Ahmed Baba

Via Natasha Bertrand on X: “Lawmakers are apparently being shown the full video of the Sept 2 boat strikes in their meetings with Adm Bradley and Gen Caine. HIMES: "what I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things l've seen in my time in public service...you have two individuals and clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, were killed by the United States.”

So, according to Adm. Bradley, we’re supposed to believe that two people clinging to life on a foundering vessel were “continuing the drug mission” and *had* to be dispatched by a second strike…

Himes just saw the full video:

Trump and Hegseth shifting full blame for the second strike on Admiral Bradley should send a clear message to military service members:

The Trump Admin will throw you under the bus if you follow their unlawful orders.

That video from veteran Democrats was more than justified.

There is no other way to describe this than calling it what it is: pure unmitigated racism.

Trump’s approval in the 30s. The White House is openly beefing with a universally beloved celebrity. The administration is plagued by corruption, incompetence, and cruelty scandals. Republicans getting whooped or underperforming in off-year elections.

Welcome back, woke America.

Sabrina Carpenter immediately condemns the Trump Admin’s use for her music in their ICE promo video.

See how easy it is to disavow the Trump Admin when they use your likeness to promote their extremist agenda? Other celebrities should take notes.

Pete Hegseth is a deeply unserious person in an incredibly serious role with life or death ramifications. He should resign, and if not, be ousted.

Trump Is Now Nearly As Unpopular As He Was After The January 6 Insurrection Trump’s Gallup approval is at a second-term low, just 2 points above his post-January 6 all-time low — a warning sign for Republicans as his overreach, cruelty, and incompetence continue to backfire.

Trump’s Gallup approval rating is at 36% — just 2 points above his post-January 6 all-time low.

His support among Republicans and independents is eroding.

His overreach and incompetence are backfiring.

The GOP has chained itself to a sinking ship.

Kristi Noem and Pete Hegseth need to realize that while Trump has presidential immunity, they do not. Their federal immunity is at the discretion of whether or not Trump blanket pardons them on his way out of office, and they’re not immune from state or international prosecution.

If Republicans want to ride this sinking ship of overreach, cruelty, and incompetence until Trump gets down to George W. Bush levels of unpopularity (with approvals in the 20s), be my guest.

Prepare to get electorally obliterated in 2026 and 2028.

Trump being nearly as unpopular as he was in the aftermath of January 6 is insane.

That was a moment where Republican lawmakers were outright condemning Trump over J6, and he was shunned from politics.

If the GOP were smart, they'd reckon with that and jump ship like MTG did.

It can’t be overstated how politically weak Trump is.

Trump’s Gallup approval rating is at a second term low of 36%.

That’s only 2 points away from his all time Gallup low of 34% after January 6, 2021.

Trump is almost as unpopular as he was in the aftermath of an insurrection he incited.

This moment really gives the game away. Trump openly admits that he’s attacking another immigrant group for no related reason to the National Guard shooting. The logic amounts to “one immigrant bad = all brown immigrants bad & must be deported”

Transparent racist scapegoating.

Once again, Trump is seeking to exploit a single act of violence as a false justification for collective punishment of immigrants who had nothing to do with it. A lot of what he says here is unlawful, and if he tries any of this insanity it’ll likely be struck down by the courts.

Trump's Incompetence Is Backfiring And More Republicans Are Seeing Him As A Weak Lame Duck Danielle Moodie and I discuss the growing realization among Republicans that Trump is a lame duck, the lawless incompetence that tanked his retribution cases, and how Dems can exploit these failures.

You can watch my full conversation with Danielle Moodie here:

This is what happens when you try to speed-run Project 2025 with incompetent loyalists.

When you replace expertise with thoughtless sycophancy, you get failure.

Trump is surrounded by enablers of his worst impulses so he’s overreaching before he’s fully consolidated power.

I really appreciate that! It means a lot. That’s exactly what I’m going for. So cool to hear it’s landing with you

Thanks Raphael!

Trump's Incompetence Is Backfiring And More Republicans Are Seeing Him As A Weak Lame Duck Danielle Moodie and I discuss the growing realization among Republicans that Trump is a lame duck, the lawless incompetence that tanked his retribution cases, and how Dems can exploit these failures.

I had a great conversation on Substack about this:

When I've written and made appearances about Trump's weakness, this is what I'm talking about.

The avalanche of losses (political, legal, cultural) that Trump and his authoritarian ambitions have been dealt are mounting.

The threat is still real, but he's very clearly flailing.

When your authoritarianism is based on a foundation of incompetence, that authoritarianism is doomed to fail.

Congressional Republicans Begin to Look Beyond Trump

It’s been clear to many of us that Trump’s deepening political weakness is destroying the GOP.

It took a seismic shellacking in the 2025 elections for some Republicans to realize this truth.

More to come. Watch their behavior. The lame duck era is here.

He meets with Mamdani one time and immediately tries to step his swag up

After reading MTG’s resignation statement, a few things are clear to me:

1) MTG completed her break from Trump after sensing his political weakness

2) She’s resigning to avoid a wasteful primary

3) She’s going to seek higher office and run against the Trump Admin’s failures and betrayals of MAGA

The thing about Trump is he secretly wants the approval of the people he attacks. They’re stand-ins for the liberal “elites” he felt rejected by in NYC.

When he sees them in person and they’re even slightly nice to him, he melts.

Most notable example was Obama. Now, Mamdani.

I’ve heard a lot of defenses of Trump from Republican lawmakers and figures. They use filler words like “imperfect” or “unconventional.” But I have never heard them argue that he’s a good person. That speaks volumes about his character.

Powerful stuff from Senator Murphy. This outrage should be echoed by all lawmakers and people of influence. There is zero defense for this.

Republicans who still back this weak, lame duck as he belligerently crashes out need to rethink if it’s worth this descent to the bottom.

💯

History won’t look kindly on the people who lied for this administration

If there was literally any coherence to Trump's economic policy, then maybe asking for patience would be a reasonable ask.

But Trump's tariff strategy makes no sense. They're inflationary with no concrete end goal. They're levied based on his mood and geopolitical grievances.

This is one of many posts from Trump today directed at veteran Democratic lawmakers who released a video simply urging service members to defy unlawful orders—which by law they have a duty to do.

Trump also reposted a call for them to be hanged.

This is indefensible. Depraved.