January 22, 2026 at 6:02 AM EST
'Donald Trump didn't win the 2024 election -- Couch did'

In Tuesday's edition, I said liberals should face the fact that the Democrats can't do it alone . The viability of democracy requires some Republican buy-in. I said "liberals have to work more to create conditions in which the Republicans choose to behave." About those conditions.

January 21, 2026 at 11:56 PM EST
Notorious Silicon Valley scam artist asks Trump for pardon

Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the defunct blood-testing company Theranos, has filed a clemency petition with the Department of Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney seeking early release from prison, according to SFist. The petition status is listed as pending, according to KRON4. Holmes was sentenced in late 2022 to 11 years in federal prison after being convicted of defrauding investors in Theranos. Her sentence was reduced to nine years for good behavior, but federal rules prevent further reductions. She is currently serving her sentence at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Bryan, Texas -- where Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell is also being held -- and is scheduled for release in December 2031.

January 21, 2026 at 11:27 PM EST
Republican who called Muslims 'savages' seeks terrorist designation for advocacy group

A Republican state lawmaker who had faced criticism for calling Muslims "savages" and making a series of other Islamophobic comments pushed forward his legislation urging Congress to designate the country's largest Muslim advocacy group a terrorist organization. The measure from Rep. John Gillette, R-Kingman, will have no practical effect. But if it passes, it would be a statement of the legislature's beliefs. House Concurrent Memorial 2002 urges the president and Congress to designate the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, as a terrorist organization and pass a bill in Congress that seeks to do the same.

January 21, 2026 at 9:59 PM EST
Trump is not only a 'dictator' -- he's the 'worst' kind: analysis

When it comes to governing style, Atlantic assistant editor Marc Novicoff says President Donald Trump loosely qualifies as a certain kind of "dictator," and it isn't even the best version. "President Trump prosecutes his political opponents; deports immigrants " to foreign prisons without due process; solicits tribute payments from corporations and foreign governments; deploys soldiers to American cities that are not, in fact, in civil-war-level chaos; and puts his name and image on government buildings that quite obviously don't belong to him," said Novicoff. So, the title fits, but what do you call this particular dictator's brand of government?

January 21, 2026 at 9:38 PM EST
Republicans beg 'important ally' to ignore Trump

After President Donald Trump attacked Canada and its prime minister, Mark Carney, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, some Republicans are urging the United States' neighbor to not listen to the president. As Semafor reported Wednesday, Trump made repeated comments denigrating Canada and its leader, saying Canada "should be grateful" to the U.S. for getting "a lot of freebies." He also asserted that Canada "lives because of the United States." The president's comments came on the heels of Carney's speech in which he lamented "the breaking of the world order," effectively laying blame at Trump's feet (without uttering his name) for the U.S. no longer being seen as a reliable, stable democracy.

January 21, 2026 at 8:52 PM EST
Trump stopped attacking Renee Good for 'morally vacuous' reason: analysis

MS NOW producer Steve Benen points out that the White House recently claimed Minneapolis mother Renee Good, was a "deranged lunatic" who was engaged in "domestic terrorism" when she was fatally shot in the face by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross. But during his "mind-numbing White House press conference Tuesday," Benen said President Donald Trump did an about-face, claiming he "felt terribly" about what happened.

January 21, 2026 at 6:00 PM EST
MAGA customers 'keep falling for the same con' from online scammers: report

Scammers are taking advantage of President Donald Trump's MAGA base by selling them products without ever actually fulfilling their orders. That's according to a Wednesday article by Jezebel's Jim Vorel, who wrote that numerous products marketed to pro-Trump conservatives are frequently accused by those same customers of ignoring them after taking their money. Vorel focused mostly on customer reviews for MAGA-branded alcoholic beverages, though he noted that scammers targeting MAGA customers do so through a variety of products.

January 21, 2026 at 5:40 PM EST
Even conservative Supreme Court justices seem skeptical of Trump's latest case

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Supreme Court justices across the political spectrum appeared skeptical of President Donald Trump's swift, informal dismissal of Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, and his effort to influence the independent central bank that governs monetary policy in the United States. The oral arguments Wednesday drew a high-profile appearance in the courtroom of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell -- now a target of a Department of Justice investigation. For months prior to the federal probe, Trump has threatened to fire Powell if the chair did not quickly lower interest rates.

January 21, 2026 at 5:07 PM EST
Former CIA official tells Nicole Wallace 'we're all ashamed' of Trump's speech

Former CIA Director and Homeland Security advisor John Brennan told MS NOW that government officials in the intelligence community are reeling at the train of untruths and 'aberrant behavior' that plowed from President Donald Trump's podium at Davos on Wednesday. "We're all ashamed of what we saw on the stage in Davos," Brennen told MS NOW anchor Nicole Wallace. -- when we hear Donald Trump talk about history in such an ignorant way, it really is a time where I think all Americans, whether or not they served in the military, diplomatic service, national security, intelligence, feel that we have reached this real inflection point where America's leadership on the world stage is not just in question, but also is now being seen as being absent."

January 21, 2026 at 5:05 PM EST
Defiant Jack Smith 'not afraid' of Trump ahead of televised testimony

Former Department of Justice (DOJ) special counsel Jack Smith recently told reporters he's "not afraid" of President Donald Trump as he prepares for a televised testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. CNN reported Wednesday that Smith's remarks come as he prepares to address the committee for the second time in two months, where he will answer questions from the GOP-controlled committee while under oath. His first testimony in late December was behind closed doors, and lasted for roughly eight hours.

January 21, 2026 at 4:23 PM EST
'Dumb as hell': Kentucky governor blasts Trump's Davos speech

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear unabashedly showed how his style of governance differs from Republican President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum Wednesday. The forum annually held in Davos, Switzerland, brings together world leaders and corporate CEOs to talk about the global economy. Trump spoke to the conference after Beshear's appearances Wednesday morning, and in it ruled out using force for the U.S. to gain control of Greenland from Denmark.

January 21, 2026 at 12:10 PM EST
DOJ delay continues as judge denies Epstein files special master

Thirty-three days after the Trump Department of Justice was required by law to release the Epstein Files -- but failed to produce even one percent of them -- a federal judge has rejected a bipartisan effort to appoint a special master to oversee production of the documents. U.S. Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), authors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), went to court to make their request. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer declined that request, stating that he does not have the authority to appoint a special master.