AdImpact is the canonical source that many journalists use to track political ad spending, where ads are running, the ability to see the actual ads and so forth. A few times I’ve considering subscribing for TPM during the peak of the big election cycles. (These are very high-dollar price points.) So I’m on their mailing list for the data overviews that are basically teasers for subscribing. I got one of those today and something immediately jumped out at me. The top political advertiser by spend this cycle is the Department of Homeland Security.
Continue reading “Your Taxpayer Dollars at Work—on Trump Campaign Ads”‘No State’ Can Afford To Mitigate GOP Budget Cuts, and ‘That’s the Point’
When issues such as abortion were raised on the 2024 campaign trail, President Donald Trump would often wave away his allies’ hardline anti-abortion stances, hiding behind his professed belief in states’ rights to make their own decisions about whether to maintain or restrict access to reproductive health care. Post-election, the truth came out: Trump was definitely going to be interfering further with reproductive care access from the Oval Office.
But with his multi-trillion dollar tax cut legislation — a version of which passed out of the Senate Tuesday and is moving toward a final vote in the House before landing on Trump’s desk — the president and Congress actually are letting the states decide the fate of key programs. Yet the range of options the bill leaves them with, after making its sweeping cuts, makes that choice almost impossible, state officials warn. Those decisions include whether or not and how to adequately fund Medicaid, Medicare and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the face of historic federal cuts.
Continue reading “‘No State’ Can Afford To Mitigate GOP Budget Cuts, and ‘That’s the Point’”Trump’s Assault on Separation of Powers Made Explicit in His Megabill Vote Whipping
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
In yesterday’s edition of Morning Memo, we unpacked the various ways in which House Republicans have, since President Trump arrived back at the White House, repeatedly demonstrated to him that they have no interest in using their authority to serve as a constitutional check on the executive branch.
Continue reading “Trump’s Assault on Separation of Powers Made Explicit in His Megabill Vote Whipping”DOJ in Exile
I continue to get requests for updates about the DOJ-in-Exile project. The update is that while I got a lot of inquiries from people who were interested in being involved and a number of people who were interested in making large (5- or 6-figure contributions), I was not able to find someone or some entity to run it. Or I haven’t yet. And here I mean someone to organize and run it as opposed to do the actual work, which needs to be done at least mostly by people with experience as prosecutors. To be fair, it’s not like I’ve spent all my time on this. I have TPM; I have what I write each day; I have a book project. But a lot of people are scared. Possibly more so than I realized. And leerier as you go forward. But as things have developed over the last couple months I think the whole thing is more important now than I did at the outset. So I will continue to look and consider other possibilities including possibly launching and running it myself, at least at the outset. That’s the update. Remain very open to suggestions. This really needs to happen.
Noem Says She’ll Get Creative In Acting On Trump’s Threats Against Zohran Mamdani
Since the MAGA hordes first learned about the existence of NYC Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani last week, they’ve been losing their minds — tripping over themselves to lob racist and Islamophobic attacks at the candidate and fearmonger about “communism.”
Continue reading “Noem Says She’ll Get Creative In Acting On Trump’s Threats Against Zohran Mamdani”More on Denaturalization and Birthright Citizenship
I’ve had several TPM Readers reply to the post below about denaturalization and say it’s actually even worse than I say. Specifically, that we can’t really have any confidence that people who were born citizens won’t face denaturalization too. One reader simply makes the point: why not? What’s the bar that is stopping that? And of course, sure: Anything can in theory happen. And some things that we would have thought were only possible in theory a decade ago are happening routinely now or appear on the horizon. Another reader, more concretely, notes that, while his ancestors have been here for a century, the Chinese Exclusion Act raises the possibility that some of his “natural-born” ancestors may not have been citizens after all and that could be applied against him.
Continue reading “More on Denaturalization and Birthright Citizenship”Denaturalization is a Stark Threat to All Citizenship
I want to focus your attention on this new piece by Josh Kovensky on the DOJ appearing to open the door to denaturalizing citizens based on political activity or belief. I doubt I need to convince anyone reading this that this is a bad thing. But I want to underscore what is implicit in what is bad about it but needs to be as front and center as possible. The only cases in which denaturalization should ever be used are in the most extremes cases of egregious acts which, had they been disclosed prior to naturalization, would have barred citizenship in the first place. Even in most of those cases, the downsides usually outweigh the upsides. Because outside of the most extreme and unusual cases denaturalization is a stark threat to the equality of all American citizens.
