In attaching his name to buildings and programs while still president, Donald Trump is walking a path paved by conquerors and autocrats.

The New York Times reports residents of rural north California have longed to pull out of liberal California and merge with conservative territory in Oregon to form a new Republican state. But what they’re about to get instead is another Democratic representative. California responded to Texas’ mid-decade gerrymander for new Republican seats with its own upcoming gerrymander, which is likely to erase California’s Republican minority even further. Soon after state voters passed the November redistricting measure, Democrat Mike McGuire said he would run in the north California redrawn district. The Times reports Sacramento Valley residents seem anguished but also resigned to their fate. “There was definitely a feeling of throwing up your hands,” said Orland resident Gene Lifur, 52. “You’re going to lose a lot of the interest for voting in the North State.” But few are angrier than Republican incumbent Rep. Doug LaMalfa who lives near Richvale but it likely to lose his seat now that California is retaliating against Texas’ gerrymander. “I’m furious because I’ve had my people kidnapped from me,” LaMalfa told the Times. “Their voice is being silenced on how they feel about the issues here, because Newsom and the three-to-one ratio of Democrats wanted to see if they could steal five seats,” he said. Democrats say LaMalfa’s lockstep votes with President Donald Trump have hurt local farmers, however, arguing that LaMalfa’s vote to cut Medicaid will harm rural hospitals. And Trump’s tariffs have raised the costs of farming equipment while “retaliatory tariffs by countries like China have hurt farmers’ exports,” forcing Trump to push yet another financial bailout for U.S. farmers. They add that Trump is also compromising farming industries by targeting immigration raids to blue-state farms. Instead, Democrats say Republicans have themselves to blame for the gerrymander fight, reports the Times, reminding that California Gov. Gavin Newsom only pushed the gerrymander to after Texas announced it was beginning the process to buttress Trump’s razor-thin margin in the House. Read the New York Times report at this link.

As the DOJ releases the largest batch of files yet on the federal investigation into Epstein, we look at some of the most significant revelations with investigative journalist Vicky Ward, who has spent decades reporting on the deceased sexual predator, his powerful associates and the impact of his crimes. Survivors have condemned the Department of Justice for not complying with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required all files to be released last Friday. “I mean, that was the first indication of the contemptuous, cavalier attitude that has gone on inside this Justice Department,” says Ward. “It’s heartbreaking, frankly, to see these files being dribbled out.”This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: Days after the December 19th deadline for the release of all files related to the late serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and under enormous pressure, the Justice Department has just released more than 11,000 files Tuesday, totaling nearly 30,000 pages of documents. This includes internal FBI emails from 2019 that mention 10 possible “co-conspirators” of Epstein, including one who’s described as a, quote, “wealthy business man in Ohio,” unquote. The emails also note that, quote, “three have been located in Florida and served [grand jury] subpoenas; 1 in Boston, 1 in New York City, and 1 in Connecticut were located and served,” unquote. Ghislaine Maxwell is the only Epstein accomplice to be charged criminally. She’s currently serving a 20-year sentence on federal sex trafficking charges. This comes after the DOJ Monday briefly published thousands of additional documents related to Epstein. The second tranche of documents were available online for several hours, but then disappeared from the Justice Department’s website without explanation. The documents contain wide-ranging references to Donald Trump. One email, written by an assistant U.S. attorney during Trump’s first term in early 2020, found Trump was a passenger aboard Epstein’s private jet on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996. On at least four of those flights, Epstein’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell was also present. Trump has not been directly accused of criminal conduct and claims to have cut ties with Epstein decades ago. In a joint statement, multiple survivors slammed the government’s recent document dump for failing to redact numerous victim identities, while also making, quote, “abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation,” like page upon page completely blacked out. This is Epstein survivor Sharlene Rochard speaking on NBC. SHARLENE ROCHARD: I am very upset with the justice system, because there’s full pages that are totally blacked out. And I know — I don’t know about you, but my name is not a full page. We only asked that our names be redacted. That’s all we asked for. So, pages and pages and pages of black on black on black is just unacceptable. AMY GOODMAN: On Monday, 18 survivors of Epstein wrote a joint letter condemning the Justice Department’s release of just a fraction of the files demanded by law, and called on Congress to hold hearings to ensure the Trump administration is fully complying with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. This is Epstein survivor Haley Robson, who voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election, responding to the new files. She was speaking on CNN. HALEY ROBSON: At the end of the day, I am no longer supporting this administration. I redact any support I’ve ever given to him, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel. I am so disgusted with this administration. I think that Pam Bondi and Kash Patel both need to resign, and I would love to see number 47 get impeached over this. AMY GOODMAN: This comes as Democratic Congressmember Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, is asking the DOJ’s inspector general to investigate why the FBI failed to act on a 1996 complaint by survivor Maria Farmer against Jeffrey Epstein that he and his associates were producing child sexual abuse material. Garcia wrote, quote, “For survivors like Maria Farmer, her family, and all the people Jeffrey Epstein abused in the decades that followed this unanswered complaint, this was not merely a missed investigative opportunity — it was a profound betrayal by their own government,” unquote. Meanwhile, Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna and Republican Congressmember Thomas Massie, who sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act, say Attorney General Pam Bondi should be held in contempt, could be fined for every day she fails to release the full Epstein files. For more on all of this, we’re joined in our New York studio by Vicky Ward, longtime investigative journalist, host and co-producer of the podcast series Chasing Ghislaine: The Untold Story of the Woman in Epstein’s Shadow, which also became a TV series by the same name. Vicky, welcome back to Democracy Now! First of all, if you can respond to what has happened so far? December 19th was the deadline. That was Friday. Now the Justice Department, days later, after releasing thousands of documents, then erasing them from the website, now calling for U.S. — for attorneys in the United States to come to the Justice Department and help them redact. What has been redacted? What has not been redacted? Can you respond to all of this? VICKY WARD: Yeah. I mean, I think right from the get-go — right? — right from when, months ago, Pam Bondi said in an interview, “Oh, I’ve got the Epstein files sitting on my desk,” I mean, that was the first indication, I think, of the contemptuous, cavalier attitude that has gone on inside this Justice Department. AMY GOODMAN: Right. She said she was going to release the so-called client list. VICKY WARD: She was — files, they were there on her desk. I don’t think that these thousands and thousands of pages were sitting on her desk. I mean, so, you know, and it’s heartbreaking, frankly, to see these files being dribbled out. It’s so against the spirit in which the victims went to Capitol Hill, asked for transparency, which a bipartisan Congress agreed with them that they are owed this transparency, so that crimes like this may never happen again. And now to have this mishmash, which even I, who am not a victim of sexual abuse from Jeffrey Epstein, but I sat through Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial, and I found it very, very upsetting — I think most of us journalists, you know, were hard-bitten. You know, we’ve seen some things. It was really difficult to hear the stories of abuse in that courtroom and really difficult to learn the scale of it. And these pages have that story writ large again and again and again. And given the chaos of this rollout, there’s no easy way for these survivors to quickly search what they’re looking for. I want to see — AMY GOODMAN: That was part of the law, by the way. VICKY WARD: Right. AMY GOODMAN: That there had to be a working search function on these documents. VICKY WARD: And there isn’t. And they have to wade through page after page after page of very, very difficult stuff. I think, just on a moral basis, it’s disgusting. AMY GOODMAN: It’s really important to be talking to you today because, years ago, you wrote this piece in Vanity Fair. You’re the person who spoke to Maria Farmer. Now, that conversation did not appear in Vanity Fair. And if you can remind our viewers and listeners what happened? Because this has to do with the collusion of the press with Jeffrey Epstein. But you know her story very well. VICKY WARD: Yes. AMY GOODMAN: This woman who, for decades, has tried to stop the abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. VICKY WARD: Yes. Well, I didn’t speak to Maria Farmer just once. You know, in the fall of 2002, when I was assigned to write this profile of Jeffrey Epstein, I met with Maria. I spoke to her many, many times. And she said exactly what has now appeared in the FBI’s files. She said that in 1996 she had had a horrific night while up in a guest house of Jeffrey Epstein’s home on Les Wexner’s estate in Ohio. She’d been up there painting. She was an artist. Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell had come to visit her. There had followed some horrible sexual abuse, after which she had run out of the house, taken her dog, run — AMY GOODMAN: The sexual abuse perpetrated by both Ghislaine — VICKY WARD: By both. AMY GOODMAN: — and Jeffrey Epstein. VICKY WARD: By both. But in all of this, she had left behind a lock box of nude photographs of her sisters — not just Annie, there was another sister. And, you know, she was a figurative artist. You know, that’s the kind of work that she did. And she was terrified that Epstein was going to do — excuse me — you know, something terrible with these. And she got phone calls from both Epstein and Maxwell saying — threatening her. So she phoned — in fact, she told me she phoned the police in New York first, and they said, “We can’t — this is not for us. This is, you know, going across state lines. You have to phone the FBI.” She did phone the FBI. Now, the FBI, back in the day — I phoned the FBI. They — AMY GOODMAN: They threatened to burn her. VICKY WARD: But she phoned the FBI about the lock box, and was worried, desperately worried, you know, what could they do with nude photographs of her sisters, who were babies, teenagers. AMY GOODMAN: They were her younger sisters. VICKY WARD: And, you know, when I was reporting this piece, you know, the FBI tend not to answer journalists like me, so I wasn’t able to get that record back then. I also phoned the police, and they didn’t — they didn’t produce their records, which I wish they had, because they had a record, too. But, you know, as I think you know and a lot of journalists know how this tragic story ends, which was that when, towards the closing of the piece, I had to go to Jeffrey Epstein and to Ghislaine Maxwell with the allegations of both Maria Farmer as to what had happened, and her younger sister Annie, who had said very clearly on the record that she had been taken to New Mexico for a weekend and had — AMY GOODMAN: To his estate there. VICKY WARD: Yes, and, you know, at the age of 16, and had to have a topless massage from Ghislaine Maxwell. And then, Jeffrey Epstein, one morning, jumped into bed for, quote-unquote, a “cuddle” with her. Epstein went berserk when I put those allegations, as did Ghislaine Maxwell, absolutely berserk. He, you know, suddenly sent over a whole bunch of paperwork that he claimed were letters from their mother, letters from them, that showed that, no, you know, this could not be true. And, you know, the next thing I knew was that as we were closing the piece, a fact-checker sent me a note saying, “You’re not going to believe who’s now in the office at Vanity Fair.” It was Jeffrey Epstein. You know, who knows what happened? AMY GOODMAN: Meeting with? VICKY WARD: Graydon Carter, the editor of the magazine. I do not know what was said in that meeting. I will say, Amy, that I did — AMY GOODMAN: You were about to give birth to twins? VICKY WARD: I was at home on bed rest. I thought we were done with this piece. I did find in these files that — in the first batch that was released, that there was a section in a binder containing photographs, that was called Vanity Fair. I did notice that the photographs in that binder, in that section, were the ones that were used accompanying my piece in the magazine, which is very unusual, because Vanity Fair normally prides itself on its photography as much as it does on its word. So, one has to assume they provided the photographs. One has to ask: What was the quid pro quo? My piece finally ran. The Farmer sisters and their allegations were not in it. And the reason that is so, so, so terrible and devastating is that we had exposed them — I had exposed them — to Ghislaine Maxwell and to Graydon Carter. And the story doesn’t end there. The FBI then phoned me about, I want to say, a year later, 2004, about the Farmer sisters. And I did tell them what had happened. So, I would like to see my interview notes somewhere in these files. AMY GOODMAN: And you haven’t seen them yet. VICKY WARD: No, I have not. AMY GOODMAN: But that certainly is not classified information. VICKY WARD: No. AMY GOODMAN: That is proof, once again — VICKY WARD: Right. AMY GOODMAN: — of all of the information that has not been released. VICKY WARD: A hundred percent. A hundred percent. The other thing I think you see, it’s not just the rollout itself that’s shambles. The content in it kind of paints a picture of a shambolic FBI. You know, this is an FBI that seems to take its lead quite often from the press. I will say it’s interesting. You know, I learned that something I’d reported is kind of laid out on the page clearly, which is that were it not for David Boies, the lawyer who represented Virginia Giuffre in her civil litigation against Ghislaine Maxwell — Virginia sued for defamation. AMY GOODMAN: Who brought down — VICKY WARD: Yes. AMY GOODMAN: — Andrew, the prince. VICKY WARD: Yes. AMY GOODMAN: No longer. VICKY WARD: Right. Virginia, as we know, tragically, died of suicide earlier this year. But you can see in these files, in that litigation, which was in 2016, you can see notes of conversations. David Boies went to the feds. He went to the Southern District, said, “You need to look at what is in these — this discovery, need to look at these depositions, because this shows the bigger crime.” You see the feds tracking this, but you don’t see them doing anything, until, again, you see them pass around links to the Miami Herald, links to Julie Brown’s story in — end of 2018. And it’s almost like they are having to follow, you know, almost like Inspector Clouseau, these breadcrumbs that are left for them by everybody else. And I’m sure the survivors find this really disheartening, in a way, to watch. AMY GOODMAN: Why do you think President Trump has approached this the way he has? And what about the information and all that has come out around him — not necessarily criminal — VICKY WARD: Yeah. AMY GOODMAN: — but the removal of his name from so many different documents? And then you see his name once in a document that was redacted, and so you know that it’s actually him. He’s the one who campaigned on the release of the — VICKY WARD: I know. AMY GOODMAN: — Jeffrey Epstein documents. Now he had to sign this release into law, but the way they are dragging their feet. Talk, as we wrap up, about what you expect to see, the incredible power of the survivors banding together. VICKY WARD: Well, you know, my — this is speculation, but my gut — and I do know President Trump — tells me that he doesn’t like a story in which there’s any sort of gray or nuance that he isn’t somehow the best, the absolute best. And, you know, this is a story which again and again and again brings up his past, and a past that presented a very different portrait of Donald Trump than the one he would like to portray now. I will say that, you know, having sat in the Maxwell trial, we did see his name come up on the screen on the flight logs in that key period, when Maxwell and Epstein were grooming and recruiting one of their major victims up, who was attending Interlochen, a school for artistic gifted children. You did see flight’s name again and — Trump’s name again and again and again on the manifest. And it was a head scratcher, because it was really impossible at that time to put the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle together. AMY GOODMAN: Because he denied being on any flights — VICKY WARD: No. AMY GOODMAN: — and he denied being on the island. VICKY WARD: Well, and I never saw any records of him being on the island. I don’t know if he denied being on any flights. But I think that, you know, you can see, if you’re Trump, this is all too close for comfort, and it’s not very comfortable to have these things out. And Trump being Trump, he’d rather not address it. AMY GOODMAN: And where do you see this going for the survivors and for Pam Bondi? Could she be held in contempt? VICKY WARD: Well, I really hope Congress does their job. I mean, you know, one of the things we need to see in the Trump administration is the different branches of government actually doing what they’re supposed to do and holding each other to account. AMY GOODMAN: Finally, you are the expert on Ghislaine Maxwell. She is now in a minimum-security prison. No sex abuse — no sex perpetrator has been put in a prison camp like she has, after she had interviews with, what, the deputy attorney general, who was Trump’s former attorney. Could you see Trump pardoning her? And she has appealed for the reopening of the case. VICKY WARD: Well, I think two of the people who come out absolutely appallingly from this latest document dump is Ghislaine Maxwell in her correspondence with the former Prince Andrew, arranging, quote-unquote, “inappropriate” girls for him. I think people will be sickened by that. As regarding a pardon, never, never say “never.” But I think President Trump is a man who’s concerned at this point with legacy and with history. And I think if he were to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, that blot would stain all the other things he — accomplishments he likes to talk about that he’s done. So I personally would be shocked. AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you, Vicky Ward. We’ll continue to follow this story. Longtime investigative journalist, host and co-producer of the podcast series Chasing Ghislaine: The Untold Story of the Woman in Epstein’s Shadow, which also became a TV series by the same name.

