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Wall Street Deems Trump A Major Risk Factor As Markets Sink

Wall Street Deems Trump A Major Risk Factor As Markets Sink

President Donald Trump frequently justifies his claim that that the United States is the "hottest country in the world" by pointing to the stock market. But markets and investors disagree – and say Trump is the reason.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the S&P 500 Index (which is made up of the 500 largest companies in the U.S.) dipped by more than two percent by the end of trading, marking the biggest one-day drop for the index since October. The Chicago Board Options Exchange's VIX volatility index — which tracks uncertainty in financial markets – also marked its biggest single-day increase since November.

According to the Times, Wall Street executives are increasingly bearish on stocks in the wake of Trump's escalated rhetoric about potentially invading Greenland, even though the autonomous island territory already belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark (a key NATO ally). This is a marked change in how investors are viewing the Trump administration, with the Wall Street Journal reporting earlier this week that some on Wall Street were still betting on Trump to "chicken out" rather than actually act on his threats.

Some institutional investors — like foreign governments and ultra-wealthy individuals – prefer to park their money in the form of U.S. Treasury securities rather than stocks, given that Treasury securities are typically seen as more stable and less likely to fluctuate in value. However, some bondholders are selling their stakes following Trump's bellicose rhetoric, including the Danish fund AkademerPension.

The Times reported that the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield – which moves inversely to price — jumped up this week, meaning it has lost value. A jump in the 10-year yield is often seen as a predictor of recessions, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Some investors are reportedly eager for Trump to take initiative to lower the temperature and back off of his Greenland threats.

"[Trump] has a path to lower rates and less controversial path with Greenland, but the question is will he take it?" said Andrew Brenner, who is the head of international fixed income at the firm National Alliance Securities. He added that he has told investors to expect "major volatility" in response to Trump's Greenland remarks.

The president commemorated the first year of his presidency on Tuesday with a meandering 80-minute speech from the White House Briefing Room. When a reporter asked him what he ultimately plans to do about Greenland, Trump would only say "you'll find out."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Rove's Warning: Latino Voters In Texas Are Fleeing The GOP Before Midterm

Rove's Warning: Latino Voters In Texas Are Fleeing The GOP Before Midterm

Veteran Republican strategist Karl Rove is now warning that his party is bleeding support in a significant Republican stronghold ahead of this fall's midterm elections.

During a recent segment on Fox News' Journal Editorial Report, Rove — who was a top advisor to former President George W. Bush – cautioned that Republicans in Texas can no longer count on the Latino voters who voted for President Donald Trump in 2024 to vote for GOP candidates in the midterms. When host Gerard Baker pointed out that Republicans make significant inroads with Latinos in the last presidential election, Rove agreed that it was a "big" problem for the GOP in keeping its majorities in the House and Senate.

"It’s a problem and we’re going to see it here in Texas," Rove said. "You can just see the support for Republicans in Texas diminishing, despite the fact that initially there was enormous support for the action in securing the border."

Baker observed that despite Republicans' mid-decade gerrymandering of U.S. House districts in Texas – which was designed to give Republicans the edge in five previously Democratic districts – the departure of Latino voters from the Republican coalition could endanger the GOP's midterm hopes in November. Rove agreed, and suggested Republicans may have made their work needlessly harder by spreading the Republican vote too thin in the Lone Star State.

"Take the district that runs from Corpus Christi to Brownsville. Donald Trump carried the district, but he carried it by one point," Rove said. "So if his support is softening among Hispanics, that makes it unlikely that we're gonna knock off an incumbent Democrat."

The GOP strategist further illustrated his point by noting that Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), who Trump pardoned in 2025, refused to change parties. Trump is now actively endorsing Cuellar's likely Republican opponent in the general election, though Rove said those efforts may not be fruitful.

"Henry Cuellar ran ahead of [2024 Democratic nominee] Kamala Harris by nearly 10 points in the district that is centered from Laredo north to San Antonio," Rove said. "That's going to be a difficult district for us to carry, despite the fact that Donald Trump carried the last time around by I think four or five points."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Trump's Labor Secretary Probed For Misconduct As Two Aides Are Suspended

Trump's Labor Secretary Probed For Misconduct As Two Aides Are Suspended

One of President Donald Trump's Cabinet officials is now in hot water over an investigation into alleged alcohol abuse on the job and relations with a subordinate. And on Monday, some of her staffers were put on leave.

