alternet.org

In predominantly Democratic Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump is putting his stamp on a wide range of projects — from a lavish White House ballroom that will replace the recently demolished East Wing to renaming the Kennedy Center the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. And according to Washington Post reporters Dan Diamond and Jonathan Edwards, Trump White House officials are "moving to install Trump-aligned appointees to a commission charged by Congress with reviewing Washington's public art and national memori

During his speeches, President Donald Trump often claims that he inherited a broken economy from former President Joe Biden and is now overseeing an era of renewed prosperity. But Biden's defenders, including liberal economist and former New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, are quick to counter that the United States enjoyed record-low unemployment during his years in the White House. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, unemployment was under 4 percent during much of Biden's presidency. But frustration over inflation worked to Trump's advantage in the 2024 election, giving him a narrow popular-vote victory of rough

While testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, former special counsel Jack Smith revealed that while he's seen part one of his official report of his investigation, he's never seen part two. The video of a closed-door interview with Smith, released at the end of the day on New Year's Eve, revealed that, ahead of the hearing, the former prosecutor demanded both parts of the report be referred to in his answers. In the end, however, Smith never opened it. On her Thursday "Daily Beans" podcast, legal analyst Allison Gill pointed out that Smith is so "by the book" that he didn't look at the document despite his request, because Florida Judge Aileen Cannon's order barred it.

CNN host Abby Phillip issued a swift fact check against conservative podcaster Eric Erickson on X Thursday. Erickson claimed that conservative ally Scott Jennings "was right the whole time."The incident refers to a Jennings appearance where the CNN panel debated a Republican Party-produced sting video that attempts to claim Somali-run childcare facilities in Minneapolis are committing fraud. The video went viral and the federal government has stopped hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to many of the facilities, leaving parents desperate during the holiday break. Republicans are blaming Democratic officials, saying they turned a blind-eye to corruption. Jennings alleged on the

When Vice President JD Vance spoke at Turning Point USA's recent AmericaFest 2025 convention in Phoenix, he told the MAGA crowd that the United States "always will be a Christian nation." And Vance isn't the only MAGA Republican who is claiming that there is no separation of church and state in the U.S. Constitution. Many Christian nationalists are claiming that the Constitution was designed to be a religious document even though the Fir

President Donald Trump appointed his acolytes to oversee the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and immediately began looting, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said in an interview with The Guardian. “You float stuff and you float stuff and you float stuff until people get inured to what a stupid or outrageous thing it is that has been floated and then you pull the trigger," Whitehouse said. As part of Trump's "renovations" of the Kennedy Center was ordering new letters to put his name on the building above Kennedy's name. Much like the Department of Defense, the name of the cultural center can only officially be chan

The video of a closed-door interview with former special counsel Jack Smith was released at the end of the day, New Year's Eve, but it hasn't stopped legal analysts from walking through some of the most important details. Elections lawyer Marc Elias couldn't help but laugh that he still "live[s] rent free in the heads of these MAGA idiots." The Smith interview took place before the House Judiciary Committee, where Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) did a large part of the questioning. Legal analyst Allison Gill, who co-hosted a podcast named "Jack" about the special counsel,

A document release on New Year's Eve included the transcript and video deposition of former special counsel Jack Smith before the House Judiciary Committee and experts are beginning to sort through the information. National security expert Marcy Wheeler mocked Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as a coward for the last-minute release. She observed "the funniest answer" from Smith came when Jordan asked about the phone records that Republicans have complained about. The information obtained in the investigation included details on who called Trump in the days leading up to Jan. 6, including phone records from elected officials. Smith explained that the reason "

In 2026, attorneys are not only earning a living practicing law or teaching at university law schools — many of them are also working for media outlets. CNN employs Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), as a senior legal analyst — while MS NOW often brings on ex-DOJ prosecutors Joyce White Vance and Barbara McQuade for legal analysis when a major court ruling is handed down or President Donald Trump issues an executive order that has legal ramifications.In an article published on New Year's Day 2026, The Hill's Surina Venkat reports

President Donald Trump is closing out 2025 with lower approval ratings from a key demographic: the middle class. Trump's economy has been plagued by erratic tariffs and an affordability crisis he claimed was a "hoax." The recent Economist/YouGov poll shows those with incomes between $50,000-$100,000 had a shift in sentiment among the key demographic. It's enough for Republicans to be concerned about as the 2026 midterm elections near. Trump's net approval has fallen, but among the middle class, it dropped from