Opinion

The White House Communications Department always stretched the truth — it's been caught in a lie many more times than once.

But there was a period in which official White House communications came with a particular seriousness, gravitas, perfection in wording, and more often than not, the position of a president representing every American. Donald J. Trump blew up any notion of the American presidency acting as such, but it took Steve Cheung — one of the most important and dangerous officials that the average American has never heard of — to eviscerate trust built up over generations in official White House communications.

And we don't yet know the full impact, only that it's horrific and could get much worse, and sooner rather than later....

I’m allowing myself to believe that sane people may be in charge of Congress starting next January 20. I know, I know: Polls have gotten our hopes up before only to have them dashed on the rocky shores of political reality.

But this time it does seem as if congressional Republicans will finally get their comeuppance for their blind loyalty to Trump.

The sense of relief in the land is palpable....

After nearly two years of weaponizing the DOJ, featuring official investigations and/or terminations of every career officer who was assigned to investigate Trump’s crimes against the United States, Trump’s DOJ has begun rehabilitating the reputation of former President Richard Nixon.

Even though Nixon was caught engaging in a botched break-in at the Democratic National Committee, illegal wiretapping, and pocketing illegal campaign contributions, more than half a century later, Trump defenders are considering a new spin on the whole scandal: Nixon was the victim of lawfare. Just like Trump.

The only reason Republicans would recast Nixon as a victim is to soften perceptions of Trump’s rampant criminality, set to bite him in the a-- after the midterms. Republican Rep. Riley Moore of West Virginia says Nixon was “framed,” and wants to name an aircraft carrier after him, claiming that people are only now free to talk about “what an amazing president he was.” ...

I have a confession, one I’m not necessarily proud of, and it’s this: I’m a little worried that Trump’s offer to pay $5,000 to every American adult if the Republicans somehow take the midterms is going to make a sufficient difference to enough indigent souls that it may tip some Senate races their way.

This makes no logical sense, I know. Of course, there’s not a single chance in hell he could actually make the payments happen, nor does he actually plan to. But this is the country that elected this swindling scumbag as president twice, so nothing should be seen as out of the realm.

Let’s remember that a not-insubstantial percentage of the population still believes what he says despite all evidence pointing to the fact he’s never told the truth even once in his adult life. He’s also promised previous cash payments that never materialized: a $5,000 DOGE dividend in 2025, as well as a $2,000 tariff payment....

Here’s today’s trivia question (which may turn out to be not at trivial at all when all the facts emerge): Who solicited money from a presidential donor in return for access to the head of the IRS over the donor’s taxes, was a Fox News host, was engaged to the son of the U.S. president, was the former wife of someone who wants to be the next U.S. president, who raised money for and spoke at a rally that led to an attack on the U.S. Capitol, and now is a U.S. ambassador?

If you guessed Kimberly Guilfoyle, you’d be correct on all counts.

Rarely has a person been so enmeshed in the workings (or one might say, dysfunctions) of our current political-economic-media-influence system as Guilfoyle....

This week, the MAGA propaganda machine is going at ludicrous speed thanks to Donald Trump’s incendiary comments about the Iran War (which he promised wouldn’t happen during his 2024 campaign, but why should that matter to MAGA?) at a poorly attended campaign rally in Nebraska.

During his long bloviating rant, Trump stated that allowing Iran to "take out" Los Angeles and San Diego would be a "small price to pay" to keep the country safe as a whole.

And the MAGA crowd cheered — even though they had no idea what it was they were cheering for....

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) suggested over the weekend that a Trump administration official may have quietly contacted a federal appeals judge to stall a contempt inquiry, and the legal analyst interviewing him declared that if so, “people are going to jail.”

In a clip flagged by political video aggregator Acyn Torabi from the Legal AF podcast, Whitehouse laid out a hypothetical involving D.C. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee.

“If some MAGA official communicated to Judge Rao or her chambers and that resulted in the administrative stay that held the door open and kept the facts from the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation and stalled investigation into misconduct by the DOJ,” Whitehouse began, “ask any judge how big a deal that is.”...

President Donald Trump cut off reporters and walked away after they repeatedly demanded evidence for his claim of widespread mail-in voting fraud in California.

Trump spoke to reporters outside the White House on Monday as he prepared to board Marine One for campaign events.

The midterm elections are less than a month away, on Nov. 3....

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) bragged about a road salt win at a Maine Senate debate, and her challenger's comeback had observers cheering.

On Tuesday, Collins faced Democratic challenger Troy Jackson in a debate weeks before the midterms. Asked what she would do about President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada, Collins pointed to a specific victory.

"I was successful at getting road salt removed from the tariff list," Collins said. Jackson responded by pouncing on the answer....