Politics

In the nearly six months since the Trump administration has had control of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the bureau’s leadership has focused almost exclusively on rolling back any punishments, fines and penalties made against companies during the Biden administration. Related | Employees at the nation’s consumer financial watchdog say it’s become toothless under Trump In some cases, companies that were supposed to refund their customers or pay a penalty for unfair or deceptive practices are no longer bound to make their customers whole. Other companies facing charges of fraud of deceptive practices saw their lawsuits dropped in the early days of the Trump administration. A security officer works inside of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 10. Here are some of the Trump administration’s rollbacks: Navy Federal Credit Union The CFPB accused Navy Federal Credit Union, the nation’s largest credit union, of having unfair and deceptive overdraft fee practices. NFCU settled with the bureau and agreed to refund its members $80 million in overdraft fees. However, when the new administration took over, NFCU asked to have the order dismissed, which the CFPB agreed to do without giving a reason. Navy Federal has not said whether it would refund their members, which are mostly service men and women, families and veterans. Reduced overdraft fees The CFPB proposed new regulations that would have reduced overdraft fees to $5 from their industry average of $27. The regulations focused on a bureau analysis on what it actually cost banks to make short-term loans to customers to cover those purchases when a customer’s account went negative. The banking industry stood to lose billions of dollars in overdraft revenue, although banks have been weening themselves off overdraft fee revenue for years. The regulations were overturned by the Republican-controlled Congress in April. Capital One In the last days of the Biden administration, the CFPB sued banking giant Capital One for allegedly cheating its customers out of $2 billion in interest payments on their savings accounts. The case involved a product that Capital One sold known as 360 Savings, which the bank advertised as having the best savings rate in the country. Capital One failed to tell some customers that it had another product with a higher savings rate. The case was dropped within days of the Trump administration taking over the bureau. Walmart The CFPB filed a lawsuit in December against Walmart and workforce company Branch Messenger, accusing the companies of deceptively steering delivery drivers to open accounts with Branch, in order for those employees to get instant access to their wages. However, the CFPB said these Branch accounts came with high fees and deceptive marketing, and said Walmart and Branch should return $10 million to harmed drivers. Both Walmart and Branch denied the accusations. The lawsuit was dropped by the CFPB in the first weeks of the Trump administration. Zelle The parent company of Zelle, the peer-to-peer payment system, as well as some of the nation’s largest banks, were sued by the CFPB late last year over accusations they failed to protect hundreds of thousands of consumers from rampant fraud on Zelle, in violation of consumer financial laws. The CFPB’s lawsuit claimed hundreds of thousands of customers lost approximately $870 million in funds to fraud over the seven years that Zelle had been in existence. That lawsuit was dropped by the CFPB in March.

