by Steve Benen | May 21, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics
Donald Trump’s political career is defined by a series of ugly qualities. The president is known for being a dishonest and ignorant authoritarian, obsessed with conspiracy theories, self-aggrandizement, petty grievances and an indifference to election results and the rule of law.
But perhaps most important of all is the unavoidable word that describes Trump better than any other: To a breathtaking degree, this guy is corrupt.
Unfortunately, there have been other corrupt American presidents, but we hardly have a frame of reference for someone as brazen and shameless as the Republican incumbent. Writing for Rolling Stone this week, John Avlon argued, “Let’s say it plainly: There has never been a president as corrupt as Donald Trump. There is no close second in our history.”
To appreciate the scope and scale of the president’s corruption is daunting, because the broader indictment covers so many scandals over the course of many years, but it’s worth pausing to consider the evidence that’s emerged this week.
Reports this week showed stock purchases made by Trump, which were followed by federal actions or specific statements by the president that affected the price of those stocks.
The administration this week unveiled an unprecedented $1.776 billion fund, made up entirely of taxpayer money, that is expected to benefit the Republican’s allies with no meaningful oversight.
Trump’s Justice Department this week announced the Internal Revenue Service would no longer scrutinize past or present alleged tax irregularities surrounding the president and his controversial businesses. The development, among other things, freed Trump from having to worry about a potential $100 million penalty.
A Trump-aligned super PAC received $5 million from a leading tobacco company, and then days
by Steve Benen | May 21, 2026 | Congress, Maddowblog, News, Politics
In November 2015, congressional Republicans launched a pointless crusade to repeal the Affordable Care Act, indifferent to the fact that Barack Obama would inevitably veto their plan if it reached his desk. GOP lawmakers plowed forward anyway, using the budget reconciliation process that allowed them to circumvent the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.
There were, however, procedural pitfalls. In order for a reconciliation bill to advance, it has to meet a series of stringent conditions, which Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough said the Republican bill failed to meet.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, in his first year on Capitol Hill, offered a straightforward solution to the party’s problem: GOP leaders should simply fire MacDonough and replace her with someone who would tell them what they wanted to hear.
That didn’t happen, though more than a decade later, Donald Trump is thinking along the same lines. NOTUS reported:
President Donald Trump pressed Senate Majority Leader John Thune to fire the Senate parliamentarian after she ruled Republicans could not include funding for the president’s ballroom in a budget bill, two sources familiar with the request told NOTUS.
The president called the South Dakota Republican on Monday to express his frustrations with the decision, according to a third source. The call between Trump and Thune was first reported by Semafor.
Those behind-the-scenes details were provocative, but they also burst out into the open on Wednesday morning when the president published a lengthy and furious rant to his social media platform, calling out MacDonough by name and adding, “Over the years, she has been brutal to Republicans, but not so to the Dumocrats — So why has she not been replaced? …
by Katelyn Burns | May 21, 2026 | Opinion, Politics
Former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, a gay political trailblazer, died Wednesday at 86. Frank was the first member of the U.S. House of Representatives to publicly come out as gay and the first member of Congress to marry a person of the same gender.
Frank was undoubtedly a legend of his time. He represented his Massachusetts district in Congress for more than 30 years, and his high profile helped pave the way for the broader acceptance of gay people we see today. He founded the Stonewall Democrats, a pro-gay caucus focused on advancing LGBTQ rights within the party. He helped pass several pieces of landmark legislation. He was the “Frank” in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 and helped shape the legislation as a co-writer of the bill. He also played a key role in loosening federal regulations on marijuana use and helped pass the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded federal hate crime protections to include LGBTQ people. As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee in 2008, he helped bail out the banking system during the Great Recession.
Frank was undoubtedly a legend of his time.
For all the above reasons, Frank was a memorable and monumental lawmaker.
But as eulogies marking his passing begin to flow, many queer people in the U.S. — particularly transgender people who were around for the fights on Capitol Hill in the late 2000s — will be remember other aspects of Frank’s political career with far less fondness and, indeed, with disappointment.
