From the Left
/Politics

The Trump-Vance-Musk-Putin manosphere
Did anyone else see the horrific display in the Oval Office last Friday as a ritual exercise in male domination? I don’t want to insult great apes, but I’ve seen similar performances at the zoo. Donald Trump and JD Vance sought to humiliate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, treating him with the same disrespect they treat .. well, ...Read more

Fire the Muskrat. Now.
Please call your members of Congress today and tell them Elon Musk must be fired. Immediately. (The U.S. Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121. Tell the operator where you’re from and the operator will connect you to your representatives and senators.)
This past weekend, Musk, the richest person in the world, posted a message to millions of ...Read more

Will the Supreme Court constrain the wild Trump?
It is well to remind ourselves that today is Presidents Day, not Dictators Day.
Of all the things the framers of the Constitution worried about, their biggest worry was that a president would become as powerful as a king. Which is why they created Congress and the judiciary — to check and constrain him.
Fast-forward to the first Gilded Age ...Read more

The Trump Regime is Refusing to be Bound by the Federal Courts. Where Will This End?
He is the most lawless president in American history.
He’s allowed Musk’s rats unfettered access to the Treasury’s payments system. Banned birthright citizenship. Refused to spend money appropriated by Congress. Closed U.S. AID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, independent agencies, without Congress’s approval. Substituted ...Read more

What You Need to Know About Trump’s Tariffs and the Rest of Trump’s Madness
Understand this: The reason Trump has raised tariffs on Canada and Mexico is not to have more bargaining leverage to get better deals for the United States from Canada or from Mexico.
Hours before the Canadian tariffs went into effect, Trump was asked if there was anything Canada could do to stop them. “We’re not looking for a concession,�...Read more

Trump’s First Week, the Real Story
The New York Times describes Trump as leading “a global wave of hard-line conservative populism.”
Rubbish.
What Trump is undertaking has nothing whatever to do with conservatism, which is about conserving institutions and shrinking the size of government. And it has nothing to do with populism, which is about confronting elites.
Trump is ...Read more

Why I remain hopeful about America
So many people I know — including, I suspect, many of you — are despairing over Trump’s second regime, which starts today.
I share your fears about what’s to come.
Yet I remain hopeful about the future of America. Here’s why.
Trump hoodwinked average working Americans into believing he’s on their side and convinced enough voters ...Read more

Will Trump Get Credit for Biden’s Successes?
Trump will try to take credit for the Biden economy. Don’t let him. And don’t let Republican enablers of Trump or the media give him credit, either.
In 2017, Trump inherited a strong economy from President Obama and never stopped congratulating himself for it. He claimed that “we created the greatest economy in the history of the world.�...Read more

Advice and Consent or Total Submission?
The cast of characters Trump has chosen to populate his second term is a Star Wars cantina of fanatics, extremists, conspiracy theorists, sexual harassers, and disreputable no-goods. They have little or no experience running government, let alone expertise in the issues confronting the agencies and departments Trump wants them to lead.
Over the...Read more

How About If Canada Annexes Blue America?
Trump wants to buy Greenland and annex Canada as the 51st American state.
When I first heard these ideas I thought he was joking, but as with all things Trump, he’s not … quite.
Last week, while naming a new ambassador to Denmark (which controls Greenland’s foreign and defense affairs), Trump made clear that his first-term offer to buy ...Read more

We the People Will Prevail
The holidays provide an apt time to pause and assess where we are.
You have every reason to be worried about what happens after Jan. 20. Many people could be harmed.
Yet I continue to have an abiding faith in the common sense and good-heartedness of most Americans, despite the outcome of the election.
Many traditional Democratic voters did ...Read more

How the DOGE billionaires plan to kill Medicaid
I’ve shared with you the plans of Trump’s unelected multi-billionaires, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to undermine Social Security — the most popular and successful program in the federal government, into which you’ve paid your entire working life.
Today I want to share their plan to gut Medicaid.
Medicaid is less politically popular ...Read more

What Liz Cheney deserves from Joe Biden
When she was a member of Congress, former Representative Liz Cheney took positions on many issues that I abhorred. I suspect you did, too.
But on the transcendent issue of American democracy and Trump’s culpability in trying to destroy it, she’s been a rare voice of clarity and courage — and continues to be.
Yesterday, Cheney called out ...Read more