Politics

A cartoon by Jack Ohman. Related | You won’t believe the latest evidence of Trump’s brain rot

PoliticusUSA is a source for facts and news as mainstream media crumbles. Support us by becoming a subscriber. Subscribe now Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is trying to fool the American people into believing that Trump and Republicans didn’t take away healthcare from tens of millions of people. Speaker Johnson said on Meet The Press: The bill does not cut Medicaid. The One Big Beautiful Bill does not cut Medicaid. What it does is strengthen the program. And we talked about this, Kristen, is that the problem is there’s a high degree of fraud, waste and abuse in that program. I’m talking about 10s of billions of dollars every year. What we did is we went in to go in and fix that. We introduced work requirements which is a wildly popular notion in public opinion polling because it makes sense. Medicaid is a safety net program. It is intended for the elderly, the disabled, young, single pregnant women, young mothers. And those resources are being drained because you had able-bodied young men, for example, with no dependents who are riding the wagon. That’s not right. It’s morally wrong. And it doesn’t comport with the law. So what we did in our Big Beautiful Bill is we went in to carve those guys out that program. They have work requirements now, 20 hours a week. Video: They either have to be working, looking for a job, in a work training program or volunteering in their community, which is good for them and their surroundings. We find dignity in our work. We’re proud of that reform. And by the way, there was a Harris and a Harvard poll that came out about two weeks ago. And they looked at 17 of the 21 primary provisions in that Big Beautiful Bill. And 17 out of 21 are majority supported in the public. And that’s after the onslaught of the mainstream media and Democrats lying about the bill. So we’re excited to go out into districts in August and tell the truth. Johnson was asked by Kristen Welker why Sen. Josh Hawley is trying to roll back cuts to Medicaid if the cuts don’t exist, and the speaker answered, “I haven’t talked to my friend Josh Hawley about his legalization. I’m not sure what that’s directed to. But I will tell you that the One Big Beautiful Bill safeguards the program. It strengthens it. It makes sure that Medicaid will be there for those who actually need it and who the law is intended to provide for. It is not for illegal aliens. We’ve kicked them off. It’s not for people who are gaming the system. We’ve kicked them off. And it’s not for people who should be working. They have to be able to prove that they’re in one of these programs in order to get those benefits. And I think taxpayers will be served very well by that and everything else in the bill is wildly popular as well.” Johnson’s claim is that everyone else is lying about the Medicaid cuts, but Republicans are telling the truth. All of the non-partisan offices and analysts are liars. It is something for a man who claims to be a person of faith and a Christian to look the American people in the eye and lie to them with such ease. The Epstein scandal has made people forget the fact that Republicans cut taxes for the rich and paid for it by taking healthcare away from those who are most in need. Mike Johnson and House Republicans are about to spend the entire month of August finding out how much the American people have not forgotten. What do you think about Johnson’s Medicaid lie? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Leave a comment

As big media falls to Trump, PoliticusUSA needs your help. Please keep our independent voice for facts and truth strong by becoming a subscriber. Subscribe now Facts are hard for Republicans, especially when they contradict a narrative that the GOP is trying to build to protect their president as the Jeffrey Epstein scandal continues to bubble. The biggest Trump loyalists in Congress appear to have adopted the stance that if the facts aren’t on their side, they will make up new ones. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) was asked on CNN’s State Of The Union why AG Pam Bondi kept saying that she would release the Epstein files if she wasn’t going to. Video: Mullin answered: We made the assumption that the judges were going to release the order and allow the evidence that they had that it could be heard. If it’s — but it’s all been sealed. And so if it’s been a sealed case, we can’t release it until the judges allow us to release it. And you would think common sense would play. That’s why they asked for transparency. We want transparency. We want the judges to have transparency in this too. But remember there was a plea deal that was struck in 2009, way before I was in office, way before Trump was even considering it to be in office, way before Pam Bondi was office, way before Kash Patel was director. PoliticusUSA is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. 