An appeals court ruled most of Trump's tariffs are illegal, opening the door for the possibility that the U.S. govt will have to pay back the money its collected so far. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trumps-...
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An appeals court ruled most of Trump's tariffs are illegal, opening the door for the possibility that the U.S. govt will have to pay back the money its collected so far. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trumps-...
“I think that’s wholly appropriate and certainly comports with my understanding of the law,” said C. Fred Bergsten, who helped negotiate IEEPA in the 1970s, “and hopefully it will excise lots of the damage that his tariffs have done.”
"The move forces members of Congress to confront a question that has lingered over the legislative branch all year: What is the point of the two parties negotiating a federal budget if the executive branch insists it has the power to unilaterally determine what funds get spent?"
Our story on the chaos Trump's and Vought's "pocket rescissions" gambit has now inspired. From @kateriga.bsky.social.
Explainer from @emineirmakyucel.bsky.social on how they claim this would work ...
The New York Post claims Trump has begun to use Russ Vought's "pocket rescissions" gambit to override Congress' power of the purse. nypost.com/2025/08/28/u...
This is the peak Axios AI story. Workers are getting stressed because they’re under pressure to find something useful to do with AI. If they don’t investors will have bought into a bubble. Why do workers hate investors?
New from me + @emineirmakyucel.bsky.social about the damage Trump/allies did to DC before flooding it with armed federal law enforcement under pretext that its own government can't handle the fabricated crime spike talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-a...
really interesting interview with Yevgeny Prigozhin's mom (rus) "I told him: Zhenya, people will only support you on the internet. Nobody will go with you. People aren't like that now; nobody will go out into the squares." www.fontanka.ru/2025/08/22/7...
As has been obvious since the moment he sent National Guard troops into D.C. to do things like patrol tourists on the National Mall, Trump is using decades-old right-wing propaganda — fear mongering about supposedly lawless urban hellscapes — to justify bringing the military in to Dem run cities.
It's early, but this could be an indication that senators have enough questions about Antoni that his nomination will encounter trouble.
SCOOP: Trump's BLS pick E.J. Antoni -- who many economists have flagged as unqualified -- will face a hearing before the Senate HELP committee. Over 30+ years, only 1 of the last 6 BLS chiefs had a committee hearing talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-e...
TPM breaks the news that the University of Michigan's hospital system has been hammered by the Trump administration's DOJ into suspending gender affirming care for minors. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/univers...
Scoop, w/ @kateriga.bsky.social : University of Michigan Health ends its healthcare programs for transgender minors after a subpoena from the Trump DOJ talkingpointsmemo.com/news/univers...
EXCLUSIVE: In response to threats of criminal prosecution from the Department of Justice for performing gender-affirming care, the University of Michigan hospital system will tomorrow announce they are ending gender-affirming care in the UM hospital system. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/univers...
TPM EXCLUSIVE: The University of Michigan hospital system confirms it's discontinuing gender-affirming care for minors after receiving a subpoena from the Trump administration: talkingpointsmemo.com/news/univers...
Scoop from me & @joshkovensky.bsky.social: After receiving a subpoena and being threatened with criminal/civil investigations by Trump's DOJ, the University of Michigan's statewide hospital system will stop providing gender-affirming care to patients under 19 talkingpointsmemo.com/news/univers...
NEW: Trump Bureau of Labor Statistics nominee was bystander outside Capitol on Jan. 6, White House says www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
“If you look at this country, obviously, natives were the first to face the brunt of — I like to just call it 'American fascism,' because that's what it was. Natives have always had to deal with that.” —William “Popeye” Osceola, secretary of the Miccosukee Tribe’s Business Council
A federal judge's order requiring a two-week halt to construction at 'Alligator Alcatraz' is the product of a push by Native American and environmental groups.
Feel like it should be a bigger deal that 379,000 civil servants—more than 2.6% of all unionized workers in the United States—lost collective bargaining rights in the past week. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-f...
BLS Commissioner Nominee’s Suggestion to Suspend Monthly Jobs Report Is ‘Like Gouging Our Eyes Out’
Trump's so-far-successful effort to strip collective bargaining rights from federal workers appears to have resulted in a decrease in the total number of unionized American workers of more than 2%.
