David French

There's a very real question as to whether federal law will apply to Trump's allies at all during Trump's term. The atmosphere of impunity may be like nothing we've seen in our lifetimes.

Phil Williams @philinvestigates.com

BREAKING: Federal prosecutors based in Nashville have withdrawn from the criminal investigation of Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles, an unprecedented move that could signal plans by the Trump administration to drop the case against a Republican ally. www.newschannel5.com/news/newscha...

Career prosecutors withdraw from federal criminal investigation of GOP Congressman Andy Ogles

Federal prosecutors based in Nashville have withdrawn from the criminal investigation of Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles.

MAGA morality: Put thousands of federal employees on leave, cut aid that sustains countless lives, demonize your opponents, and then enjoy the suffering of your enemies.

But then - when one DOGE worker is fired for vicious racism -say, "Where's the grace and mercy in this country?"

Please read this thread. The ongoing persecution of Alexander Vindman is yet another example of MAGA's upside-down morality. Vindman is more loyal to the country than he is to Donald Trump, and that's an unforgivable sin in parts of the G.O.P.

If our laws depend on Trump’s voluntary compliance — and Congress won’t lift a finger to defend the laws it has passed — then the president is unleashed. We are left to the whims of a man who cares about only himself, a man who is willing to discard any law or standard to satisfy his lust for power.

Opinion | Crony Capitalism Has Reached a New Low

There is zero ambiguity here. It’s nauseating.

Joshua Reed Eakle 🗽 @joshuaeakle.com

Steve Bannon, after calling for Trump to be President for life, did a Nazi salute on stage at CPAC. Nazism has officially taken over the GOP. The few remaining conservatives have a choice: either leave the party and obstruct it—or choose to be complicit.

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Stocks are soaring because it's always great when someone just stops hitting you with a hammer. But when they stop, the next step is to take the hammer out of their hands.

Congress needs to take back its tariff authority. And we need to keep saying it until it happens, in this Congress or the next.

If we break our alliances, we are smaller and weaker. If we break them for pride and power and greed, then we don’t just break an alliance, we break our own character. We diminish ourselves in every way that matters, and no amount of newly sovereign frozen ground can obscure our national shame.

Opinion | Something Is Rotten in the State of America

Consider this column to be something like a fire drill. "It’s an alarm, one of thousands that should be ringing across the country. MAGA’s acts of aggression are already intimidating. Trump isn’t just trying to “stop the steal” again; another kind of theft might already be underway."

Opinion | This Is Not a Drill

Christopher Wray resigned as FBI director. Was it capitulation or defiance?

I think it was defiance. Wray's resignation actually narrowed Trump's options. There was a path to rapidly appointing Patel as an acting director, without Senate confirmation. That path is now closed:

Opinion | Did Christopher Wray Just Defy Donald Trump?

Now, the Senate has to do its job.

It didn't take long for our new Director of National Intelligence to start spouting Russian propaganda. What a shameful lie.

This man is one of Marco Rubio's newest hires at the State Department. It's hard to even comprehend the mindset that says that he's qualified to represent the United States in any capacity at all.

By this reasoning, the instant someone is accused of murder, we can do what we want to them because the murder victim didn't have due process. Or if someone is accused of theft, because the victim didn't get due process.

This is beyond just wrong. It's evil.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com

KARL: Do they have any due process at all? HOMAN: Due process -- what was Laken Riley's due process? (That's a "no")

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"Patel is so absurdly devoted to Trump that he wrote a children’s book about Trump, called 'The Plot Against the King,' in which he describes the Russia investigation as a plot by 'Hillary Queenton' against 'King Donald.'"

Kash Patel is absurd -- and dangerous: www.nytimes.com/live/2024/11...

Opinion | Kash Patel’s Threat to the Rule of Law

In the new administration, loyalty will come before experience or moral judgment.

Please read this piece. Phil has reported on the activities of racist white Christian nationalists in Tennessee, and they (and their allies) have come after him in the most vile ways. This is what they do, and the world needs to know.

