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President Donald Trump's trade agenda suffered a major setback when the U.S. Supreme Court, in a bombshell 6-3 ruling on Friday, February 20, struck down most of his tariffs as illegal. The majority included three appointees of Democratic presidents — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan — and, on the Republican side, Chief Justice John Roberts and two Trump appointees: Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. The three dissenters were Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and

This Sunday night, February 22, CNN is airing reporter Pamela Brown's documentary on Christian nationalism, a far-right form of evangelical fundamentalism closely tied to the MAGA movement. Brown, in the documentary, notes that Christian nationalists are hailing the late Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk — who was fatally shot during an event in Utah last year — as a martyr for their cause. And she interviews Matthew Taylor, a religious scholar at Georgetown University; Taylor makes a clear distinction between "radicalized" Christian nationalists and the many Christians who reject their belief system. In a February 21 segment, Fox News' Kayleigh McEnany — who served as the fourth White House press s

During a Sunday morning, February 22 appearance on CNN, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom was relentlessly critical of President Donald Trump.Host Dana Bash noted that although the U.S. Supreme Court struck down most of Trump's tariffs as illegal, adding that he is "vowing to forge ahead even without Congress." And Newsom responded, "I mean, this is madness." The California governor continued, "He's flailing. He's a punch-drunk boxer. He's just, you know, he's just t

When political scientists from the United States examine other democratic republics, one of the things they are struck by is the lack of a two-party system in Italy, the Netherlands or Spain. The Italian parliament, for example, isn't known for being dominated by two parties, but rather, for MPs coming from an array of parties. And coalition government comes into play when members of different parties have to join forces to get anything done. Members of third parties hold office in the U.S., but on a limited scale. A member of the Libertarian Party might win a city council race in a red state, or a Green Party member might win a local race in a blue state. Philadelphia City Councilwoman Kendra Brooks is a member of the progressive Working Families

During his 2024 campaign, Donald Trump broadened his appeal by ramping up his outreach to Latinos, independents, swing voters, tech bros, Generation Z and the Manosphere. Trump's 2024 coalition also included the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement, which started with conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign. But now, according to the conservative website The Bulwark, he is alienating MAHA activists.RFK Jr., son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy Sr. (D-Massachusetts) and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, initially challenged then-Presid

With Democrats having enjoyed a series of double-digit victories in recent elections and President Donald Trump dogged by weak approval ratings, a long list of GOP lawmakers won't be seeking reelection in the 2026 midterms. Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) left Congress altogether in early January, and Republicans ranging from Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) to Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) decided against seeking reelection but plan to serve out the rest of their terms.In an article published on February 22,

Watching MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), one is often reminded that President Donald Trump is not universally loved on the right. The cable news outlet leans liberal or center-left, yet some of its hosts are conservative Trump critics who were prominent figures in the GOP in the past — including former Rep. Joe Scarborough, ex-White House Communications Director Nicolle Wallace and former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele. Moreover, Never Trump conservatives and libertarians are frequent MS NOW guests, including attorney George Conway, New York Times columnist David French, former Judge J. Michael Luttig, The Lincoln Project's Rick Wilson and The Bulwark's Tim Miller.But the anti-Trump conservatives and li

We’ve only had one genuinely failed presidency in the modern era: Richard Nixon’s. I believe we’re on the verge of the second, and for very similar reasons. If it plays out the way I expect, the consequences could be world-changing, and will certainly alter how our politics work for decades to come.The tipping point began in a big way when Attorney General Pam Bondi went before Congress to defend Donald Trump. When asked how many of Epstein’s co-conspirators she’d indicted, she refused to answer and instead completely lost it, going off on a bizarre rant that included:“Donald Trump signed that law to release all of those documents. He is the most transparent president in the nation’s history. None of them asked Merrick Garland over the last four years one word about Jeffrey Epstein.“Donald T

The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct in public office will heap yet more pressure on the beleaguered government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest over allegations he passed government documents to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein comes directly on the heels of the resignation of Peter Mandelson, Starmer’s ambassador to the United States, due to his own alleged associations with Epstein.The fallout from the scandal is hugely damaging to public trust in both the political establishment and institutions in the United Kingdom, including the royal family.Trust in the royals already decliningIt’s hard to separate the fate and popularity of the royal family from the institu

Frédéric Martel, the author of the 2019 international bestseller, “In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy,” told me over the weekend about the time he was invited to lunch by Steve Bannon, who asked him to come to Bannon’s palatial Paris hotel suite shortly after his book was published. “I didn’t know why he asked me to come,” he said.The meeting was arranged via one of Martel’s right-wing Catholic sources who was allied with Bannon. Martel, a journalist who covers the far right in Europe and is working on a new book focused on it, certainly had a professional interest in meeting Bannon.“It was at the Hotel Bristol,” he explained to me by phone from Paris, “in a suite that costs 8,000 euros