That's according to an article in Bloomberg, which reported that two senior staffers in the Department of Labor (DOL) have been suspended in the wake of a DOL inspector general investigation into Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-Deremer. One of Bloomberg's sources anonymously confided to the outlet that Chavez-Deremer's chief of staff Jihun Han and deputy chief of staff Rebecca Wright have been officially put on leave.

The New York Post recently reported that DOL staffers were allegedly fabricating work trips on behalf of Chavez-Deremer so she could visit family and friends. The labor secretary reportedly had more than 50 official trips in 2025, visiting 37 states. Chavez-Deremer is also accused of drinking alcohol in her office, and for having an inappropriate relationship with an unnamed male subordinate.

According to the Post, Chavez-Deremer — who is married — has hosted the staffer at her Washington D.C. apartment on multiple occasions, and also invited them to her hotel room during work trips. The Post's sources also referred to the labor secretary as the "boss from hell," accusing her of ordering employees to run personal errands for Chavez-Deremer and perform other mundane tasks unrelated to their jobs.

Chavez-Deremer's alleged inappropriate relationship reportedly involved one episode in which she invited the subordinate to her Las Vegas hotel room, where she was staying to celebrate her niece's 40th birthday in October, when the federal government was shut down. The labor secretary reportedly dismissed her security detail before inviting the man over.

The Post also alleged that when Han asked Chavez-Deremer about a stash of alcohol she kept near her office desk, the labor secretary reportedly told her chief of staff to "leave it alone." The stash reportedly includes champagne, bourbon and Kahlua.

Trump administration spokespeople denied the report. White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers called the accusations "baseless," and insisted that Chavez-Deremer "is an incredible asset to President Trump’s team and she will continue advancing the President’s America First agenda."

"These unsubstantiated allegations are categorically false,” DOL spokesperson Courtney Parella told the Post. “Secretary Chavez-DeRemer has complied with all ethics rules and Department policies and remains fully engaged in carrying out the Department’s work on behalf of this historic Administration. The Secretary is considering all possible avenues, including legal action, to fight these baseless accusations from anonymous sources.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Even Fox News Rejects Noem Claims About ICE Killing Of Minneapolis Mom

Even Fox News Rejects Noem Claims About ICE Killing Of Minneapolis Mom

Even hosts at the conservative Fox News Channel aren't convinced that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem's take on Wednesday's fatal shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota is accurate.

The Daily Beast reported Wednesday that several primetime Fox News hosts cast doubt on Noem's version of events. The DHS secretary initially stated that 37 year-old U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good was attempting to run over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents when she was fatally shot. She added that Good was committing an "act of domestic terrorism."

Noem later doubled down on her initial claims in a Wednesday press conference, saying that Good had "weaponized" her car against ICE agents who were stuck in the snow and that federal agents fired shots out of self-defense. But Fox News host John Roberts said that the DHS secretary's version of events didn't jibe with video evidence.

"I’ve seen the video several times as well — kind of gone through it frame by frame. I don’t want to describe it because you can’t see the entire scene play out," Roberts said.

"There is an area in front of the vehicle that is obscured by the vehicle itself, so we don’t know 100 percent what happened during that incident, but what I saw of it does counteract the narrative that they were trying to push their car out of the snow," he continued. "... That vehicle was clearly in the middle of the street, as it was approached by a couple of federal agents before it sped off."

Fox host Jessica Tarlov — who is a liberal panelist on the show The Five — claimed "ICE just killed that woman" in response to the video. And while conservative panelist Harold Ford Jr. didn't use Tarlov's words, he also doubted Noem's account of events after viewing the video of the shooting.

"I couldn’t understand when she said it was an act of ‘domestic terrorism’ and she said the car was stuck in snow, and the officers—I think her characterization, maybe she got bad information, because her characterization seemed inconsistent with what we are seeing here," Ford said.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Threatening Indiana GOP, Angry Trump Concedes Defeat In Gerrymander Battle

Threatening Indiana GOP, Angry Trump Concedes Defeat In Gerrymander Battle

President Donald Trump may be giving up on redrawing Indiana's U.S. House of Representatives districts to be more favorable to Republicans, according to a new post to his Truth Social account.