2009, there was a sweetheart plea deal that was made underneath the Obama administration with Epstein… Jake Tapper stopped thinking about Biden’s age for a moment and jumped in, “No, that’s not right. That’s not…” Mullin kept going, “And that sweetheart has not been exposed. It’s not?” Tapper, “No, it was 20008.” Mullin, “Well, when was the case heard?” Tapper, “It was 2008. It was — the U.S. attorney at the time was a guy named Alex Acosta. He was a Bush appointee. He went on to become President Trump’s secretary of labor. It all took place in 2008.” Mullin, “Who was in office at the time?” Tapper, “2008, George W. Bush was in…” Mullin, “Who was in office at the time?” Tapper, “George W. Bush.” Mullin decided to argue about it, “No, 2009 is when the case came out, and it was — and Obama was in office at the time.” Tapper, “It’s not true. It’s not true.” The fact that Sen. Mullin, after being corrected, refused to accept the correction as fact and accepted the false information reveals the entire Trump Republican Party mindset. Our system of government was built on the assumption of bipartisan cooperation. In order for cooperation to exist, there has to be a basis of shared facts and reality for all involved. Republicans are creating and living in their own reality, which makes consistent bipartisan governance virtually impossible. Republicans like Sen. Mullin would rather protect Trump than live in a real world. It is not stupidity. It’s a choice that is breaking a fundamental assumption on which the US government is based. What do you think about Mullin’s efforts to blame Obama? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Leave a comment

My current obsession is pretty simple: Democrats need to focus relentlessly on making people’s lives better—immediately and demonstrably, and they need to brand the hell out of it when they do. Take the COVID-era stimulus checks. Donald Trump—who is evil, but not dumb about marketing—literally signed his name on them. Joe Biden didn’t do the same when he became president, which he now acknowledges was a big mistake. “Within the first two months of office I signed the American Rescue Plan,” Biden recently said. “And also learned something from Donald Trump—he signed checks for people, $7,400 for people because we passed the plan. I didn’t—stupid.” Exactly. Democrats constantly bury their accomplishments in the fine print of the tax code. Working parents get help via confusing credits. Many don’t even benefit because they don’t itemize their taxes. And no one walks away from tax season thinking, “Thanks, Democrats, for that obscure $200 break!” Even those of us who believe in fully funding a functioning society mostly think, “Fuck this shit!” while doing our taxes. If you want to help parents of young children? Send them a damn check. Every month. Signed by the Democratic president. And then say it clearly: “If Republicans win the next election, you don’t get that check anymore.” Related | Stop overthinking it: Cost of living is the most important issue Do that, and the political landscape looks very different. Republicans make the same mistake too, which is why I wrote this piece urging Democrats to capitalize on Trump’s broken “no taxes on tips” promise. Their branding sucks too—so let’s use that to our advantage. Obviously we can’t do direct stimulus right now, as Democrats are out of power. But we can absolutely make clear how Trump’s policies are screwing over the very people who voted for him. Trump is directly gutting services for his new lower-income, less-educated base. Many of them are MAGA dead-enders, and no one is trying to convert them. They are lost to the cult.  But this is a 49-48 Democratic country, and our base turns out less reliably than the GOP’s. We need everything to go right in order to win. Shift the electorate just 5 points, and suddenly we’re a 54-43 country. That kind of margin gives us breathing room. It lets us win even in a rough year. It opens up Senate and House seats that seemed out of reach. That’s why I love what the Democratic National Committee just did. They’re launching a billboard campaign targeting Trump in rural communities where hospitals and clinics are shutting down. As NOTUS reports, the billboards are going up in Silex, Missouri; Columbus, Indiana; Stilwell, Oklahoma; and Missoula, Montana—each declaring “Under Trump’s Watch…” followed by what’s been lost. In Montana, for example, the message reads: “Under Trump’s Watch, Providence St. Patrick Hospital Is Closing Its Maternity Center.” I would make the language even more direct. Saying it happened “under Trump’s watch” makes it sound like an accident, like a storm or a fire, something that just happened while he was around. But these aren’t natural disasters: They’re the result of deliberate policy. So let’s say it plainly: “Trump killed the maternity ward at Providence St. Patrick Hospital.” Still, I’m thrilled the DNC is doing this and I hope it’s just the beginning. I’ve written about a Nebraska clinic that closed, and another in rural North Carolina that was set to reopen—until Trump’s policies killed the possibility. There will be dozens, maybe hundreds more of these stories. And every single one should have a billboard calling him out. Related | Trump hasn’t delivered ‘no taxes on tips’ promise—but Democrats should And when Democrats take power again? Brand everything they create and fund with the name of the elected officials who voted to make it happen—and add their party affiliation. Suddenly, you’ll see a lot fewer Republicans pretending to support federal projects they voted against. And voters? They’ll finally be able to see—clearly and directly—which party actually shows up for them, and what they stand to lose if they stick with the GOP. 