If you ever wondered what the next career move might be after “chief of staff for an election denier,” wonder no more.  Jeff Small, former chief of staff for GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, is now an elections consultant. Of course, his “consulting” looks a lot more like harassing elections officials based on President Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories, so much so that even fellow Republicans in the state are pushing back.  It likely goes without saying that Small has no background whatsoever in elections or election security, but he does have a resume that includes work for not just Boebert, but also Big Lie luminaries like former GOP Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado and current GOP Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, who keeps busy being extremely antisemitic when not pushing election conspiracies.  GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado Regardless of his lack of relevant experience, Small has been contacting Colorado county clerks to let them know that he’s working with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. What does he want? Nothing big, really. Just to let an unnamed third party or perhaps the federal government muck around in their election equipment.  Both the DOJ and the White House declined to comment about Small’s involvement.  However, after Small told Steve Schleiker, the Republican clerk for El Paso County, Colorado, that he was working with the DOJ and DHS to “team up” with county clerks, Schleiker received a call from a DHS official.  “We would like to test the voting equipment to see if there’s any gaps,” they said.  Schleiker responded by saying that the federal government does not have the authority to “try to infiltrate a state’s or a county’s election equipment.”  Other Republican county clerks also refused, saying things like, “Nobody gets access to my voting equipment, for security reasons,” and, “To me, it felt like they were wanting to intervene before 2026.” The Trump administration seems to have overestimated the desire of Republican elections officials to participate in its project of undermining voter confidence. People who run elections are fanatical about election security, following detailed rules that ensure, for example, that no one is ever alone with voting equipment. There is, by design, no federal agency that has broad authority to access state or local election systems—because elections are run by states.  Colorado is being specifically targeted because of Tina Peters, former Mesa County clerk, who was convicted in state court after letting an election denier access voting machines to prove  that there was voter fraud in 2020. Peters is a right-wing cause célèbre, viewed as being imprisoned for her beliefs, rather than illegally letting randos root around in voting equipment.  Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters Trump has ordered the DOJ to try to find a way to free Peters, even though her conviction was in state court and the DOJ has no authority.  The DOJ is continuing to harass other states as well, though not as vociferously as Colorado. A letter to Minnesota about the state’s compliance with the Help America Vote Act was actually a demand for information about noncitizens and a complete voter list, including inactive voters.  The letter came from the acting chief of the voting section, Maureen Riordan, who made the same demand of Minnesota in her previous gig with the voter-suppression group Public Interest Legal Foundation.  Not content with harassment or civil threats, the DOJ is also exploring whether it would criminally charge elections officials who it determines haven’t properly safeguarded their election systems. You know what’s not safe? Letting conspiracy theorists—even ones who work for the government—dig around in voting machines to rewrite the 2020 election results.  And surprise, surprise—the states the DOJ is most concerned about just happen to be swing states like Wisconsin and North Carolina.  The Trump administration isn’t interested in election safety or even in the integrity of voter rolls. It’s purely interested in figuring out a way to make state and local elections officials complicit in Trump’s efforts. And what’s more effective than the threat of prosecution?

A few weeks ago, I told you that Donald Trump’s Department of Justice had launched an action against Daily Kos. I couldn’t say much then—and I still can’t. As part of the resolution, we’re required to keep the nature of the action confidential for one year.  But here’s what I can say now: The DOJ has backed off. They’ve withdrawn. We stood our ground, and we won. This victory didn’t happen by accident. We didn’t cozy up to Trump for special treatment. We didn’t flinch. And most importantly, you didn’t flinch either. It’s easy to say “fight fight fight.” It’s something else entirely when doing so costs real money—especially while running an independent publication in a brutal media and political environment. But because this community stepped up when we asked, we were able to hire a top-notch legal team and face this challenge with confidence. Without your support, this could’ve ended very differently. And let’s be honest—this win feels even better because of how overwhelming things have felt lately. Under Trump, the courts and federal agencies have been warped into tools of political revenge. The news is a daily avalanche of chaos and cruelty. Tuning out is tempting. So yes, in the grand scheme of things, this may be a small win. But for us, it’s huge. A real threat is off our back. And more importantly, it proves something powerful: Even in this darkness, we can fight back and win. Now, for the first time in weeks, I can fully focus on something exciting: our future. On Tuesday, we officially launched the capital campaign to build the next version of Daily Kos—a faster, stronger, more secure platform built to last for decades to come. It’s the most important project we’ve undertaken in years, and it’s the key to making sure we’re ready for whatever comes next. If you haven’t yet, please contribute to that exciting effort!   Frankly? It’s a lot more energizing to talk about building the future than fending off fascists. Thank you for standing with us when it mattered most. I promise, we wouldn’t have won without you. And we certainly wouldn’t be here without you. And on May 6, 2026, I’ll be able—and happy—to tell the full story.