Democrats have suggested the lack of testimony is yet another way the administration is snubbing the legislative branch.

The political polarization of battery-powered cars may have started when Toyota released its first hybrid model 25 years ago.

The official has a ‘fun and cheeky’ mini-chain offering blowouts in Texas.

New Republic Associate Writer Edith Olmstead argues President Donald Trump's administration violated the Constitution while it was haunting the internet with holiday images invoking Christian nationalism. “The Department of Homeland Security’s tasteless holiday sh——posting may have just violated the United States Constitution,” Olmstead said, citing the federal agency’s official X account publishing multiple Thursday posts that appeared to violate the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government actions that favor one religion over another. “Rejoice America, Christ is born!” read one post. “Merry Christmas, America. We are blessed to share a nation and a Savior,” said another. Olmstead said the second post was likely meant to evoke nostalgia, but mostly stirred nervousness with footage of President Donald Trump spliced into clips of popular holiday movies. “It even included a photograph of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem holding a Christmas tree in Chicago, where she launched a deadly large-scale immigration operation, to really put the eerie in cheery,” said Olmstead, adding that the Trump administration now views the separation between church and state as a suggestion. “It’s fitting that DHS would be the source of this blatant violation, as Noem’s ethnic cleansing approach to homeland security is transparently rooted in xenophobia and Christian nationalism. And the president has continually leaned into Christian nationalist rhetoric in order to please his conservative base,” Olmstead wrote. Similarly, critics like Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, complain that the posts are “one more example of the Christian Nationalist rhetoric the Trump administration has disseminated since Day One in office.” “People of all religions and none should not have to sift through proselytizing messages to access government information,” said Laser. “It’s divisive and un-American.” Read the New Republic report at this link.

President Donald Trump's behavior and appearance is increasingly subjected to scrutiny about whether the commander-in-chief is able to serve out the remainder of his second term. Now, one psychologist is worried that the president is rapidly declining in public. The Daily Beast reported Friday that psychologist Dr. John Gartner, who is a former professor at Johns Hopkins University, believes the president has been increasingly exhibiting "flashing signs" of an "immense cognitive decline." "Because of his cognitive decline, [Trump] is focusing on things like the [White House] ballroom and the paper that he writes things on," Gartner told the Beast. Gartner's assessment about the president's mental health is merely his latest observation, as the psychologist has previously sounded the alarm over Trump's increasingly erratic speech, confused behavior and lapses in memory. Gartner is also the founder of the organization Duty to Warn, which is a coalition of mental health professionals who believe that Trump's advanced age presents a national security risk. His organization also believes that the risk Trump's health overrides the Goldwater Rule (in which medical professionals avoid diagnosing people who aren't their own patients). The Beast's report highlighted how Trump has sparked concern among Americans after he was spotted in public earlier this year with dark bruises on his hands and swollen ankles. The president has also been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, which can sometimes cause blood to pool in the legs. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Beast that the 79 year-old president's health is "excellent" despite Gartner's assessment. "As the President’s physician, Dr. Sean Barbabella, has made clear time and again — and as the American people see with their own eyes every single day — President Trump remains in excellent overall health," she told the outlet. Click here to read the Daily Beast's report in its entirety (subscription required).

