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Senate Republicans on Friday voted to confirm former Fox News host and conspiracy theorist Jeanine Pirro to serve as the United States Attorney for Washington, D.C. Pirro only received support from the GOP, while all members of the Democratic caucus who cast a vote opposed her nomination. The nomination passed with a vote of 50-45. Pirro is yet another former Fox News talking head to join the Trump administration. During her time at the network, Pirro frequently interviewed Donald Trump and sung his praises. She joins figures like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, among others, who worked for the right-wing propaganda network before being brought on to the Republican administration. During her time at Fox News, Pirro distinguished herself by being one of the network’s most notable promoters of thoroughly debunked election conspiracies. Following Trump’s loss in the 2020 race against former President Joe Biden, Pirro repeatedly argued that the election was stolen from him. These were all lies. Related | Trump targets law firm that made Fox News pay for 2020 election lies Pirro’s decision to push election myths, particularly fake stories about Dominion Voting Systems purportedly “flipping” votes to Biden, were part of the trigger for that company’s lawsuit against Fox News. An internal email that surfaced in the suit revealed that a Pirro producer told Fox executives her broadcasts were “rife” with conspiracy theories and “completely crazy.” Even after some within Fox made clear to Pirro that her assertions were made up, she refused to make changes to the monologues that opened her program. This is the person that Trump and Senate Republicans have put in charge of prosecuting federal crimes in D.C. Ultimately Fox had to pay out nearly $800 million in a financial settlement with Dominion, based in part on Pirro’s lies and conspiracies. Pirro also promoted other conspiracy theories outside of the 2020 election while at Fox News, including the baseless claim that the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas was the work of more than one person. She even claimed in 2018 that attempts to investigate Trump for his role in subverting the 2016 election were “an attempt at a coup.” Pirro’s conspiratorial ranting ventured into racism when she promoted the bigoted “great replacement” theory. Pirro said in a 2019 Fox Nation radio appearance that immigration is “a plot to remake America, to replace American citizens with illegals who will vote for the Democrats.” Related | Why conservatives can’t live without conspiracy theories When promoting a book in 2023, Pirro also appeared on a podcast openly supportive of the debunked QAnon conspiracy, which alleges liberals and celebrities drink babies’ blood, among other insane theories. Trump has spent much of his time in the public eye promoting and supporting all manner of conspiracy theories, from racist birtherism to ludicrous claims that China made up global warming. In appointing Pirro to such an important position, he has rewarded a fellow traveler—and Senate Republicans have given her their stamp of approval.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren appeared on CNBC Monday morning to address the increasing chaos in our economy—and President Donald Trump was clearly watching. “Remember, Donald Trump ran for office saying he would lower costs on Day One. Cost of groceries [are] up, cost of housing is up, cost of health care is up,” Warren said. “And where is Donald Trump? He’s passing a signature bill to throw people off health care so he can do tax cuts for billionaires.” YouTube Video Warren’s truth bombs about inflation and the rising costs of everything from medicine to automobiles obviously hit a nerve. Trump lashed out in a series of Truth Social rants when yelling at his TV screen proved insufficient: He followed this up with more posts, calling Warren “a LOSER!” and demanding “Ask Pocahontas the real questions, CNBC!!!” Trump’s refusal to engage with reality, coupled with his obsessive construction of a fantasy around his record, recently led him to fire the nonpartisan Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after the BLS released a dismal jobs report. On top of that, the real suffering that slashing Medicaid to help pay for tax cuts for the rich still looms on the horizon.

Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, one of the most hateful Republicans in Congress, just announced her campaign for governor of South Carolina in 2026. In a video posted to social media Monday, Mace strongly aligned herself with President Donald Trump, despite once being one of his most vocal critics. The clip includes footage of Trump calling her a “fighter.” She has reportedly been in contact with the White House about her plans, though it’s uncertain if she will receive Trump’s “complete and total” endorsement. Not long ago, that might have seemed impossible. After Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Mace criticized Trump, saying, “I hold him accountable for the events that transpired.” One day after barricading her office, she told The State newspaper, “I can’t condone the rhetoric from yesterday, where people died and all the violence.” Her former staffers say her behind-the-scenes reaction was even more theatrical. According to The Washington Post, Mace considered filming herself confronting the insurrectionists so that she could get punched and go viral as one of the fiercest anti-Trump Republicans. Her team talked her out of it. When asked about the story later, she deflected: “What you write doesn’t pass for real journalism.” Despite her supposed outrage, Mace never voted to impeach Trump and soon stopped trying to distance herself from him. Trump repaid her wobbliness by endorsing a primary challenger in 2022—Katie Arrington—but Mace survived. By the next year, she’d morphed into one of his staunchest defenders. Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, left, greets President Donald Trump as he arrives to address a joint session of Congress at the Capitol on March 4. If that sounds like a political transformation, it wasn’t. Mace hasn’t changed; she’s just adjusted her approach. Her brand is whatever keeps her relevant. In 2023, she called herself “pro-transgender rights.” A year later, she introduced a resolution to ban trans women from using women’s restrooms at the Capitol—targeting incoming Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride, the first openly trans member of Congress. She also promoted broader legislation affecting all federal buildings and schools. She has kept up this momentum into 2025. During a House Oversight Committee meeting in January, Mace tried to corner former Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland with a question about defining a “woman.” It failed. The next month, she used an anti-trans slur during another hearing, and when the late Rep. Gerry Connolly called her out, she declared, “I don’t really care.” In November, according to Newsweek, she tweeted about bathrooms 326 times over 72 hours, a few days after McBride’s election victory. But Mace isn’t just running on culture-war issues. In February, she stunned the House by accusing her ex-fiancé of rape, assault, and sex trafficking—naming him and other alleged abusers during a speech. She also directly criticized South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, accusing him of slow-walking the investigation. Wilson, now a GOP primary rival, announced his bid for governor in June. The Republican field also includes Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Rep. Ralph Norman, one of the most right-wing members of the House. Gov. Henry McMaster is term-limited and will not run again. At 47, Mace has been preparing for this moment for years. She first gained attention in 1999 as the first female cadet to graduate from Charleston’s Citadel military academy. In 2014, she ran a long-shot Senate campaign against Lindsey Graham, earning just 6%. She didn’t win, but she made herself known. Trump later hired her to boost his 2016 South Carolina primary effort—at a time when few Republicans wanted to be seen with him. After a brief stint in the state legislature, she flipped a Democratic-held congressional seat in 2020. Since then, Mace has cynically reinvented herself several times. She’s aligned with Trump, broken away from him, then rejoined when it suited her. She’s called herself a centrist on some topics, then embraced the far right. Throughout, she has prioritized her own interests. Recent polls suggest she might enter the primary with a slight advantage, but there is no clear front-runner yet. With 2026 likely to be a challenging cycle for Republicans, this race could offer an early glimpse of what the post-Trump GOP will look like in the South—if that exists at all.

A cartoon by Clay Jones. Related | Noted windbag is freaking out about windmills—again

