I want to note an unexpected but fortuitous confluence of events. A number of times over recent months – here and on Twitter – I’ve written about the importance of monopolies and particularly platform monopolies both in the early 21st century economy and in our larger political economy. I know this most directly from how it affects the media industry because it’s the industry I work in. But it affects every part of our economy. And people are starting to realize that monopoly concentration is also a major driver of income and wealth inequality. Read More

With Felix Sater back in the news, here’s a good overview of who Sater is, his criminal background and his longtime role as a top business associate of Donald Trump. And here’s Sam Thielman’s update on Sater. And what’s the connection between Felix Sater and Michael Cohen? Long before they were top Trump operatives, managing building projects with Russian capital, they grew up together in the Russia emigre world of Brighton Beach.

Secretary of Defense Mattis has announced that he is freezing President Trump’s transgender ban until the completion of a study of the topic by an expert panel. In practice this means that currently serving transgender members of the uniformed services may continue to serve.

The shade in this Trump pool report from Texas is quite something …

He stood on a raised platform of some type. Couldn’t tell if it was a step ladder or not. But he was not on a truck. Spoke into a microphone.

“I love you, you are special, we’re here to take care of you. It’s going well.”

“What a crowd, what a turnout.” Read More

Here is the first question on the White House internship application form: “Why are you committed to supporting President Donald J. Trump’s Administration?”

And the second: “Who is your favorite President, and why?”

After feeling stung by the poor turnout for his Phoenix speech, President Trump fired his longtime head of advance, i.e., the guy who stages his rallies. Actually, he had his personal bodyguard tell him he was out.

A very interesting thing is happening on the way to the 2018 midterms: Democrats are coming out in droves to run for the House. You can make plausible arguments both for why that’s good for Dems and why it’s a complication. But either way, it’s fascinating. Cam Joseph reports on why everybody’s gone surfin’ trying to catch what they hope will be a 2018 wave.

Much as the first reports of the now-infamous Trump Tower meeting with Don Jr., last night’s report about Trump Tower Moscow seems to be the tip of a very large iceberg. As I noted last night, the first Post report was substantially the same as our report on Trump’s 2015 Trump Tower Moscow effort published a month ago. The key point – the significance of which will become more apparent – is that they were working from different sources. We had TPM Investigations Desk reporter Sam Thielman’s series of interviews with Felix Sater. The Post was working from accounts of what seems to be a large cache of emails which the Trump Organization is in the process of turning over to Congress.

That was only the first hint. Read More

As we’ve seen the alt-right and various white supremacist and fascistic groups grow in prominence if not necessarily numbers in recent years and now be granted renewed prominence and validation from the President, we see a renewed debate about the role of violence in American politics. Specifically, what is the best way and the appropriate way to react to and combat the always menacing and often violent actions of the kind of people we saw protesting in Charlottesville? Read More