Politics

A cartoon by Clay Jones. Related | Not today, brother: Trump-loving Hulk Hogan booed at WWE event

PoliticusUSA is never bending the knee, independent news that needs your support. Stand with us today by becoming a subscriber. Subscribe now Donald Trump was hoping to make a production out of waste at the Federal Reserve by touring the construction site with Chair Jerome Powell. There was just one major problem. Donald Trump isn’t smart, and this quickly became evident when the figurehead president slipped into reality TV star mode and tried to confront Powell about the cost of the project. Video: Trump said, “ Look and, uh. It looks like it’s about 3.1 billion. It went up a little bit or a lot. Uh, so the 2.7 is now 3.1.” Powell replies, “I’m not aware of that.” Trump, “Yeah, it just came out. Yeah.” Powell, “I haven’t heard that from anybody.” Trump in full BS mode, “The FED, it just came out.” Sen. Tim Scott chirps in, “ Our notes had about 3.1 as well. 3.31, 3.2.” Powell looks at a piece of paper Trump handed him and asks, “ This came from us?” Trump, as the scheme starts to crumble, sticks to the story, “ Yes. I don’t know who does that.” Powell takes a look and says, “ Are you including the Martin renovation you just added? That’s on entire capital. You just added in the third building is what that is. That’s a third building. Including…” Read more

Gregg Gonsalves How a bigoted doctor, an extremist judge, and the Supreme Court all combined to give the secretary a powerful new way to undermine public health. The post RFK Jr. Has Been Handed a Very Dangerous Weapon appeared first on The Nation.

Eileen Markey Migrants who show up for their court dates now routinely face arrest by ICE. But failing to appear triggers a deportation order. The post Punished for Playing by the Rules: the Deliberate Cruelty of Trump’s Deportation Regime appeared first on The Nation.

Jesse Duquette RFK Jr.’s anti-vaxxing campaign. The post Measles Outbreak appeared first on The Nation.

Alex S. Vitale No single issue will be more challenging for a Mayor Mamdani than policing. But there are concrete steps he can take to reform the NYPD and curb its culture of impunity. The post Zohran Mamdani Must Confront the NYPD. Here’s What He Can Do. appeared first on The Nation.

A cartoon by Pedro Molina. Related | CBS cancels Trump critic Colbert’s ‘Late Show’—and faces sharp blowback

Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas are following President Donald Trump’s command to distract from the Epstein files by going after President Barack Obama.  Both lawmakers are now calling for a special counsel to probe whether Obama committed treason through the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election, which consumed much of Trump’s first term. A cartoon by Pedro Molina. “For the good of the country, Senator [Cornyn] and I urge Attorney General Bondi to appoint a special counsel to investigate the extent to which former President Obama, his staff and administration officials manipulated the U.S. national security apparatus for a political outcome,” Graham wrote on X Thursday. Graham and Cornyn are referring to the ridiculous lie cooked up by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who baselessly accused Obama of a “treasonous conspiracy” in which he “manufactured intelligence” about Russian election interference in 2016 to “subvert the will of the American people” by “trying to usurp the President from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people.” Trump then directed GOP lawmakers to spread the ridiculous conspiracy theory to distract from the Epstein files scandal, which his administration created itself when it said that there are no documents in the government’s possession that incriminate powerful third parties. “You should mention that every time they give you a question that’s not appropriate. Just say, ‘Oh, by the way, Obama cheated on the election.’ You’ll watch the camera turn off instantly,” Trump ordered GOP lawmakers. YouTube Video The Associated Press published a report on Thursday all but calling Gabbard and Trump’s accusations bullshit. Multiple probes into the Russia investigation “either concluded—or accepted the conclusion—that Russia embarked on a campaign to interfere in the election through the use of social media and hacked material,” according to the AP. In fact, one of those probes was overseen by Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio. As for Graham and Cornyn’s new request, if appointing a special counsel to probe this non-story sounds familiar to you, that’s because it is. Former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr had already appointed a special counsel in October 2020—just before the election Trump went on to lose—to probe the Russia investigation.  The special counsel’s name was, as you might recall, John Durham. Attorney General Bill Barr’s special counsel John Durham Bill appointed Durham to, “investigate whether any federal official, employee, or any other person or entity violated the law in connection with the intelligence, counter-intelligence, or law-enforcement activities directed at the 2016 presidential campaigns, individuals associated with those campaigns, and individuals associated with the administration of President Donald J. Trump, including but not limited to Crossfire Hurricane and the investigation of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, Ill,” according to the document Burr filed at the time. Durham ultimately charged three people as a result of his probe, two of whom were acquitted on charges that they lied to the FBI, and the other pleaded guilty. Durham then released a big nothing burger report in 2023 before sailing off into the sunset as a gigantic failure. But now, Graham and Cornyn are trying to get a new special counsel involved—as if that would uncover anything different. Of course, Cornyn has other motivations here. He is in an existential primary battle against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has accused Cornyn of not being pro-Trump enough. By calling for a special counsel, Cornyn is trying to get on Trump’s good side and maybe even earn an endorsement, which could revive what currently looks to be a doomed reelection effort. Ultimately, this is all just a ridiculous distraction from the real story, which is that Trump—who was told that his name is in the Epstein files—is trying to bury the scandal to save his own skin.

