SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " Trump’s " 3,215 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
http://democrats-energycommerce.house.gov/media/press-releases/pallone-trumps-gold-standard-vaccine-executive-order-puts-politics-ahead
Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) released the following statement on President Trump’s executive order establishing so-called "Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations:"
http://democrats-energycommerce.house.gov/media/press-releases/pallone-trumps-gold-standard-vaccine-executive-order-puts-politics-ahead
Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) released the following statement on President Trump’s executive order establishing so-called "Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations:"
NIL bill advocates see goal line in sight after recess
After 16 wild hours that ended with a bipartisan college sports bill being punted in the middle of the night, President Donald Trump’s involvement was not enough to trigger votes on legislation he would like to add to his midterms and legacy sales pitches. As senators and senior aides bickered and postured all day and […]
Opinion | How We Talk About Mental Health Challenges
The National Alliance on Mental Illness responds to an Opinion guest essay. Also: President Trump’s arch; a retreat on vaccines; Mr. Trump and Canada.
Israel rejects Trump’s new Gaza peace plan
Israeli forces ‘will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed,’ Netanyahu said
What the Senate did and didn’t get done in the final hours before recess
Before leaving Saturday, lawmakers confirmed President Trump’s attorney general pick and passed a spending bill.
Trump Family Business Empire Faces Fresh Scrutiny as Republicans Join Calls for Answers
President Donald Trump’s family businesses are facing renewed scrutiny over billions of dollars in earnings, a paid service offering faster access to his social media posts and financial transactions ...
Trump’s foreign licensing business booms to $59.5 million as Gulf developers pay
Nearly two-thirds of Trump’s foreign licensing fees came from two Gulf developers, in the UAE and Qatar, including one pursuing a $20 billion U.S. expansion.
Morning Mail: inside the political ‘meme factories’; China questions detainee’s death; Netanyahu rejects Trump’s Gaza plan
‘Buzzer’ economy drumming up outrage online; China’s ‘grave concern’ over death in detention; Trump’s Gaza peace plan in doubt
Trump’s Hold on Republicans Tested in Race to Replace Lindsey Graham
The rush to succeed the late senator on the South Carolina ballot will test the durability of President Trump’s endorsement.
Nepotism Claims Hover Over Campaign of Transportation Secretary’s Son-in-Law
President Trump’s endorsement of 26-year-old Michael Alfonso, Sean Duffy’s son-in-law, hasn’t pushed others from a GOP primary in Wisconsin.
Medicaid Cuts Could Kill Safety-Net Health Centers
Federally qualified health centers are an essential source of medical care for poor and working-class Americans, especially in rural areas and neighborhoods of color. Medicaid cuts in Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill could shut them down.
Trump’s Patriot Games are billed as a youth sports contest. They’re also a test of patriotic branding
The premise sounds almost fictional: one boy and one girl from every state, territory and some tribal nations, flown to a private campus in Ohio to compete in a televised athletic contest called the Patriot Games — a Trump-backed youth competition with obstacle courses, patriotic testimonials and inevitable comparisons to The Hunger Games.
Trump’s Patriot Games are billed as a youth sports contest. They’re also a test of patriotic branding
The premise sounds almost fictional: one boy and one girl from every state, territory and some tribal nations, flown to a private campus in Ohio to compete in a televised athletic contest called the Patriot Games — a Trump-backed youth competition with obstacle courses, patriotic testimonials and inevitable comparisons to The Hunger Games.
Taylor Swift songs removed from Trump campaign material
Taylor Swift songs have been removed from videos posted online by Donald Trump’s campaign and the White House.
Darline Graham has Donald Trump in her corner. Will it be enough to win her brother’s Senate seat?
Tuesday’s special GOP primary to replace the late Sen. Lindsey Graham on the November ballot is likely heading to a runoff, despite Trump’s endorsement and his popularity with the base.
Trump has squandered Republicans’ typical advantages in 2 key areas
President Donald Trump’s political stature is so poor right now that he has squandered the Republican Party’s typical advantage on both the economy and national security.
Here's why both of New Mexico's senators voted against Todd Blanche for Trump's Atty General
By a one vote margin, 50-49, the United States Senate voted early Saturday morning to approve President Donald Trump’s nomination of Todd Blanche, his former personal attorney and acting attorney general, to be the permanent Attorney General of the United States. Todd’s nomination was opposed by every Democrat and two Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine […]
Trump’s White House ballroom foes face ‘very tough argument’ at Supreme Court, legal experts say
Legal experts say the National Trust for Historic Preservation faces a tough standing hurdle at the Supreme Court over Trump's White House ballroom.
Senate Bows to Reality, Leaving Trump’s Voting Bill Undone
The summer exit confirmed what had been apparent for weeks: that Republicans lacked the votes to pass the voting restrictions the president has made a top priority.
In Confirming Blanche, Senators Endorse a Justice Dept. Under Trump’s Sway
Time and again, Todd Blanche has made it clear that he believes President Trump possesses a nearly limitless right to directly control the actions of the Justice Department.
‘It’s been chaotic’: Trump’s immigration crackdown prompts worries from industry groups
Industry groups ranging from construction to agriculture are raising concerns with the Trump administration over its ongoing immigration crackdown, arguing it is undercutting President Donald Trump’s agenda and weakening the economy, according to multiple groups who spoke with CNN and sources close to the White House.
Trump’s unfinished ballroom faces uncertain path after latest legal blow
President Donald Trump has dug himself a hole.
Blanche ‘honored’ after Senate confirms him as attorney general in narrow vote
Donald Trump’s former defense lawyer confirmed by 50 votes to 49 early on Saturday morning, with senators deferring action on president’s voting bill until after recess
Fact-Checking 3 Competitive Senate Races in Maine, Michigan and Ohio
Republican attacks have focused on terrorism and illegal immigration, while Democrats have sought to capitalize on the unpopularity of President Trump’s cuts to Medicaid.
Heart experts fear Trump’s FDA is ‘ignoring decades of evidence’ as it authorizes new nicotine pouches
The FDA has authorized four new flavored nicotine pouches, highlighting their potential to help adults stop smoking cigarettes. The American Heart Association shared its concerns with the move, saying "key questions" remain unanswered.
Trump’s middle finger to the GOP’s midterm worries
President Donald Trump just made some of his most flippant comments to date about his party holding onto power in November.
Hillary Clinton blasts Trump’s White House changes as ‘reminiscent’ of Saddam Hussein’s palaces
Hillary Clinton blasted President Donald Trump’s overhaul of the White House in an interview posted Friday, telling podcast host Kara Swisher that Trump’s “tackied up” décor is “reminiscent” of dictator Saddam Hussein’s palaces in Iraq.
Blanche's attorney general confirmation is in doubt as GOP Sen. Murkowski opposes his nomination
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Friday she will oppose Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general, narrowing the confirmation path for President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department.
Gerald Winegrad: The Trump administration’s unprecedented attacks on science
Opinion: Donald Trump’s second term has been the worst period in our nation’s history for the advancement of science and its use in governance, writes Gerald Winegrad.
Trump unbound: the making of an imperial presidency
Donald Trump’s second term is unlike his first. The politicians who challenged him are gone. The lawyers who once pushed back now choose their battles. What remains is an imperial president with almost no internal checks - using executive power to reshape everything from the economy to immigration and even the presidency itself.
House Democrats Demand Answers From Trump’s VA on Vets Struggling to Access Mental Healthcare
A letter from Democratic lawmakers to VA Secretary Doug Collins cites a recent ProPublica investigation that found hundreds of therapists have left the agency and vets often aren’t getting the help they need.
Trump’s Pick for Attorney General Just Made Terrifying Promises About Abortion
Todd Blanche wants to take fundamental rights away from millions of women.
A ‘clown show’ of carpetbaggers and characters has upended a Republican primary in Trump’s backyard
Two scandal-scarred former congressmen from other states. A pair of candidates who once competed against each other in Illinois. An adviser to an Indiana lawmaker and an ex-underwear model imprisoned for his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Rep. Andy Ogles loses his Republican primary in Tennessee
Ogles lost despite having President Donald Trump’s endorsement, NBC News projects. Former state Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher will be the GOP nominee.
Trump’s racist politics BACKFIRE in Michigan GOP primary
Chris Hayes: Trump and his allies are unleashing a wave of anti-Muslim bigotry, and in Michigan, that hatred is already consuming candidates in their own party.
White House drafting order on vaccines, autism despite pollsters’ warnings
The effort underscores President Donald Trump’s determination to elevate vaccine policy even as a federal judge has halted Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s sweeping vaccine overhaul.
Progressives had another big primary night – with a notable exception: From the Politics Desk
Plus, Trump’s new loyalty test.
Trump files emergency motion to block BBC from getting financial details about business empire
President Trump’s attorney filed a Wednesday emergency motion seeking to block the BBC from obtaining financial records linked to his trust. The British broadcaster received approval from a judge …
Wisconsin pharmacist says Trump’s tariffs could end his business
The owner of Fitchburg Family Pharmacy says his pharmacy could close due to Trump’s tariffs on generic drugs.
New CDC director is confirmed, with Senate backing Dr. Erica Shwartz
The Senate voted in favor of Dr. Erica Schwartz, who was deputy surgeon general during President Donald Trump’s first term.
New York among state suing over Trump’s new tariffs, calling them 'pretext'
The United States last month imposed double-digit tariffs on 59 countries and the European Union.
Pediatricians and Health Departments Sidestep Trump’s CDC on Vaccine Guidance
When the Trump administration upended years of vaccine advice, it left pediatricians in a quandary. Many say they can no longer direct families to the CDC as a trusted source of information. So some are creating their own.
Opinion | Trump’s NSF cuts would undercut gold standard science
Trump says he wants better science, but his NSF budget would weaken reform.
Does Congress have the guts to successfully challenge Trump’s politicization of science funding?
The U.S. Senate is emerging as a potential bulwark against proposed rule changes that would give government bureaucrats more control over scientific
In the Reflecting Pool fiasco, Trump’s ‘alternative facts’ again crash into reality
Jeanine Pirro faced a choice that all President Donald Trump’s team members confront sooner or later: Do they live in his world, or the real one?
Max Miller Shrugs Off Trump’s Warning and Pushes Ahead in Ohio
Republicans hoped a shove from President Trump would persuade the embattled congressman to drop his re-election bid in the face of abuse allegations. It hasn’t happened.
Politics & Power: Scandals, splits, uncertain road to November mean midterms are still in flux
Scandals, ideological schisms, and foreign‑policy crises have blurred the midterm map. Candidate quality, outside spending, and voter perceptions of the economy — plus President Donald Trump’s outsized role — will determine control of Congress.
Vote to take place on Blanche nomination after GOP senators drop opposition
Trump’s former personal lawyer appears on track to become attorney general despite reservations over deal withdrawing ‘anti-weaponization fund’
An Emerging Deal Between Iran and Oman to Reopen Hormuz Would Come at a Cost for Trump
The deal would address President Trump’s most urgent political problem by allowing ships to move again. But it would give Iran strategic leverage it did not have before the war.
People With Disabilities Fear Service Cuts as Trump’s DOJ Questions Legal Protections
By Stephanie Armour | KFF Health News Amanda DeSimone-Shabrack relies on a home healthcare aide to help her high-needs autistic 12-year-old son. Virginia’s Medicaid program covers the assistance, enabling her to work as both an education technology specialist and a professor, run errands, and keep ...
