by Steve Benen | May 1, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics
In the aftermath of the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which an armed gunman attempted to breach, countless Republicans — from the White House to the halls of Capitol Hill, from the Justice Department to every available media platform — cried out in unison, shouting one word to anyone who would listen: “ballroom.”
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham even led a group of White House loyalists in demanding American taxpayers pick up the tab for the president’s legally dubious vanity project, despite Donald Trump’s promises about private financing. The South Carolinian went so far as to suggest that his proposal would enjoy broad support.
“I want a vote,” Graham told reporters on Monday. “I want to see, where is America on this? I’ll bet you 90% of the people would love to have a better facility than the Hilton hotel to make sure this crap never happens again.”
The senator appeared to be overestimating public appetite on the subject, and by a wide margin. The Washington Post reported:
Americans reject President Donald Trump’s planned White House ballroom by a 2-to-1 margin, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll, and they appear largely unmoved by the intensified calls from the president and his allies in Congress to allow the project to go forward.
Fifty-six percent of Americans oppose Trump’s decision to tear down the White House’s East Wing to make way for his planned ballroom, funded by about $400 million in private donations, while 28 percent support the project. That is the same division found in an October poll. … There is also a notable enthusiasm gap: Nearly three times as many people “strongly”
by Steve Benen | Apr 30, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics
It was about a year ago when Donald Trump abandoned his first choice to serve as surgeon general, Fox News contributor Janette Nesheiwat, pulling her nomination without explanation. The president’s second choice, a wellness influencer named Casey Means, who enjoyed close ties to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., was supposed to fare better.
At least, that was the idea.
Almost immediately, it became clear that Means was wildly unqualified for the post. She was a doctor, but she had no experience in public health administration, and she supplemented her income as a wellness influencer by selling dietary supplements and teas.
What’s more, one day after nominating her, the president appeared to take steps to distance himself from his own choice, telling reporters in reference to Means, “I don’t know her.”
In the months that followed, Means’ nomination struggled to gain support, especially after a difficult confirmation hearing in February, and in late March, when a reporter asked the president whether he was considering withdrawing his nominee and picking someone else. He didn’t exactly push back.
“Well, we’re looking at a lot of different things,” Trump replied.
A month later, in the face of bipartisan opposition, the White House threw in the towel. The Associated Press reported:
President Donald Trump said Thursday he’s nominating former Fox News Channel contributor and radiologist Dr. Nicole Saphier for surgeon general after Dr. Casey Means’ path forward stalled in the Senate over questions about her experience and her stance on vaccines.
I’ll take a closer look at Saphier and her unfortunate record in a separate post, but for now, it’s worth appreciating an underappreciated dynamic: The White House is
by Steve Benen | Apr 30, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics, Supreme Court
For proponents of voting rights and racially diverse democracy, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais was a brutal gut-punch. UCLA law professor Rick Hasen wrote in a Slate analysis that the decision, written by Republican-appointed justices, “will go down in history as one of the most pernicious and damaging Supreme Court decisions of the last century.”
Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent that the ruling renders Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act “all but a dead letter” and that the consequences “are likely to be far-reaching and grave.” She added that in states “where that law continues to matter — the States still marked by residential segregation and racially polarized voting — minority voters can now be cracked out of the electoral process.”
With this in mind, it’s easy to imagine Donald Trump reacting to the ruling with delight, not just because of his record of radical animus, but also because Republican-appointed justices just delivered a ruling that will almost certainly benefit the president’s party.
And yet, when a reporter asked Trump about the high court’s decision, several hours after its release, he appeared to have absolutely no idea what had happened.
Q: In light of the SCOTUS ruling on the Voting Rights Act, do you want Republican states to look at redrawing congressional districts before the midterms?TRUMP: When did it come out? I’ve been with contractors because we’re trying to get the ballroom built ahead of schedule. Tell me what happened— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-04-29T18:21:49.982Z
“Tell me, when did the ruling come out?” the president asked, adding that he’d “been with contractors” talking about his ballroom vanity project. After talking about the
by Steve Benen | Apr 30, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics
The list of controversies surrounding Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is not short, but near the top is the unusually aggressive purge campaign he’s led at the Pentagon that’s seen a staggering number of U.S. military leaders fired since he took the reins early last year.
