Author: Tom Sullivan

The rock is unfazed

When Donald Trump huffs, and he puffs, and his target blows raspberries, what’s a bully to do?

Al Jazeera Opinion: The pope has shown the world how to stand up to Trump

That bully is, of course, United States President Donald Trump – whose idea of diplomacy is to strut around the globe spewing puerile, profanity-laced threats meant to frighten or intimidate other presidents and prime ministers into acquiescence or submission.

For years, Trump’s modus operandi worked. Too often, too many presidents and prime ministers opted to mollify him, instead of challenging him.

Their myopic reasoning – that assuaging Trump’s ego would soothe his petty, vindictive instincts – only emboldened a president who, like every bully, takes keen pleasure in exploiting weakness to satisfy a narcissism-centred hunger for dominance.

With 1.4 billion Catholics backing Pope Leo XIV and a mere 325 million American citizens (only citizens count in Trump’s America, right?), but only 135 million approving of Trump (41.5% RCP average), the man who would be Orange Julius Caesar finds himself outmatched in every way except militarily. Leo is 10 times the man Trump never was.

Leo is also more of a leader than many nominal ones in government and business who’ve attempted to deal with Trump’s bullying by placating him and offering gifts. Yet “Leo made his objections plain – without hesitation or even a hint of qualification,” writes Andrew Mitrovica.

Trump and his Christian nationalist mob got right miffed at the pope’s urging to “think deeply” about the “innocent people” harmed by Trump’s war.

“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” Leo said in last Sunday’s homily. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: Your hands are full of blood.’”

Leo did not name him, yet his stinging broadside was, no doubt, directed at America’s preening secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, and the gaggle of faux “Christian” preachers cheerleading a calamitous war of choice.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not escape Leo’s piercing rod.

The Trump administration responded with characteristic peevishness, chest-puffing, declaration that military might makes right, “and that the Church had better take its side.”

“I’m not afraid of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do,” Leo said.

Leo has Trump outgunned. He possesses moral clarity. Trump has none.

In this contest of personalities and will, the divide is stark: One side offers the familiar tropes of the strongman, while the other reminds us that dignity is a dividend of tolerance and understanding.

The bully may have the missiles and a presidential seal, but he has finally met a principled antagonist who will not be cowed, bought, or brow-beaten into collusion or silence.

And that, it seems, is the one idea Donald Trump cannot abide.

“Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:37

(h/t MA)

Is it a blowout or a knockout?

Donald Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo XIV are even more misguided than Trump’s other assaults on decency. CNN’s Harry Enten explains Trump’s tanking polls in a manner reminiscent of Howard Cosell’s famous “Down goes Frazier!”

“Down he goes …. into the Dead Sea!”

CNN: “It’s a blowout… not even close… Pope Leo absolutely crushing Trump when it comes to how popular they are.” pic.twitter.com/Ww3E4U4pGl

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) April 18, 2026

All this while Donald Trump eats McDonald’s and sailors under his command eat Unhappy Meals. The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations denied reports of food shortages and poor food quality, declaring that the “US Navy possesses an unmatched logistics capability.” And the shortages, mystery meat and food trays two-thirds empty? Simply “routine menu adjustments.”

Bandits are making out like bandits

The fabulist residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. “made 13 posts in an hour” Friday celebrating his greatness. (That’s His Greatness.) Ron Filipkowski compiled the lot:

• “Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again. It will no longer be used as a weapon against the World!
• “A GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD! DJT”
• “Now that the Hormuz Strait situation is over, I received a call from NATO asking if we would need some help. I TOLD THEM TO STAY AWAY, UNLESS THEY JUST WANT TO LOAD UP THEIR SHIPS WITH OIL. They were useless when needed, a Paper Tiger!
• “Again! This deal is not tied, in any way, to Lebanon, but we will, MAKE LEBANON GREAT AGAIN!”
• “Iran, with the help of the U.S.A., has removed, or is removing, all sea mines! Thank you!”
• “Thank you to Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar for your great bravery and help!”
• “The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear “Dust,” created by our great B2 Bombers – No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form. This deal is in no way subject to Lebanon, either, but the USA will, separately, work with Lebanon, and deal with the Hezboolah situation in an appropriate manner. Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!”
• “The Failing New York Times, FAKE NEWS CNN, and others, just don’t know what to do. They are desperately looking for a reason to criticize President Donald J. Trump on the Iran situation, but just can’t find it. Why don’t they just say, at the right time, JOB WELL DONE, MR. PRESIDENT, and start to gain back their credibility???”

