Source: Connecticut Public Broadcasting / Getty Here’s a question: is the federal government just deputizing any-ol’-body to be Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents? I mean, we’ve already reported on how the government has lowered the standards for ICE recruitment, even going as far as to waive age requirements in order to “take father/son bonding […]
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Indeed, they all sounded like Democrats, which was the point that Dickerson wanted to make in the second half. “The platform that we all have, I think, that we’ve heard tonight, is kind of simple,” she said. “But the thing that really keeps us from achieving this is one seat in the Senate, and that […]
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Source: Ryan Murphy / Getty This week, Trump administration officials reportedly directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to suspend most vehicle stops after two people were shot and killed by ICE agents within one week. In both cases, ICE agents were attempting to stop a fleeing vehicle using deadly force, then justifying it later by claiming the […]
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Source: Portland Press Herald / Getty It hasn’t even been a full week since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Houston shot and killed Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo — who the federal government claims rammed an ICE vehicle with his van, and attempted to run an agent over, which the passengers in his van […]
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Still—it’s popular. Fine. But guess what’s strikingly, overwhelmingly not popular? The idea of hosting such fights at the White House, on grounds we tend to associate with understated, democratic solemnity. A poll released Thursday found that just … wait for it … 16 percent of Americans considered it appropriate to hold MMA cage matches on […]
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Asked to respond to the oft-heard argument that seeking working-class voters with Platner’s type of leftist politics is a chimera, Katz insisted this doesn’t jibe with what they’re seeing at town halls in working-class and rural areas. “Mainers are focused on their cost of living, health care, corruption, and whether anyone in Washington is actually […]
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Source: Alex Wong / Getty Here’s a question: Does anyone who isn’t a MAGA supporter, a GOP official with MAGA constituents, or a billionaire who is being further enriched amid the MAGA movement want anything to do with any event tied to President Donald Trump? Since Trump’s disastrous second term began, numerous musicians and other big-name celebrities […]
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They said, I don’t like this about Graham. I wish he were more forthcoming last August when he launched his campaign. Like, couldn’t you have pictured a: Hey, I’m Graham. Now that you’re getting to know me, my wife and I would like to share a few things about what I’ve done in the past, […]
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You can watch this episode of Right Now With Perry Bacon above or by following this show on YouTube or Substack. Graham Platner won Maine’s Senate primary as expected. But the various controversies around him have Democrats deeply concerned about his general election prospects. In the latest edition of Right Now, Billy Kobin, a political […]
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Why am I optimistic about Platner? First and foremost, all indications are that this is poised to be a very good election year for Democrats overall—the best for the party since 2018. Democrats have done very well since the start of 2025 in special elections for state legislative and congressional seats across the country, as […]
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We’ll get to that record in a bit, but first, let’s deal with the Platner question. Two big stories came out last week. The first was about his sexting with several women in the early days of his current marriage. He married Amy Gertner in 2023. Early in the campaign, Gertner told an aide who […]
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Yet the political intrigue around Kean’s sudden disappearance goes deeper. Although he’s supposed to be sick, the 57-year-old took Amtrak rides and used several ride-share apps around San Francisco during the month of April, according to pre-primary reports that Kean filed with the Federal Election Commission. Kean’s staff have also been traversing the country with […]
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Yet the political intrigue around Kean’s sudden disappearance goes deeper. Although he’s supposed to be sick, the 57-year-old took Amtrak rides and used several ride-share apps during the month of April, according to pre-primary reports that Kean filed with the Federal Election Commission.* Kean’s staff have also been traversing the country with their boss’s express […]
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The tribal issue—she’s vetoed tribal sovereignty bills. There are a number of issues where the median Democratic Party has moved on from where she was, maybe a few years ago on those specific issues. So it’s more about those. But the age factor is really the biggest thing. Bacon: The age thing is happening nationally—the […]
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You can watch this episode of Right Now With Perry Bacon above or by following this show on YouTube or Substack Governor Janet Mills’s decision to suspend her campaign effectively hands the Democratic nomination for Maine’s U.S. Senate seat to Graham Platner. In the latest edition of Right Now, Alex Seitz-Wald, deputy editor of the […]
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But this race is also a proxy for broader tensions within the Democratic Party. Mills is a 78-year-old in a party where many voters blame the American authoritarianism of the last year on an 80-something president who insisted on running for reelection despite bad poll numbers and diminished faculties. She was recruited into the race […]
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“Piker has openly applauded Hamas’ terrorism, downplayed the mass rape of civilians on October 7th, and dehumanized Orthodox Jews as ‘inbred,’” Lawler said in a statement, taking many of those statements out of context. “Owens has trafficked in vile conspiracy theories, promoted blood libels, and platformed Holocaust deniers. With an audience of millions, they have […]
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At the start of the 2026 election cycle, the Senate looked far out of reach for the Democrats. The House always seemed competitive, but retaking the Senate would require flipping at least four Republican-held seats — including at least two seats in states that President Trump won by double digits in 2024. In today’s polarized […]
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Measles is an incredibly contagious disease, meaning that an outbreak anywhere is dangerous for people everywhere. Several countries across the globe, including India, Angola, and Mexico, are currently combating thousands of cases. But even America’s relatively small caseload—which currently sits at more than 1,800 for 2026—does not suggest that the Trump administration has excelled at […]
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Measles is an incredibly contagious disease, meaning that an outbreak anywhere is dangerous for people everywhere. Several countries across the globe, including India, Angola, and Mexico, are currently combating thousands of cases. But even America’s relatively small caseload—which currently sits at more than 1,800 for 2026—does not suggest that the Trump administration has excelled at […]
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“The National Trust for Historic Preservation sues me for a Ballroom that is under budget, ahead of schedule, being built at no cost to the Taxpayer, and will be the finest Building of its kind anywhere in the World. I then get sued by them over the renovation of the dilapidated and structurally unsound former […]
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On Tuesday, Poland also rejected a U.S. request for the country to send a Patriot missile battery to the Middle East to help intercept Iranian missiles. Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz posted on X, “Our Patriot batteries and their armaments are used to protect Polish airspace and NATO’s eastern flank. Nothing is changing in this […]
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Banks are reportedly alarmed at such an executive order, according to the Journal. They already have legal requirements to collect certain information for law enforcement to fight against financial crimes, including money laundering. But those requirements don’t specifically include gathering citizenship information, and there’s no law against noncitizens opening bank accounts in the U.S. A […]
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The detainees were reportedly fed while the plane was stuck, with strong winds preventing the plane from even being towed. Finally, at 2:45 p.m. Monday, the plane was towed to its terminal. Detainees were taken off of the plane and into the terminal, which was closed to the public, and were again given food. But […]
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The detainees were reportedly fed while the plane was stuck, with strong winds preventing the plane from even being towed. Finally, at 2:45 p.m. Monday, the plane was towed to its terminal. Detainees were taken off of the plane and into the terminal, which was closed to the public, and were again given food. But […]
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