Adam Lynch

Trump's 'frantic cadence' shows he may be having a health crisis: cardiologist

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who served as the cardiologist for the late former Vice President Dick Cheney, told CNN news anchor Jake Tapper that he was alarmed by President Donald Trump’s appearance and demeanor during his Wednesday speech.

“I thought the content was just standard fare that we've become accustomed to. But it was the way it was delivered,” said Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University. “It was delivered in with a manic cadence, almost a frantic cadence. It was as if you felt like you were listening to a podcast, and that kind of manic delivery was very disturbing, very pressurized speech. And as the address went on the cadence of his remarks became quicker.”

“We've never seen the president like that,” Reiner said. “He seemed almost frantic. And it was disturbing to watch. It was disturbing because he's the commander-in-chief. He's not just the head of the government. He's the commander-in-chief of the greatest armed forces this world has ever seen.”

Other critics also noticed Trump’s high-energy delivery of fabricated numbers.

“This isn’t a speech, this is a primal scream of panic,” said Atlantic writer Tom Nichols, referring to Trump’s fast-talking “infomercial-style” delivery of bogus data and bragging.

“Why is he screaming?” said former Fox News, NBC News and CNN journalist David Shuster on X.

Tapper pointed out that Trump also appeared to be struggling to keep his eyes open during a public White House event in the Oval Office, which Reiner suggested may be connected to a night-time breathing disorder causing drowsiness, among other possibilities.

“It's jarring to see the president go from basically asleep in the Oval Office to a rapid-fire pace … in a 30-minute speech that he gave in 18 minutes. “… [No] one should be happy to see him … so loud and almost out of control.”

Coupled with the president’s chronic bruise, swollen ankles and “mysterious scans,” Reiner said the White House should be “more forthcoming” about Trump’s health.

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'Increasingly ignored' Mike Johnson 'weaker than ever' as Republicans move on: analysis

Democratic strategist Max Burns argued House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is showing all the signs of an ex-leader.

“Increasingly ignored and overruled by his own caucus, Johnson will enter the new year with none of the influence and power traditionally associated with the speakership,” Burns wrote in a Thursday analysis for MS NOW. “If 2025 proved to be a headache for him, 2026 is shaping up to be a migraine.”

Johnson’s political situation “got a little worse on Wednesday” said Burns, when four swing state Republicans joined Democrats to force a vote on extending the popular Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) expiring tax credits. This effort followed another successful push to override Johnson on the release of the Epstein files.

Johnson has other reasons tanking his popularity with his own caucus, however.

“Johnson’s time in the speaker’s chair coincided with some of the least productive terms of any Congress in history, including presiding over the longest-ever federal shutdown,” said Burns. “That’s not just bad timing on Johnson’s part — it’s a direct result of his inability to lead the House at a moment when voters want swift action from their representatives. Johnson’s colleagues now worry his tone-deafness to the problems facing voters will ultimately cost them their jobs.”

“In other words,” said Burns, “Johnson is weaker than ever — and his Republican colleagues know it.”

Burns added that the state of the swampy U.S. economy under the policies of President Donald Trump played a big role in Democrats’ performance in Virginia’s and New Jersey’s statewide elections, and healthcare affordability is another ferocious issue sure to raise its head in January when voters face more expensive insurance plans without the benefit of federal subsidies.

Lawmakers who sided with Democrats to override Johnson’s lock on subsidies happen to represent districts Democrats are trying to flip next year. Burns said their sudden rebelliousness can’t be a surprise as the party’s popularity continues to plummet.

“Effective leadership requires strong character and firm values. Johnson lacked both, and now his caucus is moving on without him,” said Burns.

Read the MS NOW report at this link.

'Hasn't kept his word': Trump voters increasingly 'unhappy with him' in vital swing state

Voters of President Donald Trump in North Carolina are widely blaming the president for the economy’s poor performance — and this will likely affect Republicans in the midterms, Paige Masten, deputy opinion editor for The Charlotte Observer, wrote this week.

