The Four Sources of Voters’ Economic Rage

Deported Four Times, Convicted Kidnapper and Sex Offender Sentenced to 4 Years After Illegal Reentry

Trump Ties Spy Powers Extension to Controversial Voter ID Bill

President Donald Trump said he is opposed to having Congress renew now-expired spy powers for US intelligence agencies unless lawmakers also pass a controversial voter identification bill.

'I'm literally flabbergasted': Rage as Trump deploys sacred Honor Guards at UFC event

A wave of anger erupted online this weekend after U.S. military honor guards were spotted taking part in the run-up to President Donald Trump's UFC spectacle at the Lincoln Memorial.The backlash took off after progressive commentator LanaQuest, who posts as RosaSparks, shared video of uniformed service members flanking the memorial's steps as UFC fighters made their entrance. "Those are Honor Guards?" she wrote. "I'm literally flabbergasted. The disrespect is off the charts."The footage was real. According to the Daily Beast, several U.S. military honor guards appeared on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the UFC Freedom 250 press conference on June 12, as fighters strode past Abraham Lincoln's statue — a Getty Images photo confirmed the service members' presence at the commercial event.Among the loudest critics was liberal commentator Brian Krassenstein, who co-hosts a political show with his brother Ed. "Trump is f------ using Honor Guards at a UFC event on the Lincoln Memorial," he wrote. "No this is NOT ok. Don't you dare call yourself a 'patriot' while supporting this c---." When one commenter asked whether Republicans were comfortable with the scene, Krassenstein replied that they "aren't ok with it" but were "too cowardly to say so."The criticism cut deepest from those with military ties. Army veteran Skyleigh Uhrich called the display "a f------ disgrace," writing that troops of an earlier era would have faced a court-martial for far less. "So many fought and died and were maimed for this country," she wrote, expressing disbelief that ceremonial service members were being used as props at a cage-fighting promotion.DemCast's content director also chimed in, writing, "Trump used the Armed Forces Full Honor Cordon — soldiers who escort fallen heroes and heads of state — to usher UFC fighters past Abraham Lincoln’s statue like they’re celebrities on a red carpet. I am LIVID. And everyone else should be too."Others reached for the GOP's history of manufactured outrage, with one reply noting that Republicans "almost crucified Obama for wearing a tan suit." The Lincoln Project weighed in with a single word: "Disgraceful."The honor guard flap is only the latest military entanglement in Trump's UFC weekend. CNN reported that troops were offered free tickets to the White House event but had to meet body-composition standards first, with one defense official bluntly summarizing the message to interested soldiers as "no fattys" and another saying Pentagon leaders wanted attendees to "look good" on camera. National Guard members, meanwhile, were stationed at the Lincoln Memorial throughout construction for the event.The fights are set to take place Sunday on the White House South Lawn — an event timed to coincide with Trump's 80th birthday and billed as part of the nation's 250th-anniversary celebration.

James Talarico Plays Up Spurs’ Past Glory in Campaign Ad Aimed at Texas Voters

The Democratic candidate for Senate looked to gain crossover appeal with a spot emphasizing teamwork and his own experience as a teacher in San Antonio.

Trump voters 'at a loss for words' trying to defend him amid 'watershed moment': pollster

