Good morning,
Welcome to MS NOW’s Sunday Spotlight, where you can find a selection of the week’s most interesting and important stories.
First, some breaking news: U.S. Secret Service officers shot a man after he opened fire at a security checkpoint outside the White House on Saturday evening, the Secret Service said in a statement. The gunman was taken to a hospital where he later died. A bystander was also shot in the incident, the Secret Service said, and it’s unclear whether the bystander was struck by the gunman or an officer.
President Donald Trump also announced Saturday that his administration had “largely” reached a deal with Iran that would include reopening the Strait of Hormuz following a call with Muslim leaders of Middle East countries and separately, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Follow MS NOW’s coverage for updates.
Meanwhile, Trump ruined another political career, Americans have a way to push back on his plan to give his allies money, a Democratic report on the 2024 election was not well received and Republicans may come to regret the president’s revenge tour. Plus, a legendary comedian’s melancholy swan song.
Don’t forget to check out more top columns and videos from the week below.
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Gabbard out: Tulsi Gabbard’s curious and confounding political journey has come to an end. The former Democratic representative, who ran for president selling “No War With Iran” T-shirts, joined the Trump administration to serve as director of national intelligence, where she made a mockery of what she had long said were her core principles, argues political commentator Ben Burgis. When Trump announced the military operation in Iran, the one-time opponent of regime change toed the line, and hung on a little longer at a great cost to her reputation. Read more.
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Clawing back: Trump’s proposed fund of nearly $1.8 billion to compensate supposed victims of government “weaponization” is the latest in a long series of attempts by the president and those around him to profit off the government. But there is a way that Americans can fight back, argue Justin Florence and Justin Vail of Protect Democracy. A legal procedure known as “disgorgement” allows the government to claw back ill-gotten gains, and because it pertains to civil and not criminal law, it’s not affected by the Supreme Court’s broad grant of presidential immunity in Trump v. United States. Read more.
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Dead on arrival: The Democratic National Committee’s autopsy of the 2024 election is being so poorly received that it may need an autopsy of its own. After months of delays, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the report, which has been almost universally panned by the Democrats it was supposed to help, write Eugene Daniels and Hunter Woodall. The report has no mention of Israel and Gaza or President Joe Biden’s age and unpopularity, and multiple people who participated say it had a flawed and secretive methodology. Read more.
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Cycle of revenge: The president is getting revenge on his critics, taking out Republicans in primary after primary and making a potentially decisive endorsement of controversial Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a primary runoff. But while these are wins for Trump now, they may not be in the long term, argues Hayes Brown. Already, Senate Republicans are reportedly “livid” at Trump’s endorsement of Paxton, and another Trump target, outgoing Sen. Bill Cassidy, has spoken out on parts of Trump’s agenda. If Paxton loses in November, things could get even worse. Read more.
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The late “Late Show”: The final week of episodes of “The Late Show” featured a subdued Stephen Colbert — he called himself “final week Steve” — who seemed resigned to his fate and even ready to move on, argues Jacques Berlinerblau. Defenders of the program have made clear that they believe it was canceled because CBS’ corporate parent, Paramount, was hoping to curry favor with the Trump administration as it sought approval for a merger. Colbert’s placid manner in his final shows seemed to indicate that he recognized the checkmate that CBS and Trump issued to him and to free speech in general. Read more.
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On the night of Sept. 21, police officers in Lexington, Tennessee, handcuffed Larry Bushart and put him in jail, where he remained for 37 days on a $2 million bond. His crime? Posting a political meme. In a Facebook discussion about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Bushart posted a meme quoting Trump’s comments after a school shooting in Iowa: “We have to get over it.” Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems knew at the time that the meme was not a threat, argues Cary Davis, a staff attorney with Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which represented Bushart in a lawsuit over his First Amendment rights that ended with an $835,000 settlement. But the fight over free speech continues, as government officials continue to try to shut down critical viewpoints with flimsy claims of threatening language. Read the column here.
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Watch Jen Psaki, Alicia Menendez, Ari Melber, Jonathan Capehart, Catherine Rampell and others in conversation at The Center for American Progress IDEAS conference, where the country’s top progressive leaders preview policy ideas expected to shape national debate. Plus, catch Symone Sanders Townsend’s conversation with Sen. Raphael Warnock on voting rights and Chris Hayes’ discussion with Ezra Klein on artificial intelligence. Watch “We The People: America’s Future” Friday at 9 p.m. ET on MS NOW.
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This week on “The Best People,” Nicolle Wallace is joined by Chris Hayes to discuss how Democrats can rebuild faith in government in a low trust democracy and what we can learn from our political past. Plus, a dive into his new podcast series, “Why Is This Happening: The AI End Game,” and what deeper questions we should be asking about artificial intelligence. Listen now, and subscribe to MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts for early access, ad-free listening and bonus content.
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