Category: Talking Points Memo

At least for the moment this hasn’t gotten much attention. So let me point your attention to a new part of the White House Signal chat story which is actually a pretty big deal. You likely saw that yesterday Reuters published a photo of a Trump cabinet meeting in which Mike Waltz could be seen […]

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. Never Seen This Before In an important new story, the NYT reveals for the first time that senior Trump DOJ official Emil Bove directed the Civil Rights Division to investigate pro-Palestinian protestors at Columbia University. […]

President Trump’s nominee for D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin appears to be facing skepticism from the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republican members of which met this week to discuss the seemingly endless baggage and politically motivated acts that Martin has and will likely continue to mix into his work if officially confirmed to the position. Republicans […]

When I got word this morning that Mike Waltz was making his final swirl around the National Security Advising bowl I set myself to thinking: what’s the stupidest way this could play out. I tried, readers, and I failed as we’ve now learned that Marco Rubio will be taking over as interim National Security Advisor. […]

In a win for Republicans, a North Carolina Appeals court panel ruled on Wednesday that a piece of legislation designed to strip power from state level elected Democrats and give Republicans control of the state election board in an overt power grab, can take effect. 

Yesterday I excoriated Politico for a deeply ingenuous report on GOP Medicaid cuts, now presenting the matter as something congressional Republicans are trying to foist on a skeptical Trump. I also said that they were making up the idea that Trump has repeatedly pledged never to touch Medicaid as he has repeatedly promised not to […]

Despite the reams of documents, hours of hearings and the unlawful expulsion of Venezuelan detainees, no judge had ruled on whether the Trump administration can even apply the Alien Enemies Act to these alleged gang members — until Thursday. 

House Energy & Commerce Committee Republicans have begun their work of finding $880 billion in cuts to programs under the committee’s jurisdiction — which includes popular social safety nets like Medicare, Medicaid and Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP) — as House Republicans attempt to put together a reconciliation package. For months now, congressional Republicans have […]

A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Kate and Josh check in on the polling, economy and judge arrests (!) after Trump’s first few months in office.

There’s been an emerging scandal in Florida for a few weeks now that directly affects not only Ron DeSantis but also his wife, Casey DeSantis, who is weighing a run to succeed Ron as governor. The gist of the scandal is the state of Florida settled an over-billing case against a major Medicaid contractor and […]

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. The Hollow Man During his 15 years on the national political stage, Marco Rubio has never come across as a man with a consolidated moral center or core. It takes a lot for that kind […]

I found this new piece in Politico about Medicaid politics genuinely jarring. Reporters Rachel Bade et al. concoct this alternative reality in which House Republicans are pressuring Trump to cut Medicaid while he’s deeply “wary” of doing so. As you’d expect, this story comes from “six White House officials and top allies of the president.”

Here’s my latest hobby: looking at just how many constituents House Republicans, especially the so called “moderates,” want to strip of their health care coverage. Congressional Republicans are currently in hard negotiations and a game of chicken for how to pay for their big tax cut, which seems to be getting bigger by the day. […]

The New York Times put out a statement this afternoon defending itself against President Trump’s latest threat to go after the publication in court for reporting on information in ways that he does not like. It is difficult to put into words how bizarre and out of touch with the basic principals and processes of […]

Despite a flurry of developments, Kilmar Abrego Garcia appears no closer to release from detention in El Salvador than he was a month and half ago when he was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration despite an immigration judge order barring his removal.  Today in the legal case seeking his return to the United States, […]

A newly released AJC poll shows support for Donald Trump falling to 43% in Georgia; disapproval 55%.

According to Punchbowl, Sen. Ron Johnson just announced he won’t support the reconciliation bill being written by House Republicans. He says there have to be $5 trillion in cuts to get his vote. And forget about the July 4th deadline. For perspective the House Freedom Caucus was demand either $1.5 or $2 trillion. This is […]

I’ve gotten a range of responses to yesterday’s post (“Trump’s Already Lost“) on Trump’s gambit and whether he’s already lost. There were a few specific questions, however, that came up again and again, that I wanted to answer.

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. Abrego Garcia Case May Come To A Head Today The constitutional clash over Kilmar Abrego Garcia played out on national TV last evening with President Trump acknowledging that he could retrieve the mistakenly deported Salvadoran […]

As my colleague Emine Yücel reported yesterday, President Trump’s plan for a rescissions package — which many presidents have successfully used since the 1970s to send unspent funding back to Congress — is a constitutionally backwards attempt to force down legislators’ throats the sweeping cuts to federal programs that Trump has already made, without Congress’ […]