On Wednesday evening, Trump wrote a 414-word post to his social media platform in which he appeared to despair over Indiana Republicans not being able to muster enough votes to pass the new 9-0 gerrymandered redistricting map. The president lamented that Indiana Senate president pro tempore Rodric Bray was "the only person in the United States of America who is against Republicans picking up extra seats" and issued a veiled threat to both Bray and other Hoosier State Republicans.

"[Bray] is putting every ounce of his limited strength into asking his soon to be very vulnerable friends to vote with him," Trump wrote. "By doing so, he is putting the Majority in the House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., at risk and, at the same time, putting anybody in Indiana who votes against this Redistricting, likewise, at risk."

"Bray doesn’t care. He’s either a bad guy, or a very stupid one! In any event, he and a couple of his friends will partner with the Radical Left Democrats," Trump wrote in his signature style of oddly placed capital letters. "They found some Republican 'SUCKERS,' and they couldn’t be happier that they did!"

Trump went on to blame several high-profile Indiana Republicans, like former two-term Governor Mitch Daniels (R), who led the state between 2005 and 2013, and GOP consultant Cam Savage. He reiterated his threat to run primary challengers against Indiana Republicans who voted against redistricting, and ended his post by declaring: "One of my favorite States, Indiana, will be the only State in the Union to turn the Republican Party down!"

Trump's post caught the attention of political observers who have been following the Indiana redistricting battle. Politico's Adam Wren tweeted that Trump's Truth Social post "reads like a prewrite obit on the redistricting wars."

"This is flatly unhinged," wrote author Brian Rosenwald. "He’s a mob boss."

"Trump basically admitted the whole game here," Indiana resident Mike Young wrote. "Redistricting, in his words, is about 'contributing to a WIN in the Midterms for the Republicans,' not representing Hoosiers fairly. That is not election integrity. That is rigging the map in advance and calling it patriotism."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

'Donald Trump Is In Hell': Kennedy Center Honors Warped By His Very Weird Vibe

'Donald Trump Is In Hell': Kennedy Center Honors Warped By His Very Weird Vibe

President Donald Trump hosted the first Kennedy Center Honors ceremony of his second term last weekend, and one reporter in attendance described the night as "very weird."

In a Monday article in The Atlantic, writer Alexandra Petri noted that she had always been "obsessed" with the Kennedy Center Honors in the way others may be fascinated by the Oscars or the Grammys, and jumped at the chance to attend the 2025 ceremony. However, she said that this year's ceremony — now that Trump has taken over the vaunted institution by installing himself as chairman and replacing the bulk of the organization's board with his own handpicked associates — felt different [emphasis Petri's].

"Something’s off. The whole evening has the characteristics of a wish made on a monkey’s paw," Petri wrote. "You wanted the Four Seasons, but you got Four Seasons Total Landscaping. Why is a 'content creator' introducing one of the tributes to Gloria Gaynor? Where is Meryl Streep? Why does a night that should be Donald Trump’s greatest triumph feel so much like he revived the Honors from the Pet Sematary?"

At one point, Petri observed that the stage for "I Will Survive" singer Gloria Gaynor featured a giant disco ball "the size of a small boulder" that hung over the disco star and her backup dancers. A tribute video noted that Gaynor has since pivoted to making gospel music. Petri described the jarring transition from disco to gospel, and wondered if the spectacle was what Trump envisioned when he first decided to put himself in charge of the Kennedy Center.

"After a brief disco medley, the lighting changes. The projected nightclub imagery becomes stained-glass windows and gospel musicians enter. The disco ball is still stuck there, awkwardly, casting red and yellow and blue light around the room. Trump bops along dutifully to 'Precious Lord,'" Petri wrote. "Is this what you wished for, Mr. President?"Petri reflected on the 2025 ceremony by wondering if Trump's desire to have an imprint on American culture may have gone awry the more he personally involved himself. She then mused that Trump may feel let down by his own influence, and wondered if he knew that his brand had tarnished what was once considered to be one of the premier artistic honors.

"This could be Donald Trump’s heaven, if only the world would cooperate. But instead everything he touches turns to brass. His pop turns to country; his Broadway turns to Christian rock; his disco turns to gospel. He is so close that he can almost taste it, but he will never get to taste it," she wrote. "Donald Trump is in hell. If only we weren’t trapped there with him."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Kushner And Witkoff Secretly Consulted Kremlin In Drafting Ukraine 'Peace Plan'

Kushner And Witkoff Secretly Consulted Kremlin In Drafting Ukraine 'Peace Plan'

The peace plan that President Donald Trump's administration offered to end the ongoing war in Ukraine has been widely criticized for being overly accommodating to Russia. Now, a new report shows that Russia may have been even more intricately involved in its composition than previously known.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the proposal — which Trump administration special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner (who is also the president's son-in-law) — relied heavily on input from a "Kremlin insider." Kushner, Witkoff and the Kremlin advisor huddled behind closed doors in multiple "secret meetings" in Miami, Florida, according to the Journal.

