York protestors with feces. My Nation column on all of this. www.thenation.com/article/acti...

Trump ramps up his MAWA (Make America White Again) fanaticism. The sheer moral depravity of this proposal, the vandalism of replacing America's extraordinary refugee resettlement program with a grab-bag of favors for white supremacists, is hard to fathom. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

My Nation column on how Trump wants to send more troops into Democratic cities and how populations on the ground are pushing back. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

As the militarization of civil society picks up steam, and as Chicago and Portland become testing grounds for martial law-in-all-but-name, in my latest Santa Fe Reporter column I write about what is happening. sfreporter.com/archives/op-...

As shutdown drags on, WH is letting it be known it may not guarantee to back-pay furloughed fed workers. My upcoming book on the DOGE purges of hundreds of thousands of employees, as told through stories of 11 fired workers, explains consequences of breaking the govt. orbooks.com/catalog/amer...

Trump has eviscerated anti-hunger programs. Now he has cancelled the hunger survey that could monitor the impact of these cuts. Here's my Truthout article explaining what all of this means. truthout.org/articles/did...

We speak with The Nation’s @sashaabramsky.bsky.social to assess the plight of public service workers who are being targeted by Trump and Vought using the government shutdown as an excuse to inflict "trauma" by firing them. soundcloud.com/user-8304426...

When the president calls for military recruits to be trained in America's "dangerous cities" and when the Defense Secretary calls for loosened rules of engagement to effectively green light war crimes, we are in dark, dark territory. My nation column... www.thenation.com/article/poli...

BREAKING: Governor Pritzker calls for the REMOVAL of Donald Trump as President by invoking the 25th amendment. Governor Pritzker also cited health concerns for the president. (THIS IS A REPOST WITH EMBEDDED VIDEO) ⏰⏰⏰⏰⏰

Defense officials were shocked at the cost and danger of assembling the military’s top officers to listen to meandering tirades.

Fascist states and banana republics conjure up prosecutions of the caudillo's political enemies, and find rationales after the fact to justify their persecution. Democracies don't behave this way.

Trump on why DoJ is mandating prosecutors seek death penalty in cases in DC: "It's a very interesting capital punishment, capital city. Capital, capital, capital." This is what spews forth when a truly malicious brain turns to senile, addled mush. To re-phrase: "gibberish, gibberish, gibberish."

My Truthout article on the growing federal assault on Blue cities. truthout.org/articles/sta...

Trump's blood-and-soil tirade at the UN was a combination of sheer ignorance and propaganda. He lied about climate change; about other countries destroying themselves by letting immigrants in; even about London, claiming it was subject to Sharia law. What a disgraceful display of buffoonery.

My Santa Fe Reporter column on thin-skinned Trump-the-Snowflake's attacks on the First Amendment. sfreporter.com/columns/lett...

My Nation column on the totalitarian implications of Trump demanding of AG Bondi that she prosecute his political opponents NOW and of Bondi not immediately resigning in response. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Kristof's extraordinary, deeply reported article today on the deadly cuts to USAID is a must-read. Trump's administration is directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, and the likely deaths of millions more. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/o...

This move effectively kills, in practice if not name, H1B program. All those skilled workers who came to US will now park their skills in other countries. Who loses? Not those other countries. America loses, by forfeiting access to a wealth of talent. Truly insane. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/u...

Glad that Gov. Gavin Newsom is up for the fight and understands the danger.

For those of you who have never seen Edward R. Murrow's takedown of McCarthy, here is the clip. This should be mandatory watching for every craven executive at ABC/Disney who made disgraceful decision to take Kimmel off air -- and for every politician defending Trump. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMgo...

ABC's decision to take Kimmel off the air is an absolute disgrace. Such a contrast to how CBS stood up to McCarthy with Murrow's denunciation of demagoguery. www.cnn.com/2025/09/17/m...

In interests of historical accuracy, as Trump's regime plans crackdown on progressive movements in wake of Kirk murder, my Nation column recaps times in recent past when rightwingers, led by Trump, have goaded people to violence and/or supported it after the fact. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Off the rails.... 👇

My latest Nation column -- on Trump's desire to stomp on the civil liberties of evermore people as his authoritarian project intensifies. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

American Carnage: How Trump, Musk and DOGE Butchered the US Government by @sashaabramsky.bsky.social is now available for pre-order! Following fired federal workers, the book charts the fallout of Trump's war on the “deep state.” Co-published with @thenation.com www.orbooks.com/catalog/amer...

My latest Santa Fe Reporter column. On Trump threatening to wage war on Chicago. sfreporter.com/columns/lett...

I am delighted to announce that my new book American Carnage: How Trump, Musk and DOGE Butchered the US Government is now available for pre-order on publisher's website. This is the first book that captures the stories and voices of federal workers fired in the purges. orbooks.com/catalog/amer...

Seriously, GOP, this isn't even remotely normal. The president is explicitly saying he will declare war on Chicago and says "I love the smell of deportations in the morning." This is both fascist and insane. History is watching. You are presiding over a rolling coup. www.cnn.com/2025/09/06/p...

Broadcasters have been instructed not to air Bronx cheers likely to rain down on Trump tomorrow at US Open. Not sure how you filter out sound of tens of thousands of people booing, but I'm sure you can't stop people wearing their opinions on their tee shirts. www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/s...

More and more these days, I think the real news has actually been captured by The Onion. This from CNN... one hopes the headline writer at least had some sense of the grotesque irony here. www.cnn.com/2025/09/05/p...

Column on how California legislators are looking to fight back against the behavior of Trump's secret police. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

I am not in favor of unfettered gun ownership. BUT, reported moves by Administration to specifically single out Transgender Americans and remove their gun-owning rights is truly terrifying. Singling out a group like this is always the first step to something much worse. www.cnn.com/2025/09/04/p...

My colleague Elie Mystal's powerful piece on the insane dangers of militarizing the court hearings for immigrants. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/u... Trump's people have targeted for assassination a boatload of people who may or may not be drug smugglers. We are being asked to take on face value that they are smugglers -- and then being asked to acquiesce in their killing.

Background Briefing radio interview I did yesterday on the use of National Guard in cities and the escalating ICE raids. www.backgroundbriefing.org

We are joined by The Nation’s @sashaabramsky.bsky.social to discuss the terror and cruelty of the ICE deportation machine, with a Federal Judge ruling today, “President Trump [is]….creating a national police force with the President as its chief.” soundcloud.com/user-8304426...

NOW at backgroundbriefing.org | @sashaabramsky.bsky.social - Court Rules Trump is Creating a National Police Force With Himself as Chief | Orville Schell - Xi Jinping Commands the World Stage Because of Trump's Blundering | @ericblanc.bsky.social - Mamdani VS. an Establishment Out to Crush Him