We need your support to keep truth and independent media alive. Join the fight by subscribing to PoliticusUSA. Subscribe now Donald Trump once again tried to travel and demonstrated the depth of his mental decline while speaking to reporters from his golf club in Scotland, where he was meeting the president of the EU. The EU President could only sit there, staring at Trump in what must have been a look of disbelief at his rant. Video: The topic was immigration, at least it started out that way before Trump went off into a deranged direction. The best way to understand the depth of the president’s decline is to read his remarks, and Trump’s rant in Scotland demonstrated why the White House no longer releases transcripts of his remarks, saying: I will say this, you know, they did ask me when I got off the plane. Immigration. Europe has tremendous problem. We do too. But we’ve sealed our borders, our border. We have nobody coming in, and we have hundreds of thousands of people being taken out. And the bad ones first. And I think we’re doing a very good job of that. But we had I mean, it literally registered zero people last month. You probably saw that. Nobody and Europe has a very similar problem. I think they’re going to end up in the same place. You might as well go there quicker. And the other thing I say to Europe, we will not allow a windmill to be built in the United States. They’re killing us. They’re killing the beauty of our scenery, our valleys, our beautiful plains. And I’m not talking about airplanes. I’m talking about beautiful plains. Beautiful areas in the United States. And you look up and you see windmills all over the place. It’s a horrible thing. It’s the most expensive form of energy. It’s no good. Read more

Black Music Sunday is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music, with over 270 stories covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own vibrant soundtrack. I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps an introduction to something new. I haven’t been to a live music festival in years, though I look forward to watching them when they are streamed or posted to social media, and listening to live albums. I love the interplay between musicians and their audiences. I think there is a special electricity that happens only in live performances. In spite of all the ugly that is going down in our country at the moment, there’s a lot of live music happening in the coming month ahead and beyond, so I want to share some of the venues and their histories, and I hope you’ll post information in the comments section below about festivals taking place in your neck o’ the woods.  When looking at Ebony’s “Upcoming 2025 Music Festivals Celebrating Black Music” list, I found some have already passed, yet one of the biggest—the Newport Jazz Festival—is scheduled for Aug. 1-3. I’ve never been, but for years I’ve listened to albums recorded there and watched videos, some of which I’ll post here. I realized I knew almost nothing about its history. WUN—What’s Up Newp—had some answers:  On This Day In Newport History: July 17, 1954 – First Newport Jazz Festival Held   In 1954, George Wein created an event that changed not just the history of jazz but of music in general, shaping all forms of the modern festival while providing a space in which art could be approached in a serious and respectful – yet not limited- manner. This series traces the history of the legendary Newport Jazz Festival from before its formation in the 1950s to the present day. Thirteen thousand fans attended the inaugural event and the festival was regarded as a great success, the festival would move to Freebody Park in 1955.   The first Newport Jazz Festival, known as the First Annual American Jazz Festival, was held on July 17th and July 18th, 1954 at the Newport Casino. The two day event featured academic panel discussions and live music performances from Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lee Konitz, Eddie Condon and many more. Thirteen thousand fans attended the inaugural event and the festival was regarded as a great success, the festival would move to Freebody Park in 1955. An excerpt from How Newport Jazz Began by George Wein: “The first Newport Jazz Festival in 1954 set the formula for all major jazz festivals to follow. Popular artists were the attractions that sold tickets, but it was the important unsung jazz heroes from the traditional to avant-garde that attracted the critics and gave the festival an artistic credibility. In 1954, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Gene Krupa, George Shearing, and Billie