What’s Wrong With American Higher Ed, Trump’s Immigration Pivot, and The Invented ‘Ferguson Effect’

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Check out today’s newsletter!

September 8, 2015

Top Stories


Why Has Donald Trump Suddenly Gone All Soft On Immigration?

The Gist: Trump's recent pivot on immigration suggests that the GOP frontrunner is trying to convince moderate Republican voters that he’s not so xenophobic after all.

Chris Christie: Bring Back Stop-And-Frisk!

The Gist: Despite reports that this was one of the safest summers in New York City’s recent history, Christie says he’d bring back the city's highly contested stop-and-frisk policy in "about five minutes."

Meet The Anti-Gay Lawyer Fighting For Defiant Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis

The Gist:  Attorney Mat Staver has a long history of making anti-LGBT statements. His law firm was labeled a hate group in 2014.

From The Reporter's Notebook


It seems Hillary Clinton can't do an interview without being asked if she'd like to apologize for her use of a private email account as secretary of state, TPM's Catherine Thompson says. In a Monday interview, she refused to apologize for not apologizing, adding that "What I did was allowed." It's not clear that the State Department sanctioned the practice, however.

Agree or Disagree?


David Schultz argues that reformers who claim they want to fix American colleges–either through privatization or an exaggerated emphasis on political correctness—are actually destroying what made our higher education system great

Say What?!


She's a hypocrite. She's applying for the job of a martyr.

-Fox panelist Sharon Liko condemned Kentucky clerk Kim Davis for refusing to uphold the law

BUZZING: Today in the Hive


From a TPM Prime member: "The GOP plans to add the climate change agreement to the list of initiatives of the Obama Administration that will not be implemented under the new Republican President in 2017. Let’s see, that joins the Iran agreement and immigration as issues that have widespread support across the country and that the GOP is adamantly opposed to. Wholly apart from the carnage such reversals would cause in our foreign policy, there is the small issue that it will be hard to take such positions to he voters and survive. Climate change, immigration, and Iran are likely to make the GOP an unviable institution in this election cycle – oh yes, and Trump too."

Related: Thanks to Trump, ending birthright citizenship became the GOP's new anti-immigration litmus test

Have something to add? Become a Prime member and join the discussion here.


Latest Daybreaker
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: