May 31, 2025 at 9:32 AM EDT
'Chickening out': Why Trump's total 'shamelessness' may be key to his shocking 'resilience'

President Donald Trump has been a highly resilient figure in U.S. politics. In 2024, Trump was facing four criminal indictments, one of which found him being convicted on 34 felony counts by a Manhattan jury. And countless Democrats blamed him for the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building.

May 31, 2025 at 9:00 AM EDT
Economist details the real danger behind Trump's 'chicken taco trading'

Calling someone "chicken" might sound like a playground insult, but it's exactly the label some financial investors have begun attaching to US president Donald Trump. The "Taco" trade, short for "Trump Always Chickens Out", has gained traction in financial circles in recent weeks, as investors come to believe that whenever markets begin to slide as a result of one of his policy decisions, Trump tends to retreat. The jibe appears to have struck a nerve. When a reporter asked him about the "chicken" reputation this week, Trump bristled. "Oh isn't that nice - I chicken out. I've never heard that," he snapped. The president returned to the topic later to criticise the "nasty" question and insisted that he was no such thing.

May 31, 2025 at 8:40 AM EDT
Busted: 'We Buy Ugly Houses' franchise owner to plead guilty in $40 million fraud scheme

The former operator of one of the largest HomeVestors of America franchises has agreed to plead guilty to federal wire fraud in connection with a sprawling Ponzi scheme targeting people who believed they were investing in his real estate empire. Federal prosecutors in Texas identified 80 victims defrauded of nearly $40 million by Charles Carrier since 2018. Though Carrier agreed to plead guilty to only one count of felony wire fraud involving one $200,000 transfer, he admitted to the broader scheme as part of the deal and agreed to pay restitution -- the amount of which has yet to be determined.

May 30, 2025 at 10:02 PM EDT
'DOGE has no statutory authority whatsoever': Court smacks down Trump admin's mass firings

The mass firings of thousands of federal workers by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) -- with the blessing of President Donald Trump -- have been ruled illegal, and Trump just lost an appeal to reverse that previous order. In a Bluesky post, Politico legal correspondent Kyle Cheney linked to the 45-page ruling by a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel (which encompasses Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state) which ruled 2-1 against Trump. The panel's ruling denied the Trump administration's request for an emergency stay of a previous order handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston earlier this month that ruled the mass firings were unconstitutional.

May 30, 2025 at 9:47 PM EDT
'Made a mistake': George Conway points out 'irony' in Trump's attack on Federalist Society

George Conway, a conservative attorney long affiliated with the Federalist Society, said Friday that President Donald Trump does not like the organization and became "very resentful" toward it -- especially toward Leonard Leo -- because the judges they recommended did not support his "attempted coup" in 2021. "And the great irony of that today is that a lot of right wing hacks joined the Federalist Society in these past several years thinking this is the way to get a job. And they made a mistake there," Conway said during an appearance on MSNBC Friday.

May 30, 2025 at 8:55 PM EDT
'Almost cartoonish': Expert says 'Trumpy style' of MAGA women about 'signaling allegiance'

Many fashion critics suggest that men and women aligned with President Donald Trump's ideology tend to embrace a distinct style. In a report published Friday, the New York Times noted that Trump along with his close advisers and family members, plunged into the traditionally subdued world of government attire with a bold and unwavering aesthetic.

May 30, 2025 at 8:01 PM EDT
'Beat it until it's dead': Ex-prosecutor says this one pardon may be Trump's Achilles heel

This week, President Donald Trump granted several notable pardons to former elected officials, wealthy supporters and celebrities. But one former federal prosecutor is zeroing in on one pardon in particular that he argues exposes Trump's populist brand as hollow. During a recent interview with journalist Jim Acosta (formerly of CNN), former assistant U.S. Attorney Glenn Kirschner -- who prosecuted cases in the prestigious District of Columbia office during both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations -- argued that the near-constant drumbeat of news from Trump's second term has had a discouraging effect on Americans. However, he said that telling Americans one of Trump's recent pardons has the power to severely damage Trump's credibility with mainstream Americans.

May 30, 2025 at 6:58 PM EDT
'Divine trolling': Pope schedules Chicago mass on the same day as Trump's military parade

As President Donald Trump prepares to celebrate the Army's birthday with a military parade in Washington, D.C., on June 13, Pope Leo XIV will deliver a special message to young people from the heart of Chicago on the same day, ABC7 Chicago reported Thursday. The large-scale celebration is set for Saturday, June 14 at Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, where the pope will issue a video message. This marks the pope's first public greeting to the city since his election earlier this month.

May 30, 2025 at 5:25 PM EDT
'Shatter the illusion': Analyst reveals how to expose Republicans' 'phony populism'

Journalist and political commentator E.J. Dionne Jr. said in a New Republic article published Friday that Democrats need to "expose the damage" that President Donald Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" does "to millions of Trump's voters to benefit his Mar-a-Lago and crypto-wealthy friends." "On the phony populism side, Democrats in the House did a generally good job of highlighting the costs of provisions in the bill that hurt so many of Trump's voters, particularly the cuts in Medicaid and nutrition assistance, or SNAP," he said.

May 30, 2025 at 5:15 PM EDT
'Pardons as favors': Top lawmaker accuses Trump DOJ of rewarding 'corruption and violence'

One high-ranking House Democrat is now openly asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) about President Donald Trump's approach to granting pardons in his second term, and if the president is only focusing on those who have demonstrated appropriate fealty to him. CBS News reported Friday that Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who is the ranking member on the powerful House Judiciary Committee, recently sent a letter to DOJ pardon attorney Ed Martin asking him direct questions about the criteria Trump considers for official pardons and commutations. Raskin accused Martin of using his office to "dole out pardons as favors to the President's loyal political followers and most generous donors, completely ignoring and abandoning the thousands of individual applications for clemency in the normal process."

May 30, 2025 at 4:14 PM EDT
'Put it on a bumper sticker': Senator's viral remark seen as a 'golden gift to Democrats'

Following Sen. Joni Ernst's (R-Iowa) comment at a town hall that "we are all going to die," Democratic lawmakers and strategists sharply criticized the Republican Party and recent Medicaid cuts. The remark came during a town hall on Friday in Iowa, after a constituent shouted, "People are going to die," referring to the impact of GOP-led Medicaid reductions. Ernst responded, "Well, we all are going to die."

May 30, 2025 at 3:38 PM EDT
'Disturbing': Expert breaks down 'sheer garishness' of Trump's Oval Office makeover

After his second term began, President Donald Trump redecorated the Oval Office with a gold-themed aesthetic similar to his Trump Tower penthouse and his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. One expert is noticing a distinct similarity between Trump's and that of a French monarch known for his over-the-top taste. In a Friday essay for Slate, Grinnell College French professor David Harrison -- who also leads an organization focused on studying France -- observed how Trump is resembling Louis XIV (also known as "the Sun King") in his approach to the Oval Office and the White House. Harrison reminded readers that Trump sought to recreate at Mar-a-Lago the same "hall of mirrors" at the Palace of Versailles.