Stopgap funding bill seeks delay of Trump’s science funding plan
Click in for more news from The Hill{beacon} Healthcare Healthcare The Big Story Stopgap funding bill seeks delay of Trump’s science funding plan Senate Republica…
Capital One says money laundering concerns led to closure of Trump Org accounts, not politics
Trump’s claims that various banks closed accounts linked to his family over political reasons after Jan. 6 just took a fresh turn.
California sues Trump to block latest tariffs, sharing of needy families' data with ICE
California sued the Trump administration twice Monday, to block President Trump’s latest round of tariffs and to block his administration from sharing needy families’ personal data with immigration officials.
Trump bank accounts were closed due to concerns over possible money laundering, Capital One says
The court filing is tied to a lawsuit filed against Capital One by one of Trump’s financial holding companies shortly after he was sworn into office a second time.
Why a former DOJ official says Blanche’s order rescinding Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization’ fund would be hard to undo
If Not AOC, Then Who?
What do we do if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decides not to run for president in 2028? It makes sense that many leftists are currently focused on calling on her to take the plunge. But the absence of a Plan B, or even much discussion about one, is worrisome. The US Left can’t afford to sit out the 2028 Democratic primary. Doing so in 2024 was a disaster: our abstention self-marginalized anti-billionaire politics from the national conversation and thereby gave space for Harris to pivot to the “center” (i.e. the policy preferences of corporate donors, establishment hacks, and AIPAC). Abstaining again in 2028 would be especially counterproductive since democratic socialists now have so much wind in our sails after our big electoral wins in NYC and across the country. It’s time to deepen our momentum, organization, and profile — not to retreat to the margins during America’s single most important political battle. Even more urgently, keeping Trump’s heir out of the White House may depend on whether leftists and the party’s unprecedentedly disenchanted base can force the Democrats in 2028 to take meaningful steps towards a very angry electorate and away from the corporate-consultant blob that has helped get us into this mess. If AOC (or Abdul El-Sayed) decides to run, we should enthusiastically go all in — DSA, fighting unions, progressive organizations, anybody who wants to see a better country and world. But, as far as I can tell from the outside, there’s a real chance that she doesn’t run. And we can’t just wait and see where she lands before discussing alternatives, since AOC’s decision might not come for quite a while, giving us little time to scramble at the last minute for an alternative. So we should start working now on getting a Plan B into motion, and recruiting a good candidate for the role. Here’s one idea. A Worker Candidate — Healthcare Not Warfare 2028 Run a union worker Leftists don’t need to always run experienced, well-known socialist politicians for high-profile contests. Lula, the current president of Brazil, began his political career as a metalworker militant who ran for governor of São Paulo in 1982. Especially in an era of institutional distrust, it’s possible to lean hard into making a virtue out of a working-class comrade’s distance from traditional politics. Experience abroad shows this clearly. Rachel Kéké — an immigrant hotel housekeeper — ran as the candidate of the leftist La France Insoumise for the National Assembly in 2022, defeating a former minister in the Macron government. The Belgian Workers’ Party in 2024 won its first Flemish seat in the European Parliament by running Rudi Kennes, a three-decade veteran of the Opel Antwerp auto factory. And the South Korean left in 2024 elected auto factory militant Yoon Jong-oh to the National Assembly. If a tiny French Trotskyist organization could make such a big splash in 2002 and 2007 by running a well-spoken postal worker cadre for office — the LCR’s Olivier Besancenot received about 1.5 million first-round votes — it’s not far-fetched to expect that a much larger organization like DSA, together with a broader coalition of the willing, could run this playbook to much greater effect. This is especially the case now that almost everything DSA does immediately becomes a national news story. We don’t need someone famous. We just need a charismatic, well-vetted comrade who works in a relatable working-class occupation — e.g. a nurse, or a worker in auto or construction, or at Amazon. Ideally, they have a compelling personal story or have been part of a significant strike or organizing campaign, but even those criteria don’t necessarily have to be deal-breakers. The main lesson of the Graham Platner fiasco isn’t that we should never run outsiders for office (the momentum he generated proves the exact opposite), but that they need proper vetting and roots in democratic membership organizations like DSA or a union. In any case, there are plenty of ways to signal working-class authenticity without resorting to Platner’s or Fetterman’s performative macho white dude affect. Better to have someone of any gender or race who is actually working class, with firm socialist politics, who can speak from experience about the day-to-day realities of trying to make it in America. There are surely at least a dozen such worker leaders in our movement nationwide; we just need to sit down and convince one that their personal sacrifice for the greater good (i.e. running for president) will be worth it. If we don’t have a frontrunner with a clear path to victory like AOC (or El-Sayed, were he to win Michigan), it’s better to embrace someone whose decision to run in itself tells an important story about US politics: workers have been iced out of our political system and are now fighting hard to break back in. The novelty factor, in itself, would generate press. And it would help democratic socialists signal to the American public that our movement’s defining characteristic is that we represent workers vs. bosses, not that we’re “the furthest left” force in American politics — a framework that suggests we’re extremists and that helps our opponents isolate us from non-college-educated voters by highlighting extremely minoritarian (and misguided) stances included in DSA’s platform like prison abolition. We don’t get many opportunities to speak to tens of millions of Americans; we need to use these opportunities to broaden our appeal beyond those already in our orbit. Run to polarize the 2028 primary and general election around “Medicare for All” and “End All Aid to Israel” Why should democratic socialists use our scarce time and volunteer energy to run in a race we’re unlikely to win? Running in the 2028 primary will not only recruit us scores of members (imagine having a DSA member intervening in eleven nationally televised primary debates!), but — more importantly — it has the potential to be a decisive leap forward towards an America that finally starts meeting the needs of working people instead of HMO and AIPAC billionaire donors. Polarizing litmus tests are good, actually — as long as they’re fought for around popular demands in a thoughtful and strategic way. Democratic socialists have an opportunity and responsibility to make the 2028 primary about two of the most widely and deeply felt issues of our moment: domestically, America’s unaffordable, family-breaking private healthcare