It's Trump's party and he'll cry if he wants to
Nick Anderson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist.
Opinion
Republicans move to gut child labor protections
Last week, the Michigan League for Public Policy shared deep concerns about a bill that would put young workers in our state at risk by eliminating Michigan’s youth work permit system.
House Bill (HB) 5727 seeks to roll back a state system set to be implemented this year by the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) that will ensure employers know the law, protect children from exploitative work and aid in enforcement when violations of the state’s Youth Employment Standards Act (YESA) occur.
HB 5727 seeks to replace this system with a weaker age verification system that would essentially be up to employers to implement and would do next to nothing to ensure child workers are protected beyond ensuring they are of age to work.
Research has shown states with work permit requirements see 17% fewer child labor violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and 43% fewer children involved in those violations. Michigan is one of 35 states in the U.S. that already have work permit systems; however, HB 5727 would stop this much-needed system from being implemented, thus removing important protections for child workers.
It would also be a disservice to employers who want to follow the law, as centralized work permit systems allow states to more proactively inform employers of rules they need to follow when hiring workers under the age of 18.
The bill would also eliminate LEO’s ability to revoke a work permit if a child is not in good standing in school due to a job. This would hamstring a school’s capacity to deal with issues like chronic absenteeism, failing grades and disciplinary issues. The proposal comes at a time when Michigan, once again, ranks nationally in the bottom 10 states in education at 42nd according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book, which was released just this past Monday.
The latest national KIDS COUNT data also shows that 17% of Michigan high school students did not graduate on time in 2024, which is an improvement over 2019 but remains worse than the national average. Students who do not graduate on time are less likely to continue on to postsecondary education and training, which can inhibit their future success in the job market, including their earning capacity.
And it’s not just academic performance that suffers when child labor is not well regulated. Excessive and late-night work hours, for example, can put youth mental and physical health at risk as it often leads to reduced sleep and increased odds for workplace injuries. Teens need more sleep than adults — eight to 10 hours a night on average — but on the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey over 80% of high school students in Michigan reported getting fewer than eight hours a night.
Giving LEO oversight of the state’s work permit system protects children from exploitative child labor that can harm their physical and mental well-being.
HB 5727 is also coming at a time when the U.S. is facing a national child labor crisis, with child labor violations and attacks on state child labor laws on the rise. During fiscal year 2024-2025, the number of federal child labor violations uncovered were the highest they have been since the Great Recession. Meanwhile, according to the Economic Policy Institute, at least 13 states — including Michigan — have introduced bills weakening child labor protections so far this year, and four states have enacted them.
Eliminating Michigan’s work permit system at a time when child labor violations are on the rise defies common sense and undermines the commitment of employers who do seek to follow the law when giving young people opportunities for work experience.
Michigan children and families deserve better. They deserve reasoned, strong policies that both support good jobs and protect quality education. We at the League supported the legislation that was passed by the Michigan Legislature back in 2024 to centralize the state’s youth work permit system within LEO. It is our hope that its implementation this fall will provide better protections for our state’s youth.
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jon King for questions: info@michiganadvance.com.
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Trump's cognitive test is actually a major red flag
Donald Trump’s latest boast should concern Americans far more than it reassures them.
Trump announced on social media that he has passed three cognitive decline tests while mocking former presidents for supposedly never taking one. He framed the tests as proof of his fitness and mental sharpness. In reality, his comments highlight the fact that the United States still has no meaningful standard for evaluating the cognitive fitness of its presidents.
For years, I have advocated for routine cognitive testing for all presidential candidates and sitting Presidents. That position was never about Donald Trump specifically, nor Joe Biden, nor any individual politician, but about the presidency itself.
The presidency is one of the few jobs in America where advanced age does not require objective evaluation. We require airline pilots, surgeons, and military personnel to undergo cognitive and physical health assessments. Fighter pilots have their executive functioning tested. Yet the President and Commander-in-Chief of the United States, who oversees all military operations and nuclear capabilities, faces no standardized cognitive screening requirement.
Public concern is bipartisan and substantial. Polling from Healthcare for Action found overwhelming support for cognitive testing for elected officials,regardless of political affiliation.. Americans recognize that aging affects everyoneCognitive decline is not a moral failing or a partisan issue, but a medical and human reality.
I understand how closely cognitive health is tied to physical health. Conditions affecting blood flow, cardiovascular function, and sleep can influence memory, judgment, and processing speed. Cognitive changes often emerge subtly, appearing as repetition, confusion, impulsivity, or difficulty handling stress.
When the lifeline of our country depends on one person, the slightest impairment, whether physical or cognitive, matters.
One of the most commonly discussed assessments is the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, known as the MoCA. The test evaluates memory, attention, language, and executive function. It is not designed to diagnose dementia on its own, but is a validated screening tool that can identify whether further evaluation is warranted.
However, passing a MoCA is not equivalent to proving exceptional cognitive fitness. It’s simply a baseline screen. Bragging about passing one, like President Trump has done, is comparable to boasting that you passed a standard vision exam while renewing your driver’s license. It may be reassuring if concerns exist, but it is hardly definitive evidence of superior functioning.
If cognitive testing becomes treated as a performative talking point, we will lose an opportunity to establish a serious public health standard.
The goal needs to be transparency and trust, not scoring partisan victories.
The American public has spent years watching uncomfortable debates over aging and mental acuity among political leaders. Voters are often asked to ignore what they see with their own eyes.
Critics argue that cognitive testing could stigmatize aging, but I disagree. Avoiding evaluation fuels suspicion and misinformation while honest assessment respects both candidates and voters.
Others claim voters alone should decide whether a candidate appears mentally fit. But voters already rely on mandatory disclosures in other areas such as financial status.. Transparency strengthens public trust. Cognitive health should not be any different simply because discussing it makes politicians uncomfortable.
None of this is about disqualifying older Americans from leadership. Age alone does not determine competence. Some individuals remain extraordinarily sharp well into their 80s, while others experience meaningful decline much earlier. The only responsible approach is objective evaluation.
Trump is correct about one thing: cognitive testing is now part of the national conversation. But instead of using the issue as another political taunt, we should finally treat it as a serious institutional question.
The presidency demands mental endurance, judgment, and clarity. Voters should never have to guess whether those qualities are intact.
They deserve to know.
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Trump's rage laid bare his fatal flaw
Donald Trump really might just be as mighty as he claims. He did what no NBA team has been able to do to the New York Knicks in the basketball playoffs. His very presence in Madison Square Garden caused them to lose, breaking a 13-game winning streak.
As so many have said before, everything our “president” touches tends to die.
He also united what many consider the greatest city in the world in hatred. His profile, flashed on the Jumbotron, inspired a vast chorus of boos to rain down on him from the rafters. He is so despised by New Yorkers, so intensely loathed and on such massive scale, that it makes you wonder why he would feel compelled to attend the event and inspire such a symphony of contempt.
