Author name: moderat ereport

‘Tis the season in MAGA-land.  On Monday, first lady Melania Trump officially opened applications for volunteers to help decorate the White House and perform there during the holiday season.  For some, this is a chance to make the halls of the president’s residence feel like yet another gothic fever dream. For others, it’s an opportunity to break in the paved-over Rose Garden, which no longer features soft grassy ground beneath visitors’ feet.  And while the lucky applicants won’t receive any assistance for travel, accommodations, or expenses associated with the trip and their work there, at least the first lady can avoid lifting another finger for her least favorite holiday. In this Nov. 26, 2018, file photo, topiary trees line the East Colonnade during the 2018 Christmas preview at the White House in Washington. For those who may or may not recall, the notoriously silent wifey of President Donald Trump has long been in the shadows, cursing her duties as first lady long before dipping out completely during her husband’s second term.  “I’m working like a—my ass off at Christmas stuff,” she said in a leaked audio recording in 2018. “Who gives a fuck about Christmas stuff and decoration? But I have to do it, right?” Indeed, who gives a fuck about Christmas decor when she has better things to do like star in her own Amazon documentary? Even typical first-lady activities like the summer reading list seemed to be below the Slovenia-born model as second lady Usha Vance was left to pick up the slack. Then again, Melania’s absence seems to be A-okay with MAGA’s most loyal, who dropped the suggestion that an opera house at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts be renamed after her. Related | What the f-ck is the First Lady Melania Trump Opera House? After all, nothing says art, grace, and holiday cheer like blood-red trees and a big bah-humbug. 

To win President Donald Trump’s endorsement amid a rough GOP Senate primary, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton did what most of us would be too embarrassed to do: He stalked Trump. CNN reports that Paxton made an unannounced visit to Trump’s golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland, last month, where he just happened to bump into the president. It’s unclear if Trump was expecting the pop-in, though they reportedly spoke about the primary, where Paxton is challenging incumbent John Cornyn from the right. It’s not the only time Paxton has gone out of his way to win Trump over. Earlier this summer, a pro-Paxton political action committee aired its first TV ad in Palm Beach, Florida—right where Trump could see it from Mar-a-Lago—and far from Texas. It’s the kind of pandering and political theater Trump has come to expect. In today’s GOP, making another man the centerpiece of your brand is seen as a strategic move, not an embarrassing one. Paxton flew 4,500 miles just to kiss the ring. Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, shown in January. But Paxton’s gotta do what he’s gotta do to win this messy primary. And with Rep. Wesley Hunt eyeing a run, it could get even more volatile. But despite his cross-continental pilgrimage, Paxton has nothing to show for it. Trump hasn’t endorsed anyone, and sources close to the president say he’s holding back for now. He’s got time too: The primary isn’t until March. Cornyn and Paxton, longtime rivals, are now in what’s becoming one of the marquee Republican showdowns of the 2026 midterm cycle. The two have never been allies. Cornyn has long viewed Paxton as a scandal magnet and legal risk, while Paxton paints Cornyn as a swampy moderate out of step with the MAGA base. The animosity runs deep, fueling an increasingly sycophantic race to win Trump’s favor. Paxton might have the upper hand with the GOP grassroots—at least for now. Numerous public and private polls show him leading Cornyn in the primary. But he also carries baggage. He’s in the middle of a high-profile divorce after his wife accused him of adultery, a saga that could turn voters off as it becomes more public. He was also impeached by the Texas House in 2023 on charges of abusing his office to benefit a political donor—though he was later acquitted by the Senate. Then there’s Paxton’s role in enforcing Texas’s near-total abortion ban. In March, his office filed the state’s first criminal charges under the law, arresting a Houston-area midwife and one of her employees. While that may appeal to hard-line conservatives, it could alienate suburban voters who have trended away from the GOP in recent years. Trump’s team is watching the race closely, according to CNN, since the outcome could influence control of the Senate in 2026. With Republicans bracing for a possible loss of their House majority—despite aggressive gerrymandering—their Senate majority takes on increased importance. A flawed nominee like Paxton could give Democrats a shot in flipping the seat next November.  “Winning is all that matters to the president,” an anonymous Republican strategist close to the White House told CNN. They also emphasized that loyalty isn’t the key to unlock Trump’s endorsement—it’s supposedly electability. Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas, shown in 2023. That’s why Cornyn may still have a chance. He’s a seasoned fundraiser, aligned with Senate leadership, and has never lost a statewide race. While Trump’s style may seem more compatible with Paxton, a messy general election in a state slowly turning purple might make Cornyn the safer choice. There’s also the wildcard of Hunt, who could split the pro-Trump vote. A Black Iraq War veteran with ties to both MAGA activists and the GOP establishment, Hunt could force Trump to pick sides sooner than planned—or decide not to endorse at all. Hunt’s entry would only escalate the scramble for Trump’s backing. Still, Paxton leads most polls of the primary, and if he wins, it’ll likely boost Democrats’ chances of flipping the seat. Former Rep. Colin Allred has announced his campaign, and there are whispers that state Rep. James Talarico might join him in the primary. Texas has long been a white whale for Democrats—tantalizingly close in some cycles but always just out of reach. They believe a damaged GOP nominee like Paxton could tip the scales. That’s exactly what national Republicans want to avoid. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and others have endorsed Cornyn, worried that nominating Paxton could jeopardize the seat—and the Senate majority. Meanwhile, Trump is in no rush. As Texas Republicans trip over themselves to prove who’s more loyal, he’s sitting back and soaking it in—relishing the spectacle of grown men groveling for his approval.

