US News

MAGA operative Laura Loomer accused GOP Conference Chair Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) of working on behalf of the Qatari government in an unhinged post on X.

Loomer based her post on a video she received of McClain dancing at the Qatari embassy on July 4. She also claimed to have a memo implicating McClain in leaking information that could damage the federal government to the Qataris. Loomer added that the information could lead to a "major ethics violation."

Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent has claimed that Trump's tariffs are helping to balance the budget — but the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board blasted the claim as nothing more than smoke and mirrors, and some misleading accounting.

"Treasury’s monthly financial report shows the U.S. collected some $27 billion in custom duties in June, up from $6 billion in the same month last year," wrote the board, a frequent critic of Trump's tariff schemes. "Since total monthly receipts rang in at $526 billion, while outlays were $499 billion, voila, a balanced monthly budget. 'Another promise made. Another promise kept,' tweeted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent."

by Jonathan Shorman, Kansas Reflector

July 14, 2025

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins claimed Medicaid is “bankrupting” the states, while suggesting that “healthy” foods could serve to help reduce health care costs. Yet both Medicaid and nutrition programs like SNAP were slashed under President Donald Trump and Republicans’ so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed into law just 10 days ago.

“Medicaid is bankrupting almost every state,” Secretary Rollins claimed in remarks on Monday (video below).

President Donald Trump has always occupied an air of infallibility within the MAGA party, but that illusion appears to be quickly fading, according to New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg.

When Trump entered the political arena in 2015, he sought to position himself as a "warrior against sex trafficking" and the dark arts of Democratic politics, Goldberg argued in an op-ed published Monday. But the Jeffrey Epstein files cover-up scandal that has plagued the Trump administration for more than a week has not only burst the bubble surrounding Trump, but it is also potentially destroying the party.

As Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives begin work on spending legislation for fiscal year 2026, conservationists and congressional Democrats are blasting a key appropriations bill released Monday.

"House Republicans are once again waging war on America's wildlife in yet another giveaway to their industry allies," said Stephanie Kurose, deputy director of government affairs at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. "Extinction isn't inevitable, it's a political choice. The Appropriations Committee has one job to do, which is to fund the government, not decide whether our most vulnerable animals get to survive."

U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz appeared on Fox Business on Monday, where he presented a carrot cake to celebrate Medicaid's 60th birthday and brushed aside concerns about the millions of Americans likely to lose their healthcare coverage under recently passed Republican legislation—by telling people to not eat carrot cake.

Oz—the multimillionaire erstwhile celebrity surgeon, purveyor of "miracle" cures, and failed U.S. Senate candidate—gave Fox Business host Stuart Varney what he called a "MAHA Medi-cake" before proceeding to extol the virtues of Medicaid, the program launched during then-President Lyndon B. Johnson's "Great Society" agenda that provides health insurance to more than 70 million lower-income Americans.

A notorious far-right state Supreme Court justice raised $0 in her latest fundraising haul — adding fuel to the rumors she may be planning to retire, reported Associated Press Wisconsin statehouse reporter Scott Bauer.

"Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley, who is up for reelection in April, raised no money for a reelection bid through the end of June, according to a report her campaign filed with the state today," wrote Bauer. At the same time, he noted, one of her key liberal rivals, Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judge Chris Taylor, raised $583,000.

One of DOGE's top staffers did not go quietly into that dark night after he was let go from the agency, according to a new report.

Steve Davis, who led DOGE's operations, was let go from his post on May 29, according to the Office of Management and Personnel. However, Politico reported on Monday that Davis continued running meetings with the General Services Administration and asked DOGE staffers for regular updates about their work. Davis also pitched creating a DOGE 2.0, according to the report, which cited two sources familiar with the situation.

The Trump administration's decision to slap a steep tariff on tomatoes imported from Mexico sparked backlash on social media Monday.

The administration is applying a 17% tariff to most Mexican tomato imports as it ended a trade deal that previously set minimum prices for such imports. The White House said the move aims to protect domestic tomato farmers by leveling the playing field against what they see as unfairly lower-priced Mexican tomatoes.

President Donald Trump posted a triumphant manifesto on Truth Social on Monday night, after the Supreme Court handed him at least a temporary victory in one of his pet projects.

"The United States Supreme Court has handed a Major Victory to Parents and Students across the Country, by declaring the Trump Administration may proceed on returning the functions of the Department of Education BACK TO THE STATES," wrote Trump. "Now, with this GREAT Supreme Court Decision, our Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, may begin this very important process. The Federal Government has been running our Education System into the ground, but we are going to turn it all around by giving the Power back to the PEOPLE."

President Donald Trump's new posture against Vladimir Putin isn't because he's had a genuine change of heart in favor of defending Ukraine, but because the Russian leader personally hurt his feelings, Jonathan Lemire wrote for The Atlantic in an analysis published Monday.

This follows Trump announcing, to great fanfare and a bit of ridicule, that Russia will have 50 days to agree to a peace deal in their invasion of Ukraine, or face 100 percent tariffs on their goods in the United States.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates took the Senate to task on Monday afternoon in a Wall Street Journal op-ed as the lawmakers eye cuts to what he called "almost every single effective lifesaving aid program."

The Senate is poised to mull over a rescission bill that aims to do away with more than $8 billion in foreign aid, including nearly $1 billion in direct aid for global health programs. That's in addition to the billions in aid already canceled.