Exclude NB

A leading scholar of authoritarianism is warning that Donald Trump is already falling into the same self-destructive traps that doomed history’s most notorious strongmen. Writing in The New York Times, NYU professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat argues Trump’s growing fixation on personal infallibility, loyalty over competence, and performative bravado mirrors patterns seen in figures like Benito Mussolini and Vladimir Putin — patterns that often end in political collapse. As Trump brushes aside expert advice, doubles down on unpopular priorities, and reacts angrily to waning public support, Ben-Ghiat says the signs of “autocratic backfire” are flashing red. Unlike past dictators, Trump still operates within a democracy, leaving him exposed to courts, voters, and history itself — and making his unraveling more likely, not less.

Watch the video below.

A mysterious whistleblower complaint accusing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard of wrongdoing has been sealed away—literally—sparking alarm on Capitol Hill and raising fresh questions about transparency and executive power. According to The Wall Street Journal, the explosive complaint has been locked in a safe for months, kept out of reach of lawmakers and even the whistleblower’s own attorney, amid claims it could cause “grave damage” to national security if revealed. The filing reportedly implicates another federal agency and may trigger assertions of executive privilege tied to the White House, while Democrats on the intelligence committees have been repeatedly blocked from reviewing it. The unusual secrecy, stretching nearly eight months, has only deepened suspicions that Gabbard’s office is stonewalling Congress over a potentially devastating allegation.

Watch the video below.

House Speaker Mike Johnson ran headlong into a fact-check wall Sunday after repeatedly trying to revive debunked claims of voter fraud in Georgia’s 2020 election. Appearing on Meet the Press, Johnson brushed off concerns that Donald Trump could meddle in future elections as “comical,” falsely citing Georgia as proof of election “schemes.” The NBC moderator pushed back forcefully, noting that multiple recounts found no evidence of fraud and that Georgia’s Republican leadership has affirmed the results. Despite Johnson’s careful phrasing and visible irritation, he was repeatedly cut off and corrected for contradicting established facts, leaving his claims collapsing under scrutiny on live television.

Watch the video below.

Newly released Epstein files have revived long-simmering rumors about Donald Trump’s personal life, after a 2019 text exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and former Trump strategist Steve Bannon appeared to suggest the president skipped his family during the 2018 holidays to spend time with his personal secretary, Madeline Westerhout. In the texts, Epstein bluntly tied Trump’s absence from his family to Westerhout, prompting a stunned reaction from Bannon. The messages surfaced alongside earlier claims from Trump biographer Michael Wolff, who alleged Trump stayed at the White House during the government shutdown for the same reason. While Westerhout has forcefully denied any affair and Trump has never addressed the allegations, the texts indicate the rumor was circulating privately among Trump’s inner circle years before it became public.

Watch the video below.

The Department of Justice quietly scrubbed multiple Jeffrey Epstein-related documents from its website Friday, including files containing explosive allegations involving President Donald Trump, shortly after announcing the release of millions of records. The Bulwark’s Sam Stein noted that references to Trump in the documents were difficult to read before the pages disappeared entirely less than an hour later, though archived versions quickly surfaced on social media. Those records include disturbing claims from multiple complainants, including allegations of sexual assault involving a minor and assertions that Trump had close contact with Epstein. The sudden removal has raised fresh questions about transparency and accountability, fueling suspicion that the DOJ is selectively shielding politically sensitive material despite publicly touting the document dump as a move toward openness.

Watch the video below.

The United Nations is warning it is on the brink of an “imminent financial collapse” just weeks after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of dozens of UN organizations and treaties, slashing a major source of global funding. In a letter to ambassadors cited by Reuters, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the crisis is already disrupting programs and will worsen rapidly as key member states refuse to honor their financial commitments. While Guterres did not name the US directly, the warning comes after Trump withdrew from more than 60 international agreements, including major UN bodies, cutting off roughly $820 million a year from the world’s largest economy. The funding loss has already forced the cancellation of hundreds of millions of dollars in grants, including lifesaving programs targeting maternal mortality and sexual violence, prompting Guterres to warn that without swift action the UN could run out of cash by July.

Watch the video below.

