@Daily Kos
The last few weeks have revealed a growing trend in Donald Trump’s presidency that his inner circle would prefer to remain shrouded in secrecy. Unlike in his first term, when Trump dominated the Republican Party with an iron fist and the slightest public criticism from a GOP lawmaker meant a political death sentence, the president now looks undeniably weak. Republicans across the country have taken note of the fact that Trump simply isn’t who he used to be. His threats no longer deliver results, as his recent failure to pressure Indiana’s supermajority of Republican state senators into mid-cycle redistricting made abundantly clear. After a string of high-profile political failures and still damaged by the MAGA base’s rage over the as-yet-unreleased Epstein Files, Trump is limping into the 2026 midterms with less political juice than ever before. “Trump’s big, beautiful wall” by Mike Luckovich It’s getting harder for the GOP to hide its concerns about what Trump’s incompetence means for next year’s elections. In a shocking private statement last week, Trump’s handpicked RNC chairman Joe Gruters admitted that Republicans are facing “almost certain defeat.” The leaked admission, first published by The Bulwark’s Andrew Egger and Jim Swift, sent the GOP into a coast-to-coast tailspin. As Gruters emphasized multiple times in his remarks, the last year has been a catastrophe for Republicans. “It’s not a secret. There’s no sugarcoating it. It’s a pending, looming disaster heading our way,” Gruters said. “The chances are Republicans will go down and will go down hard … this is an absolute disaster.” Gruters may be the first Republican leader willing to sweat Trump’s growing national unpopularity out loud, but he’s hardly the first to head for the lifeboats. This year saw GOP lawmakers resign or retire from Congress at a staggering rate, including four in the last month alone. In total, 29 Republicans have announced they will not seek reelection in 2026, nearly 60% of all retirements or resignations this year. Some have gone quietly. Others are choosing a megaphone. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has marked her own impending departure with a wave of criticism aimed at her own party leaders, including the admission that the same Republicans who swear loyalty to Trump in public also mock him behind his back. As Emily Singer noted, Greene’s departure is a “canary in a coal mine for MAGA,” not only because it narrows Speaker Mike Johnson’s already razor-thin House majority, but because Greene was once one of Trump’s closest and most influential allies. But Trump’s popularity headaches aren’t limited to stinging broadsides from his former friends. Earlier this month, the White House announced a plan to mask the damage of Trump’s tariffs by sending American families a $2,000 “tariff dividend check.” The check wouldn’t have made up for how much most families have spent in the months since Trump’s tariff policies sent prices skyrocketing, while simultaneously adding to a national debt that has already leapt past $38 trillion on Trump’s watch. Senate Republicans weren’t buying it; and for once, they were willing to say so. Trump’s $2,000 payoff fell flat with GOP leaders who are more concerned with the record $1 trillion that Trump has added to the debt in under a year. When Trump hinted that he’d be willing to bypass the Senate and send out the checks himself, even allies like Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy snapped back. "I think it's got to come through Congress," Kennedy said, adding that the White House could find itself facing Senate investigations if it tried to cut them out of the equation. Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy It’s hard to imagine Republicans feeling so comfortable criticizing Trump in 2017 or even 2020, but his latest stretch of unpopularity is record-breaking in its own right. At no point in his first term did Trump ever face such a long period of unpopularity across so many issues. And unlike in his first term, Trump’s MAGA base now directly blames him for failing to address rising prices and rising corporate layoffs. One Politico poll found that nearly 40% of Republicans thought Trump had mishandled the economy in his first year. His handling of the economy also scores dismal numbers: An Economist/YouGov poll conducted between Dec. 5-8 found him 16 points underwater on economic issues—the lowest point of his political career. But no crisis looms quite as ominously on the horizon as the vaulting cost of health care. Congressional Republicans looked to Trump to propose a path forward that would avoid the punishing increases to Americans’ health insurance premiums, only to find the president uninterested and “hands-off” about their biggest political liability. Last week a proposal to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies failed in the Senate, in large part because Trump simply refused to get involved despite frantic Republican requests for his help. For the Republicans still trying to win reelection next year, Trump now looks more like a liability than an asset. Trump’s mishandling of the economy and health care has convinced Greene that there’s no hope