I was born in the United States. Depending on what I do, the state can send me to war, imprison me, even execute me. But I can never stop being an American citizen unless I affirmatively renounce that citizenship. As long as that threat exists in any meaningful sense, no naturalized citizen is really my equal. Their membership in the club is contingent, contingent on behavior, which is to say not equal at all.
Continue reading “Denaturalization is a Stark Threat to All Citizenship”Mike Johnson Reminds House GOP That Legislating Isn’t That Important Right Now
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Ceding their authority as members of a separate-but-equal branch of government to the executive has emerged as a frequent theme for Republicans in the 119th Congress. We’ve seen this trend take many different forms, especially among House Republicans who have — at least up until this point — been successfully persuaded to ignore any legislative qualms they might have in order to score victories for President Trump.
At one point in the days leading up to a government shutdown in March, Trump was able to successfully strong-arm several House Republicans, who were opposed to a short-term continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open, into supporting the measure by pointing to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), suggesting it would do their due diligence for them.
At the time, DOGE was at the height of its rampage, freezing federal spending on crucial programs at an impossible-to-follow pace. Trump assured Republican legislators that DOGE’s efforts would return federal spending to pre-COVID levels, so none of the details of the CR they would ultimately pass actually mattered. According to reporting from Politico in March, Trump specifically told holdouts that he would pursue impoundment to continue withholding funds appropriated by Congress.
This collapse of the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution is something at which very few Republicans in Congress, save a few senators, including Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), have blinked an eye. Much of DOGE’s work can be understood as the executive branch running roughshod over Congress’ authority to appropriate federal spending and fund government agencies. House Republicans ceded their authority to the executive branch even further — though in a more formal way — when they rubber-stamped the recent rescissions package the White House sent over, green-lighting the cancellation of previously approved federal funding.
As he attempts to get his conference to let go of their issues with the Senate version of the massive reconciliation package and get it to Trump’s desk, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is once again reminding his members that their job isn’t really about legislating. Figuring out what is in a bill is the president’s job, not theirs, he contends. Emphasis mine:
“We knew we would come to this moment. We knew the Senate would amend the House product. I encouraged them to amend it as lightly as possible. They went a little further than many of us would have preferred, but we have the product now,” Johnson told reporters, per The Hill. “As the President said, it’s his bill. It’s not a House bill, it’s not a Senate bill, it’s the American people’s bill. And my objective and my responsibility is to get that bill over the line. So we will do everything possible to do that, and I will work with all of our colleagues.”
Capitulation of the Day
Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, has agreed to pay Trump $16 million as part of a settlement agreement with the President. Trump sued CBS’ “60 Minutes” over an interview it conducted with then-Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, claiming it was edited to make her responses sound better. The money will be spent on Trump’s future presidential library, as part of the agreement.
Per NBC News:
Paramount also said it agreed that in the future “60 Minutes” will release transcripts of interviews with eligible U.S. presidential candidates after the interviews have aired, “subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns.”
“The settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret,” the company said.
The proposed settlement comes as Paramount is attempt to complete a multi-billion dollar merger with Skydance Media that must be approved by the Trump administration. Paramount has maintained the issues are separate.
At least one senator has called for the deal to be investigated as bribery.
All the Goodies
- TPM’s Layla A. Jones: Obscure But Painful Reconciliation Package Cuts You May Have Missed
Texas Turns Back the Clock On Medical Care
Infuriating reporting from ProPublica finds that, amid the fear and uncertainty that comes with Texas’ abortion bans, doctors are hesitating before providing D&C procedures to women who have miscarried. The procedure is used to prevent hemorrhage but, because it also can be used to carry out an abortion, doctors balk.
ProPublica’s data analysis found:
- After the state put a draconian ban in place in 2022, the number of women who needed blood transfusions during emergency room visits for first trimester miscarriages increased by a whopping 54%.
