Latest posts

  • The Dronefather: How Trump Turned the Sky into a Family Business

    The Dronefather: How Trump Turned the Sky into a Family Business

    It starts, as all American dystopias do, with a slogan and a waiver. On June 6, President Trump signed two executive orders declaring it was time to “unleash American drone dominance” and “restore airspace sovereignty.” Which sounds patriotic enough—until you realize it’s the bureaucratic equivalent of saying, “We’re going to fill the sky with surveillance

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  • The Great Denaturalization Reboot: When Patriotism Became a Costume Party For MAGA

    The Great Denaturalization Reboot: When Patriotism Became a Costume Party For MAGA

    It’s happening again. The right has discovered a thrilling new hobby: pretending the Fourteenth Amendment is optional. Apparently, “We the People” now comes with a disclaimer—“unless you’re Muslim, queer, left of Ronald Reagan, or pronounce your name with too many vowels.” Across talk radio, committee hearings, and influencer podcasts with the production value of a

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  • Trump’s Federal Eyes At Your Precinct Door, Brought To You By The People Who Keep Screaming Fraud

    Trump’s Federal Eyes At Your Precinct Door, Brought To You By The People Who Keep Screaming Fraud

    The first thing to understand is that the suit with the clipboard is not there for you. That’s the official line, of course. The Justice Department says the monitors are there to “protect voting rights,” “ensure transparency,” and “uphold the integrity of the process.” They’re being dispatched to six jurisdictions: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Kern,

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  • Trump Is The Speaker of The House and Mike Johnson Forgot How to Speak

    Trump Is The Speaker of The House and Mike Johnson Forgot How to Speak

    Somewhere between the Capitol dome and Mar-a-Lago, the People’s House misplaced its voice. The New York Times tried to call it “a portrait,” but it read more like an autopsy. Speaker Mike Johnson, the man theoretically third in line to the presidency, has kept the House out of session for most of the shutdown, spending

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  • Arctic Frostbite: How Trump’s DOJ Turned Revenge Into a Branch of Government

    Arctic Frostbite: How Trump’s DOJ Turned Revenge Into a Branch of Government

    Some scandals melt under scrutiny. Others freeze time itself—like Operation Arctic Frost, the FBI’s now-infamous 2022 election-interference investigation that asked a few telecom companies for call logs and somehow got rebranded as the new Watergate. The facts were simple enough: the Bureau, approved at senior levels by Merrick Garland, Christopher Wray, and Lisa Monaco, used

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  • Trump’s Meme Administration: When the Government’s Group Chat Took Over the Country

    Trump’s Meme Administration: When the Government’s Group Chat Took Over the Country

    Somewhere between the press briefing room and a Fortnite lobby, the machinery of American governance appears to have been replaced by a collection of preteens armed with official seals, a ring light, and an unhealthy relationship with social media validation. The official feeds of the White House, DOJ, Pentagon, and assorted Cabinet offices now read

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  • Democrats Don’t Need a Savior. We Need to Stop Suffocating Hope

    Democrats Don’t Need a Savior. We Need to Stop Suffocating Hope

    There’s a new morality tale making the rounds in political media, and this time it stars Graham Platner, the tattooed Maine oysterman who tried to run for Senate, briefly became a folk hero, and then turned into the cautionary example in Politico Magazine’s think piece about how Democrats keep “falling for fantasies.” Their argument: Democrats

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  • Zohran Mamdani: Building Bridges While The Ignorant Builds Walls

    Zohran Mamdani: Building Bridges While The Ignorant Builds Walls

    If you walked into Astoria today and asked what it looks like when a politician actually organizes for the people—not the patrons, not the press hits, but the ten-ants—they’d mention one name more than any other: Zohran Mamdani. Born in Queens, raised between Kampala and Doha, organizer-turned–New York State Assembly member, now casting a wide

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  • Trump sold who the Pentagon? Inside America’s First Crowdfunded Military Payroll

    Trump sold who the Pentagon? Inside America’s First Crowdfunded Military Payroll

    There’s something exquisitely American about a shutdown that ends with the Pentagon passing a hat. Somewhere between a bake sale and a Bond villain subplot, the Department of Defense just accepted a $130 million “gift” from an anonymous donor—yes, a literal donation—to help pay soldiers’ salaries while the government remains closed for business. President Trump,

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  • Divide, Distract, Deregulate, Disappear: Your Anger Was Focus-Grouped

    Divide, Distract, Deregulate, Disappear: Your Anger Was Focus-Grouped

    Culture-war noise keeps you busy while antitrust is gutted, noncompetes spread, and public money builds luxury towers. The Hand in Your Pocket Is Wearing a Cufflink The oldest magic trick in politics begins with a sigh and ends with your wallet. The sigh is theatrical, “What is happening to our great nation?”, and the wallet

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