left for Republicans ahead of 2026, when she expects voters to punish the GOP for their legendary level of incompetence. “I do believe at this time that Republicans will lose the midterms, and I think that’s unfortunate,” Greene said in a CBS News interview last week. “I very much wanted to be part of a Republican majority in Congress that solved problems for the American people, that delivered what we promised to America.” Voters—even those who supported Trump in 2024—are waking up to the fact that Trump and the GOP have made their lives worse in nearly every way possible, and that the White House has no plan for pulling them back from the financial brink. The smarter Republicans recognize that with voters this angry, distancing themselves from Trump is now a matter of political survival. With veteran Republican lawmakers retiring from the party in droves and even more facing tough reelection campaigns in dozens of swing districts, the party’s panic has never been more palpable. As they fight to avert a possible electoral wipeout in November, the GOP needs a strategic and savvy leader more than ever. Unfortunately, all they have is Trump.
The last few weeks have revealed a growing trend in Donald Trump’s presidency that his inner circle would prefer to remain shrouded in secrecy. Unlike in his first term, when Trump dominated the Republican Party with an iron fist and the slightest public criticism from a GOP lawmaker meant a political death sentence, the president now looks undeniably weak. Republicans across the country have taken note of the fact that Trump simply isn’t who he used to be. His threats no longer deliver results, as his recent failure to pressure Indiana’s supermajority of Republican state senators into mid-cycle redistricting made abundantly clear. After a string of high-profile political failures and still damaged by the MAGA base’s rage over the as-yet-unreleased Epstein Files, Trump is limping into the 2026 midterms with less political juice than ever before. “Trump’s big, beautiful wall” by Mike Luckovich It’s getting harder for the GOP to hide its concerns about what Trump’s incompetence means for next year’s elections. In a shocking private statement last week, Trump’s handpicked RNC chairman Joe Gruters admitted that Republicans are facing “almost certain defeat.” The leaked admission, first published by The Bulwark’s Andrew Egger and Jim Swift, sent the GOP into a coast-to-coast tailspin. As Gruters emphasized multiple times in his remarks, the last year has been a catastrophe for Republicans. “It’s not a secret. There’s no sugarcoating it. It’s a pending, looming disaster heading our way,” Gruters said. “The chances are Republicans will go down and will go down hard … this is an absolute disaster.” Gruters may be the first Republican leader willing to sweat Trump’s growing national unpopularity out loud, but he’s hardly the first to head for the lifeboats. This year saw GOP lawmakers resign or retire from Congress at a staggering rate, including four in the last month alone. In total, 29 Republicans have announced they will not seek reelection in 2026, nearly 60% of all retirements or resignations this year. Some have gone quietly. Others are choosing a megaphone. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has marked her own impending departure with a wave of criticism aimed at her own party leaders, including the admission that the same Republicans who swear loyalty to Trump in public also mock him behind his back. As Emily Singer noted, Greene’s departure is a “canary in a coal mine for MAGA,” not only because it narrows Speaker Mike Johnson’s already razor-thin House majority, but because Greene was once one of Trump’s closest and most influential allies. But Trump’s popularity headaches aren’t limited to stinging broadsides from his former friends. Earlier this month, the White House announced a plan to mask the damage of Trump’s tariffs by sending American families a $2,000 “tariff dividend check.” The check wouldn’t have made up for how much most families have spent in the months since Trump’s tariff policies sent prices skyrocketing, while simultaneously adding to a national debt that has already leapt past $38 trillion on Trump’s watch. Senate Republicans weren’t buying it; and for once, they were willing to say so. Trump’s $2,000 payoff fell flat with GOP leaders who are more concerned with the record $1 trillion that Trump has added to the debt in under a year. When Trump hinted that he’d be willing to bypass the Senate and send out the checks himself, even allies like Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy snapped back. "I think it's got to come through Congress," Kennedy said, adding that the White House could find itself facing Senate investigations if it tried to cut them out of the equation. Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy It’s hard to imagine Republicans feeling so comfortable criticizing Trump in 2017 or even 2020, but his latest stretch of unpopularity is record-breaking in its own right. At no point in his first term did Trump ever face such a long period of unpopularity across so many issues. And unlike in his first term, Trump’s MAGA base now directly blames him for failing to address rising prices and rising corporate layoffs. One Politico poll found that nearly 40% of Republicans thought Trump had mishandled the economy in his first year. His handling of the economy also scores dismal numbers: An Economist/YouGov poll conducted between Dec. 5-8 found him 16 points underwater on economic issues—the lowest point of his political career. But no crisis looms quite as ominously on the horizon as the vaulting cost of health care. Congressional Republicans looked to Trump to propose a path forward that would avoid the punishing increases to Americans’ health insurance premiums, only to find the president uninterested and “hands-off” about their biggest political liability. Last week a proposal to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies failed in the Senate, in large part because Trump simply refused to get involved despite frantic Republican requests for his help. For the Republicans still trying to win reelection next year, Trump now looks more like a liability than an asset. Trump’s mishandling of the economy and health care has convinced Greene that there’s no hope left for Republicans ahead of 2026, when she expects voters to punish the GOP for their legendary level of incompetence. “I do believe at this time that Republicans will lose the midterms, and I think that’s unfortunate,” Greene said in a CBS News interview last week. “I very much wanted to be part of a Republican majority in Congress that solved problems for the American people, that delivered what we promised to America.” Voters—even those who supported Trump in 2024—are waking up to the fact that Trump and the GOP have made their lives worse in nearly every way possible, and that the White House has no plan for pulling them back from the financial brink. The smarter Republicans recognize that with voters this angry, distancing themselves from Trump is now a matter of political survival. With veteran Republican lawmakers retiring from the party in droves and even more facing tough reelection campaigns in dozens of swing districts, the party’s panic has never been more palpable. As they fight to avert a possible electoral wipeout in November, the GOP needs a strategic and savvy leader more than ever. Unfortunately, all they have is Trump.
Daily Kos
Trump looks weak—and Republicans are rushing to the exits
The last few weeks have revealed a growing trend in Donald Trump’s presidency that his inner circle would prefer to remain shrouded in secrecy. U...
President Donald Trump definitely wants to leave his mark on our nation’s capital. Too bad that mark is nothing but a gross, gilded stain. Trump’s aesthetics are as awful as his politics—a hollow and ugly horror. The East Wing is being demolished to make room for President Donald Trump’s new gaudy ballroom. While the White House has borne the brunt of his gold-plated attack, Trump has big plans for the rest of Washington. There’s a whole city out there for him to wreck, and there are some golf courses he would really like to get his mitts on. The man’s got big developer dreams, and they don’t certainly just stop at the White House. While we no longer have an East Wing of the White House so Trump can build his ballroom, no one officially knows exactly what that monstrosity will look like because he hasn’t submitted any official plans and just broke up with his architect. Still, all signs point to it being Mar-a-Lago-style garbage. There’s also the gilded Oval Office decor, which is oozing tacky gold-plated plaster everywhere. And, of course, there’s the Lincoln bathroom, which he turned into a marble and gold nightmare. But Trump’s gilded dreams can’t be contained to just one building, so why not try to ruin Washington’s public golf courses too? Back in 2020, the National Links Trust was awarded a 50-year lease to manage Washington’s three public courses. But on Oct. 29, the Trump administration issued a notice that NLT is in default. No, it doesn’t say why it’s in default or how to fix it—a classic Trump move. President Donald Trump sits in the gold-plated Oval Office. NLT gets 45 days to fix that default—the one that hasn’t been explained—which is soon coming to an end. If NLT doesn’t somehow fix the imaginary default, it will lose operational control of the three courses this week, and voila, they’re all Trump’s. The timing of the notice helps explain the weird Oct. 31 Washington Post report that a bunch of dirt from the East Wing demolition was dumped on the East Potomac Golf Course. Think of it as Trump marking his territory. Oh, and no one knows if it’s chock-full of asbestos or not. Let’s face it: the golf courses will likely join the Kennedy Center as another piece of Washington that’s been wrecked by Trump. And we’re also going to get a tacky Arc de Triomphe knockoff, which Trump says is the main priority for his domestic policy chief. Sure, Trump is telling people that their kids can’t have dolls or pencils because of skyrocketing inflation thanks to Trump’s tariffs, but that arch must get built. Really can’t wait to find out which private defense contractors, big tech, and media corporations will rush to “donate” to Trump’s latest hideous remodel. You know, for freedom.