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The country, and that includes some MAGA faithfuls, aren’t letting go of the White House’s attempt to brush off the unreleased Jeffrey Epstein files and President Donald Trump is seemingly starting to squirm under the spotlight.  “It’s a hoax, I know it’s a hoax,” he said to reporters from the Oval Office on Wednesday. And if you ask Trump, he’ll tell you that it’s time to move on because Epstein is “dead and gone.”  YouTube Video Where many were left disappointed when it was announced that Epstein, a convicted sex offender charged with trafficking minors, did not have an infamous black book containing a high-profile list, Trump seems to be ready to move on. And not only is the president pushing the idea that the client list is fake, but he’s now saying that it’s all purported by the pesky Democrats.  “It was started by Democrats, it’s been run by the Democrats for four years,” he added. “Some stupid Republicans, some foolish Republicans have fallen into the net and so they try to do the Democrat’s work.” YouTube Video While Democrats currently may be the ones trying to get the files released, it wasn’t too long ago that the GOP and Trump himself ran on the platform of revealing the truth and exposing the evils behind Epstein’s work.  Even the White House held a spoof Epstein file release meeting with right-leaning influencers—which, not unlike the current day, gave the public virtually no new information.  MAGA and the conspiracy theorists following the Epstein story have long awaited Trump’s promised release of the files to finally expose who was also involved in the traumatic sexual dealings of the disgraced millionaire. However, when the time came for Attorney General Pam Bondi to do her job, she released a lackluster report saying that, all along, there was actually nothing there but smoke and mirrors.  Even Epstein’s rumored suicide was reduced to a hoax as well, with the department releasing footage from the prison from the night of his death. It didn’t take long for eagle-eyed viewers to not only notice almost three missing minutes, or more, of footage, but for journalists to note the doctored metadata from the file sent by the White House.  Known conspiracist and far-right mouthpiece Alex Jones was one to call Trump and the White House’s dismissal “beyond fu@ked up.”   Even election denying, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is fuming over the lack of findings as he leads MAGA’s furor.  “The fact that the U.S. government, the one that I voted for, refused to take my question seriously and instead said, ‘Case closed, shut up, conspiracy theorist,’ was too much for me,” he said during a Turning Point USA Student Action Summit on Friday.   But as Trump’s more faithful turn away from him, he is making his stance clear.  “They’re stupid people,” he told reporters. “All it is is the Republicans, certain Republicans, got duped by the Democrats and they’re following a Democrat playbook.”

President Donald Trump is celebrating an enormous win: allegedly getting Coca-Cola to switch its sweetener from high fructose corn syrup to real cane sugar in the United States.  “I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so,” he wrote on Truth Social Wednesday. “I’d like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola. This will be a very good move by them — You’ll see. It’s just better!” The official White House X account even shared a bizarre Coke-inspired promotion of the very dumb announcement.  Despite being a Diet Coke drinker himself—with his very own “Diet Coke button” in the Oval Office—Trump’s move of getting U.S. Coke to be made with cane sugar effectively makes it the same as Mexican Coke.  And for a man who has touted mass deportations and a U.S.-Mexico border wall while claiming that people coming into the United States are murderers and rapists, his promotion of the Mexican drink is certainly an interesting move.  Then again, this is the same man who celebrated Cinco de Mayo in 2016 by hunching over a taco bowl and declaring, “I love Hispanics.”  So anything is possible.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abruptly fired two of his top aides, rattling his department’s leadership team amid his broader attack on the nation’s public health apparatus. The two ousted officials—chief of staff Heather Flick Melanson and deputy chief of staff for policy Hannah Anderson—were dismissed after only a few months on the job. CNN, which first reported the firings, said Kennedy had lost confidence in both, though it’s unclear what triggered the move. In a statement to CNN, an HHS spokesperson confirmed the departures and said White House liaison Matt Buckham would serve as acting chief of staff effective immediately.  “He brings valuable experience in personnel strategy and organizational management to this new role,” the spokesperson said. “Secretary Kennedy thanks the outgoing leadership for their service and looks forward to working closely with Mr. Buckham as the Department continues advancing its mission to Make America Healthy Again.” No permanent replacements have been named. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, shown in 2013. HHS oversees the work of major federal health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health—institutions now squarely in the crosshairs of Kennedy’s largely anti-science agenda. The leadership churn hasn’t stopped with Kennedy’s own staff, either. According to The Washington Post, NIH’s chief operating officer, Eric Schnabel, was recently fired as well.  The various shakeups come mere months into Kennedy’s tenure and leave him scrambling to fill key leadership roles amid mounting scrutiny of his radical plans to reshape health policy, gut vaccine programs, and overhaul the structure of the department itself. Flick Melanson was one of Kennedy’s more seasoned Washington players, having previously served as acting general counsel and senior adviser to then-HHS Secretary Alex Azar during Trump’s first term. Anderson, a former GOP Hill staffer and policy adviser to Senate Republicans, had recently worked on health care at the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank. Politico reported that Flick Melanson had been viewed by some as a steadying hand—someone who understood the functions of the department, given concerns about how aggressively Kennedy might pursue his anti-science agenda. And yet, backed by President Donald Trump, Kennedy has charged ahead with his “Make America Healthy Again” crusade. Not only did he fire all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel and replace them with loyalists, but he also published a widely criticized, error-filled report on childhood illnesses. And he’s moved to axe 20,000 HHS staffers and slash dozens of agency divisions—all while facing a wave of legal challenges. His war on synthetic food dyes faces industry changes. And under his watch, HHS has taken a series of anti-vaccine actions that experts say have eroded public confidence in immunizations. More chaos at HHS under Kennedy. No surprise there.