“Of the 14 participants in the focus group, just three of them approve of [Trump’s] job performance, and 12 of them are more worried about the economy than they were when Trump took office. All of them voted for Trump in 2024,” Masten said.

The focus group of Trump voters in the Tar Heel State was conducted last week by Engagious, Axios and Sago, as a means of studying swing voters across competitive states in the 2024 election. Masten acknowledged that the sample was not statistically significant, but provided insight into how voters are thinking and feeling as the 2026 midterm election season approaches.

Participants expressed discontent with Trump and his agenda, which includes tariffs and the presence of armed immigration agents in U.S. cities, which one participant described as “out of control.”

Another voter in the survey said Trump “hasn’t kept his word,” while another said there is “a disconnect between the average, everyday American people and the president.”

“Interestingly, the group’s participants mirrored concerns that voters had about Joe Biden during his presidency,” wrote Masten. “The vast majority of participants were familiar with reports of Trump struggling to stay awake during meetings, and they voiced concerns about his age.

“If [falling asleep] was wrong for other presidents, it’s concerning for him, as well,” one voter said.

While only half of the focus group participants could identify U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth or were aware of potentially illegal strikes in the Caribbean Sea, many identified more with issues that directly affect them and their neighbors, like the cost of living.

It’s a lesson that Masten notes cost Democrats in 2024. However, Republicans appear to be the ones mainly struggling with the issue, with 2026 looming.

“Recent nationwide polls have found that Trump’s approval rating among the Republican base and his own MAGA supporters is slipping as well,” wrote Masten, “and more of them are beginning to blame Trump for the ongoing affordability crisis. These numbers are most concerning among those who do not identify as MAGA voters but have voted for Trump and Republicans before — similar to the type of swing voter highlighted in the North Carolina focus group.”

While Trump will not personally be on the ballot in 2026, Masten said voters appear to be taking their concerns about him and his agenda to the polls, much like they did with Biden in 2024.

“And as much as Trump has tried to contrast himself with or shift blame to Biden, voters are unhappy with him for much of the same reasons,” Masten wrote.

Read the Observer piece at this link.

Leaked memo reveals new GOP strategy ahead of Epstein files release: CNN

CNN host Erin Burnett reported Republicans are drawing up talking points to respond to the looming release of all remaining evidence pertaining to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

“We've obtained a leaked Republican memo that has the talking points on the Epstein files that I guess they're supposed to use when they're talking about it,” Burnett said, adding that the memo makes clear “that Republicans are supposed to deflect attention away from any mentions of Trump and instead focus on Democrats’ handling of the Epstein probe.”

The memo, from “Oversight Committee Republican Staff” accuses Democrats of “beclowning themselves” by sensationalizing elements of the report indicating President Donald Trump’s close personal relationship with the convicted sex trafficker.

Speaking with U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), who is the top Democrat on the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Burnett pointed out that the memo instructs Republicans to “accuse oversight Democrats of misrepresenting witness testimony” and “selectively leaking cherry-picked documents and manipulating emails and images to fabricate yet another politically motivated hoax.”

“I mean, these are incredibly serious things, congressman. I mean, yes, they're talking points, but they're saying that you manipulated emails and images. These are very serious accusations,” Burnett told Garcia.

“I wish the Republicans put [the] energy they put into trying to conceal and hide and cover up … that they put into demanding the president release all the files,” Garcia responded. “The reality is, the president could end this all tomorrow — tonight — by releasing every single file.”

“[T]hey have tried everything they can to stop or slow this investigation down. And it’s unfortunate that now they are trying to deflect from the president — who his own chief of staff said … he's in the files. So give me a break. Let's get to the truth. Let's release the files and do so immediately.”

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'Did you say that?' GOP senator blindsides Trump nominee with blistering line of questions

Talking Points Memo writer Kate Riga reports a loyal ally of President Donald Trump appears to be turning on one of the president’s judicial nominees.

“Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), usually a fairly reliable Republican foot soldier, grilled a Trump judicial nominee Wednesday about his bigoted preachings,” Riga wrote Wednesday.

Trump nominated attorney Justin Olson to be a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Indiana. But Olsen has been active in anti-trans litigation, leading a case to have transgender female athletes stripped of their NCAA awards.

