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The Most Unprecedented Presidency in 250 years

September 23, 2025 at 7:17 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Not since America’s founding 250 years ago has a U.S. president expanded power — and punished critics — in more unprecedented ways than Donald J. Trump,” Axios reports.

“Yes, most presidents stretch the power of the White House and, on rare occasions, blatantly target U.S. critics on U.S. soil. But Trump has veered, often suddenly, proudly and loudly, into unprecedented territory in at least 15 different areas.”

“No president in peacetime has done this much in one year of one term.”

“Trump has done this in eight short months, often with the loyal backing of a compliant Republican-led Congress and validated by the conservative majority of the Supreme Court.”

New York Times: Trump’s remarks at Kirk memorial distill his politics.

Homan Doesn’t Deny Taking the Bag of Money

September 23, 2025 at 6:46 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Border czar Tom Homan appeared on Laura Ingraham’s show last night to discuss reports he accepted a bag with $50,000 in cash — but said only that he “did nothing criminal, nothing illegal,” while blaming MSNBC for a “hit piece.”

Arizona Voters Set to Put Mike Johnson in a Corner

September 23, 2025 at 6:43 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Speaker Mike Johnson is about to confront one of his biggest leadership tests yet, courtesy of voters in southwest Arizona,” Politico reports.

“They are highly likely to elect a new Democratic House member in a special election Tuesday. That would-be lawmaker, Adelita Grijalva, told Politico she plans to become the 218th and clinching supporter of a bipartisan effort to force public disclosure of federal investigative files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.”

Graham Platner Draws Big Crowd in Maine

September 23, 2025 at 6:40 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Playbook: “Aides say more than 800 people turned up for Oyster farmer Graham Platner’s first town hall in Maine last night (here’s a pic). Platner, an Iraq war veteran, is running an insurgent grassroots campaign to take on GOP Sen. Susan Collins, which threatens to disrupt national Democrats’ efforts to recruit and unite around Gov. Janet Mills.”

U.S. Pledges Support for Argentina’s Economy

September 23, 2025 at 6:29 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Trump administration pledged on Monday to do whatever is necessary to support Argentina’s struggling economy, throwing a lifeline to the country’s embattled president, Javier Milei, ahead of legislative elections there next month,” the New York Times reports.

“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the United States is prepared to offer loans to Argentina’s central bank, direct currency purchases and purchases of U.S. dollar-denominated Argentine government debt from Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund to keep Argentina’s economy afloat. The value of Argentina’s currency, the peso, has fallen in recent weeks amid concerns about Mr. Milei’s political grip on government.”

Wall Street Journal: Argentina is losing faith in Milei’s free-market revolution.

Trump vs. the World

September 23, 2025 at 6:25 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“When President Donald Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly during his first term, he railed against globalism, drawing derisive laughter that momentarily derailed his remarks,” Politico reports.

“No one’s laughing now.”

“Many world leaders have bent over backward to flatter and appease Trump since he returned to office this year. But their outward deference masks a deep and growing concern about Trump 2.0. And for as much as the president has relished the flattery, he remains focused on imposing his will on the world, using leverage and threats to pressure and punish other countries.”

NewsNation: Trump to tout foreign policy, slam “globalist” institutions at UN.

Most CEOs Say Trump Has Harmed Their Businesses

September 22, 2025 at 11:23 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“In private, the leaders of some of the country’s best-known companies say that a number of White House policies have been bad for their businesses — and possibly illegal, per the results of a survey from Yale School of Management,” Axios reports.

Some results:

71% of the CEOs said tariffs were harmful to their businesses.
74% said that the courts were correct to find that the Trump’s tariffs are illegal as executed.
80% said that the president was not acting in the country’s best interest by pressuring Fed chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates.
76% said that Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. is putting U.S. public health at risk.

Trump Scrambles to Save Kirk’s Young Voter Machine

September 22, 2025 at 11:19 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Trump White House is scrambling to preserve the powerful voter mobilization machine built by Charlie Kirk, whose assassination left a leadership vacuum at one of the right’s most influential political organizations,“ Reuters reports.

