Chris Lehmann The lesson for Democrats is that they should force confrontations, especially when they drive a wedge into the GOP base. The post Republicans Would Rather Shut Down Congress Than Discuss the Epstein Files appeared first on The Nation.
NPR Editor-in-Chief Edith Chapin plans to leave the news outlet later this year, an announcement that hits shortly after congressional Republicans voted to eliminate all federal funding for public broadcasting. Chapin informed CEO Katherine Maher of her intentions two weeks ago, before the funding rescission bill cleared the Senate. Chapin plans to stay until September or October, and she emphasized that her departure is not connected to the vote. “I have had two big executive jobs for two years, and I want to take a break,” Chapin, who also is NPR’s acting chief content officer, told her own outlet. “I want to make sure my performance is always top-notch for the company.” In a statement, Maher praised Chapin as a “leader in journalistic integrity, a champion for the newsroom, calm in the storm—and an indispensable partner during my first year at NPR.” “She has led with conviction, clarity, and compassion—always putting the public’s interest first. Her impact on NPR’s journalism and on the many people she mentored and supported over the years is immeasurable,” Maher said. Even if unrelated to the federal defunding of NPR, Chapin’s departure comes at a fragile moment for public media. The roughly $1.1 billion cut to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund NPR, PBS, and member stations, is expected to strike a significant blow to local journalism, especially in rural areas that heavily depend on government support. While NPR itself receives only a small portion of its budget from CPB, member stations face steeper consequences. Some get more than half their funding from the government. That money runs dry on Oct. 1. Maher has pledged to cut NPR’s operating budget by $8 million to partially offset the impact, providing relief to the stations hit hardest. Unfortunately, that’s just a drop in the bucket. Public radio stations have lost $350 million for each of the following two years. Chapin joined NPR in 2012 and was promoted to the network’s top editorial role in 2023, shortly thereafter taking on the position of acting chief content officer. Her tenure has spanned a turbulent period marked by layoffs. And she helped strengthen ties between NPR and its member stations, promoting local collaborations. A person walks into the One Franklin Square Building, home of The Washington Post newspaper, in June 2024, in Washington. But her departure isn’t happening in isolation. Across the media, prominent journalists and executives are leaving their posts as the industry adjusts to Trump’s return to power—and his unrelenting attacks on the free press. Just this week, The Washington Post lost Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Jonathan Capehart, the latest in a wave of high-profile departures. Fellow writers Ruth Marcus, Eugene Robinson, Philip Bump, and Perry Bacon Jr., among others, have stepped away recently. And top editors have also resigned or taken buyouts. All of this follows the Post’s owner, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, announcing earlier this year that he would force the outlet’s editorial page to hew closer to a conservative line of promoting “free markets.” Also on Tuesday, the Post’s main TikTok personality, Dave Jorgenson, announced his departure. He told The New York Times that leadership was essentially “rolling out the red carpet” for employees to take buyouts if they didn’t align with the Post’s new direction. “I am just not convinced that they have the best road map right now,” Jorgenson said, describing the newsroom’s changes as “inconsistent” and confusing. The upheavals aren’t limited to print, either. CBS News faced backlash after announcing it would end “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in May 2026, removing one of late night’s most popular critics of Trump. That decision came as Trump’s administration launched a sustained campaign against non-right-wing media, and as corporate networks seem increasingly willing to bend to his absurd demands. And Trump’s rhetoric branding the press as the “enemy of the people” has now manifested as direct government action against public media. Chapin may say she’s not stepping down because of Trump, but her departure highlights how much the ground is shifting beneath journalists. The pressure is real, and it’s unsettling the media landscape. As experienced voices leave the field, the risks to independent journalism only grow.
Sucking up to President Donald Trump apparently knows no bounds. During an appropriations committee markup on Tuesday for the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2026 funding bill, Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho proposed an amendment to rename the Kennedy Center’s Opera House the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.” “We renamed the opera house at the Kennedy Center for the first lady, who is the honorary chairman of the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center,” Simpson said. “This designation is an excellent way to recognize her support and commitment to promoting the arts.” YouTube Video The committee voted 33-25 to adopt the amendment. Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine called the move “divisive,” noting that while the bill includes a reduction in funding to the Kennedy Center, the so-called “One Big, Beautiful Bill” has already earmarked $250 million for the center. “The Republicans have now given the president six times the normal amount of money to run the Kennedy Center, carte blanche over who will be on the board, and how different parts of the Kennedy Center—perhaps the whole Kennedy Center itself—will be named, and this amendment confirms that,” Pingree said. Earlier this year, Trump fired the existing board of trustees for the Center, claimed he had been secretly (and “unanimously”) elected chairman of the board, and installed MAGA bootlickers and their spouses in its place. Melania Trump remains the honorary chair of the board, possibly the only institutional tradition the Trumps have followed since coming into office. It is hard to parse what Simpson considers to be the first lady’s “commitment to promoting the arts” beyond her turning Fox News into the home shopping network for crass jewelry and Christmas ornaments. Simpson’s pathetic amendment joins the pile of Republican overtures of servility to Trump’s cult of personality. Those efforts include trying to replace Benjamin Franklin on the $100 bill with Trump’s face and adding his faux pompadour to Mount Rushmore.
