There is an ever-shrinking gulf between the right-wing fringe and elected Republicans in their certainty that even easily explainable events must be the work of a shadowy cabal.

Conspiracy theories have bubbled up around both the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), 71, and the prolonged illness and absence of 84-year-old Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), about as normie a Republican that still exists in public life (until November, anyway), told reporters Tuesday that he wants to see Graham’s full autopsy “to rule out any foul play.”

“We, you know, I saw the initial diagnosis of a dissected aorta — which is terrible, I mean, obviously, that could cause his death — but given where he was and the sorts of things he was advocating for, I think we just ought to resolve all those questions by seeing what the toxicology reports show,” Cornyn said.

The usual wingnuts — Laura Loomer, Benny Jonhnson, Marc Thiessen — all have their pet conspiracy theories, ranging from assassination by Russian President Vladimir Putin (Graham had just returned from Ukraine the day he died) to Democrats trying to thwart his plan to pass the SAVE Act, President Trump’s most beloved voter suppression bill. 

FBI Director Kash Patel inflamed these suspicions with his initial statement following Graham’s death, in which he wrote that: “The FBI is assisting local authorities and has made every necessary resource available.”

FBI agents were also seen at Graham’s home following his death.

McConnell’s absence, which stretched nearly a month before the public got any explanation, prompted such a flurry of speculation that prominent officials including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (R) publicly called for an explanation. 

In defense of the tin hatters, the McConnell camp’s response was just odd. Republican Senate leadership and CNN gadfly Scott Jennings all reported having had “20 minute calls” with the senator, during which they allegedly chatted with the very ill man about everything from Graham Platner to the Iran war. 

McConnell’s office then put out a statement and a photo, in which he’s holding the front page of the Washington Post sports section hostage-style.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), in an interview with Real America’s Voice, said that he had “heard from some sources” that the proof of life photo was actually an “older photo.” 

Johnson walked back those comments later, saying “just discount all that” in an interview on NewsNation.

This ambient distrust is a hallmark of the Trump era and a consequence of the movement both Cornyn and Johnson support. It’s what happens when the man who leads the government lies about everything from winning elections to having the perfect physique (even though he has dismissed the Graham conspiracy theories in this instance). It creates a field of distortion where roughly each half of the country is living in an entirely different reality. If reality is subjective, a concept like “trust” loses all meaning. Layer atop that the stunning advancements in artificial intelligence and bottoming out of confidence in institutions. 

Trump’s worldview is a contagion, and none of us is immune.  

— Kate Riga

ICE Temporarily Halts Vehicle Stops

After ICE agents killed two people in Texas and Maine in the past week alone, the Trump administration has ordered ICE officers to stop doing most types of vehicle stops as part of their immigration enforcement work, the New York Times and others reported on Tuesday. The order is reportedly temporary. In both of the recent events, the people were shot when agents tried to stop their vehicles, the Department of Homeland Security has said.

It’s unclear how long this freeze on vehicle stops will last. Trump is eager to deliver on his mass deportation promises ahead of the midterms, despite how unpopular his immigration actions have been among Americans for months and months now. But the move was made after Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) put out a statement calling on DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to “cease all non-urgent vehicle stops” after the killing in her state.

The killings by ICE officers this past week are hardly the first of Trump’s second term, as he uses his mass deportation agenda to flood blue cities and states, and even many red parts of the country, with ICE agents who have terrorized communities — all under the guise of removing dangerous and violent criminals from the country.

Per the Times:

At least 22 people have been fired on by agents involved in Mr. Trump’s deportation crackdown since he took office for his second term in January 2025. Six people, including three U.S. citizens, have been killed as a result of those shootings, nearly all of which involved officers firing at people in vehicles.

Related reading from my colleague Josh Marshall: Fine-Tuning the ICE Murder Machine

— Nicole LaFond

Trump Finally Pays E. Jean Carroll

Writer E. Jean Carroll finally has the $5 million in damages that Trump was ordered to pay out years ago after a jury found that Trump was liable for sexually abusing her in the 1990s and for defaming her on social media when she came out with the allegations years later.

A transfer of $5,625,005.48 was made to Carroll’s legal team on Monday, according to multiple reports and court records. This comes after Trump fought both the jury’s decision and the payment to Carroll, including as recently as last week.

“Three years ago, a unanimous nine-person jury found President Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E. Jean Carroll. Today, we are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her as a result of that verdict,” Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, told MS NOW.

— Nicole LaFond

More to Read From TPM Today

John Light has the details on President Trump’s planned primetime address Thursday night when it appears as though he will follow through on recent reporting that the admin plans to do a document dump of their supposed findings about the 2020 election results in Fulton County: The Brief: Get Ready for Trump’s 2026 Disinformation Deluge

More from David Kurtz in Morning Memo today, looking at new signs that the Trump administration might be backing off of its stance of refusing to cooperate with state investigations into ICE killings there: The Federal Cover-up of the 3 Minnesota Shootings Finally Unravels

New in TPM Cafe: How Lindsey Graham Built the Trump Supreme Court

Yesterday’s Most Read Story

Trump Shoots Messenger for Exposing His Risky New Air Force One Fiasco

What I’m Reading

Todd Blanche Has Run Wild With DoJ. Now He Must Answer for It.

French soccer team arrives in Dallas on an ICE deportation jet 

Mahmoud Khalil Accuses Trump Officials of Conspiring Against Him