system; internationally, America’s bankrolling of the genocidal Israeli government. A candidacy relentlessly demanding Medicare for All and No Aid to Israel would pose a sharp question to the American public, the Democratic Party, and other 2028 contenders: Why can’t working-class Americans afford their healthcare bills at the same time that our government is spending at least $3.8 billion yearly to fund an Israeli regime eager to keep dragging us and the world into more forever wars? Our candidate can agitate around a clear message: I’m running to give voice to all those working-class Americans who are struggling to get by. No matter what state you live in, who you voted for in 2024, or your background, it’s just plain common sense that we should make healthcare more affordable instead of spending billions to enable the Israeli government’s crimes against humanity. Every American who agrees with me when I say ‘Medicare for All — Not a Dime for Israel’ should make their voice heard through our campaign. Racking up a high number of votes for this agenda is a crucial way to show the Democratic Party and the country as a whole that we can’t keep supporting a life-destroying status quo in our healthcare system and in the Middle East. If we want to defeat Trump’s handpicked crony this coming November, we need to speak to ordinary people’s frustrations with the status quo — we can’t keep running the same tired establishment playbook and expecting a different result. For those highly engaged voters (or skeptical media pundits) who raise concerns about wasting votes, the candidate can take the time to explain why this isn’t the case: It's true I'm a long shot. But Zohran showed anything can happen — and voting for me is a pragmatic decision, not a wasted vote. In a heavily divided primary with a large number of candidates and a very discredited establishment, my campaign and the democratic socialist movement I’m part of are positioned to be the balance of power if we can get a large enough number of voters to loudly demand Healthcare Not Warfare. Since there’s a high chance no candidate will get to 50% in the 2028 primaries, the Democrats could very well be heading towards a brokered convention, where a disciplined, principled current committed to breaking from corporate donors can play an outsized role in making sure whoever ends up with the nomination raises the banner of single-payer healthcare and cutting aid to Israel. How exactly could running this sort of primary campaign be translated into actual leverage? The candidate replies: I’m aiming to win the nomination, but if I don’t achieve that goal, my delegates and I will pledge our support in the primary only for a candidate who agrees in the general election to call for ending US aid to Israel and establishing Medicare for All at home. These are both winning planks for November against the Republicans, and the only reason I can see that other candidates haven’t yet raised these is that they’re still more scared of the donor class than they are of the people. That needs to change. If Democratic leaders want young people, workers, and those sick of the status quo to show up in big numbers this November, they need to meet us halfway. In this way, whether or not we win the nomination, democratic socialists could still play a decisive role in 2028. The approach outlined here is similar to what radical left parties periodically do in parliamentary democracies like Denmark or Sweden when they find themselves as a junior partner electorally: they dictate to center-left allies what their terms would be for enabling, from the outside, the formation of a new government. Running a Healthcare Not Warfare candidate will make it significantly more likely that the 2028 Democratic candidate stands with ordinary people instead of donors on these two pivotal planks — a shift that will, in turn, make it easier to achieve the existentially important task of defeating MAGA’s heir in November. Look at how much popular traction the Uncommitted movement got with a similar strategy in 2024 with so little on-the-ground organization — surely we can go much further with a working-class candidate, a much bigger DSA, and a Democratic Party base that has turned against Israel, billionaires, and the hacks in the party who prop them up. Objections and Responses There are quite a few objections to this proposal, many of which are very reasonable. Let me briefly address each here. Socialists shouldn’t waste their scarce time and resources on a candidate unlikely to win. This is a good rule in general, but there are important exceptions, and presidential elections are the main one. There’s no other political contest that gets anything like this level of attention and engagement in the US, so if you want to be a serious force in nationwide politics, you basically can’t afford not to have a candidate. Far from being an overall drain on our resources, running a dynamic 2028 campaign would likely result in a major net increase in members and capacity. In that spirit, the very pragmatic Milwaukee sewer socialists — who mostly ran to win at home in Wisconsin — supported Eugene Debs’s propagandistic presidential campaigns, which they correctly saw as a crucial means of recruiting to the Socialist Party. And now that the (post-1972) Democratic Party gives more weight to voters than party operatives in determining its presidential nomination, it’s become feasible to run as a socialist in primaries without risking a split in the vote against the Republicans in November. We should just support Ro Khanna, who also supports M4A and ending aid to Israel. I like Ro Khanna and would enthusiastically vote and canvass for him for president were he to get the nomination. But there’s a real chance that Khanna’s bid for office doesn’t catch on; he lacks the grassroots organizational apparatus of DSA, and, because he’s not really of the Left or labor (despite his current very good positions), he’s unlikely to generate the type of buy-in and enthusiasm that a DSA candidate would. Moreover, Khanna would be running as an individual, not as someone emerging from and building an organized movement — his campaign would not likely focus on building sustained power from below, nor would it likely polarize the 2028 primary around M4A and Israel aid. Also, and not inconsequentially, the poor electoral results for Tom Steyer and Saikat Chakrabarti this spring suggest that there’s perhaps not much of a popular appetite in the Democrats’ base to support multi-millionaire class traitors. Much better, then, to run a democratic socialist worker. If by Super Tuesday it’s clear that our campaign has captured the main left lane in the primary, Khanna should drop out and endorse us; conversely, if he’s managed to capture this lane, DSA could at that point transform its Healthcare Not Warfare campaign into an independent campaign to elect Ro Khanna focused on winning (and holding him accountable to) those two critical planks. An openness to consolidating an anti-corporate candidate by Super Tuesday is a necessary component of the strategy I’m proposing, because otherwise we risk splitting the primary votes (per DNC rules, you need at least 15% to get any delegates to convention). We should convince Shawn Fain or Sara Nelson to run for president instead. I agree it’d be great if either ran for president, but my impression is that there’s basically no chance that will happen in 2028, because both are firmly focused on their union leadership duties (and, in the case of Fain, beating back a federal witch-hunt). This plan could have DSA end up endorsing a non-socialist, non-DSAer