by Steve Benen | May 26, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics
The day after the Trump administration unveiled its unprecedented $1.776 billion compensation fund, Donald Trump suggested to reporters that he had nothing to do with it.
“I guess they made a settlement of some kind,” the president said on Wednesday. “I wasn’t involved.”
That detached posture didn’t last. Less than 48 hours later, Trump published an item to his social media platform in which he boasted about his direct role “in allowing” the fund “to go forward.” The same online statement added that, with these taxpayer resources, “I am helping others.”
The problem is obvious: Either the president was completely in the dark about an agreement he wasn’t involved in, or he personally allowed the initiative to advance as part of his commitment to magnanimity. It can’t be both.
The contradiction was jarring, but it was hardly the only bogus claim surrounding the highly controversial initiative.
Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama tried to defend the fund by arguing, apparently in reference to Jan. 6 rioters, “We are going to compensate people who were wrongly denied access to a lawyer.” In reality, all of the Jan. 6 rioters who were charged as part of the attack had defense counsel.
Two days earlier, Tuberville, who’s currently running for governor in Alabama, also argued, as part of the same defense, “Hundreds of innocent patriots sat behind bars over this made-up witch hunt.” Such rhetoric might placate conservatives, but it doesn’t change the fact that the justice system took steps to hold Jan. 6 rioters accountable for their actions, which is the opposite of a “made-up witch hunt.”
Speaking of GOP gubernatorial candidates floating bad arguments, Rep. Byron Donalds of
by Steve Benen | May 26, 2026 | Congress, Maddowblog, News, Politics
On Thursday afternoon, a reporter asked Donald Trump whether he believed he’s “losing control” of congressional Republicans. “I don’t know,” the president replied. “I really don’t know.”
All things considered, he probably ought to know, given the fact that he’s confronting a problem of his own making. The Wall Street Journal reported last week on an emerging faction on Capitol Hill that has the potential to make a real difference:
While the president has made clear he can make or break the career of any Republican, he is also creating a class of vanquished lawmakers still in office. Republicans and aides on Capitol Hill have begun referring to a new “YOLO caucus” of outgoing senators who have little left to lose in bucking Trump.
The Associated Press published a related report, adding, “The YOLO caucus is in session.” (“YOLO” is slang for “you only live once.”)
The Republicans joining the YOLO caucus are no doubt aware of the fact that they’re poking an erratic bear and inviting furious reactions from the president. The problem for the White House is that these GOP members just don’t seem to care.
Some of them, such as Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, are retiring, so they no longer fear the electoral consequences of standing up to the White House. Others, such as Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, have already lost to Trump-backed challengers, so they’re suddenly unburdened by intraparty pressures.
Others still, such as Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, are running for re-election in highly competitive states and districts, so they actually see some benefit in presidential condemnations, since they help create some
by Steve Benen | May 26, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics
For reasons that have never been altogether clear, Donald Trump has repeatedly boasted that he’s successfully lowered the price of groceries. American consumers know better, and their perceptions are bolstered by real-world data. The Hill reported last week, “Federal inflation data confirms what you may have been feeling already: Groceries are getting more expensive. Unfortunately, things may be about to get a whole lot worse, economists are warning.”
A few days later, a national CNN poll found that 61% of Americans said they’ve had to cut back on groceries due to price concerns.
The good news is, the White House is at least showing an interest in the subject. The bad news is, the Republican administration’s new fix to help consumers is a bad idea. The Associated Press reported:
The Trump administration on Thursday loosened federal rules requiring grocery stores and air-conditioning companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cooling equipment, a step that President Donald Trump said would help lower grocery costs.
Trump said at a White House ceremony that the action by the Environmental Protection Agency would “substantially lower costs for consumers” by delaying costly restrictions that limit the type of refrigerants U.S. businesses and families can use.
For now, let’s not dwell on the fact that the incumbent president said restrictions on the chemical compounds used in air conditioners and refrigerators were part of “Biden’s disastrous regulatory policies,” despite the inconvenient fact that they were established by a law (called the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act) that Trump signed during his first term.