The sense of denial that drives the man has scarcely been equaled in human history. His selective hearing won’t allow him to believe he is being greeted by anything but adoration.
But it’s his unwavering supporters who are most in denial, of course. They have somehow convinced themselves that a man with no sense of concern or compassion surrounding his fellow citizens cares about them deeply and is making their lives better than anyone ever has before, when in fact the precise opposite is true.
Every time Trump releases an outburst claiming something utterly preposterous and without evidence — like rigged voting in California — they believe him. They have to, because they’re way past the point of no return when it comes to aligning their life view with his. To suddenly see the light would be to out themselves as eternal suckers. And so, they go along because they believe that at this point, they have no choice.
Journalists, however, suffer no such delusion. They see through every part of Trump despite feigning esteem and decorum, since the office he represents still demands deference even if the man himself deserves less than zero.
But much of that regard is beginning to fall away. A man who turns to attacking journalists personally every time he’s presented with an uncomfortable question that he can’t easily answer is worthy of no due respect. Not when he is so purposefully rude and hostile and misogynistic.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins has lately been on the receiving end of that chauvinistic nastiness. Last week, Trump responded to a perfectly legitimate question from her by replying, “I see a young, beautiful woman. Never smiles. I never see a smile on her face. I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes.”
This is, of course, his attempt at humiliation and condescension. The fact that Collins, and none of her colleagues, has yet to respond with vitriol — something like “Quite frankly, Mr. President, you’re a fat, angry, bloated pile of smelly vomit” — is a study in professional restraint.
However, Meet the Press host Kristen Welker demonstrated the proper way of dealing with a vile bully on her show over the weekend. The video clip is already the stuff of legend. Welker’s behavior should be the model for brushing off his attempts at intimidation going forward. She spoke plain truth to Trump, and he predictably caved.
In case you missed it, Welker stood her ground and simply asked the same question repeatedly: Where is the evidence, Mr. President? It’s the one question His Royal Lowness has no answer for. And this time, it finally led to a meltdown and his pulling off his microphone and leaving, because at the end of the day, he’s a vibrating puddle of cowardice.
When confronted with facts, Trump pivoted to victimhood. When challenged with evidence, he turned to personal attacks of Welker. When backed into a corner, he cobbled together a conspiracy that made no sense. It never does.
But the difference this time is that Welker wouldn’t be double-talked into silence. This was a journalist who knew what she would be facing and came prepared. And without one of his usual exit ramps to employ, Trump panicked and bolted. He wasn’t accustomed to someone refusing to let him rage on and on without simply nodding their head in acquiescence.
When Trump claimed the January 6 rioters had been set up by the FBI, Welker calmly reminded him that none of the investigations turned up that kind of evidence or anything close. When he railed that the recent California primary and the 2020 elections were rigged, she again requested actual proof.
“All I have to do is look,” Trump defiantly claimed.
“But that’s not evidence,” Welker replied, unimpressed.
Check and mate.
That was predictably where the emperor became aware that he was in fact naked and decided to make a hasty retreat — but not before railing, “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid…Your elections are crooked and you’re crooked. Meet the Press is crooked. And so is ABC and CBS and CNN.”
He might as well have added, “And the camera recording this. And the burger I had for lunch. And your mama. And your daddy. All crooked.”
“Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough,” he finally said. “Thank you darling. Have a good time.”
And with that, he unclipped his mic and was gone, later blaming the rain for his meltdown, because of course, nothing can ever be his own fault.
This is not the behavior of a leader but a frightened little man who is making it all up as he goes along. By calling out the wizard behind the curtain, Welker supplied the template for how it’s done. She behaved like an actual journalist. The reason it felt so liberating to witness is we’d all forgotten what it looked like.
This is how you do it. You don’t take the disdainful bait. You just bring it all back to reality and, in speaking truth to power with such directness and composure, you give the world a demonstration in competence and courage.
(Ray Richmond is a longtime journalist/author and an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Orange, CA.)
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This holier-than-thou Republican is forgetting her own dark past
I have several female friends who have been victims of domestic abuse. Over the past decade, they have confided in me because I’ve been open about my mental health struggles. When you make yourself vulnerable, it often gives others permission to do the same.
It is difficult to hear their stories. That’s one reason it has been personally difficult for me to hear what some of the women involved with Graham Platner have described. One friend once told me, “You will never know what it’s like when someone grabs your throat and you see that look in their eyes.”
That comment haunts me.
The allegations against Platner have rightly thrown Maine Democrats into a genuine crisis of conscience: How do you hold your candidate accountable for alleged harm done to women while keeping your hopes of winning a Senate seat alive?
It is an ugly situation, and one I’ve been asked about repeatedly. “What do you think about Graham Platner?” My answer is simple. He should have never entered the race. if you have skeletons in the closet, especially bad ones like his, they eventually come out.
Anyone considering a run for public office should understand that. If there is something significant in your past that you are hiding, the odds are beyond good that it will become public, and when it does, the consequences can be devastating.
Not just for the person, but their party, and the electorate.
Just ask Graham Platner.
But here we are. And now, the question is what happens next.
Putting personal feelings aside and looking at this purely as a political campaign, I increasingly see a race between two flawed candidates. Some flaws are more serious than others, but none of us are without them.
As Democrats wrestle with Platner’s past, I have found myself looking more closely at the other candidate, Susan Collins. And in doing so, I realized something. Watching her play the role of the appalled bystander, the righteous observer who would never tolerate such conduct, for example, has become difficult for me.
That is not a role she has earned. And I say this not to rationalize, or to try and make an excuse or reason to vote for Platner.
When The New York Times published its account of Platner’s past behavior toward women, allegations of intimidation, emotional abuse, and conduct that left former partners frightened, I waited to hear Collins respond. She eventually did.
“The allegations in the latest story are troubling,” Collins said. “I believe that Graham Platner has a lot of questions to answer.”
She is right. He does.
And so does she.
The irony that keeps getting buried in campaign coverage is that Collins has her own record when it comes to accountability and harm toward women.
I have known several women who have had abortions, and I am humbled that they trusted me enough to share those experiences. Every one of them described the decision as painful, emotionally complicated, and deeply personal.
And immensely hurtful.
Even two friends who needed abortions because of serious medical concerns described feelings of grief and guilt.
After Dobbs, many of those same women expressed gratitude that they had at least been able to make the decision themselves and access appropriate medical care. They felt profound sympathy for women in states where that choice suddenly disappeared.
As one of them told me, the experience is difficult enough. Having the choice taken away makes it immeasurably worse.
That kind of harm demands accountability. It demands more than carefully worded statements issued when political pressure becomes unavoidable. It requires us to look directly at the people who enabled it and ask: What did you know, and what did you do?
