by Steve Benen | Jul 27, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics
The first step was taken roughly 10 months ago, when Donald Trump ordered a deadly military strike against a civilian boat in international waters, and according to the White House, the operation killed 11 people. Two weeks later, there was another, followed by a third strike four days later.
Week after week, month after month, the operations kept going, as the administration continued to target these boats and kill much of their crews. Different news organizations have competing tallies on the precise number of strikes, but there’s a consensus that there have been dozens of operations that have killed hundreds of people.
The underlying questions that emerged last fall haven’t changed. They also haven’t been answered. We don’t know whether there have been other strikes that haven’t been disclosed. We don’t know who has been killed. We don’t know if Team Trump is telling the truth about whether the targets were actually narco-terrorists.
We also don’t know whether any of these extrajudicial killings have been legal, though a great many legal experts have argued that they are not. Indeed, NBC News reported in November that the senior military lawyer for the combatant command overseeing the lethal strikes reached the same conclusion.
There will likely be some who will argue that the ends justify the means and that if these military strikes curtail the drug trade in the United States, then it will be worth it.
Except that’s wrong, too. The Washington Post reported:
The Trump administration’s deadly military strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats have not reduced the amount of cocaine entering the United States, but they’re prompting criminal organizations to develop new strategies and tactics
by Steve Benen | Jul 27, 2026 | Health, Health science, Maddowblog, News, Politics
Over the past year or so, leading Trump administration officials from the Pentagon to the Department of Transportation have sparked controversies by making unfortunate and unnecessary changes to online public resources.
But arguably the most important website change happened last fall when Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. personally intervened and directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to change its website, which used to reflect the scientific consensus, alerting the public to the fact that vaccines do not cause autism.
The revised online resource told the public, “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.” This was a ridiculous assertion at odds with basic logic — by this reasoning, the claim “saxophones do not cause autism” is also not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that saxophones cause autism — and it was certainly unbecoming of the CDC, which used to represent the international gold standard in its field.
Roughly nine months later, this issue returned to the fore when Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, endorsed Erica Schwartz’s nomination to lead the CDC after it agreed to change the centers’ website on vaccines and autism.
Cassidy was apparently impressed by what he characterized as a constructive move. “I am confident that [Schwartz] knows what she is doing and will stand against those who don’t,” the senator told The Washington Post. He added that “as a sign of good faith, HHS modified the CDC’s autism and
by Steve Benen | Jul 27, 2026 | Health, Maddowblog, News, Politics
For Americans concerned about public-health challenges, Friday afternoon brought a series of discouraging headlines. For example, we learned late last week that the United States has recorded more cases of measles in 2026 than in any other year since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000 — and this year isn’t yet over. Around the same time, roughly 1.5 million dozen white and brown cage-free eggs were recalled due to potential salmonella contamination.
And then, of course, there’s the cyclospora problem: Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that they’ve linked cases of a diarrhea-causing parasite tied to shredded lettuce to additional states, bringing the new total to nine states.
As Friday came to an end, Frank Yiannas, who served as the Food and Drug Administration’s deputy commissioner for food policy and response under Donald Trump and Joe Biden, called for an independent review of the federal government’s response to the cyclospora outbreak.
“This one deserves a lot of questions, and it is starting to approach a catastrophic level in terms of how mismanaged it’s been on multiple fronts,” Yiannas told Politico. Pointing to the outbreak’s magnitude and widespread consumer confusion, he went on to criticize the “lack of strong federal leadership.”
It was against this backdrop that the incumbent president fielded some questions from reporters on Friday during an unrelated event in the Oval Office. “There’s this nasty parasite that is giving people in nine states explosive diarrhea,” Fox News’ Peter Doocy said. “When is it going to be safe to eat lettuce again?”
Doocy: “There’s this nasty parasite that is giving people in nine states explosive diarrhea. When is
by Jacques Berlinerblau | Jul 25, 2026 | Opinion, Politics, White House
Friday night’s redo of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner had three things in common with April’s doomed event, which was cut short after the intrusion of a gunman identified by authorities as Cole Tomas Allen. The first was a beaming President Donald Trump, delighted to be holding court among the journalists whom he habitually abuses, insults and subpoenas. The second was the presence of the aforementioned journalists, who in their gowns and tuxedos looked like runway models in a Stockholm syndrome-themed fashion show. And the third was the absence of a comedian entrusted with making jokes about the leader of the free world.
