Trump began selling access to his social media posts to Wall Street trading firms milliseconds before they go public, permitting them to buy and sell with insider information. open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

August 4, 2026

On Friday night, a court filing from Capital One denied there was any political motivation behind the closure of more than 380 bank accounts in the names of Donald Trump and the Trump Organization.

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“Found an imaginary problem, said only they could fix it, didn’t listen to experts, hired buddies who grifted millions, failed miserably, bragged how great it went. The entire Trump presidency in a nutshell.” Minnesota governor Tim Walz open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

August 1, 2026

In a classic Friday night news dump, the Department of Justice last night moved to dismiss the criminal charges against David Hearn, the U.S.

open.substack.com

It is a grim fact that politics involves choices that cost lives. Fewer of them have been lost than feared. But it cannot be denied that lives have been lost all the same. ECONOMIST www.economist.com/finance-and-...

How many people are dying as a result of USAID’s demise?

Fewer than academics imagine, but more than Elon Musk will admit

economist.com

While the vast majority of people enrolled in an A.C.A. plan this year still receive a federal subsidy, the federal assistance is less generous. People are paying significantly more for a plan in 2026. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/b...

After Obamacare Cuts, Hospitals Are Treating More Uninsured Patients

More people who lost coverage after congressional Republicans ended enhanced federal subsidies are now seeking care in emergency rooms and unable to pay bills.

nytimes.com

"What is at stake is more than just buildings. It is the whitewashing and bulldozing of our history and culture, created over centuries by the many people who have built the United States." HEATHER COX RICHARSON open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

July 25, 2026

It turns out Trump has not abandoned his plan to paint the massive grey granite Eisenhower Executive Office Building white.

open.substack.com

The saga illustrates the stakes as the Trump administration is completing a set of rules that would provide the president even greater control over more than $1 trillion in annual federal grants. NYT www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...

Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him

Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.

nytimes.com

"...until we bring that concentration of wealth at the top down, we're going to be fighting a constant rearguard action trying to save some of what America is supposed to be about." PAUL KRUGMAN open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Oligarchy and the Media

Can the takeover be stopped?

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Mr Zelensky miscalculated in firing Mr Fedorov, a longtime and loyal ally. Appointing a new commander would not end Mr Zelensky’s problems, or his difficulties balancing protesters’ demands against preserving his own authority. www.economist.com/europe/2026/...

Ukraine’s top general could be on the way out

Firing the reformist defence minister has plunged Volodymyr Zelensky’s government into crisis

economist.com

"What Trump destroys with a snap of his fingers will take years to repair, except in those cases where he has broken something beyond restoration." Thomas B. Edsall www.nytimes.com/2026/07/21/o...

Opinion | Trump’s Kiss of Death

On top of everything else, the president is inept.

nytimes.com

"“We assess that vote tabulation systems WOUNLD BE DIFFICULT to manipulate on a wide enough scale to compromise election results.” White House website current post www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/u...

Takeaways From Trump’s Speech Claiming Election Vulnerabilities and China Interference

Documents released by the Trump administration to support the president’s claims did not back up his most aggressive statements.

nytimes.com

"We shouldn’t be talking about billionaire derangement syndrome, we should be talking about deranged billionaire syndrome." PAUL KRUGMAN open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Democracy in an Age of Powermaxxing

The billionaire backlash has finally arrived. But is it too late?

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Less than halfway through his second term, Trump has turned the DoJ from an arm of the law into a muscular limb of the presidency. www.economist.com/leaders/2026...

Donald Trump’s gutting of the Department of Justice

What the degraded institution means for America

economist.com

"Lindsey Graham believed in big things, many of them important and true, and he didn’t let his moral or intellectual self-respect get in the way of advancing them. There’s a nobility in that, too." By Bret Stephens NYT www.nytimes.com/2026/07/14/o...

Opinion | Lindsey Graham’s Choice

Would the world have been safer if Graham hadn’t cozied up to Trump?

nytimes.com

"There’s no America to deal with. An increasingly isolationist America is no longer the leader of the free world. How can it be, when it’s no longer the leader of itself?" By Stephen Marche www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/o...