for president. That’s against our principles. It’s a myth, and bad politics, that socialists can’t ever support candidates who aren’t members of their organization and/or who don’t call themselves socialists. Bernie, after all, was not a DSAer. And socialists abroad regularly make tactical decisions about if and when supporting a non-socialist candidate makes sense from the standpoint of promoting working-class interests, defending democracy, and building a socialist current in the process. If your “principles” prevent you and DSA from helping achieve the momentous stride forward of having a Democratic candidate in 2028 run on Medicare for All and ending aid to Israel, those “principles” are not very good. In fact, they actively undermine the causes they’re aiming to support. We shouldn’t confuse principles (working-class independence) with tactics (the best way to advance this in a given context). In my recent article in Catalyst on Milwaukee sewer socialism (I’ve uploaded the full text here), I have a section showing how similarly rigid rules about endorsements had to be eventually discarded in the old Socialist Party nationwide after WWI because they tended to lead socialists towards a sectarian abstention from broader anti-corporate electoral insurgencies beyond their party’s control. For what it’s worth, Lenin’s current under Tsarism frequently backed bourgeois candidates in the second round of elections and Lenin himself advocated that British Communists support Labour Party candidates; for his part, Kautsky in 1912 defended the German Social Democracy’s electoral pact with the Progressives in the runoffs. If our predecessors could be that tactically flexible in an era before the limits of their underlying strategic assumptions about intransigent class politics in capitalist democracies were made clear, then there’s no need to insist on being more tactically rigid today, after a century’s worth of accumulated experience. As long as you maintain your own political profile and organization while engaging in broader coalitional efforts, there’s zero inherent contradiction with the principle of political independence. More specifically: DSA and allied organizations should enthusiastically back Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed if AOC declines to run and he throws his hat in the presidential ring. (I have no idea whether he’s even considering this path, but there’ll surely be chatter about it if he wins his Senate race this November.) Though he doesn’t call himself a socialist, El-Sayed is a principled Berniecrat, a consistent fighter for Palestine, and would have a clear path to victory. Using the “s” word is far less important than whether a campaign fights for the interests of working people at home and abroad — and whether actively participating in it can grow the organized working class and the Left. And the same holds true if a less anti-corporate candidate were, under pressure, to adopt our two Healthcare Not Warfare planks. Why focus only on M4A and ending US aid to Israel? There are so many other important issues to fight for! Obviously there are many pivotal issues beyond healthcare and Israel, and our candidate — and especially our organizations involved in the campaign — should be prepared to speak on all of these. But one of the crucial lessons of the Zohran campaign is that you have to relentlessly stay on message if you want to cut through the noise. CNN and Fox News will want to talk about DSA’s views on Venezuela and abolishing the police; we need to polarize the debate on the widely and deeply felt issues that are most favorable for growing the Left, isolating our opponents, and winning urgently needed changes. One recent poll found 63% of Americans support M4A, even after respondents were told it would raise taxes and eliminate most private insurance. Another found that 74% of Democrats opposed “providing additional economic and military support to Israel.” And focusing on two demands sets the campaign up to be able to leverage its mandate to make clear demands upon other candidates (which we can’t do if we run with a laundry list of demands). Talking about a Plan B is a distraction from the more urgent work of building a groundswell of calls on AOC to run. It’s good for DSAers, fightback unionists, and progressive organizations to try to convince AOC to run. This proposal is meant as an addendum to pushes to get AOC to run and to line DSA up for that eventuality, not as a substitute for those efforts. But I’m worried that, like in 2024, we might eventually find ourselves with no time to find a viable alternative unless we start now. DSA, with its abundant deliberative processes, moves slowly. The approach you’re suggesting seems risky. If a DSA candidate runs but doesn’t receive a lot of votes, it’ll undercut our current national momentum. This is a reasonable worry. All big initiatives always carry risks, and the path I’m advocating is certainly not free of these. That said, if a Healthcare Not Warfare campaign doesn’t catch on like we envisioned, it’s a pretty simple pivot in March 2028 to explain that in the future we really need our standard-bearers like AOC, or our growing bench of national electeds, to step up in presidential primaries. Moreover, it’s worth noting that the risk of my Plan B proposal is on the whole significantly less than the risk entailed by an AOC run. We should all back her if she runs, since she’d fire up the base, provide huge openings for organizing, have a real shot at defeating a Republican (especially given MAGA’s unpopularity), be a great standard-bearer for our issues, particularly M4A and ending aid to Israel, and be less willing than mainstream candidates to capitulate to any anti-democratic machinations from Trump and co. But it’s also true that AOC could lose, which would be a devastating setback to the country and the Left. Or she could win and find herself unable to pass much, if any, of her (and our) program, a demoralizing prospect. So if we’re willing to take these risks with AOC (and we should), it follows that we should be able to take lower-level risks if she doesn’t throw her hat in the ring. What’s Your Plan B? The US Left is facing its biggest opening for growth and influence since the 1930s. Initiatives that would have been impossible a few months ago are now potentially feasible. A President AOC is now easier to imagine, but if she ultimately assesses that the risks aren’t worth the potential reward in 2028, we can’t be left flat-footed. So even if you’re not convinced by the specifics of my Plan B, I hope you can at least agree that it’d be a disaster for us not to have one — and not to start getting a Plan B into motion. Hopefully other organizers and political currents will put forward their responses and alternative ideas ASAP. The stakes are too high to just wait and see. More As always, please share this article widely. This newsletter depends on all you lovely people to get the word out. Thank you! I uploaded the full text of my Catalyst article on Milwaukee sewer socialism here (it’s updated and 3x as long as the version published earlier on this substack). If you haven’t yet, please make sure to subscribe to Catalyst here; I read every issue front to back, highly recommend. 🌹🎵 Ivan Lins (arranged by Arthur Verocai) — “General da Banda” 🌹🎵
Blanche rescinds 'anti-weaponization fund' for Trump allies after GOP senators threaten to block his AG bid
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has issued a formal order terminating President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” to compensate his political allies.
