Category: Talking Points Memo

In one sense, Elon Musk failed at DOGE: he came nowhere near to cutting $2 trillion in federal spending, the goal he set for the endeavor before revising expectations downward. He destroyed USAID and a few other programs that had been the focus of right-wing culture war offensives, he demolished hundreds of NIH grant projects, […]

The trade court’s decision that Trump’s entire trade war was based on powers President Trump didn’t actually have is a big, big deal. But there are some details that are important to consider. As we’ve discussed in earlier posts, this isn’t the only law in which Congress has largely delegated authority over trade and tariffs […]

A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Kate and Josh discuss the Supreme Court killing off independent agencies, Elon Musk’s sad trombone interviews and the latest news cycle about Biden’s age.

It’s been about a month since I introduced the “DOJ-in-Exile” idea. So I wanted to give you an update on my progress getting it off the ground. First of all I got quite a lot of interest and excitement from a lot of TPM Readers who were interested in being involved in some fashion. I […]

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. Major Breakthrough Or More Endless Stonewalling? In what could be a major breakthrough, the Trump administration told a federal court Wednesday that it has taken affirmative steps to retrieve an unlawfully deported Guatemalan man and […]

This post first appeared at ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. American diplomats in at least two countries have recently delivered internal reports to Washington that reflect a grim new reality taking hold abroad: The Trump administration’s sudden withdrawal […]

You have probably seen that a three judge panel of the  U.S. Court of International Trade has ruled that Trump’s tariffs are unlawful. So done and done, subject to appeal of course. Trump imposed the tariffs under a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The three judge panel said he greatly exceeded […]

On the same day that the clip of Elon Musk trashing House Republicans’ “big, beautiful” bill has been making the rounds, Politico is reporting that the White House has picked back up its effort to force congressional Republicans to choke down some of the DOGE cuts.

It’s indoor work, and there’s no heavy lifting: a top former personal attorney and bagman for the President — and current DOJ official — is now the nominee for a seat on a federal appeals court.

Yesterday the Conference Board reported that in May consumer confidence surged by 12.3, the largest monthly increase in four years. Bloomberg said the surge was bigger than any private sector economists Bloomberg contacted for their survey. The data suggests consumer confidence was already moving up and then surged forward after Donald Trump made a series […]

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. A Constitutional Clash In Three Acts In three closely watched anti-immigration cases, the Trump administration continued its slo-mo constitutional defiance of the judicial branch … Act I: Non-Responsiveness After the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals […]

A top Trump administration official and Republicans in Congress are upping their attacks on the Government Accountability Office in light of its finding last week that one element of the Trump administration’s DOGE rampage was done in violation of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974.

I want to start this week with a comment about the meta-news environment. It’s a point that may not surprise you, or not precisely. But it shapes everything we’re seeing today and does so with an uncanny silence. Quite simply, lots and lots of things are not being reported or said because people are afraid […]

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. Off The Charts Crazy I’ll catch you up on the rest of the news from over the long weekend in a moment, but first I wanted to give you just a taste of the level […]

This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. The pain jolted me awake. It was barely dawn, a misty February morning in 2023. My […]

This article first appeared at ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. When top Trump adviser Stephen Miller threatened on May 9 that the administration is “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus in response to an “invasion” from undocumented immigrants, […]

More than two months after the Trump administration flew more than 200 people to a detention camp in El Salvador, there’s still a lot that remains unclear.

Hello it’s the weekend. This is The Weekender ☕️ The fired head of the U.S. Copyright Office is fighting back against the Trump administration’s recent attempt to seize control of the Library of Congress, which, as the name suggests, is a legislative branch agency. As TPM has reported, Democrats in the House have already taken […]

U.S. District Judge John Bates of Washington, D.C. just awarded summary judgment to Jenner & Block, finding President Trump’s executive order against it unlawful and declaring it null and void. This is remarkably strong language from a George W. Bush appointee who served on Special Counsel Ken Starr’s team:

What interests me most about the Supreme Court’s telegraphed decision ending independent agencies is the ease with which they discard their governing theories (unitary executive) when the results are ones they find unpleasant (ending the independence Federal Reserve). Let’s make a note in passing that as long as they were going to make this disastrous […]