Even as he fought for protections for gay Americans, Frank insisted that trans rights not be
by Steve Benen | May 20, 2026 | Congress, Maddowblog, News, Politics
After Sen. Bill Cassidy fell far short in his Louisiana primary, the longtime Republican lawmaker delivered a concession speech that took some unsubtle shots at the president who orchestrated his defeat. “When you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to,” the senator said. “But you don’t pout, you don’t whine, you don’t claim the election was stolen.”
In the same concession speech, the Louisianian said, “Let me just set the record straight: Our country is not about one individual. It is about the welfare of all Americans, and it is about our Constitution. And if someone doesn’t understand that and attempts to control others by using the levers of power, they’re about serving themselves. They’re not about serving us. And that person is not qualified to be a leader.”
Cassidy didn’t mention Donald Trump by name, but he didn’t have to. His point wasn’t exactly subtle.
The next question was whether the senator was prepared to follow through on his Saturday night remarks and become a thorn in the side of the president responsible for ending his career.
As the week got underway, the Republican lawmaker, who still has 228 days remaining in his term, downplayed the idea that he would use his office to retaliate against the White House. Since then, Cassidy has:
Publicly condemned the Trump administration’s so-called anti-weaponization fund, calling it a “slush fund” that needs congressional scrutiny.
Announced his opposition to a pending proposal to direct millions in taxpayer money to Trump’s vanity ballroom project.
Switched his position and voted with Democrats on a war powers resolution related to Trump’s war in Iran.
Voiced his disapproval of
by Madeleine Lippey | May 20, 2026 | Opinion, Politics
On Friday, 33-year-old Samantha Randazzo, who was nine months pregnant, was awaiting her arraignment in a New York City courtroom on a drug possession charge when her water broke. She gave birth to a baby boy in open court.
Public defenders and legal advocates from Brooklyn Defender Services and the Legal Aid Society say Randazzo was at times shackled while in labor. (The New York Police Department and court personnel deny this claim.)
The NYPD says it did not know Randazzo was pregnant at the time of her arrest, as she was wearing “baggy clothes.”
The NYPD says it did not know Randazzo was pregnant at the time of her arrest, as she was “wearing baggy clothes.” Their formal statement suggests that Randazzo later informed officers she was “experiencing withdrawal from drugs,” only divulging that she was pregnant at the police station. Officers then brought Randazzo to Coney Island Hospital, where she was admitted, though the details of her treatment are unknown. NYC Health and Hospitals, which operates Coney Island Hospital, has not commented on the case. After Randazzo was discharged, she was transported by officers to court to be arraigned, where her labor either began or intensified.
The NYPD’s “baggy clothes” defense should be easily unraveled by basic police procedure. Safety frisks and searches incident to arrest are so routine that a full-term pregnant belly, even under looser clothing, would seem to be impossible not to discover. These searches are typically conducted contemporaneously with or immediately after an arrest. Randazzo’s body was likely investigated and handled multiple times during the hours between her arrest and when she was transported to the hospital at
by Steve Benen | May 20, 2026 | Justice Department, Maddowblog, News, Politics
Immediately after the Trump administration unveiled its $1.776 billion “fund” this week, Democrats and legal experts didn’t just condemn the gambit as a “slush fund,” they also focused on which of Donald Trump’s allies are most likely to benefit from payouts.
One of the central questions was unavoidable: Would Team Trump start writing taxpayer-financed checks to Jan. 6 rioters?
The day after the initiative was unveiled, JD Vance spoke to reporters at length in the White House press briefing room, where the vice president left the door wide open to payouts to those who attacked the U.S. Capitol. Instead of ruling out the possibility of checks for convicted criminals who violently assaulted police officers, for example, Vance told MS NOW’s Jake Traylor, “We’re going to look at everything case by case.”
The Ohio Republican added, “Let’s turn the page on this thing that we did under the last administration where we tried to throw people in prison because they had the wrong politics,” pointing to developments that simply did not happen in reality.
A few hours earlier, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former Trump defense lawyer, made related comments during testimony before a Senate Appropriations Committee panel, though there was a line of questioning about a specific Jan. 6 rioter that stood out.
VAN HOLLEN: An individual who was pardoned by Trump went on to molest 2 children, & he tried to buy their silence by saying he would give them funds from your slush fund. Can you commit to not making that person eligible for a payout?BLANCHE: You’re obviously lyingV: I am reporting what he said — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-05-19T14:05:35.693Z
Democratic Sen. Chris