Trump’s attorney general pick says he has reached deal with senators after standoff
Todd Blanche issues formal order to withdraw ‘anti-weaponization fund’ after weeks of negotiations with Republican senators who were blocking his nomination
GOP congressman defies Trump on Iran but keeps his endorsement
GOP Rep. Tom Barrett voted for the third time to limit President Donald Trump’s Iran war powers in late July — attempting to help drive a stinging rebuke of the commander-in-chief that can only pass if members of his own party sign on.
Trump’s mail voting appeal tests Supreme Court’s anti-chaos election rule
President Donald Trump’s emergency appeal aimed at limiting the use of mail ballots is poised to test a controversial, 20-year-old Supreme Court principle that was intended to avoid chaos before elections.
Blanche scraps Trump’s $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund
President Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche, said he is formally rescinding the controversial fund. It was created as part of an agreement to settle a lawsuit from Trump against the IRS and would have offered taxpayer money to people who claimed they were victims of weaponization by the federal government.
Courageous Colorado bucks Trump’s federal stupidity
There are several theories regarding the rhythm of American politics. The most frequently cited is the pendulum hypothesis — positing that episodes of liberal dominance are then interrupted by spans of conservative control. Since Ronald Reagan’s presidential election in 1980, these swings have been foreshortened, interrupting modest reigns of far-right rule in Washington with only […]
Blanche Gives G.O.P. Senators Written Assurances on Trump’s I.R.S. Deal
Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general has been held up over concerns about a planned $1.8 billion fund for Trump allies and the president’s immunity from tax scrutiny.
Exclusive: US military asks troops for ‘creative and unconventional’ ideas to punish Iran
The request from a senior officer at the US military command carrying out President Donald Trump’s war with Iran came in an email: We need ideas.
Blanche rescinds Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization’ fund, removing hurdle from attorney general nominee’s confirmation
Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche, said late Sunday he is formally rescinding the president’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, after Senate Republicans threatened to block his nomination over the controversial agreement.
Blanche rescinds Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization’ fund, removing hurdle from AG pick’s confirmation
Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche, said late Sunday he is formally rescinding the president’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund,” after Senate Republicans threatened to block his nomination over the controversial agreement.
Blanche rescinds fund for Trump supporters after GOP senators threaten to block his AG bid
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has issued a formal order terminating President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund to compensate his political allies.
WA’s 2026 primary election tests Trump’s grip on both parties
Key Washington primaries offer an early look at President Donald Trump's GOP influence, Democratic divisions and the battle for Congress in 2026.
For most US small businesses, Trump’s tariffs aren’t the big issue they were
Tariffs are annoying and disruptive, but this round is less impactful – and business owners are taking them in their stride
What a new Justice Department filing says about the ‘botched’ Reflecting Pool renovation
The Justice Department on Friday said the rush to complete President Donald Trump’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool led to “hasty and botched work,” shedding new light on the problems behind the Washington landmark’s $14 million facelift.
Darline Graham promotes Trump’s agenda in her political debut ahead of special Senate primary
LEXINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Sen. Darline Graham made her political debut before hundreds of Republican voters in South Carolina on Saturday, saying that she never envisioned a life in politics for herself…
Trump’s Polling Numbers Hit a New Low. Don’t Expect Him to Change Course.
Barely a third of Americans approve of Mr. Trump’s handling of the job, putting him at historic depths for a second-term president at this stage of his tenure.
Trump’s reflecting pool debacle takes a predictably scandalous turn
Nothing about what happened Friday, when the Justice Department dropped its case against a purported Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandal, was completely surprising.
Truth Social’s Cash Grab Will Not Save Trump’s Business
Senators have urged the SEC to investigate Trump’s social-media company selling immediate access to the president’s posts.
Senator disputes Trump’s claim the anti-weaponization fund is dead
The TACO moments that have defined Trump’s second term so far
‘Trump Always Chickens Out’ has become a common refrain whenever the president backs off from one of his characteristically bombastic threats or promises
Opinion | Trump’s Proposed Rules for Funding Would Destroy American Science
Political appointees, not scientists, may soon determine who gets grants.
Trump’s unforced errors on Todd Blanche and the ‘SAVE America Act’
It often seems like President Donald Trump simply doesn’t care about making his party look good ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Few signs of talks between US and Iran as Trump hears from different corners on path forward
Despite President Donald Trump’s claims Iran is “begging” for a deal, some US officials fear regime figures appear more committed than ever to wielding leverage over the Strait of Hormuz and firing missiles toward American troops.
Trump’s Immigration Push Keeps Expanding With New $100,000 Fee Idea | WSJ Politics Newsletter for July 31
Plus, inside Trump’s unprecedented fundraising operation and the rise and fall of Anthony Fauci
Analysis | Trump’s poll numbers just took another turn for the worse
The president of the United States is more unpopular than he has ever been, according to a series of polls of American voters ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Opinion | Trump’s funding threat is anti-science, not scientists’ fault
Trump’s proposal would substitute political, ideological, and religious considerations for scientific criteria.
Defying Trump, Cornyn uses his lame-duck power
In standing in the way of Todd Blanche, President Trump’s choice for attorney general, a liberated Sen. John Cornyn is wielding his leverage.
Defying Trump, Cornyn Uses His Lame-Duck Power
In standing in the way of Todd Blanche, President Trump’s choice for attorney general, a liberated Senator John Cornyn is wielding his leverage.
Exclusive | ‘The Boss Wants This Money’: Inside Trump’s Unprecedented Fundraising Operation
Meredith O’Rourke, nicknamed ‘princess of darkness,’ carries out the president’s desire to wring hundreds of millions from companies for his projects.
