Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a gastroenterologist who voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the U.S. Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in February, isn't exactly garnering praise for his condemnation of Kennedy's latest controversial health recommendations.

Cassidy, whose support during Kennedy's confirmation hearings looked tentative at best due to his status as a medical doctor clashing with RFK Jr's antivax views, ultimately ensured the controversial confirmation by the full Senate.

Cassidy co-founded the Greater Baton Rouge Community Clinic, a clinic providing free dental and health care to the working uninsured and also created a private-public partnership to vaccinate 36,000 greater Baton Rouge area children against Hepatitis B at no cost to the schools or parents.

RFK Jr's appointed vaccine advisory committee voted to eliminate the longstanding universal recommendation that all U.S. babies receive a hepatitis B shot at birth.

This controversial decision suggests a new approach to the vaccine, which public health experts warn could lead to a resurgence in cases of the incurable virus.

On Friday, Cassidy posted on X, "As a liver doctor who has treated patients with hepatitis B for decades, this change to the vaccine schedule is a mistake. The hepatitis B vaccine is safe and effective. The birth dose is a recommendation, NOT a mandate. Before the birth dose was recommended, 20,000 newborns a year were infected with hepatitis B. Now, it’s fewer than 20. Ending the recommendation for newborns makes it more likely the number of cases will begin to increase again. This makes America sicker. Acting CDC Director O’Neill should not sign these new recommendations and instead retain the current, evidence-based approach."

The responses to this post were fast and furious, with Meidas Touch replying, "You did this. This is all your fault. You will live with the consequences of your actions forever — and unfortunately, so will all Americans."

Republicans Against Trump also replied, asking, "Do you regret voting to confirm RFK Jr., who’s implementing these dangerous policies?"

Popular resister account CathyNotToday said, "I watched the confirmation hearing live and was impressed with your line of questioning and thought FINALLY a Republican with a spine It was therefore incomprehensible that you STILL voted to confirm him Either you are grossly incompetent or totally morally bankrupt Or both 'Severe Consequences: Babies infected at birth have about a 90 percent chance of developing a chronic, lifelong infection, which silently damages the liver for decades and increases the risk of liver failure and cancer'"

"You voted to confirm RFK Jr.! What did you expect to happen[?]" replied writer Sam Deutsch.

Over a third of those who voted for President Donald Trump say they're facing the worst cost of living yet, blaming the president for their economic woes, according to The Independent.

"MAGA is feeling the pinch," writes Brendan Rascius, who adds that "more than one-third of President Donald Trump’s own voters believe the cost of living in the U.S. is the worst they’ve ever seen."

Pointing to the most recent poll by Politico, Rascius adds that "more than half say that the president bears at least some of the blame."

Based on these dwindling poll numbers, "the Republican Party have their work cut out for them in selling voters on their economic vision before next year’s midterm elections," he writes.

As Democrats "romped to victory" in the November elections "by honing in on the issue of affordability," he writes, Republicans are taking note and raising red flags.

"This is a small warning, but it’s one that Republicans need to understand, is that to hold the House in 2026, it’s going to be an all-hands-on-deck effort,” says GOP strategist Ford O’Connell.

In September, the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 0.3 percent month-over-month and by 3 percent year-over-year, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Gas and food prices "also crept up, though the results were better than economists expected," according to CNN.

Respondents of the Politico poll were also asked who they hold responsible for the current state of the economy.

About half, 46 percent, said Trump holds all or most responsibility, while 29 percent said the buck stops with former President Joe Biden, Rascius notes.

In that same poll, 56 percent of Trump voters says the president "has taken his chance" to fix the economy and failed, yet he is still clinging to a popular strategy of his that also seems to be failing.

"In recent weeks, he’s repeatedly asserted that prices are decreasing and described Democrats’ fixation on affordability a 'con job,'" Rascius writes.

Meanwhile, as Trump and his administration fails to convince Americans their policies are working, Axios reports that Trump, who has been recently called out for being increasingly isolated and disengaged, will embark on a tour across the U.S. focused on selling his economic agenda.

Public reaction to a recent Christmas card greeting posted on the White House's official X account probably isn't what President Donald Trump was expecting.

A graphic of Trump giving his signature thumbs up, along with the words "Daddy's Home," accompanies the White House's exuberant greeting of "HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!" posted late Wednesday night.

