May 23, 2025 at 11:21 AM EDT
The biggest danger from Trump's performance-based presidency

Everything Donald Trump is doing and will do makes perfect and sudden sense if you understand one simple fact: For him, it's all a show. He views the White House as a sound stage, like the set made to look like a boardroom where he performed for NBC on The Apprentice . He sees the people around him as a supporting cast, who can each be easily and quickly replaced (and often are) if they fail to play their roles the way he thinks will work best for the program.

May 23, 2025 at 11:08 AM EDT
'Lumped under one umbrella of hate': What life is like for people who don't agree

Pseudonyms are used in this article; interviewees who asked for their real names to be used are asterisked. In 2016, one of us (Kath) attended New Normal, a conference in London which opposed LGBT+ rights, including lesbian parenting and gender recognition. As a lesbian parent, I was upset by what was said - and by the way people stood to applaud speakers who warned of the dangers of parents like me, while mentioning the need to "protect children".

May 23, 2025 at 3:26 AM EDT
Trump signed plenty of contracts in the Middle East, but he's no closer to 2 'deals' he really wants

US President Donald Trump's visit to Arab states in the Middle East this week generated plenty of multibillion-dollar deals. He said more than US$1 trillion (A$1.5 trillion) worth of deals had been signed with Saudi Arabia alone, though the real total is likely much lower than that. Qatar also placed an order for 210 Boeing aircraft, a deal worth a reported US$96 billion (A$149 billion). Trump will no doubt present these transactions as a major success for US industry.

May 23, 2025 at 2:17 AM EDT
Did humans evolve to prefer religion? Research shows many atheists intuitively favor faith

Many atheists consider themselves to be highly rational people who rate evidence and analytical thinking above religion, superstition and intuition. They might even argue that atheism is the most rational worldview. But that doesn't make them immune to having intuitive beliefs themselves. Science suggests the link between rationality and atheism is far weaker than is often assumed.

May 23, 2025 at 12:49 AM EDT
Republicans have 'no idea' what's coming: Dems delighted as they await budget backlash

WASHINGTON -- Democrats don't know whether to scream, cry or celebrate -- so they're doing a little bit of each. After they sneak in a nap or two. After months of negotiations, House lawmakers were forced to pull all-nighters before Republicans finally passed President Donald Trump's budget measure, his " One Big Beautiful Bill ," early Thursday morning.

May 23, 2025 at 12:31 AM EDT
'Peak of hypocrisy': These 6 Republicans stand to profit after breaking vow to protect Medicaid

Just five weeks after pledging that they would not support the Republican Party's budget reconciliation package if it included cuts to Medicaid, six GOP lawmakers ultimately did just that on Thursday morning""and an analysis by government watchdog Accountable.US suggested they voted for the legislation to benefit themselves, despite the suffering it would cause for their constituents. Along with cutting Medicaid for close to 14 million Americans and slashing nearly $300 billion in food assistance, the bill Republicans voted on in the early morning hours after weeks of deliberation included a tax policy proposal to expand a provision called Section 199A, which was previously introduced during the first Trump administration as part of the GOP's original law providing tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.

May 23, 2025 at 12:21 AM EDT
Is Donald Trump more like Hitler or Augustus Caesar? Honestly, it's both

Donald Trump's destruction of America's 249-year-old constitutional republic and civic culture follows a historically familiar pattern that includes two especially striking precedents -- one ancient, one modern. In both of these, an aspiring dictator overthrows a tottering republic while promising its frightened, gullible and/or opportunistic citizens that he is rescuing it even as he drains it of its remaining legitimacy and power.

May 22, 2025 at 9:55 PM EDT
'Evil and depraved': Kristi Noem buried over 'embarrassing' social media post

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem shared a notice of the voluntary dismissal of a lawsuit against DHS on the social platform X on Thursday, captioning the post, "Suck it." The lawsuit Espinoza Escalona v. Noem was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where a number of immigrants alleged wrongful deportation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under Noem's leadership, claiming violations of due process.

May 22, 2025 at 9:41 PM EDT
'Crazy to run against me': Republican who voted against megabill defies Trump's threats

Even though President Donald Trump has hinted at backing primary challengers against incumbent members of the House Republican Conference who don't back his agenda, one of them remains bullish about his reelection chances. Axios reported Thursday that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is refusing to relent in his opposition to Trump's so-called "big, beautiful bill" after being just one of a small number of Republicans who didn't vote for its passage. The Kentucky Republican's main source of contention with the bill was its cost, saying that he refused to back any legislation that would raise the federal deficit by trillions of dollars. And he told Axios that he wasn't scared of Trump's threats to drive him out of office.

May 22, 2025 at 9:13 PM EDT
'Things have to move faster': Ex-prosecutor warns Trump is 'outmaneuvering' federal courts

Former prosecutor and ex-MSNBC host Katie Phang said Thursday President Donald Trump is "outmaneuvering the federal courts through overt and blatant defiance." Phang said the administration is defying the courts by saying, "You know what? In the dead of night, we're going to do sh--."

May 22, 2025 at 8:07 PM EDT
'Don't be stupid': How Trump berated Republican hard-liners into backing his bill

After the House of Representatives narrowly passed President Donald Trump's major budget bill by a 215-214 margin early Thursday morning, new details are emerging about how the president cajoled and arm-twisted some of the more conservative members of the House Republican Conference into backing it. Politico reported Thursday that while some members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus initially opposed elements of the legislation, virtually all of them ended up falling in line, save for a small few. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) were "no" votes, while three others -- including Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) - either abstained or voted present.

May 22, 2025 at 7:44 PM EDT
'Orgy of corruption': What we know about guests at Trump's private dinner for investors

CNN business journalist Allison Morrow said President Donald Trump's exclusive dinner for buyers of his meme coin, scheduled for Thursday night, is shrouded in mystery. "So there's just a lot of mystery about who it is and really what they want; who are these people and what do they hope to get out of the evening," Morrow said during an appearance on CNN Thursday.