A former aide to President Donald Trump stunned his fellow panelists on "CNN This Morning" into silence with his prediction about the Nobel Peace Prize. The U.S. president has openly campaigned for the award since returning to office in January, just days before the deadline for submission for this year's prize, and he's also made it quite clear that he covets the medallion because his longtime nemesis Barack Obama won it during his first year in office. "My colleague actually asked President Trump yesterday about the Nobel Peace Prize and whether or not he thought that he was going to get it, and he said he didn't know," said Francesca Chambers, White House correspondent for _USA Today_. "Perhaps maybe they'll give it to him, so he still wants it, though, clearly." Trump's hunger for the prize has shaped his diplomatic efforts and may have pushed Hamas and Israeli officials to reach a ceasefire agreement just hours before the award is announced, and his onetime White House communications director Mike Dubke told the panel not to count him out. "The likelihood of Donald Trump getting the Nobel Peace Prize is like having an American pope," Dubke said. Three seconds passed in silence as the realization dawned on panelists that the American-born Pope Leo XIV was elected earlier this year, and Dubke continued. "My point on this is he deserves it," Dubke said. "No, I mean, if not Donald Trump, who... There's multiple places where there has been peace in the last six months because of Donald Trump. This is a award that was created by the inventor of dynamite, Donald Trump authorized the bombing of Iran, which I would make the argument without that the others in the Middle East wouldn't have come to the table for yesterday's peace deal." Trump frequently claims to have ended up to seven wars in his nearly nine months back in office, although other world leaders are less generous in their credit, and another former White House aide joked the committee might as well give him the prize to shut him up. "I would say give it to him so we can stop talking about it, because it is so obnoxious that he thinks he should get it," said Meghan Hays, who served as special assistant to the president and director of message planning for Joe Biden. "I mean, we could go through all the number of reasons why he shouldn't get it. He's going to invade Greenland, the rights he wants to take away from press." Host Audie Cornish stepped in to say that Trump had not actually discussed invading Greenland, although the Danish prime minister said as recently as this week that the U.S. president was still interested in somehow obtaining the territory, and she discussed his primary motivation for winning the prize. "The villain origin story of this is when Obama won the Nobel Prize and the perception on the right was he did not deserve it," Cornish said. Hays went on to list Trump's attacks on civil liberties and other reasons she doesn't think he deserves the prize, and Dubke argued that Obama didn't deserve his award, either. "All of your reasons have nothing to do with [what] the prize is given for," Dubke said. "It's like somebody goes into the hall of fame, but we're not going to put them in the hall of fame for their actions on the field because of their personal life. It's not all-encompassing for their entire." - YouTube youtu.be

President Donald Trump _announced_ Sunday that both Israel and Hamas had agreed to the “first phase” of his _20-point plan_ to end hostilities in Gaza, but multiple high-ranking Israeli officials are already pouring cold water on the proposal. Under the peace plan, Hamas would return all of the remaining Israeli hostages and commit to peaceful co-existence, and in exchange, Israel would begin a phased withdrawal of Gaza and release 1,950 Palestinians it currently holds captive – 250 serving life sentences, and 1,700 detained after Oct. 7, 2023. Israel currently holds an estimated 9,500 Palestinians captive, around _3,660 of them without criminal charge_. Hamas would also be granted amnesty under the plan, granted they agree to end hostilities and not play any role in future governance of Gaza. It’s this point, however, that has some high-ranking Israeli officials already souring on the deal. “Mixed emotions on a complex morning,” wrote Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in a _social media post on X_ Thursday, according to an automated translation of his post, originally written in Hebrew. “...We cannot join the short-sighted celebrations and vote in favor of the deal. A tremendous responsibility to ensure that this is not, God forbid, a deal of ‘hostages in exchange for stopping the war,’ as Hamas thinks and boasts.” As pointed out by Arab Center Washington DC Fellow Assal Rad, however, Smotrich’s comments were in direct contradiction with a core component of the deal as was presented by Trump. “Israeli officials are already contradicting Trump,” Rad wrote in a _social media post_ on X Thursday morning. “Here is Smotrich saying they want to ‘ensure that this is not, God forbid, a deal of hostages in exchange for stopping the war.’ That is, in fact, exactly the point of a ceasefire.” Smotrich, who last year argued it was “ _justified and moral_” to allow Palestinian civilians to “die of hunger” amid _Israel’s aid blockade_, was not alone in his opposition to one of the key components of Trump’s peace plan. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir also spoke ill of the plan, going as far as to threaten Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his far-right party would leave the Israeli government if Hamas “continues to exist” following the hostage exchange. “We will not be part of a national defeat which will be an eternal disgrace, and which will turn into a ticking time bomb of the next massacre,” Gvir said on Saturday, _according to The Times of Israel_. “...[We] can in no way agree to a scenario in which the terror group that brought about the greatest ever catastrophe upon the State of Israel will be able to resurrect itself.” Both Smotrich and Gvir pledged to vote against the peace plan, and Israel, despite Trump’s demand that the nation “immediately stop the bombing of Gaza,” has _continued to strike Gaza_, _killing dozens_. “Israeli Finance Minister and de facto West Bank governor Bezalel Smotrich directly contradicts contours of ceasefire agreement this morning, saying it must not be a ‘hostages in exchange for end of war’ deal – which is precisely what it is, if Trump holds Israel to it,” wrote New York Times opinion writer Mairav Zonszein Thursday in a _social media post on X_. Still, both Israelis and Gazans have been _seen rejoicing_ at the news that an agreement had been reached on the peace plan, with millions hopeful for an end to the hostilities that began exactly two years ago as of Tuesday. > Israeli officials are already contradicting Trump. Here is Smotrich saying they want to “ensure that this is not, God forbid, a deal of hostages in exchange for stopping the war.” > > That is, in fact, exactly the point of a ceasefire. https://t.co/bv7BnDZoEP > — Assal Rad (@AssalRad) October 9, 2025