Sherrod Brown will run for the Senate in 2026. #OHSen www.cleveland.com/news/2025/08...
@joshkovensky.bsky.social: "At a press conference on Monday, Trump flanked himself with a cast of former Fox News hosts-turned-law enforcement officials" who "took turns portraying D.C. as a Mad Max-style hellscape in sudden need of federal and military action" talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-g...
Goodbye Billy Long. It seems like everyone you worked with hardly knew you. talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/bi...
ok @maxread.info knows I’m a fan but any accounting of stomp clap that doesn’t include early whoa-oh hardcore eg the Misfits is missing a limb. That yell-the-chorus punk (whose legacy is people who think all choruses are for yelling) is a vital part of this
If you like or hate read my daily evening briefing published at @talkingpointsmemo.com each day, pls consider signing up to get it sent straight to your inbox if ur into that sorta thing. it's free :) wherethingsstand.talkingpointsmemo.com/p/vance-brin...
Documents TPM obtained suggest that NIH is using a Palantir-built tool to push toward a program that sounds a lot like the one Congress is worried about. Full story here from @joshkovensky.bsky.social:
Many autism researchers, needless to say, find the whole thing — including the idea that a cure exists for autism — to be worrying and offensive.
In 2024, Congress urged NIH to shut down a massive data collection program, fearing it had gotten in deep over its head. Now, Congress alleges, NIH has revived that program as part of RFK Jr.'s search for an autism "cure."
“The Supreme Court has said they are textualists, and that works out badly for liberals in many settings — but this one is hard to win for the textualists when there’s no support in the text.”
The U.S. keeps derailing UN work by complaining about the use of the word "gender" in documents and resolutions. (from @lisalsong.bsky.social, @propublica.org)
Outstanding article on the upcoming government funding fight from @emineirmakyucel.bsky.social, who is quickly becoming my go-to on approps and budget reporting. Quotes from me, Devin O’Connor at @centeronbudget.bsky.social, and Chuck Kieffer (former long time Senate Approps Dem staff director).
Really good and thorough report here. DeSantis has been flouting Florida's Sunshine Law for years, but it's really in different territory now.
"The fact that the state is hiding information about the contractors, it’s just — it’s unbelievable and it’s inexcusable." talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/th...
Today's Morning Memo @talkingpointsmemo.com: We Need to Talk About Why Trump Judicial Nominees Won’t Talk About Obergefell, plus: the new Big Law, ICE targets GenZ for job recruitment, RFKJr targets mRNA vaccines, and more. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...
While reporting on "Alligator Alcatraz," we noticed contracts related to the site disappeared from the state's public database after we requested comment on them. Parts were later reposted, but over 90 pages were not. Transparency experts said this violates the spirit and letter of state law.
Over 90 pages of "Alligator Alcatraz" files disappeared as I was looking at them and reporting on the situation. Our public records requests are getting stonewalled. A slew of experts told me this all seems to be illegal. talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/th...
Democrats need to decide how they will use the upcoming government funding fight to take a stand against Trump's impoundment — and how (or whether) to cut a funding deal when the White House is (often illegally) ignoring Congress.
Exclusive: The White House is preparing to step up pressure against big banks over perceived discrimination against conservatives and crypto companies with an executive order.
Texas Starts a Nationwide Gerrymandering War
Update: A White House official told me Trump will increase tariffs if countries don't follow through. “We expect our trading partners to live up to their commitments in our trade agreements. President Trump reserves the right to adjust tariff rates if any party reneges.”
I talked to a bunch of foreign trade policy experts, including one who worked under both the Obama and Trump administrations. They all told me Trump is being played. AND large parts of his so-called trade agreements actually amount to nothing. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/experts...
El Salvador approves indefinite presidential reelection and extends terms to 6 years
Today's Morning Memo @talkingpointsmemo.com: Senate Democrats Estimate DOGE Caused Billions of Dollars In Government Waste Plus: Jeffrey Clark, threats against judges, and DHS heresies. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...