A cartoon by Clay Bennett. Related | Red-state Republican gets mercilessly jeered at town hall

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins appeared on Fox Business Tuesday, where host Stuart Varney asked whether she was still “sticking with” her plan to require Medicaid recipients to work in the fields in exchange for health insurance. “Well, listen, here’s the deal. When in America did we lose the concept of the dignity of work, right?” Rollins responded “I mean, when did it become okay that we begin to measure government programs by how many people we have taking the government program and on the taxpayer’s back? We have to completely, fundamentally change the way we think about work in this country.” YouTube Video The GOP’s ghastly “One Big, Beautiful Bill” adds a Medicaid work requirement as a pretext to slash the program, throwing millions of Americans off of health care to fund tax breaks for the wealthy. “We move the workforce toward automation and 100% American participation, which again with 34 million people, able-bodied on Medicaid, we should be able to do fairly quickly,” Rollins said at a press conference in July, framing it as a plan to replace the thousands of farmland jobs abandoned as a result of President Donald Trump’s terror-inducing immigrant raids and mass deportations. The conservative fairytale that there are legions of Medicaid recipients refusing to work is a lie. A recent KFF study found that 92% of Medicaid recipients under the age of 65 already work full- or part-time jobs. Related | Vance brazenly lies about cuts to Medicaid in his home state The idea that forcing people—many of whom are already working—to pursue low-wage jobs left vacant by mass deportations of immigrant workers in exchange for inadequate and often inaccessible health insurance isn’t a solution; it’s a fairytale. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is slashing people’s health care while pretending that low unemployment rates and a slowing job market are somehow positive signs.