Holiday were popular jazz artists of the day. The program included tributes and reunions, which are commonplace nowadays. Panels treated the academic approach to the music. This formula, commercialism blended with artistic credibility, continues to this day. The difference is that as the great names in jazz passed away, the Ellingtons, Armstrongs, Fitzgeralds, etc. it had been necessary to sometimes use crossover groups that reflect many aspects of American popular music that do not necessarily reflect the purity of jazz. Yet, these artists sell tickets and all festival producers know that without people, there is no festival. I wanted to know more and have spent several days reading and listening to the history compiled on the site PostGenre. Haven’t finished it all yet. I strongly suggest you pay it a visit. A History of the Newport Jazz Festival postgenre.org/newport-jazz… via @postgenremedia [image or embed] — Denise Oliver-Velez (@deniseoliver-velez.bsky.social) July 17, 2025 at 3:54 PM A History of the Newport Jazz Festival – Prologue:  Born in Storyville, 1950-1954          In September of 1950, twenty-four-year-old George Wein used his college savings to open a nightclub, Storyville, at Boston’s Copley Square Hotel. The venue boldly planned to present jazz in a new light. Taking its name from the legendary New Orleans district of debauchery, brothels, and flophouses from whence the music came, the budding entrepreneur planned to reform its image towards one more reflective of the art form’s true beauty. The approach was an instant success with people from across the city flocking to see the Bob Wilber Sextet’s performances there. Within six weeks, however, the building owner’s deceptive business practices forced Wein into an ethical dilemma. Rather than continuing to perpetuate these acts, he chose to shutter the business. Storyville reopened in February of 1951 at the Buckminster Hotel near Fenway Park. Unlike its predecessor, it initially struggled to find an audience. While this would have deterred many, Wein remained undaunted. By the fall, he expended a significant sum to book pianist George Shearing, who had a large following. The gamble paid off, beginning a series of sold-out performances. Over time, journalists increasingly visited and, through their writings, also exposed artists to a new audience. Throughout, it was clear that Storyville would be a place of serious reflection. Gone were the culture of drugs and prostitution that once undermined the music. And while chatter and background noise were unavoidable, the venue’s focal point was unmistakable. As Nat Hentoff noted, “[c]ompared to the other clubs in town, listening to a jazz musician at Storyville is like sitting at home with a pair of earphones.” The story continues with Wein having opened a second club—Mahogany Hall. But it was on a cold winter night in 1953 at Storyville that Wein would take the first steps to make his greatest mark on history. That evening, a regular of the club, Professor Donald Born of nearby Boston University, was joined by a stylishly dressed redheaded woman who had been auditing his courses. Previously, she also studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and the Boston School of Fine Arts. Her name

A cartoon by Pedro Molina. Related | Here’s how Trump wants to weaponize the DOJ next

A draft executive order viewed by ProPublica directs the secretary of transportation to “use all available authorities to eliminate or expedite” environmental reviews for launch licenses — a change Elon Musk’s SpaceX and others have long sought. By Heather Vogell and Topher Sanders for ProPublica The Trump administration is considering slashing rules meant to protect the environment and the public during commercial rocket launches, changes that companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX have long sought. A draft executive order being circulated among federal agencies, and viewed by ProPublica, directs Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy to “use all available authorities to eliminate or expedite” environmental reviews for launch licenses. It could also, in time, require states to allow more launches or even more launch sites — known as spaceports — along their coastlines. Donald Trump walks with Elon Musk before a SpaceX rocket launch in Nov. 2024 in Boca Chica, Texas (now known as Starbase).  