Jeremy Stahl

Yes, Trump’s Homeland Security Pick Tried to Start a Literal Fight at a Senate Hearing. But There’s So Much More. Trying to fight a hearing witness is on the list of Markwayne Mullin's wildest moments, but it might not be the top.

Please allow yourself a lil treat

Which is this article

slate.com/news-and-pol...

John Roberts’ Rebuke of Trump’s Tariffs Is Withering, Confident, and Genuinely Encouraging In truth, Trump’s tariffs were always on shaky legal ground

1. Trump's global tariffs were always on shaky legal ground.
2. Still heartening that Roberts, Gorsuch, & Barrett had the spine to say they're illegal.
3. The liberals held on the line on major questions!
4. Kavanaugh's dissent is an abomination.
5. Thomas' is even worse!
slate.com/news-and-pol...

Trump Wants Veterans to Lose Benefits As Soon As Their PTSD Symptoms Are Treated. There’s One Problem With That. The consequences of this shift are not abstract.

Shocking report, by a disabled Iraq-war vet, of how a new VA rule will reduce his well-earned benefits. slate.com/news-and-pol...

If Democrats Fold on Their ICE Demands, It Will Be a Disaster A newsletter that surfaces under-the-radar stories about what Trump is doing to the law—and how the law is pushing back.

We've got a new newsletter at @slate.com by the brilliant @shirinali.bsky.social. It's called Executive Dysfunction and the first edition is on what it would mean for Dem shutdown demands to actually happen--and what it would mean for them to fold. Please read and subscribe slate.com/news-and-pol...

Good example of why I respectfully disagree with those who think bodycams are useless or actively harmful. In the last 13 months we have repeatedly seen bodycam footage refute ICE/CBP officers' flagrant lies, sometimes even exonerating protesters falsely accused of assault. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Incredible. They destroyed a great newspaper because they hated the people who actually paid for it and read it so much that they'd rather scrap the paper if they couldn't get Tucker Carlson's audience bsky.app/profile/maxt...

One of D.C.'s truly GREAT editors. Bad day for journalism. Sad to hear what's going on at the Post.

I consider 2025 my finest professional year. The Post just laid me off.

'Think about it this way: Would you let someone else manage your money if they told you their investing philosophy revolved around neurochemical stimulation and the power of positive thinking?' 🕺

it me

So what can be done about all of this? To begin with, state and local election officials need to be ready to go to federal court to seek injunctions barring the government from seizing voting machines or otherwise interfering with the process of tabulating ballots. Trump might even try to send troops to seize ballots without a search warrant, and if that threat is real, proactive judicial action is necessary. These threats are most likely to materialize in those areas around the country with contested congressional races. Particular targets may be in those states, such as California and Arizona, where the tabulation of ballots takes a long time, so there is more time for Trump and his allies to act. State officials and the public need to support, with dollars and volunteers, election administrators and those who would hold the line against interference. The greater the transparency of the work of these administrators in tabulating ballots, and the quicker a fair count can take place, the harder it will be for Trump to have a legal excuse to try to interfere with the balloting.

So what can be done about Trump's potential interference with the 2026 midterms? As I write @slate.com:

Given the deep investigations of the 2020 elections generally and Fulton County, Georgia, in particular, it is highly unlikely that the new FBI investigation (whose warrant was curiously sought by a U.S. attorney in Missouri, not Georgia or even Washington, D.C.) will amount to anything. So what was it really about? One tipoff is the curious appearance during the FBI raid of Fulton County’s election offices of Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, who is known to peddle conspiracy theories herself. Portraying this raid as part of a national security effort is in line with the musings of Cleta Mitchell, a Trump conspiracy-theory ally who had been on Trump’s call with Raffensperger. Back in September, Mitchell, on a call with fellow election deniers, suggested that Trump could declare a “national sovereignty crisis” in a bid to take over the midterm elections. Trump has no power over the conduct of federal elections, which are left in the hands of the states, a point numerous courts have made recently in striking down parts of an August Trump executive order purporting to make voting harder. But that doesn’t mean he won’t try. Trump has expressed regret that he did not seize voting machines in 2020. So this threat for 2026 (and 2028) is real.

My New One @slate.com: "Trump’s Continued Obsession With 2020 Is a Joke. His Raid on a Georgia Election Site Is Not."
slate.com/news-and-pol...

Personally I think this is too much money for Donald trumps untrained heavily armed militia

Well put.

Jack Smith just testified that he believes that the Trump DOJ "will do everything in their power" to find a pretext to indict Smith "because they've been ordered to by the president."

This sounds like a pretty big development here.

the parallels are one of the most viscerally depressing things about all this

You’ve Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I’m the Proof. What happens when you do minimal screening before hiring agents, arming them, and sending them into the streets? We're all finding out.

A few months ago, ICE hired me

I didn't sign and submit any paperwork. I almost certainly failed the drug test. I'm real outspoken about my opposition to the Trump administration, and I am extremely googlable

And yet, there it was, in plain English. "Welcome to ICE!"

My latest for Slate

Also, the cover-up that you describe as likely to take place, to me, offers even more reasons for local authorities to move quickly and aggressively.

It does seem that when the local authorities are being locked out of an investigation in what was obvious political tampering (and when political tampering is likely to occur again), impaneling a grand jury quickly as possible would be a good thing. Doesn't feel like "Leroy Jenkinsing" to me.

I have so many questions about the people who shared this new cell phone video. Because keeping the ICE agent muttering "fucking bitch" in the clip... that was a choice

ty

Retired ICE agent breaks down deadly Minneapolis shooting YouTube video by CBS Evening News

So a CBS Evening News reporter actually did a pretty solid breakdown of the ICE murder video, talking to a former agent who details all the ways Ross messed up. And yet: It didn’t air on the actual show tonight. CBS did post it to YouTube—and it has nearly 800k views already youtu.be/6ywLEESFDu0?...

The FBI Is Obstructing the Minneapolis Probe. The ICE Shooter Should Still Be Very Worried. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty can bring charges even without any arrest and is not one to back down from a case like this.

The FBI is already sabotaging the investigation into yesterday's ICE shooting at the demand of Trump's hand-picked U.S. attorney. The good news is that Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty does NOT need the FBI to indict. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Minnesota Could Prosecute the ICE Shooter. Trump Can’t Pardon Him. Shortly after an ICE officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, city leaders began looking into whether the officer had violated state criminal law.

Wrote a piece for @slate.com explaining that states have a long history of prosecuting federal officers when they allegedly use excessive force. Federal officers are only immune from such prosecutions when they act reasonably in carrying out lawful duties.

Yes, You Should Watch the Video of the ICE Shooting in Minneapolis You can just watch the video.

having said myself that people don't need to watch the video, here's my colleague Susan Matthews making a strong case that, yes you do (she also describes it well enough that I feel okay ignoring her instruction)

Hilton Corporate to give Minneapolis shooter double rewards and extra pancakes on next visit.

Drunk raccoon found passed out in Virginia store bathroom after ransacking it: officials An unexpected suspect was found passed out in the bathroom after ransacking an ABC Store in Virginia, according to officials.

@benmathislilley.bsky.social sorry to hear about your favorite house pet! how was the trip to Virginia otherwise? cbsaustin.com/news/offbeat...

this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.

Drunk raccoon found passed out in Virginia store bathroom after ransacking it: officials An unexpected suspect was found passed out in the bathroom after ransacking an ABC Store in Virginia, according to officials.

When things are too bleak to even contemplate nationally, I'm really grateful that there are local TV news affiliates to report on the sort of important local stories we might normally miss that can help keep us all sane. cbsaustin.com/news/offbeat...