“The Trump family notched as much as $6 billion in paper wealth on Monday after its flagship crypto venture opened trading of a new digital currency. “ www.wsj.com/finance/curr...
CFR fellow, Washington Post columnist. Pulitzer finalist for biography. Author: REAGAN: HIS LIFE AND LEGEND, NYT bestseller and NYT 10 best books of 2024. Man of many hats. maxboot.net.
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“The Trump family notched as much as $6 billion in paper wealth on Monday after its flagship crypto venture opened trading of a new digital currency. “ www.wsj.com/finance/curr...
9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American." It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
Pure distillation of Trump's view that positive-sum trade is literally impossible—buying = losing & selling = winning, automatically But also a good view into the inconsistencies of his trade "demands". He's mad at India for its tariffs, but even zeroing them wouldn't be enough?
Ukraine said on Monday that it had arrested a suspect in the murder of a former Ukrainian parliamentary speaker, accusing Moscow of involvement in one of the most high-profile killings since the war began. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/w...
A large part of Zeitoun, a neighborhood in Gaza City, was still standing just three weeks ago. But as Israeli forces have expanded their military campaign, the area has been turned into a barren wasteland, according to satellite images reviewed by The New York Times. nyti.ms/4lVj3bR
Hi all, I just published my latest Substack post. With recent focus on Ukrainian missiles, from Flamingo to "Long Neptune" and others, I thought I'd provide context by tracing the evolution of Ukraine's missile programs. Short summary below. missilematters.substack.com/p/ukraines-... 1/6
Just how much has DOGE exaggerated its numbers? Now we have receipts DOGE was supposed to save $1-2 TRILLION. Likely saved only about $1.4 billion instead. (A billion is 1/1000th of a trillion btw) www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
There is no "national security" rationale - not least one that arbitrarily toggles on & off - for the tariffs. Section 301 tariffs are supposed to follow a legal process based on identified violations of existing trade agreements. All of this violates our WTO treaty obligations. It's all nonsense.
“Across three different courts, 15 judges have weighed Trump’s tariff maneuvers—and 11 of them, appointed by presidents of both parties, have found he acted without legal support.” www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
The lies' laughable implausibility is a feature, not a bug. They're not trying to convince discerning, skeptical, fact-based people. They're trying to give supporters a fantasy that validates their feelings and creates a sort of loyalty test, while flaunting the absurdity in everyone else's faces.
52 of 53 Republican senators voted to confirm him.
“Striking American and European assets, analysts and government officials said, sent a confrontational message: Mr. Putin feels empowered to rebuff pressure to make peace, to wage war as he sees fit, and even to inflict pain on the West in the process.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/w...
This is so ridiculous. www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
“The NSC’s staff is now fewer than 150 compared with around 400 in previous administrations. Trump ousted national security adviser Mike Waltz after three months, assigning Secretary of State Marco Rubio to handle the job along with his role as top diplomat.” www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
This is a fantasy about as realistic as building colonies on the moon. But the grim underlying reality is ethnic cleansing. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
“He’s kind of a rogue actor,” said a US official. “He talks to all these people, but no one knows what he says in any of these meetings. He will say things publicly but then he changes his mind. It’s hard to operationalize that.” www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
“…I am infuriated that the Air Force plans to grant military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt. She did not die defending the Constitution. She died trying to overturn it.” My latest in @thebulwark.com www.thebulwark.com/p/honoring-a...
"The first wave of grocery-price increases will likely hit this winter. Roberson predicted produce prices could rise 50% to 100% by early next year as inventories clear and new contracts kick in." fortune.com/2025/08/28/t...
This “Decision would literally destroy the United States of America” by reversing tariffs that were only imposed a few months ago? Yeah, right.
BREAKING: Appeals court rejects Trump’s authority to impose sweeping tariffs under IEEPA. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
The latest sale, announced by the State Department on Thursday, will send 3,500 extended-range cruise missiles and GPS navigation kits to Ukraine once Congress formally approves it, as expected. They cost $825 million, paid for by Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/w...
The escalating prices offer a glimpse of how Trump’s trade policy is starting to trickle down to American shoppers. For consumers fatigued by recent bouts of heavy inflation, the announcements portend another round of sticker shock when buying groceries & household goods. www.wsj.com/business/ret...
