Progressive search for action

8+ min ago (436+ words) GOP members are turning on the Trump administration as they point to a flawed policy that they would not personally back. One representative observed there were clear "disadvantages" to a 50-year mortgage policy floated by Trump, while another said they simply "wouldn't take one out." Trump's 50-year mortgage plan was floated earlier this year as the president claimed it would mean you "pay less per month." But economists have pointed out the interest on a 50-year mortgage would end up being far larger than that of a 30-year mortgage. Trump said, "All it means is you pay less per month. You pay it over a longer period of time. It's not like a big factor. It might help a little bit." Speaking to The Hill, several Republican senators aired their concern over the proposed mortgage plan, with one saying they…...

12+ min ago (800+ words) Allies of President Donald Trump are worrying that the president has never been more isolated than he is now and as a result, is increasingly out of touch with what the public wants from him, reports Jonathan Lemire in The Atlantic. Noting Trump's penchant for hosting rallies, Lemire writes that " it has been many months since Trump hosted a full-on campaign-style rally." Instead of rallying support with his dwindling base, Lemire says, Trump has, instead, chosen " to travel abroad, golf at his private clubs, and dine with wealthy friends, business leaders, and major donors." "Beyond the rallies, Trump has dramatically scaled back speeches, public events, and domestic travel compared with the first year of his initial term," he writes. "And that lack of regular voter contact has contributed to a growing fear among Republicans and White House allies: that Trump…...

14+ min ago (922+ words) Jonathan Lemire: "For a decade, Donald Trump's rallies were intertwined with his political identity. His big crowds were how he first got the media and the Republican Party to take him seriously, and they provided real-time feedback." "Those who followed him closely could watch his positions take shape from one rally to the next'an offhand comment that got a strong reaction would become a talking point at the next rally, and then a core part of his pitch. And he took notice when the crowd got bored, pivoting to the lines that would fire them back up" "But it has been many months since Trump hosted a full-on campaign-style rally. He has opted instead to travel abroad, golf at his private clubs, and dine with wealthy friends, business leaders, and major donors. Beyond the rallies, Trump has dramatically scaled back…...

14+ min ago (251+ words) Des Moines, IA / USA - 01/30/2020: President Donald Trump supporter sporting a red "Keep America Great" hat waiting for Trump to speak at his Keep America Great rally in Des Moines, IA During the 1980s, Republican President Ronald Reagan and liberal House Speaker Tip O'Neill (D-Massachusetts) had plenty of political disagreements yet were genuinely fond of one another. Reagan sometimes criticized O'Neill from a policy standpoint; other times, they found common ground. Yet Reagan never questioned O'Neill's patriotism. In a think piece published by the conservative website The Bulwark on December 1, retired U.S. Army Gen. Mark Hertling " a scathing critic of President Donald Trump " lays out the contrasts between the "patriotism" of 2025 and Reagan's view of "patriotism." And he warns that today's "patriotism" is a tribalist perversion of what Reagan considered patriotic during the 1980s. The former U.S. Army Europe commander continues, "More than three decades…...

15+ min ago (211+ words) Sanchari Ghosh is a political writer for The Mary Sue who enjoys keeping up with what's going on in the world and sometimes reminding everyone what they should be talking about. She's been around for a few years, but still gets excited whenever she disentangles a complicated story. When she's not writing, she's likely sleeping, eating, daydreaming, or just hanging out with friends. Politics is her passion, but so is an amazing nap. Since the beginning of this year, Donald Trump has been proving time and again why sensible people hate him. Despite claiming to make "America Great Again, Trump has been repeatedly doing things that don't make the country great, and he is doing that at the cost of the American people. Having said that, Trump critics such as Rick Wilson believe that the revelation of his spending taxpayer…...

15+ min ago (283+ words) As news emerged that Kirk had been killed, the remarks " sent just months after the pair had faced off in an Oxford Union debate on marriage, abortion and masculinity " sparked fury across the Atlantic and swift public distancing from the Union itself, which said it "unequivocally condemns the reported words and sentiments expressed by the President-Elect." Abaraonye told The Times he made the comments before he had "very little context for what [he] was reacting to" and apologized again on Friday, addressing his remarks to Kirk's widow Erika and their two children. "I want to offer my apologies and my condolences," he told the newspaper. "No one deserves to lose a husband, no child deserves to grow up without a father" I am very sorry." In a further interview with British outlet LBC, Abaraonye told host Lewis Goodall that he…...

20+ min ago (227+ words) A special election in a deep-red Tennessee congressional district could serve as a bellwether for next year's midterm elections, and CNN's data expert Harry Enten said the results will likely give Democrats a good feeling about their chances for retaking congressional majorities. Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn and Republican Matt Van Epps will face off Tuesday for a chance to replace Republican Mark Green, who left Congress in July for a private sector job. Polling ahead of the election shows a much closer race than many expected. "So even here, if the GOP wins by under 10 points, that most likely outcome is actually a very bad outcome for Republicans compared to the presidential baseline," he added. "We're talking about Democrats outperforming the 2024 presidential baseline by double digits." Democrats have outperformed their 2024 results by an average of 15 points in special elections…...

23+ min ago (409+ words) In yet another gift to corporate criminals, President Donald Trump has reportedly used his executive authority to commute the seven-year prison sentence of a former private equity executive convicted of defrauding more than 10,000 investors of around $1.6 billion. David Gentile, the founder and former CEO of GPB Capital, was convicted of securities and wire fraud last year and sentenced to prison in May, but he ended up serving just days behind bars. The New York Times reported over the weekend that the White House "argued that prosecutors had falsely characterized the business as a Ponzi scheme." One victim said they lost their "whole life savings" to the scheme and are now living "check to check." Another, who described themselves as "an elderly victim," said they "lost a significant portion" of their retirement savings. "This money was earmarked to help my two…...

34+ min ago (864+ words) Federal prosecutors will argue that "adherence" to "violent and extremist Antifa ideology" shores up material-support-for-terrorists charges against protesters who shot fireworks, destroyed a surveillance camera, and vandalized vehicles and a guard shed at a Texas ICE facility on July 4. Donald Trump's Department of Justice also intends to cite previous cases involving jihadist and white supremacist defendants. One leading expert told Raw Story "characterizing "Antifa ideology' as necessarily violent," like such established extremist threats, indicated the weakness of the government's case. The 12-count superseding indictment returned earlier this month in the Northern District of Texas is against nine defendants but alleges only one, Benjamin Song, opened fire on federal and local law enforcement. Four defendants are charged with aiding and abetting Song, named as the "principal," in the attempted murder of two federal officers and a local police officer. Song is…...

38+ min ago (708+ words) U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum speaks with Lindsey Halligan during a reception for Sergio Gor, the recently sworn-in U.S. Ambassador to India, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 10, 2025. Picture taken November 10, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard "Record-setting" personnel issues are marring President Donald Trump's second term as the president doubles former President Joe Biden's "mark for nominees withdrawn from the Senate in the first year," Politico reports. Despite Trump's personnel operation being a "smoothly running machine," they report, "there are clear signs of breakdowns behind the scenes." Trump has withdrawn a record number of nominees for a president's first year in office as he faces a combination of GOP pushback against some picks, vetting issues, White House infighting and, in some cases, the president's own mercurial views," they note. According to Senate data, Trump has thus far withdrawn 57 nominations'nearly double the…...