By that standard, Collins does not get to stand at the podium and point fingers.
In 2018, Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who testified before Congress about her allegations. Collins described Ford’s testimony as “heart-wrenching, painful, and compelling.” She said she believed Ford had experienced sexual trauma. Mind-bogglingly, she then said it was not at the hands of Kavanaugh.
And then she voted to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Collins insisted she had “full confidence” that Kavanaugh would not vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. He had signaled as much during the confirmation process, and Collins chose to believe him.
She chose to believe him despite warnings from women across Maine who flooded her offices, attended demonstrations, and shared deeply personal stories — like the ones I’ve heard — about assault, reproductive freedom, and the stakes of the confirmation vote.
She voted yes anyway.
The consequences are now part of the historical record.
Roe was overturned. Abortion access disappeared across much of the country. Women have been denied miscarriage care, forced to continue nonviable pregnancies, and left navigating legal uncertainty during medical emergencies. The physical and emotional consequences are real, documented, and ongoing.
Yet Collins has never expressed regret. She continues to say she stands by her vote based on the information available at the time.
But many people looked at the same information and reached a different conclusion.
Many Americans believed Kavanaugh would help overturn Roe. They said so repeatedly. They protested, organized, and warned exactly what was coming. Collins dismissed those concerns and cast one of the most consequential votes of her career.
Now she wants to talk about accountability.
To be clear, Graham Platner is not off the hook. The allegations against him describe behavior that many women have characterized as frightening and abusive. His apologies, whatever one thinks of them, cannot be the end of the conversation. Voters and his party are right to scrutinize his record and demand answers.
But accountability is not a one-way street, and it does not expire when the news cycle moves on.
The harm resulting from Collins’ vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh did not end after he lied to her and went on to overturn Roe. Its effects continue to negatively and hurtfully shape the lives of millions of women across the country.
That reality makes Collins something more than an observer in this debate.
She is a participant.
The question Maine voters should ask is why she has never truly been required to answer for it.
Graham Platner has apologized, however imperfectly and however late. Susan Collins never has.
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A new White House enemies list names just 3 people. It's terrifying
The juvenile delinquents who have been put in charge of the White House website and social media have officially gone full Nazi by creating an “Enemies List” of “Leftist Influencers” on WhiteHouse.gov
The list is fairly short for now, but the fact that it exists at all is proof that the Trump-controlled government is continuing to follow a propaganda playbook that was originally written in German in the 1930s. It was then later translated into Russian before finally reaching our shores and becoming a hybrid of their most horrifically successful tactics, with just enough of The Handmaid’s Tale for good measure added in over the last few years.
All of which has been boosted by MAGA-dominated social media for more than a decade.
Trump’s attacks on the press began almost exactly 11 years ago, when he first descended the tacky gold escalator in his tacky gold tower to fling his loaded diaper all over our political norms. It was then that he began poisoning the vernacular with the term “fake news media,” which is now so common that it’s used by Republican members of Congress who allowed themselves to be compromised thanks to blackmail (Russian Tactics 101, for those of you who are new to the subject). Those who once spoke out against Trump are now fully owned by him, as is the right-wing media, which helps boost his lies instead of exposing them. CBS News has already fallen to him, but that’s not enough.
Hitler had his Lügenpresse; Trump has “Fake News Media.”
Which is full-on projection language, considering he’s been abetted by Fox, Newsmax, and OAN, along with “MAGA journalists” like Nick Shirley, who are on the White House payroll to create distractions from the Epstein Files.
THIS is what the real Fake News Media looks like.
Why yes, that’s my tweet from October 2025, when these kids with cameras in their phones were calling themselves “journalists” because it would continue to delegitimize the work done by actual, real journalists who were exposing the truth about the Trump administration.
Like everything else Trump does, that move came with a body count in Minneapolis.
I’ve written here before about his specific attacks on women in the media, which happened yet again this week when he attacked CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during a press briefing in the Oval Office--before she had even said a word.
Trump’s attacks on the media have escalated drastically over the last few months as both his mental and physical health have been rapidly declining in front of the entire world. Interestingly, the “Leftist Influencers” who are being targeted have all reported on Trump’s health.
David Pakman, Ed Krassenstein, and Brian Tyler Cohen are all on the WHITE HOUSE WEBSITE, each of them being made out to be enemies of the State. They’re all essentially being doxxed by Donald Trump, all for daring to always tell the truth about him.
A quick word about Ed Krassenstein and his brother, Brian. They’ve had a bad rep for being opportunistic grifters for as long as I can remember. They claim to be Democrats, but have tweeted support for Trump in the past, and have even justified buying a Cybertruck. These aren’t all of the things about them, but this is my way of saying that they are not universally beloved by liberals, and that would include me.
Also, not all liberals are Leftists, just to be clear.
Anyway, any controversies connected to the Krassensteins are besides the point; neither of them deserves to be targeted by the White House as a distraction from the Epstein Files. Freedom of the Press is guaranteed by the Constitution, as is Freedom of Speech. Any attack on any member of the press is an attack on all of our First Amendment rights.
Those of us who’ve also been writing the truth about Trump for a long time are wondering when we’ll be added to that list. It’s not as if we don’t have digital footprints like those I’ve mentioned; some of us have larger platforms than others.
And a few of us are blocked by Trump on Twitter. I’ve been blocked since August 2015, which is why I’m probably not on the list yet.
But it’s not just those “influencers” being targeted for talking about Trump on their podcasts. The White House is now also threatening people for simply posting on social media about Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, and Melania.
Writer Anthony Andrews tweeted on Saturday that he had received a “cease and desist” order for his Twitter posts and shared screenshots from the order.
I don’t care if you voted for Trump three times; that should make you furious. MAGA tweets far worse things than that about Democrats all day, every day.
I’m especially rolling my eyes at the “GOVERN YOURSELF ACCORDINGLY” part, considering that Andrews was doing exactly that. He was exercising his Constitutional right to free speech, which includes being able to openly criticize any member of the United States government. He was sharing knowledge about the Epstein Files. Discovery on this alone could end the entire GOP, so I’m not sure why Trump is going after individual Twitter accounts.
But it’s not going to stop anyone from telling the truth about him.
The website you’re reading this on could very well be targeted at some point, since all we do here at Raw Story is tell the truth, even when we’re writing Commentary. In my case, I’ve never stopped telling the truth about anyone in politics, because the truth doesn’t care how we vote. The truth about a Republican isn’t any more or less true than the truth about a Democrat. Like Scott Pelley, I won’t be told what to say or write.
It’s up to all of us to keep making the truth matter and stand up to anyone who tries to silence it.
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Trump accidentally just made the strongest case for Black reparations
When President Trump floated the idea of a nearly $2 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” for people “horribly treated” by the federal government, he inadvertently reopened the debate about reparations for Black Americans.