Kennedy appeared to take issue with statements Olson made about marriage rights.

“During that sermon, you said that marriage was not intended for all people, including — and I’m gonna quote your words — ‘our handicapped friends or our persons with physical disabilities that might prevent the robust marriage that we’re called to.’ Did you say that?” Kennedy asked during the Senate Judiciary hearing.

Olson confirmed that he did, and Kennedy then asked whether he believes that “folks with handicaps and physical disabilities should not be able to marry?”

“No, senator — I was explaining the meaning of Christ’s words that some, to use Christ’s terms, are eunuchs by birth, and explaining that the meaning of that verse in the context of those who are called to singleness and that there are various reasons why individuals don’t get married …” Olson replied, before Kennedy cut him off: “Yeah, but what about folks who are handicapped or who have developmental disabilities?”

Riga said Olson insisted he was using an “illustration” of why some might choose not to marry, not that they “couldn’t or shouldn’t.” But Kennedy went on to pull quotes from Olson’s other public remarks, quoting a 2022 sermon in which Olson claimed “‘transgenderism, homosexuality, fornication, and all sorts of sexual perversions’ was a form of hypocrisy from ‘shame on the inside.’”

Olson claimed these were his religious views, that “as a judge sitting here today my obligation is to apply the rule of law.” But Kennedy replied: “I understand that but my obligation is to try to understand you, because this is a lifetime appointment.”

Kennedy then went on to cite Olsen’s claim that “Christian marriage provides that women have to be subservient to their husbands.”

“Those are not my words,” Olson said, saying he was quoting the Bible.

“You said them, do you believe them?” Kennedy asked.

“Senator, I believe every word of the Bible,” Olson said.

Read the Talking Points Memo article at this link.

'The dam is breaking': MTG says Trump's 'iron grip' on the GOP is weakening

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) says “the dam is breaking” on President Donald Trump’s popularity and many Republican Party members are now in survival mode with their constituents over the unpopular president.

“Thirteen Republicans voted with Democrats to overturn one of President Trump's executive orders, which enabled him to fire federal workers,” Greene told CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins. “We also saw Indiana Republicans vote against redistricting ... But I would like to say that that is a sign where you're seeing Republicans entering the campaign phase for 2026, which is a large signal that lame duck season has begun and that Republicans will go in all in for themselves in order to save their own reelection.”

Greene generated a huge MAGA following in the run-up to the 2020 election for divisive rhetoric, political stunts and enthusiastic support of Trump. But after growing disagreements with Trump during his second term, Greene announced she will leave Congress in January before her term is up.

In her CNN interview, Greene continued to criticize Trump and Republican leadership in the House for failing to come up with a plan to cover millions of Americans who are about to see their health insurance costs skyrocket with the expiration of Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits, adding that “I have 75,000 [constituents] that are on ACA tax credits,” and a “large portion of those 75,000 people are Republican voters.”

When Collins asked if the dam was breaking in terms of the president's “iron grip” on the party Greene pointed out that “those 13 Republicans that voted to take down [Trump’s] executive order last week, “literally that same evening, put on their tuxedos and their evening ball gowns and went to the White House Christmas party.”

“That's pretty bold,” she explained.

“Do you think that message is being received at the White House?” Collins asked.

“I'm sure it's being received. And there's a lot of pushback happening. You're seeing it all within the conference.”

Watch the segment below:

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Republican congressman refuses to defend his own constituents Trump called 'garbage'

The New Republic reports House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) refused to give a direct answer when asked if he agreed with President Donald Trump’s characterization of thousands of Somali residents — thousands of whom live in Emmer's district — as “garbage.”

Migrant Insider’s Pablo Manríquez confronted Emmer as he walked down a hall, demanding if he agreed with Trump that “5,000 Somali residents in your district in St. Cloud are garbage?”

The New Republic pointed out that the Republican majority whip “offered a weak, political non-answer.”

