December 12, 2025 at 10:10 PM EST
Republicans in populous state can't find candidates to run in midterms

The New York and New Jersey-based outlet Gothamist reports Democratic candidates in the Garden State are clamoring to run in what both parties see as competitive races in next year's midterm elections. But the same cannot be said for the GOP. "In a cycle when both parties have their eyes on the House majority, up to a dozen candidates are lining up to run on the Democratic side in key New Jersey congressional races, compared to just one or two from the GOP," Gothamist reports, as Republicans anticipate "a wave election, and not in their favor."

December 12, 2025 at 9:04 PM EST
'You have to be nice': Trump snaps at female reporter in tense exchange

The Daily Beast reports President Donald Trump has insulted yet another female reporter, this time dismissing NBC News' Yamiche Alcindor as "aggressive" and telling her to take it "nice and easy." The exchange occurred as the president took media questions after signing a bill awarding congressional medals to the 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team in the Oval Office.

December 12, 2025 at 8:21 PM EST
Dems sending Trump a 'veiled message' with slow drip of damning Epstein photos: attorney

President Donald Trump's administration has just one more week under a statutory deadline to release all remaining evidence pertaining to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. And Democrats may be using Friday's release of new photos of Trump and Epstein as a way of sending a message to the administration. That's according to criminal defense attorney Stacy Schneider, who told CNN on Friday that the photos suggest that Democrats on the House Oversight Committee may have some damning photos they're keeping under wraps as a safety measure. Democrats released several dozen photos on Friday, though they represent just a small sample of the approximately 95,000 photos the committee received via a subpoena to Epstein's estate.

December 12, 2025 at 7:26 PM EST
'Talking like a crazy person': GOP hesitant to put 'declining' Trump on campaign trail

Bulwark editor Jonathan Last and former Republican and Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell say Republicans are wheeling President Donald Trump out early to visit Pennsylvania and other states to sell his economic policy because time is running out on his waning charisma. "We need to talk about Trump's age " and what it means for the next three years," said Last, pointing out that the president's hair is "really thinning" and nobody's yet figured out how to get bronzer on his "albino white scalp."

December 12, 2025 at 6:01 PM EST
'National embarrassment': Former Indiana GOP gov celebrates 'rebellion' against Trump

Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels -- who faced personal attacks from President Donald Trump for opposing a mid-year gerrymander giving Trump two more Republican districts -- ended the week celebrating Trump's defeat in Indiana. "My state's Senate, not often the subject of national attention, earned some on Thursday by declining to enroll Indiana in the bipartisan national embarrassment of mid-decade gerrymandering," Daniels told the Washington Post, adding that Trump-friendly Republican senators appeared to wage "an instinctual rebellion against being ordered around, especially by outsiders."

December 12, 2025 at 5:52 PM EST
'Recipe for electoral doom': MAGA civil war breaks out over 'bitter personal feuds'

A MAGA "civil war" is playing out across the right-wing ecosystem, sapping attention from the ideas that once powered the base and held GOP leaders to power. Now, the movement appears more consumed by infighting than achieving political goals. MAGA is being drained of "its political muscle, leaving it defenseless as the Trump administration revisits policies previously opposed by the base," according to Axios. The strength of MAGA "lies in its ability to rally influencers, politicians and activists behind a hard-charging conservative agenda." But that "superpower is faltering amid a cascade of bitter personal feuds."

December 12, 2025 at 4:47 PM EST
'Catastrophe': Trump economy kills 1 in 3 jobs in deep-red Nebraska town

Residents of Lexington, Nebraska are panicking after the town's largest employer announced it would be shutting down operations early next year. MS NOW reported Friday from Lexington -- the seat of Dawson County, Nebraska, which Trump easily carried with more than 74 percent of the vote last year. Meatpacking company Tyson employs 3,200 people in Lexington, though they will all be out of a job come January 20th, when the plant is shutting down.

December 12, 2025 at 4:26 PM EST
Republicans walking into 'historic buzzsaw' by defending hated Trump policy: conservative

National Review senior writer Noah Rothman said Republicans appear to be resigned to "a drubbing in next year's midterm elections" by blindly following President Donald Trump. Public opinion on Trump's economy and his tariffs is crashing, "and that's just the pro-Trump right," warned Rothman, citing pro-Trump Republican National Committee chairman Joe Gruters.

December 12, 2025 at 4:15 PM EST
'Insane nonsense': Trump DOJ cites debunked conspiracy theory in swing state lawsuit

President Donald Trump's Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Fulton County, Georgia, demanding records related to the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden. Trump "has increasingly pressured his administration to find widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, despite those claims having been debunked and dismissed in dozens of cases by the courts," The Washington Post reported.

December 12, 2025 at 12:11 PM EST
'We are facing almost certain defeat': Trump's hand-picked RNC chair fears midterm blowout

Diehard Donald Trump fan, Joe Gruters, is trying to set expectations very low for the 2026 midterm elections. The Bulwark's Andrew Egger captured Gruters on SiriusXM Patriot with Mike Slater, WBT Charlotte's Brett Winterble Show, Cats and Cosby on WABC in New York City, and the Chris Stigall Show this week. He's openly trying to convey the message that the people in power almost always lose the midterm elections.

December 12, 2025 at 11:46 AM EST
'This is a blacklist': White House posts -- and deletes -- 'Naughty List' of journalists

The White House appears to have tweeted then deleted a "Naughty List" of journalists, including top news reporters and outlets, in an act that is being described as "positively authoritarian" by one legal expert. The video was posted to X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and the White House's own website, which reads: "MEDIA OFFENDERS ON THE NAUGHTY LIST," and "Video unavailable. This video has been removed by the uploader."

December 12, 2025 at 11:28 AM EST
Condoms branded with Trump's face found in Jeffrey Epstein photos

A trove of photos was released by trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's estate on Friday showing the wealthy Wall Street influencer in photos with notable leaders. In one photo, however, CNN noticed that there was a box of prophylactics with President Donald Trump's face on them. The novelty condoms were being sold for $4.50, the sign said.