Donald Trump’s obsession with winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and his inability to stop talking about it, is likely dragging down his chances despite getting multiple nominations, according to new reporting. According to a report from the Washington Post, this year's prize will be announced on Friday, and betting markets are against the 79-year-old American president despite his best efforts to lobby for himself. As the Post’s Michael Birnbaum and Dan Diamond dryly wrote, “Trump maintains he is not politicking for the prize, which he has mentioned publicly every few weeks since reclaiming the Oval Office — a habit people familiar with the award warned could hurt his chances.” Noting that Trump recently stated that, if he doesn’t win, “it’ll be a big insult to our country, I will tell you that,” there was a feeling that the president was pressuring negotiators to wrap up the ceasefire agreement in Gaza because he felt it would help his chances, despite the Nobel committee traditionally using an end of January deadline for nominations. **RELATED:Trump phone call boast about Nobel Prize nomination set off feud with major ally: report ** With the Post describing Trump’s attempt to sway the Nobel Committee as “naked hunger” for more accolades, observers described his desperation for the honor as unusual and unseemly. "Trump’s not-a-campaign campaign has little precedent in the subdued world of Nobel peace picks, where five Norwegians appointed by their country’s parliament meet in conclave for months of studious deliberation. Winners almost never campaign publicly — and few lobby privately, according to people familiar with Nobel history. His public interest in the award could backfire, according to a person familiar with the operations of the prize,” the Post is reporting. According to one insider, “The pressure from Trump is rather extraordinary and comes across not least as remarkably self-centered. That rhetoric and his whole approach must be said to collide quite dramatically with the traditions of the prize, even if that in itself may not be disqualifying.” Nina Graeger, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, which compiles a short list for the prize, admitted the American president did not make the cut, and noted Trump’s pressure and called it, “unprecedented, and it’s very unusual.” Graeger did concede that, if Trump’s last-minute success in Gaza sticks he would receive consideration; however, she added, “They would also, however, look at whatever else he’s doing in the world, but at least they would have to consider him.” You can read more here.

Americans mostly "shrugged" when Donald Trump made a move that should get him impeached, according to a former GOP lawmaker. Recently, the president called for two of his perceived political enemies from Illinois to be sent to prison. It was covered by the media, but people mostly moved on quickly, according to former Tea Party Republican Joe Walsh. In an article called You're Damn Right I'm Shocked, Walsh unleashed a profanity-laced "meltdown" on the subject. "The President of the United States today publicly said that the Mayor of Chicago and the Governor of Illinois should be _behind f------ bars_. He called for their imprisonment. Publicly. We should _all_ be shocked by that," he wrote. "I read his post this morning, and I admit that I wasn’t shocked. My reaction was: That’s a fascist. He’s a fascist. That’s fascism. He’s militarizing our streets. He’s trying to create a police state. And now he’s demanding that his political opponents—state and local officials—are thrown in jail. Fascism." Walsh went on to condemn his own lack of surprise at the news. "But there was no surprise. That’s who and what he is. And then I stopped myself and said, 'No, dammit! Joe, no.' Because that’s _wrong_. It’s so out of line. It’s so beyond the pale. To not be shocked by that is a failure on my part. Shame on me," he wrote. "Then, you know the drill. If any other president had said that—Barack Obama, George W. Bush, any other president—if they had called publicly for two state and local officials that they didn’t like to be thrown in jail _for no reason_ , it would be the biggest story in the world. If we had a functional Congress, there would be impeachment proceedings. Immediately." He continued: "But because it’s Trump, we just shrug. Because it’s Trump, we say, 'That’s just Trump.' Because it’s Trump, we just look away. Because it’s Trump, we ignore it. Because it’s Trump, we are no longer shocked. We are no longer outraged. That’s on us. He wins. When we _stop_ being shocked, when we _stop_ being outraged, he wins. We lose." According to Walsh, "He should be tossed out of office because of that. He should be impeached for calling for the Mayor of Chicago and the Governor of Illinois to be jailed." Read it here.

Republican congressional leaders have been quietly warning the White House not to move forward with plans to decimate the federal workforce and shred the social safety net under cover of the government shutdown. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and other senior Republicans have advised President Donald Trump and his aides against far-reaching cuts and firings – all Project 2025 priorities – that could turn voters against them, and GOP lawmakers are growing uneasy with the White House strategy as Democrats are refusing to play along, reported the _Wall Street Journal_. "The Republican hand-wringing reflects discomfort among some in the party over the president’s shutdown strategy," the _Journal_ reported. "Soon after government funding lapsed last week, Trump said the shutdown gave him an 'unprecedented opportunity' to make cuts at agencies. White House officials have said they are considering firing thousands of federal workers and have raised the possibility that some workers won’t get back pay." "The White House strategy is aimed at putting pressure on Democrats to reach a deal to reopen the government," the report added. "But Democrats have refused to budge, arguing that Republicans first need to agree to extend expiring healthcare subsidies upon which millions of Americans rely." The administration so far hasn't carried out the layoffs Trump threatened, although he said this week that option was still on the table, and his advisers have pledged to use tariff revenue to preserve funding for a food program for women, infants and children, but the president rattled Republicans by claiming he was working with Democrats on a deal to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies. "Democratic lawmakers quickly said no such talks were under way and Trump later clarified on social media that he was 'happy to work with' the Democrats, but only after the government reopens," the _Journal_ reported. "The mixed messaging from the president has frustrated some Republicans, who have said they are eager for Trump to chart a clear path forward for dealing with the shutdown." The White House and Republicans are united around the message that Democrats are solely to blame for the shutdown, and GOP lawmakers insist negotiations shouldn't even start until they vote to reopen the government, but they also understand that strategy carries real risks. "The simmering tension among Republicans comes as Democrats, who for months have struggled to recover from their losses in the recent election, have united around a shutdown message focused on healthcare," the _Journal_ reported. "White House officials and some Republicans have privately acknowledged that they could take a political hit if voters blame them for higher healthcare costs. Ending the subsidies would result in higher premiums for more than 20 million people." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has been waiting for Republicans to blink, as hundreds of thousands of federal workers are furloughed and others have been working without pay, and some of them – including military service members – could soon start missing paychecks. "Presidents have some discretion over the effects of a shutdown, including which agency functions are given priority and which workers get furloughed," the _Journal_ reported. "But if the shutdown continues, the pain from the shutdown will be difficult to avoid. People close to Thune and top Republicans said they acknowledge that without a spending deal, the government will be forced to make hard decisions."

