Politics

President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement is looking for a scapegoat as its members rage about the Trump administration’s Sunday announcement that there are no bombshell files about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.  It appears they have landed on Attorney General Pam Bondi. Axios reported that FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino—who spread Epstein conspiracy theories as a podcaster before Trump appointed him to the role he’s unqualified to hold—”took a day off from work” on Friday because he was so mad at Bondi.  CNN reported that Bongino is considering resigning, while one source told Axios they believe Bongino may have already quit. FBI Deputy Direct Dan Bongino, shown in 2020, before assuming that role. “He ain’t coming back,” a “source close to Bongino” told Axios. Bongino is reportedly mad that Bondi publicly overhyped the supposed Epstein client list, which Trump’s Department of Justice now says doesn’t exist.  Meanwhile, right-wing influencer and noted bigot Laura Loomer—who has Trump’s ear—also claimed on X that FBI Director Kash Patel is “LIVID” with Bondi “over her DOJ Memo and the lack of transparency from her office regarding the Jeffery Epstein files.” “Pam Blondi has brought total embarrassment to President Trump, @JDVance, @dbongino and @Kash_Patel. She has also LIED to the American people,” Loomer wrote in her post, using a pejorative name for the attorney general, and adding that Bondi “needs to be fired for this.”  Bondi did appear to lie to the American people when she said in February that she had Epstein’s client list “sitting on my desk right now to review,” only to admit on Sunday that no such list exists. YouTube Video This is not the first time Bondi has found herself in hot water over the so-called Epstein files. Bondi came under fire in February after she staged an embarrassing stunt at the White House in which she gave MAGA influencers binders whose covers were labeled “The Epstein Files, Phase 1,” only for those binders to hold virtually no new information. But the latest Epstein files debacle is sending MAGA into a tailspin as they try to come to terms with the fact that the Trump administration is telling them that the conspiracy theories they’ve pushed for years are false. “The Trump admin’s handling of the Epstein files has been a massive unforced error,” CNN’s Harry Enten said Friday. “Trump may wish it goes away, but Google searches for Epstein are up 1,200% this week. It’s the top topic searched with Trump today. More have Googled Epstein this week than Grok or tariffs.” Trump, for his part, has tried to downplay the entire matter around Epstein and his supposed files. At a Cabinet meeting earlier this week, Trump snapped at a reporter who tried to ask about the Epstein files, “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years.” “At a time like this, where we’re having some of the greatest success and also tragedy with what happened in Texas, it just seems like a desecration,” he added. YouTube Video But since MAGA can never turn on its Dear Leader, it now looks like they’ve landed on Bondi as their scapegoat. We’ll see how long she lasts in the administration.

A Ticking Timebomb From wars to climate crisis, an endangered world. The post A Ticking Timebomb appeared first on The Nation.

Jeet Heer The Epstein scandal deserves a real investigation, not Trump’s hand-waving cover up. The post Sorry, Donald Trump: Many People Are Still Interested in the Jeffrey Epstein Case appeared first on The Nation.

John Nichols Mamdani won a record-setting primary victory, and unions, grassroots Democratic groups, and savvy elected officials are rushing to back him. Now it’s the establishment’s turn. The post Zohran Mamdani Is Making History. When Will Top Democrats Catch On? appeared first on The Nation.

Karen J. Greenberg Here we are, once again learning that the restraints Americans could rely upon in the past are fast disappearing The post Trump’s California Stunt Is One More Step Toward Authoritarianism appeared first on The Nation.

Steve Brodner Say their names. The post Lost in Texas appeared first on The Nation.

Elie Mystal In his weekly newsletter, Elie Mystal lambastes the Republicans’ shameful priorities—and their deadly consequences. The post Superman the Immigrant Would Have Saved Texas appeared first on The Nation.

