Trump’s Chaos Economy Could Trigger a Debt Crisis Americans are struggling to repay their student and car loans, mortgages, credit card bills, and even “buy now, pay later”—an avalanche of debt that could bury the entire economy.

Welcome to Trump's Chaos Economy, where we might be on the verge of a household debt crisis. newrepublic.com/article/2093...

As a matter of principle, you can either have a dinner that celebrates the First Amendment or you can have a dinner that features Donald Trump. You can’t have both because the president holds the freedom of the press in contempt. www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump...

Trump’s Chaos Economy Could Trigger a Debt Crisis Americans are struggling to repay their student and car loans, mortgages, credit card bills, and even “buy now, pay later”—an avalanche of debt that could bury the entire economy.

If you want to know why people are worried about their finances, it's because we're in the Chaos Economy. newrepublic.com/article/2093...

Trump’s Chaos Economy Could Trigger a Debt Crisis Americans are struggling to repay their student and car loans, mortgages, credit card bills, and even “buy now, pay later”—an avalanche of debt that could bury the entire economy.

Last year Seth Frotman and Julie Margetta Morgan at Protect Borrowers called the extra interest borrowers were paying b/c of tariffs the "Trump Chaos Tax." Now we're in the Trump Chaos Economy, and we might be on the verge of a debt crisis: newrepublic.com/article/2093...

yiiiikes

For @jewishcurrents.bsky.social I wrote about the decimation of the right to asylum. I went into the history of asylum, how it was formalized post the World Wars, how it was never properly implemented, and how its destruction paves the path for authoritarianism.

jewishcurrents.org/the-death-of...

Which fears about the 2026 midterms are likeliest to come true? We asked 37 election experts. Experts say it’s unlikely that the SAVE America Act will affect the midterms; they are more worried about law enforcement showing up at polling places.

How likely do election experts think the Trump admin interferes with the midterm elections? Important new piece from @baseballot.bsky.social www.votebeat.org/national/202...

2025 Politico headline: Trump on Texas redistricting: ‘We are entitled to 5 more seats’

John Gramlich skeet quoting Trump in NYT today: Trump: “I don’t know if you know what gerrymandering is, but it’s not good.”

A sowing/reaping for the ages

Also, if you have a BA in English but you wind up writing partisan propaganda that is based in the past, that does not make you a "historian"

We historians actually spend a good bit of time actually learning how to do this stuff, and it saves us from making these kinds of whoppers in our work.

This piece begins with Amity Shlaes' most common and most deceitful trick -- citing the unemployment numbers in 1938, when the country fell into a recession because FDR had been persuaded to *ease off* the New Deal, as proof that the New Deal didn't work.

Pure hackery.

Trump Library Saga Takes Dark Turn: Where Did Millions in Funding Go? Four huge media conglomerates forked over $63 million in “settlements” earmarked for Trump’s presidential library. Democrats are trying to track that money—and the latest developments don’t inspire confidence.

Four huge media conglomerates forked over $63M in “settlements” earmarked for Trump’s presidential library. Dems are trying to track that money, given Trump’s “vast tide of corruption and self-enrichment."

The latest developments are “deeply troubling." trib.al/a4HnTXt

I decided to be clever about this for some reason, but Matt Yglesias has a post today about why dogs don't need anti-discrimination legislation (I couldn't read it because it was paywalled.) I just wanted to remind folks that most legislation around dogs is about people and public safety.

Sorry it's Matt Yglesias's substack today.

US Adults’ Perceptions of Dog Breed Bans, Dog Aggression and Breed-Specific Laws Dog aggression directed towards people is a leading reason for relinquishment and a major public health hazard. In response to the threat of dog aggression and dog bites, breed-specific legislation ha...

Also, people tend to know this: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Position Statement on Breed-Specific Legislation Despite the well-established strength of the human-animal bond (Wensley, 2008), exemplified by the nearly 74 million dogs kept as companion animals in the United States, coexistence is not always peac...

www.aspca.org/about-us/asp...

How breed bans hurt pets and people Raise the bar for dogs, families and communities by fighting harmful breed-specific policies.

www.humaneworld.org/en/resources...

NACA Statement on Breed Specific Legislation - National Animal Care & Control Association

www.nacanet.org/naca-stateme...

I see someone has a hard-hitting hot take this morning. I have rescued tons of dogs (literally stopped on highways to save their lives bc my community didn't have good animal control or laws) I'm going to post links on why breed specific legislation is bad for PEOPLE: www.avma.org/resources-to...

Commission of Fine Arts votes to move ahead with Trump's proposed victory arch The seven-member body, whose ranks are composed of Trump appointees, was expected to approve the arch. The proposed monument strongly resembles Paris' Arc de Triomphe, but almost 100 feet taller.

The seven-member body, whose ranks are composed of Trump appointees, was expected to approve the arch. The proposed monument strongly resembles Paris' Arc de Triomphe, but almost 100 feet taller. n.pr/3O5czfK

Palantir put out the most cartoonishly evil statement possible. They’re so arrogant and self-confident they don’t seem to believe their fascistic plans can be opposed.

We must get rid of Palantir altogether.

twitter-thread.com/t/2045574398...

this is just a warmed over david duke speech from 1990

Ossoff: I don’t know if you saw, but JD Vance was in Georgia this week. Don’t worry—no one showed up. The stadium was empty.

"... to understand different points of view, as long as they're rooted in facts..."

This is practically a radical statement for a journalist to say these days. I wish more would openly embrace it.

Rümeysa Öztürk, Tufts University grad arrested by ICE agents last year, returns to Turkey - The Boston Globe The government and Öztürk’s legal team have jointly moved to dismiss her immigration proceedings.

America is losing a talented researcher today.
Rümeysa Öztürk, whose abduction by masked men prompted a search and her eventual release by ICE, has returned to Turkey. She wants to resume a career without "state-imposed violence and hostility."
www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/17/m...

Meanwhile….

A new filing in Trump’s $10 billion dollar civil case against his own IRS signals that the parties are in settlement discussions.

Trump sued over prior disclosure of his tax returns.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

My Friday thought is that there aren't enough small houses an they're aren't enough big apartments.

I don't want to spoil The Pitt's finale for anyone, but I will say that my partner got to listen to every single one of my rants over the course of this season.

I've lived in Northern Ireland all my life and I have heard stupid shit you wouldn't believe about religion. The dumbest stuff from people who think dinosaurs lived 6,000 years ago.

Never heard anyone say 'the Pope doesn't represent the Catholic Church'

Trump Is Quietly Showing His True Feelings About Gig Workers The president claims to be cutting taxes for independent contractors like DoorDash deliverers. Meanwhile, his administration is working behind the scenes to undo protections they gained under Biden.

The Trump DOL is rolling back Biden-era rules that expanded the definition of who counted as an employee vs. an independent contractor. That's going to impact the DoorDash grandma and many other gig economy workers. My latest @newrepublic.com newrepublic.com/article/2091...

This was absolutely one of the most striking things about moving from suburban Atlanta to Manhattan when I was in my 20s. I remember being back home for a visit and, like, struggling to articulate to my parents just how different—and how much better and friendlier—the world felt on foot.