NEW: Russia killed at least 21 civilians, including children, and damaged civilian infrastructure and European diplomatic facilities during the second largest strike of the war thus far and the largest strike since the August 15 Alaska Summit on the night of Aug. 27-28. 🧵 ⬇️(1/4) isw.pub/UkrWar082825
Just spitballing here, but maybe Senate Republicans shouldn’t have voted to confirm RFK Jr? Hard to see what leverage they have anymore. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
When Sen. Bill Cassidy voted to confirm RFK, he did so with the expectation that he and other serious people would be able to contain the worst impulses of the anti-vaccine activist.…That illusion —to the extent that it still existed —was fully shattered Weds. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Trump admin planning to change student visas from lasting for duration of academic program to fixed 4-yr term, and then much harder to renew Could destroy US ability to attract global talent, particularly those seeking advanced degrees in STEM. The median time to complete a PhD is 5.7 yrs per NSF.
Leana Wen: The question isn’t whether vaccines will be removed from the childhood immunization schedule, but which ones, how quickly and how many people will pay the price. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
This painting is classic Lost Cause revisionism; it was commissioned after Truman ordered desegregation of the military. Army Secretary Gordon Gray was a nepobaby (daddy was chair of RJ Reynolds) who led the dubious "Gray Board" that yanked Oppenheimer's clearance. Real piece of work all around.
The Air Force will offer military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt, the Trump supporter and Air Force veteran who was fatally shot by police during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to a statement from military officials.
BREAKING: Big moment as CDC staff stage a mass walkout. They have lined the street outside its HQ to greet and salute the four top officials who have resigned in protest at RFK Jr’s attack on the agency’s science base. (🎥 AP)
Three senior CDC leaders who resigned told The Post they were asked to participate in an unscientific vaccine recommendation process that they believe could harm the health of Americans.
“President Donald Trump’s embrace of government ownership of private companies shows that the Reaganomics doctrine that defined Republican economic orthodoxy for decades may be all but dead.” www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
“It was the most ferocious attack on the Ukrainian capital since President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s summit in Alaska failed to yield a ceasefire. And the number of casualties suggested unusual weakness in Ukraine’s air defenses.” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
“Monarez was pressed for days by Kennedy, administration lawyers and other officials over whether she would support rescinding certain approvals for coronavirus vaccines, according to two people with knowledge of those conversations.” www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Death toll in Kyiv has now climbed to 17 after Russian air strikes with 31 missiles and 598 drones, according to Ukraine’s state emergency service, which is still searching the rubble of destroyed apartment blocks for trapped residents.
⚡️ Update: 16 killed in Russian mass attack on Kyiv, including 4 children. The death toll of a Russian mass attack against Kyiv on Aug. 28 has risen to 16, Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said.
Trump hasn't gone on vacation this summer, been throwing a lot at us. Recent polls suggest it isn't working: 37-55 Quinnipiac 40-56 Gallup 41-56 Strength In Numbers 👇 41-56 Econ/YG 40-54 Ipsos/Reuters S/I/N has Ds +8 in generic ballot, Q has Trump 41-56 on DC occupation. bsky.app/profile/gell...
“This is disgraceful conduct which has broken the morale of the intelligence community,” one recently retired intelligence officer told me. “It looks like an effort to eliminate truth-tellers.” wapo.st/4mHZMvB
If he'd thrown a ham sandwich, he would have been indicted for sure. But it was a salami sandwich! Totally different.
The new Quinnipiac poll drops: • 55% disapprove of Trump (49% _strongly_), 37% approve • majority of Americans believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and oppose further military assistance to Israel poll.qu.edu/poll-release...
The winning. Please make it stop.
Make America sick again. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/h...
Denmark’s foreign minister summoned the top U.S. diplomat in the country for talks after the main national broadcaster reported that at least three people with connections to President Trump have been carrying out covert influence operations in Greenland. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
"WGBH, the bellwether public TV station in Boston, has laid off the 13 people who worked on the history series “American Experience” and announced that no new documentaries will be produced for the show until further notice." 🗃️ www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/a...
The massive police crackdown has netted 500 cases, all of them extremely petty offenses of the sort never prosecuted, like publicly smoking a marijuana cigarette or openly carrying alcohol. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
National Guard soldiers called into service for President Trump's law enforcement surge in D.C. have been assigned to spread mulch at federal monuments. Normally the Park Service does that, but the administration laid off the workers. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Reuters/Ipsos poll: – 38% support Trump deploying the Nat'l Guard to DC. 46%opposed – Among independents, it's just 28% in favor, 51% opposed – Trump's approval remains at 40%. www.reuters.com/world/us/jus...
NEW: Trump claims his takeover of Washington, D.C. has been great for the city's restaurants. Nope. They're suffering. www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-is-s...
What an image (J. Scott Applewhite, AP)
The National Guard is removing trash, mulching and removing graffiti in D.C. “I think it’s nice, as a D.C. resident,” said one Guard member. “But there are different things we could be doing.”