President Donald Trump’s pledge to slash energy prices “ _by half within 12 months_” has “failed” spectacularly, argued The New York Times’ editorial board in an _op-ed_ Thursday, which blamed skyrocketing energy prices squarely on the president’s “ _war on solar and wind power_.” “Mr. Trump ran for president promising to reduce the cost of living and of energy prices in particular,” the op-ed reads. “He has failed so far.” During Trump’s second term, electricity prices have _surged_ at an unprecedented rate, _increasing by 10%_ in the first half of 2025. The culprit, The New York Times argued, was largely supply constraints caused by the war in Ukraine and the _astronomical energy demands_ of artificial intelligence data centers, the cost of the latter _often subsidized_ by nearby communities. Yet, instead of embracing more forms of energy production, Trump has waged a “war” on renewable energy sources, making “matters worse” The New York Times argued, and setting the stage for the prices of non-renewable energy sources like gas to increase as well. “Gas prices will _also increase_ over the next decade, according to Rhodium Group, a think tank, as consumers who would otherwise have driven electric cars continue using vehicles that burn fossil fuels,” the op-ed reads. Trump has frequently targeted renewable energy sources as “horrible,” having raged against windmills for “ _causing whales to die in numbers never seen before_,” “ _killing your birds_,” "ruining your oceans,” and _destroying property values_. As such, he repealed a Biden-era tax credit program for clean energy in July, axing _billions of dollars’ worth_ of investments in renewable energy sources. Trump’s top energy official, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, former oil tycoon, appeared to know back in August that energy prices would continue to soar, _admitting_ it to be a political liability for Republicans, but blamed “Obama-Biden policies” for the price spikes regardless.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s firing of a high-ranking and once-powerful Pentagon official has reignited another paroxysm of fear that another purge may be in the offing. Coming on the heels of Hegseth’s controversial rah-rah speech in Quantico last week, where he delivered a warning to the attending generals and admirals, the firing of Jon Harrison, the Navy chief of staff, without Hegseth notifying Navy Secretary John Phelan beforehand, has created a “culture of fear,” reports Politico’s Paul McLeary and Daniel Lippman. According to the report, Harrison’s dismissal was the result of pressure from new Navy Undersecretary Hung Cao, a MAGA loyalist, who had been sharpening his knife and aiming to oust Harrison. Politico is reporting Harrison had been ”seeking to curb the role of the service’s No. 2 civilian leader even before he arrived at the Pentagon,” with one Pentagon insider confiding, “Cao was keeping track of all this while waiting for his confirmation vote. And he moved fast” after his confirmation. The firing sent shock waves through the Pentagon. “The sudden dismissal last week of Jon Harrison, the Navy chief of staff, has only added to concerns about Hegseth’s objectives, according to five current and former defense officials. Most of his moves have come without public explanation, and led to a deepening sense of uncertainty throughout the department — one that risks silencing pushback on critical decisions that affect how the U.S. military interacts with the world,” Politico is reporting. One Pentagon official remarked there is a “culture of fear; there’s a culture of intimidation and retaliation. It’s better just to keep your head down and not necessarily try to do anything to the advantage of the organization, because it’s very much run from the top down.” More alarming to insiders is that there seemed to be no rationale for Hegseth move other than at Cao’s urging. “It adds to the climate of fear when randomly, people are just suddenly done,” one former defense official told Politico.

Democratic analyst Tommy Vietor, who worked in the Obama administration, chided a Department of Homeland Security "propagandist" on Wednesday for defending violent acts immigration agents have committed against peaceful protesters. Vietor referred to recent protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Chicago, where an immigration agent shot an unarmed priest with a rubber ball during a protest. In another incident, ICE officers rammed a woman with a car before shooting her five times. Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, who Vietor described as a "propagandist with a blowout," seemed to confirm the event when she posted on X that "agitators were blocking an ICE vehicle from leaving the federal facility—impeding operations." "Over and over again, law enforcement ordered these agitators to move off of federal property so the vehicle could move," McLaughlin wrote. "Law enforcement verbally warned these agitators that they would use force if they did not move and stop impeding operations. They did not comply." Vietor responded to the post in a new episode of "Pod Save America" on Wednesday. "These guys are just like they're just thugs," Vietor said. "It's like it would be funny if it wasn't deadly."