“Behind the scenes, the White House has held ‘preliminary discussions’ about Vice President JD Vance engaging directly with young voters.”

Harris Says She Was Reckless Not to Challenge Biden

September 22, 2025 at 11:16 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“In her first television interview about her new campaign memoir, Kamala Harris was pressed on what she meant when she wrote that it was reckless to let former President Joe Biden seek reelection,” CNN reports.

Said Harris: “I realized that I have – and had – a certain responsibility that I should have followed through on. And so when I talk about the recklessness, as much as anything, I’m talking about myself.”

Murdochs Seek Return to Social With TikTok

September 22, 2025 at 11:13 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A Fox Corp. investment in TikTok would give the Murdoch media empire a platform with 170 million US users to promote a broad range of TV programming — from the NFL to The Simpsons — and a chance to redeem the family’s catastrophic purchase of MySpace 20 years ago,” Bloomberg reports.

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

September 22, 2025 at 7:39 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“We’ve got a lot of stupid people in this country running things.”

— President Trump, speaking to reporters this afternoon.

Sinclair Won’t Air Return of Jimmy Kimmel’s Show

September 22, 2025 at 7:37 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

While “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will return to ABC on Tuesday, the late night show won’t be returning to Sinclair’s ABC affiliates as the broadcaster will replace the show with news programming as discussions with ABC continue, The Wrap reports.

Trump Gives Unproven Medical Advice

September 22, 2025 at 5:28 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump spoke about autism and vaccines at the White House, giving direct and unproven medical advice about vaccines and the use of a common painkiller, acetaminophen, despite not having any medical background,” the New York Times reports.

“He declared that there was a link between rising autism rates and the use of the painkiller, the active ingredient in Tylenol. Scientists’ research on a potential connection has yielded inconclusive results.”

Associated Press: Trump promotes unproven ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism without new evidence.

Wall Street Journal Seeks Dismissal of Trump’s Lawsuit

September 22, 2025 at 5:22 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Wall Street Journal, its parent company and Rupert Murdoch asked a federal judge to dismiss Donald Trump‘s $10 billion defamation lawsuit over the publication’s report on the president’s past connections to Jeffrey Epstein,” Deadline reports.

“The attorneys also challenged the notion the that the article could have damaged Trump’s reputation, noting that he had ‘publicly admitted to ‘locker room talk’ and has made numerous bawdy public statements,’ as well as to his relationship with Epstein.”

White House Denies Homan Took Bag of Cash

September 22, 2025 at 4:16 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A White House spokeswoman denied on Monday that the president’s border czar, Tom Homan, accepted a bag with $50,000 in cash as part of an undercover FBI investigation last September, contradicting news reports about the case,” the New York Times reports.

“FBI agents working under cover made an audio recording of the September 2024 meeting in which Mr. Homan accepted the money in a bag from the fast-food chain Cava.”

Trump Agrees to Meet with Schumer and Jeffries

September 22, 2025 at 4:01 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Donald Trump plans to meet this week with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to discuss the looming government-funding crisis, Punchbowl News reports.

Justices Weigh Trump’s Power Over Independent Agencies

September 22, 2025 at 3:58 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider expanding President Donald Trump’s power to shape independent agencies by overturning a nearly century-old decision limiting when presidents can fire board members,” the AP reports.

“The justices have allowed the Republican president to carry out some high-profile firings while lawsuits play out, signaling the conservative majority is poised to overturn or narrow a 1935 Supreme Court decision that found commissioners can only be removed for misconduct or neglect of duty.”

New York Times: “A divided Supreme Court on Monday allowed President Trump to fire one of the leaders of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a series of emergency orders enabling the president to remove Democratic members of several independent agencies.”

Trump Cancels Bike-Lane Grants Deemed ‘Hostile’ to Cars

September 22, 2025 at 3:56 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Trump administration canceled grants for street safety measures, pedestrian trails and bike lanes in communities around the country this month, each time offering a simple rationale for yanking back federal aid: the projects aren’t designed for cars,” Bloomberg reports.