September 30, 2026 at 5:07 PM EDT
Dems Block Data Center Bill Designed to Boost Husted's Campaign: 'A Proxy for Corruption'

Dems Block Data Center Bill Designed to Boost Husted's Campaign: 'A Proxy for Corruption' 'They Are the Party of Data Centers' Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) has some major data center skeletons in his closet from his time as lieutenant governor of Ohio.

September 30, 2026 at 4:40 PM EDT
New IRS Citizenship Question Could Make It Easier for Census Bureau to Shift Political Power

New IRS Citizenship Question Could Make It Easier for Census Bureau to Shift Political Power A proposed change to a key tax form could help the Trump administration achieve new anti-immigrant policy objectives, including preventing undocumented immigrants from receiving federal tax benefits. But it could also be used to accomplish a more sweeping objective: Shifting the balance of power in Congress by excluding many classes of immigrants from apportionment, the process through which power in the House of Representatives is allocated.

September 30, 2026 at 2:44 PM EDT
Ron Johnson Greenlights White House Plot to Seize Congress' Power of the Purse

Ron Johnson Greenlights White House Plot to Seize Congress' Power of the Purse Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) and Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley's (D-OR) attempt to pass a bill blocking the $810 million "pocket rescission" the Trump White House sent over to Congress last week failed Wednesday evening.

September 30, 2026 at 2:24 PM EDT
Doubts About the AI Boom Are Seeping Into Elite Headlines

Doubts About the AI Boom Are Seeping Into Elite Headlines 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.

September 30, 2026 at 11:31 AM EDT
Appeals Courts Slowly Awaken to Trump II Threat

Appeals Courts Slowly Awaken to Trump II Threat Two Steps Forward, One Step Back In the defining legal struggle of our time -- whether the federal judiciary will sustain the rule of law long enough to preserve the essential core of a democracy for us to repair, rebuild, and re-enlarge after Trump II -- the jury is still out.

September 30, 2026 at 8:31 AM EDT
Republicans Can't Stop Talking About Banning Trans Athletes

Republicans Can't Stop Talking About Banning Trans Athletes This story was originally reported by Brooke Migdon of The 19th. Meet Brooke and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

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.