Talking Points Memo

After weeks of intraparty fighting, House Republicans passed the reconciliation package that addresses President Donald Trump’s fiscal agenda in a largely party line 215-214 vote early Thursday morning.

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. An Essential Prism For Our Time Before jumping into the day’s news, I want to elevate another prism through which to examine the Trump II presidency: white Christian … Welcome To The White Christian Nationalist PresidencyRead more

A federal judge tore into federal prosecutors on Wednesday over the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office’s bizarre handling of the arrest of Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka earlier this month. The judge also reminded prosecutors that the goals of the DOJ’s work should not involve efforts to “advance … Federal Judge Calls Out Trump DOJ’s Targeting Of Political Rivals In Real TimeRead more

The Trump administration sent a planeload of detainees to South Sudan on Tuesday, according to the detainees’ lawyers, allegedly violating a clear court order to provide people sent to third countries with notice and time to challenge their removal.

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. ‘This Seems Like It May Be Contempt’ Morning Memo has been carefully tracking where the constitutional clash between President Trump and the judicial branch is most likely to … Trump’s Defiance Of Courts Reaches Incendiary New LevelRead more

The Catalist report is in, the big “what happened” packet interpreting the 2024 election through voting results and voter files, census data and modeling from the Democratic firm that election-studiers anticipate every cycle as soon as the last vote is cast.  This year’s headline: Men, especially young men, … 2024 Election Autopsy Is In: The Men Are Not Alright (But They Are All Right) Read more

DHS is violating a court order to remove a group of detainees to South Sudan, lawyers told a federal judge on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump attended the closed-door House Republican conference meeting Tuesday morning in an attempt to convince two obstinate factions to get on board with the party’s reconciliation package. One group of members has been calling for steeper spending cuts; another group of largely blue-state Republicans has been … House GOPers Claim Bill Will ‘Eventually’ Pass After Trump Bullying. But Not Everything Is ‘Hunky Dory’Read more

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Acting Chair Andrea Lucas has directed agency officials to compile a list of cases in line with her own personal priorities for the agency, two sources familiar with the matter tell Talking Points Memo. Those priorities include “defending the biological and binary reality of … Trump-Appointed Leader Of Worker Protection Agency Directs Focus On DEI, ‘Binary Reality of Sex’Read more

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. Another Crossing The Rubicon Moment Let’s quickly run through the many telling and odd aspects of the still-unseen criminal case against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) for an alleged … Nothing Normal About Trump DOJ’s Case Against Dem RepRead more

With no further road to kick the can down, we’ve been on the lookout this week for how exactly President Trump will get involved with badgering the House Republican conference into line behind the ridiculously named piece of legislation that will kickstart his fiscal agenda. House Speaker Mike … Trump Hasn’t Yet Been Whipping Votes, And The House Can’t Function Without HimRead more

Here’s an example of the kind of compromise included in the Senate’s updated crypto bill. After bipartisan negotiations this month, the GENIUS Act will now ban stablecoins from using “United States,” “United States Government,” or “USG” in their name. In some ways, it’s important: stablecoins, typically used to … GOP—With Some Key Dem Support—Poised To Give Trump The Green Light On Crypto SchemesRead more

A judge turned the U.S. Institute of Peace back over to its unlawfully fired board members Monday, scolding the administration for using “brute force and threats of criminal process” to commandeer an organization that does not fall within President Trump’s removal powers.

For the second time in as many months, a federal appeals court declined to pause a lower court order requiring the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of a foreign national wrongfully deported to El Salvador. 

It’s become almost commonplace in recent years, and especially in the last four months, that the divisions among Democrats are less progressives vs. “centrists” or liberals than one between institutionalists and what we might call Team Fight. There’s a separate issue which is that there needs to be … Fight or Don’t Fight and Take the ConsequencesRead more

Following a small rebellion last week by far-right members of the House Budget Committee — who were calling for steeper spending cuts — Republicans on the panel managed to move their reconciliation package out of the committee late Sunday night. Yet the most perilous moments for Johnson’s fraught … GOP Leadership Keeps Insisting Its Going To Jam The Medicaid Cutting ‘Beautiful’ Bill Through This WeekRead more

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. This Is Effed Up On So Many Levels In an important federal case in Massachusetts over whether deportees can be sent to third countries rather than their countries … Trump DOJ Admits It Used Bogus Info In Key Deportation CaseRead more

Full statement from Joe Biden’s personal office: Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms. On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to … Former President Biden Diagnosed With CancerRead more

This is a follow up to Friday’s piece on how to save American biomedical research. A lot of what follows assumes you’ve read that earlier piece. I realized based on responses I received that there is one point I didn’t make explicit enough. As I wrote, there are … A Follow Up on Saving American Biomedical ResearchRead more

Hello it’s the weekend. This is The Weekender ☕️ As President Trump pushes the bounds of executive power, a few major court rulings that will decide how successful he is in the endeavor are inching closer to their finales.

Just after noon today DOGE representatives contacted the Government Accountability Office and demanded its standard level of access to analyze and ‘reform’ the agency. Not long after the GAO contacted its employees via email and explained that they had told DOGE that GAO is a legislative branch agency … DOGE Attempts Takeover of GAORead more

Over the past four months I’ve spoken to dozens of biomedical researchers either at NIH, other government grant-making agencies or at the various American research institutions which receive US government grants. Over that time I’ve developed at least a very rudimentary understanding of the nitty-gritty mechanics of the … A Path Forward to Save American Bio-Medical ResearchRead more

While the conservative judges on Friday tried to find a way to overturn Supreme Court precedent before the Court itself gets a chance to do it, the sole liberal on a three-judge appeals court panel used the hearing to lay bare the ramifications of President Trump’s attempt to … Fed Takeover, Judge Firings, Erosion Of Guards Against Autocracy: Judge Lays Out Stakes Of Trump Agency TakeoverRead more

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. Everyone In Trump World Got The Same Memo The Trump administration quickly got in line Thursday to denounce, threaten, and investigate former FBI Director James Comey, whose firing … Trump Team Pretends To Be Horrified As Pretext To Target ComeyRead more

First it was reported that the Trump White House was considering sending a rescissions package to Congress, a way of letting the legislature rubber stamp some of the spending cuts DOGE has already implemented. Then it was reported that Trump might delay that package, at least a few … Trump Decides Now Is Not The Time To Make Republicans Rubber Stamp His DOGE Power Grab—Maybe LaterRead more

You’ve seen our liveblog which provides a far more detailed and technical look at today’s birthright citizenship oral arguments before the Supreme Court. I want to focus on a broad and critical issue. The Trump administration brought this to the Supreme Court. While the underlying or substantive issue … The Constitution Shouldn’t Have to WaitRead more

Here’s an interesting hypothetical: the White House wins its nationwide injunction case before the Supreme Court. Judges can no longer issue these national holds on various forms of federal government action, or face an exceedingly high bar to do so. At the same time, the high court has … Trump Admin Admits It Could Game Court System Without Nationwide InjunctionsRead more

The right-wing justices on Thursday were amenable to the Trump administration’s bid to pare back universal injunctions, a type of relief where lower-court judges block government policies for the whole country and not just the parties who brought the case.

I want to thank everyone who came out to see Kate Riga and I at our live podcast event last night in Chicago. You made us feel very welcome and we had a great time. And it was great meeting so many of you for the happy hour … Thank You, Chicago!Read more

This story first appeared at ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. In early February, Sharon Cromer, U.S. ambassador to Gambia, went to visit one of the country’s Cabinet ministers at … The Trump Administration Leaned On African Countries. The Goal: Get Business For Musk.Read more