Speaking of credibility, the Strait of Hormuz is an open and shut case that His Greatness has none.

From The Washington Post this morning, Breaking: Iran says it’s closing Strait of Hormuz again, citing U.S. blockade:

Iran’s military announced it has closed the Strait of Hormuz just a day after the country declared the waterway open, claiming the U.S. had breached Tehran’s trust by maintaining its blockade in the region.

The Strait of Hormuz had “returned to its previous state” and “is under the strict management and control of the Armed Forces,” Iran’s military command said Saturday, according to a statement published by Iranian state-backed media.

“Trump keeps claiming victory in Iran,” a headline at Politico reads. “Our new poll shows voters aren’t buying it.”

Neither are the Iranians:

Iranian officials did not confirm most of Mr. Trump’s claims and disputed several of them. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s top negotiator and the speaker of its Parliament, said on social media Friday evening that Mr. Trump made several false claims.

“The president of the United States made seven claims in one hour, all of which are false,” said Gen. Ghalibaf, a military and political influential figure in Iran leading negotiations. “They did not win the war with these lies, they will certainly not get any where in negotiations either.”

Who is buying Trump’s total victory BS? The stock market. The Washington Post reports that investors most distant from the oil production and processing business seem less concerned about the realities of what’s been damaged and how long “it will take for things to return to normal — if they ever do,” said Gerry Morton, oil and gas co-chair at the law firm Baker Botts. Underlying problems signal “a reckoning in the not too distant future,” the Post reports.

Until then, “US stocks rally and return to where they were before the US-Iran war.” For illustration, here’s what the one-year tracker on my retirement nest egg looks like since Trump launched his unsanctioned war on Feb. 28:

Thirty years ago, then-Federal Reserve Board chairman, Alan Greenspan, described that kind of investor behavior as “irrational exuberance.” Under a Trump administration, one might call it market manipulation. Somewhere close to Trump’s inner circle (and to the buffet line at Mar-a-Lago), bandits are making out like bandits.

Update: Container ship reportedly hit by ‘unknown projectile’ in second incident in Strait of Hormuz

Just when you thought Hegseth couldn’t get more ridiculous

SECDEF/WAR! Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s God Warrior, quoted a garbled Bible quote from Pulp Fiction (1994) in one of his Pentagon “sermons” this week.

The New Republic:

“They call it CSAR 25:17, which I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17,” Hegseth erroneously said, saying the lead planner of the Combat Search And Rescue operation in Iran shared it with him.

So the prayer is CSAR 25:17 and it reads … “the path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of camaraderie and duty, shepherd the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper, and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother. And you will know my call sign is Sandy One when I lay my vengeance upon thee.”

Almost every single line from Hegseth’s prayer is ripped from Jackson’s iconic recitation of Ezekiel 25:17 in Tarantino’s film, not the prophet Ezekiel as ordained by God.

Here’s what the original verse in the Bible actually reads:

I will execute great vengeance on them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I lay My vengeance upon them.

That’s it. The flowery language, the allusions to destruction of evil—all come from Tarantino.

On Wednesday, the flowery language came from former Fox Weekend co-host/alcoholic, Hegseth, in front of a Pentagon audience. One assumes Hegseth’s attitude regarding “stupid rules of engagement” now applies to rules for quoting the Holy Bible by which he sets such store.

A man of maturity (and cultural literacy) would think better about quoting that “prayer.” He would anticipate how it would make him, his office, his troops, and his boss look to the press and to the world.

Hegseth is an idiot. But you knew that.