Trump's false claim here--about how "radical left globalists" (i.e. Soros) are the puppeteers who fund & organize civil rights protests--is the same basic story that the fascists of the 1950s and 60s told about the civil rights protests of that era. It's a familiar cocktail of racism & antisemitism.
YES, YES
“Federal prosecutors on Tuesday were unable to secure a felony assault indictment against a man who threw a sandwich at a federal agent on the streets of Washington this month, according to two people familiar with the matter.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...
WSJ edit board: Mr. Trump is all about short-term tactics and personal political advantage. Institutional integrity bores him. But if he succeeds in taking over the Fed, he and Republicans will own the results and whatever inflation returns. www.wsj.com/opinion/dona...
In the central bank’s 111-year history, no president has tried to remove a governor. As investment bank Evercore ISI said in a note to clients Tuesday: “Asset markets are not properly priced for what increasingly seems likely to be a rupture in Fed independence.” www.wsj.com/economy/cent...
Jim Geraghty: Instead of having the government take greater control of private companies the way Mamdani wants, the administration is having the government take greater control of private companies the way Trump wants. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
The meeting stood in stark contrast to how previous presidents have managed their Cabinets… It bore similarities, however, to other countries where leaders have sought to exert strong, personal control, scholars said, including in Russia and Turkey. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
❗️🇨🇿Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said that 🇺🇦Ukraine has already received 1.5 million artillery shells as part of the “Czech initiative” involving 16 partner countries. The number is expected to reach 1.8 million by the end of the year.
Ukraine didn't volunteer to fight this war. They had no choice but to fight when Putin decided to invade! This is a war of choice for Russia, a war of necessity for Ukraine. Not a hard distinction to grasp.
Witkoff: "There's only one thing I wish for: that that Nobel committee finally gets its act together and realizes that you are the single finest candidate since that Nobel award was ever talked about."
Trump on deploying the National Guard to Chicago: "I have the right to do anything I want to do. I'm the president of the United States."
Trump's idée fixe: Schumer is a Palestinian.
"It is without a doubt the most illegal search I've ever seen in my life. I'm absolutely flabbergasted at what has happened. A high school student would know this was an illegal search." www.npr.org/2025/08/26/g...
Good to hear but still fairly theoretical since we are nowhere close to a ceasefire, much less a peace treaty.
NEW: Fed judge, a 2-time Trump appointee, throws out Trump admin lawsuit against MD fed court judges over policy pausing challenged deportations for 2 biz days. Thomas Cullen also calls out Trump admin officials for "smear" of judiciary. w/@kyledcheney www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
Vladimir Kara-Murza looks at the Trump military crackdown in DC and sees something very familiar. The parallels between Putin and Trump are unmistakable. youtu.be/P7cO1SYbgNI?...
Touching to see the rekindling of an old romance. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/u...
And to be clear, there’s no evidence that Cook even committed this type of quite minor “fraud”. From the banking law professor Adam Levitin: www.creditslips.org/creditslips/...?
“A lot of people are saying: 'Maybe we like a dictator’,” said the President of the United States, verbatim, in the Oval Office. The same day that he ordered mobilization of “specialized” military units in all 50 states—under his personal command—in peacetime, to “quell public unrest” by Americans
“This is disgraceful conduct which has broken the morale of the intelligence community,” one recently retired intelligence officer told me. “It looks like an effort to eliminate truth-tellers.” wapo.st/4mHZMvB
Russia and the United States have quietly discussed possible energy deals while negotiating a truce in Ukraine. www.kyivpost.com/post/58962
".. unless Pulte somehow had particular knowledge about issues with Cook's application, which is unlikely, then one has conclude that Pulte handed Fannie and Freddie a list of political enemies and asked for their loan files for review."
Particularly concerning are the firings of senior intelligence professionals for what appears to be the sin of telling President Donald Trump what he doesn’t want to hear. This has now happened on three occasions, concerning Russia, Iran and Venezuela. wapo.st/4mHZMvB
The late Sen. John McCain once called Russia “a gas station with nukes.” Now, because of Ukrainian attacks, it must ration fuel. www.wsj.com/world/russia...
“Trump’s move would effectively curb the independence of the central bank. Over the long run, a less independent Fed might be slower to respond to price pressure and result in a higher inflation rate and thus higher long-term interest rates.” www.wsj.com/economy/cent...