It’s a tale as old as January 2025: GOP lawmakers believe their primary job is to assist President Donald Trump in doing whatever he wants—even if “whatever he wants” means “turn Congress into a relic with no power.” Their latest move is to join with the White House in attacking the Government Accountability Office. The Trump administration would very much like to stop the GAO from investigating any Trump spending actions or determining whether those actions violate the law, despite that being the GAO’s actual job. The White House found a friend in House Republicans, who have eagerly proposed cutting the GAO’s budget by half to make sure it can’t do its work. There’s no question that the average Republican member of Congress is not exactly a history buff, but it isn’t hard to learn that Congress itself created the GAO more than a century ago and expanded its role in the budgeting process over 50 years ago. The GAO issues legal decisions on the Impoundment Control Act—the one Trump keeps ignoring by just refusing to spend funds appropriated by Congress. The GAO is also literally part of the legislative branch, which is why congressional Republicans just rolling over and showing their tummies to Trump is so maddening. Related | New report shows how Trump is breaking the law, and nope, he doesn’t care More maddening even is that the GAO is actually responsible for the things that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency was pretending to be responsible for when it was taking a blowtorch to the whole of government. The GAO’s efforts to root out waste and fraud have resulted in $725 billion in financial benefits since 2011. Their most recent report identified $100 billion in estimated savings that would have been realized by adopting GAO efficiency recommendations. In contrast, the Elon Musk-led DOGE pretty much just made up numbers that were convenient, promising trillions in cuts, then billions, then—wait! Please just don’t mention that DOGE’s reign of terror somehow resulted in an increase in government spending over a comparable period in 2024. Remember the laughably fake DOGE dashboard, which was supposed to be the most transparent ever but instead is just a hodgepodge list of agencies that look like you could click through but lol you cannot. The promised $2 trillion in DOGE savings has melted down to $190 billion, even if one takes that at face value—which you definitely should not. But did you know that GAO used to have an actual dashboard with actual data, and that the Trump administration took down because it said it revealed sensitive information? Sure, yeah. On Monday, in response to a lawsuit by two watchdog groups, a federal judge ordered the site restored because there of a 2022 congressional mandate that spending decisions be published online. Let’s face it, though: Lower court orders don’t mean anything, because ultimately the administration will just go to the Supreme Court and beg them to wipe out the decision—likely successfully. But for now, we can bask in the administration’s loss. If congressional Republicans weren’t so eager to let Trump radically upend the separation of powers that is core to American democracy, they’d be outraged at his administration’s attempts to neuter a legislative branch watchdog. But that watchdog is so pesky, finding that the administration illegally withheld funds on not just one, but two occasions. For what it’s worth, the administration’s stance is what it always is: No other branch of government can tell it what to do, anything that is adverse to the administration is a partisan attempt to undermine Trump’s agenda, and they’re just going to ignore it. Ultimately, stomping on the GAO makes sense for the administration, as it is eager to eliminate any obstacles to its attempts to consolidate all power in the executive branch and to allow the administration to keep its spending opaque and unchallenged. For Republicans in Congress, though, it makes no sense to stand aside while Trump takes their power away. So they’re not standing aside. They’re going to help instead. Sure, that means ceding congressional power to Trump, but what’s a little destruction of the separation of powers between friends?
