MONEY IS NOT WEALTH

(More to be added here.)

NEW: Michael Casey: U.S. Apologizes For Mistake In Deporting Massachusetts College Student, But Defends Her Removal. (1-min. AP video; Associated Press, January 14, 2026)
The Trump administration apologized in court for a "mistake" in the deportation of a Massachusetts college student who was detained trying to fly home to surprise her family for Thanksgiving, but still argued the error should not affect her case.
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a 19-year-old Babson College freshman, was detained at Boston's airport on Nov. 20 and flown to Honduras two days later. Her removal came despite an emergency court order on Nov. 21, directing the government to keep her in Massachusetts or elsewhere in the United States for at least 72 hours.
Lopez Belloza, whose family emigrated from Honduras to the U.S. in 2014, is currently staying with grandparents and studying remotely. She is not detained and was recently visiting an aunt in El Salvador.
NEW: Holly Ramer: College Freshman Is Deported Flying Home For Thanksgiving Surprise, Despite Court Order. (Associated Press, November 28, 2025)
A college freshman - trying to fly from Boston to Texas to surprise her family for Thanksgiving - was instead deported to Honduras in violation of a court order, according to her attorney.
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, 19, had already passed through security at Boston Logan International Airport on Nov. 20 when she was told there was an issue with her boarding pass, said attorney Todd Pomerleau. The Babson College student was then detained by immigration officials and within two days, sent to Texas and then Honduras, the country she left at age 7. "She's absolutely heartbroken", Pomerleau said. "Her college dream has just been shattered."
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an immigration judge ordered Lopez Belloza deported in 2015. Pomerleau said she wasn't aware of any removal order, however, and the only record he's found indicates her case was closed in 2017. "They're holding her responsible for something they claim happened a decade ago, that she’s completely unaware of, and they're not showing any of the proof", the lawyer said.
The day after Lopez Belloza was arrested, a federal judge issued an emergency order prohibiting the government from moving her out of Massachusetts or the United States for at least 72 hours.
ICE did not respond to an email Friday from The Associated Press, seeking comment about violating that order. Babson College also did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Lopez Belloza, who is staying with her grandparents in Honduras, told The Boston Globe she had been looking forward to telling her parents and younger sisters about her first semester studying business. "That was my dream", she said. "I'm losing everything."

Wajahat Ali and Caleb Ecarma: Epstein's Silicon Valley Connections Lead to the Trump White House. (55-min. Substack video; The Left Hook, February 7, 2026)
Billionaires partied with Epstein, indulged in his criminal and perverse appetites, and shared his racist, destructive ideology that sought to destabilize the world order to escape accountability.
Wajahat Ali, with Brian J. Karem and Kim Kelly: BEZOS and Billionaires MURDER The Free Press. (69-min. YouTube video; The Left Hook, Febuary 5, 2025)
Jeff Bezos is worth nearly $250-Billion, yet under his ownership The Washington Post is being gutted.
From Bezos to Elon Musk and Larry Ellison, billionaires aligned with authoritarian politics are consolidating media power and attacking the free press.
On The Left Hook, Brian J. Karem, former White House correspondent, and Kim Kelly, labor journalist, explain how this coordinated media takeover threatens democracy itself.
Anand Giridharadas: It's So Much Bigger Than Epstein. What The Epstein Files Really Reveal. (The.Ink, February 2, 2026)
Today, with renewed attention on the Jeffrey Epstein files after Friday's release of millions-more records, we can finally bring you the full text, un-pay-walled, of my November essay for The New York Times on what I learned by reading the first trove in its entirety. And, above, for the first time, an audio version, read by me.
As journalists comb through the Epstein emails, surfacing the name of one fawning luminary after another, there is a collective whisper of "How could they?" How could such eminent people, belonging to such prestigious institutions, succumb to this?
A close read of the thousands of messages makes it less surprising. When Jeffrey Epstein, a financier turned convicted sex offender, needed friends to rehabilitate him, he knew where to turn: a power elite practiced at disregarding pain.
