Steve Benen

Trump and the conservative media ecosystem have done a ton of work to recast the Biden years as a Hoover/Carter disaster that Trump rescued us from. I do think that gets harder every month

At the time, I hadn't yet joined the TRMS staff, and as you'd imagine, I was delighted to see Rachel and the team take a regular interest in my monthly jobs chart (which resembled a bikini for about a year).

You have a good memory, @craigipedia.bsky.social, especially since it's been roughly 16 years!

But for the record, while I generated the chart, I think it was Rachel who coined the phrase.

Trump vowed to turn the economy around, and in a way, he kept his promise.

Unfortunately, as the woeful job numbers prove, that meant turning around a healthy economy and delivering an unhealthy one.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

“I guess”: Trump gives wrong response about possible Iranian reprisals on U.S. soil The president has given every indication that he doesn’t want to be bothered about the consequences of his war in Iran.

Trump’s “I guess” answer about possible Iranian reprisals on U.S. soil and the White House’s action-movie montage are pieces of the same puzzle:

These guys want to have some fun with the war, without being bothered by killjoys with concerns about consequences.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Maybe Trump’s emphasis on gas prices wasn’t such a good idea after all As costs climb, and Americans are introduced to the idea of “warflation,” the concept of “The Trump Effect” is taking on a very different kind of meaning.

Remember last week, when Trump emphasized gas prices in his State of the Union address and suggested Americans should judge him on this issue?

That wasn’t smart.

Yesterday, however, he managed to make things worse with false claims about “stabilizing” prices.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Job growth over 14 months of Trump’s second term: 150,000 jobs
The previous 14 months: 1.74 million jobs

Under Biden: 0 months of job losses
Trump’s second term: losses in two of the last three months, three of the last five months, and five of the last nine months.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

For Kristi Noem’s many critics, her ouster is the first step, not the last “Turns out lawlessness is not a winning strategy,” one Democratic senator said. “See you at Nuremberg 2.0.”

As Kristi Noem exits DHS, many of her critics see this as the first step, not the last.

The list of Democrats eyeing post-DHS “accountability” for the hapless secretary is not short.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

GOP’s Gonzales reverses course, acknowledges affair with late staffer In the recent past, Republican leaders said an affair with a staffer warranted a resignation. Does the GOP still care about these standards?

In the recent past, Republican leaders believed members who had extramarital affairs with staffers needed to resign.

As the Tony Gonzales scandal intensifies, the question for Speaker Mike Johnson is simple: Why does the GOP embrace lower and weaker standards now?
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Trump’s Justice Dept. reportedly failed to find a crime in Biden’s use of autopen One former U.S. attorney described the investigation itself as “a disgusting abuse of power,” which was more than fair given the circumstances.

There’s obviously a lot going on, but the fact that federal prosecutors tried to build a criminal case against Joe Biden — based on no evidence, because Trump barked unjust orders — is quite insane.

The collapse of the case doesn’t negate the underlying abuse.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Trump’s endorsement isn’t nearly as potent as he likes to pretend The president keeps insisting that his endorsements automatically dictate the results of elections, but reality keeps telling a very different story.

Trump keeps insisting that his endorsements automatically dictate the results of elections, especially in Republican primaries.

And reality keeps telling a very different story.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

As a leading partisan voice, Oklahoma’s Mullin isn’t doing Republicans any favors Perhaps pushing the Oklahoman in front of cameras and microphones isn’t the GOP’s best bet.

On Iran, Markwayne Mullin keeps rushing to appear in front of cameras and microphones, causing fresh problems for himself and his party.

Here’s a radical idea: Maybe Republicans should try relying on someone else?
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Dems score upset win in Arkansas special election, giving GOP one more reason to worry The more Democrats win closely watched races, the more Republicans should be concerned about the 2026 midterms.

Number of state legislative seats Dems have flipped since Trump's second term began: 9

Number of state legislative seats Republicans have flipped over the same period: 0
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Why Texas’ Crenshaw became the first member of Congress to lose in 2026 The GOP congressman might have been a Republican lawmaker wedded to party orthodoxy on most issues, but he wasn’t MAGA. It cost him his career.

Remember when Dan Crenshaw arrived on Capitol Hill and was seen as a “rising star”?

