I want to tread carefully here. But this seems potentially serious. I am in contact with two families in which the parents have an adult child with severe disabilities who receives SSI payments for their support. In each case, at some time today their online Social Security portal switched to showing that the adult child was “not receiving benefits.” The full language is “This beneficiary is currently not receiving payments” under “Benefits & Payments”. In one case, the recipient’s payment is later than usual but might still come tomorrow. In the other case, the recipient lives at a facility which receives the payments directly. So that family doesn’t know yet whether there’s been a disruption in payments.
Good post on the indefensible media coverage of the Third Term shiny object being offered up by the President (see also, invading Greenland, etc.)
There is an additional point worth emphasizing. The reason Donald Trump is talking about this third term ridiculousness is very plain. Second-term American presidents are lame ducks. That’s just how it is. And if they are unpopular lame ducks, after awhile their allies may start to look past them toward the future. Trump is undoubtedly terrified of this—of becoming irrelevant before his term even ends, particularly once the race to succeed him heats up. The way for him to keep the specter of lame-duckishness at bay is to tease the idea that just maybe, who knows, he just sorta might run for a third term. That’s the play, and the media is being played.
The relevant portion of the letter goes as follows …
I am writing to advise you that Indiana University has decided to terminate your employment effective immediately. Its my understanding you have informed the chair of your department that you have accepted a faculty appointment with a university in Singapore and will start your role there this summer. Please note that you will not be eligible for rehire with Indiana University.
Amid the chaos and cacophony of Donald Trump’s second term we’re sucked into this new mini-debate over a potential Trump third term. NBCNews got the ball rolling with a headline that read: “Trump won’t rule out seeking third term in the White House, tells NBC News ‘there are methods’ for doing so.” They were roundly criticized for that framing and other news organizations did better by putting the matter more squarely in their headline. For instance, there was The Washington Post whose headline ran “Trump suggests ‘methods’ exist for bid for unconstitutional third term.”
That’s better, certainly. But there’s only one proper response to all these comments: “No, you’re not.”
At roughly 6 p.m. ET this evening the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) sent out a notice to employees on a commission intranet/internal hub that “the NRC has terminated the NRC’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).” The notice has yet to appear in an agency-wide email. The message cites the President’s March 27th, 2025 Executive Order purporting to cancel union contracts across a broad swath of the federal workforce. As you’d expect, it’s all heading to the courts.
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Booker’s decision to break from standard procedure was motivated by the unusual threat to the country President Trump represents. His office provided TPM with an embargoed copy of his opening remarks in which Booker outlined the stakes as he sees them and his reasons for speaking and holding the Senate floor “for as long as I am physically able,” beginning Monday evening.
