Admiral Alvin Holsey, now leading U.S. Southern Command, privately objected to a new campaign of U.S. strikes in the Caribbean that, without warning or interdiction, has targeted suspected drug-trafficking boats reclassified as “terrorist,” killing at least 43 people, and his concerns preceded his decision to leave his post early. Despite unresolved legal questions and no public evidence presented to Congress or the public that those killed posed an imminent threat, the administration has escalated operations and is sending the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the region, a buildup that analysts say is unnecessary for small-boat interdiction but well suited for air strikes on Venezuela. Officials describe the effort as a pressure campaign aimed at forcing Venezuelan President Nic...

The article argues that Donald Trump has used the presidential pardon less as an act of mercy than as a tool to reward loyalty, cultivate political support, and potentially enrich allies, culminating in his pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. Zhao had pleaded guilty to anti-money-laundering violations tied to Binance’s platform and faced major penalties and restrictions, but reportedly pursued clemency through sustained lobbying and connections to Trump’s orbit. The piece highlights Binance’s reported ties to a Trump family–linked crypto venture and a lucrative stablecoin-backed investment that could benefit the Trumps, suggesting the pardon served both industry outreach and personal gain. It frames Zhao’s case alongside other Trump clemency decisions as evidence of a pattern that by...

The episode opens with a debate over Trump’s decision to alter the White House East Wing, with JVL arguing that reversing symbolic institutional damage is an easy early test of seriousness for future Democratic presidents, while Sarah contends it’s cosmetic, disruptive, and a distraction from governance priorities voters actually feel. They then discuss concerns about election integrity and a Financial Times piece by Ed Luce depicting a Washington climate of elite fear and off-the-record cowardice, alongside the broader problem that Trump’s pay-to-play approach aligns more naturally with autocracies than democratic allies bound by law. The conversation turns to the difficulty of proportionally covering Trump’s corruption and how media norms struggle to treat an administration that behaves ...

The article imagines a plausible 2026 midterm-election crisis in which close House races in Arizona become the pretext for federal intimidation, misinformation, and extraordinary intervention that disrupts ballot custody and lets partisan actors claim victory regardless of the actual count. It argues that while a president has limited formal authority over elections, Trump’s past efforts to overturn results, his stated intent to “fix” voting, and a more disciplined cadre of loyalists across agencies could create new avenues to pressure local officials, weaponize the Justice Department, and exploit razor-thin margins. Experts in election administration and law warn the system is near a breaking point, though decentralized election management and skeptical lower courts provide some resilienc...

Drawing on his grandfather’s wartime recollections, the author argues that World War II was experienced not as a clear, heroic narrative but as confusion, fear, and persistence amid mistakes and brutality. He contends that this generation’s sacrifices bought decades of relative great-power peace, institutional strength, economic growth, decolonization, declining global poverty, and the postwar human-rights framework. With that generation now gone, the author says some of the inheritance has been spent down, including America’s industrial capacity and the shared moral clarity that came from confronting Axis atrocities. He emphasizes that the liberations of the camps provided a lasting moral anchor for Americans and the modern human-rights project, even as it required overlooking some Allied...

The Trump administration is planning a potential covert mission to send U.S. special operations forces and CIA officers into Mexico to target drug cartels, with some training already underway but no final decision or imminent deployment. The operation would likely rely heavily on drone strikes against labs and cartel leaders, with U.S. personnel operating under intelligence authorities and possibly without Mexico’s coordination despite a stated preference to work with its government. The planning follows the administration’s broader military campaign against alleged drug-smuggling operations near Venezuela and the designation of several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations, steps that expand legal authorities for covert action. Mexico’s president has rejected intervention w...