When Susana Pacheco accepted a housekeeping job at a casino on the Las Vegas Strip 16 years ago, she believed it was a step toward stability for her and her 2-year-old daughter. But the single mom found herself exhausted, falling behind on bills and without access to stable health insurance, caught in a cycle of low pay and little support. For years, she said, there was no safety net in sight — until now. For 25 years, her employer, the Venetian, had resisted organizing efforts as one of the last holdouts on the Strip, locked in a prolonged standoff with the Culinary Workers Union. But a recent change in ownership opened the Venetian’s doors to union representation just as the Strip’s newest casino, the Fontainebleau, was also inking its first labor contract. The historic deals finalized late last year mark a major turning point: For the first time in the Culinary Union’s 90-year history, all major casinos on the Strip are unionized. Backed by 60,000 members, most of them in Las Vegas, it is the largest labor union in Nevada. Experts say the Culinary Union’s success is a notable exception in a national landscape where union membership overall is declining. “Together, we’ve shown that change can be a positive force, and I’m confident that this partnership will continue to benefit us all in the years to come,” Patrick Nichols, president and CEO of the Venetian, said shortly after workers approved the deal. Pacheco says their new contract has already reshaped her day-to-day life. The housekeeper no longer races against the clock to clean an unmanageable number of hotel suites, and she’s spending more quality time with her children because of the better pay and guaranteed days off. “Now with the union, we have a voice,” Pacheco said. Union strength is fading nationally These gains come at a time when union membership nationally is at an all-time low, and despite Republican-led efforts over the years to curb union power. About 10% of U.S. workers belonged to a union in 2024, down from 20% in 1983, the first year for which data is available, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics. President Donald Trump in March signed an executive order seeking to end collective bargaining for certain federal employees that led to union leaders suing the administration. Nevada and more than two dozen other states now have so-called “right to work” laws that let workers opt out of union membership and dues. GOP lawmakers have also supported changes to the National Labor Relations Board and other regulatory bodies, seeking to reduce what they view as overly burdensome rules on businesses. Related | How a Supreme Court ruling could turn labor board into a Trump tool Ruben Garcia, professor and director of the workplace program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas law school, said the Culinary Union’s resilience stems from its deep roots in Las Vegas, its ability to adapt to the growth and corporatization of the casino industry, and its long history of navigating complex power dynamics with casino owners and operators. He said the consolidation of casinos on the Las Vegas Strip mirrors the dominance of the Big Three automakers in Detroit. A few powerful companies — MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts — now control most of the dozens of casinos along Las Vegas Boulevard. “That consolidation can make things harder for workers in some ways, but it also gives unions one large target,” Garcia said. That dynamic worked in the union’s favor in 2023, when the threat of a major strike by 35,000 hospitality workers with expired contracts loomed over the Strip. But a last-minute deal with Caesars narrowly averted the walkout, and it triggered a domino effect across the Strip, with the union quickly finalizing similar deals for workers at MGM Resorts and Wynn properties. The latest contracts secured a historic 32% bump in pay over the life of the five-year contract. Union casino workers will earn an average $35 hourly, including benefits, by the end of it. The union’s influence also extends far beyond the casino floor. With its ability to mobilize thousands of its members for canvassing and voter outreach, the union’s endorsements are highly coveted, particularly among Democrats, and can signal who has the best shot at winning working-class votes. The union has — and still — faces resistance The union’s path hasn’t always been smooth though. Michael Green, a history professor at UNLV, noted the Culinary Union has long faced resistance. “Historically, there have always been people who are anti-union,” Green said. Cars drive along the Las Vegas Strip on Aug. 2 Earlier this year, two food service workers in Las Vegas filed federal complaints with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the union of deducting dues despite their objections to union membership. It varies at each casino, but between 95 to 98% of workers opt in to union membership, according to the union. “I don’t think Culinary Union bosses deserve my support,” said one of the workers, Renee Guerrero, who works at T-Mobile Arena on the Strip. “Their actions since I attempted to exercise my right to stop dues payments only confirms my decision.” But longtime union members like Paul Anthony see things differently. Anthony, a food server at the Bellagio and a Culinary member for nearly 40 years, said his union benefits — free family health insurance, reliable pay raises, job security and a pension — helped him to build a lasting career in the hospitality industry. “A lot of times it is an industry that doesn’t have longevity,” he said. But on the Strip, it’s a job that people can do for “20 years, 30 years, 40 years.” Ted Pappageorge, the union’s secretary-treasurer and lead negotiator, said the union calls this the “Las Vegas dream.” “It’s always been our goal to make sure that this town is a union town,” he said.