@abcnews

A clip of Secretary Pete Hegseth reading a version of Samuel L. Jackson’s famous monologue from “Pulp Fiction” — that partly quotes actual scripture — is circulating online. ABC News’ Ian Pannell reports.

♬ original sound – ABC News – ABC News

“The Pentagon did not respond”

All that performative, right-wing bluster about loving “our troops” is about to blow up like a girls’ school in Iran (USA Today):

Dan F. was alarmed when his daughter, a Marine aboard the USS Tripoli, a warship deployed to fight the Iran war, sent him a photo of a meal served on the ship. A lunch tray, two-thirds empty, carried one small scoop of shredded meat and a single folded tortilla.

A picture of a mid-April dinner on the USS Abraham Lincoln, shared by a service member with his family, was similarly unappetizing – a small handful of boiled carrots, a dry meat patty and a gray slab of processed meat.

Dan and other military family members worried that their loved ones deployed to the Middle East are going hungry are filling boxes with items they hope could help service members ride out prolonged deployments in the Middle East – homemade fudge, Jolly Ranchers, crossword puzzle books, playing cards, toothpaste, Girl Scout cookies and fresh socks. But mail delivery to military ZIP codes across the Middle East has been indefinitely suspended as of April, and packages in transit now hang in limbo.

Service members Donald Trump deployed to the Persian Gulf for his unsanctioned Iran war are going hungry. One Texas mother has sent over $2,000 worth of packages to her sailor son. None have reached him. She asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation against her son.

These meals are short one or two items from U.S. agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins’s a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, a corn tortilla and “one other thing.”

Karen Erskine-Valentine, pastor of a church in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, said she was alarmed to hear from a community member whose son is in the Middle East aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln about the poor quality of food on the ship. The Abraham Lincoln is one of two aircraft carriers sent to the region, along with the USS Gerald Ford. A third, the USS George H.W. Bush, is on the way.

“The food is tasteless and there’s not nearly enough and they’re hungry all the time,” Erskine-Valentine said. “That kind of breaks your heart.”

The Pentagon has not responded to a request for comment. I half expect them to brush off the USA Today story as Iranian (but surely not Russian) propaganda. No other major news outlets have confirmed it as I write.

Images of food being served to sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Tripoli, published by USA Today.

Supplies "are going to get really low" and "morale is going to be at an all-time low," one sailor messaged his mother: https://t.co/di0KUEohvI pic.twitter.com/ZcuBNw1k8i

— Evan Hill (@evanhill) April 16, 2026

A spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service tells USA Today that no parcels are being returned to sender. They are held up until the military lifts delivery restrictions imposed, according to an Army spokesman, “due to airspace closures and other logistical impacts from the ongoing conflict.”

This story will blow up all across the globe. MAGAs already “sick” of Trump will increase their numbers. Soon there won’t just be spray tan on Trump’s face, but a lot of unserved egg substitute. And on SECDEF/WAR! Pete Hegseth’s face in his makeup studio.

Do us a favor and spread this report everywhere you can think of over the weekend.

(h/t SFT)

Random thoughts on accountability

Over at Slate this morning, Mark Joseph Stern examines a lawsuit brough by lawful Maine resident, Juan Sebastián Carvajal-Muñoz, against masked immigration agents who brutalized him in January and violated his constitutional rights. Stephen Miller may claim that they have absolute immunity from legal liability, Stern writes, based on the Bivens case we discussed here in February (Sue The Hell Out Of Them) about a way victims might get around such prohibitions (and threatened Trump blanket pardons).

Stern writes:

Carvajal-Muñoz is now putting this theory to the test. It turns out that Maine already has a law on the books that authorizes damages against federal officials who deprive people of their constitutional rights. (So do several other states, including California.) Carvajal-Muñoz sued his kidnappers under this statute, alleging that they stopped, arrested, and imprisoned him on the basis of race in violation of the Fourth and Fifth amendments. (He is Latino.) He sued one ICE officer, Jack Cory Ravencamp—who can be seen on video pointing a Taser at Carvajal-Muñoz—by name. If his suit moves forward, he will likely uncover the identities of the many masked agents who participated in his abduction. He has demanded both compensatory damages to redress his own harms as well as punitive damages “to deter future unconstitutional conduct.”