The phrase "daddy's home" has been adopted by Trump's supporters and used in official White House communications as a catchphrase and meme, particularly during the holiday season and following a NATO summit event in 2025.

But not everyone is embracing it, with many posting tweaked versions of the original showing, among other things, Trump sleeping and Vice President JD Vance on his lap dressed as an elf.

Daily Kos staff reporter Emily C. Singer shared it on X, saying, "This is so f—— weird."

Geopolitical commentator Marcus d'Osint posted, "I don't think this appropriate considering a bunch of evidence out of the Epstein files just dropped."

A retired pastor who goes by Dr. Mike on X used Elon Musk's AI tool Grok to construct his reply, saying, "GROK's ADVICE: 'IT Would NOT be ADVISABLE to ENTRUST YOUR DAUGHTER to TRUMP!' 'His comments about women, including inappropriate remarks about Ivanka, such as calling her a 'great piece of ass' & saying he 'might date her if she weren't his daughter', raise major concerns."

OTC trading platform Unich.com wondered, "Did the White House just drop a Christmas album cover?"

Over on Instagram, comments range from “soooo cringe" and “creepy” to “creep,” and “gag," while others wondered if that home meant "the nursing home?"

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) "prefers secrecy to sunlight" when it comes to his probe of former counsel Jack Smith, writes MS NOW's Steve Benen.

House Republicans, led by Jordan, subpoenaed Smith for a closed-door deposition on December 17, 2025, as part of their oversight investigation into his probes into President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents.

Smith's lawyers have stated he volunteered to appear for an open, public hearing but will comply with the deposition request.

On Capitol Hill, GOP lawmakers remain eager to treat Smith like a "punching bag," Benen writes.

"Rep. Michael Rulli of Ohio recently accused the prosecutor of acts that he said bordered on 'treason[,]' Sen. Marsha Blackburn referred Smith to the Justice Department for a misconduct investigation, based on misguided allegations the Tennessee Republican did not appear to understand[,] and several GOP members have even pushed for Smith’s disbarment," he notes.

Jordan sent a letter to Smith to demand his closed-door testimony and NBC news reports that Smith’s lawyer Peter Koski said he's "disappointed ... Republicans rejected the Trump prosecutor’s offer to provide public testimony."

"Jack looks forward to meeting with the committee later this month to discuss his work and clarify the various misconceptions about his investigation," Koski tells NBC.

Benen says that "Smith clearly wanted more transparency, but he wasn’t in a position to dictate the terms."

The New York Times reported that House Republicans “have been reluctant to give [Smith] a prime public platform out of concern that he could embarrass Trump by making a compelling case for the indictments over the president’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election and his retention of classified documents.”

These concerns, Benen writes, "gave away the game," adding that "Smith is an experienced, credible and capable prosecutor who’s familiar with Trump’s criminal cases at a granular level."

"The more Republicans drag him back into the spotlight, the more Smith is positioned to remind the public not only of the variety of alleged presidential felonies, but also of evidence the party would prefer to forget," Benen says.

While Trump says he, too, would rather see Smith testify in public, Jordan isn't keen on it at all.

"Jordan will likely ignore the White House’s preference, even as the president probably ought to be careful what he wishes for," he concludes.

President Donald Trump is worried that Republicans will lose a seat in Congress if Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) moves to Texas to run for a redistricted seat there, according to Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX).

Journalist Mark Davis posted on X, "Per Rep @LanceGooden: Rep Ronny Jackson informs the TX delegation that Pres Trump has asked Issa to run in his current seat “because they are worried a new person has no chance of winning it and the President thinks Darrell can.”

According to a report by Punchbowl News, Issa is considering a run for a House seat in Texas if the Supreme Court upholds California's redrawn congressional district map.

California's congressional district maps were recently redrawn after voters approved Proposition 50 in a special election in November.

The new maps, which are considered a partisan response to Republican-led redistricting efforts in other states like Texas, are designed to favor Democrats and will be in effect for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections.

