Smoking gun letter reveals LAUSD ignored dire budget warning before approving huge staff pay raises

Despite stark warnings from the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) that approving nearly $1.2 billion in labor contracts would plunge the Los Angeles Unified School District into a financial crisis, the school board approved the deals anyway, setting the stage for thousands of layoffs.

Trump allies offering startling advice to GOP candidates with midterms just 100 days out

People close to President Donald Trump are giving GOP candidates some startling advice as the midterms approach, according to new reporting. MS NOW's Jake Taylor revealed on Sunday's edition of "Alex Witt Reports" that Trump White House insiders are quietly telling GOP candidates to distance themselves from the messaging Trump has put out about the war in Iran. Taylor pointed to the consistent negative polling about the war and Trump's public messaging that the war is going well as reasons allies have put forward for candidates to create the airspace. "They're advising, whether they're incumbents or challengers, Republican candidates to essentially not talk about the war the same way President Trump is," Taylor said. "They're encouraged to actually put some distance [and] space between the way Trump talks about the war and the way they do, because they're aware they don't have a winning strategy when it comes to the midterms."Taylor's report underscores the growing divide between Trump and the Republican Party over the war against Iran. Several Republican lawmakers have sharply criticized the president for launching the war without Congressional approval, although that feeling has yet to metastasize into an official vote to curtail Trump's war powers. "Obviously, we are just 100 days out [from the midterm elections]," Taylor said. "Every bit of messaging on this matters. And the Republicans around Trump know that, and that's why they're encouraging others to distance themselves from his language in this moment."

Transcript: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," July 26, 2026

The following is the full transcription of an interview with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent, a portion of which aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on July 26, 2026.

GOP strategist: Democrats are destroying themselves

President Donald Trump is so weak that political experts anticipate potentially Democrats flipping the House of Representatives, Senate or both — and yet an anti-Trump Republican strategist warns they may be undone by incompetence at the top of their organization. “The Democratic National Committee is failing every person reading these words,” Steve Schmidt, who advised President George W. Bush, wrote for his Substack on Sunday. “You should be very angry about it because that failure is neither providential nor pre-ordained. It’s a choice — like Trump — and it’s killing the United States of America.”Schmidt reviewed the party’s financial travails, writing that “the MAGA Republicans have more than $128.5 million cash on hand compared to the Democratic National Committee, which is more than $2 million in debt. It’s also on track to spend exponentially more money on politics in Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Marianas, the Virgin Islands and American Samoa than across Mississippi and Louisiana, both of which have great US Senate candidates.”He added, “It’s unacceptable. The DNC is terribly led by Chairman Ken Martin. A sign of the political ineptitude of both [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries is their inability to deal with what must be dealt with.”He went on to quote The New York Times story that shed light on these travails. The report found that when it came to Democrats’ troubles “at the center is Ken Martin, the 53-year-old party chairman, who has found himself increasingly isolated, gripped by the fear that he will lose his job and relying on a vanishingly small circle of people he trusts, according to interviews with more than two dozen Democrats, including current and former D.N.C. officials and members. Most of them spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the party’s troubled state of affairs.”The Times added, “Mr. Martin’s fraying nerves are showing. In a pique of frustration in early July, he threw his phone at the desk of a junior aide while upbraiding the person. The phone-tossing incident resulted in a formal complaint to the D.N.C.’s human resources department.”Schmidt condemned Martin’s reported behavior, writing that “personally, I’m sick of the tolerance for losing and the Democratic Party mediocrities, careerists and hustlers who can’t, won’t, and will never stop losing because deep down they’re simply doing what they’re good at: losing.”He continued, “The problem is that we’re losing the country because it isn’t being properly defended by the institution that’s built to stand up to MAGA and be for something better. It’s one of the foremost tragedies of this whole era. It’s deeply true and very real.”AlterNet previously reported on criticisms of Martin’s performance. In June anonymous high-ranking DNC sources told AlterNet that Martin has failed to prepare for Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting, mishandled releasing an autopsy of its failed 2024 presidential campaign and refused to adequately address threats to voting security on electronic machines, even though it admitted that "any assessment of the state of technology in the Democratic party would be incomplete without an acknowledgement that comprehensive data warehouses like Phoenix represent an irresistible target for hackers and other bad actors seeking to undermine the integrity of the modern political process."