Suddenly, in a galling case of white grievance envy, it’s not such a far-fetched idea.
Trump, who has since backed off the measure, created the fund as a means of providing a “systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.”
Those who could benefit include Jan. 6, 2021, rioters Trump pardoned — the people who pummeled Capitol Police and smeared feces on walls. The government would also extend apologies to people with claims against the government.
Consider the double standard.
When President Clinton visited Uganda in 1998, he consciously avoided a formal, legal apology. He used softer language, fearing reprisals from those on the political right who didn’t want Clinton apologizing for America.
“Going back to the time before we were even a nation, European Americans received the fruits of the slave trade. And we were wrong in that,” Clinton said then.
Now that payments and apologies have been considered for Jan. 6ers, is it really such a stretch to consider the same for Black Americans, who have an infinitely better case?
There’s more to it than 265 years of enslavement and 99 years of segregation. The case also includes racist narratives that justified slavery and the unbroken denial of the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law from our PAST to OUR PRESENT.
The founders used race as an organizing principle, and the nation has followed that decree.
Consider the gynecological experimentation performed without anesthesia. The Tuskegee syphilis experiments, a U.S. Public Health Service project which stretched from the early 1930s into the early 1970s, in which researchers observed untreated syphilis in Black men, to determine whether the disease caused greater cardiovascular or neurological damage in Black men compared with white men.
Consider the Tulsa and Rosewood massacres, and the thousands of lynchings during and following Reconstruction. Government funding for white suburban homebuyers that explicitly excluded Black homebuyers. The initial exclusion of Black Americans from Social Security and the GI Bill.
Consider redlining, racial neighborhood covenants, and low-ball home appraisals.
Consider COINTELPRO, a series of covert and illegal projects conducted between 1956 and 1971 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It surveilled, infiltrated and disrupted organizations and people like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party.
Consider that cemetaries and even “Christian” hospitals in this state once practiced segregation.
Consider racial profiling, police terror, all-white juries, mass incarceration fueled by 100-to-one crack laws, attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion, and the current rush in the formerly Confederate South to slash already scant Black Congressional representation.
And so much more.
Despite this history, the majority of John Roberts’ Supreme Court today would have the public believe that structural, institutional racism no longer exists, while it unfolds daily in the lives of African Americans.
For years, the late Michigan Sen. John Conyers introduced HB-40, which would create a study of reparations. It met stonewall resistance. It could not even be discussed.
In a 2023 NPR interview, the host said Conyers’ proposal rose from the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, adding, “some of that building’s most recognizable architecture is one of many still visible legacies of slave labor.”
This so-called debate really isn’t a debate. The facts are not in dispute. African Americans remain the only people ever considered property. This was theft on a mass scale. Theft of bodies. Theft of property. Theft of opportunity.
People fear this discussion because it shatters our country’s grand illusion of equality. Pull that pin, and the nation’s egalitarian tower crumbles. These are the people who want inconvenient history eradicated from textbooks and banned in classrooms and museums.
Indigenous Americans received reparations. Japanese Americans received reparations. Enslavers received reparations after losing their human property. Italian American family members received reparations for an 1891 lynching in New Orleans.
Now, we’re talking about compensating Jan. 6 rioters.
Anyone but the people with the best case.
Members of the Trump’s party have tried to shout down the proposal.
The people who could most readily claim horrible treatment, the folks who’ve arguably fought the hardest for the country yet denied full citizenship, cannot count on the decency of having their experiences acknowledged, let alone compensated.
As shameless as the case for Jan. 6ers may be, it would be even more galling to continue to ignore the systematic denial of equal protection under the law for African Americans.
Consider the double standard.
Mark McCormick is the former executive director of the Kansas African American Museum, a member of the Kansas African American Affairs Commission and former deputy executive director at the ACLU of Kansas. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
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This crushing truth will have MAGA survivors fleeing Trump
There is nothing like spending well over a decade of life satiating the Left's unending "id" only to then corner fast and navigate having to talk politics "nicely," a duty one undertakes when doing consulting for candidates that somehow have to retain every Democrat in a district, while also reaching out to that 15-20% that voted for Trump but ah... isn't happy.
There is great news to be had in that the 20% exists, and they've never been unhappier. The bad news is that, like many victims of traumatic abuse, even though they "see" the objective landscape, they've absorbed so much of their abuser's personality that the dynamic is now one more of "identity" than a set of beliefs, more feel than fact, less character than it is a culture.
Take a dare. Have a friend or co-worker approach you and say, "But they said 'America-First' and that they'd bring costs down... " And try not to respond by screaming some variation of "The fact that he campaigned alongside Elon Musk didn't tip you off at all? The fact that Trump's made his fortune ripping people off didn't... Did you recently hit your head, you stupid piece of... "
It is really, really, hard.
But before you pat yourself on the back for being so sophisticated as to have seen all this coming, I would like you to list the top three to four biggest K-pop songs ever, or name the best second baseman in baseball, take a shot at telling us why someone was robbed of a Nobel prize recently. Yes, national politics should and does transcend most niche cultural ecosystems, but not by a lot, and — again, we're only talking about 10 to 20 percent of the people out there. Oh, and our group has never attended a rally, doesn't scoff at red hats, or know Trump is making a boatload of money for himself. Sadly, never doubt, they do watch Fox News because, of course, they do.
My point is, a lot of these people are cops, coaches, nurses, farmers, the type that sits beside you at a football game and isn't the worst person on earth. They live around you and are not horrible or lost, no matter how much of your entire situational awareness overlaps with knowing just how horrible and lost their votes have been. This is not the hat-wearing crowd.
So where do you even begin? Well, first, throw Donald Trump aside entirely because he's irrelevant at this point; no, that's not said facetiously, nor with a hint of smugness. Yes, Trump can still oust a Massie or Cornyn in red state primaries, that's fine — that's the section of committed MAGA voters that we cannot reach. On a broader, more practical landscape, with moderates, we're long past individual issues, even individual names, one being Trump. We're now doing nothing more than traversing the red to blue voting spectrum, picking up survivors along the way.
One has to give them permission for "being taken advantage of and being lied to," not just because it's good politics and that saves them from being lectured to, but it also happens to be the truth. To someone without robust political experience and sophistication, especially if the media is all funneled appropriately, it was a lie and well-told.
So who lied? Again, don't just simply point to Donald Trump and Mike Johnson because then you're back to that voter's "identity" in some sense, and that's still a sore spot. It is much easier to simply note, "Same as it always was, the billionaires controlled it from the beginning. No one, and I mean no one, has ever had it better than the globe's billionaires." That will get a knowing nod. Even Fox News can't hide that reality.