Legal accountability seems to be on the minds of a lot of Trump officials just now.

Zeto’s First Draft touches on it this morning. Seeing a strong possibility that Democrats take control of the House in January 2027, Trumpers are doing some preemptive ass-covering:

Last year, various Trump administration officials made sure to purchase new legal insurance and professional-liability plans, sources familiar with the matter tell me, in anticipation of future investigations or subpoenas from prosecutors and Democrats. (It’s a smart move: Staffers on the House committee investigating Jan. 6 did the same thing before the 2022 elections, anticipating a Republican-run Congress around the corner.)

But in the past few months (including during Trump’s disastrous war in Iran, which has turbo-charged the levels of leaking, backbiting, blame-shifting, and paranoia within Team Trump’s own ranks), I’ve noticed something.

In my conversations with several senior administration officials, as well as other Trump advisers and elite Republicans close to the White House, their anxiety – over what Democrats might do to them after the midterms, or once Trump is out of power – has kicked up a conspicuous notch. Some of them have told me they’ve noticed a growing trend of Democratic politicians making public calls for aggressive prosecutions of Trumplanders in the future – a trend one Trump aide privately lamented as “kind of worrisome.”

Whether Democrats will follow through is something I find kind of worrisome. God help us that they don’t look forward not backward and let the criminals walk.

Brian Beutler is worried about that too:

Pardons don’t cover state offenses, and many federal corruption offenses violate sister statutes at the state level. Pardons can’t stop Congress or inspectors general or a post-Trump truth commission from investigating, and airing their findings. Pardons can’t stop disbarment proceedings. And Democrats should absolutely put Republicans on notice that all of it is coming for them.

One way to keep Dems accountable for holding Trumpers accountable, Beutler suggests, is primaries:

Primaries (next cycle) Brian Schatz and Chuck Schumer will both be up for re-election starting next year. Schumer may step down from leadership and/or retire, but Schatz won’t. Both of them should draw primary challenges if they establish anything resembling a “look forward, not backward” policy for the caucus. Same with Hakeem Jeffries.

“[U]ntil there’s a major shakeup in Democratic leadership, we’re going to have to watch like hawks,” Beutler believes.

Yup.

Who is on your side?

While the Trump family and cronies are cutting lucrative deals, illegally getting richer trading on insider information, and letting off wrongdoers with slaps on the wrist or presidential pardons, Democrats are working to break up monopolies that bilk consumers. (Not enough of them, to be sure. But take the wins where you can.)

A federal jury in New York on Wednesday found that concert and ticketing giant Live Nation is an illegal monopoly in violation of federal and state antitrust laws.

Variety:

After the blockbuster trial that went from the U.S. Department of Justice to 34 states, a jury has decided that Live Nation Entertainment and its subsidiary Ticketmaster illegally held monopoly power in the ticketing market.

The jurors came to their decision after around five weeks of the antitrust trial, according to NBC News. Deliberations in the case began on Friday. The ruling is essentially a rebuke to the Department of Justice’s settlement with Live Nation last month — reportedly ordered directly by President Donald Trump — in which the company agreed to a series of structural changes to its business, including changes to ticketing deals with venues, capping certain service fees, and paying a $280 million fine.

In a statement shared with Variety, a representative for Live Nation said that the jury’s verdict is “not the last word on this matter” and that “pending motions will determine whether the liability and damages rulings stand.”

Live Nation will appeal. Pay attention to who wants to protect consumers from Live Nation/Ticketmaster:

The government initially filed suit against Live Nation two years ago during the Biden administration, with approximately 40 states also suing the company. The suit claimed that Live Nation has illegal dominance in the concert business, to a degree that harms artists, fans and venues. A victory in the lawsuit meant that Live Nation would part ways with Ticketmaster, with which it merged in 2010 during the Obama administration.