President Donald Trump spent the Christmas holiday bombing Nigeria with overpriced and scarce long-range Tomahawk missiles — between social media attacks on Somali immigrants, rationalizing his attempted 2020 election steal and reposting calls to jail his political opponents. But Zeteo reports Department of Defense officials were originally worried Trump’s attacks on Nigeria were going to be more of a protracted war, or worse. “Two Department of Defense officials, one current and one former, tell Zeteo that at this point, they felt relieved that Trump’s Christmas bombing ended up being more targeted than it could have been, given how the president had previously dangled the possibility of sending US ground troops to Nigeria,” wrote Zeteo political Asawin Suebsaeng and politics Editor Andrew Perez. “At least we haven’t invaded yet,” the current DoD official told Zeteo. “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump announced on Truth Social. “The bombing was conducted after he and his government spent weeks threatening military action – even possible invasion – in the African nation, claiming that the Nigerian government was failing to stop the mass murder of Christians,” Zeteo reports. “Nigerian officials and numerous others who have long monitored political violence in the country stress that the Trump administration is spreading misinformation, and that Christians actually make up a smaller percentage of the death tolls than Muslims.” “But as the Trump administration and the MAGA movement enter an increasingly and openly Christian-nationalist phase,” reports Zeteo, “nuances and on-the-ground realities don’t necessarily matter much as Trump weighs what, where, or whom to bomb next.” Zeteo reports Trump pitched himself as a “PEACE PRESIDENT” who would end “forever wars,” but this year alone Trump has launched airstrikes in Iran, Yemen, and Somalia, and his administration has carried out more than “two dozen illegal airstrikes against supposed drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, without providing evidence for such claims.” Trump has also threatened to invade Venezuela in his bid to remove the regime of Nicolás Maduro. Read the Zeteo report at this link.

President Donald Trump's signature trade policy is wreaking havoc on the economy of one of the reddest states in the country, according to the Wall Street Journal. In a Friday editorial, the Journal argued that the recent decision by the Jim Beam distillery to halt production at its Claremont, Kentucky facility for all of 2026 can be chalked up to Trump's tariffs. While the distillery didn't outright blame tariffs for its decision, the Journal pointed out that Canada has continued to hold off on its importing of Kentucky bourbon, which has dealt a significant blow to the Bluegrass State's signature export. "After Mr. Trump picked a tariff fight with Canada, the country responded by pulling U.S. spirits from its shelves. The bilateral relationship has recovered some, but exports didn’t," the editorial read. The Journal chronicled how Canada eventually rolled back its retaliatory tariffs on imported Kentucky bourbon after Trump softened his tariffs on the United States' northern neighbor and key trade partner. However, the uncertainty from the episode has some whiskey distillers like Jim Beam – which makes brands like Knob Creek and Basil Hayden in addition to its namesake spirit — more cautious about its long-term business plans. This is particularly true in the bourbon industry, which depends heavily on long-term plans given that bourbon requires multiple years of aging in barrels before hitting shelves. "Much of the expansion over the last decade has been geared towards global growth," said Kentucky Distillers Association president Eric Gregory in October. "Long-term planning for a product that won’t be ready for years is already tough enough. We need the certainty of tariff-free trade for America’s only native spirit to flourish." The impact of Trump's tariffs on Kentucky's bourbon industry has not gone unnoticed by its Republican leaders. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who led the Senate Republican Conference for nearly two decades, wrote an op-ed in the Louisville Courier-Journal (Kentucky's flagship newspaper) sharply criticizing Trump's tariffs and predicting they would have a detrimental impact on the commonwealth's bourbon industry. The editorial acknowledged that while "changing consumer preferences" can also influence demand, the spirits industry is used to ups and downs. However, the Journal pointed the finger at Trump for giving distilleries one more headache to consider. "The difference now is that it must also manage around Mr. Trump’s tariffs and their consequences," the editorial read. "This is harm inflicted on American workers by their own government." Click here to read the Journal's full editorial (subscription required).

The president is planning to meet with the leader of Ukraine in Florida just as the lawmakers are applying some pressure.