As a general rule, celebrating the misfortunes of someone is unseemly. But when that person is billionaire Elon Musk, let’s do this. The past week has not been terrific for both Tesla and X, and it couldn’t happen to a worse dude.  Last Friday, a Florida jury slapped Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, with a $243 million verdict in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of a woman killed due partly to Tesla’s glitchy Autopilot self-driving software. The Tesla driver dropped his cell phone and reached down to grab it, letting Autopilot take over. The Tesla promptly blew through an intersection at over 60 miles per hour and crashed into an SUV, killing Naibel Benavides and severely injuring her boyfriend.  Of course, Tesla is being exceedingly dramatic about the verdict, saying that it “works to set back automotive safety and jeopardize Tesla’s and the entire industry’s efforts to develop and implement lifesaving technology.” Of course, that’s a weird statement to make when your “lifesaving technology” appears to have been involved in someone’s death.  Normally, the government plays a regulatory role here, investigating the safety of cars. However, once Trump took office and Musk burrowed in as the head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, most of those investigations were expected to just go away.  Though who knows what will happen now that Musk and Trump have fallen out. Last month, Trump said he wanted Musk’s businesses to “thrive.” However, Tesla’s launch of self-driving taxis in Austin, Texas, went so poorly that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into the taxis’ myriad problems, including a penchant for reportedly veering into oncoming traffic. Seems bad! Demonstrators protest against Elon Musk outside a Tesla dealership in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 12. Generally, Tesla has dodged these sorts of lawsuits or prevailed in court. But now there’s a template for future settlements to be more expensive. In other words, the company may have to up the amount it is willing to pay to settle or face a nine-figure jury verdict.  Unfortunately, while this hurts Tesla, the board still wants to shower Musk with money for … what exactly? He just got 96 million new shares, worth roughly $29 billion.  It’s not just Tesla having a dark day, though let’s all take a moment to engage in some pointing and laughing about how the jury verdict caused Tesla’s stock to fall. Meanwhile, over at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, things are not going great for Musk’s social media platform, X. The court ruled that while X cannot be held liable if it fails to remove child sex abuse material immediately, the company could face negligence claims going forward for not reporting such material to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and for not having an easy way for users to flag posts. Basically, once X is aware of that material on the platform, it has a legal duty to report it to NCMEC, not that Musk is really into following laws.  This has been a problem since Musk took over X in October 2022. In 2023, the Stanford Internet Observatory reported that Twitter (as X was then known) failed to address 40 CSAM items over two months. For Musk, though, posting CSAM isn’t really a dealbreaker. He reinstated the account of right-wing conspiracy theorist Dominick McGee after McGee’s account had posted an image taken from one of the worst, most violent child abuse videos out there. But hey, McGee claims he did it to raise awareness! Musk tried to wave this away by saying only people on X’s safety team saw McGee’s post, but it actually got 3 million views and 8,000 reposts, according to The Washington Post.  Of course, McGee now gets to go to White House press briefings, and we can all thank Musk for that.  There should be consequences for turning X into a Nazi bar that aids the exploitation of children, and the 9th Circuit gave a roadmap on how to do that. There should also be consequences for Tesla’s apparent refusal to make its cars safer. That Florida jury verdict might get reduced on appeal, but it still puts Tesla on notice that going to trial may not be the greatest idea.  And anything that makes Musk’s life harder and more expensive, we’re here for it.

A cartoon by Mike Lukovich. Related | They voted for Trump—and now their only hospital may die

Republican Nate Morris had deftly warmed up a crowd of party faithful, gushing about President Donald Trump and recounting his own life’s journey — from hardscrabble childhood to wealthy entrepreneur — when he turned his attention to the man he wants to replace, Sen. Mitch McConnell. That’s when things got feisty. While bashing Kentucky’s longest-serving senator at a GOP dinner on the eve of Saturday’s Fancy Farm picnic, a tradition-laden stop on the state’s political circuit, Morris was cut off in midsentence by a party activist in the crowd, who noted that McConnell isn’t seeking reelection and pointedly asked Morris: “What are you running on?” Morris touted his hard line stance on immigration and defended Trump’s tariffs as a boon for American manufacturing. But he didn’t retreat from his harsh critique of McConnell. “We’ve seen 40 years of doing it the same way,” Morris said. “And, yes, he’s not on the ballot, but his legacy is on the ballot. Do you want 