Pay attention to this professional liar:____ _“I’m the only president in modern history who left office with a smaller national debt than when I came into office.”_ ____ That’s quite a whopper. Fact check: “During Trump’s presidency, the national debt actually increased by $7.8 trillion, nearly 40 percent and more than any president in history.” ____ The fact check is courtesy of Thom Hartmann. Indeed, Hartmann’s new book,_The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party and a World on the Brink, _is one giant fact check on the Whopper-in-Chief, and much more — a disturbing dive into the roiling miasma of self-aggrandizing, self-deluding, psychologically shattered, wailing man-child who is Commander-in-Chief.____ Don’t read Hartmann’s book twice, as I have. It’s not just the nightmares it induces; it’s the fact that you’ll wake up to the nightmare that is our new reality.____ Hartmann is known as America’s number one progressive radio host. But he is also a certified psychotherapist, ordained theologian and noted historian who has brought his extraordinary bandolero of skills to an excavation of the dark regions of the president’s brain.____ And dark it is. Trump grew up in an atmosphere of cruelty under the familial dictatorship of his daddy Fred Trump, whom the future president saw bully his older brother into an early alcoholic death. His mother emotionally checked out, leaving us with a president who needs a mother’s hug — and is taking it out on government employees.____ Trump learned cruelty from his dad but learned how to weaponize it from his second daddy: Roy Cohn, Joe McCarthy’s henchman, who taught Trump how to use media manipulation and fear to break your enemies — a group now encompassing most Americans.____ Does Trump even believe his own bullshit? That’s not even a question for Trump, notes Hartmann. He quotes the master of prevarication himself:____ _“The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest. I call it ‘truthful hyperbole.”_ __ The ghost-writer of Trump’s _The_ _Art of The Deal_ says he made up the term “truthful hyperbole” to cover up the word, “lie.” But it’s a lie we love. Or, at least a lot of Americans love it. Here is a photo of one of Trump’s acolytes at a Trump rally my team attended in rural Georgia. There’s her T-shirt of Trump and JD Vance as vigilantes, gunning down the bad guys. She had a Trump hat, Trump socks, and sported a red, white and blue Trump ballet tutu. ____ A Trump supporter in Georgia. Photograph: Zach D. Roberts for the Palast Investigative Fund (2024) The biggest sellers were shirts announcing, with an armed Trump image, “Daddy’s home.” Our national father figure is coming back for a second term to spank us bad kiddies as Trump Sr. did to his son. The parental abuse goes on, but now as a policy of fear, repression, mass firings, race-baiting, Constitution-defying lawsuits ginned up “by cynical attorneys and billionaires’ checkbooks, riding the algorithms of outrage and our insatiable hunger for spectacle,” as Hartmann says.____ As Hartmann warns, democracy in America won’t roll in on tanks, it will come “packaged as entertainment.” He notes, chillingly, that, “It wasn’t just Trump, it was the system that fed him.” Trump’s beguiling fibs, his mayhem-making, his troops-in-the-street diktats are all spectacle to satisfy the desire for retribution of America’s working class wounded.____ Trump is a symptom, notes Hartmann, not a cause, of what I’d call the New Hate. We don’t want to win arguments anymore. We want to hurt those who don’t share our politics. Trump revels in it.____ And Hartmann is not afraid to call out the racism that lubricates Trump’s resentment machine, a GOP line of ugly innuendoes that originated with Richard Nixon. Hartmann quotes Nixon’s political guru Kevin Phillips:__ _“The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans.”_ ____ Trump didn’t introduce racism into the GOP campaign plan, he merely, as Hartmann says, “revealed it.” ____ And Trump’s apostles are never coy about using code words for space-laser armed Jewish “globalists,” a line which Trump finds usefully echoed by Democrats on the Left.____ What do we do? I think of those old billboards on Highway 80 that flashed, “STAY AWAKE! STAY ALERT!” That’s not too much to ask.____ Hartmann, a happy-ending kind of guy, throws out a bunch of good ideas to, “Reform, Resist and Remember,” beginning with our own “empathy deficit,” though he admits our best efforts could be undone by AI “techno-feudalism.” ____ “Democracy,” Hartmann concludes, “doesn’t announce its departure with trumpets. It slips away in silence, one institution at a time.” But we do have Hartmann’s bugle blast. Hopefully, it’s a wake-up reveille and not Taps for this fragile experiment called America.____ * _Greg Palast is an investigative journalist and filmmaker, author of New York Times bestsellers including, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. Sign up for his reports athttps://gregpalast.substack.com/_

Observers ripped The Washington Post's editorial board on Wednesday for publishing an op-ed that they said tried to recast key parts of Special Counsel Jack Smith's criminal investigation of President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. In the editorial, the outlet's editors argued that Jack Smith was playing "hardball" with Senators by requesting their phone records. They also claimed that Smith "should not have used" the tactic to surveil the communications of Senators, some of whom were ensnarled by his sprawling investigation. "But the mere fact that a legal tool might be available does not mean it should be used," the editorial reads in part. "The current rage over Grassley’s revelation shows why. Smith showed little restraint in his pursuit of a former president. He charged Trump for official acts he took as president. He sought a gag order to limit Trump’s ability to criticize the prosecution. He tried to accelerate the case to try a leading presidential candidate before the 2024 election." Observers shared their responses on social media. "I spent more than a decade at The Post. It was good to me and I was proud to work there," former Post columnist Philip Bump posted on Bluesky. "I’ve largely refrained from being critical since I left. But this framing of the special counsel probe is embarrassing and flatly wrong. Stunning, but not." "I wrote legal editorials for the Post for a hot minute many years ago, and I was constantly anxious about making sure I got the details right," Quinta Jurecic, journalist with The Atlantic, posted on Bluesky. "This editorial is just humiliating for everyone involved." "So Jeff Bezos and Will Lewis really are turning the Washington Post into garbage," journalist John Haywood posted on X. "My god, the lede on this editorial is embarrassing. Kay Graham is rolling in her grave," journalist Brian Rosenwald posted on X. "You’ve gotta be kidding me," Anna Bower, senior editor at Lawfare, posted on Bluesky. "This WaPo editorial presents a misleading revisionist history of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s criminal cases against Trump. Then it has the gall to compare that to Trump’s overt targeting of his perceived enemies. Really embarrassing stuff." "Jack Smith was investigating Trump's efforts to overturn the election, and Trump is now prosecuting the former FBI head to settle scores," public policy professor Don Moynihan posted on Bluesky. "Apparently, these are equally bad and Smith caused Trump's retribution spree." Read the entire editorial by clicking here.