The worst of the worst, ranked 1-25.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has become a frequent target of President Donald Trump's ire, with the president repeatedly singling him out due to his role in advancing the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act. Now, Massie is cashing in on those attacks. Trump spent much of Christmas Day posting to his Truth Social platform, posting missives against his political opponents and rehashing debunked conspiracy theories about his 2020 election loss. But Massie was also included in Trump's posting spree, with the president at one point calling the Kentucky Republican a "lowlife," according to The Hill. "Imagine celebrating a blessed Christmas with your family… suddenly phones alert everyone to the most powerful man in the world attacking you… for fulfilling his campaign promise to help victims!" Massie wrote on his official X account after including a screenshot of Trump's attack on him. "Please support me," Massie added, with a link to his campaign website. The Kentucky Republican followed up his post by announcing that within two hours of him sharing Trump's attack and the donation link, 43 people donated $2,700 to his reelection effort. Massie is running against Trump-endorsed Republican Ed Gallrein in the Republican primary for Kentucky's 4th Congressional District, along with two other opponents. Massie's bid for an eighth term has attracted an inordinate amount of attention from the president dating back to March, when the Kentucky Republican voted against a spending bill Trump wanted passed. Massie also opposed Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" due to his hard stance against authorizing trillions of dollars in new spending (which the law mostly appropriates in the form of massive tax breaks that primarily benefit the wealthiest Americans). In July, Politico identified three pro-Trump billionaires who were writing the biggest checks in the effort to drive Massie out of office. Hedge fund billionaires Paul Singer and Hank Paulson, along with Miriam Adelson (the widow of deceased casino magnate and GOP donor Sheldon Adelson) had spent roughly $2 million against Massie as of this summer. Click here to read The Hill's article in its entirety.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) official in charge of evaluating potential candidates for presidential pardons is accusing President Donald Trump – her former boss – of turning the pardon process on its head. In a Friday op-ed for the New York Times, Liz Oyer, who was the DOJ's pardon attorney under former President Joe Biden and for the first two months of Trump's second administration, condemned Trump's approach to the clemency process and accused him of abusing his Article II powers. Oyer observed that Trump is using the "unfettered executive power" to grant pardons in a way that has served to "degrade, corrupt and politicize the justice system. Oyer recalled how the start of her tenure in the Trump administration involved being blindsided by the president's decision to pardon the approximately 1,500 defendants prosecuted and convicted for crimes relating to the January 6, 2021 siege of the U.S. Capitol. She reminded readers that some January 6 defendants were also "charged with or convicted of offenses involving sexual exploitation of children, threats against public officials and even a plot to kill federal employees." "But instead of forcefully confronting the corrosive effects of Mr. Trump’s reckless pardoning, congressional Republicans have chosen to focus on investigating the pardons issued by his predecessor," Oyer wrote. After just two months on the job, Oyer was eventually replaced by Ed Martin, who is a longtime Republican political operative and Trump loyalist who was once even listed as the counsel of record for one of the January 6 defendants whose pardon he approved. His motto became "no MAGA left behind" and he quickly converted the DOJ's pardon office into a vehicle for granting rapid clemency to far-right criminals. She lamented that pardons under Trump has become explicitly political and called for order to be restored to the clemency process. "Our elected representatives are doing us no favors when they proceed as if what we are witnessing is typical or acceptable," she wrote. "Americans deserve an impartial assessment of all the misuses of the pardon power that we have seen from presidents of both parties." "This isn’t — shouldn’t be, at least — a partisan concern," Oyer added. "It is an issue that should alarm anyone who cares to live in a safe, fair and free country." Click here to read Oyer's ful op-ed in the New York Times (subscription required).