"The inspector general appears to have done nothing with the information for more than two months, and many in that office did not realize they even had the material until a day or two before the full Senate voted on Mr. Bove’s nomination." www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/u...
On Mothers Day in Boston, officers stopped a family driving to church. The dad, who has since been deported, was thrown to the ground as his kids + US citizen wife cried in the car The 3 y/o now tells ppl, “Police broke the window + threw daddy on the floor” projects.propublica.org/trump-ice-sm...
“Why should Democrats come to the table and negotiate in good faith and throw our support behind a quote-unquote bipartisan bill, only for Republicans to turn around after the deal is done and, somewhere down the line, delete any parts of the deal Trump doesn’t like?”
For @defector.com, I tried to figure out what's going on with John Fetterman's political memoir, ghostwritten by Buzz Bissinger It may not shock you to learn that Fetterman and Bissinger haven't gotten along (to put it politely), according to my sources defector.com/nobody-wants...
“If anyone is losing, it’s us. It’s us, here in the U.S., that are gonna pay for it long-term.” talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-e...
“[Vought’s] footnote stipulated that the agency’s funding for the remainder of the fiscal year could only go to staff salaries and expenses, not to new grants or certain grants that are up for renewal. Most NIH-funded research is done by outside scientists at labs across the country.” no words
And I still encounter people who don’t grasp that our central problem is the information environment.
Chef's kiss that the IRS commissioner announced he killed Direct File, which cut out tax filing middle men, to a conference of tax preparers news.bloombergtax.com/financial-ac...
“While both board members described the footage as ‘retro’ in nature but not involving sexual intercourse, Deatherage recalled seeing multiple nude women on the screen and some sort of ‘chiropractic table.’ He found Walters’ reaction to the situation confounding.”
What could possibly go wrong?
can’t believe they printed this 😭 anyway, this whole article is superb and does a great job explaining “pocket rescissions,” which is an upcoming illegal and unconstitutional attempt by the trump administration to impound funds over the objections of congress talkingpointsmemo.com/news/the-tru...
"How can you have a university course where ideas are not up for discussion or interpretation?” apnews.com/article/colu...
My job @talkingpointsmemo.com is holding a fundraising drive for The Journalism Fund TPM is 90% member funded which means we're not beholden to big corporate interests & most of our spending goes to salaries so every dollar raised helps me have a job! accounts.talkingpointsmemo.com/contribute
The fight over whether the executive branch will continue to impound congressionally approved funding will take a new form in the next few months.
MAGA legal group sues John Roberts, claiming that actually the courts belong to Trump.
I know these stories all kind of blur together but this is the Trump administration cutting off funding to preschools without warning.
Could be better. (Could be worse.) Generative AI models love to cite Reuters and Axios, study finds www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/gene...
NEW: Consul Warns Mexicans Must Take ‘Extreme Precautions’ in Florida as ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Leads to Diplomatic Tensions talkingpointsmemo.com/news/consul-...
My colleague @johnalight.bsky.social offers a really valuable breakdown of what @talkingpointsmemo.com is and why we are a really great place to read and support during this moment in American history:
Russ Vought made a series of remarks this week giving his whole plan away — like a villain at the climax of a 1960s thriller, just before the hero makes their grand escape. (I am not sure the congressional Republicans he has captured will be making any grand escape, however). I wrote about that.
Exclusive: Family members of CECOT detainees react to the news that their loved ones are on their way to Venezuela talkingpointsmemo.com/news/cecot-f...
"I see how evil this country is, really — all I see is evil. And it’s sad that I’m part of it.” — Angie Gonzalez, whose husband was rendered to CECOT
Angie Gonzalez voted for Trump. Then he sent her husband to CECOT. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/cecot-f...
TPM exclusive: Two family members of those deported to CECOT react to detainees' repatriation to Venezuela.
In 2018, the @talkingpointsmemo.com staff decided to unionize. The day we formally notified our EIC @joshtpm.bsky.social, we sat quietly at our cluster of desks, nervously waiting for his response. An hour or 2 later, after a few calls, Josh looked over and said something along the lines of, "Okay."
