Nicole Lafond

 Have a tip? Send it Here!
Nicole Lafond is TPM’s deputy editor, based in New York. She has also worked as the special projects editor and as a senior newswriter for TPM. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and previously covered education in central Illinois.

WH Sounds Alarm After McCarthy Tries To Buy Off Far-Right With Soc Security-Slashing Commission
McCarthy made the promise on Fox News last week, in what appeared to be, at the time, a last-ditch attempt to win hardliner support for the debt-limit deal.
Where Things Stand: Jordan Sets The Stage For Yet Another Investigate The Investigators Stunt
This is your TPM evening briefing.

After Donald Trump sounded the alarm on Truth Social in March that he was about to get indicted in Manhattan and alleged that DA Alvin Bragg was coordinating with the DOJ, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and his other House Republican foot soldiers entered Trump’s armageddon screed into the official record. In a letter sent days before Trump was even indicted, Jordan breathed life into Trump’s Truth Social conspiracy theory by requesting that Bragg turn over whatever supposed communications his office might have had with the DOJ about the investigation.

Read More 
Far-Right Threats To Oust McCarthy Over Debt Ceiling Deal Turn Out To Just Be Talk
At last night's Freedom Caucus meeting, the motion-to-vacate did not come up.
Where Things Stand: Could The Political Theater Be Any Clearer?
This is your TPM evening briefing.

There’s not one piece on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ political stunt of an election-police task force that we’ve published in the past year or so that didn’t spell out in greater detail what we’ve seen to be true since the beginning: that this sham election crimes force was created for the purposes of boosting DeSantis’ 2024 bid and scaring certain voters away from the polls.

This new reporting from the Orlando Sentinel only adds to that rather solid hypothesis.

Read More 
Where Things Stand: McCarthy Was Scolded For Showing GOP’s Hand On Benghazi. Today’s GOP Shows Its Hand And No One Cares.
This is your TPM evening briefing.

Back in another lifetime, now-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy upset a bunch of his Republican colleagues when he just straight-up announced on Fox News that the Select Committee on Benghazi was making then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton look bad, and suggested that, hey, that was probably just the goal all along??? 🙃🙃

Read More 
McCarthy Steers Debt-Ceiling Bill Through House After Months-Long Hostage-Taking. But Not Without Far-Right Threats To Speakership
Where Things Stand: Save This Clip For Next Time They Pretend They Don’t Wanna Cut Soc Security, Medicare
This is your TPM evening briefing.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is seemingly trying to get a handful of far-right members of the Freedom Caucus to chill out and stop threatening to redo the speakership election. They’re not likely to successfully depose him, but no one is eager for a redo of the January spectacle as a few loud members seek to reassert their authority. And, so, in what is seemingly a half-hearted effort to throw them a bone, McCarthy went on Fox News and promised to create some vague “commission” that’ll review further cuts to next year’s budget.

The speaker then took it a step further. Instead of just promising that “this isn’t the end” and proposing some sort of additional amorphous cuts to quell a hardliner uprising, McCarthy doubled down, raising the possibility that this next step commission could look into gutting Social Security and Medicare. Music, in theory, to the ears of a salivating Freedom Caucus.

Read More 
Where Things Stand: Some 2024 Hopefuls Latch Onto Freedom Caucus Complaints. Trump Remains Silent.
This is your TPM evening briefing.

As my colleague Josh Marshall spelled out earlier, there is one very loud voice that is notably absent from this conversation.

Donald Trump has remained largely silent on the debt ceiling ever since the Biden White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) settled a deal over the weekend to ransom the debt ceiling hostage in exchange for some GOP legislative priorities, most notably work requirements for SNAP recipients.

Read More 
Where Things Stand: DeSantis Win Could Actually Help Trump’s Legal Woes, DeSantis Says
This is your TPM evening briefing.

A few hours after the janky roll out of his 2024 campaign, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis offered The Donald a compelling consolation prize if he were to beat the former president in the 2024 primaries.

Read More 
Where Things Stand: DHS Warns Of Attacks On Gov’t Buildings, Infrastructure If 2020-Level Disinfo Spreads In 2024
This is your TPM evening briefing.

The Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin today warning that there is a “heightened threat environment” for violent attacks in the U.S. as we head into the 2024 election cycle.

Department officials specifically warned that “perceptions of the 2024 general election cycle” and “legislative or judicial decisions pertaining to sociopolitical issues” could be mobilizing issues for those wishing to carry out acts of violence. It also specifically warns of the potential for attacks on “individuals or events associated with the LGBTQIA+ community.”

Read More 
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: