As 2028 Democratic hopefuls emerge, is the party developing a message beyond opposing President Trump? Meanwhile, Maine voters head to the polls Tuesday for a primary election as the controversial Graham Platner seeks to oust incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R). Join The Hill’s Amie Parnes, Ian Swanson and special guest Democratic strategist Joel Payne for…
A growing number of prominent Democrats have publicly ruled out a run for higher office as the country begins to look ahead to 2028, instead focusing on their current roles or plans beyond elected office. Among those who have recently downplayed or rejected presidential speculation are former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer […]
President Donald Trump will have the opportunity to nominate another judge to a key federal appeals court after one of the judges announced this week that he would take senior status. Circuit Judge Kurt Engelhardt, who was nominated to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals by Trump in 2018, told the White House in a […]
Maine Democrat Graham Platner is seeking to make the nomination official to take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November.
President Donald Trump's disastrous trip to the NBA Finals was not just a public humiliation for him, because according to one cognitive health expert, it also showed a dire sign of his potential "sundowning" cognitive decline for the entire world to see.Amid the New York Knicks' historic run, Trump opted to return to his hometown of New York City to attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Monday evening. The decision turned into a nightmare for all involved: Trump was booed mercilessly when he was shown on the jumbotron during the national anthem; fans had to arrive hours early and go through heavier security checks to due the president's attendance; and, in what fans are chalking up to a "curse" caused by Trump, the Knicks lost their first game to the San Antonio Spurs after a 13-game winning streak.On top of all of that, Trump was once again caught on camera appearing to nod off while watching the game, this time in a much more high-intensity environment than the Oval Office events and Cabinet meetings where he has been caught falling asleep in the recent past.Aside from the embarrassment, this incident also renewed concerns about Trump's seemingly declining health. Hilary Shae, a licensed speech and language pathologist who frequently comments on Trump's cognitive condition, released a new video on Tuesday explaining why this latest nap might be yet more evidence that he is dealing with dementia and "sundowning behavior."Shae explained that what makes this incident more notable than others was the fact that Trump was surrounded by noise and commotion at Madison Square Garden, circumstances under which a person with healthy cognitive function would struggle to nod off."When people have dementia, and they have sundowning behavior, what happens is they get lots of this confusion, this agitation, their whole time clock is messed up because of their suprachiasmatic nucleus being deteriorated and their circadian rhythm is just not aware of what's going on," Shae explained. She noted that Trump, in recent days, has likely been off his normal schedule and encountered situations that could potentially have messed with his head, including gloomy weather during a trip to Wisconsin — which she previously noted can cause disorientation in dementia patients — and his disastrous interview with NBC News, where he stormed off early after being aggravated by tough questions. All of this might have left Trump unable to use his environment to set his internal clock.She further explained that someone falling asleep in such a high-stimulus environment as a basketball game is doing so because their brain is "shutting down.""Their brain no longer has the cognitive and physical and emotional energy to function, and it just shuts itself down," she added. "His brain could not keep him awake even in one of the most stimulating environments that we could possibly put him in."
President Donald Trump prompted a firestorm of commentary and speculation after he stormed out of a major interview, but as one certified psychologist argued, his body language also exposed things about his agitated mental state.On Sunday, NBC News's Meet the Press aired an interview with Trump conducted by Kristin Welker, in which, among other things, she pressed him about the lack of evidence for his longstanding claims that elections in the U.S. are rigged against Republicans. Trump, after growing increasingly frustrated over the tough questions, cut off the interview early, saying that Welker was either "crooked" or "stupid" before storming out.Much has already been speculated based on this blow-up from Trump, including from Dr. John Paul Garrison, a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist, who maintains a popular YouTube account, "Dr. G Explains," where he gives forensic breakdowns and body language analyses for over 700,000 subscribers. While he typically focuses on true crime stories, he also delves into politics, and recently released a video breaking down Trump's body language during his interview with Welker.At the start of the interview, Garrison noted that "most" of Trump's visible behaviors were "pretty standard" and in line with his typical demeanor. He did note one brief movement of Trump's mouth that could potentially indicate a change in the president's motor control, but said that not much could be made of it for now. What he did put particular emphasis on, however, was the sound of rain during the interview, as it was being conducted in a Wisconsin barn during a period of extended downpours.Garrison argued that as the noise from the rain picked up and became more intense, Trump had a harder time focusing and concentrating on the questions from Welker. While stressing that nothing could be said for sure, he argued that Trump having a greater difficulty dealing with background noise could be a sign that he suffered a neurological episode at some point.From that point, Garrison noted numerous signs that Trump was growing more and more agitated, including him furrowing his brow, bearing his teeth and putting extra emphasis on certain words, eventually escalating to the point of "real anger" and "real fury." While he concluded that it was typical for Trump to be testy with the press, Garrison argued that he showed an "unusual" level of anger during the interview, and suggested that he might having "a harder time than he used to" dealing with things like the background noise from the rain.Another medical expert and content creator, speech and language pathologist "Hilary M.A. CCC-SLP," also argued that the weather might have been having an outsized effect on Trump's mood, suggesting in a recent video that he was exhibiting symptoms common in dementia patients, who struggle to keep track of the time of day during periods of extended gloomy weather.
A single word in a scathing ruling by a federal just should be enough to sink the nomination of Todd Blanche for attorney general, according to a new analysis.The 79-year-old president formally nominated his former criminal defense attorney to lead the Department of Justice, but MS NOW columnist Jordan Rubin flagged a key word in a recent ruling against the administration – and that's "tainted" – as reason enough to disqualify him."That’s how a judge described Blanche’s investigation into Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who became a prime target of the administration’s crudely incompetent deportation regime last year," Rubin wrote. "The Trump-controlled government illegally sent Abrego to El Salvador in violation of a court order, then resisted additional court orders for his return, and then finally secured his return but only to greet him with an indictment that a judge recently dismissed as unconstitutionally vindictive.""It’s rare for judges to grant vindictive prosecution motions, but the actions of Blanche and his colleagues made it possible," the columnist added. "Indeed, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw emphasized that he didn’t reach the conclusion 'lightly' in his ruling last month."The Obama-appointed judge dismissed charges of illegally transporting undocumented immigrants against Abrego, writing that the government would not have brought the prosecution if he hadn't successfully challenged his removal to El Salvador, and she pointed the finger at Blanche for the case."Crenshaw singled out the blundering of Blanche, who is currently the acting attorney general after Pam Bondi’s departure," Rubin wrote. "He was deputy attorney general at the time of the Abrego probe. 'Absent Blanche’s tainted investigation,' Crenshaw wrote in his May 22 ruling, Abrego’s illegal indictment would not have happened."The judge also noted Blanche's remarks in a Fox News interview in which he stated that DOJ began investigating Abrego after a Maryland judge “questioned” the legality of his deportation, and she said his "remarkable statements" about the case helped Abrego prove his prosecution was vindictive."Therefore, Blanche has not only acted as an instrument for Trump’s revenge but has done so in a manner that has thwarted that revenge’s success," Rubin wrote. "To be sure, Blanche is a competent attorney, but he has chosen what might be termed a 'tainted' path. If the GOP-controlled Senate confirms him to the top job full time, then a microscopically dim silver lining could be that his continued service to Trump will result in further fumbles."
President Donald Trump keeps insisting that gas prices aren’t especially high. What many Americans see at the pump tells a different story, and CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale has the numbers to prove it.As recently as Tuesday, Trump claimed that the price of gas is “not very high, relatively speaking. I mean, it’s lower than during the Biden administration.”Trump was not especially specific, but Dale is.According to AAA, today’s average gas price is $4.16. That is lower than the peak number during the Biden administration, $5.02, which occurred after Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022.“But the current $4.16 per gallon national average is significantly higher than the national average when Biden left office in January 2025, which was $3.12 per gallon,” Dale explains. “And it’s higher than the national average was on 1,334 of Biden’s 1,460 full days as president, figures provided by AAA show.”Dale reports that today’s price is higher than the price during 91 percent of the Biden presidency, and higher than any day during his final 29 months.Today’s price is also “much higher” than it was one year ago: $3.12. It’s higher than on the day Trump launched his attack against Iran: $2.98.The good news is today’s price is lower than the price from one month ago ($4.53) and lower than last week ($4.29).Trump has repeatedly promised lower prices once the Iran war ends.Just last week he told reporters, “when it’s all straightened out, you’re going to have oil prices drop down to maybe even lower than they were.”During his explosive “Meet the Press” interview on Sunday, Trump claimed that as soon as the Iran war is settled, “gasoline prices are going to drop like a rock.”In May, he claimed the price of gas was “peanuts.” And in mid-April, Trump declared that the price of gas “hasn’t gone up as much as I thought.”Just weeks after the Iran war started, in March, Trump said that gas prices “are gonna come tumbling down along with everything else” once the war is over.Dale also found Trump frequently claims he saw the price of gas in Iowa hit $1.85.“I was in Iowa, another place I like a lot, and it was just before we started the excursion to Iran. And we passed gas stations; it was $1.85 a gallon. And we’re going to get them down to those numbers again very quickly,” Trump said.That trip to Iowa was in January, Dale notes, when the average price in the state was $2.57. Only a niche blend that is not for use in all cars hit $1.85.
In the face of rising gas prices caused by President Donald Trump’s decision to launch war with Iran, a sizeable majority of Americans expect that the problem will only continue to get worse. According to the Hill, a new poll shows that nearly two out of three U.S. voters think the cost of gas will continue to rise over the coming year. “The survey, released Monday by Reuters/Ipsos, found that 59 percent of 4,531 respondents said that gas prices will go up in the next 12 months,” explained the Hill. “Meanwhile, 17 percent of respondents said that they will improve, 13 percent said they will stay the same and 11 percent either skipped the question or were unsure. More than 8 in 10 Democrats and more than 6 in 10 independents believe gas prices will continue to increase over the next year. Just more than one-third of Republicans said the same while a plurality of that group, 39 percent, said the opposite.”This shows that not only do Americans in general see the situation getting worse moving forward, but that one in three Republicans share that pessimism. That surprisingly sizeable negative faction within the president’s own party suggests a strong level of discontent with his economy and doubt over his handling of the war. “Negotiations to end the conflict in the Middle East, which recently passed the 100-day mark, are ongoing and on rocky footing, after Iran and Israel traded fire over the weekend,” the Hill explained. “President Trump told reporters early Tuesday morning that negotiations with the Islamic Republic are ‘going well’ and he ‘could have at least an idea by one or two days from now’ on whether the two sides will come to an agreement. Throughout the conflict, the president has expressed optimism about the state of negotiations.” The gas poll, however, suggests that voters — even a third of his own — don’t share that optimism. While gas prices have eased slightly in recent days, “Gas prices remain well above their benchmark in the days before the war. AAA reported on Feb. 26, two days before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, that the national average for a gallon of regular gas was under $2.99.” As of Tuesday, the average price is $4.16 — an increase of nearly 40 percent.According to Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, the recent dip in fuel prices is due to lower oil costs and “improving refinery runs.” He went on to note, however, that with the Strait of Hormuz still “effectively closed,” any “further deterioration” in the region “could send prices sharply higher.” “For now, motorists may enjoy the savings at the pump,” he warned, “but the risk of a significant reversal has not gone away.”