A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. Trump: Actually, the Epstein scandal is great for me The man never polls better than he does in his own head. ‘Release the damn files’: Outgoing GOP senator slams Trump over Epstein At this point, we’ll take any criticism of Trump from the right. Secret memo reportedly reveals Trump doesn't actually care about the border Who needs borders when you can just deport anyone you don’t like? Trump deals another blow to American automakers Make America walk everywhere. Big Lie-boosting election clerk is begging for Trump to save her Tina Peters simply will not go away. Cartoon: Ozzy RIP to the Prince of Darkness. Conservative rich dudes think they'll Make Movies Great Again Ah, yes, a Palantir-Ayn Rand mashup. Just what literally no one wanted. Click here to see more cartoons.
Conservatives in America control every lever of the federal government’s power, but they remain infuriated that they do not control the levers of culture and entertainment. Surely that cannot be because the type of entertainment they push is garbage no one wants to watch. No, it must be because the right studio, backed by the right multimillionaires, hasn’t come along. Enter Founders Films—ugh. Backed by high-level employees of Vice President JD Vance benefactor Peter Thiel’s Palantir Technologies, surely this will be the way that conservatives crack the entertainment market. Do Palantir chief technology officer Shyam Sankar, early Palantir employee Ryan Podolsky, or investor Christian Garrett have any particular background that would make you want to give them money to run a studio? Not particularly, although Sankar is getting to play-act as a soldier, having been one of four tech executives that the Army invented a detachment for. Why? So that they could all pretend to be lieutenant colonels despite never having served a day. Shhh. No one tell Sankar, as he thinks it is real and did a wildly embarrassing piece about it for Bari Weiss’s Free Press for Eugenics Enthusiasts. Related |Army gives shady offer to tech bros so they can play soldier So, what do these big brains have planned once they sucker some other multimillionaires out of their not-actually-hard-earned money? Such blockbuster ideas as “Operation: Pineapple Express” about the “botched withdrawal” from Afghanistan; a 9/11 movie celebrating “courage”; and a yet-unnamed flick about the 2020 assassination of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. Surely all of those will be blockbusters. Move over, Marvel! There’s also a three-part adaptation of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” planned, because of course there is. Were the people demanding a new Ayn Rand trilogy? Couldn’t they just go watch the trilogy that came out like 15 years ago? Sure, the first part got mercilessly panned by critics, and the second part got mercilessly panned by critics, and the third part got mercilessly panned by critics. Actual moviegoers didn’t, well, actually go, particularly by the time Part III rolled around. But surely now America is ready for six to nine hours of Ayn Rand beamed into their eyeballs, right? Hopefully Founders Films will have better luck than the producers of the previous trilogy, who had to recall 100,000 DVDs because the jacket described Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged: as “a timeless novel of courage and self-sacrifice,” and Randians 100% do not believe in self-sacrifice. Perhaps Americans will rush to the cineplex to see some other Founders Films fixations, which will be “unafraid of offending Chinese audiences” and will use “American cultural power to spread skeptical views of the Chinese government.” Definitely what we are all looking for. Actor Gina Carano’s extremist views got her shunned by mainstream Hollywood producers. But Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire Studio gave her another chance to flame out. No matter how much money the Palantir dudes and their pals throw at this exercise, it’s likely just going to be Ben Shapiro’s The Daily Wire Studio 2.0. Did you know conservative gadfly Shapiro had a movie studio? Okay, be honest: Did you know Ben Shapiro had a movie studio because you were ever organically aware of one of his entertainment offerings, or only because of coverage of his failed attempts to break out of the right-wing ecosphere? Thought so. Shapiro’s studio already offers what Founders Films promises: jingoistic trolling starring a combination of fading stars and people that the rest of Hollywood doesn’t want to work with because it’s weird when people keep yelling about wokeness when you’re just trying to do your job. Who could have predicted that “Terror on the Prairie,” a 2022 Daily Wire joint starring Gina Carano after she went full anti-vaxxer transphobe, would have flopped? Everyone, actually. In the end, perhaps this isn’t such a bad thing. If conservatives want to light their money on fire by giving it to other millionaires to make bad, ham-handed movies that no one wants to watch, who are we to say no?
