by Zeeshan Aleem | Jun 25, 2026 | Opinion
When white South African refugees enter the United States in the coming weeks, they reportedly can expect a special treat: a gift bag containing an Android tablet, copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and an American flag. Oh, and one more perk: literature that argues white people in South Africa and the U.S. are victims of discrimination — and that the U.S. Civil Rights Movement was misguided.
That’s the plan that’s being finalized in the Trump administration, according to a new story from The New York Times, which cites government documents and an official familiar with the matter, and observes that welcome gifts of this kind are “unusual.” These welcome bags are a brazen expression of white nationalism. And remarkably, they represent the White House doing exactly what MAGA conspiracy theorists love to (ludicrously) accuse the left of trying to do: Use immigration policy to boost its political fortunes.
Literature reportedly included in the bags encourages incoming Afrikaners to align themselves culturally and politically with the MAGA movement.
According to the Times, the bags are expected to include a letter that reads, “The Trump administration understands America’s immigration system must put the U.S. citizen first, and only welcome in those who will assimilate into the American way of life and preserve our borders, language, culture, traditions and ideals.”
The president and his administration have long made it clear that Afrikaners are virtually the only people who fit the White House’s criteria. At a Turning Point USA event in April, Trump boasted, “We suspended all refugee resettlement — except for persecuted South Africans.” And Trump has said that the people in South Africa
by Zeeshan Aleem | Jun 24, 2026 | Opinion
Right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson says that because of his fury over President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, he won’t vote for the Republican Party in the midterm elections. Trump should be terrified: Carlson’s defection from the party is precisely the kind of intra-MAGA blow that could demobilize Republican voters ahead of November.
In an interview with the “Can’t be Censored” podcast that aired Thursday, Carlson said, “There’s no chance I would support the Republican Party” this fall because he cannot back “a political party that’s not loyal to the United States, that puts the interest of a foreign country above those of its own citizens.” The country Carlson is referring to is Israel. And while his argument is not accurate, it taps into a narrative that has a lot of potency on the right.
Carlson’s increasingly hostile position toward the GOP is dangerous for the party’s midterm prospects.
As I explained last month, Carlson is the most prominent commentator on the right who promotes the idea that Israel has made the U.S. into a “slave” and has manipulated Trump and the U.S. into a war with Iran. That argument stems from ethnonationalist and antisemitic conspiracy theories that suggest Israel (and, it is implied, the Jewish community more broadly) is puppeteering the U.S. This position allows Carlson to simultaneously encourage ethnic chauvinism at home and argue for isolationist foreign policy — in this case, cutting off ties to Israel as a way to end warmaking. As always with right-wing nationalists, society’s problems lie with groups deemed insidious “outsiders” rather than systems or ideologies at home.
The truth, of course, is that Israel has no
by Dan Schnur | Jun 24, 2026 | Opinion
California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently got one of the most valuable gifts any Democratic presidential aspirant could receive: He is being investigated by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department.
Newsom and his advisers quickly recognized their unlikely political windfall, announcing last week that Todd Blanche, Trump’s personal lawyer turned acting attorney general, and his minions were investigating the governor’s spouse as well as his former top adviser. Newsom’s team released a video casting the inquiry in starkly partisan terms, followed hours later by a fundraising appeal asking supporters for their help in the fight against Trump.
Play
Newsom: My wife and I are on Trump’s hit list
June 15, 2026 / 08:54
Based on what’s currently known, the greater danger for Newsom is less likely legal than political — and not just from Trump.
Because Trump and his appointees have used the DOJ as an instrument of personal vengeance against the president’s opponents, Newsom’s pitch of a biased investigation is not a tough sell. The Wall Street Journal counted almost 20 investigations, and prosecutions have followed the more than four dozen demands that Trump has made for such actions since returning to office last year. The result of Trump’s statements and the subsequent legal actions is that not only loyal Democrats but also swing voters — not to mention grand juries — are inclined to view these investigations with great suspicion.