Political observers and analysts were stunned on Wednesday after the Wall Street Journal released a bombshell new report about President Donald Trump's activity on his personal social media network, Truth Social. The Journal reported that Trump meant to send his September 20 post telling Attorney General Pam Bondi that the administration was "losing credibility" by not prosecuting former FBI Director James Comey as a direct message. Instead, Trump posted it publicly, which caused Bondi to move forward with prosecuting Comey, according to the report. The report led observers and analysts to conclude that Trump may be conducting state business on his social media network, which may violate federal law and be used to evade accountability for illicit acts. "I know everyone on this site cares passionately about the information security habits of top Government officials, but the President of the United States communicating with his cabinet via Truth Social direct message is both insane and a violation of the Presidential Records Act," former Obama administration staffer Dan Pfeiffer posted on X. "The president is using direct messages on a private social media app (that he owns) to communicate with his attorney general," journalist Scott Nover posted on X. "There's zero chance that this administration is preserving any of their communications," attorney Kevin Baum posted on X. "Mostly i just can’t believe he uses truth social to DM people," former Obama staffer Tommy Vietor posted on X. "Must be convenient for all the foreign intel services." "Pundit accountability: I said it was just Trump being weird and not an errant DM," ex-GOP strategist Tim Miller posted on X. "He’s even stupider than a TDS inflicted podcaster realizes. We regret the error."

President Donald Trump's administration just made a huge gamble — and opened the door for a golden opportunity for the opposition, a Democracy expert wrote Wednesday in The New York Times. Henry J. Farrell, a**** professor of democracy and international affairs at Johns Hopkins, wrote in a guest essay in which he warned that Trump is attempting a power grab that breaks the law, and is targeting businesses, nonprofits and the "rest of civil society" to avoid failing in remaking the country's politics. "This is one part of Mr. Trump’s bigger agenda to remake American politics so that everyone wants to be his friend and no one dares to be his enemy," warned Farrell. "If the administration can reshape politics in such a way, it can create an enduring advantage for itself, as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey have done." He pointed to the administration's move last week to offer a dubious deal to nine universities, promising to prioritize them for government funding if they agree to a litany of terms, including capping the number of foreign admissions and cracking down on supposed targeting of conservatives. The move to break universities was a "risky gamble," he said. "As political theorists like Russell Hardin have explained, power is a 'coordination game,' in which everything depends on what the public believes and does together. Even the most brutal tyrant does not have enough soldiers and police officers to compel everyone to obey at gunpoint," said Farrell. Authoritarian regimes need people and organizations outside government control to "acquiesce to their rule," he said, noting that East Germany’s dictatorship collapsed amid mass protests. The administration, he later added, "bet its chips" on public pressure for the nine universities. "That is enormously risky, because it provides a big opportunity for the opposing coalition and encourages the public to get involved on the other side," he noted. That includes students, faculty and alumni organizing against the deal. The ordeal holds a larger lesson for combating Trump, he said. "The greatest weapon that the forces of regime change possess is the fear of inevitability. If everyone believes that Mr. Trump will succeed in reshaping America, he will. "The best defense against this weapon is solidarity among groups who disagree ferociously on many questions, but who agree on the need to keep America democratic and rebuild institutions and social connections to make democracy more robust. As the political scientist Adam Przeworski points out, Polish pro-democracy forces won only when they agreed to leave aside their bitter divisions over abortion until after they had succeeded," Farrell said.

President Donald Trump's team of prosecutors in the case against former FBI Director James Comey is so slapdash that the line attorneys hastily recruited from another district don't even understand the details of it yet, legal expert Lisa Rubin told MSNBC's "The Weeknight" hosts on Wednesday evening. Comey, a longtime target of Trump's wrath, is being charged with false statements and obstruction of justice, based on testimony he gave to the Senate years ago that the indictment doesn't even quote correctly. The case, which required Trump to force out the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Virginia and install one of his former defense lawyers in his place, has come under widespread criticism from experts for a variety of defects, and some speculate that Comey could have the whole thing thrown out before it even gets to trial. Today's proceedings didn't make things look much better, said Rubin. "I will tell you, being in the courtroom today felt like being in the upside-down," she said. "Why? Because sitting at the center of the defense table is a person who put away criminals and criminals for years and years and years." "I just want to remind you and our viewers, Jim Comey's best known to us in recent memory as a former FBI director, right? But before then, he was a longtime federal prosecutor," Rubin said. "He was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. He was the deputy attorney general, a position now held by Todd Blanche, somewhat infamously, because we talk about Todd Blanche and Pam Bondi on this network all the time." In fact, Rubin went on, "Jim Comey served for five years as the assistant U.S. attorney in charge of the Richmond office, of the very same office that's prosecuting him now, the office that couldn't find a single line assistant to either sign the indictment or show up in court today, which is why [acting U.S. Attorney] Lindsey Halligan, while she was there, was silent as two people she recruited from the Eastern District of North Carolina stood up in court today and said, essentially, we'll agree to the trial date that Jim Comey's lawyers want. Why? Because all we're trying to give the defendant all the time, he needs to prepare for trial. But also there's a substantial amount of discovery in this case, your honor, including classified materials." "That's a very, very nice, thinly disguised way of saying, we're brand new to this and we got to get our arms around it, too, because guess what? We're not the ones who investigated this case. We're not the ones who charged this case," Rubin added. "And we got to learn what it is that we're supposed to do here by some point in January." - YouTube www.youtube.com

Fox News co-host Harold Ford Jr. implored President Donald Trump to drop his prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday, saying that the president should instead seek to "unite the country." Ford made the comments during the Fox News show "The Five" on Wednesday. The comments were made at a time when reports indicate Trump has remade the Justice Department into his personal law enforcement agency. "What are you doing?" Ford asked. "Unite us. Don't seek this retribution, Mr. President." According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Comey's prosecution was predicated on an "errant text" from Trump to Attorney General Pam Bondi. The report indicates Trump thought he sent his Sept. 20 Truth Social message telling Bondi, "we can't delay [indicting Comey] any longer" via private message. Instead, Trump posted it publicly, which forced Bondi to act, according to the report. Ford said Trump's moves to indict Comey made him incredulous of the president's intentions. "When President Trump was running for office a second time, and people asked him about retribution, he said 'Success will be out retribution,'" Ford said. "Although I didn't vote for President Trump, I believed him. He's given me reason to doubt and not believe now."