“I think what President Trump has done is raise an issue that is something that we’ve been trying to raise for almost three years,” Emmer said. “The press refuses to cover things that are right in front of them—”

“Donald Trump said that the Somalis are garbage, that’s what I’m asking you about,” Manríquez repeated.

Emmer complained that Manríquez was not letting him finish his statement, to which Manríquez replied: “Well, it’s a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”

Eventually Emmer said: “Not all Somalis are bad,” but he followed that up with the claim, “90 percent of the … crimes that have been charged are from the Somali community, and there’s nothing wrong, and nothing racist, about calling out crime.”

Trump has singled out the Somali-American community in Minnesota, saying: “I don't want them in our country. Their country's no good for a reason. Their country stinks and we don't want them in our country. I could say that about other countries too."

“They contribute nothing. The welfare is like 88 percent or something. They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country,” Trump told reporters at a recent cabinet meeting. “Their country is no good for a reason. Your country stinks and we don’t want them in our country.”

"If we keep taking in garbage into our country. [U.S. Rep.] Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is garbage. She's garbage. Her friends are garbage. … These are people that do nothing but complain," Trump added.

Vanity Fair interview may derail prosecution of Trump's enemies: ex-White House staffer

Former DHS Chief of Staff Miles Taylor says White House chief of Staff Susie Wiles may have helped build a case against the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D).

A federal judge has already dismissed indictments against Comey and James in November, and a Virginia grand jury has declined to return a repeat indictment against James. But Trump’s DOJ could continue to pursue repeat indictments against both, as well as pursue new indictments against even more of President Donald Trump’s perceived political enemies.

But Wiles admitted in a bombshell Vanity Fair interview that Trump does have a vengeful streak and is not immune to sending a politicized DOJ after his opponents.

“When I first read this, my immediate reaction was, ‘okay, Susie Wiles is admitting what we have long known about Donald trump, that the guy wears his heartlessness on his sleeve.’ But … she also blew his cover that he wears lawlessness as a badge of honor. I mean, she just gave that up completely and in ways that can materially affect some of the cases that they have against trump's enemies.”

“I mean, she said the quiet part out loud, that these prosecutions are basically vindictive. And I think she'll give people like Letitia James and others some of the legal support they need to make a direct connection between the president's official abuses of power and the actions being taken against them,” Taylor said.

Taylor, added that Wiles reflected one of two personality types that survive a Trump administration.

“There were two kinds of survivors: People who survived to protect the skin on their own necks, and people who survived to protect the United States Constitution,” Taylor said. “And you don't have to love them. But we now see very, very clearly — and in very stark relief — what happens when the only people you have left in government are the ones that want to protect the skin on their own backs. And what you see is the Constitution gets torched.”

“As bad as the first Trump administration was — and believe me, it was a pride swallowing siege every single day inside that thing — this is what people wanted to prevent from happening: The complete lawlessness from top to bottom that we are seeing now in just 11 months of this administration.”

Watch the segment below:

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Evangelical shares Trump's 'dirty little secret' that prompted Vanity Fair bombshell

Nobody should be surprised that President Donald Trump gave the go-ahead for White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to be interviewed for Vanity Fair magazine, David Brody, chief political analyst for Christian Broadcasting Network, told MS NOW on Tuesday.

The interview unleashed a host of shocking reactions, with Wiles telling Vanity Fair that Trump has an "alcoholic's personality" and Vice President JD Vance has been a "conspiracy theorist" for a decade. She also described former DOGE advisor Elon Musk as “microdosing” ketamine while working for the White House.

More interestingly, Wiles admitted that "there may be an element of" retribution in Trump's efforts to pursue criminal cases against political adversaries or perceived foes.

"I don't think he wakes up thinking about retribution," Wiles told Vanity Fair. "But when there's an opportunity, he will go for it."

The Hill reports that Trump world is defending the interview, which potentially undermines the prosecution of former FBI head James Comey and state AG Letitia James, both of whom made themselves targets for retributive prosecution from Trump’s AG Pam Bondi.

Wiles herself has struck back at the Vanity Fair article, calling it “a disingenuously framed hit piece.” However, Brody said Trump knew what he wanted when he approved the interview.