The real scandal: Trump’s political enforcer rummaging through the private financial records of Trump’s critics. Law prof Adam Levitin said the administration’s moves represented an “extraordinary abuse of FHFA’s power.” www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Matt Bai: To put a happier, less discomfiting spin on the exhibits in this museum would make us more like Russia or China or North Korea, or any other country where history becomes a strongman’s self-serving fairy tale that no one outside the country believes. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired CIA officer, noted to me “the irony” that current leaders “came into office professing a desire to depoliticize” the intelligence community “and have instead weaponized it, on steroids.” wapo.st/4mHZMvB
Trump fires Lisa Cook in an unprecedented move, and immediately the US dollar sinks against the Yen (in red), the Euro (teal), and the British Pound (purple). Stocks are also sorting it out, but down around a quarter point. Point is: Markets don't think this is move helps American business.
Gabbard, Hegseth, and other Trump appointees are politicizing the intelligence community to an unprecedented and dangerous degree. The intelligence community is losing valuable professionals, and those still employed may now be afraid to share hard truths with their bosses. wapo.st/4mHZMvB
Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired CIA officer, noted to me “the irony” that current leaders “came into office professing a desire to depoliticize” the intelligence community “and have instead weaponized it, on steroids.” wapo.st/4mHZMvB
Gabbard, Hegseth, and other Trump appointees are politicizing the intelligence community to an unprecedented and dangerous degree. The intelligence community is losing valuable professionals, and those still employed may now be afraid to share hard truths with their bosses. wapo.st/4mHZMvB
Particularly concerning are the firings of senior intelligence professionals for what appears to be the sin of telling President Donald Trump what he doesn’t want to hear. This has now happened on three occasions, concerning Russia, Iran and Venezuela. wapo.st/4mHZMvB
Trump is launching purges of supposed “deep state actors” in the U.S. intelligence community who turn out to be, on closer examination, skilled and dedicated public servants. This is raising the risk of a politicized intelligence process leading to costly intelligence failures. wapo.st/4mHZMvB
Trump on South Korea's political situation, just hours before his meeting South Korean President Lee Jae Myung. (Lee was elected after former President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached and jailed following his short-lived attempt to impose martial law)
So Woody Allen headlining Moscow Film festival this week, saying things like how he always loved Russian cinema. Wow I didn’t know his movie career was that bad he needed to turn to Russia of all places for scraps while they bomb my home country every day.
Poland can no longer fund Starlink for Ukraine after President Nawrocki vetoed the aid law. Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski called the move a “gift for Putinʼs forces,” warning that cutting Ukraine off from critical services serves the aggressor’s interests.
Honestly surprised Trump isn’t threatening Norway with higher tariffs if he doesn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize.
Vance had been instrumental in provoking the confrontation between Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, from his perch on an adjacent sofa. Now, Vance and others in Trump’s orbit were apparently sounding out potential alternatives to the troublesome Zelenskyy. www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
“There is such great new technology now, yet I am still hanging out of the cockpit shooting at drones with a shotgun,” said the auto mechanic-turned gunner. He likened the experience to shooting a gun while riding a horse. www.wsj.com/world/ukrain...
“Decades of market-oriented principles have been abandoned in favor of unprecedented government ownership of private enterprise.” www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Trump will need to win over committee members who for now at least appear skeptical. The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, decried “the erosion of freedom of expression even in democratic nations,” calling out Trump by name. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Awful ARG Trump poll: Job approval: 38-59 On economy: 34-63 Economy: 64% say it's getting worse A year from now: 61% say it will be even worse Are we in a recession? 52-32 yes Economy now: Bad, very bad, or terrible: 76% Household financial situation: Getting worse 56%, getting better 6%
“The Israeli military says that 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men between the ages of 18 and 24 are eligible for service and that almost all were sent draft notices in the past year. So far, only 2,940 have enlisted.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/w...
Inconvenient truths.
⚡️Ukraine liberates 3 villages in Donetsk Oblast, military reports on Independence Day. Ukrainian troops have liberated the villages of Zelenyi Hai, Mykhailivka, and Volodymyrivka, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi reported on Aug. 24.
Not a time for subtlety - what I told the AP about the Bolton prosecution and the DC occupation www.kgw.com/article/news...
Stern words from the conservative WSJ editorial board: “The real offender here is a President who seems to think he can use the powers of his office to run vendettas. We said this was one of the risks of a second Trump term, and it’s turning out to be worse than we imagined.”
“The Pentagon has for months been blocking Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to strike inside Russia, U.S. officials said, limiting Kyiv from employing a powerful weapon in its fight against Moscow’s invasion.” www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
As surgeon general, Jerome Adams watched Operation Warp Speed come to life. Since then, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would gut almost $500 million in mRNA vaccine contracts. “Mr. President, what’s happening right now is compromising your legacy.” wapo.st/4lwwQ8C