Reps. Issa and Jackson previously filed a lawsuit challenging California's redistricting effort, claiming it was an assault on representative democracy. But a Texas federal judge dismissed the case before the special election.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Anna Elsasser told ABC's San Diego affiliate, “Darrell Issa knows his record of self-dealing, raising costs, and gutting health care is going to cost him his seat, so he’s ready to move over 600 miles to keep doing Mike Johnson and Donald Trump’s bidding, before facing the Californians he’s failed. It’s cowardice at its finest. The mere fact that he’s considering this proves Darrell Issa doesn’t care about - or work - for the people, he only wants to stay in power to enrich himself.”

Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated on their inability to sell the American people on the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," reports Al Weaver in The Hill.

"Talk about the massive tax package largely evaporated after Labor Day amid high-stakes fights over releasing documents related to Jeffrey Epstein and the 43-day government shutdown. Yet even before those controversies, polls showed the GOP legislation was unpopular," Weaver writes.

As Democrats hammer Republicans on the issue of affordability, he writes, GOP lawmakers are concerned by their lackluster sales pitch on their party's signature accomplishment.

When asked if he was happy about his party's message on the bill, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), said "No. There’s so much good stuff in there, and I just think it’s inherently difficult to sell something that has that many moving parts and is that complex.”

"We hopefully learned a lesson that while the ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill [Act]’ doesn’t poll well by that name, if you change it to the ‘Working Family’s Tax Cuts Act,’ it polls much better,” Cornyn said, "referring to the GOP’s attempted rebranding of the bill’s name dating back to near Labor Day," Weaver notes.

“So we need to go back to Marketing 101, I guess," Cornyn said.

The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (H.R. 1) was signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025. The expansive law makes permanent many provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and introduces new, temporary tax deductions alongside significant spending cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP.

Roughly two-thirds (63 percent) of the public hold an unfavorable view of the law, compared to only 36 percent who view it favorably, according to a July 2025 poll by KFF. Other polls show similar figures, making it one of the most unpopular major pieces of legislation passed since at least 1990.

In addition to its unpopularity, the "measure has largely gotten buried," Weaver writes, thanks to the government shutdown and the Epstein scandal.

When asked how much the tax package comes up on the campaign trail with voters, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who is running to become the next governor of Alabama in 2027, replied: “Not much.”

“Most people don’t really understand what’s in it,” he said.

An anonymous GOP source tells Weaver, "It’s way too f—— expensive to live in this country right now. We need to be seen as at least caring about that.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) says the party needs to work on better messaging for the bill, saying, "I think it is one of the most … undertold [stories], and we need to change that."

Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), the chair of the House GOP’s campaign arm, agrees , reportedly telling "lawmakers this week that more work has to be done in the coming weeks and months to sell the bill and popular components of it, including no tax on tips, the expansion of the child tax credit and the tax cut extension," Weaver reports.

The president hasn't done much to sell the bill lately, either, and Republicans are frustrated by that as well, Weaver says.

"Has the president gone to a single event about OBBBA? Have they gone to Toledo? Have they gone to Scranton? … I don’t know — use the bully pulpit for a minute while we’re at it? Would be nice," the anonymous GOP source says.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WVa) agrees, saying, "I think we could do better. I wouldn’t give us an ‘A.’”

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, the married hosts of MS NOW's "Morning Joe" have been conspicuously absent lately and are sending the show's producers into a panic, reported RadarOnline.

"Insiders now claim the couple's increasingly high number of absences has sparked a 'workplace meltdown' as the network scrambles to cover for them," Radar reported.

Before the network rebranded from MSNBC, the hosts "reportedly appeared together in just 70 of 124 episodes," Radar noted.

"Scarborough couldn't be found for 29 episodes, and Brzezinski was absent from 41, which worked out to about one missed show every three days. In July alone, Brzezinski missed two straight weeks of episodes," they added.

The couple typically hosts the program "from a decked-out studio at their Jupiter, Florida, home," Radar wrote.

"Given their extremely short work commute, many speculated whether the absences were due to one partner sleeping in while the other goes live on-air at 6 a.m.," they said.

The pair's schedules, whatever they are, have ruffled feathers of the show's staffers, according to Radar, leading to "chaos" behind the scenes.

"There’s no leadership," a senior producer told entertainment journalist Rob Shuter, who writes on Substack. "Every day is a scramble. Who’s hosting? What’s the tone? Who’s running the ship? No one knows."

An anonymous insider told Radar that the show's producers are panicking as they head into a big election year.