President Donald Trump really, really wants everyone to stop talking about his dead friend and fellow convicted felon, Jeffrey Epstein. Fortunately for Trump, he runs the whole of the government and has nourished the resentful and conspiracy-addled thinking of the very worst people among us, which is why we’re getting a one-two punch of stupidity. First, there’s House Oversight Chair James Comer who has subpoenaed most everyone Trump has ever fixated on under the pretense that they are the real criminals who shielded Epstein—not Trump, his actual longtime friend. Then, over at the Department of Justice, we’ve got Attorney General Pam Bondi pursuing an entirely different theory, which is that everyone conspired to fake evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election after Trump won the 2016 election. Yeah, it doesn’t hold together, but go with it.  Over on X, which is apparently still where official government pronouncements are made even after Trump’s falling out with owner Elon Musk, Comer is bragging that his sham of an Oversight Committee has issued subpoenas to compel the following people to be deposed as part of his attempt to get to the bottom of the Epstein scandal: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: October 9 Former President Bill Clinton: October 14 Former U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland: October 2 Former FBI Director James Comey: October 7 Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr: August 18 Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: August 26 Former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions: August 28 Former FBI Director Robert Mueller: September 2 Former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch: September 9 Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder: September 30 That is quite the list. Not one, not two, but six attorneys general, a couple of FBI directors, Trump’s 2016 election rival and her husband, and a former president. Has anyone inquired as to whether Trump’s incredibly sweet and vast presidential immunity deal applies to any other presidents before Comer tries to compel Bill Clinton’s testimony?  The notion that Comer also needs to depose two of Trump’s former attorneys general as part of this quest is especially odd. Are they expected to have somehow conspired on their own, out of sight of Trump, to protect Epstein? If Comer was sincere about learning who in the first Trump administration ensured Epstein was protected from the consequences of his actions, he’d be deposing Trump’s former Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta, who gave Epstein that sweetheart deal in 2007 when Acosta was the U.S. Attorney for Florida. But if Comer talked to Acosta, he might learn something real and true, so that’s not going to happen.  With the exception of Alberto Gonzales, who was attorney general under George W. Bush, this list of ostensible Epstein protectors seems to dovetail pretty nicely with the list of people Trump also believes conspired to rob him of the legitimacy of his 2016 election. Gonzales is presumably there as a fig leaf, as he was attorney general when Acosta cut Epstein the “deal of a lifetime.” Even so, a serious investigation would still call Acosta, but Comer is not serious.  Related | Trump has Epstein files on the brain as presser goes off the rails Apparently, former President Barack Obama’s attorneys general were in on the Epstein cover-up, but not Obama himself? And the same is somehow true for George W. Bush? But when it comes to the Clintons, the right just can’t help itself. Every conspiracy leads back there.  While Comer stages this dog-and-pony show to find the real Epstein-adjacent criminal, Bondi is taking the laboring oar on pursuing Trump’s other unhinged conspiracy theory: that evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election was falsified to hurt Trump. Okay, hang on, because this gets both dumb and confusing.  Bondis is empaneling a federal grand jury, upon a criminal referral from Gabbard, who issued an incredibly confusing press release about her triumph:  On Friday, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard revealed overwhelming evidence that demonstrates how, after President Trump won the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, President Obama and his national security cabinet members manufactured and politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump. Wait, what? So the current working theory of the director of National Intelligence is that somehow, following Trump’s victory, everyone then conspired against Trump by inventing the story of Russian interference in the 2016 election. As a basis for that weird claim, she offers a whole bunch of random emails that predate Trump’s 2016 win, so whatever. It’s also not clear how Obama officials could have helmed the “years-long coup” against Trump since all of them were out once Trump took office. Gabbard has also called for Obama to be prosecuted, which again raises the question of whether presidential immunity will apply to anyone but Trump. Let’s say Obama had embarked on a scheme to discredit Trump, and he did so by conferring with his appointees, like his attorney general. That’s pretty much exactly what the Supreme Court said constituted an official act for which Trump was immune.  Just as with Epstein, Trump knows full well what occurred during the 2016 campaign and how much Russia gave him a helping hand. In 2018, he said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “responsible” for Russian interference in the 2016 election. But for Trump to admit the scale of that assistance would destroy his fragile ego, which needs constant soothing about how he is the best and most winningest guy.  If only Trump could bring this level of attention to bear on a pedophile felon—but hey, that guy used to be his pal. You can only ask a man for so much.

Sean Duffy has entered the new age space race for America to be the first country to lay claim to our neighbor just outside of the ozone layer. The MTV former reality star and the newest interim head of NASA is already conjuring up grand ideas just weeks into his new gig—nuclear reactors on the moon.  “The first country to do so could potentially declare a keep-out zone which would significantly inhibit the United States from establishing a planned Artemis presence if not there first,” Duffy said during a press conference Tuesday. As for who we’re racing, the “Real World” alumni said it’s our old pals China and Russia. “Since March 2024, China and Russia have announced on at least three occasions a joint effort to place a reactor on the Moon by the mid-2030s,” Duffy explained in a separate directive. “Cleared for landing” by Jack Ohman While entering a questionable geopolitical race against our adversaries is one thing, just Duffy’s appointment to the position alone has turned some heads. After all, it wasn’t too long ago that the man who is now overseeing NASA in addition to the Department of Transportation was juggling his own Federal Aviation Association crisis.  Earlier this year, pilots and air traffic controllers lost communication for minutes due to technical issues at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Following massive budget cuts and layoffs, the FAA was dealing with delays and a spike in safety concerns that are still not completely resolved. And while Duffy should be looking in one direction to make sure everything is running as smoothly as possible, Politico reports, his new laundry list at NASA has politicians on Capitol Hill concerned.  “How does he figure out what the priority is? Is it the FAA, which has all kinds of problems, or NASA, which has all kinds of problems?” Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, who is a former astronaut, told the outlet.  Sen. Ted Cruz, who likes Duffy, admitted that he is hoping for a prompt full-time replacement.  And as long as TV star Duffy has the reins in NASA, the balance at the U.S.’s hub for scientific and space exploration has others worried as well.  Related | Trump wants to go to the moon, but he’s sending NASA to the dump With NASA’s budget for scientific research nearly halved in the name of cutting “woke” projects, more senior officials have also said their goodbyes to the program. In July, over 2,000 NASA officials—including seasoned astronauts and scientists—announced their exit from the program as Trump’s administration slashed the budget.  In other words, as Duffy takes his stand at NASA’s head, the question of how many space experts are actually around to make decisions is at the forefront of many others’ minds. 

