Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 6h

Remember 11 years ago, when the right pushed paranoid claims about the imposition of “Sharia Law” on Americans?

Believe it or not, the absurdity is back — and it’s dumber than ever. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

The sudden Republican fixation on ‘Sharia law’ is getting increasingly weird

Remember 11 years ago, when the right pushed a paranoid threat about the imposition of Islamic law on Americans? Evidently, the absurd fear is back.

www.msnbc.com

11 13 39

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 7h

Pam Bondi is obviously the attorney general, but is she the one calling the shots at the Justice Department she ostensibly runs?

Lately, on a variety of key developments, the AG was on the outside looking in. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

Pam Bondi is the attorney general, but is she calling the shots at the Justice Department?

In several key recent decisions, Bondi was on the outside looking in, sparking new speculation about the White House’s control over Main Justice.

www.msnbc.com

8 17 46

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 12h

Trump was caught on a hot mic arranging a meeting between a foreign head of state and Eric Trump, who runs the Republican's family business.

Isn’t this exactly the sort of thing GOP members of Congress used to care about? www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

‘Hot mic’ catches Indonesian president asking Trump for a meeting with son Eric

The American president was overheard arranging a meeting between Prabowo Subianto and Eric Trump, who runs the Republican's family business.

www.msnbc.com

37 300 750

Reposted by Steve Benen

jkavanagh.bsky.social @jkavanagh.bsky.social · 1d

“A benchmark of any authoritarian movement is the delegitimization of political opposition. Insisting that patriots gathering to express concern about their nation’s future are attending a ‘hate-America rally’ checks all the wrong boxes.”

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 1d

The more Republican rhetoric about No Kings events turns hysterical, the easier it is to believe that the party is increasingly worried about the growing public backlash to the GOP agenda. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

Ahead of No Kings events, Republicans’ anti-protest rhetoric takes an ugly turn

GOP leaders appear so concerned about a scheduled protest that they're falsely labeling a No Kings gathering as a “hate-America rally.”

www.msnbc.com

2 28 83

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 1d

If Dems were solely interested in politics and the midterms, they could let Republicans kill off the ACA subsidies, let consumers suffer, watch the public blame the GOP, and reap the rewards of the election-year backlash.

Instead, they’re at least trying to govern. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

On keeping health care coverage affordable, the GOP’s Steve Scalise gives away the game

Speaker Mike Johnson said Republicans are ready for “thoughtful conversations” about the ACA’s future. That’s not, however, what the majority leader said.

www.msnbc.com

4 25 77

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 1d

The White House has had nearly a month to come up with some talking points on Tom Homan’s cash-in-a-Cava-bag scandal.

The latest comments from JD Vance and Pam Bondi suggested that Team Trump still hasn’t come up with much of a defense. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

Pressed on Tom Homan controversy, JD Vance and Pam Bondi struggle to answer

The attorney general and the vice president confronted straightforward questions about the scandal surrounding the border czar. Both Republicans struggled.

www.msnbc.com

12 32 85

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 1d

The more Republican rhetoric about No Kings events turns hysterical, the easier it is to believe that the party is increasingly worried about the growing public backlash to the GOP agenda. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

Ahead of No Kings events, Republicans’ anti-protest rhetoric takes an ugly turn

GOP leaders appear so concerned about a scheduled protest that they're falsely labeling a No Kings gathering as a “hate-America rally.”

www.msnbc.com

12 47 150

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 2d

Vance picked interesting examples:

- Trump publicly begged the DOJ to prosecute Hillary in his 1st term: tinyurl.com/bdhvrcfh

- Trump directed the DOJ to investigate Biden in 4 months ago: tinyurl.com/2s3w8fpv

- Trump accused Obama of being “guilty” of “treason” 3 months ago: tinyurl.com/2f6p265z

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

WELKER: Is the DOJ acting on orders from the president to prosecute his political opponents?

JD VANCE: No ... You know who we haven't prosecuted? Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton ... he's allowed to have opinions about law enforcement

4 18 57

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 2d

A few days ago, I wrote up a piece on Republicans routinely forgetting when Biden took office and how the problem seems to be getting worse: tinyurl.com/3bdxp3te

I suddenly wish I’d held off a few more days. (The “Biden FBI” didn’t exist on Jan. 6. Trump was president at the time.)

10 78 220

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 4d

Trump obviously didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize he spent months begging for — but there’s always next year.

To be helpful, I put together a Top 10 list of steps he should take (but almost certainly won’t) if wants to compete for the 2026 honor. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

The top 10 things Trump should consider doing if he wants a Nobel Peace Prize next year

The president begged for the honor but didn’t get it. If he wants to try again next year, there are a variety of steps he can and should take.

www.msnbc.com

6 6 34

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 4d

The phrase "don't threaten me with a good time" keeps coming to mind.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Thune: "If the Democrats had won the majority, they probably would've tried to nuke the filibuster. And then you'd have four new senators from Puerto Rico and DC, you'd have a packed Supreme Court, you'd have abortion on demand ... "

5 33 130

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 4d

Remember when several Republicans launched impeachment efforts against federal judges in response to rulings the White House didn’t like?