Phil Williams @philinvestigates.com

A personal reflection: “Journalists like myself have a choice: surrender to the fascist mob that wants to intimidate the truth-tellers – or rededicate ourselves to doing what’s right no matter the cost.” www.newschannel5.com/news/newscha...

Phil Williams: In reporting on hate and extremism, 'while the attacks are personal, so is the cause'

Rarely in my nearly 40-year career as a journalist have I felt the target on my back as continuously and intensely as I have in the last 15 months.

Dear authoritarian adviser: "Process" is how we find out if someone is actually here illegally:

The Trump flip-flop on TikTok illustrates something that I've been arguing for a while. His supporters say he's "unpredictable," and that keeps our enemies on their toes.

Nope. He's manipulable, and that gives our enemies an advantage. China is seizing that advantage now.

If the Biden administration had done this, it would be deemed proof of the Democrats' hostility to religion. But Trump is doing it, so his Christian allies turn against Christian ministries and gut their ability to serve the poorest of the poor. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Trump’s foreign aid demolition hits major Christian charities

In a closed-door meeting, U.S. officials touted their success in “zeroing out” foreign assistance, but the downsizing has clipped religious allies, too.

This is an excellent piece. Please read.

"If we’re going to issue debt to buy super speculative assets that have no use today, have never had a use, but some evangelists claim will solve all of our society’s problems, why stop at crypto? How about a strategic Powerball ticket reserve?"

Cliff Asness: The New ‘Crypto Fort Knox’ Is as Dumb as It Sounds

To create a sovereign wealth fund dedicated to something five times or more as volatile as straight-up stocks is an awful idea.

"Donald Trump is determined to transform America’s system of justice into his personal political weapon, and now Breonna Taylor’s family bears the fresh pain of a new and terrible miscarriage of justice." www.nytimes.com/2025/07/20/o...

Opinion | Trump’s Perversion of Justice Has Reached a New Phase

"President Trump is doing damage to America that could take a generation or more to repair. The next election cannot fix what Trump is breaking. Neither can the one after that." www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/o...

Opinion | Trump Is Breaking Things We Can’t Just Fix

The president’s about-face on Ukraine has taught our allies a lesson they won’t be unlearning anytime soon.

“When you worship power, compassion and mercy will look like sins.”

How MAGA’s morality contradicts the core principles of American pluralism: www.nytimes.com/2025/01/26/o...

Opinion | How a German Thinker Explains MAGA Morality

Us and them is all the rage.

The sad irony of our unconstitutional moment is that the perspectives of foreign students can be particularly valuable when foreign affairs dominate American discourse.

It’s a dreadful thing to declare to immigrants or foreign students, “Welcome to the land of the free: Now watch what you say.”

Opinion | Don’t Fool Yourself Into Thinking It Will Stop With Mahmoud Khalil

The arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil show that the culture war is no longer just a culture war.

I recorded a brief podcast about the reckless Signal security breach. My tone was calm, but my words were not. This was an extraordinarily dangerous failure. Hegseth should resign or be fired, and he's not the only guilty party. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/o...

Opinion | The Worst Part of Pete Hegseth’s Group Chat Debacle

And why the careless secretary of defense should resign.

This is a great piece, by Michelle. Lots of folks don't quite understand how much the prosperity gospel distorts the Christian faith by seeking wealth and power -- along with creating a constellation of Christian celebrities who were like Trump before Trump even came on the scene.

Michelle Boorstein @michelleboorstein.bsky.social

Not only did Latinos shift to Trump, but Latino Christians did moreso. Part of it has to do with a theology that's boomed across Latin America that says God rewards the faithful with health and wealth. Trump for some is clearly blessed www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/...

For some Latinos, ‘prosperity gospel’ led them to Trump

The set of beliefs has overtaken traditional theologies centered on the poor. Some experts say that helps explain a shift among Latino Christians to Trump.