Police in Texas—led by a county sheriff later charged with an unrelated felony sex crime—lied about their motive for using artificial intelligence-powered surveillance technology to search for a woman who allegedly self-administered a medication abortion, new documents obtained by _404 Media_ and Electronic Frontier Foundation revealed on Tuesday. In May, _404 Media_ ‘s Joseph Cox and Jason Koebler reported that the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office tapped into 83,000 automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras manufactured by Flock Safety while conducting a nationwide search for an unnamed woman who authorities said took abortion medication in alleged violation of a 2021 state ban that empowers anti-abortion vigilantes to sue anyone who “aids or abets” the medical procedure. Since that law’s passage—and the right-wing US Supreme Court’s overturning of _Roe v. Wade_ in _Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization_ the following year—Texas has passed additional forced birth laws banning nearly all abortions as well as targeting providers who mail abortion pills from other states. According to Cox and Koebler, Johnson County Sheriff’s deputies accessed Flock cameras in states where abortion is legal, including Illinois and Washington. Johnson County Sheriff Adam King told _404 Media_ at the time that his department searched for the woman because “her family was worried that she was going to bleed to death, and we were trying to find her to get her to a hospital.” “We weren’t trying to block her from leaving the state or whatever to get an abortion,” King said. “It was about her safety.” King’s office, forced birth advocates, and Flock Safety subsequently attempted to gaslight those who reported that deputies searched for the woman as part of a probe into potential violations of state laws. However, new documents and court records obtained by the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and shared with _404 Media_ show that Johnson County Sheriff’s deputies initiated a ”death investigation“ of a ”nonviable fetus“ and discussed prosecuting the woman for allegedly self-administering an abortion. ”To no one’s surprise, they were full of s---,“ Jessica Valenti and Kylie Cheung wrote Tuesday for Valenti’s _Abortion, Every Day_ Substack. As EFF’s Dave Maas and Rindala Alajaji noted: > In recent years, anti-abortion advocates and prosecutors have increasingly attempted to use “fetal homicide” and “wrongful death” statutes—originally intended to protect pregnant people from violence—to criminalize abortion and pregnancy loss. These laws, which exist in dozens of states, establish legal personhood of fetuses and can be weaponized against people who end their own pregnancies or experience a miscarriage. > > In fact, a new report from Pregnancy Justice found that in just the first two years since the Supreme Court’s decision in _Dobbs_ , prosecutors initiated at least 412 cases charging pregnant people with crimes related to pregnancy, pregnancy loss, or birth—most under child neglect, endangerment, or abuse laws that were never intended to target pregnant people. Nine cases included allegations around individuals’ abortions, such as possession of abortion medication or attempts to obtain an abortion—instances just like this one. The report also highlights how, in many instances, prosecutors use tangentially related criminal charges to punish people for abortion, even when abortion itself is not illegal. ”By framing their investigation of a self-administered abortion as a ’death investigation’ of a ‘nonviable fetus,’ Texas law enforcement was signaling their intent to treat the woman’s self-managed abortion as a potential homicide, even though Texas law does not allow criminal charges to be brought against an individual for self-managing their own abortion,“ Maas and Alajaji added. Valenti and Cheung asserted that ”this is what cruel, abusive men seeking to exert power over women do: harass them over their abortions.“ They were referring not only to the Texas woman’s ”vindictive, controlling partner“ who tipped off police—and was later convicted of pistol-whipping and choking her—but also to King, who, despite being recently arrested and indicted on four felony sexual harassment charges, was allowed to return to work part-time. King was also previously indicted in August for alleged sexual harassment and corrupt influence for allegedly retaliating against a witness. ”These are the kind of men who target women for their abortions,“ Valenti and Cheung wrote. ”It’s a trend that ___AED_ warned about in our 2025 predictions: that the anti-abortion movement would increasingly rely on aggrieved and abusive men to do their dirty work.“ They continued: > Since November, top Texas-based anti-abortion activists have bragged about recruiting men to sue over their partner’s abortions. Jonathan Mitchell is one of the anti-abortion attorneys leading that charge: after his client Marcus Silva sued his ex’s friends over her abortion, he tried to use the case to blackmail her into resuming a sexual relationship. At this point, even Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is reportedly recruiting men for this purpose. ”This isn’t about a few bad actors—but the predictable outcome of living in a reproductive police state bent on surveillance and punishment,“ Valenti and Cheung said. ”And in a moment when pregnancy criminalization is on the rise, it’s vital we understand how this police state operates.“ The willingness of Republicans, including US Vice President JD Vance, to embrace the tracking of women who have or are seeking abortions has raised alarms among reproductive rights advocates. ”Reproductive dragnets are not hypothetical concerns. These surveillance tactics open the door for overzealous, anti-abortion state actors to amass data to build cases against people for their abortion care and pregnancy outcomes,“ Ashley Kurzweil, senior policy analyst in reproductive health and rights at the National Partnership for Women & Families, told _404 Media_ Tuesday. “Law enforcement exploitation of mass surveillance infrastructure for reproductive health criminalization promises to be increasingly disruptive to the entire abortion access and pregnancy care landscape,” Kurzweil added. “The prevalence of these harmful data practices and risks of legal action drive real fear among abortion seekers and helpers—even intimidating people from getting the care they need.”