Business groups lobbied heavily to overturn the measure passed by 58% of voters, arguing it would cost jobs. The bill also repeals annual inflation adjustments for the minimum wage, in effect since 2006. by Rudi Keller, Missouri Independent Missouri workers who started accruing paid sick leave on May 1 will lose it Aug. 28 under legislation signed Thursday by Gov. Mike Kehoe. The new benefit, linked to an increase in the minimum wage passed with 58% of the vote in November, became a target for business lobbying interests. Republican allies in the General Assembly pushed it to Kehoe’s desk by invoking a rarely used state Senate rule to shut down debate over Democratic objections. The action followed a pattern established over the past 15 years where conservative Republicans have used their majorities in the legislature to roll back or repeal measures that became law through initiatives pushed to the ballot by progressive groups. The minimum wage initiative was a statutory change, meaning lawmakers could make any changes that would command a majority. In a news release issued after he signed the bills, Kehoe said he was approving the bill to defend small businesses. “Today, we are protecting the people who make Missouri work—families, job creators, and small business owners—by cutting taxes, rolling back overreach, and eliminating costly mandates,” Kehoe said in the release.  Missouri House Democratic leader Ashley Aune of Kansas City denounced Kehoe’s decision to sign the bill as an attack on workers and voters. “The governor’s action today demonstrates the absolute disdain Republicans have for working Missourians,” Aune said in a news release. “But in stripping workers of their legal right to earned sick leave, the governor and his allies have probably guaranteed this issue will be back on the ballot next year as a constitutional amendment that will place worker protections beyond their reach.” Richard Von Glahn, policy director for Missouri Jobs with Justice, the organization that helped lead the campaign for the paid sick leave law, has filed a proposed constitutional amendment targeting the 2026 ballot. The Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri. The law “should not have been messed with at all by politicians in Jefferson City or their corporate lobby buddies — all of whom testified that they have this benefit,” Von Glahn said in a news release. “This makes our workplaces and communities less safe. It was passed overwhelmingly, upheld unanimously by the Supreme Court and it went into effect over two months ago as the voters intended.” The repeal doesn’t take effect immediately because Republicans were unable to muster the two-thirds majorities needed to pass an emergency clause even though the GOP holds more than two-thirds of the seats in each chamber. It goes into effect at the same time as other bills approved this year and signed by Kehoe. The increased minimum wage, $13.75 an hour, took effect on Jan. 1. A second increase is set for Jan. 1, 2026, when it will increase to $15 an hour. The bill signed Thursday also repeals a provision, in effect since 2006, to adjust the minimum wage annually for inflation. Organizers of the initiative that put the measure on the ballot set May 1 as the starting date for paid leave, available for personal illness or to stay home with a sick family member. The intent was to allow more time for businesses to adjust to the new rule than the short period between the election and the new year. Workers at businesses with receipts greater than $500,000 a year are accruing at least one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked. Employers with fewer than 15 workers must allow workers to earn at least 40 hours per year, with larger employers mandated to allow at least 56 hours. The measure made sick leave guaranteed for 728,000 workers who lacked it statewide, or over 1 in 3 Missouri workers, according to an analysis from the progressive nonprofit the Missouri Budget Project. The leave can be used currently, but the repeal makes it uncertain if accrued leave can be used after the law is repealed. The battle over the leave provisions revolved around its economic effect, pitting business interests and their backers in the legislature against supporters of the law. During a House committee hearing in February, the sponsor, Republican state Rep. Sherri Gallick of Belton, suggested that employees can’t be trusted to use paid sick leave only for the reasons allowed by the law. “Under the mandated sick leave, potential abuse is nearly impossible to address,” Gallick told the House Commerce Committee. “Employers cannot ask an employee why they were absent, leaving them vulnerable to lawsuits for merely inquiring.” In a news release Thursday, Kara Corches, president and CEO of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, called the mandated paid sick leave a “job killer.” “Missouri employers value their employees and recognize the importance of offering competitive wages and benefits, but one-size-fits-all mandates threaten growth,” Corches said in the release. At a May news conference, state Rep. Betsy Fogle, a Springfield Democrat, said that when Missouri workers are successful, businesses will succeed. “The idea that providing workers with more protections is a business killer is wild,” she said. “…To try to make this seem like this is something that will kill business, that will keep businesses from opening, I think it’s absurd, and I think it’s quite disappointing, and I think it sends absolutely the wrong message.” The action on sick leave is similar to a bill in 2011 weakening provisions of a ballot measure from 2010 called the “Puppy Mill Cruelty and Prevention Act,” that specified appropriate living conditions for breeding operations and including action this year to overturn the abortion rights amendment approved in November. The GOP’s willingness to overturn voter actions has led many initiative organizers to push their proposals as constitutional amendments, which require a statewide vote to repeal or revise. Amendments to legalize marijuana, expand Medicaid coverage, revise the legislative redistricting process and protect

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Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, admitted Friday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is racially profiling the immigrants being rounded up in raids across the country. “People need to understand ICE officers and Border Patrol, they don’t need probable cause to walk up to somebody, briefly detain them, and question them,” Homan said on Fox News, adding that he says ICE agents can detain people “based on … their physical appearance.” YouTube Video Indeed, the Trump administration’s racial profiling has led multiple U.S. citizens to be wrongfully detained by ICE agents, who, under orders from bigoted White House aide Stephen Miller, have been told to arrest 3,000 immigrants per day to meet an arbitrary deportation goal. That evil order is actually making Americans less safe since ICE officers say they are unable to focus on prioritizing criminals and instead must round up immigrants who are contributing to the U.S. economy, all to meet Miller’s goal. Racial profiling—as Homan admits ICE is doing—is patently illegal. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution states that the United States cannot “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” And courts have ruled that targeting someone based on what they look like is a violation of that amendment. Federal agents take someone into custody after an immigration court hearing on May 21 in Phoenix. “This is patently false,” Democratic Rep. Daniel Goldman of New York wrote in a post on X, referring to Homan’s comments. “DHS has authority to question and search people coming into the country at points of entry. But ICE may not detain and question anyone without reasonable suspicion—and certainly not based on their physical appearance alone. This lawlessness must stop now.” Of course, the fact that the law prohibits something is not a deterrent for Trump, who not only is too stupid to understand the document but also simply doesn’t care about following the law when it gets in his way. Still, Homan’s admission on Fox News that ICE is targeting people based on their appearance could be used against the Trump administration in lawsuits seeking to stop ICE raids across the country. Ultimately, not only are the Trump administration’s cruel immigration policies breaking the law, they are also backfiring. New polling shows that support for immigration in the United States is up this year. A Gallup survey released Friday found that 79% of Americans believe immigration is good for the country—a record high. And just 30% want immigration to be reduced, down from 55% in 2024.  Datawrapper Content “These shifts reverse a four-year trend of rising concern about immigration that began in 2021 and reflect changes among all major party groups,” Gallup said of its polling. Gallup also found that just 35% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, with a whopping 62% disapproving. That includes 69% of independents who disapprove of Trump’s immigration policy, with 45% of those independents strongly disapproving. Turns out, racially profiling immigrants, erecting concentration camps on U.S. soil, and deporting people to torture prisons is not good politics. Go figure.