The first year of President Donald Trump's second term has been rife with examples of the president doing something previously believed to be illegal until it was eventually upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). Now, two legal experts are arguing that the next Democratic president should take advantage of the new vastly expanded presidential powers sanctioned by the nation's highest court. In a Friday article for Slate, legal journalists Mark Joseph Stern and Dahlia Lithwick laid out how the next Democrat to be elected president of the United States should govern in their first 24 hours, under the new legal boundaries SCOTUS granted the White House under the Trump administration. Stern argued that because SCOTUS has blessed the "unitary executive" theory that all powers delegated to the executive branch and federal agencies can be unilaterally exercised by the president, the next president — he named Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) as a stand-in example — should take after Trump's example and "wield those powers aggressively." "How does that cash out? First, let’s remember that the Supreme Court has now effectively granted the president authority to impound federal funds duly appropriated by Congress and to abolish federal agencies established and funded by Congress," Stern wrote. "I think that is terrible and anti-constitutional. But thanks to the Supreme Court, that is now the law. So let’s talk about what President AOC can do with those powers in 2029." "On Day 1, she needs to impound ICE’s budget. She needs to refuse to spend the billions of dollars that Congress has appropriated to the agency and fire tens of thousands of immigration agents immediately, starting with those who committed acts of violence and discrimination — which, by that point, may be almost all of them," he continued. "Close as many immigrant detention facilities as possible and free the detainees." Stern then argued that a Democratic president could then repurpose ICE's budget as a reparations fund for families of immigrants who were improperly deported or denied due process, release the names of all agents who broke the law and prosecute every lawbreaking agent for crimes who wasn't preemptively pardoned by Trump. He reminded readers that all of this would be "100 percent legal under the precedent established by Trump and the Supreme Court." "Take these powers and use them to undo Trump’s legacy and really flood the zone," he added. "Blitz the country with these executive orders on Day 1 and dare anybody to stop you." Lithwick agreed with Stern's points, and noted that while many Americans would like to see a return to "norms" that were violated during the Trump administration, Democrats constraining their own powers to adhere to norms after a norm-breaking Republican presidency would only cement the idea that Republicans are free to violate norms whenever they're in power. Stern agreed, and asserted that the only way norms can be restored is if Democrats demonstrate to Republicans what happens under a Democratic administration when they bulldoze all institutional guardrails. "It can only work if Democrats give Republicans a taste of their own medicine and remind them why the norms were there in the first place," he said. Click here to read Lithwick and Stern's full conversation.

President Donald Trump has seemingly wedged a decade's worth of head-spinning decisions, feuds, gaffes and scandals into his first year back in the White House, and according to a year-end analysis fromThe Independent, at least four "outrageous" stories got buried in obscurity amid the onslaught of news. As the outlet noted, Trump and the wider MAGA political movement are well-known for adhering to Steve Bannon's "flood the zone" strategy, which involves inundating the press and observers with so much newsworthy content that they cannot keep up, allowing some objectionable things to skate by unnoticed. The first story The Independent highlighted was the "Friday-night massacre" of watchdog officials. Just five days into his second term, Trump fired "independent inspectors general who root out waste, fraud and abuse within federal agencies and departments" from nearly every cabinet-level agency, violating laws requiring him to give notice to Congress before doing so. Trump attempted to claim that such firings were "very common" and accused the fired officials of "unfair conduct." The Independent observed that this move allowed the positions to be filled with "loyalists." The second story highlighted was Trump's claim — less than a month into his second term — that the U.S. would take control of the Gaza region, "displacing the 2.1 million Palestinians living there while the territory is rebuilt as 'the Riviera of the Middle East.'" The claim came during a visit from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and "sent Middle East experts’ heads spinning" while also generating accusations of ethnic cleansing. Trump claimed that “everybody” he had told about the plan “loves the idea." It was, however, swiftly denounced by both Saudi Arabia and Hamas, with the latter calling it "ridiculous and absurd." The third story highlighted came in April, when Trump used an executive order to target one specific individual, Miles Taylor, who had been a vocal critic of his political machinations for years. Taylor previously worked as chief of staff for John Kelly, Trump's first Homeland Security Secretary from his first term, and famously penned an anonymous New York Times op-ed critical of Trump and the people inside the administration working to "shield the government from [his] worst instincts." The White House claimed Taylor was being stripped "of any active clearance that he has in light of his past activities involving classified information," though nothing he ever published in his criticisms of Trump was ever accused of involving classified information. The same day, Trump issued a similar order stripping clearances from Chris Krebs and his employer, SentinelOne, of security clearances. Krebs worked as a cybersecurity official in Trump's first term and incurred the president's wrath after his 2020 election loss when he claimed that race had been the most secure one in American history, throwing cold water on Trump's fraud claims. The final story highlighted a quote Trump shared to social media less than a month after he was sworn in, citing a Napoleon quote to claim that he was above the law. "He who saves his Country does not violate any Law," a post to Trump's Truth Social and X accounts read. The post came as Trump's sweeping executive orders, aiming to reshape the government in his image, and his mass layoffs of government employees were being met with stern pushback from federal judges.

Explicitly sectarian religious messages for Christmas on official government social media accounts drew complaints from advocates for church-state separation.

Courts have ruled against Trump’s efforts to take security clearances away from opposing lawyers. The latest loss comes in a case involving lawyer Mark Zaid.