Federal health agencies have been destabilized during Trump’s second term, with the CDC dismantling programs and the FDA facing growing doubts about its credibility amid leadership turmoil. After scandals tied to top vaccine regulator Vinay Prasad, attention has shifted to allegations that top drug regulator George Tidmarsh abused his authority to pursue a long-running grudge against investor Kevin Tang, including threatening messages and regulatory actions targeting Tang-linked companies. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, where Tang is board chair, sued Tidmarsh claiming he effectively sought payments via a “service agreement” in exchange for reversing an FDA change and then publicly attacked Aurinia’s FDA-approved lupus drug, an episode the company says wiped out significant market value. Tidmars...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has told colleagues she is interested in running for president in 2028, arguing she represents “real MAGA” and believes she has the donor network to compete, though she has not made a formal decision. She has disputed reporting about her intentions as baseless gossip, even as she increases her national media exposure on outlets like CNN, “The View,” and “Real Time with Bill Maher.” Greene’s repositioning also includes public breaks with Republican leadership, opposing President Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson while pressing for release of the Epstein files. She has additionally criticized Republicans for lacking a plan for expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies and faulted Johnson for keeping the House out of session during a shutdown.

The article reports that FBI Director Kash Patel has faced growing backlash for repeatedly using a government jet for trips that appear personal, particularly frequent flights to Nashville where his girlfriend Alexis Wilkins lives, even after he previously criticized his predecessor for similar conduct. After scrutiny over a high-profile trip tied to Wilkins’s appearance at a wrestling event, Patel fired the official overseeing FBI aircraft, pushed a flight-tracking site to stop sharing public data about his jet, and publicly attacked critics. Flight data reviewed by the author indicates at least eight Nashville trips since Patel took office in February, along with multiple flights to Las Vegas where he lives, raising questions about cost and purpose amid limited FBI transparency. While Pa...

Sam Stein of The Bulwark reacts in an urgent, exasperated rant to what he portrays as a surge of brazen corruption and chaos surrounding Donald Trump and his administration, touching on a rapid-fire set of controversies ranging from RFK Jr.’s reported drug use and DHS contracting concerns to DOJ-related payouts and politicized handling of the Epstein files. He highlights the significance of even pro-Trump figures like Mike Cernovich remarking on how overt the corruption has become, using it as a sign that the behavior is too blatant to ignore. The centerpiece is a report that a Swiss delegation allegedly gave Trump lavish gifts, including a personalized gold bar, in connection with efforts to reduce tariffs, which Stein frames as a stark example of transactional governance. Stein then shif...

David Frum uses historical parallels—from Rome’s tribute to Attila to modern foreign gift-giving—to argue that American power is increasingly being exercised through personal favor, corruption loopholes, and executive overreach rather than constitutional constraints and allied legitimacy. He and historian Margaret MacMillan discuss how the post–World War II international order depended on U.S. commitment to rules, institutions, and dependable alliances, and how a perceived American withdrawal and norm-breaking could accelerate instability, revive “zones of influence,” and empower rivals like China and Russia. Their conversation ranges from tariffs and coercive diplomacy to fears of unilateral military action in places like Venezuela and the strategic fallout for partners such as Canada, Eu...

The article reports that a 28-point U.S. peace plan for Ukraine contains phrasing that appears translated from Russian and was negotiated by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff with Putin adviser Kirill Dmitriev, without Ukrainian or European participation. Its terms closely mirror Russian demands, including Ukraine ceding Crimea and parts of Donbas, renouncing NATO membership, shrinking its military, banning NATO troops, lifting sanctions, and readmitting Russia to the G8, prompting Ukrainian officials to call it unacceptable and leaving President Zelenskiy warning of a choice between a rushed peace “without dignity” or risking U.S. support. Separately, it notes Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s comments implying the administration is anticipating “something” in Venezuela that could lower oil pric...

Chris Hayes and David Sirota discuss how today’s scandals—from officials using government resources for personal benefit to overt pay-for-play—fit into a longer story of corruption becoming normalized and legally protected in American politics. Drawing on Sirota’s book, they trace a post-Watergate shift in which reforms curbed “cash-in-an-envelope” graft while courts and political movements steadily expanded the legality of big-money influence through campaign finance, super PACs, and weakened bribery enforcement. They unpack how corruption works not only through direct donations but also through the threat of massive spending, industry “message discipline,” and policy capture, with crypto offered as a clear modern case study. The conversation explores why money matters differently at diff...