We @talkingpointsmemo.com are raising money for our journalism fund! We're almost halfway to our goal of $500k. Contribute at the link below, and I'll lay out a few reasons in this thread for why I think you should accounts.talkingpointsmemo.com/contribute
NEW: GOP senators voice concern about $9 billion spending-cut bill they say they will vote for Collins, Murkowski & McConnell are NOs. Other 50 Rs are crucial. Some express serious reservations with this package & process — and still plan to vote YES. www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
Pamphlet at Hegseth's DC church: “So if your Volvo has a COEXIST bumper sticker right next to the Hope and Change sticker, it will probably be pretty lonely out there in the church parking lot.”
Contracts show that, in at least one instance, resources allocated for the state’s “disaster preparedness” apparatus were diverted to "Alligator Alcatraz" as DeSantis’ office used emergency powers to quickly establish the camp during hurricane season.
TPM goes to church with Pete Hegseth. talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/ch...
DOJ hits states with broad requests for voter rolls, election data
2/3 of the people in DeSantis' concentration camp in the Everglades have no criminal background and some are in the US legally, seeking asylum. www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
Direct result of Supreme Court rulings in recent weeks.
I was singularly unimpressed with Jan Crawford's take on today's @constitutionctr.bsky.social podcast. Crawford seems to have impressive access to at least one of the Justices, which enables her get some terrific journalistic scoops, on the regular. So what was her bold take on the Court today?
I wrote about Thom Tillis' half-hearted show of independence from Trump. talkingpointsmemo.com/the-weekende...
Trump admin apparently withholding hundreds of millions from New York state for counter-terrorism funding alone. www.politico.com/newsletters/...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/c...
I wish I could take a Summer Friday and claim it was because of “objections”
"On Oct. 12, 2023, a MAGA influencer turned to the site formerly known as Twitter to regale his followers with a 685 word post about a very real date with a woman that he supposedly went on." talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things...
I think Ketanji Brown Jackson's dissents are an important exception to the "Supreme Court dissents don't matter" rule of thumb, because she is using them not to argue with the conservative justices, but to explain to the public that the conservative justices are liars and in the tank for Trump
There are plenty of legitimate questions swirling around the devastating flooding in Texas last weekend that left at least 100 people dead. But we live in the MAGA era.
There are several layers to my conclusion that today’s remarks from President Trump’s agriculture secretary are among the most creatively maniacal I’ve heard yet from the administration.
JD Vance imagines someone who - has ancestors that fought in the Civil War - has been labeled by the ADL as an extremist “I think the people whose ancestors fought in the Civil War have a hell of a lot more claim over America than the people who say they don’t belong." A lot going on there.
Extremely normal JD Vance question about Zohran Mamdani: “I wonder, has he ever read the letters from boy soldiers in the Union Army to parents and sweethearts that they’d never see again?” @talkingpointsmemo.com talkingpointsmemo.com/news/jd-vanc...
"It’s fossil fuels, not renewable energy, inflating energy prices. Sensitive to global markets, the price of natural gas fluctuates wildly in response to supply shocks and geopolitical instability, as the Russia-Ukraine war made painfully clear in 2022. Coal is even worse."
New piece: Zohran Mamdani's win in NYC shows Democrats can win back young people and disengaged voters. It's not about ideology or grocery stories, but about authenticity and engaging with people where they are gelliottmorris.com//p/what-can-...
They finally made the milk from that hotel
I get so much satisfaction thinking about how my kid (currently 1) will view these people when he’s their age and they are 50.
It’s appropriate that, on this especially fraught holiday weekend, my 232nd #ScholarSunday thread is my longest yet, full of so much public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more below, share widely, & enjoy! 🗃️ americanstudier.substack.com/p/scholarsun...
One of the hardest things for a managing editor to do is to see 3 of your reporters get a tip, work to nail it down, get comment from the other side, have another editor get it in shape, and then say ah, thanks you guys but this isn’t as much of a story as we thought www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/n...
My understanding is that laws passed by Congress and signed by the President are just vibes but I’ll reconsider if Jake Sherman tells me otherwise.