Thursday, September 03, 2026
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TODAY'S TOP MADDOWBLOG POSTS
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It’s not normal for lawmakers from a president’s own political party to publicly call for the defense secretary’s ouster.
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“We cannot bomb our way out of a drug crisis,” one key senator said. “We tried that for decades and it failed.”
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“We cannot bomb our way out of a drug crisis,” one key senator said. “We tried that for decades and it failed.”
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A day later, Team Trump has come up with a talking point to explain the commerce secretary’s latest mistake. It’s literally unbelievable.
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A day later, Team Trump has come up with a talking point to explain the commerce secretary’s latest mistake. It’s literally unbelievable.
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If Hung Cao is expecting his Navy secretary nomination to advance effortlessly, he’s likely to be disappointed.
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If Hung Cao is expecting his Navy secretary nomination to advance effortlessly, he’s likely to be disappointed.
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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR
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- Haitian Student, Despondent Over Ankle Monitor, Dies in Apparent Suicide — The 20-year-old was fitted with a tracking device under a Trump administrative initiative targeting Haitians in Springfield, Ohio.
(New York Times)
- "The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that over a million children have lost food benefits since July 2025, when the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law. "
As millions of kids lose SNAP food benefits, free school meals are also at risk
(NPR)
- "Trump’s political advisers have been assuring anxious allies that MAGA Inc., the president’s super PAC that had more than $400 million on hand as of July 31, will come to the rescue during the peak campaign season after Labor Day. But Republicans are increasingly skeptical and suspicious that Trump — who must personally approve the spending — has other ideas."
(Washington Post - gift link)
- September 2:
"Over the “strongest possible” objections from the federal prosecutor handling the case, leaders at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., quashed plans to bring civil rights charges against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent accused of shooting a Venezuelan immigrant and then lying about it. "
(Pro Publica)
September 3:
"Federal prosecutors have charged a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer with lying to investigators about the events leading up to the shooting of a Venezuelan man during the Minneapolis immigration crackdown earlier this year, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press."
...
"But the person familiar with the investigation disputed the prosecutor’s characterization, saying the civil rights probe is continuing and there has been no final decision on whether to bring additional charges. The prosecutor, Matthew Evans, was fired on Thursday and is now under investigation for alleged obstruction of a grand jury probe, the person said."
(Associated Press)
- ICE hasn’t paid for detainee medical care since October. Advocates call it the ‘death policy’
(San Francisco Chronicle)
- "In the wake of a hiring surge last summer, an official in charge of evaluating new recruits to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a dire warning.
The Trump administration, he wrote in a memo, was cutting corners, violating the law and fast-tracking unqualified, “improperly vetted” candidates into ICE’s ranks, part of a dangerous move that exposed the agency — and its law enforcement operations — to “grave national security risks.”
Citing an “unprecedented lowering of standards,” the career ICE official said that “systemic breakdowns” had allowed applicants to receive job offers before they had passed basic fingerprint, identity or credit checks in a preliminary vetting process. Political appointees had unjustly skirted background investigations and received national security eligibility."
(New York Times)
- ICE Plans to Pay $5 Million to Create National Voting Database — As part of a broader DHS surge to investigate alleged voter fraud, ICE has announced it plans to pay up to $5 million to create what amounts to a federal voter database.
(Wired)
- "Judge Wise isn’t the only judge to rule against the administration’s efforts. She relied on the factual findings in American Association of University Professors v. Rubio, in which Judge William Young found that the administration is “engaged in a mode of enforcement leading to detaining, deporting, and revoking noncitizens’ visas solely on the basis of political speech, and with the intent of chilling such speech and that of others similarly situated.”
“Such conduct,” Judge Young wrote, “is not only unconstitutional, but a thing virtually unknown to our constitutional tradition.”"
(New York Times)
- "The EPA proposal would eliminate a federal requirement that states notify the public and seek comment before issuing air pollution permits for data centers and other industrial facilities. States could still offer opportunities for public comment, but the EPA would no longer mandate them as a condition for states to grant permits.
Critics say the move could thwart local residents from learning about proposed data centers or making their voices heard before projects are approved and construction begins. The move comes during a widespread backlash as tech giants build hundreds of massive server warehouses to fuel artificial intelligence and cloud computing."
(AP)
- In Small Iranian Town, a U.S. Attack Turns a Wedding Into a Tragedy — The bomb that hit the residential area was American, according to a weapons expert and a visual analysis by The Times. It killed five people and wounded 67 others, the Iranian authorities said.
(New York Times)
Follow Rachel Maddow on Bluesky here.
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Rachel and the gang are getting out of the studio heading to Arlington, Texas on Saturday, September 26th to hang out with the MS NOW audience.
This forthcoming Membership experience will bring MS NOW fans closer to our hosts and to each other, with real-time connections and exclusive content you can't get on-air.
Each ticket, with prices starting as low as $30, includes a special offer for one year of free access to MS NOW's new membership experience.
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"Department of Fate: The Promise, the Power, and the Collapse of America’s Most Consequential Institution"
comes out November 10 but you can pre-order now.
See MS.NOW/DepartmentOfFate for links and options to pre-order.
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