Michael Tomasky

War and Football? What Kind of Sick Mind Thinks That Video Is Cool? The White House’s videos mixing football hits with bombing footage tell us: We have some twisted people running this country.

New Column: What that hideous video with football hits tells us about the Trump regime. newrepublic.com/post/207741/... via @newrepublic.com

Trump Goes on Deranged Rant About Dead Soldiers Walking Around This is the man who’s led us into a new war with Iran.

President Donald Trump told America that there were dead people walking around with no arms or legs during his Monday evening speech at a GOP retreat in Florida. trib.al/V8vbC5t

The Implications of Iran Mining the Strait of Hormuz Are Many—and Ugly Laying mines is cheap—and easy. Clearing them is expensive and hard. The potential consequences are terrifying.

"Nothing turns the public against the incumbent party like a tanked economy and a disastrous war. The Iranians believe they’ll achieve favorable terms once the U.S. economy begins to crater and the public turns against Trump."

From @brynntannehill.bsky.social: trib.al/Kn6VQJQ

Democrats Need a Post-Trump Plan. Here’s One That Works. Holding the powerful accountable for their crimes is the only way out of this mess.

"Democrats cannot be allowed to repeat their past mistakes. We must bring the architects of our current nightmare to justice—not in the name of the past, but in the name of the future."

From @aaronregunberg.bsky.social: trib.al/ZjDVZ2e

How Trump’s War on Iran Is Hastening the Coming MAGA Crack-Up Another Middle East war is exactly what the young voters and voters of color who flocked to Trump in 2024 did not sign up for.

"You cannot watch Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth preen and strut about our new 'overwhelming and unrelenting precision' and vow of 'no hesitation' in 'crushing the enemy' without seeing this MAGA intoxication at play."

From @gregsargent.bsky.social: trib.al/i8tfBEy

The Unbelievable Madness of Our War With Iran Last year, I warned about the possibility that Israel might drag the United States into a regional conflict. What’s happening now is worse than I could have ever imagined.

Leaders around the world appear to be struggling to respond to an American administration that is no longer constrained by pretending to care about human lives, the law, or the cost of its hubris.

From Annelle Sheline: trib.al/aHSanNa

White House: War Isn’t Hell. War Is Effing Awesome. You Are Hell. Once, war was justified by ho-hum lies about WMDs. Now, it’s Childish Gambino grooves and the Book of Revelation. Get with the program.

"Twenty years ago, in other words, neocons and neolibs could justify war with 'values' (coded Christian) and 'interests' (coded capitalist). Violent superstitions were supposed to belong to the other side."

From @virginiaheffernan.bsky.social: trib.al/JFaK0vq

Guess What Moderate Democratic Voters Aren’t Anymore? Moderate. Two new polls suggest that moderate Democrats, too, want higher taxes on the rich and some measure of economic populism. Moderate isn’t what it was in 1992.

"Moderate Democratic voters are not centrists clamoring for a return to the Clinton era or rebukes of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders." trib.al/wOplJhG

How We’re All Now Paying the Price for the Myth of Trump’s Competence The administration’s war with Iran is setting a mountain of taxpayer dollars on fire every day—mostly because he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

New Column: How in blazes did so many people fall for the idea that this guy hated war? That he could bring prices down? That he is competent to run a high-volume McDonalds, let alone the country?
newrepublic.com/article/2074... via @newrepublic.com

How We’re All Now Paying the Price for the Myth of Trump’s Competence The administration’s war with Iran is setting a mountain of taxpayer dollars on fire every day—mostly because he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

The man is, whatever his other faults, just way in over his head. Maybe Democrats should say that more often. The fact that he’s costing taxpayers a billion dollars a day on a war most of them didn’t want may be a good place to start. trib.al/tGW9ROh

The Corporate Miscreants Driving the Affordability Crisis These 20 firms all have something in common: Their CEOs get paid millions, their workers are being pushed onto public assistance, and voters are fed up with them.

It’s bad enough when your business model essentially plans for government programs to provide the money you’re not willing to pay.

trib.al/48VHpow

Noem No More: Democracy Still Works, Even in Donald Trump’s America The proximate cause of her firing: She bruised the boss’s ever-fragile ego. But the important backdrop? The rising up of the American people against her.

Immigration as an issue has been transformed from a notable Trump strength into one of his most glaring weaknesses. We’ve learned that most Americans value what immigrants bring to this country. It’s been heartening to see. trib.al/C9gGqUw

Noem No More: Democracy Still Works, Even in Donald Trump’s America The proximate cause of her firing: She bruised the boss’s ever-fragile ego. But the important backdrop? The rising up of the American people against her.