The order is a step toward the rollback of federal oversight that Musk, who has fought bitterly with the Federal Aviation Administration over his space operations, and others have pushed for. Commercial rocket launches have grown exponentially more frequent in recent years. Critics warn such a move could have dangerous consequences. “It would not be reasonable for them to be rescinding regulations that are there to protect the public interest, and the public, from harm,” said Jared Margolis, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit that works to protect animals and the environment. “And that’s my fear here: Are they going to change things in a way that puts people at risk, that puts habitats and wildlife at risk?” The White House did not answer questions about the draft order. “The Trump administration is committed to cementing America’s dominance in space without compromising public safety or national security,” said White House spokesperson Kush Desai. “Unless announced by President Trump, however, discussion about any potential policy changes should be deemed speculation.” The order would give Trump even more direct control over the space industry’s chief regulator by turning the civil servant position leading the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation into a political appointment. The last head of the office and two other top officials recently took voluntary separation offers. The order would also create a new adviser to the transportation secretary to shepherd in deregulation of the space industry. The draft order comes as SpaceX is ramping up its ambitious project to build a reusable deep-space rocket to carry people to Earth’s orbit, the moon and eventually Mars. The rocket, called Starship, is the largest, most powerful ever built, standing 403 feet tall with its booster. The company has hit some milestones but has also been beset by problems, as three of the rockets launched from Texas this year have exploded — disrupting air traffic and raining debris on beaches and roads in the Caribbean and Gulf waters. YouTube Video The draft order also seeks to restrict the authority of state coastal officials who have challenged commercial launch companies like SpaceX, documents show. It could lead to federal officials interfering with state efforts to enforce their environmental rules when they conflict with the construction or operation of spaceports. Derek Brockbank, executive director for the Coastal States Organization, said the proposed executive order could ultimately force state commissions to prioritize spaceport infrastructure over other land uses, such as renewable energy, waterfront development or coastal restoration, along the coastline. His nonprofit represents 34 coastal states and territories. “It’s concerning that it could potentially undermine the rights of a state to determine how it wants its coast used, which was the very fundamental premise of the congressionally authorized Coastal Zone Management Act,” he said. “We shouldn’t see any president, no matter what their party is, coming in and saying, ‘This is what a state should prioritize or should do.’” SpaceX is already suing the California Coastal Commission, accusing the agency of political bias and interference with the company’s efforts to increase the number of Falcon 9 rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The reusable Falcon 9 is SpaceX’s workhorse rocket, ferrying satellites to orbit and astronauts to the International Space Station. Related | Elon Musk’s fat new government contract will make your blood boil The changes outlined in the order would greatly benefit SpaceX, which launches far more rockets into space than any other company in the U.S. But it would also help rivals such as Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and California-based Rocket Lab. The companies have been pushing to pare down oversight for years, warning that the U.S. is racing with China to return to the moon — in hopes of mining resources like water and rare earth metals and using it as a stepping stone to Mars — and could lose if regulations don’t allow U.S. companies to move faster, said Dave Cavossa, president of the Commercial Space Federation, a trade group that represents eight launch companies, including SpaceX, Blue Origin and Rocket Lab. “It sounds like they’ve been listening to industry, because all of those things are things that we’ve been advocating for strongly,” Cavossa said when asked about the contents of the draft order. Cavossa said he sees “some sort of environmental review process” continuing to take place. “What we’re talking about doing is right-sizing it,” he said. He added, “We can’t handle a yearlong delay for launch licenses.” The former head of the FAA’s commercial space office said at a Congressional hearing last September that the office took an average of 151 days to issue a new license during the previous 11 years. Commercial space launches have boomed in recent years — from 26 in 2019 to 157 last year. With more than 500 total launches, mostly from Texas, Florida and California, SpaceX has been responsible for the lion’s share, according to FAA data. But the company has tangled with the FAA, which last year proposed fining it $633,000 for violations related to two of its launches. The FAA did not answer a question last week about the status