“The point is that Vanity Fair is not a conservative publication by any stretch, obviously. And so you wonder, well, why in the world did they do it? And here's the dirty little secret, quite frankly: All four of us know that … this White House, or any White House, craves legitimacy from the mainstream media. They just do. And I know he talks about ‘fake news’ all the time, but the truth of the matter is they want that good above-the-fold headline.”

“You can just see it right there in the Vanity Fair article,” Brody added. “I mean, my goodness, they were posing [on the cover] like it was … some sort of ABC … drama at 8 P.M. eastern or something, there on the desk. I mean, they had the whole look and everything. The point is, they wanted this. And now the White House is saying, well, actually we were misquoted or this or that.”

“I can tell you this, MAGA folks … are just saying, ‘you got to be kidding me.’ I mean, just why are you even going there is the big question,” Brody said.

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Jared Kushner is backing a 'hostile takeover' of US infrastructure: analysis

Salon reporter Sophia Tesfaye says “the speed and scale of Jared Kushner’s re-emergence can’t be overstated,” and neither can his corruption.

“In the first year of Donald Trump’s second presidency, his son-in-law is casually consolidating economic and political power with staggering speed,” said Tesfaye. “Kushner has positioned himself at the center of the biggest media merger in years and at the fulcrum of White House foreign policy, all while taking in multi-billion-dollar investments from autocratic governments.”

Tesfaye said Paramount Skydance recently launched a bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery through a hostile takeover. Paramount’s offer draws heavily from Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners, and from the sovereign wealth funds of Middle Eastern autocracies Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Which would give them — and Kushner — influence over some of America’s most powerful news and cultural engines

“The partnership is unprecedented,” said Tesfaye. “Not even Rupert Murdoch’s right-wing media empire was capitalized by foreign monarchies seeking political leverage.

Kushner raised over $3 billion for Affinity Partners at the end of the first Trump administration, said Tesfaye, including $2 billion from the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund. The UAE and Qatar soon followed, “adding another $1.5 billion to the pot.”

The sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar amount to autocracies investing in the infrastructure of American political communication, said Tesfaye, and they are doing so through the president’s son-in-law — a man whose application for a top-secret clearance was initially rejected in Trump’s first term after an FBI background check raised concerns about potential foreign influence.

“You could not design a more direct conflict of interest,” she said. “Paramount is even trying to structure the deal to avoid federal review by arguing that foreign investors would have no ‘voting rights,’ a fiction so flimsy it should insult the intelligence of any serious regulator.”

The merger will affect CNN, HBO, Warner Bros. Pictures. And Trump “has long been obsessed with CNN,” said Tesfaye, while Kushner “is credited with orchestrating Spanish-language network TelevisaUnivision’s rightward shift ahead of the 2024 election, which saw Trump’s electoral performance among Hispanic voters subsequently improve.”

But Kushner’s influence is not limited to the media, said Tesfaye. Weeks ago, he proved a central actor behind Trump’s new Gaza initiative, and he’s quietly inserted himself into Trump’s Ukraine diplomacy, Tesfaye said.

“In late November, he and White House envoy Steve Witkoff met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow for five hours. Kushner and Witkoff, neither of whom hold formal government positions, were allowed to meet with the Russian president before even some Cabinet-level officials. The pair then joined Ukrainian officials in separate talks in Geneva and Miami,” Tesfaye said. “This is privatized foreign policy: diplomacy conducted by men whose incentives are not in the public interest.”

Republicans spent years wailing about former first son Hunter Biden’s foreign business ties,” wrote Tesfaye. “And yet here stands Jared Kushner: a man who has made a small fortune from a large one, who positioned himself as a ‘deal-maker’ while outsourcing U.S. foreign policy to the highest bidder, who now wants to help pick which news organizations survive and which are purged.”

“Kushner’s sudden, sweeping reappearance is not a coincidence or a comeback,” said Tesfaye. “It is a consolidation. He’s back to lead a hostile takeover of our information ecosystem.”

Read the full Newsbreak report at this link.