Democrats are sabotaging the midterms —and this man is to blame

President Donald Trump and his Republican Party are in an increasingly weak position as they approach the 2026 midterm elections — and yet Democrats are sabotaging themselves due to the reported incompetence of the Democratic National Committee chairman.“At the center is Ken Martin, the 53-year-old party chairman, who has found himself increasingly isolated, gripped by the fear that he will lose his job and relying on a vanishingly small circle of people he trusts, according to interviews with more than two dozen Democrats, including current and former D.N.C. officials and members,” reported The New York Times’ Shane Goldmacher and Reid J. Epstein on Sunday. “Most of them spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the party’s troubled state of affairs.”Goldmacher and Epstein added, “Mr. Martin’s fraying nerves are showing. In a pique of frustration in early July, he threw his phone at the desk of a junior aide while upbraiding the person. The phone-tossing incident resulted in a formal complaint to the D.N.C.’s human resources department.”The Times added that the alleged phone-throwing episode had tangible fallout, with D.N.C. human resources officials meeting with Martin about the incident. Yet that was far from Martin’s only problem during his brief tenure in charge of the organization. He has been slammed for delaying the release of an autopsy on the 2024 presidential election, and then releasing an incomplete and annotated version. He has made very few media appearances. Staffers are widely reported as being demoralized, and the organization is full of leaks. Martin reportedly is in constant fear of being fired.Perhaps worst of all, though, the D.N.C. is struggling to raise money.“None of the party’s problems are more acute than money,” the Times reported. “For more than a decade, the D.N.C. has transferred millions of dollars every election to sister committees responsible for winning the House and Senate. But the national party is now so short on cash — even after taking out a $15 million loan last year — that officials have privately conveyed to congressional leadership that there will be no such transfers in 2026.”By contrast, Republicans — even though they are struggling in polls — are far exceeding Democrats in fundraising.“New financial reports released this week revealed the depth of the D.N.C.’s financial hole,” the Times reported. “The party is $2 million in debt, while the Republican National Committee has $128.5 million in cash on hand. The party that holds the White House almost always raises more money into its party coffers, but this year’s chasm is extraordinarily large.”Speaking to AlterNet in June, various sources also expressed alarm at Martin’s leadership of the Democratic Party. One anonymous source, a longtime member of the DNC Women’s Caucus, told AlterNet that Martin has done nothing to protect mail-in voting from Trump’s reported attempts to quash it. He has also refused to move away from electronic voting and toward paper receipts, which would be harder for Trump and other Republicans to tamper with.Despite this shortcoming, the party’s “autopsy” in May acknowledged that "any assessment of the state of technology in the Democratic party would be incomplete without an acknowledgement that comprehensive data warehouses like Phoenix represent an irresistible target for hackers and other bad actors seeking to undermine the integrity of the modern political process."

Sanders says he does not regret supporting Graham Platner in Maine Senate race

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday said he did not regret supporting former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner (D) after a former girlfriend’s accusations of sexual assault came to light and led the progressive candidate to drop his bid. CBS News’s Margaret Brennan asked Sanders about his support for Platner on Sunday’s “Face the Nation,”…

Democrats May Be in Big Trouble in Their Maine Senate Do-Over

The four most high-stakes primaries left with 100 days until midterm elections

With the 2026 midterm elections just 100 days away, several important races have yet to hold their primaries, with national implications. The 2026 primaries have largely been characterized by two trends — President Donald Trump’s hold on the Republican Party being cemented through successful endorsements, and the Democratic Party’s left-wing being strengthened through victories of […]