Trump's "paid for by the US government" campaign ad, AI nightmares, Big Tech lickspittling... my latest Authoritarian Watch column for the Nation: www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Trump Is Trusting Tech Companies to Self-Police AI. What Could Go Wrong?

Trump’s refusal to heed the warnings from within the tech industry might end up being his most asinine legacy.

thenation.com

Two stories on same page of NYT: 1) hundreds of thousands of LEGAL immigrants, including refugeees, being kicked off of Medicaid. 2) State Dept replaces flags of world's nations with 190 US flags in its atrium. This mix of cruelty and jingoism is what passes for patriotism in Trump's America.

We need to get a full accounting of every dollar each media company accepted of our money stolen by Trump to run his partisan political ads on their channels. Companies who accept these ads are receiving property stolen from the American people & are a disgrace for accepting them

Using the UN as a podium to push for fascist policies at home and abroad, attacking free press, preparing for mass deportation of children... all in a day's work for America's wannabe-king. My latest Authoritarian Watch column for the Nation details what's at stake. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Trump Impersonated Hitler at the United Nations

It was just one more of many examples of the president mirroring a fascist leadership.

thenation.com

Every day Trump attacks another pillar of the constitution. This week, it's the First Amendment, and his assault on the WH press corps. My latest Santa Fe Reporter column details each Constitutional Amendment Trump has attacked. sfreporter.com/columns/lett...

Trump’s Assault on the Constitution By the Numbers

The Big Orange coup d'etat is happening right now

sfreporter.com

This morning WH correspondents for MS NOW and CNN were denied access to WH and had their press passes seized. This attack on press is absolutely antithetical to democracy. Thought: What would happen if entire WH press corps walked out in solidarity? Why give these fascists the oxygen of publicity?

Fascist is as fascist does. I sincerely hope the entire WH press corps walks out in solidarity. apnews.com/article/trum...

The rails are off on Trump's erratic, cruel presidency. But don't expect his lickspittle cabinet, staffed with quacks and grifters, wedded to conspiracy theories and junk science, to rein him in anytime soon. My latest Authoritarian Watch column, for the Nation... www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Trump Is a Runaway Train—and Nobody’s Pulling the Brakes

Everywhere you look, the president is causing chaos and destruction.

thenation.com

Lie after lie

Ron Filipkowski@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 3w ago

Trump announced 17 MONTHS AGO that everyone was going to get $5,000 checks because of DOGE cuts. You got $0.

In the days of Tammany Hall, corrupt politicians tried to bribe handfuls of local voters with beer. In the days of Trump, corrupt politicians try to bribe the entire country with BS promises, that will never materialize, of $5000 per person if the country re-elects the crooks.

Trump wants to rename New Mexico as New America. He also wants to rename the Strait of Hormuz as the Trump Strait. He's getting more insane by the minute, with consequences for all of us. My latest Santa Fe Reporter column explores the escalating political madness. sfreporter.com/archives/op-...

The Troll on The Hill Takes Aim at the Mexico in New Mexico

Covering for the chaos he created in Iran, Big Orange turns to trolling the Land of Enchantment

sfreporter.com

In the last two days, Trump has leaned into Neo-Nazi language to praise AfD's state election win in Germany; posted a map of most of the Western Hemisphere owned by the United States; generated AI superhero imagery of himself; and further insulted Canada... This is breathtakingly malignant politics.

Yes, there was that whole "Deutschland Uber Alles" thing. It didn't work out too well for Germany or for the rest of the world first time around... How shameful that the US president is now spouting avowedly Nazi phrasing.

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 3w ago

applying "Make ___ Great Again" to Germany really does kinda give the game away

Look at Trump's fevered vision of an expanded US covering the hemisphere, and the map that he posted is really no different from Hitler's Third Reich vision of an expanded Germany covering continental Europe. Birds of a feather... newrepublic.com/post/215149/...

Trump Sparks Diplomatic Incident With His “USA” Map

Iceland has summoned the U.S. ambassador.

newrepublic.com

This is an update from the April allegations that led to Chavez-DeRemer’s resignation—that she had an affair with a member of her security, asked staffers to buy alcohol for her throughout the day, and used taxpayer funds to throw herself a birthday party. trib.al/NGKwxkS

What happens when the US government fires firefighters and shutters regional fire resources? No surprises... there are more fires and those fires take longer to put out. My Truthout article on this: truthout.org/articles/wil...

Wildfires Are Sweeping North America. Trump Fired the People Who Fight Them.