Former National Guard Vice Chief Major General Randy E. Manner strongly criticized President Donald Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to U.S. cities, saying it is a "full indication of dictatorship and intimidation in the use of the military." During an appearance on CNN on Wednesday, Manner compared the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials conducting raids across the country to the Gestapo of 1930s Germany, adding that they "act like a mob." The retired major general went on to say that the administration is “trying to create false flags" in which ICE agents are killed so it can secure a pretext to expand its use of the military. Manner also observed that National Guard troops are different from ICE agents. "They cover their faces. They want anonymity. They look like a bunch of Proud Boys," he said of ICE officials, but he added that the National Guard troops "are not undisciplined thugs." "They are your sons and daughters in uniform, and you should treat them that way," he said of the National Guard. President Donald Trump has escalated deployment of federalized National Guard troops in multiple U.S. cities under the guise of curbing “crime,” even as state and local leaders (from Illinois to Oregon and D.C.) have filed legal challenges arguing these moves violate the Constitution, the Posse Comitatus Act, and states’ sovereignty. Earlier on Wednesday, NBC reported that White House advisers are now seriously weighing whether Trump might invoke the Insurrection Act — an obscure law from the early 1800s that permits the use of active-duty military troops within U.S. borders for law enforcement duties.

A newly-revealed voice clip of Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, currently running for governor, appears to depict her delivering a dark message to supporters of abortion rights. The clip, posted to X on Wednesday by the liberal network Meidas Touch, came from a 2022 interview between Earle-Sears and John Reid, then a talk radio host. Reid is now himself the GOP's candidate for lieutenant governor, whose own campaign spent much of the summer in turmoil. "Let's not talk about what's happening with Ukraine," said Earle-Sears in the clip. "When you are willing to kill a child up until the day that the baby could be born, go get thee a mirror and ask yourself if you're okay with this kind of thing. I don't care whether you're Libertarian, Democrat, Reform Party, Green. I don't care who you are. Murder is murder. And one day, it's going to be your turn." The comment from Sears, who has been struggling to overcome a polling deficit against her Democratic rival, former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, was immediately promoted by the Virginia Democratic Party. All of this comes amid a number of other last-minute shakeups in the Virginia elections, where early voting is already underway. Earlier in the month, the race was also rocked by revelations that in 2022, Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones fantasized in private text messages about former Republican state House Speaker Todd Gilbert getting "two bullets to the head" — a comment for which he immediately issued an apology both to the public and to Gilbert's family. Virginia is broadly seen by both parties as a critical testing ground for public anger against the Trump administration, as a Democratic-leaning but sometimes competitive state dominated by the suburbs of Washington, D.C., where Trump administration cuts and mass purges of the civil service have hit the community particularly hard.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) sounded off on her party during an interview with MAGA television host Eric Bolling. Greene joined Bolling on his eponymous show Wednesday to talk about the Trump administration's efforts to go after left-wing groups it considers to be Antifa. Bolling asked Greene why Republicans hadn't passed legislation to designate Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization and why the Trump administration has not arrested more Antifa members yet. "'I'm one of those people who ran for Congress because I was angry at Republicans," Greene said. "Republicans actually never govern like they campaign. And I think that's a very serious issue, and it needs to be talked about more." "A lot of these problems can be solved, and Republicans have that opportunity right now," she continued. "We have the White House, the House, and the Senate. I can't answer as to why our party doesn't do that, but it is a huge frustration among the base, and it's a growing problem, which we may lose support going into the midterms because we aren't delivering on these promises that we constantly make, and I've been very vocal about it. I'm going to continue to be vocal about it." "I think that the American people are our customer," Greene said. "We should view them that way, and they deserve the best service."

An outgoing Democratic senator is quietly leading the party's conversations with Republicans to end the government shutdown, according to a report. Democrats have dug in their heels on health care, demanding the extension of expiring health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act and opposing Medicaid cuts. Republicans have countered that Democrats previously voted to pass the same stopgap funding bill, but have been forced to play hardball by an unhappy base. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) is leading "covert" bipartisan talks to end that shutdown, meeting a group of senators at a Thai restaurant in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, sources told Axios. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) described the talks as "casual or loose." "Shaheen is considered a bellwether for Senate Democrats. If she backs a bipartisan compromise, it likely unlocks a critical chunk of Democratic votes," Axios said. However, the report noted the talks are "sputtering and haven't progressed very far." Shaheen, who has served as a senator from New Hampshire since 2009, has said she would not seek reelection when her term ends in 2027.

A House leadership aide undercut Speaker Mike Johnson's claims that he plans to swear in a new Congressional lawmaker as soon as possible. Earlier on Tuesday, Johnson told CNN that he would move to seat Rep.-Elect Adelita Grijalva, who recently won a House race in Arizona. Grijalva is expected to be the 218th lawmaker to support a bipartisan bill authored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) to force the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. A House leadership aide undercut those claims later in the day, CNN reported. “We will swear in Rep.-Elect Adelita Grijalva as soon as the House returns to session when Chuck Schumer, Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego decide to open up the government,” a leadership aide told the outlet. The move to challenge Grijalva's seat in Congress over whether certain Democrats vote to reopen the government represents "an extraordinary power play to deny a sitting member a seat," CNN reported. The aide added that “it’s a customary practice in the House to swear in members when the chamber is in legislative session." However, Johnson sat two Republican members of Congress during a pro forma session earlier this year, CNN reported. Read the entire report by clicking here.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) clashed on Tuesday night over health care subsidies that Jordan claimed are preventing Congress from passing a funding bill to reopen the government. Jordan joined Collins on her show "The Source" to discuss the government shutdown. The two got into a fiery debate over health care subsidies, which Republicans have used to accuse Democrats of trying to use to provide free health care to illegal immigrants. Collins pressed Jordan about whether he would support extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies that are about to expire, which could significantly increase health care costs for millions of Americans. Jordan said he would consider the issue, but then pivoted to blame illegal immigrants for rising health care costs. "The Democrats want health care for people who are non-citizens," Jordan said. "That's driving up health care costs." "Don't change the subject!" Collins shot back at Jordan. "The subject is you're talking about health care."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill when she rebuked her own party for not taking action to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that would stabilize insurance premiums for millions of people — the very issue Democrats demanded Republicans negotiate on to provide votes to reopen the federal government. Greene stopped short of actually endorsing the shutdown over the issue, but nevertheless, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) told MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Tuesday evening, her stated reason for the heel turn doesn't seem like the most well-thought-out or statesmanly of reasons. "Congresswoman, we've seen a bunch of indicators over the last 24 hours, from Trump saying it publicly, to Marjorie Taylor Greene's post, to a piece in the Wall Street Journal, and even something in Politico now, that there are rumblings within the Republican Party that want to try to come to some deal on the subsidies," said Hayes. "Are you hearing anything like that yourself?" "Not necessarily," said Crockett. "And I just talked to one of my Republican colleagues about 30 minutes ago, because I was trying to find out if we were actually going to go back into session next week, as my staff is trying to plan what's going on. But I can tell you, we actually discussed that Marjorie was flipping on this because it seems like everything that is important, this child ain't read the bill and has no idea of what's going on. I don't understand why Georgia keeps sending her to D.C. But this is not the first time that she wasn't quite clear on what damage it was that her party was ushering in." Regarding her actual stance, she continued, "I will take her seeing the light at any point in time. And so, yeah, it's sad that she can only see the light when it directly impacts her, because she is elected to represent almost a million people. And so not listening to your constituents as they're calling and they're talking about their struggles, but then making it about your children, your adult children, because their premiums are going to go up." "Listen, I'll take a yes vote or somebody coming to the table whatever way I can get it," Crockett added. "But I just don't believe that that's how government is supposed to work. I don't have any children. When I am governing, I am governing for the people that elected me, and I don't think that I should be looking at it and thinking, well, because this personally is going to impact me, then maybe I should flip how I feel about it." - YouTube youtu.be

Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, challenged a prominent CNN anchor to "get out from behind the desk" and join her team on a ride-along following her comments calling Portland, Oregon, safe. Noem was in town to tour the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility amid ongoing protests and intensifying tensions over the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown. CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins has pushed back on the Trump administration's claims that the city is under siege from criminals and in need of National Guard intervention. "I spoke to the police chief of Portland last week, he said that the president's claims just don't match up with what's happening on the ground," Collins told White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt during a recent news conference. "I would encourage you as a reporter to go on the ground and to take a look for yourself," Leavitt shot back, baselessly adding that "independent journalists" have "witnessed the anarchy" consuming the city "night after night." During Noem's trip to the city, she made a similar call after right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson asked for her response to Collins' comments. "I disagree. We should've invited her to come along today. She would've been able to see the individuals we're getting off the streets," Noem said. "Is that an open invitation to CNN to come along on the next one?" asked Johnson. "Absolutely. We will talk to her and see what we can do to convince her to come out in the real world. Get out from behind the desk and actually walk in the shoes of our law enforcement. That would be fantastic. Maybe that's how we fix the fake news in this country," she replied. Separately during her trip, Noem ripped a shouting protester trolling her in a chicken suit, telling a right-wing influencer, "He could do better." > 🚨 JUST IN: DHS Sec. Kristi Noem has now CHALLENGED CNN's Kaitlan Collins to see what it's really like at the Portland ICE facility pic.twitter.com/6EQrjYMTqA > > "We will talk to her and see what we can do to convince her to come out in the REAL world - to get out from behind the desk… > — Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 7, 2025

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins clashed with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) on Tuesday night over whether furloughed federal workers will receive back pay once the government reopens. Jordan joined Collins on her show, "The Source," to discuss the government shutdown. Collins pressed Jordan about whether he supports President Donald Trump's threat to withhold pay from furloughed workers. Jordan argued that workers who are deemed to be "essential" should receive back pay, which Collins pointed out is a significant shift from his position on a government shutdown bill he signed during Trump's first term. "The president signed that bill in 2019 to restore back pay for all these federal workers then, and you voted yes on that," Collins said. Jordan protested that he would consider voting a similar way on this bill under the right conditions. "But actually, when the bill was signed back in 2019, during that last shutdown, it wasn't just for that shutdown, it was for future shutdowns," Collins said. "So federal workers wouldn't get caught in this dispute between Republicans and Democrats." Jordan added that most Americans agree with the sentiment that those who don't work also don't get paid. Collins pushed back on that assertion. "But that's not the law you signed," she said. "You didn't say when you voted yes on this that you voted for in 2019. You didn't say the caveat, 'If they're working, they get paid.'"

One member of the Senate Republican Conference offered his own candid take on how his party's message was being received by the American public in the midst of the ongoing federal government shutdown as it enters its second week. The Hill reported Tuesday that Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) admitted that Democrats were getting the better of Republicans as polls continue to show a majority of Americans blame the GOP for the shutdown. Kansas' junior U.S. senator said that it would be difficult for Republicans to convince the public to take their side, given how Democrats have centered the shutdown around expiring Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) tax credits. The tax credits were initially included in legislation designed to provide Americans with economic relief during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and are due to expire at the end of the calendar year. But Democrats have pointed out that the open enrollment period to sign up for health insurance begins on Nov. 1, and health insurance premiums could skyrocket if the tax credits aren't extended. "I think it is very challenging because it’s a very deep issue," Marshall said. "Look, I want everybody to have health care. It’s part of my MAHA pillars, is everyone has access meaningful access to affordable health care as well." The Kansas Republican went on to lament that Democrats were so far standing firm in their refusal to sign the Republican-written government funding bill that doesn't include an extension of the ACA tax credits, and credited it to blue state voters keeping Democratic lawmakers on their toes. "I think it’s a political issue, and that Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer (D-NY) with having such trouble with his base — I don’t know if it’s his base or AOC’s base — for not shutting the government down," he said. "You know, they want to do something to respond to President [Trump." "So [Schumer] had to do something," he continued. "And then they’ve taken us hostage, which is the COVID subsidies." **Click here to read the Hill's full report.**