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Opinion | The Tepid Trump Economy

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Growth fell in the second quarter, despite the AI business spending boom.

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Steve Bannon predicts Todd Blanche fight could be final straw for Trump’s relationship with Thune

Washington Examiner

1 hour ago

Steve Bannon predicts Todd Blanche fight could be final straw for Trump’s relationship with Thune

EXCLUSIVE — Steve Bannon is predicting that President Donald Trump’s increasingly strained relationship with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is headed toward an irreparable break, arguing that a showdown over acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination may be the final straw. Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist and a close outside ally, told the Washington […]

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Trump 'forgot' key defense in case he's begging Supreme Court to hear: conservative lawyer

Raw Story

4 hours ago

Trump 'forgot' key defense in case he's begging Supreme Court to hear: conservative lawyer

A conservative lawyer explained that President Donald Trump waited years to make his key defense in a defamation case because he "forgot" it.During an episode of The Illegal News, congressional candidate and former MAGA insider George Conway talked about Trump's case against E. Jean Carroll. The Trump administration's Solicitor General recently asked the Supreme Court to overturn Carroll's successful $83.3 million defamation lawsuit against Trump.The Solicitor General is arguing that Trump isn't liable for the defamatory statements he made against Carroll because he was president when he made them.The argument is based on the idea of presidential immunity, but Trump didn't make the argument earlier because he "forgets to assert the immunity" during the original proceedings, Conway said while recounting the timeline."Now he's arguing that this judgment should be reversed," Conway said. "Even though he didn't make the presidential immunity argument for like three or four years."Conway argued that Trump can't revive an immunity defense he sat on for years, comparing it to the way lawmakers can't waive and then reclaim the immunity that protects their official speech. Trump is "a big boy" who should have known to raise it first, Conway said.The reason the argument never came up during the original proceedings, Conway said, was that Trump's former attorney, Alina Habba, shot it down. Trump's team instead spent years fighting on separate grounds tied to the Westfall Act, which drove the case into what Conway called a "procedural morass."Conway added that it would be "remarkable" if the Supreme Court decided to take the case, saying the justices avoid fact-heavy disputes.

Far Left

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Todd Blanche can't hide behind Trump pardon on Epstein files: ex-prosecutor

Raw Story

5 hours ago

Todd Blanche can't hide behind Trump pardon on Epstein files: ex-prosecutor

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is inching closer to criminal charges, and even a Trump pardon won't save him, according to a legal expert.During an interview on Legal Breakdown, former prosecutor Glenn Kirschner dug into a new development with the Epstein files. The Trump Department of Justice handed over unredacted Epstein records to a judge on Thursday, and host Brian Tyler Cohen asked what kind of consequences Blanche still faces.Kirschner told Cohen that if Blanche handed over doctored files to the judge, he could face a "criminal investigation" and "obstruction of justice" charges.Cohen speculated, "If Trump holds true to his general ethos as it relates to law and order, he's going to dole out pardons to everybody in his vicinity," so "Todd Blanche probably does have a pardon waiting for him, especially if he's acting on Trump's behalf."However, Blanche still won't be off the hook, Kirschner said, "if Donald Trump delivers a pardon to Todd Blanche and there is some sort of showing, there's some evidence that Todd Blanche and Donald Trump were actually in a conspiracy together to cover up potentially incriminating information about Donald Trump."Kirschner explained that the Department of Justice under a future presidency can still challenge Blanche's pardon in federal court, and if a judge rules against the pardon, prosecutors can press the obstruction of justice charges."It will be incumbent upon the next Department of Justice, again once the rule of law comes back into the light of day, to march into court proudly and challenge that corruptly delivered pardon," Kirschner said.

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Trump resorting to yelling at White House staffers as his admin 'stuck' in neutral: author

Raw Story

5 hours ago

Trump resorting to yelling at White House staffers as his admin 'stuck' in neutral: author