President Donald Trump's shakedown has gone beyond his own personal profits; now he's being called a presidential pirate who has twisted "America First" into using the government to take what it wants from anywhere in the world. The Bulwark's Will Saletan is calling out Trump for what he's calling the outright "plundering" of the world. In a Friday column, Saletan mocked Trump's claims that he's the real president of peace while in the same week he bombed Nigeria on Christmas, outlined his future plot to take over Greenland and take oil from Venezuela. "It’s not peace. It’s extortion, conquest, and theft," said Saletan. Each of Trump's decisions, he believes, is based on money. "He arm-twists companies into giving the government a chunk of their stock," wrote Saletan. "He withholds food stamps as a bargaining chip. He calls low-income housing an offense against rich people. He muses about awarding himself $1 billion from the Treasury." The same could be said for the way in which Trump has handled international relations. Tariffs aren't strategic, Trump says they “pay for the privilege of access to our market." Trump is selling "golden visas" to multimillionaires while trying to ban asylum seekers from “third world countries.” Saletan described Trump finding a new way to exploit war for his benefit as well. Trump recalled when “they used to say, ‘To the victor belong the spoils.’” But in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea and Vietnam, Trump complained, “We’d win, and then we’d leave.” He told soldiers that in his administration, he would restore profits from wars. Saletan goes through the war against Ukraine, Trump's shakedown of NATO countries and his recent interest in Venezuelan oil. On Monday, Trump announced he'd spoken to "all the big" oil companies in the U.S. about taking over Venezuela after the U.S. pushes out the current government. Even Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) got in on the action, proposing a law that would allow Americans to legally pirate boats and property from drug cartels. "This isn’t the foreign policy many of Trump’s voters wanted," closed Saletan. "They thought 'America First' meant staying home. Instead, Trump has gone abroad to seize land and treasure. He’s a pirate. And being a pirate is all fun and games until somebody loses an island." Read the full column here.

When President Donald Trump announced the creation of the White House Faith Office on February 7, he appointed far-right evangelical pastor and televangelist Paula White as its leader. Rev. White is a longtime spiritual adviser to Trump, giving an inaugural invocation during his first presidential inauguration on January 20, 2017. And she claimed the 2020 election was stolen from Trump by "demonic forces." White once equated defying Trump with defying God, and she is the target of brutal mockery in a video posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday, December 26 by Republicans Against Trump — not to be confused with the conservative Never Trump group formerly known as Republican Voters Against Trump. Organizers for that group, now called Republican Accountability (RA), have included Bill Kristol, Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller and other well-known conservative Trump opponents associated with The Bulwark. The video shows a collage of White making over-the-top comments, including "Wherever I go, God rules. When I walk on White House grounds, God walks on White House grounds….. I had every right to declare the White House holy ground because I was standing there. And where I stand is holy." One of the clips shows White saying, "To say no to President Trump would be saying no to God, and I won't do that." And White, in another clip, describes Trump's opponents as "demonic." "Let every demonic network that has aligned itself against the purpose — against the calling of President Trump — let it be broken," White declares in that clips. "Let it be torn down in the name of Jesus." — (@)

While he may have managed to score reelection last year with a popular vote lead, Donald Trump's "avalanche of outrages" over the course of 2025 have reaffirmed that he is "unfit for office," according to an extensive and scathing breakdown from the editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer. As the board noted at the start of its new piece, it "spent 2024 warning of the dangers a second Trump administration could bring." As his first year back draws to a close, the board argued that none of his shocking decisions and actions have been surprising; it's only surprise about it all has been "the speed with which he has upended the American Experiment." Suggesting that voters last year may have been swayed by Trump's "undeniable luck, charisma, and bravado" and "nostalgia for a pre-pandemic America," the board argued that his reelection has proven to be "a folly" where he is "no longer constrained by the guardrails the conservative establishment placed on his first presidential stint." His first term, meanwhile, was "a fluke," which saw his "worst impulses... kept in check by his cabinet" and with an economy that "sailed swiftly on the course inherited from President Barack Obama." "Instead of allowing inflation to continue to abate and the U.S. economy to live up to its label as 'the envy of the world,' he haphazardly and likely illegally instituted tariffs on global trading partners that amount to a tax on American consumers," the board explained. "Rather than sitting back and taking credit for curtailing immigration at the southern border, which concerned a large number of voters, he’s lost public support as masked federal agents abuse, harass, and intimidate immigrants and citizens alike." The board continued: "Trump’s signature legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, is set to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, all while a shrinking middle continues to lose faith in America’s institutions — some of which have willingly acquiesced to whatever Trump demands." All the while, Trump has also been using the presidency to enrich "himself, his family, and his cronies" at the expense of everyday Americans, a push typified by the Big Beautiful Bill tax cuts, which disproportionately and overwhelmingly favor the wealthiest Americans. Indeed, a recent report from Politico found that the economy is currently being propped up by spending splurges by the wealthiest 10% of US residents, while everyone else struggles to get by and becomes increasingly agitated over Trump's mishandling of their economy. "As 2025 ends and a new year begins, we must not allow the avalanche of outrages to numb us to the fact that Trump remains unfit for office," the board concluded.