MAGA fans demand Trump address rising costs as 'the biggest thing'

The top priorities of MAGA adherents attending President Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania rally were roughly in tune with those of the rest of American voters: Inflation.

Conservative media company Right Side Broadcasting Network, known for their live stream coverage of Trump rallies and America First events, sent host Matthew Alvarez to Trump’s Pennsylvania rally at Mount Airy Casino Resort on Tuesday to interview Trump fans waiting in line and inside the venue before Trump took the stage.

What they caught on tape was not exactly the issue Trump focused on.

“I would like to see [Trump] talk more about grocery prices because he’s the guy that can do it. And he’s done it,” said one woman Alvarez interviewed. “I would like them to say to the Democrats, you talk about affordability. Okay. What’s your policy that’s different than mine that’s going to help the American people? And if you have it, why don’t we work together in the Congress now and fix it? … So I’d like to see the golden age come, stock market go up, crypto go up, prices come down, wages go up, manufacturing comes back.”

Another fan, while demanding Trump “get rid of immigrant freeloaders,” also asked Trump to “lower fuel prices.”

“And that’s it?” asked Alvarez.

“That’s the biggest thing,” the fan confirmed.

But Trump didn’t really address his tactics for lowering U.S. inflation, be it fuel or groceries. Instead, he resorted to scolding voters who were unwilling to do with less.

“You can give up certain products, you can give up pencils because under the China policy, you know, every child can get 37 pencils. They only need one or two,” Trump told fans at the Pennsylvania stop.

This prompted one CNN anchor to call Trump “an out of touch, literally gold-gilded president who outright refuses to recognize the economic reality for the vast majority of Americans.”

“He’s putting 37 gold things on literally one [Oval Office] wall while he's asking families to tighten their belts at the holidays to live without more than two pencils or two dolls in the name of an economic policy that everyone knows is making inflation worse,” said MS NOW host Nicole Wallace.

Read the Newsbreak report at this link.

Busted: 'Mean-spirited' Trump allies reportedly hid collusion to inflate grocery costs

On Friday, a nonprofit forced the Trump administration to unseal a damning complaint lodged by the Biden-era Federal Trade Commission against Pepsi for colluding with Walmart to raise food prices across the nation. New un-redacted information claims FTC Chair Ferguson and his colleague Mark Meador (both Trump appointees) were hiding the mechanics of Pepsi’s and Wal-Mart’s price fixing.

Pepsi is a “must-have” product for grocery stores, and Walmart is also massively powerful,” reports BIG Newsletter writer Matt Stoller. Critics say Pepsi allegedly engages in price discrimination to maintain the approval of Walmart, its biggest buyer — even going so far as to police prices at smaller rival stores. And it prepares reports for Walmart showing them their pricing advantages on Pepsi products.

When the “price gap” between Wal-Mart and its tiny rivals narrow too much, Pepsi tracks where consumers were buying Pepsi products outside of Walmart. It keeps logs on stores who would “self-fund” Pepsi product discounts, nicknaming them “offenders” and then raise their stock price, forcing them to carry those costs down to their customers.

“This dynamic is why independent grocery stores are dying,” said Stoller. “… It’s led to less competition, fewer local grocery stores, and higher prices. … To the end consumer, it creates an optimal illusion. Walmart appears to be a low-cost retailer, but that’s because it induces its suppliers to push prices up at rivals.”

Much of this information was redacted by Trump officials, however, including Ferguson and Meador. Normally, when the government files an antitrust case, the complaint gets redacted to protect confidential business information. Then the corporate defendant and the government haggle over what is genuinely confidential business information and complaints are eventually unsealed with some minor blacked out phrases, and the case goes on.

“In this case, however, … Ferguson abruptly dropped the case in February after Pepsi hired well-connected lobbyists,” said Stoller. “… Ferguson ended it the day before the government was supposed to go before the judge to manage the unsealing process. And that kept the complaint redacted. With the complaint kept secret, Ferguson, and … Meador, then publicly went on the attack.”

