CIA is barred from influencing our domestic politics. Not by custom, not by norm — by law. Congress should demand to know who wrote these docs, when, and who tasked them. Those questions have answers. None are secrets. I break it down with @granthermes.bsky.social and @stevencash.bsky.social

Did Trump Use the CIA to Lie About 2020? Ex-Intel Officers Say Maybe

Cheers to two Years of Make It Make Sense! Independent journalism only works with your support, so thank you!

makeitmakesensepod.substack.com

The Constitution bans poll taxes, in two places. If voter IDs cost money, how are they legal? It’s complicated…and annoying.

The Constitution bans poll taxes, in two places. If voter IDs cost money, how are they legal? It’s complicated…and annoying.

@thesteadystate.org is calling on Congress to investigate Trump’s election documents and presidential malevolence to borrow @juliacurlee.bsky.social’s phrase. Full podcast episode of Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes is in the bio

Was the CIA used in Trump’s 2020 election lies? Steve Cash and @juliacurlee.bsky.social from @thesteadystate.org and @lawfaremedia.org on the show this week. 

With time and options running out, the administration is clearly banking on what has quickly become the High Court’s most potent pro-Trump summertime tool: the shadow docket. makeitmakesensepod.substack.com/p/the-white-...

The White House's Midterm Endgame Runs Through The Summer Shadow Docket

With less than 100 days until the election and the lower courts against it, the White House seems ready to bet big on the Supreme Court's most opaque tool.

makeitmakesensepod.substack.com

New bills would make babies of undocumented immigrants and birth tourists "invaders" to deny them citizenship. Marauders of the maternity ward is next in the fight to end birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court case was just the start. mimsnewspod.substack.com/p/the-gops-i...

The GOP's Infant Invaders

The next stage of the Trump Administration's push to end birthright citizenship is here.

mimsnewspod.substack.com

Year two was a huge year at Make It Make Sense. Three new newsletters. Interviews with newsmakers that shape the headlines. Some words of gratitude for subscribers and a special for everyone who’s still on the fence. mimsnewspod.substack.com/p/make-it-ma...

Make It Make Sense Turns TWO!

A celebration of you and a special offer

mimsnewspod.substack.com

Across DHS press releases, media reports, and court cases from the beginning of the 2nd Trump admin, I found 31 cases in which DHS accused members of the public of using a vehicle to attack an agent. Only 1 has been proven to be true. New from me. mimsnewspod.substack.com/p/dhss-weapo...

DHS's "Weaponized Vehicle" Fantasy

The government has used the same claim 31 times to justify force. In all but one case, the car was never the threat.

mimsnewspod.substack.com

The White House's new report about the Smithsonian is the latest in what Marc Stein, President of the Organization of American Historians, calls the federal assault on history from the administration. It's a must watch/listen, if I do say so myself. youtu.be/cST_bKZmLas?...

The Feds Are Erasing History. America's Top Historian Has Receipts.

YouTube video by Make It Make Sense With Grant Hermes

youtu.be

The head of the nation's most prominent association of historians talked to me about the White House's report about the Smithsonian. What he said was pretty simple. "It's a hit job." Read for free here now. Listen to the full convo Friday. @oah.org mimsnewspod.substack.com/p/the-white-...

The White House Says It's "Saving" History. A Leading Historian Says It's Taking Out A Hit On It.

The Smithsonian is one of the most trusted institutions in America. The White House just spent 162 pages trying to convince you otherwise.

mimsnewspod.substack.com

The DOJ is now threatening state and local election officials with criminal investigations if they fail to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls. The DOJ is 0-10 in forcing states to hand over voter rolls. This is an end run around those rulings. 1/

Platner. Paxton. El-Sayed/Stevens. Four more races now up for grabs. Gallego. McConnell. SAVE America and summer recess. The Senate is about to explode. youtu.be/VunYItcjG7s

The Senate Is About to Explode. Here's Every Race That Could Make It Happen.

YouTube video by Make It Make Sense With Grant Hermes

youtu.be

What Hemingway said about Paris, I’m hoping can be said about America too. Especially now. “If you are lucky enough to have lived in [America]… then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for [America] is a moveable feast.” mimsnewspod.substack.com/p/can-americ...

Can America Be A Moveable Feast Too?

On Patriotism, and Perspective, and Being Abroad For America's 250th

mimsnewspod.substack.com

Between the cost of the war, gas, diesel, jet fuel, and fertilizer, the Trump MOU costs roughly $187 billion. The JCPOA cost taxpayers $1.3 billion. The Trump MOU is 144 times more expensive than the JCPOA, and Trump said the tab is only on hold. mimsnewspod.substack.com/p/the-price-...