That Kremlin advisor was identified as Kirill Dmitriev, who the Journal described as an envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin who also has ties to Kushner. Witkoff also met Dmitriev during his April trip to Moscow. The 28-point plan has been described as a "framework" to end the war, though multiple senators allege Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio described it as "essentially the wish list of the Russians." (Rubio has denied making that comment)

The three men reportedly met for three days in late October at Witkoff's home in Miami, where Dmitriev communicated multiple items the Kremlin demanded in order to agree to end hostilities with Ukraine. The Journal reported that Dmitriev called for Ukraine to never be allowed to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), pull all troops out of the eastern Donbass region and other territory Russia wanted to control (like the Crimean Peninsula, which it illegally invaded in 2014). The Kremlin also wants Ukraine's military to be capped at a much lower number than its current 900,000-member force.

Dmitriev also specifically called on the Trump administration to engage in multiple economic agreements in the areas of artificial intelligence, energy and other industries. The Journal also reported that the bulk of the plan was written by both Kushner and Witkoff before they even engaged with Russia or Ukraine.

When Witkoff and Kushner attempted to engage senior Ukrainian officials to get their input on the peace plan, one told the two Trump administration envoys that the deal was better for Russia than for Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the two men for working toward ending the war, but also said their plan needed revisions.

Trump administration officials maintain that the final version of the plan will be more accommodating to Ukraine, and suggested amending it to raise the cap on the size of the Ukrainian military beyond what Russia wanted, and that language permanently barring Ukraine's membership in NATO could be removed.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Donald Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell

At Texas Club Fed, Warden Serves Privileged Prisoner Maxwell As 'Private Secretary'

Newly released emails from Ghislaine Maxwell – who was deceased child predator Jeffrey Epstein's chief accomplice — show that the special privileges she's receiving in prison even include "secretarial services" from the facility's highest-ranking official.

The Atlantic's Isaac Stanley-Becker reported Thursday that he pored through dozens of emails that Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee received from a nurse who worked at the minimum security prison camp in Bryan, Texas (northwest of Houston) where Maxwell was transferred earlier this year. While NBC News reported on some excerpts of those emails, Stanley-Becker wrote that the most notable details had "not previously been reported."

According to The Atlantic journalist, Maxwell's emails were "notably free of regret, remorse, shame [and] self-doubt." He wrote that they provide a window into the "relatively comfortable life" of the woman serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping Epstein groom and exploit underage girls. One of Epstein's victims recalled that Maxwell was "more physically abusive" than Epstein.

Among the extensive privileges being exclusively granted to Maxwell include her being allowed to have visits in private in the prison's chapel, rather than in the facility's designated visitation space. She's also been allowed to have an unlimited supply of toilet paper, whereas other inmates are only allowed two rolls per week. She and her legal team are provided with "drinks and snacks" when visiting her. Additionally, prison warden Tanisha Hall has allowed Maxwell to bring in "private electronic equipment."

Stanley-Becker reported that Hall is even providing "secretarial services" to Maxwell. He included an example from September in which there was a "problem with the mail" at the prison, and Hall came up with a "creative solution." Maxwell's attorney was told to scan documents and email them directly to the warden, while the warden would "scan back [Maxwell's] changes."

"The following month, Maxwell was typing away late one Sunday. She was wading through attachments, and she was 'struggling to keep it all together,' she wrote in an email with the subject line 'Commutation Application,' suggesting that her team was preparing a direct appeal to Trump," Stanley-Becker wrote. "As they worked on their argument, Maxwell told her lawyer that she would transmit relevant records 'through the warden.'"

Doug Murphy, who Stanley-Becker described as a "prominent Houston-based attorney," compared Hall's behavior toward Maxwell to a CEO personally performing customer service duties. He suggested the warden acting in such a way is either only because she has a personal relationship with Maxwell, or because her superiors instructed her to go out of her way to accommodate Maxwell.