- The number of first-trimester emergency room visits increased by 25%, suggesting that women were arriving at or possibly returning to hospitals in a state of distress that doctors in other states easily help patients avoid.
The Man for the Moment
- TPM’s Hunter Walker: The New President of the National Sheriffs’ Association Participated in the Jan. 6 Protests
Good Take on a Bad Take
Trump yesterday threatened to deport, or arrest, or do something sinister to New York City’s Democratic nominee for mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who, Trump contends, “a lot of people are saying” is here illegally (he is not).
- Mother Jones’ Tim Murphy: It Never Stopped Being Birtherism
Regarding Denaturalization
TPM’s Josh Kovensky: DOJ Opens Door To Stripping Citizenship Over Politics
Jan. 6 Rioter Gets DOJ Job
A former FBI agent who encouraged Capitol rioters to attack police officers is now serving as an advisor to DOJ official (and former advocate for Jan. 6 insurrectionists) Ed Martin. Prosecutors said the man in question, Jared Wise, told law enforcement officers guarding the Capitol that they were comparable to the Gestapo and yelled “Kill ’em! Kill ’em! Kill ’em!” as the riot intensified. He was charged in connection with the attack in 2023, and his case was dismissed when Trump returned to office.
Martin, who Trump tried and failed to make head of the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office, is now serving in a number of roles in the DOJ, including heading up a new “weaponization” working group to investigate supposed prosecutorial overreach that targeted Trump and his supporters.
The Little-Known Federal Independent Agency That Could
On Tuesday, a small independent federal agency that resisted the Trump administration’s attempts to take it over won a key victory in court, brushing back a sweeping assertion of executive authority, that, had it prevailed, would be yet another example of the White House snatching power from Congress.
The background:
- Back in March, TPM’s Josh Kovensky noted that the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) had successfully withstood Trump administration power grabs while many others had fallen: the U.S. African Development Foundation fended off DOGE, and Pete Marocco, a United States Agency for International Development appointee who the administration sought to install as the Foundation’s new acting board chair. (Marocco was also identified by open-source resources as having participated in January 6.)
- To put Marocco in place, the administration asserted a sweeping new interpretation of executive power, claiming that, though the agency’s board is Senate-confirmed, Trump could install a new board member himself, part of his “inherent authority under Article II” of the Constitution.
- “Here what you have is a President who’s saying, well, the position’s vacant, so I’m allowed to temporarily appoint someone to that position without advice and consent of the Senate, but that’s not how this works,” law professor Nicholas Bednar told Josh at the time. “It would effectively just be a runaround on Congress’s ability to check who the President wants in office.”
On Tuesday, the USADF prevailed in court, with U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, blocking the takeover after finding that “the Constitution likely does not vest the President with the authority to appoint Marocco as an acting Board member at USADF.”
“While defendants argue that the President has inherent Article II power to appoint acting principal officers, there is little hope for defendants that this argument will win the day,” Leon concluded later.
DOGE Guy vs. DOGE Guy
An ally of President Donald Trump and former Department of Government Efficiency adviser James Fishback on Tuesday is launching a super PAC called FSD PAC designed to blunt Elon Musk’s political ambitions.
FSD PAC, a play on Tesla’s “full self-driving,” stands for Full Support for Donald.
Its strategy is to be a bulwark against Musk’s threats — real or perceived, and comes as multiple Republicans shrug off the latest social media spat as little to worry about in a world where Trump so thoroughly commands the loyalty of the GOP base.
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DOJ Opens Door To Stripping Citizenship Over Politics
Throughout the campaign, Republicans teased an idea: the next Trump government would start to remove the citizenship of naturalized Americans.
Continue reading “DOJ Opens Door To Stripping Citizenship Over Politics”Lots Of Insane Ideas Flying Around At Alligator Alcatraz
President Trump and his entourage’s visit to Ron DeSantis’ new swamp-adjacent immigrant detention center — billed as a “one-stop shop for immigration enforcement” by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier — was about as unhinged and ghoulish as its name, “Alligator Alcatraz,” suggested it would be.
Continue reading “Lots Of Insane Ideas Flying Around At Alligator Alcatraz”