The founders are calling. They suggest you read the damn Constitution.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterdayCornyn: "There's nothing we could do to rein in the president"
Ian Bassin
@ianbassin.bsky.social
Founder and Executive Director @protectdemocracy.org. Former Associate White House Counsel. Tweets my own.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday
You could grow a spine and do your damn jobs.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterdayCornyn: "There's nothing we could do to rein in the president"
The Republicans have already shown themselves to care not at all for our Constitution. There’s apparently no bottom to this if they confirm Blanche, who has weaponized the Justice Dept to be a personal legal arm for Donald Trump, protecting his wealth and lawbreaking and persecuting his opponents.
Really been amazing throughout the process how “should the attorney general be a former personal attorney to the president who has overseen a bunch of failed political prosecutions” just does not matter at all to the entire GOP caucus.
Matthew Gertz@mattgertz.bsky.social · 2d agoYou’d have to be a fool and/or desperate to get to yes to accept this, so it’ll probably be enough to get him confirmed. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/u...
One of the most important pieces you’ll ever read, from @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social The War That Could Swallow the World www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/o...
Opinion | The War That Could Swallow the World
Whatever is happening in Iran, it isn’t working.
nytimes.com
Lawfare's reporters, like @rparloff.bsky.social, @annabower.bsky.social, and @mollyroberts.bsky.social, show up to the hearings, from Anthropic v. DOD to NPR v. Trump, to bring you minute-by-minute detail of what happened. That work isn't free. Help fund it: www.lawfaremedia.org/about/support
If there was a book of Greek Myths about this era, the story of Brad Karp and Paul Weiss would be in it. Unsatisfied with being an unbelievably wealthy top law firm, it sought more, and Karp destroyed his reputation, firm, and career in the process. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/u...
How a Top Law Firm Went From Standing Up to Trump to Bending the Knee
nytimes.com
That Trump would rather protect a sweetheart get out of tax jail free card for himself than for the U.S. to have an Attorney General tells Tillis and Cornyn and everyone else all there is to know about it.
Yeah, if you want to rebuild trust and credibility, hire this guy.
Never forget.
Tom Joscelyn@tomjoscelyn.bsky.social · last wk.It’s striking that Douthat has been at the NYT all these years. The right has built a closed media ecosystem on the (false) belief that legacy media is a closed ecosystem. Meanwhile, a rightwing intellectual mediocrity like Douthat kept chugging along at the Times. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/b...
The use by multiple admins of our control over global finance as a weapon led others to seek alternatives to US financial hegemony. But Trump's reckless and unnecessary blunder in Iran may be the final straw, ceding the dollar's dominance. What a disaster he created by his ego and stupidity.
Ms. Swinton felt both supported and overwhelmed, she said, as she watched her daughter grapple with the meaning of death. “When they were transferring Michael, she said: ‘Is that my Dada in that box?’” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/u...
A Fallen Soldier’s Angst, Love and Longing to Return Home From the Iran War
Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton was killed in recent days, one of 18 U.S. soldiers who have lost their lives since the beginning of the war in Iran.
nytimes.com
If this isn’t a sign that our system of both government and finance has jumped a shark, I don’t know what it. A mockery of capitalism and democracy all wrapped up in one move. When history is written these will be the blaring warning signs we foolishly didn’t heed. www.wsj.com/finance/stoc...
How Wall Street’s Bots Are Cashing In on Trump’s Truth Social Posts
Traders who already monitor the president’s pronouncements with automated systems can pay for an ultrafast feed. At least five firms have signed up.
wsj.com
There’s only two possibilities: either the Trump FDA is incompetent or it’s corrupt. Either they announced the culprit of a nationwide crisis inaccurately or Trump took a bribe to lie to the public. It’s one or the other. A perfect encapsulation of Trumpism. And the result either way is we get sick
public health guy@publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 3w agohmmmm
Congress rejected some of Trump’s proposed budget cuts. OMB is making them anyway. From David Super and Cerin Lindgrensavage @protectdemocracy.org thehill.com/opinion/cong...
Congress rejected some of Trump’s proposed budget cuts. OMB is making them anyway.
President Trump and the Office of Management and Budget are accused of violating the separation of powers by attempting to unilaterally withhold funds that Congress specifically appropriated.
thehill.com
Trump’s war in Iran is getting more dangerous. Two more U.S. services members killed. Others missing. Worldwide travel warning for Americans. And Russia and China may be helping Iran improve its weapons to evade U.S. defenses. Republican leaders in Congress need to do their jobs and stop it.
Oh, and then he opposed a bill that would stop himself and the Vice President from trading stocks. I wonder why. The President should not be able to own stock in a company and then use the power of his office to help that company.
Trump has bought stock and then praised that company & their products on Truth Social at least 44 times with 20 different companies!
Step 1: Buy the stock. Step 2: Use the presidency to praise the company and announce policies that could help it. Step 3: Insist there is absolutely no conflict of interest.
CNN@cnn.com · 3w agoA CNN investigation found that President Donald Trump has promoted more than 20 companies on his Truth Social account days after buying stock in those firms – at times announcing government actions that could benefit the companies he just invested in. https://cnn.it/44tiGit
Want to know what the president is going to say at his nationally televised therapy session on election grievances? It's all on the "rigged elections BINGO card". He gets to whine more about why he lost six years ago and you get to play with friends! bingo.cip.uw.edu
"Rigged Election" Bingo
Spot the tropes before they spread. Recognize the common storylines behind election rumors — can you get BINGO?
bingo.cip.uw.edu
"Stop criticizing us or will keep murdering people" is just a jaw-dropping thing for a government official to say.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w agoTom Homan: "It all go backs to the Dems ... there's still gonna be more bloodshed unless they shut their mouth and let ICE enforce the laws that they enacted."
If the head of US intelligence isn't able to say who won the election in 2020, then maybe he shouldn't be head of US intelligence.
This is why Veep went off the air. You can’t do parody when the real thing is already a farce.
Matthew Gault@mjgault.bsky.social · 3w agoHegseth announced they're gonna start screening for T and administering testosterone treatment for warriors found wanting
No, I am not exaggerating. Speaker Mike Johnson: "I run the protection program." www.yahoo.com/news/politic...
‘I run the protection program’: Johnson vows to shield Trump and his allies from scrutiny
The Republican House speaker abandoned all subtlety, promising to protect the White House from oversight if the GOP holds on to its majority.
yahoo.com
It's not a mystery why Trump is working so hard to spread lies about elections. Follow the money. He's pulling off the most lucrative grift in presidential history and wants his MAGA House and Senate to protect him from any accountability.
Dan Alexander@danalexander21.bsky.social · 3w agoYou may have seen reports that Donald Trump hauled in $2.2 billion in 2025. Turns out, he actually made even more. New story released this morning: www.forbes.com/sites/danale...
The con job begins for the next 72 hours. We’ve seen this drill before.
Reports of Trump's planned Thurs. speech about 2020 signal a textbook example of a WH strategy to undermine our elections that we've been tracking. Get the full record of the strategy in action, plus concrete steps we can all take to defend our elections. https://protdem.org/override-july-update
The future will look different. But the values that underpin liberal democracy remain essential. Credit to @bernybelvedere.bsky.social @shikhadalmia.bsky.social for this important conference on how we make sure they adapt and endure. We @protectdemocracy.org are proud sponsors.
Berny Belvedere@bernybelvedere.bsky.social · 3w agoThis week 😮 conference.ismaglobal.org @ismapolicy.bsky.social @theunpopulist.net