At the dark heart of this story is a sex criminal and his victims - and his enmeshment with President Trump. But it is also a tale about a powerful social network in which some, depending on what they knew, were perhaps able to look away because they had learned to look away from so much other abuse and suffering:
- the financial meltdowns some in the network helped trigger,
- the misbegotten wars some in the network pushed,
- the overdose crisis some of them enabled,
- the monopolies they defended,
- the inequality they turbocharged,
- the housing crisis they milked,
- the technologies they failed to protect people against.
John Timmer: Court Orders Restart Of All U.S. Offshore-Wind Construction. Trump Admin's "It's Classified" Ploy Put On Hold In Five Different Cases. (Ars Tecnica, February 2, 2026)
The Trump administration is no fan of renewable energy, but it reserves special ire for wind-power. Trump himself has repeatedly made false statements about the cost of wind-power, its use around the world, and its environmental impacts. That animosity was paired with an executive order that blocked all permitting for off-shore wind and some land-based projects, an order that has since been thrown out by a court that ruled it arbitrary and capricious.
Not content to block all future developments, the administration has also gone after the five offshore-wind projects currently under construction. After temporarily blocking two of them for reasons that were never fully elaborated, the Department of the Interior settled on a single justification for blocking turbine installation: a "classified national-security risk".
The response to that late-December announcement has been uniform: The companies building each of the projects sued the administration. As of Monday, every single one of them has achieved the same result: a temporary injunction that allows them to continue construction. This, despite the fact that the suits were filed in three different courts and heard by four different judges.
Based on reporting elsewhere, some of the judges viewed the classified report that was used to justify the order to halt construction, but they didn't find it persuasive. In one case, the judge noted that the government wasn't acting as if the security risks were real. The threat supposedly comes from the operation of the wind turbines, but the Department of the Interior's order blocked construction while allowing any completed hardware to operate.
"If the government's concern is the operation of these facilities, allowing the ongoing operation of the 44 turbines, while prohibiting the repair of the existing turbines and the completion of the 18 additional turbines, is irrational", Judge Brian E. Murphy said. That once again raises the possibility that the order halting construction will ultimately be held to be arbitrary and capricious.
For now, however, the courts are largely offering the wind projects relief because the ruling was issued without any warning or communication from the government and would clearly inflict substantial harm on the companies building them. The injunction blocks the government's hold on construction until a final ruling is issued. The government can still appeal the decision before that point, but the consistency among these rulings suggests it will likely fail.
Several of these projects are near completion and are likely to be done before any government appeal can be heard.
David Corn: The Return Of A Dangerous Trump Conspiracy Theory (Mother Jones, Our Land, January 31, 2026)
My fellow citizens, I'm here to report to you that your president is bonkers.       
Okay, many of you know that. Donald Trump has repeatedly demonstrated his connection to reality is tenuous. But to his credit (if we must):
- His ability to create and live in a distortion field free of facts has worked out quite well for him.
- His malignant narcissism had been good for his career.
- His other pathologies have helped him win the immense power he needs to compensate for his paranoia, profound insecurity, and cognitive decline.
Still, every once in a while, we are presented with a reminder of how truly bananas the most powerful man in the world is. That happened this week.
"Dangerous Question": Trump's Quip At The Premiere Of "Melania" - A High-Budget Documentary, Executive-Produced By The First Lady. (New Delhi TV News, January 30, 2026)
US President Donald Trump, his wife Melania Trump and other top members of his administration were at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to attend the premiere of "Melania".
The documentary has been financed at a whopping $75-Million by Amazon MGM Studios. At first, Amazon MGM Studios paid $40-Million to license the project and a related docu-series scheduled for release later this year on Amazon Prime Video. The first lady is one of the producers of the documentary, which talks about the 20 days leading up to Trump's 2025 inauguration as well as the family's return to the White House.
Besides this, the studio coughed up another $35-Million to promote and distribute "Melania", which is being made available across 25 territories outside North America, Reuters reported. Promotional ads are expected to be seen in various places, including London's Piccadilly Circus. Jeff Bezos, Amazon's chairman, contributed to Trump's inaugural fund earlier this year.
Directed by Brett Ratner, the documentary offers rare access to the private life of the first lady, who has kept a low public profile during Trump's second term in office. The trailer for "Melania" starts on Inauguration Day in January last year and highlights her role as an adviser to the U.S. President, including the moment where she encourages her husband to emphasize "peacemaker and unifier" [!] in his inaugural address.
Among the top Trump-administration officials who attended the premiere were Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The documentary is being screened in about 1,700 theaters in the U.S. and Canada today.
David Corn: Nuremberg. (2-min. YouTube preview video; Mother Jones, Our Land, January 27, 2026)
[Also see: "Nuremberg" (2025 film); Wikipedia, updated January 31, 2026]
Nuremberg. It's far too appropriate a time to watch a movie about the Nazi war-crime trials. Eighty years later, we're still trying to figure out what turns humans into monsters and an entire society into a genocidal culture of hate and evil. As the movie notes, the trials - the first time nations had assembled to prosecute former government officials for plotting and waging aggressive war and for crimes against humanity - set an important precedent for the international order. That was the intention of Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson (Michael Shannon), who led the prosecution. In the film, he is a noble warrior for justice who must use his wiles to persuade the Truman administration and the Brits, Soviets, and French to mount these proceedings. Half of the movie is his heroic tale of striving to establish a legal framework for Never Again.
The emotional guts of the movie is the lesser-known story of Douglas Kelley, an Army psychiatrist assigned to examine the personalities and assess the mental statuses of the captured Nazi officials set to go on trial - most notably Hermann Goring, the Reichsmarschall and the most senior of Hitler's henchmen to be captured. This was the challenge for director and scriptwriter James Vanderbilt: How to depict Goring not merely as a one-dimensional diabolical evil-doer - but as a person who's worth getting to know, yet deserves no sympathy. Russell Crowe took on the task of portraying Hitler's top aide as both an engaging and repulsive man. And Rami Malek as Kelley is almost a stand-in for Vanderbilt, as he attempts to get close to Goring without falling for his charm and intelligence. Goring claims he did not know about the camps and was only a military man honorably serving his government. And Kelley develops a complex and fraught bond with Goring, as he tries to understand the German and the other Nazi prisoners - to gather material for a book that Kelley assumes will earn him fame and fortune.
The film is mostly accurate, though full of the usual dramatic license. As could be expected, at a key point, the Jackson and Kelley narratives intersect to benefit the forces of good and righteousness. But what fascinates the most is Goring. How does the son of a middling diplomat and the godson of a wealthy Jewish physician and businessman become such a fanatic and a critical part of one of history's largest mass-murder machines? (The godson of a Jew is an interesting backstory.) And how do he and his fellow Nazi prisoners process what the Reich wrought?
"Nuremberg" delivers no answers to the questions we are compelled to ponder about: the Holocaust, the men responsible for it, and the descent of an entire nation into murderous authoritarianism. How does evil triumph? But Vanderbilt raises all this without being heavy-handed. These are topics that deserve constant attention, even if we cannot resolve them.
At Nuremberg, such questions were applied to the most enormous of sins. But they're also relevant for what we see at home and abroad these days:
- The lust for power,
- The demonization of marginalized communities,
- The weaponization of hate and bigotry,
- The widespread use of propaganda,
- The tribalization and cultification of politics,
- the love of violence.
Who embraces this? Who falls prey to it? "Nuremberg" reminds us that we can never stop asking.
Outcry In Italy, As U.S. Says ICE Agents Will Join Olympics Delegation (5-min. podcast; New York Times, January 29, 2026)
The Italian government said it had requested clarification from American diplomats, after D.H.S. said that ICE agents would help secure the U.S. Olympic delegation next week in northern Italy.
[And not just the ice-skaters..]
Sophie Hurwitz: The Trump EPA Ended The "Green New Scam". A Year Later, Communities Are Still Paying The Price. (Grist, January 22, 2026)
Across the country, communities that lost grants have responded in a variety of ways - suing the government, searching for other funds, or simply moving on.
