September 30, 2026 at 8:11 AM EDT
5 Points About a Senator's Disastrous But Hilarious Attempt to Accuse Jack Smith of Perjury

5 Points About a Senator's Disastrous But Hilarious Attempt to Accuse Jack Smith of Perjury By now, I assume you've read about what happened. Maybe you've seen the video. But yesterday was one of those rare days we used to have often maybe 15 years ago, when the political media world, and social media sites -- even the site formerly known as Twitter -- were all having fun with the same thing. That thing, in this case, was the way in which Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt (R) totally and thoroughly beclowned himself.

September 29, 2026 at 5:53 PM EDT
Dems Vow to Investigate Trump's Taxpayer-Funded Midterms Ads Promoting Himself

Dems Vow to Investigate Trump's Taxpayer-Funded Midterms Ads Promoting Himself 'Shockingly Corrupt' PSAs House and Senate Democratic appropriators are unleashing on the Trump administration and confirming reports that the Trump White House moved taxpayer money out of Customs and Border Patrol to fund midterms advertisements running on major broadcast airwaves that promote President Trump.

September 29, 2026 at 5:38 PM EDT
Rusty Red State Candidates With Rusty Values

Rusty Red State Candidates With Rusty Values This afternoon I saw an ad being run by a SuperPAC supporting Dan Osborn ("Nebraska Values PAC") against Sen. Pete Ricketts (R) of Nebraska. It's a brutal ad about a brutal crime. (You can watch it here.) A woman identified as "Jody S." speaks over a montage of a crime scene imagery explaining that in 1993 an intruder broke into her home, tied her to her bed and violently raped her while her children listened to everything. A man named John Arias was arrested, pled guilty, was convicted and sentenced to prison. We then fast-forward to then-Gov. Pete Ricketts casting the deciding vote as the member of a pardon board that ultimately pardoned Arias. Jody S. notes that Arias told her she would never be safe from him and that he was now off the state sex offender registry and allowed to own a gun. She also notes that she wasn't even informed about the pardon until after it happened.

September 29, 2026 at 4:52 PM EDT
Supreme Court Cosigns One of Trump's Most Inhumane Immigration Practices

Supreme Court Cosigns One of Trump's Most Inhumane Immigration Practices The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for the Trump administration to continue deporting people to countries where they have no ties and where they may face violence without even guaranteeing them a chance to contest the removal.

September 29, 2026 at 4:45 PM EDT
New Evidence Shows Just How Badly One Republican Senator Beclowned Himself in the Jack Smith Hearing

New Evidence Shows Just How Badly One Republican Senator Beclowned Himself in the Jack Smith Hearing TPM has found fairly definitive evidence proving Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) misread text messages when he attempted to corner former special counsel Jack Smith during a congressional hearing on Tuesday.

September 29, 2026 at 3:31 PM EDT
A Critical Moment for the Rule of Law

A Critical Moment for the Rule of Law This morning the full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on whether the Trump administration will be subject to a contempt of court inquiry for not stopping and turning around the deportation flights in the original Alien Enemies Act case, which began way back in March 2025, when the Trump administration sent more than 200 Venezuelan men to El Salvador's CECOT prison.

September 29, 2026 at 2:59 PM EDT
'A Massive Power Grab': White House Proposal Threatens Funding That Helps Disabled Americans Vote

'A Massive Power Grab': White House Proposal Threatens Funding That Helps Disabled Americans Vote This story was originally published by ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.

September 29, 2026 at 2:40 PM EDT
Perfect Storm, Brought to You by Donald Trump

Perfect Storm, Brought to You by Donald Trump As I noted a week ago, we can't know whether the current polls will be predictive of the November election results. But the polls themselves are at least speaking with a clear voice. I want to note two things that appear to be moving in unison: consumer confidence and the Republican position on the national generic ballot.

September 29, 2026 at 11:00 AM EDT
TPM VIDEO: Congress Is Leaving Town. What Do Lawmakers Have to Show for Themselves?

TPM VIDEO: Congress Is Leaving Town. What Do Lawmakers Have to Show for Themselves? The House has already left town. The Senate is heading home this week. With the midterms just around the corner, GOP lawmakers are giving up on doing any more legislating and skipping town to try to mobilize their demoralized voters.

September 28, 2026 at 7:37 PM EDT
Roger Marshall May Rue The Day: Arresting Pregnant Moms Edition

Roger Marshall May Rue The Day: Arresting Pregnant Moms Edition I'm figuring this will end up as a big mistake. You probably know about the big NYT expose about Sen. Roger Marshall's record as an OB/GYN suing hundreds of his patients over often very small delinquent bills and having a significant number of them arrested. Democrat Adam Hamilton is now running an ad on Youtube which describes one of those cases, a woman named Meischa Zimmerman who was arrested in 2011 and, according to her, handcuffed while eight months pregnant and in front of her two year old child. Marshall just sent Hamilton a cease-and-desist letter calling the ad false and defamatory and demanding it be taken down.

September 28, 2026 at 5:37 PM EDT
Vulnerable GOPer Breaks With Trump's Retribution Crusade Against Blue States

Vulnerable GOPer Breaks With Trump's Retribution Crusade Against Blue States 'I Will Challenge Anybody Who Gets in My Way' My colleagues and I have been tracking the creative ways in which vulnerable Republicans up for reelection in November have been distancing themselves from President Trump in recent weeks, as his approval rating craters -- due to his war in Iran and rising gas prices, the ongoing affordability crisis generally, his inhumane immigration crackdown, and the role he's played in ushering in a new Big Tech oligarchy, among other reasons.

September 28, 2026 at 2:03 PM EDT
What's Missing From Coverage of the Massive DoorDash Worker Settlement

What's Missing From Coverage of the Massive DoorDash Worker Settlement This op-ed is part ofCafe,TPM's home for opinion and news analysis.