Anyone who’s clamoring for President Donald Trump to bring down inflation and right the economy will have to keep waiting, since his administration is focused on more important things—like bringing back Confederate monuments. The National Park Service announced on Monday that the Trump administration is reinstalling a statue of Albert Pike, a Confederate general from Arkansas who wanted to expel free Black people from his state, in Washington, D.C. The statue, which sat near the U.S. Capitol, was removed in 2020 after being toppled by protesters. According to NPS, the statue is being reinstated to support “both the Executive Order on Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful and the Executive Order on Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, which direct federal agencies to protect public monuments and present a full and accurate picture of the American past.” Protesters topple the statue of Confederate Gen. Albert Pike in 2020. But this isn’t the only way that Trump is honoring Confederate traitors. Unqualified and reckless Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth restored the names of Confederate generals on military bases in July, a move hailed by Racist in Chief Trump. “Can you believe they changed that name in the last administration for a little bit? We’ll forget all about that,” Trump said during a speech in North Carolina at Fort Bragg, named after Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg. What’s more, Trump is also seeking to extort the D.C.’s NFL team into changing its name from the Commanders back to the Redskins, a racist slur against Native Americans. While Trump focuses on resurrecting statues of racist traitors and making sports team names racist again, a YouGov survey released Tuesday shows that 21% of Americans want him to instead focus on inflation and rising prices. But instead of doing that, Trump is instating insane tariffs that are spiking inflation and paralyzing the job market—leading to fears of stagflation and a painful recession that will be 100% his doing. The YouGov poll also found that just 34% of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling inflation and skyrocketing prices. As for the Pike statue, Democrats lambasted the Trump administration’s decision to resurrect the tribute to the Confederacy. “Why is Trump focusing on reinstalling confederate statues instead of lowering costs for American families?” Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware wrote on X. But Eleanor Holmes Norton, a congressional delegate representing D.C., said that she will reintroduce legislation to have the monument removed. “NPS’ decision to restore and reinstall the statue of Confederate Albert Pike is indefensible,” she wrote on X. “Pike served dishonorably, misappropriated funds, and was ultimately imprisoned by his fellow troops. I’ll reintroduce my bill to remove the statue.”