"It’s way out of the norm," Murphy said.

Click here to read Stanley-Becker's full article in the Atlantic (subscription required).

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Will Epstein Files Vote Become 'Crack In The Dam' That Splits MAGA Apart?

Will Epstein Files Vote Become 'Crack In The Dam' That Splits MAGA Apart?

President Donald Trump's ironclad grip on the Republican Party may be weaker than it's ever been due to the ongoing fallout over deceased child predator Jeffrey Epstein.

That's according to commentator Scott Morefield, who writes for the conservative website Townhall. Morefield told New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg that Trump's handling of the Justice Department's unreleased evidence pertaining to its two Epstein-related investigations has caused widespread disillusionment among the MAGA movement. He particularly focused on Trump's attacks on Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), who have both pressured him to release all of the DOJ's remaining evidence on Epstein.

Trump called Greene a "ranting lunatic" on his Truth Social platform last week, and called Massie a "loser" and remarked that his recent marriage was "quick" (Massie's first wife, Rhonda, died last June). Massie shrugged off Trump's attacks and shared a joke that he and his new wife made at Trump's expense.

"She said, 'I told you we should have invited him to the wedding!'" Massie told reporters on Monday.

"Trump’s denunciations of MTG and especially Thomas Massie last night were unnecessary, over the top, and cruel in a way that should make any human with basic empathy question what kind of human he is," Moreland posted to X. "If anyone is responsible for the fracturing of MAGA, it’s the top dog himself. The buck stops there."

In her Monday essay, Goldberg marveled at how Trump used to dispatch his political opponents within the GOP with relative ease. She pointed to past examples like former Vice President Mike Pence, former Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ). However, she observed that Trump's failure to cow Greene and Massie into submission suggested that "something has changed." When Goldberg asked Moreland how much Trump's movement had split, the conservative writer didn't mince words.

“I think it’s pretty serious,” he said. “Epstein really started it. It was like the crack in the dam, I think.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


ingraham and trump

Trump Burned For Transforming White House Into 'Dollar Store Mar-a-Lago'

President Donald Trump showed off his latest White House project to Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday: A presidential "walk of fame" complete with Trump's signature style of gold accents and cursive writing.

As he was escorting Ingraham down the West Wing Colonnade of the White House on Tuesday evening, Trump proudly showed off the 47 portraits of all U.S. presidents, complete with the words "The Presidential Walk of Fame" on the wall. At one point Trump referred to the sign as "half-inch thick bronze," before referring to it as "pure brass" in the same breath.

"Take a look at this, fellas, if you want to see detail," Trump told Ingraham's camera crew. "Most people do a sign and paint it on the wall. So that's half inch thick bronze. Carved. By a very talented person. And it's brass. It's pure brass."

Trump's segment quickly attracted a wave of ridicule from various journalists, commentators and other experts on social media. According to Sequoia Brass & Copper in West Hayward, California, bronze and brass are two different alloys, with bronze being made up of copper and tin, while brass is made up of copper and zinc. Former Jeopardy champion Clinton Reese reminded the president of this fact in all caps: "BRASS IS AN ALLOY. IT CAN'T BE PURE. JFC WHAT A MORON."

"Gotta love a billionaire real estate developer who doesn't know the difference between brass & bronze," TV writer and producer Jill Weinberger posted to Bluesky.

"He’s turning the White House into Dollar Tree Mar-a-Lago," wrote former Obama and Biden White House appointee Andrew Weinstein.

"This is like bad 90s web design brought to life," quipped software developer Andrew Coyle.

Other observers hoped that Trump's mark on the White House wouldn't be permanent. Former Seattle Times reporter Chuck Taylor wrote that the display was "so tacky it's sad. But at least it can be undone."

"It gives me a tiny jolt of pleasure to know that someday-- maybe not for decades, but someday-- we'll have a president who will take the claw-end of hammer to this," anthropologist Jonah Blank wrote.

Trump: Take a look at this if you want to see detail. Most people do a sign and paint it on the wall. So that's half inch thick bronze. Carved. By a very talented person. And it's brass. It's pure brass.

[image or embed]
— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) November 11, 2025 at 8:01 PM

Reprinted with permission from Alternet



Dozing Don: Trump 'Struggles For 20 Minutes' To Stay Awake At Oval Office Event

Dozing Don: Trump 'Struggles For 20 Minutes' To Stay Awake At Oval Office Event

Before a man fainted in the Oval Office where the administration was announcing price cuts for weight-loss drugs, President Donald Trump struggled to stay awake for 20 minutes in a now-viral photo that the Washington Post has analyzed via video.