There might be a new opportunity for states to apply for some Federal Emergency Management Agency funding.  In a recent announcement, FEMA said that it will be distributing $608 million in grant money. Sure, states can only use those funds to incarcerate immigrants, which obviously doesn’t help when natural disasters strike, but nothing is perfect.  States have until August 8 to apply for the funding, which is a clear giveaway to red states that are chomping at the bit to lock up immigrants. But the joke might end up being on them, as $608 million is a comically small amount.  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ torture chamber in the Everglades cost more than $200 million to build and is expected to cost $450 million annually to operate. President Donald Trump visits Florida’s so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention facility. The recently passed budget allocated a staggering amount of money to Trump’s immigration crackdown. Over the next 3 years, $51.6 billion will go toward the construction and maintenance of Trump’s border wall and Customs and Border Protection facilities, and $45 billion for expanding detention capacity.  You might have been wondering what prisons for immigrants have to do with disaster aid and why FEMA money is being tapped, but that’s just because you haven’t spent enough time in the MAGA fever swamps. In 2024, Congress allocated $650 million to the Department of Homeland Security for its Shelter and Services Program.  That money is intended to help states, municipalities, and nonprofits provide food, shelter, medical care, clothing, and outreach services to noncitizen immigrants when they’re released from DHS custody. This helps alleviate crowding in CBP facilities while also housing immigrants. No money goes directly to immigrants, and entities can only be reimbursed for immigrants who are released by DHS, not all undocumented immigrants. The funding stream is also entirely separate from FEMA’s disaster aid funding. But MAGA invented a world where President Joe Biden used this money to put up Tren de Aragua gang members in New York’s swankiest hotels. So of course, because the Trump administration is full of the dumbest, most vicious people imaginable, that money has to be taken away.  Now, FEMA funding will be used for the “detention support program.” In any other administration, this would be an impermissible warping of congressional intent and a wild overreach by the executive branch, but not these days.  A person is seen reacting to the devastation of flooding in Texas on July 6. Meanwhile, the disaster aid funding typically associated with FEMA is now being provided based on sheer whimsy and partisanship. So Maryland doesn’t get money for floods, but Texas does. North Carolina, California, and Washington can take a hike. Since no one is stopping the Trump administration from using taxpayer money as a treat or a cudgel based purely on Trump’s feelings, this is going to continue.  But cutting FEMA to the bone hurts its overall capacity and infrastructure, so it doesn’t even work well as a treat for red states. This week’s departure of Ken Pagurek, FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue chief, lays this bare. Pagurek resigned in the wake of the Texas floods and in the face of the Trump administration’s cuts to agency funding and personnel. Even in a most-favored state like Texas, the administration’s response was abysmal. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sat on approving Urban Search and Rescue teams for 72 hours and laid off hundreds of call center contract employees who fielded disaster assistance calls.  If Trump doesn’t manage to entirely close FEMA, which is one of his goals, there will be even more of this. Disaster aid isn’t the sort of thing where you can just keep a few skeleton crew members around to spin things up when disaster strikes. You need infrastructure and personnel—two things the Trump administration doesn’t care about.  But, hey, at least red states can crawl over each other for a pittance of grant money to partially build immigrant prisons.