Lisa Needham: Republicans Vow They'll Stop Trump's Greenland Crusade - LOL. (Daily KOS, January 20, 2026)
In the dead of Scandinavian winter, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has trundled off to Denmark to say that, no, you totally should not listen to President Donald Trump about how he wants to invade Greenland, and it's all going to be totally fine - trust us.
Of course, the big, declining toddler-president's desire to eat Greenland just because he can has been kicking around for a while now, but things got especially dicey Thursday after Vice President J.D. Vance hosted a meeting between Denmark and the White House.
Seth Meyers: Trump Gets Nobel Peace Prize from Venezuela's María Corina Machado. (13-min. YouTube video; Late Night, January 20, 2026)
Seth addresses Trump signing an executive order to protect Army-Navy football games from competing broadcasts and more in his monologue, before taking a closer look at Trump sending a message to Norway about the Nobel Peace Prize and threatening to invade Greenland.
Robert Reich: Office Hours: What Should We Do About The Fascist Now Loose Upon America And The World? We're Now In A Far More Dangerous And Violent Stage Of Trump's Regime. What Should Be Done To Stop It? (Substack, January 14, 2026)
Trump's reign of error and terror is spinning out of control:
- Minneapolis becoming a war zone.
- Americans murdered in the street.
- The Justice Department declaring the shooter innocent.
- Investigators quitting.
- Oligarchs contributing to the shooter's defense fund.
- The FBI investigating the victim's wife.
- Meanwhile, a criminal indictment of the head of the Federal Reserve because he won't cut interest rates.
- Investigations of Democratic senators.
- Trump and Hegseth committing war crimes.
- Trump claiming to be president of Venezuela.
- Trump deciding which companies will get access to its oil.
- Setting up slush funds in other countries to take the spoils.
- Threatening imminent war on Iran.
- Refusing to turn over the Epstein files, even though Congress demanded them.
From Minneapolis to Caracas, from Chicago to Greenland, from Washington, D.C., to Tehran, Trump's lawless violence - and his threats of even-more violence - are increasing. The civil liberties of Americans are ever-more endangered. His flouting of Congress and defiance of international law are growing.
What can and should be done?
[We should be done with tRUmPutin!]
Ken Klippenstein: U.S. Freezes Visas To 75 Countries. Read The Leaked Diplomatic Cable. (Substack, January 14, 2026)
In the latest sign of the sheer scale of the administration's war on immigration, the State Department has moved to pause all immigrant-visa issuances for applicants from 75 different countries, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable leaked to me. That's over one-third of the total number of countries in existence (193)!
Effective January 21, the directive was signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier today. Citing the Immigration and Nationality Act, the order claims concerns over immigrants being "financially self-sufficient" as the supposed reason for the freeze.
"President Trump has made clear that immigrants must be financially self-sufficient to protect public benefits for American citizens", the cable reads. "Applicants from these countries are at a high risk for becoming a public charge and recourse to local, state, and federal government resources in the United States."
[Since Trumputin has taken away more public benefits - including our democracy and so many of its capable administrators - than do immigrants, why not fix that problem first?]
Robert Reich: Trump's Ass-Backward "affordability" Agenda?
Here's A REAL Affordability Agenda! (3-min. summary YouTube video; Substack, January 13, 2026)
The latest gauge on inflation, released this morning, showed prices increasing 2.7% in December compared with the same period a year ago. Food prices were up 3.1%. (Reminder: Trump was elected on two issues: bringing prices down, especially food, and avoiding foreign entanglements.)
Today, Trump traveled to Detroit to deliver an address to the Detroit Economic Club. It was about "affordability" and he filled it with lies, such as:
- Americans aren't paying for his tariffs. (Of course they are!)
- Inflation is "way, way down". (It's about the same as it was when he took office.)
- He insisted that "affordability" is a "fake word by Democrats".
Unfortunately for Trump, "affordability" has become even more politically potent than immigration or crime. And in his first year at the helm, he's made America less affordable.