"A Washington Post analysis of multiple video feeds found that Trump spent nearly 20 minutes apparently battling to keep his eyes open at the Thursday event," they explain.

"It was a seemingly stark illustration of the strain of the presidency on a 79-year-old who typically keeps a vigorous travel schedule that even his aides say they struggle to keep up with — and who has reveled in calling his predecessor 'Sleepy Joe' Biden," the Post adds.

Trump, they write, "displayed a constellation of movements familiar to anyone who has attempted to stay awake during a work meeting. He closed his eyes. He put his hand to his temple. He slouched in his chair."

Meanwhile, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was speaking, saying, “People can sleep again, because they can breathe when they go to bed."

Trump woke up when the man behind him fainted, in a now much-mocked and scorned viral photo that shows the president standing frozen at his desk, unmoved by the man on the floor behind him.

Moments after that, however, Trump was again nodding off. The White House denied that Trump was sleeping, while Democrats blasted the alleged hypocrisy of a man who dubbed his fellow elderly predecessor "Sleepy Joe."

Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) snapped back at Trump's Biden moniker with a few of his own: "Dozy Don" and "The Nodfather."

“The national media would have had multiple strokes if Joe Biden was sleeping/passed out in his chair in the Oval Office,” Neera Tanden, who served as Biden’s top domestic policy aide, posted on social media.

Pete Hegseth

Hegseth Weakening Military Readiness With Political Purge Of Top Generals And Admirals

Since President Donald Trump's second term began in January, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired roughly two dozen top generals and admirals — often for political reasons.

Approximately 20 current and former military leaders recently told the New York Times that Hegseth's decisions were leading to the Pentagon having a dearth of generational experience that could take years to recover. Former National Security Council member Kori Schake said the Trump administration was "squandering an enormous amount of talent." Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who was a CIA officer before running for Congress, referred to Hegseth's firings of three-star and four-star generals and admirals as a "purge" on her X account.

"The places where we’ve looked at these kinds of things are places like China," Slotkin said during a Senate hearing. "I used to work on Iraq. They would do the same thing."

Many top officers were fired due to their ties to General Mark Milley (Ret.), who was the United States' top military leader between in the final two years of Trump's first term and through most of former President Joe Biden's term. Milley told journalist Bob Woodward in 2024 that Trump was "fascist to the core" and "the most dangerous person to the country." The Times reported that Hegseth had delayed or cancelled the promotions of "at least four senior military officers" because they previously worked for Milley.

This includes Maj. Gen. James Patrick Work, who was set to head U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East. Work served as Milley's executive officer in 2018, and his status remains in limbo despite strong backing from U.S. Army leadership.Hegseth also fired Adm. Milton Sands in August, who is the commander of the elite Navy SEALs, because he promoted diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the SEALs.

Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly was nominated to become vice admiral and commander of the Navy's Seventh Fleet, which the Times reported is the Navy's largest overseas fighting force. However, Hegseth cancelled his promotion after the far-right Daily Wire reported that a sailor on the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan performed in drag during a talent show (Donnelly was not on board the carrier at the time).

Several of the Times' sources worried that Hegseth had politicized the military, and thereby ruined its credibility among the civilian populace. Gen. Stanley McChrystal (Ret.) told the paper: "Once lost, the legitimacy of a military that reflects and represents all Americans will be difficult to recover."

"The message being sent to those younger soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines is that politics can and should be part of your military service," Rep. Jason Crow, (D-CO), who is a former Army Ranger, told the Times. "It’s a dangerous message."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Report: FBI Told House Republicans About 'Worse' Trump Photos In Epstein Files

Report: FBI Told House Republicans About 'Worse' Trump Photos In Epstein Files

Several House Republicans have reportedly heard from the Department of Justice (DOJ) that the unreleased Jeffrey Epstein documents are especially compromising for President Donald Trump.

That's according to reporting from former MSNBC, CNN and Fox News reporter David Shuster, who posted to his X account on Wednesday that there is "speculation/rumors sweeping through [the] GOP caucus" about the details of the Epstein files.