You just established a beachhead. Without regard to literally anything else in the world, neither you nor the voter is a billionaire — an objective fact. Just as obvious, the billionaire has more overwhelming political power than ever. Moving forward on the "non-billionaire" platform, note that the price of gas has taken a significant slash out of our coach-nurse-cop's disposable income. That extra $25 to fill the gas tank is the difference between takeout and frozen in a lot of people's lives, something that matters, so turn and ask, "When was the last time a billionaire looked at a gas gauge, never mind prices?"
Eyes wide.
Now you're really moving because your moderate voter has a better chance of dancing to K-pop than actually envisioning life as a billionaire. "So, if a person sets aside 'what things cost' as a concern on any level, don't you see how something like a world shortage of oil might look as less of a concern for those in power? " (Resist it, resist it, it's right about there where you're going to feel a strong urge again to just start beating down on someone that just saved a life in the ER.)
Because a world without consequences to one's lifestyle is a vastly different world than that of you and me. It is the only world in which a red congresscritter like mine can literally write the AI Deregulation bill and vote to support Trump's tariffs, despite the fact that such votes destroy the folks back home. It makes billionaires happy, and when billionaires are happy, the very, very few people around them — like MAGA pols — are happy, too.
At some point, your voter is going to become acutely aware of a major problem, having once thought it was kinda cool that Elon was on their side for once, and grab for what they "know" to be true, "But you can't have boys playing girls' sports, I mean, come on... "
Trouble.
Self-evident as it seems to you that this is just a civil rights and medical issue for people whose lives are so much harder than your voters', you're still getting launched off that beachhead fast without some quick thinking because their world has likely never known a kid transitioning. In their world, a person can more easily float than have gender issues and "decide to be a boy," and this is not the time and place for you to be "teaching" or informing. These issues are meant to divide, and without a lot of education and enlightenment, isn't changing. It is stuff for which there's no time, not now, because only winning now saves that transitioning kid, and this ain't the conversation that will do it.
Turning fast, back to the beach. "Well, for whatever else we know, we know that you and that transitioning young adult both have a harder time filling up a tank of gas to even get to that practice in the first place, and if we spend all our time here arguing the merits of that, it only allows the precious few without cost consequences to simply mow us down." (Please remember, you're not talking to someone hateful — those in the "quarter" that aren't spoken to at all — you're with someone who only knows that something isn't right and they're pretty upset.)
Speaking of which.
For the love of God, just because you have to talk nice and take a moderate stance, don't for a second believe that it means you must play nice. Indeed, this is a time when candidates 'better bring it. Surveys show people saying they "want less politics, more answers." Fine. Except it's not, because while people tend to say such things, this time they actually want more politics because they most certainly do sense something is off, and even moderates are looking for a fight. Great — find the one against the billionaire. Math still works, we still outnumber them, but only when you have that teacher's vote.
You are well on your way, so say something funny and endearing. "Did you see that MAGA's campaign site? A "movement ready to grow" — what does that even mean? Did they get that out of Aladdin?" Get a chuckle, pat them on the back. "We actually do disagree on so many things, for sure. But it's pretty sad that we don't even have the luxury of fighting about that stuff, not when we're the ones just trying to survive."
Bang.
Because that guy really does hate you if you open up to all you believe, and the more you push this person into Fox News World, the more you will find yourself increasingly antagonistic to that cop, wanting to beat some sense into him, and, just trust me on this, it's a bad idea to fight cops. Just like with elections, you pick the wrong fight, and you will lose, and there will be consequences.
So stick to the consequences that you share, rather than those that divide. If nothing else, reach for "balance," say it's really time to balance things out, because "if you give either side unbridled raw power, you're going to see some craziness." Better — that'll get a nod because he knows he's going to see boys playing girls basketball if the stars align for the Left, meanwhile, both you know that something far more insane goes on when it's his side with all the power. You get new wars in the Middle East, data centers on playgrounds, and an who cares? attitude toward prices and salaries, and that's a world they do see, even though they voted for it.
Good luck, but please engage because this is the only way. It doesn't matter what country, what time in history, there comes a point where even the values of three-quarters of a nation become meaningless, and you're at the last chance to peacefully take power back. Never forget, in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Germany was the most sophisticated, well-educated, stable country on earth, from music, to physics, to infrastructure, Germany dominated the globe, and at no point would even one-quarter of Germans have "voted" for the consequences to come. This election, maybe the next, these are the last grasps of all we have left of "voting" things back to sanity, and you need that coach's vote to do it. We will have an election in 2030, but so will Russia. This is real.
And yes, it is on you. And me. All of us. Being sophisticated and educated enough to "see" things for what they really are does no good if not applied to the neighborhood, city, or county in which we live. There is no way to get there from here without these conversations. I am sorry for that. It shouldn't be this way. We should be out defending that boy, screaming about ICE dragging people off streets, noting that MAGA just disenfranchised Blacks out of the South at one man's behest, all of it. We just can't.
That sucks. It does. But living in the real world, seeing how things really are, includes a duty to realize that you really do share one fundamental truth with that voter: neither of you is a billionaire god, small nations to ourselves, instead things hurt, something isn't right, and nothing is changing until most of us come together. Indeed, things are so wrong that you're willing to smile and backslap someone who voted for Trump. Not too hard.
But it is a fight.
Jason Miciak is a Rawstory columnist, former Editor at Occupy Democrats, an author, political consultant, and single parent girldad. Follow on Bluesky, and contact jasonmiciak@gmail.com
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Trump's latest crime was caught by a rolling camera
It is hard to be on left-leaning social media and not hear the panic screams directed at Congressional Democrats for not "doing something" amidst the chaos and corruption bursting forth from the reactor breach within the administration. As for actually stopping or holding up the legislation powering through all three MAGA branches, one can somewhat sympathize with Democratic pols, given how little they can do under our form of government.
But Democrats can and must fire back when holding the floor in oversight, especially during committee hearings going out to screens everywhere. And on that issue, we see signs of life — and none too soon.
This administration's flaunting of its breathtaking corruption continues to poison the nation's foundation, and if Democrats lack the power to arrest right now, at least establish a record, something on which to build, a message, and thus the movement to stop it. History gets recorded moment to moment, and this administration bets that no one has a moment to spare to stop them.
Seen from afar, perhaps Trump and Co. have read it right; the country's incuriosity over the corruption is stupefying. One of this regime's only true successes is fully absorbing the maxim about the cover-up being bigger than the crime. The guy who could shoot somebody on Fifth Ave. and not lose a vote will have to just hire someone to do it because his time is dedicated to the floor of the NYSE, using inside information, indeed creating the information hour to hour, to profit off the latest developments.
No deep throat "follow the money." No — just follow the news.
Senator Professor Elizabeth Warren has had it and took Treasury Secretary and hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to the shed over Trump's day trading, noting that any private entity with such success and activity would have regulators knocking at the door with warrants. Instead, Bessent got Warren, wondering how the hell this happens right in front of us. Bessent had nothing because there's nothing to be had, only retorting that Congress should "get its house in order first," as if A.) It's his job to tell Congress what to do B.) Congress being almost as bad somehow gives Trump a license to commit crime in daylight, and C.) any self-respecting government couldn't do both.