"They have special deals, endless vacation time – but this summer went too far. We're headed into an election year, and we're stuck with empty chairs," the source said.

Days before the network became MS NOW, however, the couple started to reappear more regularly, Radar reported, clocking "their longest consecutive streak of appearances since Memorial Day at three weeks and counting."

Americans are blaming President Donald Trump for high costs and that blame, reports Politico, is starting to shift politics, as the president continues to lose the affordability battle to Democrats.

According to a new Politico poll, 46 percent of Americans say the cost of living in the U.S. is "the worst they can ever remember it being, a view held by 37 percent of 2024 Trump voters."

That same 46 percent also say that the affordability crisis is Trump’s responsibility, saying it is his economy now and his administration is responsible for the high costs.

Politico says this is a huge warning to Republicans, as "some of the very groups that powered Trump’s victory last year are showing signs of breaking from that coalition, and it’s the high cost of living that’s driving them away."

The Democrats, they write, have seized upon this "growing vulnerability," as the focus on affordability led to their sweeps in the November elections as well as "an overperformance in a deep-red House seat in Tennessee on Tuesday."

GOP strategist Ford O’Connell says it's a warning sign, especially after Tuesday's Tennessee election in which Republican Matt Van Epps beat Democrat Aftyn Behn by 9 points, "but underperformed against Trump’s 22-point margin in 2024," Politico notes.

“This is a small warning, but it’s one that Republicans need to understand, is that to hold the House in 2026, it’s going to be an all-hands-on-deck effort,” O'Connell says.

The Politico poll "found that despite Trump’s continued support among the Republican base, his softest supporters — the ones the GOP most needs to hold onto next year — are expressing concern."

"Republicans were already worried about how they can turn out lower-propensity voters during a midterm cycle when Trump himself is not on the ballot. Now Democrats are also trying to peel away their voters by focusing aggressively on affordability, which remains a top priority for 56 percent of Americans," according to the poll.

Arizona-based Republican strategist Barrett Marson also agrees the GOP is in trouble, saying, "Republicans have long had the advantage on dealing with the economy, but if [it] remains in the doldrums and prices remain high, it’s harder to find a good job, they will blame the party in power, and that’s Republicans."

This trouble, Politico writes, presents "an emerging splintering in Trump’s 2024 winning coalition as his party heads into a high-stakes midterm fight."

Trump's weakness is especially seen among Republicans who do not identify as MAGA, Politico explains.

"His numbers are far weaker among those who say they voted for him, but do not identify as MAGA Republicans — 61 percent, compared to 88 percent of MAGA-aligned voters — pointing to a possible weak spot in his coalition," they note.

This poll, Politico notes, shows how the economy is the issue that will overshadow next year's elections, much to the dismay of Republicans.

"The poll underscores just how pervasive the affordability crisis cuts across Americans’ everyday lives," they say.

Marson says that even those who continued to blame President Joe Biden for Trump's faltering economy will move on from that narrative.

“Voters aren’t going to go, ‘I voted for Trump to better the economy, but Biden just hamstrung [him] too much,’” Marson says. “Voters are going to very quickly forget about Joe Biden and just as quickly turn their ire to Trump unless things get better.”

Republicans "who repeatedly hammered Biden over his handling of affordability concerns are increasingly concerned that Trump is taking a similar tact," Politico notes.

Michael Strain, the director of Economic Policy Studies at the historically conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, agrees.

“It’s striking to see President Trump make the same mistake,” he says.

Democrats, meanwhile, are ramping up the message less than a year out from the midterms.

CJ Warnke, a spokesperson for the Democratic super PAC House Majority PAC, says "House Republicans should 100 percent expect to see ads next year calling them out for their broken promise to lower prices and for supporting Trump’s tariffs."

A day after President Donald Trump went viral after falling asleep during a cabinet meeting following an all-night Truth Social posting binge, some Republican loyalists spent Wednesday trying to spin the narrative to say that Trump is nothing short of the Energizer Bunny and the picture of perfect health.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KY), who also happens to be a physician, went on Newsmax saying, "I'm a pretty hard worker. I'll work 110 hours a week. He outworks me. He's the first person I've ever known that works harder than I do. He runs around that golf course. He goes through staff members, several groups of them each day. He's in incredible shape right now. And you talk about sharp. He's playing 4-dimensional chess right now."