Play
Brennan: DOJ’s reputation has been ‘so tarnished’ under Trump it ‘undermines’ legitimacy of cases
June 16, 2026 / 09:43
If Trump had not so badly compromised the integrity of the DOJ, questions about the financial and tax activities of both Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and his former chief
by Paul Waldman | Jun 24, 2026 | Opinion
“Regime Change” — the new book from New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan — is the latest in a very long line of books promising a behind-the-scenes look at a presidency. Their book has only a few of the dishy details one often finds in these volumes. But as readers learn about the dynamic between President Donald Trump and the loyalists who surround him, a genuinely sinister picture emerges. The president has finally created an administration that works exactly how he wants it to, and the result is a vicious cycle of incompetence and moral corruption.
In short, everything about how the White House operates exacerbates Trump’s most pernicious instincts and character flaws. His aides enable him to be the worst version of himself, and in turn he makes them the worst version of themselves.
The result is an administration full of people who either agree with Trump’s most self-destructive impulses or know that objections are all but pointless.
That’s not to say “Regime Change” is bereft of gossipy anecdotes. Haberman and Swan write that in his bedroom, Trump “would frequently leave an array of empty potato chip bags, Starbucks wrappers, and ice cream cartons in the trash, or on the floor,” and for some reason was “sometimes throwing out White House sterling silver utensils.” We also learn that Trump’s hearing has declined — hardly surprising for someone who just turned 80 — and that is why joint press conferences with visiting dignitaries or other leaders are now often held in the Oval Office rather than the larger East Room.
But the big story is in the cocoon of sycophancy Trump
by Susan Del Percio | Jun 23, 2026 | Opinion
It’s hard to believe that it was only a year ago that Zohran Mamdani stunned many New Yorkers, as well as much of the rest of the country, by winning the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. Furthermore, he did it with a crushing 12-point victory over the heavily favored former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Establishment Democratic politicians were left with their jaws on the ground, wondering what to do next — and how to avoid the same fate.
However, just six months into his term, Mayor Mandani is shocking that same political establishment again, and this time the consequences could significantly affect not just the 2026 elections, but the 2028 presidential election as well.
New York holds its Democratic congressional primary election Tuesday, and not since 1994 — when Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani endorsed the incumbent Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo over his GOP challenger George Pataki in 1994 — has a New York mayor bucked their party in such spectacular fashion.
Even in heavily Democratic New York City, Mamdani’s agenda has thus far proven to be a hard sell.
While Mamdani has endorsed several state legislative candidates, he’s also made a splash on the national stage in three congressional races — backing former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander over two-term Rep. Dan Goldman; community organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier over five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; and Assemblymember Claire Valdez over Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who was endorsed for the seat by retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez.
Mandani’s endorsement of Lander is understandable. During the 2025 Democratic primary for mayor, Lander was polling in the single digits when he cross-endorsed
by Ryan Teague Beckwith | Jun 23, 2026 | Opinion
Few professions capture the technocratic spirit of the Obama-era Democratic Party better than urban planning.
So it was hardly surprising that Brad Lander — who has a master’s degree in the subject and worked in nonprofit housing before entering politics — ran for New York City Council during the Obama presidency in the careful, measured language of policy wonks.
At the time, Lander’s “Issues” page described affordable housing as “the greatest challenge confronting our city” and proposed preserving affordable units, strengthening rent laws and improving mass transit. The problem was a policy challenge; the solutions were better planning and thoughtful governance.
That was then.
The Brad Lander challenging a Democratic incumbent for a U.S. House seat on Tuesday sounds like a very different politician. His current campaign’s “Issues” page starts with the header “Fight, Don’t Fold” and goes on to use the word “fight” almost three dozen times as it rails against the “MAGA Supreme Court,” “lawless Trump officials,” “Wall Street, crypto, and AIPAC,” “AI oligarchs” and billionaires, among other targets.
Play
NYC Comptroller: Trump helped ICE turn Manhattan courthouse into an ‘abduction trap’
November 9, 2025 / 10:20
Lander isn’t an outlier, either. A growing number of Democrats have moved away from the Obama-era language of pragmatic problem-solving toward a more combative style that echoes independent Vermont senator Bernie Sanders’ attacks on the “billionaire class.”
But Sanders is only part of the story. Democrats are also responding to the political realities of the Trump era: an increasingly confrontational Republican Party, an aggressively conservative Supreme Court, the failed presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris and years of stubborn inflation. Voters are frustrated, skeptical and angry.
Inflation may be