New Column: Yes, she was bounced for hurting Trump's fragile ego. But millions of righteously outraged Americans made a difference here, too. newrepublic.com/article/2074... via @newrepublic.com

"Trump has squandered some of the country’s greatest sources of strength. By repelling nearly all of America’s allies—alliances that are among the best instruments of leverage Washington has in the world—he has paid China and Russia enormous dividends." trib.al/ufxc5eQ

Georgia Republicans Are Setting Up Their Midterm Elections to Fail Having banned ballots with Q.R. codes two years ago, election-denying GOP legislators still haven’t approved an alternative—and one of their proposals would require hand-counting every ballot in the state.

One of this year’s most closely watched midterm contests is in Georgia, but if H.B. 1108 were to become law, the whole country might have to wait weeks after the fall elections, or even longer, to learn which party has won control of the chamber. trib.al/Rgbj0pZ

Donald Trump Has Lit a Global Match Trump and his aides think the United States has global leverage that his predecessors refused to use. He seems to forget that other countries have leverage, too—and they’re intent on using it to stop him.

"If Trump insists on steamrolling over other countries, the United States will eventually discover—like Napoleon’s France, Hitler’s Germany, and Stalin’s Soviet Union before it—that other countries always have options to resist." trib.al/fRLkOgW

For the court’s conservatives, the only consistency is their inconsistency. Still, things rather conspicuously keep going the GOP’s way.

trib.al/IU332wI

"A 36-year-old Bible-quoting former public school teacher against a philandering, corrupt 63-year-old career politician is about as ideal a contrast as Democrats could have wished for." trib.al/yJZxG9o

Trump’s Immigration Policies Are Making Us Poorer—and Sicker Despite what the president says, evidence shows that immigrants do far more to aid the American labor force than to hinder it.

"Immigrants have helped reduce deficits every year between 1994 and 2023, in large part because the amount they pay in taxes outstrips the cost of the benefits they receive." trib.al/njoop3l

It’s clear the Democratic Party rank and file demands a new position on Israel. There’s one candidate, or maybe two, who can best answer that call, if they choose to. trib.al/ou4PBCg

He’ll Need Some Luck, But James Talarico Can Win the Texas Senate Seat Talarico awaits the result of a May 26 Cornyn-Paxton runoff. The scandal-plagued Paxton would give Democrats a real chance at an upset.

"Democrats should hope that Paxton wins. He’s the ideal opponent for Talarico. Calling the attorney general scandal-plagued would be way understating his issues." trib.al/ctHTJHo

The Supreme Court Has Abandoned All Pretense For the court’s conservatives, the only consistency is their inconsistency. Still, things rather conspicuously keep going the GOP’s way.

The court’s conservative members went out of their way to change their normal procedures in shadow-docket cases to benefit a Republican member of Congress as she tries to fend off a less favorable legislative map. trib.al/g80DPxm

The Republican Meltdown Over Iran Is Just Beginning Right-wing criticism of Trump’s war has mostly come from familiar MAGA cranks like Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson. But it could quickly spiral out of control.

"Facing sustained criticism from the MAGA faithful who rightly see the war as a “betrayal,” Trump could well spiral into unprecedented territory." trib.al/bEIaXiL

He’ll Need Some Luck, But James Talarico Can Win the Texas Senate Seat Talarico awaits the result of a May 26 Cornyn-Paxton runoff. The scandal-plagued Paxton would give Democrats a real chance at an upset.

"Democrats should hope that Paxton wins. He’s the ideal opponent for Talarico. Calling the attorney general scandal-plagued would be way understating his issues." trib.al/QArUjMl

“By Hegseth’s standard, any country having any advanced defensive weaponry of any kind can be labeled an imminent threat.”

trib.al/ayOE74Q

"Trump is clearly law breaking right now and being allowed to, which is really frightening. He’s operating like a king."

trib.al/2YYoi9l

Question for Pam Bondi: With the Dow down to 47,000, are we allowed to take the Epstein files seriously now?

The MAGA Plot to Take Down Canada A growing movement of MAGA-pilled Albertan separatists would happily break up the country to be closer to Trump.

Figures like Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon, who has explicitly compared Canada to Ukraine, see Canada as a bastion of decadent liberalism in the West that must be broken and subdued, one way or another. trib.al/m9FTkHb

The MAGA Plot to Take Down Canada A growing movement of MAGA-pilled Albertan separatists would happily break up the country to be closer to Trump.

Figures like Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon, who has explicitly compared Canada to Ukraine, see Canada as a bastion of decadent liberalism in the West that must be broken and subdued, one way or another. trib.al/JBH5xt1

What About Those Celebrating Iranians? We’ve Seen This Movie Before. MAGA-heads scoff at liberals: Isn’t it great to see those overjoyed Iranians? Um, yes, but history, alas, warns us sternly against premature celebrations.

New Column: If I were Iranian, I'd be hopeful at this moment too. Of course. But so were Ukrainians in 1941, and Iraqis in 2003, and... newrepublic.com/article/2071... via @newrepublic.com