Sen. Lindsey Graham lashed out at House Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday as a federal shutdown deadline approached, furious that House Republicans moved to kill a provision allowing senators to sue the federal government for damages if their data was accessed without notice. According to reporting shared by journalist Jamie Dupree, Graham accused House leaders of jamming him and made clear he has no intention of backing down from the payout provision tied to the Jan. 6 investigation. The South Carolina Republican warned that the slight would not be forgotten, signaling fresh intraparty tensions as GOP leaders scramble to avert a shutdown while managing simmering resentment inside their own ranks.

Watch the video below.

Former Republican strategist Rick Wilson warned that the financial collapse hitting American farmers is rapidly becoming a political crisis for the GOP as the midterms approach, with many of Trump’s most loyal voters paying the price for his policies. Writing on Substack, Wilson said rural counties that overwhelmingly backed Trump are now watching family farms buckle under tariffs that wiped out export markets, slashed crop income, and drove profits into a historic plunge. He added that the administration’s immigration crackdowns compounded the damage by gutting the farm labor force, leaving crops unharvested and losses piling up. The result, Wilson argued, is a slow-motion electoral disaster for Republicans tied to an incumbent whose agenda is bankrupting the voters who put him in power.

Watch the video below.

A former federal prosecutor is sounding the alarm after federal authorities swarmed a Georgia election field office, warning the move may preview a broader Republican effort to take over election machinery ahead of the 2026 midterms. Joyce Vance said the Fulton County search, tied to Trump’s long-running fixation on the 2020 election he lost, raises urgent questions about whether future elections will be free and fair. While she stressed it is highly unlikely the probe will uncover real voter fraud, Vance warned that any case emerging from the seized ballots would inevitably cast doubt on their integrity once in DOJ custody, especially given the Trump administration’s record of misleading courts. She argued the investigation itself could be used as a pretext to strip a heavily Democratic county of control over its elections, calling it a dangerous roadmap for undermining confidence, seizing ballots, and consolidating partisan control of elections nationwide.

Watch the video below.

Melania Trump’s documentary stumbled out of the gate in London, where early ticket sales sharply undercut President Donald Trump’s claims that the film was “selling out fast.” At Vue’s flagship Islington theater, just one ticket sold for an afternoon premiere and only two for an evening showing, according to LBC, prompting the chain’s CEO to describe UK demand as “soft.” Industry insiders told British media the film could be quietly four-walled, in which a filmmaker rents a theater, to pad its release, as projections peg its opening weekend haul far below the reported $40 million Amazon MGM Studios paid for it. Despite the anemic debut and skepticism from box office watchers, the studio insists the film will find an audience as it rolls out to 1,400 U.S. theaters and dozens of countries worldwide.

Watch the video below.

A former Trump national security insider says a crucial difference between Donald Trump’s first and second administrations could ultimately sink the White House: the absence of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. Olivia Troye argued on The Court of History podcast that Kushner often acted as a moderating force, reining in hard-liners like Stephen Miller and pushing back on extreme proposals, particularly in foreign policy. Without that internal check, Troye said, Miller has become fully unrestrained, adept at manipulating Trump to advance an aggressive immigration agenda that has now plunged the administration into legal and political crisis. The warning comes amid nationwide outrage over ICE operations, including the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, which has fueled protests and calls for Miller and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to step down.

Watch the video below.

Political analysts erupted Thursday after President Donald Trump quietly signed an executive order imposing new tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba, a move widely viewed as an attempt to economically strangle the island and force regime change. Critics warned the policy would disproportionately punish ordinary Cubans by cutting off energy supplies, while fitting a broader pattern of Trump using economic and military pressure against foreign governments, from Venezuela to Iran. Commentators described the tariffs as secondary sanctions and “economic warfare,” arguing they amount to collective punishment rather than diplomacy, and accused Trump of once again wielding U.S. power in ways that destabilize civilians while escalating global tensions.

Watch the video below.

Political analysts recoiled Thursday after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem used a friendly Fox News appearance with Sean Hannity to defend her handling of the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti, only to seemingly confirm critics’ worst suspicions. Pressed on why she labeled Pretti a “domestic terrorist” before facts were known, Noem suggested the administration applies the term first and investigates later — a response that ignited outrage across the political spectrum. Commentators accused her of reversing basic standards of justice, noting that administration officials had already walked back claims that Pretti posed a threat. The moment, meant to clean up the fallout from Minneapolis, instead fueled fresh condemnation of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and its rush to smear a dead protester.

Watch the video below.