The popular animated show “South Park” came gunning for President Donald Trump in the premiere of its 27th season on Wednesday night. The episode depicted Trump in bed with Satan and tackled the president’s ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “It’s weird that whenever it comes up, you just tell everyone to relax,” Satan tells Trump at one point in the episode. Along with the episode, the creators launched a website called “He Trumped Us,” styled to resemble the “He Gets Us” ads, which promote Christianity and regularly air during sporting events. However, the “South Park” guys’ site strikes a far, far different note. It features a scathing PSA attacking both Trump and the show’s own corporate backer, Paramount. The two-minute video begins with the animated characters agreeing to settle a lawsuit with Trump, a jab at the recent embarrassing deal CBS—which Paramount owns—made with Trump. The rest of the video is a satirical, computer-manipulated takedown of Trump that you’ll have to see to believe. The video, it must be said, is not safe for work. YouTube Video This bold bit of satire comes on the heels of Trump critic Stephen Colbert’s popular late-night show on CBS being abruptly canceled, with its final episodes airing next May. And the PSA’s use of “synthetic media,” as the video’s YouTube page describes it, is particularly fitting because of Trump’s penchant for reposting inflammatory, AI-generated material.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg appeared on “The Breakfast Club” radio show Thursday to address the New York Post’s inflammatory claims that air traffic control upgrades were delayed because the Biden administration spent $80 billion on grants for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks at a news conference on resolving consumer complaints against airlines in April 2024. “Obviously, I think that’s bullshit,” Buttigieg said. “We’re talking about transportation funding that they’re now getting rid of. So, Milwaukee, 6th Street: We funded a project—$34 million—to help make a set of improvements to a very dangerous street where there’ve been a lot of crashes, and that has divided the community. He continued, “They’re also going to improve the sewer while they’re at it. I mean, this is bread-and-butter stuff that’s going to make the city better off. The Trump administration killed that grant because the application talked about ‘equity.’ It talked about one of the reasons for funding this project being that that neighborhood had been underinvested in.” Buttigieg went on to call out exactly what the Trump administration means when it calls something “DEI.” “When they talk about ‘DEI grants,’ often they’re talking about fixing roads and bridges that happened to go into a Black neighborhood or a low-income area,” he said. YouTube Video Buttigieg continued to list a number of ways that the Trump administration’s racist application of “DEI” is unsafe for communities in need of infrastructure upgrades. He also noted that the NY Post article provided no evidence supporting its $80 billion claims. Buttigieg, who has gained a reputation for excelling in new media forums, also pointed out that his replacement at the Department of Transportation, former reality TV star Sean Duffy, was previously an airline lobbyist—while Buttigieg was a more stringent regulator of the airline industry.  There’s a stark difference between an administration that believes the government should make everyday Americans’ lives better and one that aims to deify the wealthy.