by Steve Benen | Dec 11, 2025 | Maddowblog, Politics
About a decade ago, then-candidate Donald Trump appeared eager to convince voters that he’d deliver extraordinary economic results. After several decades in which the United States averaged roughly 3% annual growth, the Republican routinely promised “4% annual economic growth.”
During his first year in the White House, the president went even further, declaring, “I see no reason why we don’t go to 4%, 5% and even 6%.”
This was unwise. GDP growth in the U.S. had only reached 6% once in the previous half-century, and that was because of a dramatic one-time drop in interest rates in 1984. Trump had set the bar unrealistically high, and to the surprise of no one, he failed to reach his own stated standard: Even before the pandemic, annual economic growth did not top 3% during his first term. In fact, in 2017 and 2019, when the president tried to tell the public that the economy was the best it had ever been, GDP growth was 2.5% and 2.6%, respectively.
Having failed to meet its unrealistic goals previously, Trump and his team have learned their lesson.
No, I’m just kidding. They’ve learned nothing and are making the exact same mistakes.
Lutnick: “I think under President Trump you’re gonna see the economy grow 6%”— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-12-11T13:22:44.764Z
On Thursday morning, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick predicted that annual GDP growth in Trump’s second term is likely to reach 6% — a line he’s pushed more than once in recent weeks.
As a rule, officials recognize the importance of under-promising and over-delivering, especially after having already failed. But Lutnick went there anyway.
A day earlier, at a White House event, his boss went considerably
by Steve Benen | Dec 11, 2025 | Maddowblog, Politics
There’s no denying that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has had a difficult year. Part of the problems stem from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s misguided agenda and imposed inefficiencies, coupled with Donald Trump’s stated determination to destroy the agency altogether for reasons he’s struggled to explain.
To fully appreciate the scope of FEMA’s troubles, however, it’s useful to focus on the agency’s personnel problems.
FEMA, for example, has had five different administrators this year. The head of FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue branch resigned in frustration over the summer. The head of the agency’s disaster command center, who coordinated response to earthquakes, floods and other disasters, resigned around the same time.
When a group of FEMA officials warned Congress that the Trump administration had gutted the nation’s ability to handle extreme weather disasters, many of them were forced from their jobs.
But stepping back, serious concerns remain, not just about who’s leaving FEMA, but also about some of the people the Republican administration is bringing into FEMA. The New York Times reported:
A leading proponent of election fraud conspiracy theories is set to oversee federal disaster response. … The appointee, Gregg Phillips, will take over the agency’s Office of Response and Recovery as of Monday, according to the person. The office is the largest of FEMA’s divisions and central to its mission of helping disaster-struck communities, and its leader makes recommendations on whether federal disaster declarations and aid are warranted.
The Handbasket first reported the appointment.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed to the Times on the record that Phillips would be taking a senior leadership position at the disaster response agency and stressed his
by Steve Benen | Dec 11, 2025 | Maddowblog, Politics
About a month into his second term, Donald Trump unveiled plans for a visa program — at the time, it was billed as the president’s “Gold Cards” — which he said would be similar to green cards “but at a higher level of sophistication.” He added that the point was to allow “very high-level people” to enjoy a new route to American citizenship by giving the government $5 million.
Nearly a year later, these cards are now officially available — at a discount. The Associated Press reported:
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that his long-promised ‘gold card’ was officially going on sale, offering legal status and an eventual pathway to U.S. citizenship for individuals paying $1 million and corporations ponying up twice that per foreign-born employee.
A website accepting applications went live as Trump revealed the start of the program while surrounded by business leaders in the White House’s Roosevelt Room.
The broader societal contrast is tough to miss: In an era in which masked federal officials are terrorizing immigrant communities and launching aggressive raids on those they believe might be undocumented, Trump is simultaneously offering a pathway to citizenship to foreign millionaires and billionaires.
There are similar programs elsewhere — the International Monetary Fund refers to these as “golden passport programs” — though all of this will be quite new to the U.S., should the project advance as planned.
