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Conservative columnist Ross Douthat says it’s difficult to have a nice squishy sycophant and a smart person inside the same body. “The seeming desire of [President Donald Trump] is for loyalty, sycophancy and TV-ready swagger,” said Douthat in the New York Times. “He wants to turn on Fox News and see his top officials performing like reality-show characters in the drama of his administration. He wants to sit in a cabinet meeting and listen to a lita

After President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi on April 2, 2026, news reports suggested that she fell from grace, not for being too independent, but for not being effective enough at defending him and prosecuting his political enemies.As The New York Times reported the previous day, Trump was disappoint

The First Amendment strictly prohibits the government from favoring one faith over another, or from endorsing religion in general, whether through subtle or not-so-subtle means. As it evolved from Constitutional text into the canons of caselaw, that framework has protected the plurality for over 250 years by heeding our founders’ warnings to keep church and state separate.In 1962, the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional

United States Senator John Fetterman is not going to switch political parties. That’s not how politics works in America. While it’s true that the Democrat has seen his favorability rise among Pennsylvania Republicans, they are never going to vote for him. He’s a Democrat. His fate will be decided by a Democratic primary in two years’ time. As of now, that fate looks increasingly bleak. According to CNN, Fetterman's net approval is negative 40 percent. That’s as low as any approval rating for any sitting senator that any

The Guardian reports that posts from the White House suggest President Donald Trump’s Iran invasion looks like a scene from Top Gun or Braveheart—or maybe a video game.But boots on the ground say something entirely different.“Such macho posturing squares with secretary of defense Pete Hegseth’s desire to bring ‘warrior culture’ back to the military. The former Fox News host has railed against DEI, ‘fat troops’ and ‘beardos’, … and e

Atlantic staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick told an MS NOW panel that President Donald Trump has a habit of attacking the women in his administration, and his targeting is beginning to get noticed.Trump’s treatment of freshly-fired Attorney General Pam Bondi and former Department of Homeland security head Kristi Noem appears to share certain characteristics with a deep connection to the misogynist roots of MAGAFitzpatrick stated her case after a fellow panelist pointed out that Trump failed to fire other more incompetent department heads, including a secretary of defense

For President Donald Trump, it is the worst of the worst things that could happen.CNN reports that Trump’s poll numbers have hit such new lows amid the Iran war and economic problems that he has finally lost the key demographic upon which he based his platform.“‘Working-class White voters’ has become shorthand for the kind of voter Trump has locked down to great political effect,” reports CNN. “And 63 percent approved of him in a February 2025 CNN poll.”“His approval rating among them in the new CNN poll? Just 49 percent,” CNN added — launching a devastating blast at the very bottom of their report.Polls showing disapproval for Trump have been racking up over the last year, bu

Bulwark keeps doing surveys of Biden voters who switched their vote to president Donald Trump in the 2024 election and the news keeps turning up angst.“Lots of things are expensive right now. Like, we're looking at health insurance tripling for the same services last year. And that's from health, dental, vision, all the above,” said one young woman. “Even car insurance needs a cap, if you ask me. But yeah, it's pretty expensive. And the pay didn't increase, but the bills did.”“I've seen things like SNAP cuts that are really hurting poor people,” said another former Biden voter who went Tr

President Donald Trump is a walking, talking embodiment of MAGA and its ethos. As such, he is also a clear example of how well MAGA arguments and talking points work when applied to the real world. In short: they apply poorly, says New York Times Columnist David French.Times columnist and editors Michelle Cottle, Jamelle Bouie, Derek Arthur and French spent a portion of Saturday detangling Trump’s puzzling,

Guardian writer Steven Poole said President Donald Trump and his Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth conduct war like a couple of teenage boys reading comic books, all while getting rich on the viscera and violence.In March, Trump said if things didn’t go to his liking in Iran, “we just keep bombing our little hearts out”. A week later he told journalists: “You never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up.”