That effusiveness raised the eyebrows of several, including NewsNation contributor Chris Cillizza, who quipped on X, "This is very reminiscent of Joe Biden's senior staff saying 'this guy never stops working!' sort of stuff in 2023/2024."

"Law & Order" star Chris Meloni chimed in on X, saying, “He runs around the golf course “ Woman man camera TV. … 4 dimensional chess."

Another X user remarked, "Senator Roger Marshall: 'He 'RUNS' around the golf course' ? Are you daft? There are countless videos and photos of half-baked Trump slumped over in the passenger seat of a golf cart. That man hasn't 'run' in his life!"

"Roger Marshall is a doctor. Yet, he shamelessly lies about Trump’s stamina. Either he’s a really bad doctor [and] he should lose his license or he’s a gutless liar," wrote another anti-MAGA account on X.

"This is some next level gaslighting. Marshall is a complete failure as a senator," wrote X user Anna Baxter.

Chris D. Jackson, Democratic Party chair for Lawrence County, Tennessee wrote on X, "These guys are such blowhards pretending they actually do real work. It's an insult to the actual people they represent who have real jobs."

The Guardian’s Moira Donegan tells The New Republic's Perry Bacon that President Donald Trump's decline in power is becoming impossible to ignore as his sway over Republicans diminishes.

"I think some of the weaknesses that are inherent to Trump in his second term are becoming a little more obvious," Donegan said.

Donegan says that while Trump's "changes to the constitutional paradigm" and empowerment of the executive branch won't magically disappear, there are some notable challenges to the presidency.

"Trump seems to be in a degree of personal decline," she said, and "that decline is becoming hard to ignore."

The government shutdown, for one, "was actually quite damaging for Donald Trump," Donegan said. "I think the persistence of high prices — particularly now, exacerbated as some of his tariffs go into effect — has been bad for Trump."

Donegan also believes that the once fiercely loyal base of Republican lawmakers is finally starting to turn on Trump as they see the writing on the wall.

"The very cynical reception that the Supreme Court case about those tariffs got at oral argument fractured the notion that all of these Republican politicians and political operatives — among which I do count the Supreme Court justices, or at least the majority of them — are in a state of permanent and absolute obedience to Donald Trump. That’s beginning to crack," she noted.

"Democratic wipeouts" at the November elections, coupled with a "fracturing within the MAGA coalition in the ranks below Donald Trump" are signs of this cracking. "[As] some of these more ambitious MAGA Republicans start to look toward their own post-Trump future, they’re beginning to position themselves to be best situated to ascend further after the old man exits the stage," Donegan said.

These factors have led to Republican lawmakers pushing back on Trump and his policies.

"Now it seems like contradicting him is much more possible," Donegan noted.

Trump's physical decline is also hard to ignore, she said, as signs of aging and cognitive issues are apparent.

"I think Donald Trump is a little bit out to lunch. As the president, he is really showing his age," she said.

"He’s not appearing in public as often, and when he does appear in public, he looks old — he looks like a much older man than he did in 2016, 2017, right? The stress of the presidency and the passage of time have had visible effects on a man who was never very robustly physically healthy to begin with," according to Donegan.

Donegan said Trump's role as president has been diminished as well.

"So I think what you have is a president who is occupying a kind of figurehead position, and then some very powerful but not very accountable people within his administration who are doing the actual work of governing," she said.

"I’m thinking particularly of people like [Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB)] Russ Vought and [Deputy Chief of Staff] Stephen Miller," she added.

As Vought, Miller and others effect policy change in the administration, Trump, she said, is busy doing other things.

"So I think his base is fracturing, his coalition is fracturing, and he’s spending a lot of time doing stuff that doesn’t seem to be helping," she said.

"He’s throwing Gatsby parties at Mar-a-Lago during the government shutdown. He seems to spend the majority of his time on the ballroom build. And the destruction of the East Wing did have a symbolic hit in a way that maybe some people didn’t expect it to," Donegan said.

"He seems to be interested in old-man projects — retiree stuff — that seems to be his personal preoccupation," she added.

Former pastor and author John Pavlovitz wrote Monday that "all brutal empires fall," and the MAGA movement is no different — and signs of its inevitable demise are "everywhere."

