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Recent Posts
Top-Two Turmoil in California
Just for members: The latest issue of Ballot Access News. This issue highlights intensifying criticism of California’s top-two primary system, amid the real possibility that November’s ballot could list only…
Trump Says Iran’s Senior Leadership Is ‘Gone’
President Trump confirmed reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in airstrikes today, NBC News reports. Said Trump: “We feel that that is a correct story.” He added…
The Death of Trotsky
This looks good: The Death of Trotsky: The True Story of the Plot to Kill Stalin’s Greatest Enemy by Josh Ireland. For over a decade, Leon Trotsky’s greatest enemy, Joseph Stalin,…
Working in Plain Sight With Outside Groups
Despite campaign finance laws preventing coordination between campaigns and super PACS, the New York Times found anonymous X accounts with links to Rep. Wesley Hunt’s (R-TX) U.S. Senate campaign sharing…
Israel Says Iran’s Supreme Leader Is Dead
Israel’s ambassador to Washington told U.S. officials that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “was killed in an Israeli strike Saturday as part of a massive joint military operation between the…
Netanyahu Hints Iran’s Supreme Leader Was Killed
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday evening that “there are many signs” that Iran’s supreme leader is “no longer with us,” while stopping short of saying definitively that…
Trump Floats ‘Off Ramps’ After Attacking Iran
President Trump told Axios that he has several “off ramps” from Operation Epic Fury, the extraordinary U.S. military campaign against Iran. Said Trump: “I can go long and take over…
Democratic Lawmakers Decry Iran Attacks as Illegal
“Congressional Democrats are moving to force votes to curb President Trump’s military action against Iran, denouncing the administration’s strikes on Saturday as illegal and accusing the White House of bypassing…
FBI SWAT Team Protects Kash Patel’s Girlfriend
New York Times: “To an extent not previously reported, Ms. Wilkins is escorted in her travels by Special Weapons and Tactics team members drawn from F.B.I. field offices around the…
Senator Blasts ‘Mentally Incapacitated’ Trump
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) questioned whether Donald Trump was “mentally incapacitated” after the president unleashed a full-scale attack on Iran, the Daily Beast reports. Said Kaine: “Has President Donald Trump…
Trump Freezes Out Vance Over Iran
“Vice President JD Vance has been left out in the cold by Donald Trump as the United States wages war on Iran,” the Daily Beast reports. “Vance has made no…
Where Does It End?
Nancy Youssef and Jonathan Lemire: “During his presidential campaigns, Trump reassured his supporters there would be no more ‘forever wars,’ and that the U.S. wouldn’t be bogged down in the…
Motivations for War
President Trump claims he has two reasons for launching military attacks on Iran. But as with most things in Trumpworld, the stated rationale and the underlying incentives may not line…
Trump Was Told Attack Was High Risk, High Reward
Ahead of the U.S. attack on Iran, President Trump received briefings that not only delivered blunt assessments about the risk of major U.S. casualties but also touted the prospect of…
The Paradox of Trump’s Iran Attack
David Frum: “You don’t go bankrupt as often as Trump has gone bankrupt if you’re good at assessing risk. Trump tells ridiculous fantasies presumably because he believes ridiculous fantasies. In…
Trump’s Enormous Gamble on Regime Change in Iran
Tom Nichols: “This is not a preemptive war. It is a war of choice, a discretionary war. It is a war for regime change. Many of Iran’s 92 million people…
Kristi Noem Burning Deportation Cash on Luxury Jets
“Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s plan to use border funds for an almost $300 million luxury jet fleet has horrified top Trump officials,” Axios reports. “Until last year, DHS owned…
Trump and Khamenei’s War of Choice
Karim Sadjadpour: “The U.S.-Iran war—or, to be accurate, its latest, and most dramatic iteration—grew from a high-stakes exchange of miscalculations between two men. Donald Trump and Ali Khamenei have little…
For Your Weekend Listening
The latest episode of Trial Balloon is live. Fresh off an unexpected, medically induced news blackout, we survey the political wreckage that piled up while I was out. We start…
Trump Says the Goal Is ‘Freedom’ for Iran
President Trump told the Washington Post early Saturday that his main concern is “freedom” for the Iranian people as the U.S. launched military strikes in the country. Said Trump: “All…