President Donald Trump has been yelling at his White House staffers as he deals with a lingering frustration, an author revealed.In a recent episode of Inside Trump's Head, Trump biographer Michael Wolff explained to co-host Joanna Coles why the president has resorted to "yelling at people" to resolve his frustrations with the war in Iran. Trump's recent yelling about the Iran war has been reported in The Wall Street Journal and NBC News."He's stuck, he's stuck, he's stuck. He can't do anything," Wolff said. "He can retreat. He can admit defeat, which also he doesn't want to do. So he's yelling at people, 'Solve the problem! There must be something we can do.'"According to reports by the Journal and NBC News, Trump started shouting expletives and yelling at a meeting with his top national security officials over frustrations with the Iran war."He has been told over and over again — because there's effectively nothing left to tell him — that we have exhausted all military solutions," Wolff said. "We are running out of missiles. We will run out of missiles if we keep up the pace. We have done everything that an air campaign can do. There's nowhere to go. There is nothing more we can do except invade."Wolff framed Trump's 2024 campaign posture as Trump touting himself as "The 'No Forever Wars' president," which complicates his option of getting deeper into the war in Iran. However, "if he retreats, and even if he claims victory and says it's all marvelous, the Iranians still control now the Strait of Hormuz," Coles said."Trump is the Hormuz president," he concluded.

Far Left

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WSJ disgusted as Trump economy becomes 'nothing to brag about'

Raw Story

7 hours ago

WSJ disgusted as Trump economy becomes 'nothing to brag about'

President Donald Trump got a tongue-lashing from the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board over the latest dismal economic numbers."The U.S. economy grew a tepid 1.5% during the second quarter, driven by consumers and AI investment," wrote the board. Meanwhile, net exports "subtracted a point" from GDP, and government spending was down too — though the board was less concerned about that.The economy is "shrugging off" the war in Iran, at least, the board noted — but that's "nothing to brag about."The fundamental issue, the board continued, is Trump's ongoing obsession with tariffs, an issue they have slammed him for frequently as dragging his economy down."Mr. Trump thinks that, with the stock market hitting records and the economy avoiding recession, his tariffs are working wonders," said the board. However, the economy is "underperforming by half" if Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s 3% GDP target is the benchmark. "Last year’s tax bill and deregulation would be driving faster growth if not for Mr. Trump’s border taxes that raise costs and uncertainty for business."Through all of this, the board said, inflation remains persistently high, and the tariffs are contributing to it."Some of Mr. Trump’s most ardent fans tell us they wish he’d drop his tariff fixation and return to the supply-side policies that produced broad-based prosperity during his first term," the board lamented. For that matter, they added, "most Americans probably do too."

Far Left

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'Guaranteed death': Another GOP senator comes out swinging against Trump's demands

Raw Story

7 hours ago

'Guaranteed death': Another GOP senator comes out swinging against Trump's demands

Another GOP senator has said he won't give in to a looming demand by President Donald Trump in a defiant op-ed.In a Thursday piece for The Wall Street Journal, Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) made it clear, "I won't change the filibuster," a position that he made the headline of his op-ed."Under no circumstance will I support any effort to end or alter the filibuster, as any party that does so wouldn't be guaranteed survival," Curtis wrote. "Their agenda would be guaranteed death come the next majority." The op-ed lands Curtis in a growing camp of Republicans publicly resisting Trump's push to terminate the filibuster if that's what it takes to force through his stalled SAVE America Act, a controversial voting bill.Curtis defended the filibuster, writing that it "protects independence" and "gives individual senators the ability to stop or slow a bill—a significant amount of influence for one person."He added that the filibuster protects the minority, which "isn't just a party. It can be any senator, on any issue, at any time, whose view doesn't align with the majority." He noted this kind of resistance "happens more often than people might think" and that the filibuster makes it so a senator who disagrees with party leadership "can't easily be overruled and pushed aside."Trump never comes up by name, but plenty of Republicans have gone after his demand. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) went after the same demand in a Wall Street Journal op-ed of her own. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has also said he won't gut the filibuster to secure 60 votes for Trump's SAVE America Act.

Far Left

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Ninth Circuit deepens split among appeals courts over Trump’s mandatory detention policy

Washington Examiner

7 hours ago

Ninth Circuit deepens split among appeals courts over Trump’s mandatory detention policy

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit handed the Trump administration a loss Thursday on its policy of mandatory detention for illegal immigrants, adding to the deep divide among federal appeals courts on the legality of the policy. A three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit ruled 2-1 to reject the Trump administration’s assertion […]

Center Right

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Trump announces deal for Hamas to disarm; Israel ‘skeptical’

The Hill News

8 hours ago

Trump announces deal for Hamas to disarm; Israel ‘skeptical’

President Trump on Thursday evening announced a deal for Hamas to disarm in “carefully structured phases,” which, if carried out, would address one of the main sticking points for a broader peace deal in Gaza. “This agreement is a critical step towards Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government that will work closely…

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Opinion | The Tepid Trump Economy

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