He’s also been putting forward some ass-backward ideas for "bringing down prices" that will actually increase them. His biggest:
- Fire the current chair of the Federal Reserve Board,
- Install a chair who'll lower interest rates, and
- Thereby, in Trump's addled brain, "bring down" the costs of borrowing to buy homes and cars. (In his speech today, he called Fed chair Jerome Powell, a "jerk".) Trump's decision to open up a criminal investigation of Powell is a bizarre escalation of his pressure-campaign against the central bank to cut interest rates. And it's truly ass-backwards. Without an independent Fed committed to using interest rates to fight inflation, everyone who buys or sells or invests will have to assume the risk of runaway prices in the future. The result is a risk "premium" that makes everything more expensive instead of more affordable.
---
What should be done to make America more affordable? Ten common-sense initiatives:
1. Get rid of Trump's tariffs. Trump's blanket, unpredictable, on-again-off-again, gigantic and then sometimes-modest tariffs have caused prices to jump on just about everything. That's because tariffs are import taxes that are paid by the companies that do the importing - and by their consumers. Tariffs can be a tool to create American jobs, but only if they're used in a targeted and responsible way. "Targeted" and "responsible" are two adjectives that no one uses in describing Trump's tariffs. The first step to make life more affordable for the average American is to get rid of them.
2. Bust up monopolies. Trump’s overriding goal is to boost share prices. He doesn’t seem to understand that most Americans aren’t directly affected by share prices: Over 90% of the value of shares held by Americans is held by the richest 10%; over half by the richest 1%. In pursuit of high share prices, Trump has essentially given up on anti-trust enforcement. Big corporations are now merging and buying up potential competitors at a rapid rate. But this means less competition, and less competition results in higher prices. It’s another ass-backward approach to affordability. Trump’s overriding goal of high share prices collides with what should be the real goal: keeping prices low.
A real Affordability Agenda would bust up big corporations that dominate their industries, and prohibit price gouging.
3. Fight for stronger unions. Trump hates unions, and has done everything he can do to weaken the National Labor Relations Board and the Labor Department. He's given free rein to corporate union-busting. Here again, Trump’s goal of high share prices and corporate profitability is at direct odds with the needs of average workers for higher wages, which are necessary if the goods and services they require are to become more affordable to them. Workers need more bargaining power to get higher wages. Unions do that. A real affordability agenda therefore would make it easier for workers to start or join them.
4. Raise the national minimum wage. For the same reason Trump believes unions and higher wages are bad for the economy - that is, his definition of the economy, which is the stock market - he’s been dead set against raising the national minimum wage. But the federal minimum wage has been stuck at a measly $7.25 since 2009. Raise the damn wage! And raise it even higher for employees of big corporations that pay their top executives hundreds of times more than their workers.
5. Pass Medicare For All. Trump has been trying to destroy the Affordable Care Act because it was passed under his predecessor, Barack Obama. His latest gambit has been to block any extension of the subsidies that Americans need to be able to afford health insurance under the ACA. (The fight over this issue resulted in the longest government shutdown in history.) Without those subsidies, the typical American will be paying 30 to 100 percent more for health insurance this year than last — which is already driving many people out of the ACA marketplace and forcing them to live without health insurance at all.
Extending ACA subsidies is necessary but not sufficient. A real affordability agenda would make Medicare available to all Americans. This will bring down health-care costs for everyone, because Medicare is cheaper and more efficient than for-profit health insurance.
6. Make housing more affordable. Last Wednesday, Trump called for a ban on institutional investors buying single-family housing. I suppose it's nice that he's finally gotten around to this, but I'll believe it when he actually signs the legislation.
A real affordability agenda would:
- Ban Wall Street firms from buying up housing,
- Crack down on corporate landlords that collude to jack up rent prices,
- Get rid of zoning laws that make it harder to build homes, and
- Increase funding to boost the construction of housing in cities that need it most.
7. Make child care and elder care more affordable. The costs of child care take a third of the incomes of parents with young children, on average. The costs of elder care can be even higher for working people with elderly parents. Both are essential for working families. An affordability agenda would include a universal child-care program for parents and boost funding for caregivers of aging parents.
8. Give Americans paid leave. Here again, the goal of fat corporate profits and high share prices collides with what American workers need. Trump consistently opts for the former and argues that the nation "can't afford" paid family leave.