"A few GOP house members say they’ve heard from FBI/DOJ contacts that the Epstein files (with copies in different agencies) are worse than Michael Wolff’s description of Epstein photos showing Trump with half naked teenage girls," Shuster wrote.

Shuster is likely referring to an October interview in which Trump biographer Michael Wolff told the Daily Beast that he had personally seen "about a dozen Polaroid snapshots" of Trump and Epstein, in which Trump was photographed with several topless young women on his lap. Wolff said Epstein pulled the photos out of a safe and spread them out "like a deck of cards" on his dining room table. The author told the Beast he saw the photos while visiting Epstein's home at the convicted sex offender's invitation, as Epstein wanted Wolff to write a book about him.

Veteran journalist Shuster further reported that Republicans were "spooked" by Attorney General Pam Bondi's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, after she refused to answer a question from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) about whether she had personally seen the photos after the contents of Epstein's safe were confiscated. After Whitehouse asked her about the photos, Bondi then questioned him about receiving campaign donations from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who was associated with Epstein.

"She didn’t give a denial," Shuster wrote.

According to Shuster, Republicans' anxiety about the contents of the Epstein files is compounded by "more than 100+ Republicans" who are reportedly planning to vote for the bipartisan discharge petition by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), which only needs one more signature in order to force a floor vote. Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), who won a late September special election to fill the seat vacated by her late father, promised to be the 218th and final signature on the discharge petition, though she has yet to be sworn in.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Civil War Erupts In Heritage Foundation Over Neo-Nazi Fuentes

Civil War Erupts In Heritage Foundation Over Neo-Nazi Fuentes

One major conservative group is experiencing a massive rift in its workforce, and the source of the division is reportedly a polarizing far-right influencer.

That's according to a Monday article in the New York Post, which reported that insiders at the Heritage Foundation (the group responsible for the authoritarian Project 2025 playbook) are sharing stories of "revolt" within the GOP-aligned organization. Many within Heritage are alarmed after the group's president, Kevin Roberts, refused to disavow right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson after his friendly interview with white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.

"We will always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda," Roberts said at the time. "That includes Tucker Carlson, who remains, and as I have said before, always will be a close friend of the Heritage Foundation."

"I disagree with and even abhor things that Nick Fuentes said," Roberts continued. “But canceling him is not the answer either.”

One source told the Post that Roberts' statement was "the most embarrassed I’ve ever been to be a Heritage employee," adding: "It’s not close." Another accused Carlson of "playing footsie with literal Nazis." A separate Heritage staffer said Roberts' refusal to "cancel" Carlson amounted to "safe space wokeism.""If we are labeled on the same side as Nick Fuentes, then we deserve to lose," a fourth source said. "Talking with some of the interns I think that there are a growing number of them who actually agree [with Fuentes]."

Fuentes, who has openly praised Adolf Hitler and repeatedly maligned the Jewish community, spent part of his interview with Carlson blaming Jewish people for the state of American politics. He also heaped praise on World War II-era Russian leader Josef Stalin, calling himself a "fan" of the dictator who killed millions of his own citizens.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

CNN Polling Analyst: Upcoming Elections May Foretell Midterm Doom For GOP

CNN Polling Analyst: Upcoming Elections May Foretell Midterm Doom For GOP

The upcoming gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, along with next week's mayoral election in New York City, could be viewed as a reliable bellwether for how next year's midterm elections will go, according to CNN data analyst Harry Enten.

In a Friday segment on CNN's OutFront, Enten told guest host Erica Hill that "Donald Trump can't be too happy" with the latest polling in those three races. Even though New Jersey's gubernatorial race is the closest of the three, Trump-endorsed Republican Jack Ciattarelli is still anywhere from six to eight points behind Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill.

Republicans have an even smaller chance of keeping control of the governor's mansion in Virginia, as Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears is trailing Democrat Abigail Spanberger by 14 points according to a recent YouGov poll. And Democrat Zohran Mamdani is poised for a clear victory over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (who is running as an independent) and Republican Curtis Sliwa. An Emerson College poll shows Mamdani ahead of Cuomo — his closest challenger — by roughly 25 percentage points.

"At this point in time, to me, it seems like the Democrats are most likely going to sweep all three of those races," Enten said. "And that's in part because of Donald Trump."

Enten went on to observe that there have only been five instances in the past 90 years where Democrats have swept all three off-year elections, with the latest instance happening in 2017. The other four times were in 1989, 1961, 1957 and 1953. However, he added that Democrats have reason to be hopeful if they repeat the feat next week.