As climate change worsens wildfires, a gutted US Forest Service is struggling to keep up.

truthout.org

The warning signs are flashing red about Trump's willingness to go to extreme measures to prevent a midterm election loss. My latest Authoritarian Watch column in the Nation plays out these scenarios. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

The Shadowy Powers that Trump Could Use to End American Democracy

Two Washington insiders are sounding the alarm about what could happen if Trump activates the top-secret Presidential Emergency Action Documents.

thenation.com

They were legal residents. They had work permits. Then the government changed their status and began rounding them up. Sasha Abramsky discusses Trump’s war on Haitians and the politics of racial exclusion on Background Briefing. Listen at KPFA.org KPFA. Radio with Guts. @sashaabramsky.bsky.social

The state-backed attack on Haitians communities in the US, especially in Springfield, OH, take Trump's war on immigrants to a whole new fascist level. My Nation column breaks down what Haitian community is experiencing this month as arrests and deportations ramp up. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Trump Is Waging War on Haitians

In Springfield, Ohio, ICE agents are targeting a community that Trump has been villainizing since 2024.

thenation.com

So, while world burns, Trump is preoccupied with entirely meaningless name changes of lakes and musings about renaming oceans as well. Glad the most powerful man on earth is using his power and time so sagely. Imagine what a pickle we'd be in if he wasn't so focused on the important big picture...

What is important right now for the Democrats to do is to discredit the political project of a Republican Party captured by far right extremists, and to kill dead any attempt at Redemptionist politics.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last mo.

Ossoff: "What did we learn this morning? Yet another connection between Rep. Mike Collins and white nationalism, between Collins and neo-Nazi ideology. One of the congressman's staffers posting swastikas online and depicting himself in the costume of the Ku Klux Klan. Disgraceful and disqualifying."

It's hard to fathom that anyone thinks ICE can be reformed or retrained. ICE needs to be dismantled and then cauterized so it can't grow back. #AbolishICE

Chris⚖️Justice@chrisjustice01.bsky.social · last mo.

💥 ICE drag mom & teen daughter out of hospital room—in middle of being treated after car accident. Still wearing hospital gowns. Both victims of car collusion, with asylum case pending in good standing & valid work permit. Grace Calero 39, & Giulianna Carriel 19, from Ecuador.

As Trump trains his ire on allies -- Oman, South Korea, Canada -- while praising dictators to the skies, my Santa Fe Reporter column explores the political and moral implications. What happens when the "leader of the free world" behaves like a common garden hoodlum? sfreporter.com/columns/lett...

Trump Turns His Ire Toward US Allies

Oman and Canada will need to work on their boot-licking to get back in good graces

sfreporter.com

In both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, appalling abuses of human rights and civil liberties were done entirely legally, through capture of the political and judicial systems, and through reliance on the cowardice of those who, in theory, could have reined in Nazi and Soviet leaders.

The way Trump is talking about Canada is absolutely disgusting. If any country talked about the US that way, it would basically be a caucus belli. It is bullying, ignorant, rude, nakedly imperialist. The Canadians should tell Trump to shove it. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/24/b...

Trump Threatens New 50% Tariffs on Cars, Trucks and Steel as U.S.-Canada Trade War Unfolds

President Trump vowed to increase tariffs on cars, trucks, auto parts and steel to 50 percent starting Jan. 1, as the countries edged toward a full-blown trade war.

nytimes.com

As Trump's anti-vaccine madness intensifies, my Nation column explains how this is of a fit with the rest of his authoritarian project. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Trump Is Trying to Sabotage the Health of All Our Kids

His executive order on vaccines is classic Trump: authoritarian, nonsensical, and deadly.

thenation.com

Last week, Trump got his consigliere confirmed as Attorney General. My Santa Fe Reporter column explains the implications of this shameful appointment. sfreporter.com/columns/lett...

The Don, At Last, Has His Consigliere

Trump's corruption poised to reach new lows with Blanche confirmed as Attorney General

sfreporter.com

I spent much of the spring working on a feature article for the Nation on protecting access to the ballot in the face of escalating threats from the Trump administration. The article is in the Sept issue of the magazine. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

“Nobody Is Resting”: Meet the Grassroots Advocates Defending the Right to Vote

At a time when the US president is actively interfering in elections, these groups, activists, and officials are protecting their local systems from federal sabotage.

thenation.com

I've been traveling around Argentina for past two weeks. In 1970s and 1980s, the junta disappeared its domestic opponents. My Nation column on the entirely predictable chain of awfulness that follows when a govt -- any govt -- dehumanizes entire groups of people. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

The Right-Wing Terrorism Miller and Rubio Conveniently Neglected to Mention at Their DC Summit

At their July event on “The Resurgence of Political Terrorism,” the secretary of state and the White House deputy chief of staff selectively presented information to malign the left.

thenation.com

So, I guess when SCOTUS ruled, in no uncertain terms, that he couldn't end Birthright Citizenship via Executive Order, Trump -- the most anti-constitutional of presidents -- assumed they were just joking. Why do grifter-charlatans always wrap themselves in the flag? www.nytimes.com/live/2026/08...

Live Updates: Trump Targets Birthright Citizenship Again in New Executive Orders

nytimes.com