Baloney! We're the richest country in the world. Every other advanced nation provides paid leave. Working Americans need it. We should provide it, too.
9. Stop Big Finance from siphoning off people’s incomes. Trump has deregulated big banks and allowed them to charge up to 30 percent interest on credit cards. (The banks love it because credit cards provide them with four times the return of any other line of business.) Trump has gotten rid of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which stopped other sleazy financial practices. And he’s allowed more consolidation of big financial institutions, which means even less competition, higher prices, and shadier deals. (His Justice Department recently approved the merger of Capital One and Discover, which will pile even more debt on low-income consumers.) The captains of Wall Street have never had it so good. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon made $770-Million last year. But average working people are being shafted.
A real affordability agenda would:
- Cap credit-card interest rates at 5%,
- Stop the banks from charging late fees on unsuspecting consumers (Trump's OMB director, Russ Vought, withdrew the late fee rule in April), and
- Bust up the biggest banks, whose market power is allowing them to charge absurdly-high interest rates on all borrowing.
10. Raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and corporations. Besides tariffs, Trump’s economic policy has cut taxes mainly on wealthy individuals and big corporations. He’s imbibed the “trickle-down” Kool-Aid that assumes tax cuts at the top make everyone better off.
The reality - as we’ve learned since Trump’s first tax cut mostly benefiting the wealthy and big corporations (as we should have learned from Ronald Reagan’s and George W. Bush’s trickle-down tax cuts also mainly benefiting the rich and big corporations) - is that nothing trickles down. Trickle-down economics is a cruel sham. The cumulative effects of all these tax cuts has been to make America’s rich far richer (now owning a record share of the nation’s wealth) and big corporations far more profitable (corporate profits are also near record levels), while dramatically enlarging the national debt.
And what do we get with a bigger debt? More inflation, which makes everything less affordable. Again, Trump has it ass-backward. It’s time we ended the trickle-down hoax once and for all. Besides, it’s only fair that the super-rich pay more in taxes so that the rest of America can afford what Americans need: housing, health care, child care and elder care. And by the way, even after paying more in taxes, the rich will still be richer than they've ever been, and giant corporations will still be exceedingly profitable. These 10 steps are crucial for making America affordable again. Don’t fall for Trump’s ass-backward agenda, which will only make the rich richer and big corporations more profitable. You and I and everyone who wants to lower the cost of living for Americans should back the real affordability agenda.
[Robert Reich beat me to it: "Please share this with any Democrat or independent (hell, share it with any Republican) interested in running for office and improving Americans' standard of living.]
Deepa Shivaram: Trump's Economic Speech Veers Off-Topic As He Takes Aim At Biden And Powell. (NPR News, updated January 13, 2026)
Yesterday at the Detroit Economic Club, President Trump gave a grievance-laden speech that touched on what he labeled "a resurgent American economy" - but meandered into many different topics including criticism of former President Joe Biden, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Minnesota's Somali population and Minneapolis protesters.
"We have quickly gone from the worst numbers on record to the best and strongest numbers and an economy that is far ahead", Trump said from the Detroit Economic Club.

The speech, which comes amid polling showing his handling of the economy at a historic low, lasted just more than an hour. He touted plans to crack down on fraud, freeze federal payments to states with sanctuary cities and cap credit card fees at 10% for a year. He also teased further proposals to come on health care and housing.

"It's unfair," Trump said in Detroit on credit card interest rates. "The rates are too high to provide further relief to hardworking Americans."

But Trump spent much of his time blaming Biden for inflation rates and criticized the fed chair, Powell, whom the Justice Department is targeting in a new investigation. Trump told NBC News on Sunday he had nothing to do with the probe, but he has been criticizing Powell for months for not lowering interest rates and has been threatening to fire him.

In his remarks, Trump referred to Powell as "that jerk" and said he would "be gone soon."

Michigan was Trump's first domestic trip since a slew of international news – capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro; threatening military action against Iran after rising protests; threatening to seize Greenland; trying to move forward in the Gaza peace deal; ongoing negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war – has been the president's main focus for weeks.

