Rick Stengel
@rickstengel.bsky.social
Former Under Secretary of State in Obama admin & Editor of TIME. Author of “Information Wars: How We Lost the Battle Against Disinformation” & the audiobook, “Mandela: The Lost Tapes.” Analyst @MSNOW
You can never overestimate how little he knows. For 50 years, a foundation of his party has been "you need guns," and that the Second Amendment guarantees you the right to have have them wherever and whenever you want.
Trump: "You can't have guns...You can't walk in with guns. You can't do that."
January 28, 2026 at 2:23 PM
You can never overestimate how little he knows. For 50 years, a foundation of his party has been "you need guns," and that the Second Amendment guarantees you the right to have have them wherever and whenever you want.
Statement from the now former Republican candidate for Minnesota Governor. “It is clear that what is happening is people from DHS are just stopping people, and in some cases, detaining them merely based on the color of their skin without any reasonable articulation of a violation of the law.”
Republican Ends His Run for Minnesota Governor, Citing Immigration Crackdown
www.nytimes.com
January 27, 2026 at 1:37 PM
Statement from the now former Republican candidate for Minnesota Governor. “It is clear that what is happening is people from DHS are just stopping people, and in some cases, detaining them merely based on the color of their skin without any reasonable articulation of a violation of the law.”
I've covered Republican and Democratic administrations and worked in a Democratic one, and I've always given the benefit of the doubt to the federal government's explanation of events. Maybe that was naive, but I saw people in government, in both parties,...
Opinion | The Trump Administration Is Lying to Our Faces. Congress Must Act.
www.nytimes.com
January 26, 2026 at 1:15 PM
I've covered Republican and Democratic administrations and worked in a Democratic one, and I've always given the benefit of the doubt to the federal government's explanation of events. Maybe that was naive, but I saw people in government, in both parties,...
1. Minnesota does not have an immigration problem.
2. Federal agents appear to have killed an innocent US citizen exercising his constitutionally protected right to protest.
3. Then federal officials, starting with the president, lied about it.
2. Federal agents appear to have killed an innocent US citizen exercising his constitutionally protected right to protest.
3. Then federal officials, starting with the president, lied about it.
January 25, 2026 at 1:48 PM
1. Minnesota does not have an immigration problem.
2. Federal agents appear to have killed an innocent US citizen exercising his constitutionally protected right to protest.
3. Then federal officials, starting with the president, lied about it.
2. Federal agents appear to have killed an innocent US citizen exercising his constitutionally protected right to protest.
3. Then federal officials, starting with the president, lied about it.
In compliance with the president's executive order mandating the Park Service to "focus on the achievements of the American people," I am posting this image of ordinary Americans bravely marching in support of freedom of speech and assembly and against federal overreach.
in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today
January 24, 2026 at 1:46 PM
In compliance with the president's executive order mandating the Park Service to "focus on the achievements of the American people," I am posting this image of ordinary Americans bravely marching in support of freedom of speech and assembly and against federal overreach.
I remember back in the 70s there was a popular conservative/libertarian bumper sticker that read, “I love my country but I fear my government.” That’s a pretty good summary for what we are seeing today.
January 23, 2026 at 11:20 PM
I remember back in the 70s there was a popular conservative/libertarian bumper sticker that read, “I love my country but I fear my government.” That’s a pretty good summary for what we are seeing today.
I’m announcing that I have the outline of the configuration of the architecture of the framework of a possible, very possible, extremely possible future deal that if consummated, if concluded, if ratified, will perhaps be the greatest deal of all the deals ever made in history.
January 22, 2026 at 12:24 PM
I’m announcing that I have the outline of the configuration of the architecture of the framework of a possible, very possible, extremely possible future deal that if consummated, if concluded, if ratified, will perhaps be the greatest deal of all the deals ever made in history.
Strong leaders do not ask for gratitude.
January 21, 2026 at 7:46 PM
Strong leaders do not ask for gratitude.
Carney's speech at Davos is the most important and brave articulation of this new world order and this moment that I have seen. He is saying things we all know but have been too afraid to say. And as far as going forward is concerned, "Nostalgia is not a strategy."
January 21, 2026 at 1:35 PM
Carney's speech at Davos is the most important and brave articulation of this new world order and this moment that I have seen. He is saying things we all know but have been too afraid to say. And as far as going forward is concerned, "Nostalgia is not a strategy."
"Nostalgia is not a strategy." — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
January 21, 2026 at 1:02 PM
"Nostalgia is not a strategy." — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
With the president threatening 200% tariffs on French wine if Macron does not join his Gaza board, it shows once again that he regards tariffs not as a tool to help American workers but as a weapon to attack his adversaries. Once again, the loser is the American taxpayer.
January 20, 2026 at 1:59 PM
With the president threatening 200% tariffs on French wine if Macron does not join his Gaza board, it shows once again that he regards tariffs not as a tool to help American workers but as a weapon to attack his adversaries. Once again, the loser is the American taxpayer.
The idea that he disdains the mainstream news and elite institutions is laughable. He worships them. Interviews with the New York Times, the Atlantic, Reuters, CBS, and a trip to Davos. He craves their approval.