The Price Of Peace

The MOU with Iran is 144 times more expensive than Obama's deal ever was,

mimsnewspod.substack.com

@barbmcquade.bsky.social came on Make It Make Sense this week to talk about her new book The Fix, Trump’s mob tactics, and how we can solve this administration’s corruption. Get the full episode at the link in the bio

Is Albania Jared Kushner an test for Gaza? @eczuleger.bsky.social just published leaked documents about Albania and we talk about the connection. Full conversation at the links in the bio. #politics #explained #albania #gaza #news

Could Jared Kushner's Albanian resort project be a proof of concept for the privatization of Gaza? Newly leaked documents show the plan is larger than Affinity or the Albanian government let on. My conversation with @eczuleger.bsky.social who's in Albania mimsnewspod.substack.com/p/is-albania...

Is Albania Jared Kushner's Dress Rehearsal for Gaza?

Watch now | A journalist living through the Kushner protests says the question is no longer crazy.

mimsnewspod.substack.com

Pig in a python is a phrase we should all be using Q

Trump got his wall. You just can't see it. Plan to cut off 70% of intl flights Asylum/refugees at record lows H1-B nearly gone Asylum attorneys targeted Visa holders forced to leave to apply for green cards with no guarantee of reentry Full Story: mimsnewspod.substack.com/p/the-invisi...

The Invisible Wall Is Being Built

Forget the concrete. The Trump administration's most effective immigration barrier is one you don't see.

mimsnewspod.substack.com

“We’ve run out of alarms to ring...It’s grandiosity, it’s poor impulse control, it’s paranoia, it’s poor judgment. It’s a manic-like mood at night... It's all of those things together." The latest from me on the doctors sounding off on Trump's health mimsnewspod.substack.com/p/the-presid...

The President Is Unwell

Doctors combed through years of Donald Trump's behavior. What they've concluded should concern everyone.

mimsnewspod.substack.com

After the DOJ announced its case against the SPLC, I looked into the Trump admin's connections to extremists. I found nearly two dozen from the VP to Secretaries to DOJ settlements. Tarnishing the SPLC would benefit all of them. Read it free here. mimsnewspod.substack.com/p/the-compan...

The Company They Keep

When the Justice Department went after the nation's foremost hate-group watchdog, it may have revealed more about the administration than it intended to.

mimsnewspod.substack.com

We could all use a refresher on how this is supposed to work before it goes off the rails in the next few months. Check out the latest installment of Things You Forgot From Civics Class here! mimsnewspod.substack.com/p/how-does-r...

How Does Redistricting Work?

States are redrawing their district lines, here's how it's supposed to work

mimsnewspod.substack.com

Many thanks to @granthermes.bsky.social for having me on his show “Make It Make Sense” to talk about denaturalization - we had a great conversation! youtu.be/ImeXD9aedgc

They Can Take Your Citizenship Away — And the Trump Administration Is Trying

YouTube video by Make It Make Sense With Grant Hermes

youtu.be

The DOJ has tried and failed to prove widespread voter fraud, then non-citizen voting, and now sloppy voter roll maintenance. Then it came to Detroit and cited cases, hoping no one would see the shifting story. I did because I covered the cases it's using. mimsnewspod.substack.com/p/the-doj-is...

The DOJ Is Pulling A Bait And Switch On Voter Fraud. I Covered the Cases It's Now Citing.

The DOJ's Civil Rights Division has quietly shifted its focus away from actual voter fraud after coming up mostly empty-handed.

mimsnewspod.substack.com

The War in Iran is maybe over, maybe not, but what happens next? What happens to the US after we blew through international agreements, US law, alienated our allies, and set an example for our adversaries? @oonahathaway.bsky.social joins me on Make It Make Sense to talk about it all.

Rep. Jamie Raskin's new bill to create an independent commission on presidential fitness while in office is exactly what the authors of the 25th Amendment wanted. We know because they told us. mimsnewspod.substack.com/p/jamie-rask...

Jamie Raskin's New Bill Would Finally Activate a Part of the Constitution We've Ignored for 60 Years

The bill is aimed at Trump, but it's following a 40-year-old road map laid out by the 25th Amendment's authors

mimsnewspod.substack.com

Suit jackets that are too tight in every way and rumple while standing. Pants, also too tight, but also too short. It’s like there aren’t any tailors left in Miami. Turns out, I wasn’t far off the mark. Because there really is a shortage of tailors. mimsnewspod.substack.com/p/the-guys-i...

The Guys in the Manosphere Can't Dress Themselves, and That's Actually Everyone's Problem

The US has a tailor shortage, and it's starting to show.

mimsnewspod.substack.com

“An entire civilization will die tonight” A threat that under Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which the US signed in 1948, would meet the definition of a genocidal act.

They launched it with a lie. The executive order backing it up has no evidence for its core claims about immigrants. And the states they're targeting? Coincidentally, all run by Democrats. This isn't a fraud task force. Here's what it actually is: mimsnewspod.substack.com/p/jd-vances-...

JD Vance's New Task Force Isn't Looking for Fraud — It's Looking for Immigrants

The anti-fraud force is built on the claim that immigrants are takers, not makers. Except just not true... and it might not be about fraud at all.

mimsnewspod.substack.com