Election denial, again: As California continues its methodical counting of late-arriving mail ballots, Trump took to social media to claim, without evidence, that fraud was taking place. This claim is particularly bizarre, as Republicans are actually doing just fine in the state’s primaries, argues Paul Waldman. But if you look at Trump’s history of election denial, the repeated claims are part of a broader effort to “seize control of the entire country’s elections so he can control who is allowed to vote.” The Supreme Court and some Republican states have turned out to be allies in that effort to undermine democracy. Read more.
|
Mortgaging the future? Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte has none of the relevant experience expected of the director of national intelligence. But Trump’s decision to name him acting DNI makes sense when you consider he used his FHFA job to find leverage against the president’s critics, referring at least four of them to the Justice Department for investigation of alleged mortgage fraud and getting involved in a pressure campaign against the Federal Reserve, argues Hayes Brown. This history makes his appointment even more risky when considering that he’ll be “dealing with the life-and-death stakes of foreign intelligence.” Read more.
|
Ground stops: Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin recently threatened to halt or limit federal help at airports in so-called “sanctuary cities.” But the consequences of such a move would ripple through supply chains, disrupt international travel and hurt U.S. businesses that work overseas, argues former Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief of staff Jason Houser. The threat to airports generates headlines and puts local officials on the defensive, but they do little to address the immigration issues that the country is facing. “Airports are not political bargaining chips,” Houser argues. Read more.
|
The good wife: The first response that Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner had exchanged sexually explicit texts on the messaging app Kik came from his wife. In a video shared on the candidate’s X account, Amy Gertner appears frustrated, rambles and even swears as she voices her exasperation that the media is focusing on their marriage instead of his policy ideas, argues Lyz Lenz, author of “This American Ex-Wife.” The video is hard to watch because it is “all too familiar” — the wife of a politician answering for his alleged misdeeds, whether it’s Bill Clinton, Eliot Spitzer or Mark Sanford. Read more.
|
Diet culture: Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton and his Republican allies have zeroed in on an attack line on Democratic rival James Talarico: his diet. In recent days, they’ve claimed, falsely, that he’s a vegan; paid a strange amount of attention to the fact that his girlfriend is vegan; nicknamed him “Tofu Talarico”; criticized his order of potato, egg and cheese breakfast tacos; and claimed, falsely, that he wants to ban barbecue, argues Kai Ma. But their real beef is not with whether Talarico eats it: The underlying issue here is that concern over a supposed crisis of masculinity has swept through conservative circles. Read more.
|
|
|
|
Public health professionals often talk about the problem of “medical mistrust” in the African American community. But that unfairly puts the burden on the patient, rather than on the institutions that have let them down time and time again, argues Dr. Uché Blackstock, founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity. From taking cancer cells from Henrietta Lacks without her knowledge or consent and commercializing them for medical research to conducting an experiment on untreated syphilis at Tuskegee, the medical community has done a lot to damage that trust. That’s one reason why Dr. Dina Strachan created “Find A Black Doctor” in 2005. But now, an anti-DEI group and a white physician have filed a lawsuit claiming the site amounts to discrimination. Read the column here.
|
|
|
|
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.
|
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.
|
|
|
|
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
|
|
|
|
|