Let’s also briefly note that the whole point of that law Trump signed in 2020 was to phase out chemical
by Lt. Col. Rachel E. VanLandingham (ret.) | May 25, 2026 | Opinion, Politics
On this Memorial Day, we should take stock that the U.S. military remains one of the most respected public institutions in America. And for good reason. Our military has strived mightily since its Vietnam War nadir to foster professionalism grounded on honor and implemented programs to help ensure that the American way of fighting comports with the law of war and American values to the greatest extent possible.
The Pentagon should honor service members who have paid the ultimate sacrifice this Memorial Day by recommitting to the American way of fighting. It should pay tribute to the fallen by reinforcing moral integrity for those currently serving.
The U.S. military remains one of the most respected public institutions in America.
One tangible way our military and civilian leaders can do this is by firmly and quickly owning the mistakes that have killed or injured civilians in our war in Iran. Prompt and transparent investigations should lead to lessons in how to avoid future tragedies and assure those in uniform, the American public and our country’s allies that our military operations comport with U.S. values and the law.
This is not a hypothetical plea. A U.S. missile strike killed almost 200 Iranian girls and their teachers on the first day of the war, and there has been no formal U.S. acknowledgment, explanation or apology to date. There are also credible allegations, reportedly verified by The New York Times, that the U.S. has struck 22 civilian schools and medical facilities in Iran.
President Donald Trump’s Pentagon has systematically dismantled the “Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response” program, a comprehensive effort to mitigate civilian deaths and injuries caused by U.S. military operations.
by Keith Reed | May 22, 2026 | Opinion, Politics, Sports
The NAACP called for Black collegiate athletes to boycott playing for the flagship public institutions in eight southern states this week, giving a boost of legitimacy to a problematic idea that had been circulating on social media for weeks. The proposed boycott is the civil rights organization’s response to Republican-controlled state legislatures in Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Georgia redrawing or threatening to redraw congressional maps to eliminate some or all of their majority-Black voting districts.
Those states, whose economies have long benefited from the toil of Black athletes at the public institutions funded by those legislatures, began rushing to change those maps after the Supreme Court’s recent gutting of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
The NAACP will not watch the same institutions that depend on Black athletic prowess to fill their stadiums remain silent while their states strip Black communities of their voice. NAACP PRESIDENT AND CEO DERRICK JACKSON
“The NAACP will not watch the same institutions that depend on Black athletic prowess to fill their stadiums and their bank accounts remain silent while their states strip Black communities of their voice,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in the statement announcing the initiative it’s calling “Out of Bounds.”
Boycotts have always sought to break the machinery of oppression by choking off the funding that lubricates it, and the money these states make on sports dominated by Black athletes is hefty. Louisiana State University, which produced athletes including WNBA star Angel Reese, Olympian Sha’Carri Richardson and NFL wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, released a study that claimed its sports programs generated nearly a half-billion dollars in economic
by Steve Benen | May 21, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics
After the Trump administration unveiled an unprecedented $1.776 billion fund made up entirely of taxpayer money that is expected to benefit the president’s allies with no meaningful oversight, a great many Democrats, legal experts and even some Republicans agreed that Team Trump has created a corrupt and legally dubious “slush fund.”
Sen. Ed Markey, however, went further than most. The Massachusetts Democrat described the developments as an impeachable offense. From the senator’s online statement:
Trump’s “weaponization fund” … is his latest impeachable offense: using the machinery of government and billions in taxpayer dollars to reward allies, pay off insurrectionists, and shield himself, his family, and associates from accountability. This is exactly the kind of corruption and abuse of public trust the Framers feared most. Impeach now.
At the outset, it’s worth acknowledging basic political realities: There’s a Republican-led Congress, which remains loyal to the Republican White House, so it’s simply unrealistic to think Donald Trump will face a serious impeachment push anytime soon.
But Markey didn’t suggest otherwise. Rather, he simply made the point that the underlying misconduct is itself the kind of abuse that warrants impeachment, whether such action is imminent or not.
What’s more, the senator’s case is hardly unreasonable. Not only is the scheme legally dubious, as a lawsuit filed Wednesday hopes to prove, but the editorial board of The New York Times also made a compelling case that the entire gambit is itself “threatening to constitutional order.” The board added, “It is worth pausing to put the fund into the larger context of Mr. Trump’s political project: He is destroying pillars of American democracy to empower himself.”
Complicating matters, the president and his team aren’t even