"Every time the pendulum has swung wildly toward barbarism in a society, it has invariably come back with even greater opposite force to bend the arc of the moral universe back toward justice again," he wrote on his Substack.

Pavlovitz said that students of history may recognize that the end is likely nigh for MAGA.

"And history tells us that, despite the story in our heads or the one that comes through the partisan propaganda that we’re continually saturated by, our brutal national nightmare is likely in its final hours," he wrote.

"Few cults survive the passing of their leaders, and MAGA will not outlive the departure of Donald Trump from the White House or from this earth, whichever comes first."

Concerns and speculation regarding Trump's health, particularly signs of aging and potential cognitive decline, have been widely discussed, but the White House maintains he is in "exceptional physical health." Medical experts and political commentators have pointed to observable incidents and a reduced public schedule as potential indicators of decline, and a recent push for results of an MRI scan in October have exacerbated the speculation.

"His physical attrition and mental degradation can no longer be hidden or distracted from. His body is rapidly breaking down, laboring with simple tasks, hemorrhaging energy, and riddled with the unmistakable tells of a man whose systems are failing," Pavlovitz wrote.

"His already hate-addled mind is becoming more and more clouded in an ever-thickening haze of deterioration, drugs, and almost certain dementia. His outbursts have grown more impulsive, his decisions have become more desperate, and the once indestructible facade of strength is steadily crumbling. The strongman is withering."

Noting that Trump is a lame duck president, Pavlovitz wrote that his "once fierce death grip on political power is giving way to neutered impotence and growing irrelevance" as much of what has built him up is starting to collapse.

"The rapacious brutality of his regime is being exposed and condemned. The groundswell of public opposition is growing louder and more organized," Pavlovitz noted.

"The defections from his party are accelerating, their unwavering allegiance weakening. His cockroach accomplices are scattering in the raking light of coming accountability. His supposed social media army of support is proving to be made largely of foreign bot factories," he added.

Pavlovitz surmises that Trump is on the verge of political expiration, writing, "He has peaked as a galvanizing presence, and there’s no GOP spin doctoring that can change that."

"He gave people permission to revel in the worst of their instincts, to give loud voice to their hidden hatreds, to discard their religious convictions, and to fully abandon empathy and decency," he added.

Pavlovitz says that once Trump is gone, so will be MAGA, but, he said, they won't "suddenly awaken from their cultic stupor and join the rest of us in benevolent and interdependent humanity."

However, he writes, they will "never again have someone who embodies the zeitgeist of grotesque impulses the way Trump has."

And while the coming days won't be painless, as his supporters may become "more violent, more desperate, and more committed to destruction," Pavlovitz warned, they know their time is short.

"That should strengthen our resolve, lift our spirits, and sturdy our steps," he says. "Take heart, good people. Time, gravity, and term limits are undefeated, and one way or another, the end of MAGA is near," he wrote.

"And the dawn of the promise of America will break once again."

Newsweek reports that blue collar jobs are collapsing under President Donald Trump as the labor market in 2025 "takes a decidedly white-collar tone" driven by artificial intelligence.

"AI has already been cited in many of the mass reductions announced by Amazon and other corporations in recent weeks," writes Hugh Cameron.

"But for all the hand-wringing over the potentially ill-fated employees of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, a quieter crisis appears to be unfolding for the U.S.'s blue-collar employees, despite the pledges and efforts of the current administration to foster a renaissance in marquee industries such as construction and manufacturing," he adds.

The delayed September jobs report corroborates this, showing "an encouraging uptick in overall hiring but no pause in blue-collar employment's long-term decline," Cameron writes.

Of the five areas of employment considered blue collar — manufacturing, mining and logging, transportation and warehousing, utilities, and construction — only construction saw an increase in employment, he notes.

That said, construction's 19,000-job gain was also "insufficient to offset the monthly loss of 25,300 jobs in transportation or manufacturing shedding a further 6,000," he writes.

"Year-over-year changes show that annual payroll declines have accelerated since January — albeit continuing a long-term trend—and have pushed blue-collar job growth into negative territory for the first time since the pandemic," Cameron explains.

Heidi Shierholz, chief economist for the Department of Labor during President Barack Obama's tenure, tells Newsweek there is "undeniably a deterioration in employment conditions for the U.S.'s blue-collar workers."