Over in the House came the hopelessly inept and one of the uniquely dull members of the Cabinet, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, who got his Okie handed to him by Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA). Mullin apparently believes that DHS is a part-time position he can do primarily working out of his house, jetting back and forth to Washington twice weekly after making sure everything's okay in Oklahoma rather than, literally, "everywhere else."
It is right there. Trump making millions, Mullin jetting around in Kristi Noem's jet, doing whatever one does in bed 35,000 feet over the country, working on a COVID schedule rather than planning for the next pandemic. Whatever is to come of it is up to the country, whether we even care enough anymore, remains to be established; what's up to the Dems is making sure that it's at least known, addressed, and fought against.
So fight they do. (And, please, remember this particular moment, because when Hurricane "Macho" hits Houston with 145 mph winds this summer, bringing millions of people's lives to a standstill, requiring a herculean effort from, well, literally everywhere else, remember if Mullin seemed at all "engaged" about whether his Department remained secure, never mind the nation's security.)
Yes, when conditions crater all around, screaming at your Democrats to "do something" is as much a cry for help as it is an instruction, never mind insurrection. But we shouldn't take for granted these days, the ones that quickly constitute the history of this regime, that someone took the flag and demanded answers, accountability, something.
As for Trump, Bessent, Mullin, the entire lot of them. They must see a nation of suckers. There's nearly no other explanation as to how Trump can trade seven-figure NVIDIA stock in the same week he opens China to their chips. Instead of shooting someone on the street, Trump took the gun to the bank and simply walked out with a bag. Money doesn't create itself out of thin air; there are victims. Trump bought that stock from someone who thought it more likely to go down, given everything known at the time, the seller not knowing what Trump did, that he alone was about to improve NVIDIA's fortunes. Get invested, so to speak.
It's just all so awful. But we need so much more of this. The statute of limitations for most federal crimes is five years, and whether anyone will ever be fully held accountable depends greatly on where our priorities go as history unfolds from here, moment to moment — at least Democrats appeared to capture this one.
Jason Miciak is a Rawstory Columnist and former Editor at Occupy Democrats, an author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent girldad. Follow on Bluesky and can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com.
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The nation is waking up — and Trump is the alarm clock nobody wanted
Friends,
I detest him and everything he does or says. Ditto his despicable aides and Cabinet members, his unprincipled sycophants and suck-ups.
But it’s possible that someday we’ll look back on this horrendous era and say we needed Trump. We needed to see how horrible it could get before America was able to revive its ideals.
Please hear me out.
Even before Trump, we were barreling down the wrong road. Inequalities of income, wealth, and opportunity were worsening. Legalized bribery was soaring in the form of mounting campaign contributions from big corporations and the wealthy. Workers were getting shafted. On Wall Street and in C-suites, fealty to the rule of law was giving way to “greed is good” selfishness. Giant corporations were monopolizing ever more of the economy. America was losing its moral authority in the world (think Abu Ghraib and the torture memo).
We couldn’t have remained on that road. Even if we didn’t know it then, most of us understand that now. Trump has opened our eyes to the consequences of extreme greed, corruption, cruelty, and utter disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law. His brazenness and shamelessness have awakened us to much that we took for granted.
He and his regime are still dangerous as hell, of course. But the American public is catching on. His polls are in the cellar; they continue to fall.
It’s as if the nation has been through basic training in democracy, a stress test in civics, a crash course in the importance of having a decent and good government.
Before Trump, how many Americans understood the importance of “checks and balances” among the three branches of government, as envisioned by the Founders?
Now nearly everyone knows, because we’ve seen what happens when the head of the executive branch usurps the power of Congress and defies the federal courts.
How many of us really knew what “due process” meant when it came to giving people accused by the government an opportunity to defend themselves?
By now most of us have seen videos of people dragged out of their homes in the dead of night by masked agents of the U.S. government and thrown into detention camps without so much as a hearing. And we’ve seen government agents murder American citizens in cold blood on the streets of our cities.
Did we understand the meaning of corruption, bribes, self-dealing, and pay-to-play before Trump extorted corporations and billionaires to contribute millions to his campaign, his PAC, his inauguration, his ballroom, and his 250th birthday party? Now, we surely do.
Did we really know the importance of professional civil servants before Trump fired tens of thousands of them and substituted brainless loyalists? Before he got rid of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because it published truthful jobs data he didn’t like?
Did we understand the importance of expertise before Trump turned his back on career diplomats at the State Department, doctors and epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control, and experienced lawyers at the Justice Department and replaced them with loyalist hacks?
Or the meaning of “equal justice under the law” before Trump turned the Justice Department into his own private law firm to prosecute political enemies and pardon supporters?
Did we comprehend the true meaning of freedom of speech and expression before Trump attacked our universities for allowing demonstrations he disliked? Before he got CBS to fire Stephen Colbert for satirizing him and muzzle “60 Minutes” for criticizing him?
Did we know the dangers of oligarchy before Trump authorized Elon Musk to destroy entire federal agencies? Before Trump suck-up Jeff Bezos prohibited the editorial board of The Washington Post from endorsing Kamala Harris? Before Trump turned over to Larry and David Ellison much of how Americans learn what’s going on — CBS’s broadcast network, its news division, and over 28 local television stations, as well as CNN, TikTok, Comedy Central, Discovery, HBO and HBO Max, and Warner Bros. Studios?
Did we understand the importance of the federal government keeping us safe and healthy before Trump eviscerated health and safety regulations? Before he decimated the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control, and much of the Department of Health and Human Services? Before he authorized a crackpot with no medical background who opposes vaccines to run the world’s largest and most powerful health agency?
Did we understand why the Federal Reserve needs to be independent of politics? Did we know why the Federal Trade Commission needs to crack down against monopolies? Did we appreciate why the National Labor Relations Board must protect workers’ rights to form unions?
I venture to say, in answer to all of these questions: No, we did not know.
Now, most of us do.
It’s a terrible time. I share your sadness, anger, and fear. But prior to this daymare, too many of us had fallen asleep at the wheel. We had let America barrel down a road that was compromising too many of the ideals we hold in common.
Maybe we needed this horrific wakeup call in order to get back on the road we should have been on. We needed to see how fragile the institutions of self-government are in order to know why we must strengthen them. We needed to be reminded of what America is all about — what it should be about — in order to revive it — and reclaim it, for and by the people.
We will use what we’ve learned. We will fight for a stronger democracy. We’ll demand equal justice and the rule of law. We’ll commit ourselves to the common good. And we will assign Trump and his regime to the dustbin of history.
