Today in life under competitive authoritarianism

Trump and the IRS are in talks to resolve his $10 billion lawsuit over leaked tax records The president's lawsuit, filed this year, alleges that the IRS failed to take the necessary steps to prevent the unautho

Billions in foreign real estate deals while serving as head of state.

Billions in crypto deals while gutting regulation of the industry.

Suing his own government and negotiating a settlement funded by the taxpayers.

We're so numb to Trump grifting off the presidency that hardly anyone notices.

While the Constitution says that the President can be impeached for various "high crimes and misdemeanors", it did explicitly state two specific crimes that are grounds for impeachment, and one of them is "Bribery." The remedy for this scenario was anticipated and does exist. So that being said...

RIGHT NOW -- Veterans are being arrested in #washingtondc after peacefully demanding an end to the War on Iran. @vetsaboutface

It’s not media cluelessness – it’s cowardice and complicity But there’s another word starting with “C” that describes some journalists: courage.

Journalists might've once had the excuse that the didn’t realize how bad MAGA extremism would be. But they can't plead cluelessness now. What’s left are cowardice, complicity and courage. Pick one.
My Stop the Presses newsletter.

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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 co...

SCOOP --> Paramount, Meta, and X are refusing to say what happened to their huge contributions to Trump's presidential library after Sen Elizabeth Warren raised questions about its fund getting dissolved. Ds say tens of millions remain unaccounted for.

Details here:
newrepublic.com/article/2092...

Your best paragraph:
"Indeed, the library saga combines many of the worst elements of Trump’s imperial presidency all in one project: his use of lawsuits to extort private entities for tribute; his garishly awful decorative and architectural taste; and his Nero-scale megalomania."
Chef's kiss.

📌MEDIA: Stop calling Jared Kushner a "high-level negotiator." He's a damn thief operating in his repulsive family's best interests not ours.

You can still watch the replay if you missed it! ❤️

The Strokes End Coachella Set With Video Condemning U.S. and Israeli Bombings in Iran and Gaza The Strokes ended their Coachella performance with video footage of bombings in Iran and Gaza, capiping a montage of a history of alleged CIA misdeeds.

Long live The Strokes! ❤️

variety.com/2026/music/n...

The S̶t̶r̶o̶k̶e̶s̶ WOKES performing Oblivius with CIA coups/war crimes blasted on the jumbotron behind them.

"What Side Are You Standing On?"

#MY #FUCKING #GOATS 🔥

The Strokes ended their Coachella set with the song "Oblivius", highlighting US involvement in the overthrow/deaths of Patrice Lumumba, Omar Torrijos, Mohammad Mosaddegh, Juan José Torres, Martin Luther King Jr, Jacobo Árbenz, Salvador Allende, Jaime Roldós, and destruction in Gaza and Iran.

Wash Post V Show less top For You Daily 1h ago Trump officials push Theodore Roosevelt for Pro Football Hall of Fame

Everything is so dumb

Once again, ICE proves the notion that Donald Trump would deport only dangerous, violent criminals was always a lie

“This is someone who maybe had one speeding ticket in the last 30 years and [is] being treated like a notorious criminal”

Stop New York's Attack on 3D Printing New York's proposed 2026-2027 budget currently includes provisions that will require all 3D printers sold in the state to run print-blocking censorware—software that surveils every print for

Every 3D print in NY can be surveilled — from political speech to company prototypes — if these provisions make it into the state budget. We need to act NOW to stop it. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Trump, IRS in talks to settle US president's $10 billion lawsuit Lawyers for Donald Trump ​and the Internal Revenue Service are in talks to settle the U.S. president's $10 billion lawsuit against the tax ‌collection agency for leaking his tax returns to the media i...

Every presidential administration gets accused of corruption—sometimes with good reason, sometimes not. But the corruption of the Trump administration is of a magnitude that is not only without precedent in American history but so large and brazen as to be difficult to wrap one's head around.

Two Lessons from Hungary for 2026 and 2028 Unity and accountability.

I think there are two key takeaways for Americans from Peter Magyar’s ouster of Orbán:

1. We must rally overwhelmingly behind the 2028 Dem nominee
2. We have to be ready to send people to prison if we win

My latest for @liberalcurrents.com www.liberalcurrents.com/two-lessons-...

The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court

There’s so much to say about the remarkable reporting from Jodi Kantor & Adam Liptak—and I’ll say a lot of it in Monday’s newsletter.

But the most striking thing about all of it is the role & behavior of Chief Justice Roberts. “Calling balls and strikes” this ain’t:

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

In thinking about what to do about the rogue Court, we maybe focus a bit too much on court packing yes or no, granted that's the most important. But some of the less sexy things can be done by more mundane statutory fixes. Congress could, and should, nuke the shadow docket.

Reminder, we never did find out who exactly 100's and 1000's of pills were dispensed to during Trump 1.0. Why are they not routinely and randomly drug tested for their security clearances like military are? They all need this on the regular, for drugs and alcohol. Security risks!

New euphemism for "pure, unadulterated horseshit" just dropped

Dear Media:

Blindly quoting the President without fact-checking or context is just misinformation with a press pass.

We don’t need stenographers; we need journalists. Do your job.

EXCLUSIVE: Attorneys for Rep Jamie Raskin are asking appeals court to halt Trump Admin effort to vacate convictions of Jan 6 seditious conspiracy defendants

Raskin is trying to serve as firewall as Justice Dept & defense join forces to vacate the cases

Kenyan firm sacks more than 1,000 workers after losing Meta contract Meta paused work with Sama last month after allegations about staff viewing private scenes filmed by smart glasses

I’m sure this is unrelated to the fact that last month data workers revealed they were asked by Meta to review video from Meta Ray Bans of user’s intimate moments like having sex or using the bathroom.

Disney just laid off the team responsible for giving the MCU its shared visual identity Disney just laid off the team responsible for giving the MCU its shared visual identity

A standalone group tasked with keeping the MCU's visual language consistent, the visual development team was the brainchild of Kevin Feige.

The FBI Director Is MIA Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.

“Patel’s drinking has been a recurring source of concern across the government. He is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication, in many cases at the private club Ned’s in Washington, while in the presence of White House and other administration staff.”
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...