Author name: moderat ereport

President Donald Trump’s attempt to spin the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein scandal as no big deal and not a problem for him and his party has turned out to be a massive failure, according to a recently released Economist/YouGov poll. The poll, conducted July 25-28, finds that  a strong majority of Americans think the government is covering up evidence about the accused sex trafficker, and nearly half believe Trump was involved in crimes with his old friend. Forty-six percent of Americans believe Trump was “involved in crimes allegedly committed by Jeffrey Epstein.” That conclusion has strong support among Democrats (80%) and independents (47%), but it even has double-digit support—11%—among Republicans. Jeffrey Epstein, shown in a 2017 photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry. Epstein was accused of sex-trafficking underage girls before his death in prison in 2019. The Trump administration is refusing to release government files on Epstein, including a rumored client list that could implicate others in crimes. The poll shows that this is a very unpopular position. Eighty-two percent of Americans, including 76% of Republicans, say the files should be released. Worse for Trump, 67% think a government cover-up is underway. That includes a plurality of Republicans (46%) in the poll. On top of that, most Americans (61%) disapprove of Trump’s handling of the case. Trump has spent weeks fuming about the case as it resurfaced in the news. Not only has he lashed out at the press and Democrats, but he has even scolded MAGA supporters for discussing the issue. When he’s not complaining about the story existing, Trump has pushed the false narrative that Epstein-related stories have boosted his popularity. This is a blatant lie. The Economist/YouGov poll echoes other opinion polling showing the public doesn’t trust Trump on the issue and rates his handling as poor. His allies at the right-wing Fox News have tried to downplay the story, as have congressional Republicans who continue to shut down inquiries into the scandal and related crimes. Republicans have even tried to concoct a conspiracy-riddled story about former President Barack Obama as a way to combat negative Trump/Epstein headlines. It hasn’t worked. Despite this public flailing and bad polling, mainstream outlets like the Washington Post have continued to carry water for the administration. On Wednesday, the Post—owned by Trump ally Jeff Bezos—ran a story headlined “As MAGA storm over Epstein calms, White House plans next steps.” But this story is far from over.

President Donald Trump and his Republican enablers are bragging about the amount of tariff revenue the federal government is collecting, calling it the “Golden Age.” “WELCOME TO THE GOLDEN AGE,” the White House wrote in a post on X, along with an image of Dear Leader pumping his fist. “Thanks to the leadership of @POTUS, the U.S. has generated over $150B in tariff revenues within the past 6 months.” But it’s a bizarre flex, as Trump and the GOP are essentially bragging about raising taxes on Americans—who end up footing the bill for tariffs in the form of higher prices. Despite Trump’s lies, it’s the people who import goods into the United States that pay the tariffs—not foreign governments. And multiple companies that manufacture their products abroad have already announced that they are going to raise prices to offset the hit the tariffs will have on their business.  “Trump’s tariffs” by Clay Bennett For example, Procter & Gamble announced on Monday that they will increase prices on popular household items such as Tide laundry detergent and Charmin toilet paper, as the company expects that tariffs will cost the company $1 billion. It’s not the only company that will be forced to raise prices because of the tariffs. “You’re going to see companies like Walmart, Amazon, and Best Buy forced to pass price increases to consumers,” Bill George, the former chairman and CEO of Medtronic and executive education fellow at Harvard Business School, told Reuters. “Main Street has yet to see the fallout from increased tariffs—and they’re going to go higher.” Beef is also seeing massive price hikes thanks to Trump’s nonsensical tariffs. And other essential items are likely to be hit by inflation such as pharmaceuticals—many of which are manufactured in the European Union and will now face a 15% tariff. But Republicans are celebrating Trump’s destructive tariffs and the revenue they are bringing in. Related |GOP senator floats broken plan to buy off Americans mad about tariffs “Great news on President Trump’s EU deal. 15% tariffs—more tariff money! Which means more money for rebates for working people,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) wrote in a post on X, referring to a bill he introduced that would give a $600 rebate check per adult and dependent child, or $2,400 for a family of four. But that wouldn’t cover much, as Trump’s tariffs are expected to cost families $4,600 per year, according to an analysis from the Center for American Progress. Americans seem to understand that, as polling shows they overwhelmingly oppose Trump’s tariffs. For example, a Navigator Research poll released Tuesday found 55% oppose Trump’s tariffs, with 53% saying that Trump’s tariff policy “is creating chaos and damaging the American economy while raising costs for American families.” Democrats, for their part, lambasted Trump for bragging about the tariff revenue—which hurts low-income Americans more as price increases for essential goods take a larger percentage of their take-home pay than wealthier people. “What’s there to celebrate?” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) wrote in a post on X. “The cost of beef is up. The cost of utilities is up. The cost of electronics is up. The cost of Rx drugs is up. The cost of coffee is up. The cost of toys is up. And it’s American consumers who are paying the price.”

PoliticusUSA is 100% solely supported by readers like you. There are no special interests or billionaires here. Help us by becoming a subscriber. Subscribe now Texas Republicans could release their new gerrymandered map as soon as today. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries will be meeting with the state’s Democrats in the Lone Star State. The Texas gerrymander is another one of Trump’s ideas, but there is a problem that even Republicans are admitting. PoliticusUSA is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Via Politico: But the most wired-in Republicans privately concede that they’re not going to win the midterms through redistricting efforts alone. “If we are relying on redistricting to hold the majorities, we have bigger issues,” said a Republican operative close to the White House who works on Senate and House races. Still, this operative defended the push: “Frankly, [Democrats] do it, so we are giving them a dose of their own medicine.” Thanks for reading PoliticusUSA! This post is public so feel free to share it. Share Historically speaking, it wasn’t Democrats that kicked off the modern wave of gerrymandering. According to Brookings: Republicans caught Democrats flat-footed in the redistricting that followed the 2010 Census. Putting together a powerful plan called REDMAP, Redistricting Majority Project, they used sophisticated new software to gain Republican seats and translated their strong showing in state gubernatorial and legislative elections into district lines that favored their candidates. And second, because Democratic voters were more geographically concentrated in urban areas than Republicans were in the rest of the country, Republicans could more efficiently translate votes into House seats than could Democrats, who won supermajorities in urban areas but lost contested elections elsewhere. This made possible anomalies such as 2012, when Republicans ended up with a healthy majority of 234 seats, even though they lost the national popular vote. PoliticusUSA is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. The same Brookings study agreed with the point that the Republicans made to Politico. Gerrymandering doesn’t make that big of a difference in overall election results. The bigger issue outside of election results is protecting the right of every eligible voter to vote no matter where they live. The devastating impact of gerrymandering comes in diluting the votes of people, so that the weight of their voices is lessened in democracy. Gerrymandering won’t save the Republican House majority, but the practice does erode democracy and strip power away from the people. What do you think about Republicans admitting that they can’t rig the map to win? Share your thoughts in the comments below.z Leave a comment