In another concession to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, the Trump administration shut down a crucial program that catalogued war crime. This included a database that tracked the mass deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia—another obvious sign that President Donald Trump has little to no care for the wellbeing of children. Managed through an initiative at Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab, the database played an important role in the International Criminal Court’s 2023 charges against Putin related to the illegal deportation of children. Researchers were informed last month that the State Department had “quietly” terminated the contract to comply with Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, though sources say that the database may have been deleted in the confusion wrought by DOGE’s cuts. “We have reason to believe that the data from the repository has been permanently deleted,” Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman of Ohio wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The news comes after a report from The New York Times about the Trump administration halting food testing programs and shutting down a group that studied bacteria in infant formula. “It’s as if someone, without enough information, has said, What’s a good way to save money on our automobiles? Let’s just take out the seatbelts and airbags, because do we really need them?” Darin Detwiler, a food safety consultant and associate professor at Northeastern University, told the Times. Cartoon by Clay Bennett Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has exposed his lack of integrity when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable populations, particularly through his awful mishandling of the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas. Couple that with Kennedy’s plan to destroy children's teeth by eliminating fluoride from drinking water, and the threat to U.S. children’s health is glaring. Before that, the Department of Agriculture pulled $1 billion in funding for programs that helped feed school-aged and low-income children. The programs, which were created during the Biden administration, provided funding to local farmers and food vendors to help combat food insecurity. And, of course, Trump has made it clear that he plans to dismantle the Department of Education, which Education Secretary Linda McMahon has been working toward by firing half of the department’s staff. But the harm to children goes far beyond Trump, with the GOP’s legion of creeps frequently being connected to accusations of child abuse. For example, Trump’s short-lived attorney general nominee, former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, allegedly paid multiple women—including a child—for sex, according to a damning ethics report. And Gaetz’s former associate and alleged party bro Joel Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in prison for various crimes, including sex trafficking of a minor. Similarly, just last month the Trump administration was trying to assist alleged rapist and human trafficker Andrew Tate and his brother in their extradition case. More recently, Minnesota’s MAGA state Sen. Justin Eichorn was arrested in a police sting for allegedly soliciting a minor for sex. His arrest came just days after one of Trump’s former “spiritual advisers,” Robert Morris, was indicted and charged with five counts of “lewd or indecent acts to a child,” stemming from when he was traveling evangelist in 1982. But this is just the tip of the iceberg of the hypocrisy displayed by Trump and Republicans who claim to crusade for children’s welfare yet enact policies and maintain alliances that actively cause them harm. Campaign Action