"Between April and September, goods-producing industries (manufacturing, construction, logging, mining), lost 72,000 jobs, with most of those losses (58,000) in manufacturing," she says.

Shierholz also says that "the services sector — which falls partially under the blue-collar umbrella — is 'limping along' thanks solely to gains in health care."

David Dorn, a labor market expert at the University of Zurich, says construction is particularly vulnerable to negative growth despite that slight uptick in employment.

"This sector is highly sensitive to broader economic deceleration, and increasingly restrictive immigration policies under the current U.S. administration are likely constraining labor supply," he says.

And while Dorn says it's hard to "isolate" the direct effects of Trump's tariffs on employment, he says he doubts "whether these had 'generated any sustained gains' in jobs."

Dean Baker, a co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, goes further and says "tariffs have been largely to blame for the uncertainty and 'overall weakness in demand' that has driven cautious hiring across blue-collar sectors," Newsweek reports.

"Companies are reluctant to invest in a context where they have no idea what tariffs will be in place six months from now, much less three to five years from now," he says.

Baker also says that while manufacturing's gradual decline as a share of total employment has "been the case for more than 50 years," as labor demand shifted toward health care, education and other roles within the more service-focused economy, the president isn't trying to fix it either.

"Trump is doing nothing to address these issues," Baker says.

Mother Jones writers Pema Levy and Ari Berman say that President Donald Trump "owes his corrupt and abusive reign to one man" — Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

"Twenty years ago, John Roberts promised that as chief justice of the Supreme Court, he would be like an umpire, calling balls and strikes," they write.

"His promise charmed senators and the media, who believed that his predilection for executive power and long-held antipathy for civil rights could be moderated by this commitment to faithfully apply the law," they add.

But Roberts wasn't what he seemed, they say.

"The delusion was so powerful that for two decades, the media defaulted to portraying him as a moderate institutionalist, pointing to high-profile decisions — to uphold parts of the Affordable Care Act or striking down President Donald Trump’s attempt to ask about citizenship in the 2020 census — in which he broke from conservative orthodoxy," they write.

Roberts, they say, is the sole reason for Trump's authoritarian streak.

"Today, as the Roberts court rewrites the Constitution in the image of Trumpian autocracy, it’s become clear that Roberts’ promise to be a neutral umpire was a lie. We are watching a rigged game, and Roberts set it up," they write.

"The Roberts court has spent Trump’s second term not applying the law so much as clearing it out of his way," they add.

Among the lawless actions Roberts has allowed: "firing independent agency commissioners, using racial profiling in immigration sweeps, disappearing immigrants to authoritarian and war-torn nations, and defying Congress’ power of the purse," they note.

But Roberts' "acquiescence to an anti-democratic America" isn't new, noting he "has been embedding white-dominant authoritarianism into the country’s source code for two decades. It’s impossible to imagine today’s crisis without the Roberts court having first undermined the foundations of our democracy."

Ryan Doerfler, a Harvard Law professor who studies the judiciary’s role in a democratic system, says that "You really can trace, in so many ways, the moment we’re in to critical decisions surrounding our law of democracy."

And much of that began with Roberts, who, "over the last five decades, has taken aim at the law, beginning as a young lawyer in President Ronald Reagan’s Justice Department fighting its reauthorization, when he claimed it would 'lead to a quota system in all areas,'" the Mother Jones writers explain.

"In 2019, Roberts toppled another pillar of democratic governance — if you don’t like a politician, you can vote them out — by writing in Rucho v. Common Cause that federal judges could not even review claims of partisan gerrymandering, deeming them 'political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts,'" they explain.

The writers also note that "Roberts didn’t just strip political power from ordinary people — he handed it to billionaires."

His decisive vote in 2010’s Citizens United v. FEC "lifted restrictions on political spending, while ludicrously insisting it would not 'lead to, or create the appearance of, quid pro quo corruption.' Political spending by billionaires has since increased 160-fold," they note.

That decision is "a direct line between the ruling and Elon Musk buying Trump the White House with more than $290 million and being given free rein to fire his companies’ regulators in return," they add.

In his nearly five decades in law, Roberts, they write, "didn’t wait till he was on the Supreme Court to empower Republican presidents — he auditioned for the job by showing his willingness to break the rules and come through for his team."

And under Trump, "we are now operating under a Robertsian reimagining of the separation of powers, in which laws passed by Congress are mere suggestions for a monarchical president," they explain.