CDC, public health preparedness nominees advance in Senate
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday approved President Donald Trump’s nominees to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and to serve as a key assistant secretary, two leadership roles that the administration has struggled to fill. The committee voted 12-11 along party lines to advance Sean Kaufman to serve […]
Trump’s Nominee to Oversee VOA, Sarah B. Rogers, Suggests Return of Journalists on Leave
The statement by the nominee, Sarah B. Rogers, signaled a stark reversal of the president’s earlier efforts to shutter Voice of America and other federally funded news groups.
How views on Trump's handling of Iran have shifted, according to this poll
Most Americans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, and President Donald Trump’s approval rating on Iran has fallen slightly since last month, according to a new AP-NORC poll.
Small businesses squeezed by Trump's tariffs turn to risky cash advances
Trump’s tariffs are squeezing some small businesses, and a Fed survey shows more firms applying for merchant cash advances despite steep costs.
The next victim of Trump’s political prosecutions? Congressional oversight.
Anthony Fauci didn't want to give his enemies ammunition, but his freedom isn't the only thing at risk.
Why Democrats Won’t Stop Forcing Votes On Trump’s Iran War Powers
Even after winning approval of a measure calling on President Trump to end the war, they continue to call votes to force Republicans to answer for it.
What Lindsey Graham Taught Us About Political Weakness: Wolff
What did Trump’s favorite Senator really believe?
Key Senate panel backs Trump’s picks for CDC, pandemic preparedness
In win for RFK Jr., Senate committee sends nominations of Erica Schwartz for CDC director and Sean Kaufman for ASPR to full Senate.
The new "science golden age" looks suspiciously like a grift
This edition of PN is made possible by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ 🚀 Subscribe to PN 🚀 The Trump regime is trying to usher in a “Golden Age in Science” where scientific research is run like a Trump family business, artificial intelligence is all that matters, profit is everything, and expertise is for chumps. Or at least that’s the vision emerging from a new 123-page “Report to the President” from Michael Kratsios, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In a normal administration, you could probably skip over learning about a science policy document — but this is no normal administration, and this is no normal science policy document. Instead, it’s Trump’s attempt to end the actual golden age of science that was kicked off in 1945 with the publication of '“The Endless Frontier” by Vannevar Bush. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) [ Harmeet Dhillon demonstrates danger of posting through it ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) Liz Dye · Jul 29 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) Bush, at President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s request, laid out a vision of federal support for science that centered on funding universities to do basic research, saying that as long as those institutions were “vigorous and healthy and their scientists are free to pursue the truth wherever it may lead, there will be a flow of new scientific knowledge to those who can apply it to practical problems in Government, in industry, or elsewhere.” Kratsios’s report is supposed to be the successor to Bush’s, and even apes the format, but this isn’t really a document about science policy. It’s one about ending science research as we know it in favor of shoveling cash at big tech companies. While it might be temping to wave this away as an aspirational policy document, Trump has already begun to shift billions in research funds to AI projects and has taken a hatchet to science funding across the board. He’s teed up the shift Kratsios proposes here, and since neither Congress nor the Supreme Court seem inclined to stop him from doing whatever he wants with taxpayer money, it isn’t doomering or hyperbole to say we are staring down the barrel of a world where the only “science” the government intends to support is for-profit tech and defense advancements. Science for dummies Part of how you can tell this isn’t a document about science is that you are immediately faced with an absolute wall of business-speak of the worst sort. Did you know we must “tightly couple our science and technology enterprises to ensure that groundbreaking ideas invented in the United States are rapidly prototyped, tested, manufactured, and scaled domestically”? You do now! That tone isn’t surprising, because Kratsios has no background in science or research. He has a bachelor’s in political science and spent most of his career working for Peter Thiel at Thiel Capital. After a stint in the first Trump administration as Chief Technology Officer, where he also did not do any science, Kratsios was tasked in 2020 with overseeing the Pentagon’s research budget for a brief time, a position that, as the Wall Street Journal put it, “carries a great deal of power in terms of dictating investment allocations.” He spent the Biden years at Scale AI as “head of strategy,” which you will also note is neither a science nor a research job. But Scale AI has contracts with the Department of Defense and, as the Washington Post wrote in 2023, “has been aggressively pitching itself as the company that will help the US military in its existential battle with China.” And now you have the necessary background for our new golden age, which is going to be a golden age of taking money away from scientists and universities and giving it to companies like Scale AI. A note from Aaron: Working with brilliant contributors like Lisa takes resources. If you aren’t already a paid subscriber, please become one to support our work. 👇 Subscribe In a genuinely galling move, Katsios spends a lot of time slamming universities because of “administrative burdens on researchers” and the “well-documented inefficiencies” in academia, the message being that those damn universities waste the time of amazing researchers with paperwork. Except it’s the administration that is attempting to impose inefficient, unnecessary burdens on those researchers with a proposed Office of Management and Budget rule that would require senior political appointees to approve every science grant and ensure it aligns with Trump’s personal priorities. Researchers would also have to seek prior government approval to attend conferences or publicize their research. And political appointees could terminate any grant at any time if they feel like it. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) [ The murder of expertise ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) Lisa Needham · Jun 11 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) But when it comes to AI, we’re going to “restore permissionless innovation.” The report proposes to give lucky ducky innovators a pile of cash up front for grants lasting five years or longer, saying “awards should be fully-funded in year one, with all resources earmarked upfront, to minimize administrative burdens and reduce pressure for researchers to generate intermediate results to secure continued funding.” Yeah, wouldn’t want to have to make the Very Special Tech Bros show results or get money parceled out year by year like the plebes at universities. The report also proposes that we should have “fast grants” with “simplified applications requiring just a few pages of writing” because that is definitely how science works, just writing a bit off the dome and getting some cash. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) [ Tech elites are turning AI into ChatGPTrump ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) Paul Waldman · July 29, 2025 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) Oh, and we should have prizes and challenges, where multiple teams compete. The proposed prizes include incentives like “advance procurement commitments,” which means the federal government agrees to buy whatever is being developed. There’s also “regulatory fast-tracking,” making sure all those great AI thingies don’t have to wait too long to be unleashed on a market. These aren’t incentives to do science. These are incentives to develop things with tax dollars that you can then sell to the government for more tax dollars. In the suggestion that might be the most unhinged, the most very opposite of how both government and research work, our new age will include “golden tickets.” That’s where an individual reviewer in an agency — yes, just one person — can “recommend unconventional proposals that may not pass consensus-driven review panels” because somehow this will “surface valuable ideas too divisive for committees and attract higher quality reviewers by empowering them to exercise independent scientific judgment.” Yes, that’s saying that a random person in an agency should be able to shovel money at some idea even if it can’t pass a review panel, and that the opportunity to do so will attract better employees because apparently all the best minds in science are chomping at the bit to be allowed to unilaterally fund AI research based on their personal vibes. But that isn’t at all how actual science works, and actual scientists aren’t unhappy about review panels. They work collaboratively, not siloed in some secret race to create the next AI chatbot. A 2020 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research examined whether peer review panels succeed in helping agencies predict which research ideas will best advance science. Peer review was better at finding “diamond in the rough” applicants than a single government program official. How about that. Trump always wants a taste It’s painfully clear that what Katsios is trying to do here is turn the whole of government science research and funding into the sort of “move fast and break things” paradigm that is the hallmark of big tech. That method works to line the pockets of tech executives, but it isn’t science. There’s a reason the government funds different kinds of research than private tech companies do. What Katsios either fails to understand or deliberately ignores is that the federal government is the main funder of basic research precisely because it can take a long time for it to bear fruit and is not intended to be profitable as such. “Basic” here does not mean rudimentary or simple, but rather research that is designed to advance scientific knowledge instead of achieving a specific outcome or product. Big tech companies don’t widely fund that sort of research, because it doesn’t make them money. Industry dollars account for only about 20 percent of basic research funding, while the government contributes around 60 percent. Big tech companies and startups do, however, rely on and benefit from that basic research. A 2019 study found that 35 percent of all patents obtained by venture-backed startups from 1976 to 2016 cited federally supported research. Basic research funded by the NIH contributed to every single drug the FDA approved from 2010 to 2016. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) [ The Saudi nuclear farce and governance by whim and meme ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) Noah Berlatsky · Jul 27 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) Unlike inventing the next ChatGPT, actual science is slow and iterative. Government funding of research that, on its face, would not appear to lead to any big new invention is actually what underpins those big new inventions. If the government hadn’t funded research into desert lizard venom, we wouldn’t know about semaglutide, and we wouldn’t have Ozempic. If research scientists hadn’t studied how bees optimize nectar foraging within a colony, we wouldn’t have the algorithm that assigns internet traffic across computer servers. The report assiduously ignores that a symbiotic, profitable relationship between the federal government, universities, and private companies already exists. Each federal research dollar generates about $1.50 to $3.00 in long-term economic benefits. The $36 billion the government awarded in NIH research funding in fiscal year 2025 generated $94 billion in new economic activity. Trump’s proposed new golden age is intended to strip those billions from universities, resulting in the dismantling of departments and the shuttering of labs. But Katsios has a plan for that: Universities should just become trade schools to churn out no-show STEM degrees! “Require universities and community colleges to embed practical technical training and externships into STEM curricula. Let hands-on experience and industry credentials count toward degrees.” It’s quite the feat to, on the one hand, strip schools of funding for scientific research while simultaneously demanding to control what is taught and, oh, also, colleges need to give degrees to employees at big tech companies just for being employees at big tech companies. The new golden age would also exacerbate the brain drain Trump’s policies have already caused. Nature found that in the first quarter of 2025, US scientists submitted 32 percent more job applications abroad than in 2024. A March 2025 poll by Nature of roughly 1,600 scientists found that over 1,200 said they were considering leaving the country. Europe is investing $565 million to make it a “magnet for researchers” and provide funding for scientists who relocate. The new golden age is also about embedding Trump’s xenophobia into the fabric of American science. The report complains of an “over-reliance on foreign students” that “creates a security challenge our institutions are ill-equipped to address” and that a “reliance on foreign talent sidelines American students.” This is, to put it mildly, nonsense. International students pay far higher tuition and often receive no financial aid. Their tuition dollars are what make it possible for American students to get financial aid. In the 2023-2024 school year alone, international students contributed $43.8 billion to the US economy and supported over 378,000 jobs. Those 1.1 million international students accounted for only six percent of the total number of students in higher education that year, but were such an economic engine that for every three international students, one job was created or supported. It’s impossible not to wonder whether part of Trump’s loathing for universities and their leading role in scientific research is that there is no way for him to corrupt the process and make money off it in the same way he can by giving millions and billions to Silicon Valley types who, in turn, give him millions in cash. There’s no way for his children to invest in universities that the government then gives no-bid contracts to, fattening the family’s bottom line, which is pretty much the Trump sons’ current venture capital practice. Trump and Katsios’s view of science is narrow, cramped, and wrong. We’re not in a crisis, we’re not a failed state. We’ve been a science superpower for decades, and the only thing that threatens that is Donald Trump. Tech bros are already living high off the hog in this administration. They don’t need any more of our tax dollars. Hopefully this new golden age never comes to pass. Thanks for reading Public Notice. This post is public so feel free to share it. Share We’ll be back with more tomorrow. If you appreciate today’s PN, please do your part to keep us free by signing up for a paid subscription. 🚀 Subscribe to PN 🚀 Thanks for reading, and for your support.
States cast doubt on Trump’s claim that China hacked their voter rolls
Declassified evidence points to Beijing seeking personal data for espionage, not election interference.
Trump’s support for Graham’s sister stirs GOP backlash in South Carolina
A field of Republican challengers is setting up another test of Trump’s political clout.