Last week, for example, the former Fox News host ousted Navy Secretary John Phelan, which came on the heels of Hegseth also firing Gen. Randy George, the Army’s top officer. Those developments followed the secretary forcing out Col. Dave Butler, which came after he parted ways with three-star Lt. Gen. Joe McGee, which came just two weeks after the public learned about Adm. Alvin Holsey resigning as head of the U.S. Southern Command, reportedly at Hegseth’s request.
This is just a small part of a much longer list, and even some congressional Republicans have mustered the courage to express concern.
During Hegseth’s appearance Wednesday before the House Armed Services Committee, some GOP members made clear that they thought the secretary had simply gone too far. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, for example, said, “I share a bipartisan concern of the firings that we’ve seen at the Pentagon. … I would just point out it may be constitutionally right — you have the constitutional right to do these things — but it doesn’t make it right or wise.”
Other Republicans, including Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia, raised related concerns.
For his part, the beleaguered secretary had a specific defense, which he appeared to have prepared in advance. “Under Barack Obama, 197 general officers were removed,” Hegseth testified. “So this is not something specific to this administration.”
At first blush, that might seem
by Stacey Abrams | Apr 30, 2026 | Opinion, Politics
The Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais is a direct hit to the heart of the Voting Rights Act and to the fragile promise that every American’s vote should carry equal weight. The VRA ended Jim Crow. Full stop. With this decision, it’s open season — once again — on Black and brown voters at the ballot box.
In 2023, the Supreme Court instructed Alabama to finally draw fair maps to create two majority-Black constitutional districts to allow Black citizens a shot at equal representation. Today, that same Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana’s two majority-Black congressional districts are unconstitutional — and in doing so, gutted Section 2 of the VRA, opening the door to racial gerrymanders across the South and Southwest.
It’s open season — once again — on Black and brown voters at the ballot box.
Let’s first understand what the VRA is. After the Civil War, the 13th Amendment banned slavery (mostly). The 14th Amendment granted birthright citizenship (for now). And the 15th Amendment barred the federal government and the states from denying the right to vote based on race, color and servitude (in theory). But until the fairly recent year of 1965, the 15th Amendment was routinely ignored by Southern states using the legal mechanism of Jim Crow.
Poll taxes, literacy tests and language restrictions were the most visible tools of voter suppression. However, Black voters who successfully navigated those hurdles still faced the ignominy of not having a real choice. Hostile political regimes drew the boundaries of voting lines and districts to make it impossible for Black and brown voters to elect anyone who represented their interests. Enter the
by Steve Benen | Apr 29, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics
The war with Iran and its broader effects have caused shocks and chaos across the energy industry, offering a timely reminder that it’s in Americans’ interest to embrace renewables as quickly and as robustly as possible, not only because they’re cleaner and cheaper, but also to help shield U.S. consumers from international turmoil.
It’s a basic idea the Trump administration doesn’t want to understand.
Last month, the Republican administration announced it had agreed to pay a foreign company almost $1 billion in American taxpayer money to abandon two wind farm projects that would have produced enough electricity to power more than 1.3 million homes and businesses across New York, New Jersey and North Carolina.
At the administration’s insistence, the company will instead proceed with different energy projects that will cost more and pollute more — or put another way, thanks to a model imposed by Donald Trump, American consumers will pay for the privilege of paying more to turn on the lights, all while polluting our own air during an energy crisis.
This month, it happened again. The New York Times reported:
The Trump administration will pay energy companies hundreds of millions of dollars to abandon their plans to build two wind farms off the U.S. coast, the Interior Department said Monday, in a repeat of a tactic the government used to cancel other offshore wind leases last month.
The firms will forfeit their leases in federal waters for the two wind farms. … In exchange, the companies have pledged to invest that money in oil and gas projects.
A related report from The Associated Press puts the price of the shift in total at almost $900