Roasting the commander in chief was once a venerable WHCA tradition. But like so many American institutions subjected to a MAGA stare-down or shakedown, the organization abandoned its principles.
Roasting the commander-in-chief was once a venerable WHCA tradition.
In 2025, the WHCA disinvited comedian Amber Ruffin, presumably because her barbs might have scratched the president’s thin skin. This year, the WHCA didn’t invite a comedian at all. With professional comics absent from the dais, roast master Donald was poised to fill the void.
In the lead-up to the April event, Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, mentioned that he was working with joke writers to hone his act (though she insinuated that he didn’t really need their help because he’s so darn funny on his own). Hours before the spring gathering, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt gleefully brayed that “there will be some shots fired tonight.” Then actual shots were fired. Afterward, the president sighed, “I was all set to really rip it.” “I said to my people,” he continued to
by Steve Benen | Jul 24, 2026 | Congress, Maddowblog, News, Politics, White House
There’s one word Donald Trump clearly doesn’t like to hear: “No.” And yet, it’s precisely what Senate Majority Leader John Thune has been forced to tell the president quite a bit over the past year or so — not because the South Dakota Republican necessarily disagrees with the White House’s agenda, but because Thune hasn’t had the votes to give Trump everything he wants.
One GOP senator, who requested anonymity to discuss the internal dynamics, told MS NOW last month that Trump and Thune “have an awkward relationship.” The lawmaker added, “It’s awkward for everybody.”
This is especially true of the president’s top legislative priority, a sweeping voter suppression package he has labeled the SAVE America Act that Republicans have already conceded they can’t pass. Trump, apparently furious by Congress’ inability to meet his demands, has increasingly turned against his own party’s Senate leader.
During a campaign-style event in Georgia this week, the president told supporters, “[House Speaker] Mike Johnson and Congress have done a great job, but we’re having a hard time in the Senate. The Senate, what they’re doing, it’s just not right.” The Republican added, “It’s like the Senate is where you send things you want them to die. We’re not going to be able to take it much longer.”
He didn’t elaborate as to what would happen after he’s no longer content to “take it,” though Trump specifically told attendees to “call John Thune” and demand that the GOP-led Senate pass the president’s anti-voting legislation.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed the message during Thursday’s briefing.
Leavitt on Trump’s views on Thune: “His patience is running out”— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-07-23T15:46:36.874Z
Asked
by Steve Benen | Jul 23, 2026 | Iran, Iran Tensions, Maddowblog, News, Politics
During a brief Q&A with reporters on Wednesday morning, Donald Trump was reminded that most Americans oppose the war in Iran. The president immediately pushed back against the assertion.
Q: Americans are firmly against this war—TRUMP: Well, Americans aren’t against the war. A poll just came out. Americans don’t want high gasoline prices, but they’re not against the war. That just came out loud and clear in a poll.— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-07-22T13:54:36.364Z
“Well, Americans aren’t against the war,” he said. “A poll just came out: Americans don’t want high gasoline prices, but they’re not against the war. That just came out, loud and clear, in a poll.”
Trump has spent much of his political career referring to survey data that exists only in his imagination — up to and including making up approval ratings for himself, citing data that he thinks ought to exist. So when the president told reporters about a poll that “just came out,” he didn’t elaborate, probably because he was making stuff up again.
To the extent that reality matters, plenty of polls show just how wrong the Republican is about public attitudes toward the ongoing military operations.
Last week, for example, the latest Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that 68% of Americans believe the war was not worth fighting. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were also unpopular, but according to previous Washington Post polls, public opposition to the current war in Iran is even worse than attitudes toward those other recent conflicts.
Similarly, the latest Fox News poll found 66% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of U.S. policy toward Iran.
It’s possible the president discards such data because the surveys