- Robert Reich is an emeritus professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/. His new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org
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A fresh voice has broken through the noise — and it's sending MAGA insane
I’ve often said that the best way to trigger MAGA is to use its own tactics and words against it, because it’s an incredibly effective way to showcase how bad they are at doing everything, including their internet bullying.
They don’t like to be ridiculed or told they’re racist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, etc. They don’t want to hear any truths about Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. They use projection and immature juvenile name-calling as a replacement for discussing policy, as Trump has no policies other than enriching himself. They ignore all of Trump’s failures, bankruptcies, affairs, and multiple crimes against the United States, all in the name of “owning the Libs.”
I can’t speak for all liberals, but I don’t think any of us have ever once felt owned by the Red Hat Death Squad, considering they share a collective IQ point. But plenty of people on our side of Twitter and other apps have repeatedly owned them.
California Governor Gavin “Studly” Newsom and his digi team were the first to truly understand how to get under Trump’s legendarily thin skin like no one since Hillary Clinton. And all they did to trigger the Trumpflakes was use the Trump Template of braggadociously bloviating all-caps and lots of exclamation points.
More recently, Paulina Mangubat, the DNC’s Deputy Chief Mobilization Officer, used a totally MAGA tactic in a reply to Kapo Nosferatu Stephen Miller.
MAGA really didn’t like that, with a mass pearl-clutching at a Democrat daring to speak out against the Regime.
Which is what we all should be doing, but some of us are suppressed on Twitter.
But now, a new hero has emerged on Twitter, one whose name alone can set off a blizzard of MAGA snowflakes like no one else:
Hunter Biden.
The beloved only surviving son of Joe and Jill Biden, Hunter’s struggles with drugs and alcohol have been well-documented. It’s so profoundly stupid that MAGA’s dual obsessions with Hunter are his addiction and his laptop. I’m not sure how they would go about trolling him if projection language wasn’t a thing, because they love to accuse Hunter of profiting from his father’s presidency while Trump’s Large Adult Sons are raking in millions between Bitcoin and shady investments.
We also have to talk about former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s full-on obsession with the handsome Hunter, because she kept bringing giant thirst trap photos of him (along with graphic pics) to Congressional hearings in 2023. I always imagined the employees at the Kinko’s closest to the Capitol cringing every time one of MTG’s staffers came in with another hard drive full of photos of Hunter that made him look like a Calvin Klein model shot by Herb Ritts in the '90s.
All bullying is rooted in jealousy, and MAGA doesn’t have anyone nearly as dreamy as Hunter Biden. Even the most unflattering photo of Hunter is better than any shot of Don Jr and Eric. Also, Hunter doesn’t seem to have gotten any plastic surgery, unlike literally every member of the Trump family and all of the women who work for them or marry into the worst family this country has ever produced.
Hunter Biden didn’t come to Twitter to play games, my friends. He hit the algorithms swinging, and everyone on the left was delighted by watching his DGAF takes on everything MAGA.
He’s also killing it in the replies.
7 years sober today.
Thank you to everyone who has walked this road with me. pic.twitter.com/aA7AKmzLjB
— Hunter Biden (@HunterBiden) June 1, 2026
Hunter Biden triggers Trump and Trump Jr like no one else, because he has something neither of them will ever have:
A loving father.
No, both Trump & Trump Jr are obsessed with you because neither of them knows what it feels like to have their father love them
This photo of you & your dad triggers MAGA more than anything because they’ve never felt love like this in their entire miserable lives pic.twitter.com/Z8J0aVpNW0
— Tara Dublin aka Winona Spyder™️ (@taradublinrocks) June 5, 2026
That photo haunts Don Jr, whose father is so incapable of expressing love that he wasn’t even at his namesake son’s most recent wedding.
Those are some very toxic Trump family dynamics. Meanwhile, no matter how hard things got for Hunter, from rehabs to relapses to facing federal prison, the one thing he never lost was the love and support from his father and the rest of his family.
It seems most of MAGA were raised without unconditional love, because they see that photo and can’t recognize the pure paternal love expressed. They can’t see themselves in Hunter because they’ve never felt that acceptance. And so they mock what they’ve never had and never will have, just like their petty, jealous Dear Leader.
What sets Hunter’s tweets and trolling apart from anyone else who’s taken on MAGA is that he’s mocking his past with the same kind of self-deprecating Irish humor his father often uses. If you can make fun of yourself, then it takes the power out of anything else anyone says about you. Joe Biden was the first to bring up his age before anyone else could, remarking that “I know I look a lot younger” than his actual age.
Hunter’s sass and fearless MAGA stomping already have plenty of people calling for him to run for office.
As for me, I’m happy to see anyone poking MAGA where it hurts them the most. I’d also love to land him for an interview, as I’m filling in for Dean Obeidallah on SiriusXM Progress on Tuesday, June 9th, and I can’t think of anyone I’d rather interview more right now. What a blast it would be to let Hunter Biden speak his mind, swears and all, for up to 40 minutes of live radio!
Until I can land that for sure, I fully encourage you to keep up with Hunter Biden. Truth matters now more than ever, so if he doesn’t run for office, he should at the very least have his own podcast.
Preferably with his dad and me as the first guests on the premier episode. Welcome to the Resistance, Hunter Biden!
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On D-Day, Trump is bribing military officers so he can retain power indefinitely
Friends,
Today is the 82nd anniversary of D-Day — the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. It’s referred to as “D-Day” after the military term for a day when a secret combat attack or operation is planned.
It was the largest seaborne invasion in history. It began the Western Allied effort to liberate western Europe from Nazi Germany.
Over 2,500 American soldiers, sailors, and airmen were killed during the initial amphibious assaults and airborne operations. All told, there were 4,414 confirmed Allied deaths on the first day of the invasion, which also included troops from the United Kingdom and Canada.
At the time of the invasion, my father was 30 years old, in a tank battalion readying to go to Europe. My mother was 25, working in a factory producing gas masks for the war. Some of their friends participated in the invasion. A few were paratroopers. Others were pilots. Others were soldiers.
As a small boy, I remember trying to talk with my father and my mother about D-Day. I wanted stories. The little I’d heard about it made it seem romantic and exciting. But they were reluctant to talk about it. They answered my questions in short sentences. Their voices were hurried. It was as if I was trying to open a door they’d rather keep closed. They had lost friends, relatives. D-Day, and the war it helped end, had left deep scars.
Eventually they and their generation were called America’s “greatest generation” for their valor and sacrifice. They had fought fascism and won.
Now, 82 years later, we have home-grown fascism. An entire political party seems to have given up on democracy. They’re supporting an ego-maniacal “strong man” who cares only about enlarging his own (and his family’s) wealth and power.
His regime is marked by a degree of corruption, cruelty, and criminality never before witnessed in America’s national government.