Ferguson released a “bitter and personal” statement against Biden-era FTC Chair Lina Khan — who had brought the complaint against Pepsi — implying that she was lawless and partisan, that there was “no evidence” to support key contentions, and that Ferguson had to “clean up the Biden-Harris FTC’s mess.” Fellow commissioner Mark Meador later echoed his comments on on X.

“And that was where it was supposed to stay, secret, with mean-spirited name-calling and invective camouflaging the real secret Ferguson was trying to conceal,” said Stoller. “That secret is something we all know, but this complaint helped prove that the center of the affordability crisis in food is market power. If that got out, then Ferguson would have to litigate this case or risk deep embarrassment. So, the strategy was to handwave about that mean Lina Khan to lobbyists, while keeping the evidence secret.”

But anti-monopoly group The Institute for Local Self-Reliance filed to make the full complaint public, and Judge Jesse Matthew Furman agreed to hear ILSR’s case, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Pepsi bitterly opposed.

“Last week, Furman directed the FTC unseal the complaint. So we finally got to see what Ferguson and Meador were trying to hide,” Stoller said.

Read the full BIG report at this link

Ex-lawmakers rip 'cowards' in Congress for letting Trump walk all over them

New York Times writer Lulu Garcia-Navarro says Congress’ approval rating is at a “dreadful 15 percent,” and President Donald Trump’s own polling is at dismal levels. Yet, Congressional Republicans can’t seem to release their death grip on the unpopular president.

Former lawmakers also accuse Congress of allowing President Donald Trump to walk over them and usurp power.

“Abdication,” said former Sen. Joe Manchin, when asked to describe Congress. “They’ve abdicated their responsibilities.”

“Those are … bleak words,” said Garcia-Navarro.

“You want us to call them cowards?” said former Sen. Joe Manchin.

Former Sen. Jeff Flake warned that presidents always push the limit in terms of executive orders, but added that “Trump is doing that in spades. That’s why you need a Senate willing to stand up.”

Retiring Democratic Sen. Tina Smith also called Congress “broken,” and said she was glad to be retiring with a host of political attacks and Trump saying “that two of my colleagues and four members of the House of Representatives should be tried for treason and executed.”

Flake recalled in 2005 when former Rep. Tom Delay demanded a GOP lawmaker be able to pass a piece of legislation with just Republican votes before bringing it to the floor for consideration.

“’And if it might gather bipartisan votes, then knock some provisions off so it won’t be attractive and then use that as a cudgel during the next election,’” Flake recalled DeLay saying. “You had people mature as politicians under that system, and some of them have gone to the Senate.

Manchin complained today of “guilt by conversation” in the House and Senate, where “you can’t even be seen having a conversation with someone who might not be on the same side.”

Flake said that, “in a functioning legislative body, you would think that the Democratic leader and the Republican leader would talk to each other all the time, to try to figure things out, to try to get things going. It just doesn’t happen anymore.”

Manchin and Flake both bemoaned a president who could bully lawmakers into ducking the will of their voters by threatening to field opponents to primary them if they “don’t do what I say.” Manchin called for congressional term limits but also open primaries.

All agreed that Trump was seizing power with the help of the Republican majority, but also felt they saw “cracks in the façade” with the departure of Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, as people realize that “it’s popular now to be against the president on a couple of issues and in order to survive the general election.”

Read the New York Times report at this link.

'Not what they voted for': Why swing voters are leaving Trumpism in droves

New York Times writer E.J. Dionne Jr., says a great many Americans who helped put Donald Trump in office have absorbed what’s happened since.

“They may not be glued to every chaotic twist of this presidency, but they do pay attention and have concluded, reasonably, that this is not what they voted for,” said Dionne.

Compared to Trump’s 49.8 percent of the 2024 popular vote, Trump’s approval ratings are a slide. A New York Times analysis of public polling this month found his net approval rating had dropped to 42 percent, while a A.P./NORC poll and a Gallup poll put him at 36 percent.

“This suggests that 15 to 25 percent of his voters have changed their minds,” Dionne said. “I think of these shifts as the triumph of reasonableness — and not because I agree with where these fellow citizens have landed (although I do). I’m buoyed by the capacity of citizens to absorb new facts and take in information even when it challenges decisions they previously made. It turns out that swing voters are what their label implies. The evidence of their own lives and from their own eyes matters.”