January 20, 2026 at 1:33 AM
The idea that he disdains the mainstream news and elite institutions is laughable. He worships them. Interviews with the New York Times, the Atlantic, Reuters, CBS, and a trip to Davos. He craves their approval.
The president's recent comment that white people had been "very badly treated" because of the civil rights movement betrays such a biased and backward reading of our history.
January 19, 2026 at 1:40 PM
The president's recent comment that white people had been "very badly treated" because of the civil rights movement betrays such a biased and backward reading of our history.
Great nations decline when they turn the tools of state designed to protect them from foreign threats on their own citizens.
D.H.S.’s Role Questioned as Immigration Officers Flood U.S. Cities
www.nytimes.com
January 18, 2026 at 1:06 PM
Great nations decline when they turn the tools of state designed to protect them from foreign threats on their own citizens.
The president's threat to impose tariffs on countries that oppose his desire to acquire Greenland shows that he does not see tariffs as an economic tool to help America, but as a weapon to hurt his enemies. That's the fundamental nature of his entire presidency.
January 17, 2026 at 1:40 PM
The president's threat to impose tariffs on countries that oppose his desire to acquire Greenland shows that he does not see tariffs as an economic tool to help America, but as a weapon to hurt his enemies. That's the fundamental nature of his entire presidency.
He thinks it's an actual prize, like a trinket in a box of Cracker Jacks.
Machado Presents Trump With Her Nobel Peace Prize Medal
www.nytimes.com
January 16, 2026 at 12:47 PM
He thinks it's an actual prize, like a trinket in a box of Cracker Jacks.
The authoritarian playbook is to use the resistance their violent actions provoke as a pretext to take control. That's what's happening in Minneapolis.
January 15, 2026 at 10:20 PM
The authoritarian playbook is to use the resistance their violent actions provoke as a pretext to take control. That's what's happening in Minneapolis.
If an American president's irrational imperialist aspirations for Greenland triggers a rift between the US and NATO that might be the one method Putin hasn't tried over the years to break up NATO.
January 15, 2026 at 10:01 PM
If an American president's irrational imperialist aspirations for Greenland triggers a rift between the US and NATO that might be the one method Putin hasn't tried over the years to break up NATO.
It’s not that he’s against forever wars; he’s against wars that don’t make money.
January 14, 2026 at 11:26 PM
It’s not that he’s against forever wars; he’s against wars that don’t make money.
Attention Mr. Tariff:
• According to the Institute for Supply management, US factory growth has contracted for 10 straight months.
• US manufacturing is at a 14-month low.
• The US is losing, not gaining factory jobs.
• According to the Institute for Supply management, US factory growth has contracted for 10 straight months.
• US manufacturing is at a 14-month low.
• The US is losing, not gaining factory jobs.
January 14, 2026 at 12:53 PM
Attention Mr. Tariff:
• According to the Institute for Supply management, US factory growth has contracted for 10 straight months.
• US manufacturing is at a 14-month low.
• The US is losing, not gaining factory jobs.
• According to the Institute for Supply management, US factory growth has contracted for 10 straight months.
• US manufacturing is at a 14-month low.
• The US is losing, not gaining factory jobs.
1. For the 1000th time, he governs like a mob boss.
2. Targeting political rivals is what happens in corrupt authoritarian countries.
3. Jerome Powell has more integrity than all the people prosecuting him put together.
2. Targeting political rivals is what happens in corrupt authoritarian countries.
3. Jerome Powell has more integrity than all the people prosecuting him put together.
January 12, 2026 at 1:31 PM
1. For the 1000th time, he governs like a mob boss.
2. Targeting political rivals is what happens in corrupt authoritarian countries.
3. Jerome Powell has more integrity than all the people prosecuting him put together.
2. Targeting political rivals is what happens in corrupt authoritarian countries.
3. Jerome Powell has more integrity than all the people prosecuting him put together.
We are becoming the kind of country people used to flee to come to America.
January 12, 2026 at 12:58 PM
We are becoming the kind of country people used to flee to come to America.
I have news for the Vice President: there is indeed a vast "left-wing network" of people in America and the media who do not want masked militarized federal agents in our cities, who support free speech and the right to protest, who believe in the Constitution and free and fair elections.
January 11, 2026 at 1:11 PM
I have news for the Vice President: there is indeed a vast "left-wing network" of people in America and the media who do not want masked militarized federal agents in our cities, who support free speech and the right to protest, who believe in the Constitution and free and fair elections.
Who would have ever thought that it would be a president of the United States who would threaten to invade NATO territory and not Vladimir Putin?
January 9, 2026 at 5:40 PM
Who would have ever thought that it would be a president of the United States who would threaten to invade NATO territory and not Vladimir Putin?
The president of the United States saying that the one thing that constrains his power is "my own morality" is the saddest, scariest, funniest, most unconstitutional thing he has ever said.
January 9, 2026 at 3:07 PM
The president of the United States saying that the one thing that constrains his power is "my own morality" is the saddest, scariest, funniest, most unconstitutional thing he has ever said.