Trump’s and his “war” secretary, Pete Hegseth’s firing of so many top brass can be seen as a way to guarantee the loyalty of other officers to Trump rather than to America. Trump’s proposal to increase the U.S. military budget by nearly 50 percent can be understood as a bribe to officers. He wants them to side with him, if and when he tries to stay in power indefinitely.
He has already tried to turn much of America into a police state.
Public support for him is waning, and the federal courts have fought back. But it is startling and saddening how far Trump and his regime have gotten.
What happened to the bravery and dedication of the greatest generation? What became of the sacrifices my parents and their peers made so that this nation could be free?
How and why did so many Americans succumb to neofascism?
I think it has to do with the anger so many Americans have felt that they and their children haven’t been able to get ahead, no matter how hard they work. Trump and other neofascists have channeled that anger toward immigrants, gays, transgendered people, Muslims, and Black people.
Democrats and progressives should be channeling that anger toward the real culprits — a wealthy elite that’s used their money to gain political power and rig the economy to their benefit and against everyone else.
Another reason so many have succumbed to Trumpian neofascism is the passage of time. Eighty-two years is long enough for a nation to forget, especially a nation whose collective memory is short to begin with. Very few living Americans remember the terror and heroism of our fight against Nazi fascism. The greatest generation has mostly died off.
But we must not forget. Fascism is being born again, in America and in Europe. This time it’s masquerading as white Christian nationalism, but it’s as dangerous as ever.
The best way to remember and honor the men and women who risked everything for us is to fight neofascism — fight for a stronger democracy, fight for the rule of law and social justice, fight against bigotry.
- Robert Reich is an emeritus professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/. His new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org
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Comatose Trump's own words are coming back to haunt him
I had a great uncle who was notorious for sleeping sitting straight up in his chair. His eyes would glaze over as family conversations swirled around him. Inevitably, his eyes would shut, and whether it was a dream or the shrill sound of his wife’s laugh, his eyes would pop open.
He was always teased about his frequent chair napping, and he always, always denied he was sleeping. “Just resting my eyes,” he would insist. Then he’d “rest his eyes” again a few moments later.
Nobody was fooled.
Asked by Rep. Ted Lieu whether he’d ever seen Trump fall asleep during a Cabinet meeting, Secretary of State Rubio responded defiantly like my great uncle. “That’s false. I’ve never seen him fall asleep. On the contrary, the guy doesn’t sleep — he calls me at 2 in the morning. He calls me at 5 in the morning.”
Lieu’s response was to pull up a clip of Trump with his eyes shut while Rubio himself was speaking at a Cabinet meeting. Then he played another one.
Rubio, it turns out, might be the one who is just resting his eyes, asleep at the switch while his hypersomniac boss drifts into never-never land.
Look, I get it. Meetings are boring, especially when you don’t have the floor. I’ve spent three decades in corporate America. I know exactly what it looks like when the boss, and myself, and others in the room, are losing the battle with drooping eyelids in a long meeting.
Most of us have been there. However, most of us weren’t 80 years old, running on a diet of fast food and anger, and posting Truth Social memes until 3 a.m., and theoretically steering the most consequential country on the planet the next day.
There is a whopping difference between a bored executive or subordinate and a president who can’t stay awake at his own events, and the documented record of the last seven months makes it impossible to look away.
November 6, 2025: During a White House drug pricing announcement in the Oval Office, Getty photographer Andrew Harnik captured Trump slumped at the Resolute Desk, eyes closed, surrounded by aides who kept right on talking. The Washington Post reviewed multiple video feeds and calculated Trump spent nearly 20 minutes fighting to keep his eyes open.
Sure sounds like Uncle Lawrence.
December 2, 2025. At a two-hour Cabinet meeting, Trump repeatedly shut his eyes while his own senior officials spoke. He later offered this explanation, which I will grant is at least honest: “They’re boring as hell.” He added: “I didn’t sleep. I just closed them because I wanted to get the hell outta here.”
Spoken like my cranky Uncle Lawrence.
February 19, 2026: Two and a half hours into his own “Board of Peace” Gaza summit — a joke of a meeting he convened, with leaders from two dozen countries that no one has heard of — cameras caught Trump with his eyes closed. He didn't sleep. He was just deeply concentrating. With his eyes shut. For an extended period.
Wake up Uncle Lawrence!
May 11, 2026: During a maternal health event in the Oval Office, video showed Trump’s eyes closed for roughly 17 seconds at the Resolute Desk. The White House’s official Rapid Response account fired back at a Reuters post, one that hadn’t even accused Trump of sleeping, just included a photo, with: *“He was blinking, you absolute moron.”
The response became an instant meme. Rep. Lieu replied: “That is a verrrrrrrrryyyyy long blink.” The Democrats’ official account dubbed him “Commander-in-Sleep.”
May 26, 2026: Memorial Day at Arlington. At the National Memorial Day Observance, with Gold Star families in the audience honoring the 13 service members killed in the Iran war, cameras caught Trump with his head bowed and eyes closed during Pete Hegseth’s remarks.
He was sleeping standing up! That’s something Uncle Lawrence could never do.
It should be noted that his third hospital visit in 13 months came the following day. The White House said he wasn’t sleeping.
This whole thing is so comatose with irony.
Trump spent years weaponizing “Sleepy Joe” against Biden. In 2021, when Biden appeared to nod off at a climate conference, Trump sent a mass email: “Nobody that has true enthusiasm and belief in a subject will ever fall asleep!”
He yammered and hammered the “Sleepy Joe” label through 2022, 2023, and deep into the 2024 campaign. “He falls asleep at every single event,” Trump barked in June 2024.
And if this doesn’t make you double-over with laughter, Trump once said, “How do you fall asleep when cameras are raging, right?”
Then, on May 7, 2026, right in the middle of his own napping spree, Trump posted an AI-generated image on Truth Social showing Biden asleep in the Oval Office wearing pajamas, with Barack Obama wheeling in a box labeled “AUTOPEN.” Caption: *“A highly accurate depiction of the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration. Tremendous damage done but, WE’RE BACK!!!”*
Admittedly, my Uncle Lawrence was not a warm and fuzzy guy, but he wasn’t a conceited, hypocritical jerk like Donald Trump. And what’s more? Uncle Lawrence was in his mid-80s, so his battle with keeping his eyes open is a harbinger for Trump.
Trump turns 80 in a week. These incidents will not decrease. They will increase. His eyes will become heavier and heavier. The question Rep. Lieu was really asking Rubio what happens in the situation room, for example, when the cameras aren’t there. It never got answered, because Rubio just kept talking with his eyes wide shut.
So while Trump sleeps on the job, don’t worry, because your grocery bill isn't keeping him awake. Or your gas bills, your electric bills. Trump, who promised he’d fix all of it on Day One, has more pressing matters — his eye-lids pressing against each other.
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