The Trump administration has found a new way to harass transgender military members. A newly surfaced Defense Department memo, which 404 Media unearthed via Freedom of Information Act request, revealed that taxpayer dollars are being used to monitor military bathrooms out of fear that transgender people are using the facilities. The memo details the department’s efforts to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” which he signed on Day 1 of his second term. Related | How the military is dealing with Hegseth’s order to remove transgender troops The department assured the Office of Personnel Management that it’s working to “monitor intimate spaces” to comply with the order and that it “updated signage to reflect biological sex, removing any references to gender identity.” The GOP has engaged in anti-transgender bigotry under the guise of protecting women, but the disclosure of the memo and the Pentagon’s bathroom monitoring operations come as congressional Republicans and Trump are stonewalling on disclosures about Jeffrey Epstein, an alleged sex trafficker who abused underage women. The most visible manifestation of the right’s transphobia has been the decision to ban transgender people from serving in the military. Under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump’s orders, the military is now working to withdraw transgender troops, even after being deployed. Another notable manifestation was House Speaker Mike Johnson’s November decision to segregate Capitol Hill bathrooms by “biological sex,” a blatant attack on Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware, who is the first openly trans person to serve in Congress. GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina “I just don’t understand why bathrooms are top of mind for her, why [GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina] is thinking about where future members are going to piss and shit,” Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida said at the time. Johnson’s decision led to an incident in January where GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado joined Mace in investigating a purported sighting of “a guy” in the Capitol Hill women’s bathroom. It was a false alarm, leading to mockery across the country. Republicans are obsessed with bathroom behavior, which Democrats rightfully labeled “weird” during the 2024 election. But in Trump’s America, taxpayers are now financing this bizarre and bigoted bathroom monitoring.
GOP Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri appeared on CNN with Kasie Hunt Tuesday, and it was certainly something to behold. When asked if he would consider using his position as House Ways and Means Committee chair to investigate Jeffrey Epstein, Smith pretended like the very idea was absurd. “Well, you may use subpoena powers at any point,” he replied. “That is not a common thing that I have utilized within the Ways and Means Committee. But if I felt like that it was a priority for Americans, then of course.” “But you did use subpoena power with Hunter Biden,” Hunt said. “Exactly. We have the authority to use it, but that is the only time that I have used it,” he responded. “Epstein is not the priority of the everyday American who’s working 9 to 5, just trying to put food on their table, clothes on their backs, and gasoline in their cars.” YouTube Video A couple of years ago, Smith used that same subpoena power in one of the many dead ends in the GOP’s quixotic search for proof of a Biden crime family—a crusade that Republicans like House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer refuse to abandon. Congressional Republicans are scrambling to shut down for summer break, dancing around questions about why—after years of vowing to release the Epstein files—they have suddenly decided it’s “not a priority.”
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is reportedly demanding answers from right-wing billionaire Elon Musk after his AI chatbot, Grok, repeatedly parroted antisemitic hate speech on X, his social media site. Led by Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the lawmakers slammed Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, for failing to prevent Grok from spitting out hate speech, including Holocaust denial, praise for Adolf Hitler, and use of the antisemitic meme “every damn time,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by Axios. “xAI’s failure to take reasonable measures to mitigate against its AI models from engaging in hate speech is reckless, unacceptable, and antisemitic,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter, which they sent on Tuesday. But the antisemitism scandal is only one of Grok’s many ugly episodes recently. Just days after that firestorm erupted online, Grok rolled out two animated characters who pushed users into sexually explicit and violent conversations. One, a flirty anime woman named Ani, promised to make users’ lives “sexier.” The other, a red panda named Bad Rudi, insulted users with vulgar language and tried to recruit them into a gang. Musk has become so affiliated with far-right extremism that Americans took to protesting his Tesla vehicle dealerships, like this one in Decatur, Georgia, in March. According to NBC News, Bad Rudi said it wanted to bomb banks, spike a town’s water supply with hot sauce and glitter, spike baby formula with liquor, and kill billionaires, among other chaos. In other encounters, it reportedly claimed inspiration from a notorious Russian anarchist. Musk brushed it off, saying, “Just wanted to do a soft launch to make sure things are stable and working well.” Meanwhile, the backlash to Grok’s antisemitic speech has only intensified. Musk admitted earlier this month that Grok was “too eager to please and be manipulated,” and Grok’s X account claimed that xAI had since taken steps to prevent hate speech from making it onto X. “We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts. Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X,” the chatbot’s account posted on July 8. But that’s not reassuring to lawmakers. Their letter tells Musk to explain how Grok’s antisemitic responses made it past internal testing, and whether any red flags were raised before its latest updates were deployed. So far, more than a dozen lawmakers have signed on, including Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Reps. Dan Goldman of New York and Chris Smith, a Republican. The timing of the letter is striking: It lands just as xAI secured a Pentagon contract worth up to $200 million. It also hits as Musk announces plans to develop a kid-friendly version of Grok, after the adult version went so well. And while Musk has floated the idea of being done with the federal government—especially after his public falling-out with President Donald Trump and sliding Tesla sales—he’s clearly not out of the political arena. Lawmakers are deep in debates over how to regulate AI. But Grok’s behavior, paired with Musk’s willingness to personally steer how his chatbot answers controversial questions, is adding urgency—and ethical red flags—to the conversation. Musk may dream of building an empire on his own terms. But for now, the federal government isn’t done with him. And with Grok’s growing list of scandals, it looks like they have plenty of reasons not to be.