40 more years of that? I don’t think you do.” McConnell’s blunt-force approach used against him The pushback from a county GOP chairman revealed the political risks of attacking the 83-year-old McConnell in the twilight of his career. Towering over Kentucky politics for decades, McConnell is regarded as the master strategist behind the GOP’s rise to power in a state long dominated by Democrats. The state Republican headquarters bears McConnell’s name. As the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, McConnell guided Republican policymaking and helped forge a conservative Supreme Court. Back home, his appropriating skills showered Kentucky with federal funding. Now, his blunt-force style of campaigning — which undercut so many foes — is being used against him. Related | McConnell announces he’s done taking a dump all over democracy Morris is running against two other prominent Republicans — U.S. Rep. Andy Barr and former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron — for McConnell’s seat. The outcome will be decided in the spring primary next year. Kentucky hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992. All three Republican hopefuls lavish praise on Trump — in hopes of landing his endorsement — but also have ties to McConnell, who mentored generations of aspirational Republicans. Cameron and Barr have chided McConnell at times, but it’s been mild compared to Morris’ attacks. Morris interned for McConnell but glosses over that connection. McConnell pushes back Mitch McConnell and his wife, Elaine Chao, acknowledge applause at the annual Fancy Farm picnic on Aug. 2 in Fancy Farm, Ky.  At events surrounding the Fancy Farm picnic, an event long known for caustic zingers that he has always relished, McConnell showed no sign of backing down. “Surely this isn’t true, but I’ve heard that one of the candidates running for my office wants to be different,” McConnell told a Republican crowd that included Morris at a pre-picnic breakfast in Mayfield. “Now, I’m wondering how you’d want to be different from the longest-serving Senate leader in American history. I’m wondering how you’d want to be different in supporting President Trump.” McConnell received multiple standing ovations. Morris stayed seated. McConnell has consistently voted for Trump’s policies more often than Kentucky’s other Republican senator, Rand Paul, according to a Congressional Quarterly voting analysis. McConnell recently supported Trump’s signature tax and spending measure. Paul opposed it, saying it would drive up debt. Yet Morris has taken on McConnell, who has famously had an up-and-down relationship with Trump. McConnell teamed with Trump to put conservatives on the federal bench and pass tax cuts during the president’s first term. McConnell also guided the Senate — and Trump — through two impeachment trials that ended in acquittals. But the relationship was severed after McConnell blamed Trump for “disgraceful” acts in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack by Trump’s supporters. McConnell endorsed Trump in 2024, but in a biography by Michael Tackett of The Associated Press, released shortly before the election, McConnell described him as “a despicable human being.” Running against career politicians Morris, who started a waste management technology company, says the senator has been insufficiently loyal to Trump and allowed festering issues like immigration and the national debt to grow worse during his years in Senate leadership. Morris wants to tether his opponents to McConnell while running on anti-establishment themes that his campaign thinks will appeal to legions of Trump supporters in the Bluegrass State. Nate Morris speaks at the annual Fancy Farm picnic on Aug. 2 in Fancy Farm, Ky. “Let’s face it, folks, career politicians have run this country off a cliff,” Morris said. Morris’ rivals sum up the anti-McConnell attacks as an angry, backward-looking message. Cameron called it a diversionary tactic to obscure what he said is Morris’ lack of both a message and credibility as a supporter of Trump’s MAGA movement. “He can’t talk about his actual record. So he has to choose to pick on an 83-year-old,” Cameron said. At Fancy Farm, where candidates hurl insults at one another against a backdrop of bingo games and barbecue feasts, Morris took a swipe at McConnell’s health. “I have a serious question: who here can honestly tell me that it’s a good thing to have a senior citizen who freezes on national television during his press conferences as our U.S. senator?” Morris said. “It seems, to me, maybe just maybe, Mitch’s time to leave the Senate was a long time ago.” McConnell had his customary front-row seat for much of the event but wasn’t there for Morris’ remarks. He typically leaves before all the speeches are delivered and exited before his would-be successors spoke. Living by the sword McConnell complimented Trump in his speech, singling out Trump’s bombing of Iranian nuclear sites. “He turned Iran’s nuclear program into a pile of rocks,” McConnell, a steadfast advocate for a muscular U.S. foreign policy, said to cheers. At the GOP dinner the night before in Calvert City, where candidates typically are more politely received, party activist Frank Amaro confronted Morris for his anti-McConnell barrage. “He keeps bashing Mitch McConnell like he’s running against Mitch McConnell,”