"Trump needed Roberts to win, and Trump’s victory came just in time for Roberts," they add. "His corrupt bargain has had an exorbitant cost, both for the nation and the court’s reputation."

The writers agree, saying, today's court under Roberts "will greenlight Trump’s corrupt, self-enriching behavior and unlawful power grabs. The majority will instinctively know that its fate is tied to the fate of Trump’s movement, and so it will protect it. The result will be a democracy in name only."

Massachusetts Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue is "catching flak" from his two primary challengers as he tries to distance himself from identifying with the GOP, reports Tim Dunn in the Boston Herald.

Minogue, a West Point graduate and Army Ranger who earned a Bronze Star in Operation Desert Storm, led Abiomed, a medical device company known for Impella heart pumps.

He launched his largely self-funded campaign for the 2026 Massachusetts gubernatorial election in October, focusing on affordability, safety, and accountability.

"In an interview with WBUR, Minogue said he does not identify with a political party, despite running as a Republican candidate," Dunn, who calls Minogue a "rogue Republican," says.

In that interview, Minogue said, "I don’t identify with a party. I didn’t swear an oath to the Constitution at West Point to a party. I swore the Constitution to America. And so I am very focused on the things around Massachusetts, and what I just talked about as my positions."

“I want people to vote for me because they think it’s in the best interest of Massachusetts, it’s the best interest for their kids, and it’s the best interest for the future. I don’t line up, and I’m going to go out and I’m going to recruit and build a base of new voters, new volunteers that are going to include independents, and it’s going to include fiscally responsible Democrats,” he said.

Minogue's Republican primary challengers Brian Shortsleeve and Mike Kennealy immediately seized on these comments, with their campaigns issuing statements to the Herald.

“Minogue’s comments are deeply concerning, especially given that he only recently registered as a Republican and has consistently kept the party and its supporters at arm’s length,” said Kennealy Campaign Communications Director Logan Trupiano.

Campaign Strategist for Brian Shortsleeve, Holly Robichaud, tells the Herald, "Republicans cannot nominate someone to lead our party who doesn’t even identify as a Republican. In order to win elections, the Republican Party must be committed to fundamental principles of fiscal responsibility, low taxes, individual freedom and public safety, not simply a vehicle for the political ambitions of a billionaire who flipped a coin to decide what party to join."

Minogue hit back at these statements, telling Dunn that his opponents are "weaponizing fidelity to the Constitution” and doubling down on his doctrine of being loyal to the Constitution over political parties.

“I swore an oath to the Constitution at West Point not to a political party. I won’t put party politics ahead of what is best for Massachusetts or America. Only the political elite would try to turn being an outsider into a negative. I’m not a career politician. I’m a veteran, a father, a husband, a man of faith, and a businessman who solves problems,” Minogue told the Herald in a written statement.

“What’s truly unimaginable is watching anyone running for office try to weaponize fidelity to the Constitution and service to our nation. I’m running as a new kind of governor because Massachusetts deserves principled leadership that works for people, not the political elite.”

President Donald Trump futilely tried to delete a Sunday night Truth Social rant, but his typo-filled fury was captured by various screen shots, The Daily Beast reported.

“Ther [sic] are laws that effect our nation," Trump posted, but then quickly deleted his message.

On Trump's second attempt at posting, he confused “effect” and “affect,” instead going with what The Daily Beast described as "the less problematic word" “impact” instead.

Trump's edited version finally made it to Truth Social, with both ending in the taunt, "DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE!!!”

"Trump seemed to be quoting former U.S. Navy Commander Kirk Lippold, who now works as an inspirational speaker, as part of a rant against Democratic 'traitors,'" the Daily Beast reported.

Last week, six Democratic lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds released a video urging current U.S. service members to refuse any orders they deem unlawful, an action that aligns with U.S. military law.

Trump called them the “Seditious Six” and posted that the lawmakers, including former Navy captain and astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) had committed “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”

His latest tirade came after another of Trump's Truth Social tantrums, in which he used an offensive slur against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) "in a scathing post at Thanksgiving, where he also called out political correctness," the Daily Beast wrote

"There’s something wrong with him, absolutely, sure,” Trump told reporters Sunday on Air Force One, refusing to apologize.