One thing that happens:
•Reporter works beat
•Reporter gets book deal based on beat
•Ground rules for interviews now stipulate: this is for book
•Reporter learns things that the public ought to know now
•Transactional agreements preclude timely disclosure.
Cf Woodward’s COVID interviews with Trump.
Well…
NYT INVESTIGATION: As the Trump administration & Congress last year moved to repeal sanctions on Syria, the Qatar-based family that most stood to benefit was privately negotiating a real-estate partnership with Jared Kushner and proposing a Trump golf course in Syria www.nytimes.com/2026/04/19/u...
someone who is good at news please help, my brain is dying
CBS News has invited Pete Hegseth and Stephen Miller to join them at that execrable dinner, and now, via @oliverdarcy.bsky.social, we learn that CBS’s parent, Paramount, has invited Brendan Carr.
Yes, that Brendan Carr.
www.status.news/p/brendan-ca...
"Wow, Trump has 100 percent support among MAGA!"
Terrible analysis, terrible punditry.
"LOL! The best MAGA can do is brag about Trump's 100 percent support among MAGA."
Correct, contains crucial insights.
www.offmessage.net/p/maga-is-ea...
Saw an awesome Trump like sticker that read: "You're in a Cult" on the back of a stop sign this weekend.
“The problem isn’t just the war, or the energy crisis, or the debt levels, or the trapped Fed, or the fragility of the A.I. supply chain. It’s all of them simultaneously, potentially compounding one another, processed by a market that believes it will be saved.” www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/o...
Think about it. Trump is picking fewer and fewer fights with blue states, universities, law firms, etc. And more with, e.g., the Catholic Church and the business community and the pro-Trump infotainment universe. www.offmessage.net/p/maga-is-ea...
And what's worse (or, rather, better) is that by the nature of pro-Trump politics, this means MAGA is devouring itself. MAGA isn't about fealty to Movement Conservative Principles™️. It's about fealty to Trump. When he becomes unpopular MAGA lapses into cannibalism. www.offmessage.net/p/maga-is-ea...
MAGA is all in for Trump in the same meaningless way that Obamaniacs are all in for Obama and Bernie Bros are all in for Bernie Sanders. The problem for Trump is the entire pro-Trump universe, including MAGA, is shrinking. www.offmessage.net/p/maga-is-ea...
Think about it. Trump is picking fewer and fewer fights with blue states, universities, law firms, etc. And more with, e.g., the Catholic Church and the business community and the pro-Trump infotainment universe. www.offmessage.net/p/maga-is-ea...
And what's worse (or, rather, better) is that by the nature of pro-Trump politics, this means MAGA is devouring itself. MAGA isn't about fealty to Movement Conservative Principles™️. It's about fealty to Trump. When he becomes unpopular MAGA lapses into cannibalism. www.offmessage.net/p/maga-is-ea...
MAGA is all in for Trump in the same meaningless way that Obamaniacs are all in for Obama and Bernie Bros are all in for Bernie Sanders. The problem for Trump is the entire pro-Trump universe, including MAGA, is shrinking. www.offmessage.net/p/maga-is-ea...
"Wow, Trump has 100 percent support among MAGA!"
Terrible analysis, terrible punditry.
"LOL! The best MAGA can do is brag about Trump's 100 percent support among MAGA."
Correct, contains crucial insights.
www.offmessage.net/p/maga-is-ea...
“MAGA may be all in for Trump, but that’s the nature of an identity. That’s not the interesting finding. The interesting finding is that MAGA, like the larger pro-Trump universe, is shrinking.” @brianbeutler.bsky.social
“If a few million Americans begin the drift from “strongly supportive” to “somewhat supportive,” on the way to outright opposition, it’s a small fraction of Trump’s 78 million voters, but politically lethal nevertheless.” – @brianbeutler.bsky.social
There should be Dem Fight caucuses, and members with genuine hunger for aggressive oversight should demand enforceable concessions that prevent leadership + frontline members from shutting down promising inquiries. www.offmessage.net/p/how-to-det...
There should be Dem Fight caucuses, and members with genuine hunger for aggressive oversight should demand enforceable concessions that prevent leadership + frontline members from shutting down promising inquiries. www.offmessage.net/p/how-to-det...
A good template for oversight that works around Trump’s obstruction. The key (see next post) is to deter all leadership-driven impulses to “look forward not backward.”
newrepublic.com/article/2092...
JD Vance talks about theology with the confidence that Silicon Valley types make macro-economic forecasts
I mean, of course that’s what happening. It’s been clear the whole time
What’s interesting here is they say “culture” when they mean “people” but they think that this maintains a veneer of deniability about what they’re really saying. In any case it’s true that the “culture” of the tech billionaires is morally and intellectually depraved rot bsky.app/profile/elio...
I'm not joking when I say mRNA technology is more important than "AI" and it's a tragedy we're throwing billions into one while our government is aggressively defunding the other.
They should demand that JD Vance personally travel to an Iranian warship to sign the surrender agreement, or else they’ll close the strait
a 26 year old half filipino nazi. only in america baby!
I’m a bit concerned about how reductive the Orban discourse this week has been, and not just on the part of Trump-Orban apologists. The fact that Orban conceded tells us little about Orbanism, and the fact that MAGA and Orban were kindred, doesn’t mean Trump and Vance have dictatorial ambitions.
Good morning!
Since Trump was re-elected, Forbes estimates—
💰His net worth is up $2.1 billion, to $6.4 billion
💰Eric’s is up 10x, to $400 million
💰Don Jr.’s is up 6x, to $300 million
💰20-year-old Barron is worth $150 million
And Jared became a billionaire last year.
Have a great day!
WOW: Jodi Kantor & Adam Liptak have the memos that describe the origins of SCOTUS shadow docket - the 2016 order halting Obama’s Clean Power Plan @jodikantor.bsky.social @adamliptak.bsky.social @nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...
Great, shocking reporting on the origins of the Supreme Court maneuver that has enabled Trump to impose his agenda without full-blown legal review. Roberts resented the Obama admin’s EPA and wanted quick protection for oil companies.