September 23, 2026 at 1:32 PM EDT
HHS Appears to Be Prepping for Big Changes to Childhood Vaccine Recommendations

HHS Appears to Be Prepping for Big Changes to Childhood Vaccine Recommendations Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has escorted his dangerous vaccine skepticism into the homes of every American through his role as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Now, public health experts and attorneys are worried that Kennedy might do away with effective federal vaccine recommendations altogether.

September 23, 2026 at 1:14 PM EDT
Brett Kavanaugh's Imaginary Immigration Stops Opinion Gets More Embarrassing Every Day

Brett Kavanaugh's Imaginary Immigration Stops Opinion Gets More Embarrassing Every Day This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM's home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at Balls and Strikes.

September 23, 2026 at 11:16 AM EDT
Will Ford's Theatre of All Places Really Be Trump's Next Renaming Project?

Will Ford's Theatre of All Places Really Be Trump's Next Renaming Project? Scenes From a Personalist Regime The man who famously slapped his name on everything from steaks to vodka to cologne to chocolate is eager to emblazon his name prominently on national landmarks. And in his distinctly personalist regime, there's a line of enablers out the Oval Office door apparently eager to flatter him and curry his favor by coming up with new and more preposterous naming opportunities for him.

September 23, 2026 at 10:07 AM EDT
Are the Polls Accurate? (Are We Doing This Again?)

Are the Polls Accurate? (Are We Doing This Again?) This is the weekly, free edition of The Backchannel. If you'd like to receive the free edition of The Backchannel in your inbox, you can subscribe here. If you'd like to upgrade to the members' edition for full-access to The Backchannel and everything else we publish at TPM, this is the final week we are offering a special promotion for 50% off an annual Prime membership.

September 23, 2026 at 9:20 AM EDT
Three Conservative Judges Lob SCOTUS Another, Long-Shot Chance to Jam Through Missouri Gerrymander

Three Conservative Judges Lob SCOTUS Another, Long-Shot Chance to Jam Through Missouri Gerrymander The Supreme Court will weigh in a third time on Missouri Republicans' attempts to ram through a maximal gerrymander after twice rejecting those efforts.

September 23, 2026 at 8:17 AM EDT
GOP Candidates Find Creative New Ways to Distance Themselves From Trump

GOP Candidates Find Creative New Ways to Distance Themselves From Trump Pay No Attention to That Man Inside the White House Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds, the Miami Herald noticed yesterday, scrubbed his campaign website of almost any mention of Trump's name. He is, of course, not the first. Mike Beltran, running in Florida for a U.S. House seat, changed his website so that rather than stating he "felt inspired by President Trump's 2016 victory," it now explains he felt "called to public service." Joe Mitchell, running in Iowa, once described himself as a "trusted voice in the MAGA movement" who would "always fight for the hard-working Iowans who have made their support for President Trump loud and clear." Now, the Washington Post noticed, he promises to "clean up Washington and put working families first."

September 22, 2026 at 5:50 PM EDT
Durbin Responds to GOP Sen's Request for Don Jr Probe: 'Corruption Must Never be Tolerated'

Durbin Responds to GOP Sen's Request for Don Jr Probe: 'Corruption Must Never be Tolerated' 'A Toaster Is a Wedding Gift' A Republican member of the Senate broke party ranks on Monday in a letter to the chair and ranking members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asking that the panel subpoena Donald Trump Jr. and gather more facts about his "active promotion of family-backed cryptocurrency ventures, his continued pursuit of international real estate deals involving direct meetings with foreign heads of state, and his reported investments in defense contracting."

September 22, 2026 at 4:15 PM EDT
Missouri Dismisses Hail-Mary Lawsuit to Gain More Political Power, Confident Trump Admin Will Do What it Wants

Missouri Dismisses Hail-Mary Lawsuit to Gain More Political Power, Confident Trump Admin Will Do What it Wants The state of Missouri early this year sued the Department of Commerce to force something that would have once been considered radical: That the federal government exclude certain immigrants from the population count when apportioning political power and distributing federal funds.

September 22, 2026 at 1:46 PM EDT
We Didn't Know Until This Day " Twitter Was the Echo Chamber All Along

We Didn't Know Until This Day " Twitter Was the Echo Chamber All Along Daniel Drezner says we are now in the Wile E. Coyote phase of the 2026 midterm, the phase of six weeks or so in which everyone knows the GOP is toast but we pretend we don't. Some of this is simply the political press's collective suspension of disbelief. It's neither fair nor fun to act as though the outcome is mostly known. Nor is this new. G. Elliott Morris notes that election odds makers consistently overstate the odds of the president's party in the midterms, which is sort of another way of saying the same thing since the president's party is usually on the losing end of the proposition. I would argue that a significant amount of this remains the structural, though not necessarily ideological, bias in favor of the Republican party -- two decades on, Washington, D.C. remains wired for the GOP. But what all of this really reminds me of is the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election and what was then referred to as the "vibe shift" -- both the hidden reality Donald Trump's narrow but clear victory had purportedly revealed but also the shift in attitudes about cultural power and the future driven by that victory.

September 22, 2026 at 11:24 AM EDT
LOL: Bill Pulte 'Examined' Todd Blanche's Mortgages

LOL: Bill Pulte 'Examined' Todd Blanche's Mortgages Pass the Popcorn, Please Bill Pulte -- Trump's posterboard-carrying golden retriever -- didn't just abuse his office as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agencyto gin up mortgage fraud cases against Trump foes. He also reportedly used it to target one of his rivals in the administration: Todd Blanche, who is now attorney general.

September 22, 2026 at 8:43 AM EDT
The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins -- Until Trump Got in the Way

The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins -- Until Trump Got in the Way This story was originally published by ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive their biggest stories as soon as they're published.

September 22, 2026 at 8:12 AM EDT
Congress Declares Its Opposition to Vought's Latest Scheme

Congress Declares Its Opposition to Vought's Latest Scheme But Will Lawmakers Finally Act to Rein Vought In? Top appropriators in Congress responded yesterday to White House OMB Director Russ Vought's latest attempt to install political appointees as the final arbiters of congressionally appropriated grant money for scientific research.