Billionaire Elon Musk is using his sway within Donald Trump’s administration to try to destroy the United States Agency for International Development. USAID handles U.S. aid to foreign projects around public health, education, disaster relief, and promoting democracy abroad. On Monday, congressional Democrats condemned Musk’s actions, calling them illegal during a press conference outside of the closed USAID headquarters. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut singled out Musk’s business interests in China, which many people believe encouraged Musk to torpedo the House GOP’s spending bill in December. “China is cheering at this action today,” Murphy said. Murphy: "Let's not pull any punches about why this is happening. Elon Musk makes billions off of his business with China. And China is cheering at this action today. There is no question that the billionaire class trying to take over our govt right now is doing it based on self-interest."— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-02-03T18:26:04.635Z “Elon Musk, you may have illegally seized power over the financial payment systems of the United States Department of Treasury,” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said. “But you don’t control the money of the American people. The United States Congress does that under Article 1 of the Constitution.” Raskin called the billionaire’s actions an “outrageous, scandalous, illegal maneuver.” The congressman questioned the target of Musk’s attempted budget cuts, noting the Pentagon, whose budget is more than 20 times the size of the USAID, does not seem to be on Musk’s list. “The Pentagon budget is where the defense contractor, Elon Musk, who became the richest man in the world off of our money, he collects his payments from,” Raskin said. “And now he's trying to shut down USAID. We're not going to allow this to happen. It will not stand.” YouTube Video Musk responded on his hate-filled social media site, X, with a bit of doublespeak that George Orwell would have probably found egregious. 
Trump seems content with the perception that he is running the show, but it is clear that he is out of his depth when it comes to billionaire predators like Musk pulling the strings behind—and now in front—of the scenes. Click here for Daily Kos’ Bluesky Starter Pack. Join us on Bluesky and @#$% Elon Musk!
President-elect Donald Trump tapped notorious anti-vaxxer and bear-meat aficionado Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services Thursday. The prospect of a man who has railed against fluoride in water and promised to stop research on drug development and infectious diseases for at least eight years heading the country’s public health initiatives has given many people pause. Reactions to the news have begun to come in, though none of those reactions mention Kennedy’s theory that chemicals in drinking water have resulted in “gender confusion.” Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana took time away from saying that women should not be allowed to leave their state for reproductive care to lament vague “vaccine mandates” in support of Kennedy’s nomination. TAPPER: The medical community has been clear that what RFK Jr says about vaccines is false. They don't cause autism. Does that bother you at all? SENATOR-ELECT JIM BANKS: Look Jake, in the election Donald Trump won the popular vote pic.twitter.com/IWrHH8xkdn— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 14, 2024 Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis shocked many with his statement on X. “I’m excited by the news that the President-Elect will appoint @RobertKennedyJr to @HHSGov,” Polis wrote. “He helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA. I hope he leans into personal choice on vaccines rather than bans (which I think are terrible, just like mandates) but what I’m most optimistic about is taking on big pharma and the corporate ag oligopoly to improve our health.” Polis’ support for RFK Jr. was a far cry from his feelings on the matter back in August, when he posted this. pic.twitter.com/IdbR2sISgM— David Weigel (@daveweigel) November 14, 2024 Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, an actual physician, readied his rubber stamp by writing that Kennedy “has championed issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure. I look forward to learning more about his other policy positions and how they will support a conservative, pro-American agenda.” Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, not known for being particularly bright, called the pick “absolutely brilliant.” And the always craven Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin seemed over the moon about an HHS chief who is as far out when it comes to public health as he is. I could not be happier that @realDonaldTrump has selected @RobertKennedyJr to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. He’s a brilliant, courageous truth-teller whose unwavering commitment to transparency will make America a healthier nation.— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) November 14, 2024 Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts kept his reaction short and sweet. Dangerous. Unqualified. Unserious.