But in the U.S., even a majority of the president's own supporters remain increasingly concerned about high costs and affordability. It's an issue that was critical for Democrats' successes in the 2025 elections in Virginia and New Jersey and expected to remain top of mind for midterm elections later this year.

Last month, Trump's approval rating on the economy hit a new low of 36%, according to a NPR/PBS/Marist poll. The poll showed voters feel like they are struggling to make ends meet and are most concerned about high costs.

The president previously addressed his economic agenda in an Oval Office speech and said his administration was "making progress" on lowering costs but "it's not done yet."
Julie Tsirkin: Trump Threatened GOP Senators Who Voted To Allow Congress To Vote On The War Powers Resolution, In "Angry" Calls. (NBC News, Jan. 11, 2026)
On January 8, hours after the Senate voted to advance the War Powers Resolution rebuking the White House's current and future actions in Venezuela, President Donald Trump placed "angry" calls to some of the five Republicans who crossed the aisle, according to people with knowledge of the calls. Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Todd Young (R-Ind.), voted with Democrats to require the administration to get congressional approval for future military action in Venezuela.
Thursday's vote was a procedural motion; it advances the legislation to a full Senate vote that will require a simple majority.
Soon after the vote, Trump threatened each senator with primary challenges, vowing to unseat them, the people said. Two people describe the calls as "direct but cordial". But in at least Collins' case, Trump sharply criticized her and raised his voice, according to a person familiar with the exchange. Collins, a six-term senator who is up for re-election this year, hasn't formally announced her political plans.
On Truth Social after Thursday's vote, Trump said that all five senators "should never be elected to office again". "This Vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President's Authority as Commander in Chief", he wrote. "In any event, and despite their 'stupidity', the War Powers Act is Unconstitutional, totally violating Article II of the Constitution, as all Presidents, and their Departments of Justice, have determined before me."
NBC News spoke to some of the senators in the group, including Hawley and Paul, who praised Trump. "I love the president. I think he's doing a great job", Hawley said, who forecast that he could change his vote when the Senate takes up final passage this week.
The White House hasn't responded to a request for comment and hasn't confirmed the calls.
[The original subject said, "who voted for". WORSE, they only voted to ALLOW CONGRESS TO VOTE for it! Trump continues to play Dictator, ignoring our Constitution's checks and balances. The fact that ONLY five GOP Senators acted FOR the Constitution, Congress and WE, THE PEOPLE speaks volumes.]
Jimmy Kimmel Live: Rachel Maddow On Trump Being Extremely Unpopular, ICE Shooting In Minneapolis & Peaceful Protests. (12-min. YouTube video; The Jimmy Kimmel Show, January 9, 2026)
Rachel talks about Jimmy's parents being fans, the Trump presidency not offering much to people right now, his unpopularity, the positive things that come from peaceful protests, the woman who was shot and killed by ICE in Minneapolis, getting her start in morning radio, attending Dick Cheney's funeral, and her podcast Burn Order.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs: We Pressed Trump On His Conclusion About The ICE Shooting. Here's What He Said. The Exchange Was A Glimpse Into The President's Reflexive Defense Of His Federal Crackdown On Immigration. (1-min. video; New York Times, January 8, 2026)
During an interview with The New York Times, President Trump said that a woman who was shot by federal agents in Minnesota "behaved horribly" and ran an agent over. Analysis by The New York Times showed the motorist was driving away from - not toward - a federal officer when he opened fire.
Brian Tyler Cohen with Mark Elias: Democracy Watch episode 446: Justice Department Issues "BOMBSHELL" Epstein Announcement! (14-min. YouTube video; YouTube, January 7, 2026)
Justice Department reveals it's released LESS THAN 1% of Epstein files!
David Corn: The Erasure Of January 6 - Five Years Later, MAGA-World Is Still Engaging In Its Orwellian Rewriting Of History. (photos, links - including to the Trump-stalled 255-page December 17th deposition by Jack Smith, about the Trump-suppressed report analyzing January 6, 2021's Trump-inspired and Trump-enabled MAGA attack on our U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election; Mother Jones, January 6, 2026)