Seven years later, the Texas Republican lost his primary — not because he failed to vote with his party, but because he just wasn’t MAGA enough.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

In Iran, Trump’s ‘worst case scenario’ reflects a woeful lack of imagination The president's vision for the worst-case scenario in Iran bears little resemblance to the actual worst-case scenarios.

Trump’s “worst case scenario” in Iran — awful leaders in Tehran might be replaced by similarly awful leaders — reflects a woeful lack of imagination.

The fact that he doesn’t understand this makes a terrifying situation that much worse.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

And to paraphrase Rumsfeld, I'm equally sure they're in the area around Tehran and east, west, south, and north somewhat.

Republicans can’t even agree on whether the war in Iran is an actual “war” When the question is, “Is the United States currently at war?” and the answer is, “It depends on whom you ask,” there’s a problem.

When the question is, “Is the United States currently at war?” and the answer is, “It depends on whom you ask,” there’s a problem.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Haunted by his record, JD Vance tries and fails to put a spin on the war in Iran According to the vice president, the U.S. went to war because Iran was “committed to getting on that brink of a nuclear weapon.” The line needs some work.

According to JD Vance, Trump launched a war because Iran was “committed to getting on that brink of a nuclear weapon.”

Read that sentence again and realize that this was the best he could come up with after thinking about the administration’s policy for three days.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Against a backdrop of war, Hegseth shows he’s still not ready for prime time What Americans needed was clarity from a capable defense secretary. What Americans saw instead was a flailing former Fox News host.

As this week got underway, and Pete Hegseth led a Pentagon briefing against a backdrop of war, what the nation needed to see was a capable defense secretary.

What Americans saw instead was a flailing former Fox News personality.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Thanks for the support, @missmudd.bsky.social !

It seems to me we can draw a (relatively) straight line from Trump abandoning the Iran nuclear deal nine years ago to Trump launching a war in Iran.

Justice Department to throw in the towel on Trump’s campaign against law firms Those looking for evidence to bolster the “when you fight, you win” thesis need look no further than these developments.

The law firms that fought back against Trump’s unprecedented offensive prevailed — the DOJ is now dropping its appeals — while the firms that tried appeasement have struggled.

Seems like firms from the latter group should join the firms in the former?
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Trump’s military offensive in Iran leads to mysteries that shouldn’t exist Wars are not supposed to be riddles. The fact that the White House has initiated an international guessing game is itself a scandal for the ages.

Wars are not supposed to be riddles.

The fact that the White House has initiated an international guessing game — about the war’s rationale, its goals, its scope, etc. — is itself a scandal for the ages. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Why public skepticism of the offensive in Iran was inevitable — and entirely Trump’s fault The president didn’t make the case for war. The resulting polling data was inevitable.

*Of course* the initial round of polling shows weak public support for the offensive in Iran:

The public didn’t want another war, and Trump never even tried to make the case. The results were inevitable. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

The fact that a question like this even has to be asked is itself remarkable:

The White House has communicated so little about the offensive in Iran — its rationale, its goals, its scope, etc. — that there’s ambiguity about whether the United States is currently at war.

In September 2013, amid concerns about a possible U.S. confrontation with Iran, Donald Trump published a tweet that read, “Remember what I previously said — Obama will someday attack Iran in order to show how tough he is.” The Republican added, two months later, “Remember that I predicted a long time ago that President Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly — not skilled!” A year earlier, the then-television personality wrote, “Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin — watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate.”

Sometimes, the "there's always a tweet" meme lands a little differently.

I made the case a few days ago that Republican officials’ rhetoric about beef was getting weirder: www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Little did I know at the time….

Thanks so much, Christopher, I really appreciate that

Remember, Trump has a tell: Every time he uses the word “exonerated,” he’s brazenly lying.

That’s especially true when it comes to Epstein:
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Trump admin. keeps Gabbard whistleblower complaint from Congress on executive privilege As a former lawyer for the National Security Agency noted, “Executive privilege is rarely used as a reason to not give information to the Gang of Eight.”

The unanswered question for Team Trump on the Gabbard/whistleblower story:

If the intercepted messages re: Kushner really were just “gossip,” and what the foreign nationals were saying wasn’t true, why assert executive privilege to keep the relevant details from Congress?
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...