Jim Jordan — the chair of the House Judiciary Committee — isn’t ready to walk away from the idea. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

GOP’s Jim Jordan on judges: ‘I don’t think you should rule out impeachment’

Most Americans don’t want to see judges impeached over anti-Trump rulings. A key House Republican said it’s “on the table” anyway.

www.msnbc.com

3 16 25

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 4d

The Letitia James and James Comey cases are two sides of the same coin:

Trump isn’t hiding his weaponization of the criminal justice system, he’s *flaunting* it, hoping to instill fear in critics and prosecutors.

The corruption is the point. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

The one thing the Letitia James and James Comey indictments have in common

Both cases are brazenly and transparently corrupt, for the sake of brazen and transparent corruption.

www.msnbc.com

7 55 140

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 5d

When powerful federal officials, including those at the White House, start leaning on artists over song lyrics, there’s a problem.

The scope of Team Trump’s efforts to steer the culture make that problem worse. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

DHS’s Kristi Noem targets country singer over song with lyrics about ICE

When the federal government, including the White House, starts leaning on artists over song lyrics, there’s a problem.

www.msnbc.com

11 35 86

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 5d

Pressed on possibly suspending habeas corpus, Trump said he’d leave it up to Kristi Noem.

Among the problems: Noem has already made clear that she has no idea what habeas corpus is. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

Trump’s line on possibly suspending habeas corpus goes from bad to worse

The president said he’d leave the future of habeas corpus up to Kristi Noem, who recently made clear that she didn’t know what habeas corpus was.

www.msnbc.com

11 20 62

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 5d

Last week, the White House boasted that Trump “is a strong supporter of free speech.”

This week, the Republican declared, "We took the freedom of speech away." www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

‘We took the freedom of speech away’: On First Amendment, Trump says quiet part loud

A week after the White House boasted that Trump “is a strong supporter of free speech,” the president’s legal gibberish pointed in the opposite direction.

www.msnbc.com

3 36 78

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 5d

After four years of absurd claims about a Democratic administration “targeting” Christians, one thing seems obvious:

We’re overdue for a public conversation about the severity — and the frequency — of the Trump administration's clashes with the faith community. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

Team Trump’s clashes with the faith community go from bad to worse

The political world is overdue for a conversation about the severity of the conflicts between the Republican administration and the faith community.

www.msnbc.com

1 11 36

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 6d

I get what you're saying, and there was only so much I could fit into the tweet.

By "status quo," I was referring to Christian ministers who were subjected to ICE abuse as documented in my post.

1 1 2

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 6d

Patel firing another group of FBI special agents without cause is ridiculous.

But don’t overlook the fact that he also just shut down a federal corruption unit — the latest in a series of moves intended to undo the federal infrastructure that was used to combat corruption.

Kash Patel fires yet another group of FBI agents without cause, shutters corruption group

The Republicans’ “Arctic Frost” controversy has largely collapsed under scrutiny. It led the FBI to fire at least three special agents anyway.

www.msnbc.com

2 43 69

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 6d

We’re overdue for a public conversation about the Trump administration's dramatic conflicts with the faith community.

Pam Bondi recently claimed that Biden “abused and targeted Christians,” but that more accurately describes the status quo, not the recent past. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

Team Trump’s clashes with the faith community go from bad to worse

The political world is overdue for a conversation about the severity of the conflicts between the Republican administration and the faith community.

www.msnbc.com

2 8 39

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 6d

On the White House’s WIC plan, we’re not supposed to have a system in which a president can:

- impose his own tax without Congress

- create his own pile of money that Congress never approved

- allocate funds, at his discretion, to whichever cause he deems fit, without Congress

White House announces radical new plan to allocate tariff revenue without Congress

The Constitution gives Congress what’s known as the “power of the purse.” When Trump tries to claim he has his own purse, there’s a problem.

www.msnbc.com

19 78 180

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 6d

Republicans have spent the last few days claiming, with varying degrees of hysteria, that the Biden-era FBI was caught “spying” on GOP members and “tapping” their phones.

In reality, that's really not what happened. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

The latest Republican conspiracy theory about the FBI and Jan. 6 starts to unravel

Republicans are claiming that the FBI was caught “spying” on congressional Republicans and “tapping” their phones. That’s really not what happened.

www.msnbc.com

8 29 57

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 6d

The “Republicans keep forgetting who was president in 2020” problem clearly isn’t going away.

It’s not a new problem — there are even examples from 2021 — but it’s arguably getting worse. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

Even now, Republicans are still struggling to remember who was president in 2020

One professor joked, “‘Who was president in 2020?’ is the question of our time.” The number of Republicans who can’t answer the question correctly is amazing.

www.msnbc.com

3 18 56

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 6d

AG Pam Bondi was unprofessional and partisan, but most importantly, she was evasive, refusing to answer good questions she didn’t like.

Fortunately, Adam Schiff kept the receipts. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

AG Pam Bondi refused to answer key questions, and Adam Schiff kept the receipts

Over several hours, the attorney general was unprofessional and partisan, but most importantly, she was evasive, rejecting important lines of inquiry.

www.msnbc.com

120 540 2K

Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 7d

Given football’s popularity, common sense might suggest Trump would be eager to align himself with the NFL.

He and his team are instead adding the league to their growing list of culture war targets. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

Trump and his team add the NFL to its growing list of culture war targets

Given football’s popularity, common sense might suggest the president would be eager to align himself with the league, but he can’t seem to help himself.

www.msnbc.com

4 9 31