May 4, 2026 at 10:07 PM EDT
GOP braces for 2018-style midterm wipeout - thanks to Trump

President Donald Trump's poll numbers are so low, only three out of eight Americans support him compared to five out of eight who oppose him -- and that bodes poorly for Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections. "President Trump's surging disapproval rating is threatening to become a liability for downballot Republicans as the party looks to keep its fragile GOP trifecta in November," wrote The Hill's Julia Mueller and Caroline Vakil on Monday. "An ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll released Sunday found the president at a new high in his disapproval -- 62 percent -- while 37 percent said they approved of his job helming of the country."

May 4, 2026 at 9:34 PM EDT
Three leaders prove Trump has abandoned America's role as democracy's champion: analysis

President Donald Trump has forfeited America's longstanding stature as leader of the free world, a conservative commentator argued on Monday -- but three non-American world leaders are stepping up to fill that void. "Under the Trump administration, we're no longer the leader of the Free World," The Bulwark's William Kristol wrote on Monday. "Indeed we're barely on the side of the Free World." Citing the Trump administration's human rights violations and isolationist foreign policy, Kristol claimed that Trump's administration is not championing democracy and human rights, in stark contrast to every president before him since World War II. In lieu of Trump, Kristol pointed to three other world leaders who are instead championing the cause of freedom through the globe.

May 4, 2026 at 8:26 PM EDT
MAGA Supreme Court judge: We do what we want because this 'isn't a popularity contest'

The Supreme Court has been widely criticized for its perceived partisanship, with the six Republican judges (including three appointed by President Donald Trump) overturning precedents from Roe v. Wade to the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Yet according to one of Trump's judges, this is not a problem because being on America's most powerful bench "isn't a popularity contest." "The judicial branch, it isn't a popularity contest, right?" Justice Neil Gorsuch told Reason's Nick Gillespie in a podcast that dropped on Monday. Gillespie mentioned that Americans are losing faith in the Supreme Court during a larger interview about Gorsuch's recent children's book, "Heroes of 1776."

May 4, 2026 at 7:35 PM EDT
Trump's Defense Secretary accused of lying to the president

President Donald Trump has so far fired his first Homeland Security Secretary (Kristi Noem), attorney general (Pam Bondi) and Labor Secretary (Lori Chavez-DeRemer), but his Defense Secretary seems to be secure in his job -- despite a former Republican presidential adviser recently describing him as "he Most Ignominious Military Leader of All Time." Quoting Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), who is a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, former President George W. Bush adviser Steve Schmidt observed that Pete Hegseth "is incompetent -- but it's worse than that. He said that he's a danger -- but it's worse than that. He talked about something more elemental, more core to character. He talked about something that he's seen -- and remember, he's an Army Ranger, a combat veteran -- he talked about a blackness in Pete Hegseth's heart. He talked about something that's wrong with him."

May 4, 2026 at 6:01 PM EDT
Former Trumper warns: MAGA did something permanent and unforgivable

A former supporter of President Donald Trump argued on Monday that people who still back the Republican leader have done something both permanent and unforgivable. "Of everything that Trump's done, this is the one thing that I thought, when he did it, the American people would forever banish him to like Siberia," former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) said during a podcast he posted on Monday. "It's the one thing that Trump did that I can't move past, because it's the one thing that the American people did that I can just never, ever, ever forgive."

May 4, 2026 at 5:17 PM EDT
Trump's obsession with cognitive tests is only making things worse for him: analysis

President Donald Trump is "incessant" when it comes to boasting about his allegedly perfect cognitive test result, but according to a new analysis from MS NOW, this is not having his desired effect in the slightest, as record numbers of the public begin to doubt his mental fitness for office. Steve Benen is a longtime contributor for MS NOW and a producer for host Rachel Maddow. On Monday, he published a piece analyzing Trump's obsessive compulsion to tout cognitive tests as proof that he is not suffering cognitive decline in his advanced age.

May 4, 2026 at 4:46 PM EDT
WSJ conservative splits with Trump: This isn't who we voted for

President Donald Trump is more ideological in his second term than his first term, a prominent conservative recently noted -- and, as a result, he is turning against the interests of his own supporters. "One factor that explains what's gone wrong with Donald Trump's second term is the abandonment of pragmatism as a governing principle," Gerard Baker, editor at large for The Wall Street Journal, wrote on Monday. "Mr. Trump's successes have owed to an iconoclastic style and substance that eschewed ideology and embraced practical solutions to the world's challenges."

May 4, 2026 at 4:40 PM EDT
Trump's latest military 'tantrum' is worse than most people imagine: analysis

President Donald Trump last week lashed out against a NATO ally, and according to a new piece from MS NOW, his latest military "tantrum" is worse than many might realize and is something that they should be paying attention to. The situation started last week when German Chancellor Friedrich Merz offered up some "candid assessments" about Trump's spiraling conflict with Iran, arguing that the U.S. was getting "humiliated" by Iran's leaders and had "absolutely no coherent strategy whatsoever." Trump, predictably, "responded quickly in decidedly Trumpian ways" after the chancellor "hurt his feelings," lashing out against Germany as a "broken country" in a social media post and ordering 5,000 troops to be removed from the country over the next year.

May 4, 2026 at 4:27 PM EDT
Ballroom Blitz: Trump goes on wild posting spree

After a policy meeting Monday, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to launch a spirited campaign amplifying dozens of posts backing his proposed $400 million White House ballroom -- a project Republicans now want to be funded by taxpayers, not by the private donations he promised before demolishing the East Wing months ago. Among those whose remarks were screenshotted and reposted were acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Democratic U.S. Senator John Fetterman, Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul, Republican U.S. Senator Katie Britt, social media influencer Libs of TikTok, and social media users "MAGA Kitty" and "Comfortably Smug."

May 4, 2026 at 11:53 AM EDT
Legal experts detail how Todd Blanche lost the James Comey case in one interview

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made an appearance on "Meet the Press" on Sunday, where he was forced to admit that the term "8647" wasn't worth indicting someone over. Since the arrest of former FBI Director James Comey, clothing bearing the message "86-47" has appeared all over Etsy and Amazon. During the show, host Kristen Welker pulled up the search on Amazon for such clothing and asked Blanche whether everyday Americans should expect a visit from the FBI and Secret Service for wearing such a shirt or for posting the numbers anywhere online.

May 4, 2026 at 11:44 AM EDT
Confidence in Trump's health plummets as he insists he's on top of his game

President Donald Trump, who will be turning 80 on June 14, insists that his health -- both physical and mental -- has never been better. But a Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll released in late April, found that 59 percent of Americans believe he lacks the mental acuity to continue serving as president. This poll, Malcolm Ferguson stresses in an article published by The New Republic, was followed by an "odd medical visit" that is raising questions about Trump's "health and fitness."

May 4, 2026 at 11:23 AM EDT
Judge gives sharpest warning yet of 'serious consequences' if Trump ignores court

A district judge on Monday "put the brakes" on President Donald Trump's effort to take over a Washington D.C., public golf course, giving the most stern warning yet of "serious consequences" if the administration refuses to comply. Trump's broader obsession with remaking the nation's capital in his own image has crossed over with his golf obsession, as his administration has been attempting a federal takeover of the East Potomac Golf Course, a "popular public course," according to WUSA9 News, raising major alarms about a rumored "championship-style" makeover that local golfers fear would make the course too expensive for the working class.