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. Trump really, really wants to tank the economy And like so much of Trump’s agenda, it’s probably illegal. Democrats slam Trump and GOP for cover-up of Epstein files “Did anyone really think the sexual-predator president who used to party with Jeffrey Epstein was going to release the Epstein files?” 👀 Pentagon scales back its invasion of Los Angeles Who knew TACO also applied to domestic military campaigns? Bye-bye, Big Bird: GOP inches closer to gutting public media Trump’s agenda will hit rural America the hardest. Trump is gutting Medicaid—but rural America still won’t wake up Seriously, it’s like the guy is trying to crush his rural base. Cartoon: Tanks for nothing First, Trump tanks the economy, then he tanks education. Click here to see more cartoons.

A cartoon by Pedro Molina. Related | Trump and MAGA turn on each other over Epstein files

PoliticusUSA is 100% reader-supported with no corporate or political party influence. Please consider supporting our work by becoming a subscriber. Subscribe now After Trump called his supporters stupid for wanting the release of the Epstein files, the president pulled another distraction that he hoped would make his fans forget that he broke a major promise to them with Coca-Cola. Trump posted on Truth Social: I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so. I’d like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola. This will be a very good move by them — You’ll see. It’s just better! Trump’s supporters want the Epstein files. Instead, they are going to get cane sugar in Coca-Cola. PoliticusUSA is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Donald Trump has taken away healthcare from 17 million Americans and he is replacing it with cane sugar. The whole situation is beyond absurd. How bad is this for Trump? Here is what MAGA influencers had to say to Axios: “By continuing to go to war with the online MAGA class, he only continues to keep his unpopular stance on the issue front of mind,” one right-wing influencer told Axios. “It’s definitely become an inflection point online.” As one MAGAworld operative put it: “Villainizing your base for caring about the thing you told them to care about is never a good strategy.” Trump is going to war with his base, and that is a terrible idea. Donald Trump is becoming a man without a political country. The Epstein blowback is so dramatic because the same president who just bullied the Republican majority into passing legislation that they had reservations about is now getting more open and public criticism from his own supporters than he has ever gotten before. This is a turning point for MAGA, and Trump isn’t going to be able to buy his way out of this with Coke and cane sugar. What do you think about Trump’s attempt at distraction? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Leave a comment