A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. ICE is paying retirees big bucks to come back and terrorize immigrants It takes a heartless person and a lot of money to do this awful job. Senate candidate shows Democrats how to run on Trump’s Epstein scandal Sometimes you just have to be direct. White House offers new shiny objects to distract from Epstein scandal From assassination files to Hillary Clinton’s email investigation, Trump is willing to try anything. Trump’s tariffs are wrecking this key industry Big Auto is losing billions. Cartoon: Can’t touch this Trump just can’t escape. Top House Republican will never stop investigating Biden Rep. James Comer is a dog with a bone when it comes to Biden. ‘Border czar’ makes ridiculous excuse for ICE goons acting like Nazis Sure, rhetoric is the real problem here. Trump team fails to get lax sentence for cop involved in Breonna Taylor raid For once, justice is (kind of) served. Here’s how Trump wants to weaponize the DOJ next When in doubt, use a conspiracy theory. FEMA official quits after Trump cuts hobble Texas flood response Cuts to federal agencies are doing more and more damage. Click here to see more cartoons.
Don’t look now, but Ghislaine Maxwell’s time in federal prison for aiding and abetting accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein could be cut short. In an effort to distract from the fact that President Donald Trump is refusing to release all of the files the government possesses about Epstein, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the Department of Justice to speak with his known accomplice Maxwell to see if she has any information that implicates third parties, as Epstein died by suicide while in custody before going to trial. Maxwell has a whole lot to gain in this situation. The former British socialite is currently serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for helping Epstein carry out “heinous crimes against children,” as the Department of Justice said in 2022 when she was sentenced for “conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors to participate in illegal sex acts, transporting a minor to participate in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking conspiracy, and sex trafficking of a minor.” That means Trump—who wished Maxwell “well” in 2020 after she was arrested for her role in Epstein’s sex-trafficking schemes—has the power to pardon her and set her free. And that gives Maxwell motive to tell federal prosecutors lies that could exculpate Trump from Epstein’s sordid deeds. Related | White House offers new shiny objects to distract from Epstein scandal “The Epstein files don’t have an incentive to lie for a coverup. A convicted sex trafficker in search of a pardon does,” New York University law professor Ryan Goodman wrote in a post on X. “The dead giveaway: DOJ can simply release all the Epstein files, but refuses.” Even more fishy is the fact that the person who will meet with Maxwell to interview her is Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche—who served as Trump’s defense attorney during his numerous federal indictments that have now been corruptly dismissed. “Justice demands courage. For the first time, the Department of Justice is reaching out to Ghislaine Maxwell to ask: what do you know?” Blanche wrote in a post on X. “At @AGPamBondi’s direction, I’ve contacted her counsel. I intend to meet with her soon. No one is above the law—and no lead is off-limits.” The fact that Trump’s former criminal defense attorney is meeting with Maxwell should also give everyone pause, as Blanche would likely put Trump’s best interests over the truth. “Any meeting between Blanche, DOJ, or any other Trump representative, on the one hand, and Ghislaine Maxwell and her attorneys or other representatives, on the other, should be audiovisually recorded. Full stop,” George Conway, a lawyer and frequent Trump critic, wrote in a post on X, adding that the situation “reeks of corruption.” Even if Maxwell isn’t pardoned, the Trump administration’s announcement that it will interview her is just another attempt to distract the public from the fact that the government is not releasing more information about the Epstein case. It feeds into speculation that Trump—who was friends with Epstein and took trips with the accused sex trafficker on multiple occasions—is worried about being implicated by the documents. Already, Bondi has sought to change the subject from the Epstein files by releasing hundreds of thousands of documents relating to Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, as well as the probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails. In an Oval Office appearance, Trump also said he is going to go after former President Barack Obama for “treason” over the Russia investigation—an insane and authoritarian declaration, as even Trump’s own Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw a Senate investigation that found that Russia did interfere in the 2016 election. But the biggest sign yet that Trump is worried about what’s contained in the Epstein files is that he is now calling the scandal the “Epstein hoax”—his favorite way to claim that something that will make him look bad is fake. Ultimately, the Epstein files scandal is not going away. And how Trump and his cronies handle Maxwell could fuel the flames even further.