While the cards were originally pitched as “Gold Cards,” the initiative has since been rebranded as “Trump Gold Cards,” no doubt because the president places a high priority on putting his name on things.
What’s more, according to the weird website created by the White House, the
by Nicholas Mitchell | Dec 11, 2025 | Opinion, Politics
During an interview last week at the Dealbook Summit, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a likely Democratic candidate for president in 2028, said Democrats need to be “more culturally normal” and “a little less judgmental” if the party is to win future elections.
Newsom did not expound on what “culturally normal” means, but his comments were not made in a vacuum. They come in the context of a debate that straddles the political spectrum but has been most visible with moderate Democrats such as Newsom preaching “cultural moderation” to parts of the progressive left whom they believe focus too much on so-called identity politics.
In recent months, the issue at the center of the cultural moderation debates has been transgender people’s rights.
When pressed for examples in the past, people who hold the position that Democrats should be more culturally normal have singled out movements such as “Defund the police” because that phrase had very little support, even in Black communities. But in recent months, the issue at the center of the cultural moderation debates has been transgender people’s rights to education, public accommodations, parental rights and, increasingly, medical care.
Newsom, in a March episode of his podcast “This Is Gavin Newsom,” said that “it’s deeply unfair” for trans girls and women to compete in women’s sports. He appears to be of the view, according to some of his critics, that if most Americans object to the idea of trans rights, then Democrats should be OK with letting those rights be contracted or denied all together. The rebuttal is that abandoning a marginalized population will make it hard, if not impossible, for Democrats to
by Steve Benen | Dec 10, 2025 | Maddowblog, Politics
Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A major escalation: “The United States has seized an oil tanker Wednesday off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said, sharply escalating tensions with his counterpart, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Trump did not immediately offer further details surrounding the ship, including its owner or the nation where it is flagged.”
* A cautious, quarter-point cut: “The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut its influential interest rate for the third time this year, pointing to a job market that Chairman Jerome Powell said may be weaker than it appears.”
* Epstein files: “A federal judge in New York on Wednesday ordered the release of sealed grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case, citing a new law that compels the Justice Department to make public material related to investigations of the disgraced financier.”
* A closely watched case: “A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles on Wednesday and ordered control of the troops returned to Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Trump administration has indicated it will appeal the latest decision, part of a slew of litigation over the deployments nationally.”
* As international tourism to the U.S. suffers, leave it to the Trump administration to find a bizarre new way to make matters much worse: “U.S. Customs and Border Protection could soon require certain international visitors to provide five years of their social media history to apply for entry into the U.S.”
* Good for Pritzker: “Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, a Democrat, signed into law on Tuesday a measure that restricts immigration enforcement outside state courthouses and that makes it easier
by Steve Benen | Dec 10, 2025 | Maddowblog, Politics
Donald Trump’s approach to the freedom of the press has never been especially healthy (we are talking about a president who’s echoed Joseph Stalin while attacking journalists), but his campaign against the media has gotten especially aggressive in recent months. In September, for example, the Republican suggested that “evening shows” are “not allowed” to criticize him and that networks that give him “only bad publicity” risk losing their broadcast licenses.
At one point, the president went so far as to claim that broadcasters that air evening news programs are doing something “illegal” if the White House disapproves of their coverage.
But when it comes to Trump’s media enemies list, The New York Times continues to hold the top slot — as evidenced by his decision in October to sue the newspaper for $15 billion, claiming that it defamed him and tried to ruin his reputation.
This week, the president took this ongoing offensive in an unsettling direction. As Time magazine summarized:
Donald Trump will be the oldest U.S. President in history by the time he leaves office if he serves out his full second term, and while he nicknamed his predecessor Joe Biden as ‘Sleepy’ and amplified questions about his declining fitness for office, Trump now says that reports about his own aging are ‘seditious, perhaps even treasonous.’
That might sound like a wild exaggeration, but it’s entirely accurate.
On Tuesday night, after delivering an economic speech in which the president encouraged Americans to settle for less, Trump published a hysterical 487-word rant to his social media platform that was disturbing, even for him.
The whole tirade is worth reading, if for no other reason than to