The voters who powered Donald Trump back into the White House are increasingly unable to explain why they did it — and pollsters who sit in on focus groups say the war in Iran is what finally broke the spell.Molly Murphy, a Democratic pollster who worked on Kamala Harris's 2024 campaign, told The New York Times that the turn against the president picked up speed once he launched the war. Working-class voters who had backed Trump were "at a loss for words" when asked to justify the move, she said, particularly as gas prices climbed and they felt the cost in their own budgets.Murphy called the moment a "watershed" — a decade into Trump's grip on American politics, his own supporters openly reckoning with the idea that he was never the person they thought he was.The disillusionment is showing up in the data. Times' analysis found that white voters without college degrees, who broke for Trump better than two to one in 2024, have swung hard against him on the economy. Where they once approved of his economic record by 30 points or more, recent polls show them disapproving by double digits. On the cost of living, just 36 percent told the Times they approved.For Democratic operatives who spend their days hunting for disillusioned Trump voters to feature in campaign ads, the search has gotten noticeably less difficult.Eva Kemp, a strategist with the Democratic group American Bridge, told the paper that finding those voters has "gotten easier," and that their disappointment now feels more raw and more personal. Women, she said, have run out of patience fastest. In one recent focus group of working-class white voters in Iowa, she recounted, nearly all of the women handed Trump a grade of D or F. The men graded him more gently. Republican strategists, granted anonymity to discuss their party's weak spots, told the Times they were seeing the same gender split.Tim Spencer, a 72-year-old retired tool and die maker from Pella, Iowa, who voted for Trump, told the paper that filling his Chevy pickup now runs about $140, up from $90. The camping trips he and his wife once took across the Midwest have shrunk to the borders of his own state.Carl Wallnau, a 35-year-old outside Fort Worth who backed Trump on his promise to lower gas prices, said those promises simply never materialized. He now plans to vote third party in 2026, according to the report."I'm reminded of Bill Clinton," Wallnau told the Times. "It's the economy, stupid."

Maher backs Graham Platner, urges voters to accept ‘broken, horribly educated… sort of nutty people’

Leftist comedian Bill Maher has dropped a bombshell endorsement in Maine’s Senate race, and people aren’t happy. Despite seeming more reasonable than many on the left these […]

Ex-staffer accuses MAGA lawmaker of ‘intentionally misleading’ voters for years

Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL), who’s been endorsed by President Donald Trump in his bid for U.S. Senate, was accused Saturday by an ex-senior staffer of "intentionally misleading” voters for years regarding his military service, The Daily Mail reported.Moore’s campaign told The Daily Mail that he had served in the U.S. military for “more than six years,” and his wife, Heather Moore, said recently that her husband had served eight years, according to a local Alabama media outlet, The Daily Mail reported.However, according to documents recently released by Moore’s campaign, Moore had only served in the National Guard for less than three years before being honorably discharged in mid-1991.Furthermore, The Daily Mail uncovered new details that put his military service claims further into question.“Multiple former staffers said that early in his congressional tenure, senior staff took a deliberate decision to avoid the word 'veteran' in all communications – because Moore did not meet the qualifications - substituting 'former service member' instead,” The Daily Mail’s report reads.“In a further eyebrow-raising revelation, The Daily Mail has learned that Moore was typically accompanied by veteran staffers onto military bases, as he lacked the active-duty or veteran ID card needed for independent access.”Nevertheless, Moore has continued to tout his military record amid his Senate campaign, including in a Facebook ad published in May in which he “claimed to be a veteran,” The Daily Mail reported.

Trump cements end to US ‘global empire’ – and the economic damage ‘will be huge’: expert

Richard Wolff, a renowned economics professor, issued a grave prediction recently that not only would the United States ultimately “lose” its war against Iran, but that the loss would bring about an end to the U.S. “global empire” that had stood unrivaled for more than six decades.“The United States operated for the last 65, 70 years on empire, a global empire,” said Wolff, who teaches at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in a video interview published this week. “The U.S. dollar was the currency used everywhere in the world, the U.S. Navy protected shipping and made sure that the United States got what it wanted out of any other country in the world. People like you and me, we lived in a time when the American empire was dominant and it was growing. Here comes the hard part: that part of American history is over! It's not coming back, it's done.”Iran appears to have emerged from the conflict with the United States as a new “major world power,” having been able to withstand the full military might of the United States and survive largely intact. As such, Wolff argued, the global perception of the United States would likely shift following the war, and to such an extent as to cause great economic damage.“The damage to the American economy, which is already declining, will be huge. Every small country in the world has had their problems with the United States. Now they can imagine winning,” Wolff said. “They haven't been able to imagine that for 75 years, and that's a new exciting option. When you put that together with the fact that they can turn to China to buy and sell almost everything, what do they need the United States for?”And, as noted by Wolff, the decision to launch the U.S. war against Iran was made by President Donald Trump, who he described as “not the sharpest knife in the drawer.”“Not a good time to be Donald Trump, even in MAGA land, they're having doubts about it,” Wolff said.