The shift dispels myths about Trump having “magical powers to distract and deceive,” said Dionne. It also proves that reality can still get through the breakdown of U.S. media and information systems.

Furthermore, Dionne said the decay of Trump’s standing is a rebuke to widespread claims a year ago that his victory represented “a fundamental realignment in American politics, akin to those led by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s or Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.”

“The case for a Trump realignment was built in large part on Republican wishcasting and Democratic despondency, married to a few facts, including substantial Trump gains among Latinos and young men,” wrote Dionne. “True, the Republicans secured majorities in the Senate and the House. But the G.O.P. won two fewer seats in the House in 2024 than it did two years earlier — far from the sweeping gains typically yielded by realigning elections.”

But a nationwide trend in a single election is not a realignment, argued Dionne, and Trump squandered whatever opportunity the G.O.P. might have had to expand its map with his extremism.

In 2025, “Trumpian flimflam hit its limits,” Dionne said, with even the G.O.P. in the Indiana State Senate defying Trump’s demand for a midterm congressional redistricting.

“His power to intimidate is ebbing. A reasonable majority exists. It’s searching for alternatives to a leader and a movement it has found wanting,” Dionne said.

Read the New York Times report at this link.

'Unmotivated donors' plague Republicans in pivotal southern state

Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King is sounding the alarm on party donations heading into the mid-terms.

“The usually low-key King posted a lengthy statement to social media, almost a manifesto, after Democrats managed to flip a Republican state House seat in Oconee and Clarke counties,” wrote Atlanta Journal Constitution Senior Political columnist Patricia Murphy. “That unexpected special election loss followed two 26-point Democratic routs in November for a pair of statewide Public Service Commission seats, which Georgia Republicans have dominated for decades.”

Murphy reports the PSC upsets came after another September special election to fill former state GOP Sen. Brandon Beach’s deep-red seat finished with the Republican contender winning 10 percentage points behind what the Republican incumbent won the year before.

“Georgia Republicans, we have a problem,” King wrote, before describing unmotivated GOP donors, unmotivated Republican base voters and a muddled party message that put other issues ahead of people’s difficult economic realities.

“Unless the party changes course,” he warned, Republicans will be outraised, outspent and defeated next year, too.

“Everyone behind the scenes knows it, even if hardly anyone is willing to say it publicly,” King wrote.

“As his statement ricocheted around GOP circles this week,” fellow Republicans reached out to thank him for speaking up, said Murphy.

“Somebody had to say something,” one said.

Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon denies the party has a problem, chalking the PSC losses as the result of the timing of the races, which overlapped with off-year city elections that typically turn out more Democrats.

“These elections don’t have any predictive value,” McKoon said, but other party team players aren’t buying it.

Murphy reports “a communications vacuum” at the state level as Gov. Brian Kemp enters his last year in office and the state’s next top three Republicans — Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Attorney General Chris Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — face off in a primary race to replace Kemp. Each one is trying to put affordability at the top of their list of issues, but they’re all competing against each other, including on messaging. And President Donald Trump’s own message operation in Washington isn’t helping, with Trump dismissing Americans’ affordability issues as a “Democrat hoax.”

“You’re doing better than you’ve ever done!” Trump said at a recent rally in Pennsylvania, but Georgia Democratic Party Chair Charlie Bailey called Trump’s comments “insulting and idiotic.”

“This isn’t rocket science,” said Bailey. “If you do things that hurt folks and make it harder for people to achieve the American dream, they might have a bad reaction to that. And that’s what we’re seeing in Georgia.”

Murphy said King had sought to run for Senate in 2026 but dropped out when he learned Trump was not giving him an endorsement in the GOP primary. Murphy said that snub has given King the freedom to be the Republicans’ very own Paul Revere, warning the GOP, “The midterms are coming!”

“Only Republicans can decide if they’re willing to listen,” said Murphy.

Read the AJC report at this link.