"The five times that I mentioned that the Democrats swept all three of those races, each and every single time, the following year, they won a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives," he said. "So if Democrats sweep on Tuesday, in my opinion, it's a very good sign looking forward to 2026 in taking back that majority from the Republicans."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Clay Higgins

GOP Member TO SNAP Families: 'Stop Smoking Crack' And Stockpile Groceries

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) ignited a firestorm of outrage after a tweet in which he blamed the 42 million Americans set to lose their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits this weekend for their own plight.

On Thursday, Higgins posted to his official X account: "There are 22 million American households receiving SNAP benefits for groceries, at $4200 per year on average. Try to get your head wrapped around how many pantries you can stock with $4200 dollars in properly shopped groceries. Any American who has been receiving $4200 dollars per year of free groceries and does NOT have at least 1 month of groceries stocked should never again receive SNAP, because wow, stop smoking crack."

Higgins' post was met almost immediately with anger and ridicule. Children's author Kristine Rudolph wrote on Bluesky: "Tell us you don’t do the grocery shopping in your house without telling us you don’t do the grocery shopping in your house." Pennsylvania Capital-Star editor-in-chief Tam Lambert posted that $4,200 per year in SNAP benefits amount to "about $80 a week."

Retired air traffic controller Vivian M. Lumbard argued that Higgins' post reveals how "none of these Republicans seem to understand how much groceries actually cost, especially if you have kids."

"$4200 equates to $350/month," she wrote. "I doubt I could cover all my groceries just for myself for that amount of money, even if I gave up meat."

Political consultant Jamison Foster quoted Lucille Bluth from the sitcom "Arrested Development" (who famously said: "It's one banana Michael. What could it cost? $10?) by writing: "It's one month of groceries, Michael. How much room can it take up? Ten closets?"

Political scientist Miranda Yaver broke down Higgins' post by pointing out that Republicans simultaneously expect Americans to "Stop eating processed foods. Make healthy choices: eat more fresh food" while claiming SNAP recipients are "irresponsible" if they "don't have a month's food supply on hand to live on when we can't keep the government open."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Shutdown May Inflict Heavy Price On Republicans In Poor Rural Districts

Shutdown May Inflict Heavy Price On Republicans In Poor Rural Districts

Members of Congress from Republican-controlled states may be about to pay a hefty political price due to one particular element of the government shutdown, according to a longtime conservative.

During a Monday segment on MSNBC's Deadline: White House, David Frum — who was a speechwriter in former President George W. Bush's administration — said Republicans' shutdown gamble is unlikely to pay off. He predicted there would be an "exit ramp" for the GOP in the form of agreeing to a deal on extending expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits, but that a bigger problem was still looming: Trump challenging Congress' power of the purse under Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution."The Constitution awards Congress power over taxing and spending. And Donald Trump has challenged that power in a very fundamental way," Frum said. "He is taxing, without Congress, thirty-plus billion dollars a month in tariff revenue, and he is spending without Congress. He is getting other forms of revenue than taxes."

"The reason the White House ballroom story is so important: It's not just the vandalism of an historical monument. It's not just the gaudy, bad taste of this ballroom. It's that it is being funded not by taxes, but by gifts from people who have business before the government," he continued. "So he's bypassing Congress as a source of revenue, and he's bypassing Congress' control of spending, and he's claiming the authority to refuse to spend money that Congress has appropriated and that he signed. So how do you do business with someone like that?"

Frum also pointed out that with funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps) expiring on Saturday for 42 million Americans, many Republicans may already be feeling pressure from constituents to make a deal with Democrats. He pointed out that many residents of reliably red states are dependent on food stamps."There's a lot of poverty and hunger in poor, white, rural America," Frum said. "There are a lot of people on food stamps in poor white rural America that I think a lot of the people in Trump's gaudy circle assume that they can use food stamps and other things to squeeze the Democrats, because the Democrats are the 'poor people's party.' But that is not exactly true anymore."

"One of Donald Trump's achievements was to change the class basis of American politics. There are a lot more educated and affluent people in the Democratic coalition. There are a lot more poor and rural people in the Republican coalition," he added. "... If you're planning on running up the electoral score in North Carolina, for example, many of the people in the Republicans are counting on to make their gerrymander in North Carolina work, may be on food stamps."