In February, Judge Aran Subramanian had narrowed portions of the suit but allowed others — claims related to the market for large amphitheaters, related to Ticketmaster’s role in the ticketing market, and state-level claims — to proceed to trial. Subramanian had dismissed claims related to concert promotion services and those related to the ticketing market’s impact on fans.

The DOJ settlement in March led to a series of structural changes to Live Nation’s business, including the company changing its ticketing deals with venues and allowing those businesses to use multiple vendors to sell tickets to fans, instead of working with Ticketmaster exclusively, although venues will still have that option. The settlement also required Live Nation to discontinue its exclusive booking arrangements with 13 amphitheaters across the U.S., and will allow touring artists to use other promoters when performing in its owned amphitheaters.

Six states accepted the Trumpy DOJ settlement in March: Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma and South Dakota. Notice anything about them?

The New York Times adds:

Whatever remedy the judge orders, it will likely shift the competitive landscape in the multibillion-dollar concert business, where Live Nation has been a colossus with no equal. Last year, the company put on 55,000 events and sold 646 million tickets around the world. According to testimony, Ticketmaster sells about 10 times as many tickets as its closest rival, AEG.

The Trump DOJ deal “fails to address the monopoly at the center of this case,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James in a statement issued in March:

“My attorney general colleagues and I have a strong case against Live Nation, and we will continue our lawsuit,” James said.

A release containing her statements said other states rejecting the settlement included Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming and the District of Columbia.

Notice anything about them? The overwhelming majority are blue states, swing states, or states with split partisan control.

James issued another statement Wednesday after the jury verdict:

“For far too long, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have taken advantage of fans and artists by raising prices for tickets and stifling any competition that threatened their power,” the statement reads. “A jury found what we have long known to be true: Live Nation and Ticketmaster are breaking the law and costing consumers millions of dollars in the process.”

North Carolina’s Attorney General, Democrat Jeff Jackson, addressed the verdict (as he is wont to do) on social media. “Our goal is simple: restore real competition, end the abuse of consumers and artists, and bring fair pricing back to live entertainment.”

View on Threads

About that fair pricing. Navigator Research this morning finds that:

• Americans are overwhelmingly pessimistic about the economy, as majorities feel costs are rising and their personal financial situation is uneasy.
• Americans report taking actions to help save money or increase income, including staying home rather than going out, selling personal items online or even selling blood plasma.
• A majority continue to disapprove of President Trump’s handling of the economy, while Democrats have a slight trust advantage on addressing cost of living issues – though one-in-four trust neither party.

“Now do Media monopolies and the harm done to the public,” says a commenter.

Jackson is working on it. The Trump administration is working against it. Surprised?

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I became president, Trump thought

“I’d be the most powerful man on the planet. I’d control the world’s strongest military. I’d have parades to rival Vladimir’s.”

How’s that working out, Donny?

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by CNN (@cnn)

Raskin submits bill for a commission

It’s been clear for months that Donald Trump is unfit for office. I declared him mentally unbalanced in late 2015 or early 2016 over dinner with my parents, fergawdsakes. Democrats on Tuesday finally decided to get the net. Or at least create a process for building one.

Heather Cox Richardson writes:

With the House back in session today, Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top-ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, introduced a bill to establish an independent commission to evaluate the president’s mental state. The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution establishes a process by which either a majority of the Cabinet or a majority of a body created by Congress to evaluate the president’s fitness can declare that a president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” In a press release, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee expressed concern about “Trump’s escalating erratic conduct.” The bill has fifty Democratic co-sponsors.