Let it never be said that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is not loyal to her friends.  The Georgia Republican out here pleading former Rep. George Santos’ case, trying to get President Donald Trump to commute his sentence and free him from his grueling confinement, which has lasted … about 12 days. And without naming names, she’s happy to insinuate that far worse criminals than Santos still roam the halls of Congress.  Before diving into the merits of whether Trump should grant Santos mercy, let’s speculate about whom Greene could be referring to.  Fortunately, GovTrack, a government transparency group, maintains a database about legislator misconduct. Maybe Greene is referring to Rep. Andrew Ogles, the Tennessee Republican so eager to stay in Trump’s good graces that he wants to amend the Constitution so Trump can serve a third term. Ogles is the subject of an ethics complaint thanks to a discrepancy in his financial disclosures. Ogles also possesses the Santos-like penchant for inflating his resume.  Former Rep. George Santos arrives at federal court for sentencing on April 25 in Central Islip, New York. Or maybe Texas’ Troy Nehls? In 2024, the Office of Congressional Ethics found that Nehls may have made illegal campaign disbursements and appears to not have provided complete financial disclosures. Nehls still has his job, though, and little has happened with that complaint.  And thanks to the GOP controlling the House, Rep. Wesley Hunt and Rep. Ronny Jackson, both of Texas, are still hanging about despite the OCE determining that they had violated campaign finance standards.  According to Greene, Santos’ sentence is unfair because a seven-year prison sentence for  “campaign-related charges” is too much, so she’s asking the Office of the Pardon Attorney to urge Trump to commute Santos’ sentence. Of course, her characterization of Santos’ crimes is incorrect. Santos deceived donors, spent campaign funds on personal items, inflated the amount of donations he received so he could qualify for funds and assistance from the national GOP, did some identity fraud by charging donors’ credit cards without their authorization, committed some unemployment insurance fraud, and lied to the House. However, Greene might be in luck: The extremely morally flexible Ed Martin now runs the Office of the Pardon Attorney. So she probably has a shot at getting this request in front of Trump’s eyeballs at the bare minimum.  Former Rep. Michael Grimm, shown in June 2018. It’s somewhat surprising Trump hasn’t already pardoned Santos, since Trump apparently loves to pardon people who have committed crimes that remind him of his own crimes. He’s already granted clemency to 16 corrupt politicians, including former New York Rep. Michael Grimm, who hid income and lied on his tax forms, and Michele Fiore, a former Las Vegas city council member, for her diversion of donations for a memorial to a slain police officer to her own plastic surgery needs.  It isn’t like Trump is unaware of Santos’ plight, either. Last Friday, Trump mentioned he had the power to pardon Santos, musing, “He lied like hell, and I didn’t know him. … But he was 100% for Trump. I might’ve met him. Maybe, maybe not, but he was a congressman and his vote was solid.” It’s the same weird preemptive statement he made about his authority to pardon convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, reminding the world that he’s perfectly happy to pardon the scuzziest people, given enough incentive.  And that might be Santos’ problem. He lacks the ability to provide Trump with the kind of incentive that woos him into pardons. Sure, Santos is notorious, but he’s not a reality star like Todd and Julie Chrisley, who, thanks to Trump, are free and clear of their 2022 convictions for fraud and tax evasion. And Santos didn’t donate millions to a pro-Trump campaign fund.  Ever the inveterate liar, Santos even had to lie about this. Per Santos, his pardon was a done deal, but then House Speaker Mike Johnson “blocked” it, which is not a thing. The presidential pardon power is absolute, not subject to veto by the speaker of the House. Santos knows this, but he likely just can’t stop himself.  Meanwhile, Greene will continue her efforts to free her friend. Greene and Santos could be a dynamic duo once again, cozying up side-by-side in Congress to spin conspiracy theories together. Now all they need is Trump. 

On Monday, GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina appeared on “Fox & Friends,” taking time away from denying the existence of racism to promote his new book and offer a watered down theological take on President Donald Trump’s disastrous second term.  “When ordinary people stand up and respond to the call of God, extraordinary things happen. Think about President Trump. Two assassination attempts. We must believe Daniel II talks about, ‘he chooses the leaders,’” Scott said, referring to the Bible’s Book of Daniel. “We must believe that there is something unique and specific that God wants to accomplish, and he chooses the people. They have to say, ‘yes, of course,’ free will still matters, but there’s no way you can look at the last 2 years of this country’s history and not come to one conclusion: God is still at work in America, and he’s not finished.” YouTube Video Scott’s misogynistic brand of morality has been on full display for some time. He has repeatedly allowed the biblically compromised Trump to humiliate him in exchange for political proximity to a man whose Christian credentials are laughable at best. As Trump’s chaotic stewardship of the United States sends his already waning popularity to new lows, Scott and other Christian nationalists appear even more dedicated to their cult leader—who plays golf on Easter.

PoliticusUSA is independent news that will not bend the knee to anyone. Please support us by becoming a subscriber. Subscribe now The United States has a lot of problems right now. Job growth has virtually come to a halt, and inflation and prices are both on the rise. Tariffs are killing the economy. Voting rights are under attack, and the country is running out of immigrant labor due to the administration’s immigration policy. Good thing the country has a president who is on top of things with his finger on the pulse of what matters most. PoliticusUSA is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Wait. What’s Donald Trump doing on the White House roof? Video: Yes. That was Trump on the White House roof, making weird hand gestures and yelling at reporters, as he claimed to be inspecting the site of the “new” White House Rose Garden. Many have said that Trump was on the roof as part of his latest effort to distract from the Epstein files, but Trump could have just as easily been trying to distract from the terrible economy, rising inflation, and lousy jobs report. There are multiple options that Donald Trump needs to distract the country from right now. Trump is pulling out of his old look at me reality TV star tricks to try to generate distractions, but they aren’t working anymore. After a decade of this sideshow, the American people have seen it all before. The gimmicks are getting more desperate. The word scared is being thrown around more and more often to describe this president. Trump was probably doomed to fail no matter what, but the stench of fear never makes a president successful. What do you think about Trump on the roof? Let’s discuss it in the comments below. Leave a comment