The episode unpacks a fast-moving Hollywood deal saga in which Warner Bros. Discovery’s film assets may go to Netflix after Paramount/Skydance’s bids were rebuffed, prompting a new hostile bid and raising questions about how the company would be split, how shareholders decide, and what unusually large breakup fees mean. The hosts focus on the antitrust and regulatory risks for any mega-merger and how Donald Trump’s public desire to intervene could both influence corporate decision-making and potentially weaken the government’s case in court by making it look politically motivated. They also examine the political and geopolitical entanglements surrounding Paramount’s effort, including ties to Trump-world figures and outside money, and argue that the motivation may be influence over media as...

Netflix announced an $83 billion plan to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, only for Paramount Skydance to counter with a roughly $108 billion hostile bid tied to Trump-world figures like Jared Kushner, as both sides court President Trump despite his public insistence that neither is a friend. Although merger approval formally rests with regulators such as the DOJ and FTC, Trump has amplified the perception that his personal preferences could shape the outcome, and observers describe an unusually direct effort to win presidential favor. The article argues that weakened institutional norms in Trump’s second term and recent precedent for politically inflected regulatory conditions could increase leverage over the review process, even if past efforts to block major media mergers failed in court....

The article contrasts Stephen Miller’s immigrant family history, documented in an unpublished memoir by his grandmother, with the nativist ideology he advances today, noting that earlier anti-immigrant arguments about “civilization” and “unassimilable” groups closely resemble Miller’s rhetoric about modern migrants. It situates his views within the legacy of early-20th-century scientific racism and the Immigration Act of 1924, which curtailed entry largely to preserve a Northern and Western European ethnic balance and left many Jews who couldn’t immigrate vulnerable to Nazi murder. The piece argues Miller has explicitly praised the 1924 quota era and treats it as a model for current policy, framing his goal as rolling back the post-1965 immigration system. It warns that, given Miller’s inf...

Chris Hayes focuses on a Vanity Fair profile featuring on-the-record remarks from Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles that portray an administration in internal disarray, with Wiles criticizing figures like J.D. Vance, Elon Musk, Pam Bondi, and Russell Vought while also acknowledging Trump’s impulse toward “score settling” and rule-bending. The conversation’s tone is sharply skeptical and accusatory, framing the White House response as frantic damage control and mocking its attempt to dismiss taped quotes as “out of context.” Hayes and guests Miles Taylor and Neera Tanden argue that Wiles comes off as a powerless “bystander” enabling illegality rather than restraining it, pointing to topics like January 6 pardons, Epstein-related fallout, and escalatory actions toward Venezuela that raise con...

As wildfire risk and high winds prompted Xcel Energy to plan major power shutoffs in northeastern Colorado, the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder closed along with other local institutions. At the same time, reports said the Trump administration intends to dismantle NCAR, citing it as a source of “climate alarmism,” after earlier staff reductions and canceled projects tied to anticipated NSF budget cuts. Scientists and NCAR leadership warned that breaking up the center would damage forecasting and climate research by disrupting shared supercomputing resources and cross-disciplinary collaboration, even if some functions are moved elsewhere. The article argues that weather and climate research are inseparable because modern forecasting depends on climate-informed models, an...

Trump Media & Technology Group, parent of Truth Social, agreed to an all-stock merger with fusion firm TAE Technologies valued at more than $6 billion, with each side owning about half of the combined company and the deal expected to close in 2026 pending approvals. The announcement drove Trump Media shares sharply higher, boosting President Trump’s stake, even as the company continues to report quarterly losses and has only recently expanded beyond advertising into areas like crypto and streaming. The merger would position the combined business as an early publicly traded fusion company aiming to start building a utility-scale fusion power plant in 2026, aligning with the administration’s push to expand energy supply for AI-driven electricity demand. The deal also sparked concerns from De...

The article argues that Brendan Carr once criticized presidents for publicly pressuring the FCC on net neutrality, citing Biden’s 2021 competition executive order and Obama’s 2014 call for reclassifying broadband, but has shifted stance after becoming FCC chair under Donald Trump in 2025. It describes how Carr has embraced Trump’s executive order asserting White House control over historically independent agencies, amplified Trump’s demands to target broadcasters, and framed FCC actions as aligned with Trump’s agenda. Carr has said the FCC is not independent because the president can remove commissioners, and the agency removed website language describing itself as independent after Senate questioning. Former chair Tom Wheeler counters that Obama never directly ordered him and warns that t...