All the comforts of a Waldorf Astoria city-view suite did not, at that moment, seem to cheer Jasmine Crockett. The 44-year-old Texas Democrat known for her viral comebacks was frowning as she walked into her hotel room in Atlanta last month. She glanced around before pulling an aide into the bathroom, where I could hear them whispering. Minutes later, she reemerged, ready to unload. She was losing her race to serve as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, she told me, a job she felt well suited for. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus were planning to vote for the senior-most person in the race, even though that person wasn’t actually a Black Caucus member, Crockett complained. California members were siding with the California candidate. One member was supporting someone else in the race, she said, even though “that person did the worst” in their pitch to the caucus. Crockett was starting to feel a little used. Some of her colleagues were “reaching out and asking for donations,” she said, but those same colleagues “won’t even send me a text back” about the Oversight job. To Crockett, the race had become a small-scale version of the Democratic Party’s bigger predicament. Her colleagues still haven’t learned what, to her, is obvious: Democrats need sharper, fiercer communicators. “It’s like, there’s one clear person in the race that has the largest social-media following,” Crockett told me. In poll after poll since Donald Trump’s reelection, Democratic voters have said they want a fighter, and Crockett, a former attorney who represents the Dallas area, has spent two and a half years in Congress trying to be one. Through her hearing-room quips and social-media insults, she’s become known, at least in MSNBC-watching households, as a leading general in the battle against Trump. The president is aware of this. He has repeatedly called Crockett a “low-IQ” individual; she has dubbed him a “buffoon” and “Putin’s hoe.” Perhaps the best-known Crockett clapback came last year during a hearing, after Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia made fun of Crockett’s fake eyelashes. Crockett, seeming to relish the moment, leaned into the mic and blasted Greene’s “bleach-blond, bad-built, butch body.” Crockett trademarked the phrase—which she now refers to as “B6”—and started selling T-shirts. At the time, I wrote that the episode was embarrassing for everyone involved. But clearly it resonated. Crockett has become a national figure. Last year, she gave a keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention and was a national co-chair of Kamala Harris’s campaign. This year, she has been a fixture on cable news and talk shows as well as a top party fundraiser; she was in Atlanta, in part, for a meet and greet with local donors. At an anti-Trump protest on the National Mall in April, I saw several demonstrators wearing B6 shirts. Others carried signs with Crockett’s face on them. Crockett is testing out the coarser, insult-comedy-style attacks that the GOP has embraced under Trump, the general idea being that when the Republicans go low, the Democrats should meet them there. That approach, her supporters say, appeals to people who drifted away from the Democrats in 2024, including many young and Black voters. “What establishment Democrats see as undignified,” Max Burns, a progressive political strategist, told me, “disillusioned Democrats see that as a small victory.” Republicans understand this, Crockett said: “Marjorie is not liked by her caucus, but they get her value, and so they gave her a committee chairmanship.” Perhaps inadvertently, Crockett seemed to be acknowledging something I heard from others in my reporting: that the forthrightness her supporters love might undermine her relationships within the party. Some of Crockett’s fellow Democrats worry that her rhetoric could alienate the more moderate voters the party needs to win back. In the same week that Democratic leadership had instructed members to focus on Medicaid cuts and tax breaks for billionaires, Crockett referred to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who uses a wheelchair, as “Governor Hot Wheels.” (Crockett claimed that she was referring to Abbott’s busing of migrants.) In an interview with Vanity Fair after the 2024 election, Crockett said that Hispanic Trump supporters had “almost like a slave mentality.” She later told a CNN host that she was tired of “white tears” and the “mediocre white boys” who are upset by DEI. Unsurprisingly, Trump himself seems eager to elevate Crockett. “They say she’s the face of the party,” the president told my Atlantic colleagues recently. “If she’s what they have to offer, they don’t have a chance.” Some of the Republican targeting of Crockett is clearly rooted in racism; online, Trump’s supporters constantly refer to her as “ghetto” and make fun of her hair. [From the June 2025 issue: ‘I run the country and the world’] None of this appears to be giving Crockett any pause. The first time I met her, a month before our conversation in Atlanta, she was accepting a Webby Award, in part for a viral exchange in which she’d referred to Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina as “child” and Mace suggested they “take it outside.” Backstage, in a downtown-Manhattan ballroom, I asked Crockett whether she ever had regrets about her public comments. She raised her eyebrows and replied, “I don’t second-guess shit.” This spring, I watched Crockett test her theory of politics in a series of public appearances. At the Webbys, most of her fellow award winners were celebrities and influencers, but only Crockett received a standing ovation. A week later, Crockett flamed Republicans and the Trump administration during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing about Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A 15-minute clip of her upbraiding ICE agents—“These people are out of control!”—has racked up more than 797,000 views on YouTube; I know this because she told me. On TikTok and Instagram, Crockett has one of the highest follower counts of any House member, and she monitors social-media engagement like a day trader checks her portfolio. She is highly conscious, too, of her self-presentation. During many of our