Opinion | The Zombification of America

Much of the world feared abandonment by the United States. It’s actually a new beginning.

nytimes.com

"...while Trump is able to run roughshod over Americans, he can no longer bully the rest of the world. Thanks to Trump, the U.S. has seen its global influence plunge." PAUL KRUGMAN open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Pathetic in Ankara

Who’s afraid of the big bad Trump?

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52 people died in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody during the first 500 days of President Trump’s second term, reflecting a soaring mortality rate. www.hrw.org/news/2026/06...

US: Deaths in ICE Custody Surge Under Trump

The rate of people dying in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody has soared, with at least 52 deaths reported since the start of President Donald Trump’s current administration.

hrw.org

"I am not giving up hope. America is not irretrievably lost. But now, much more than 50 years ago, we are a nation in desperate need of redemption." PAUL KRUGMAN open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Bicentennial Memories

It was 50 years ago today

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"...a nation should rest not on the arbitrary rule of a single man and his hand-picked advisors, but on the rule of law." HEATHER COX RICHARDSON open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

July 2, 2026

On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress passed a “Resolution for Independence” declaring “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are ...

open.substack.com

“The war has come home to everyday Russians, who are paying the price of President Putin’s war with a sputtering economy, skyrocketing prices, a growing number of body bags coming back from the front lines and drone strikes in Russian cities.” SETH G. JONES www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/u...

Troop Casualties in Ukraine War Top 2 Million, Study Finds

nytimes.com

“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case where the question presented was as clear as this one is. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order.” JUDGE JOHN COUGHENOUR open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

June 30, 2026

On January 20, 2025, the day he took the oath of office a second time, President Donald J.

open.substack.com

[G]iving this president such carte blanche is crazy. Name one firing or removal he’s made or attempted to make that was motivated by anything other than personal retribution, prejudice or personal greed. JARED BERSTEIN open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

A Verdict on (the) Slaughter

The Roberts Supreme Court delivers another blow against Americans and for Donald Trump

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"This president and administration are turning the extraordinary resources of the American peopl to their own ends. We are paying for their theft with a significantly diminished country, and even with our lives." HEATHER COX RICHARDSON open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

June 27, 2026

Observers are noting that the reflecting pool fiasco, in which Trump created the idea there was an emergency, ignored experts, bypassed normal procedures to give a wildly inflated contract to a crony,...

open.substack.com

"The American military isn't a Praetorian Guard for the president and his party. It’s a citizen army that draws its members from across the whole of society." DAVID FRENCH www.nytimes.com/2026/06/28/o...

Opinion | Beware the Purging of General Donahue

nytimes.com

"The once grand Republican Party has become a party of radical extremists, coalescing around white nationalism." HEATHER COX RICHARDSON open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

June 26, 2026

Wednesday night, after President Donald J.

open.substack.com

One senior Republican told NOTUS, “He’s (Donald John Trump President of da United States of Amerika) having a f*cking tantrum.” HEATHER COX RICHARDSON open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

June 24, 2026

Today, strategic studies scholar Phillips P.

open.substack.com

The AI industry deliberately made itself look menacing as a financial strategy, believing that the markets would reward the appearance of being “edgy.” PAUL KRUGMAN open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Why Does Everyone Hate AI?

It’s the fear, the enshittification, datacenter hostility, and the tech broligarchy

open.substack.com

"...the tragedy here is not Trump’s exit from the war but the war itself, and the lesson of history is that when you see a cast of overconfident hawks promising painless victory, beware." NICHOLAS KRISTOF www.nytimes.com/2026/06/20/o...

Opinion | Trump Was Right. The War Ended With a Surrender.

nytimes.com

“The U.K. once reveled in being a leading member of an E.U. with half a billion citizens and the undoubted first ally of the United States — the world’s most eminent superpower. Today, we know we are neither — and so does the world.” -JOHN MAJOR www.nytimes.com/2026/06/22/o...

Opinion | 10 Years After Brexit, the Dismal Verdict Is In

nytimes.com

“Trump’s Iran deal gives the Islamic Republic big wins upfront—and America nothing." New York Post. open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

June 17, 2026

A senior U.S.

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"A New York Times analysis found that 300 billionaires accounted for 19 percent of political contributions in the 2024 election. And since the election the power of money has grown even stronger." PAUL KRUGMAN open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Meet the New Bosses, Worse Than the Old Bosses

The second Gilded Age is much uglier than the first

open.substack.com