Rasking is leaning on this wording from Section 4 of the 25th Amendment (emphasis mine):

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Raskin’s press release elaborates:

“The Constitution explicitly vests Congress with the authority to create a body that will guarantee the successful continuity of government by responding to presidential incapacity to discharge the powers and duties of office. We have a solemn duty to play our defined role under the 25th Amendment by setting up this body to act alongside the Vice President and the Cabinet. This body should have been set up [by] Congress when the 25th Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1967. We have 535 Members of Congress but just one President and this body is a necessary element of successful continuity of government. Congress should act now to establish a permanent and standing Commission on Presidential Capacity to Discharge the Powers and Duties of Office.“

You know why we need one and why now:

“Public trust in Donald Trump’s ability to meet the duties of his office has dropped to unprecedented lows as he threatens to destroy entire civilizations, unleashes chaos in the Middle East while violating Congressional war powers, aggressively insults the Pope of the Catholic Church and sends out artistic renderings online likening himself to Jesus Christ. We are at a dangerous precipice, and it is now a matter of national security for Congress to fulfill its responsibilities under the 25th Amendment to protect the American people from an increasingly volatile and unstable situation,” said Ranking Member Raskin.

Richardson adds:

Trump’s deteriorating mental state has become impossible to overlook, but Republicans are making excuses for it. Cabinet members, who owe their positions to Trump and who likely recognize they will never rise to such power again in a merit-based system, will probably not question Trump’s mental acuity. But Raskin’s measure will force Republicans in Congress either to vote for an independent commission to evaluate Trump or to own his increasingly erratic behavior themselves.

Not exactly. Republicans having to vote assumes this bill ever sees the light of day in a Trump presidency. This isn’t the first time Raskin has filed such a bill. He filed one on May 1, 2017 and again on October 9, 2020. Both died in committee.

House Republicans will again kill this bill in the cradle. Even if by extraordinary circumstances House Republicans don’t, Senate Republicans will. Even if by extraordinary circumstances Senate Republicans don’t, it would have to survive a Trump veto in both chambers. Even if by even more extraordinary circumstances the bill becomes law, a concurrent resolution of Congress is required to activate the Commission, the president must agree to submit to the examination, etc.

Then there is this last paragraph of the 25th Amendment:

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

Don’t hold your breath. Raskin will get one day’s worth of press from this move. The country won’t get one nanosecond of relief from the lunatic in the Oval Office.

Remain vigilant

ProPublica identified at least 75 people across multiple government agencies who worked to safeguard the 2020 election results against Donald Trump’s “stolen election” narrative:

The people we identified as resisting attempts to overturn the 2020 results have been replaced by roughly two dozen people Trump has installed in positions that could affect elections. Ten of them actively worked to reverse the 2020 vote, and the rest are associates of such people. In some cases, ProPublica found, officials have been hired from activist groups that are pillars of the election denial movement. Experts warn that shows the movement has merged with the federal government.

These new officials could influence how Trump reacts to the upcoming midterms as polling shows Republicans are approaching what could be a significant electoral loss, with the president’s approval rating nearing record lows, and public concern growing about the weak economy, the administration’s mass deportation effort and the war on Iran. Seemingly in preparation to head off such a blow, Trump has stepped up his efforts to “nationalize” the 2026 elections, saying that Republicans need “to take over” the midterms. Democrats who monitored Trump’s attempts to block his 2020 loss have begun to question whether he will allow a “blue wave,” particularly if it flips control of a House of Representatives that impeached him twice in his first term.

ProPublica’s examination reveals new details on how the president has unleashed his loyalists to transform elections. This includes the background of this year’s FBI raid in Georgia to seize 2020 election materials and how they are using federal resources to search for noncitizens voting. Ultimately, ProPublica’s reporting shows how thoroughly and expansively the Trump administration has overhauled the federal government into what some fear is a vehicle for making sure elections go his way.

We are heading into cornered animal territory. Don’t think otherwise.

Experts say 2026 will serve as an unprecedented stress test of the integrity of American elections.   

“Our election system withstood” Trump’s “attacks following the 2020 election,” said Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who has led the pushback to the administration’s actions on elections, “but this will be an even tougher test, with more election deniers having access to federal power than ever before.”

Treat this as real. Be vigilant. Attend regular meetings at your local Board of Elections to keep an eye on possible subterfuge.

ProPublica isn’t the only outlet keeping watch. Here are a couple from Democracy Docket:

Election-denying GOP lawmaker, anti-voting group target New York’s voter registration system

Election deniers in Trump admin pushing ‘more powerful tool’ to probe voter rolls, report finds