Michael Kruse

The fraudster behind California secession The man behind the Calexit movement claims to be a baller. But he's broke.

POLITICO Weekend.

The Online Right’s Favorite Nativist Slogan Is Gaining Traction in the Real World Daniel Boone, burial plots and no birthright citizen: Welcome to the MAGA world of “Heritage America.”

“We are influenced more by aesthetics than we are by rational arguments and logic.”

Trump's authoritarian streak With one social media post, Trump threatened to eviscerate the integrity of U.S. government data.

Axios this morning: ... apply any of these five storylines from the past week to a foreign leader — or even a past U.S. president — and it reads like an authoritarian playbook.

Pulitzer winner Lane DeGregory on the power of local storytelling - Nieman Storyboard The journalist reflects on 25 years at the Tampa Bay Times, and how to find stories in your own backyard

Great as always listening to Lane talk shop but it also kinda made me sad.

Meet the Fraudster Who Wants to Make California Its Own Country The man behind the Calexit movement claims to be a baller. But he's broke.

This week's POLITICO Mag Friday Read.

Memoir of a Mailman A new book describes the challenges and joys of life as a letter carrier.

I'll read this.

Competing Conspiracy Theories Consume Trump’s Washington

“Presidential allegations that have no factual basis undermine public confidence in the political system and present dangerous challenges to constitutional principles and the rule of law, particularly if they are not subject to checks by other institutions.”

Return of Biden, Harris snags Democrats’ push to turn the page on 2024 The party is anxious to move on from their losses and look to the future — but their central figures from the last election keep stepping back into the spotlight.

“I don’t think there’s a lot we can do to turn the page until we have a fight over who gets to turn the page. And that will be the 2028 primary fight.”

Hear Robin Givhan and Marc Jacobs on creativity, vulnerability and getting older The Washington Post’s Robin Givhan in conversation with designer Marc Jacobs.

Putting this here so I don't forget to listen to it.

An American mega-influencer flew to Lithuania. Then the chaos began. The streamer IShowSpeed drank pink soup in the Baltics, marveled at cars in China and made friends in Saudi Arabia. Are his tours propaganda, or just good advertising?

“Yo, look at the whole of Lithuania, though. This looks so beautiful, bro.”

Trump’s Bad-to-Worse Options on Epstein There are no good solutions — but some are better than others.

Trump’s Bad-to-Worse Options on Epstein.

Biden warns of ‘dark days’ under Trump The former president headlined a National Bar Association gathering of Black lawyers and judges.

“We are, in my view, at such a moment in American history, reflected in every cruel executive outreach, every rollback of basic freedoms, every erosion of long-standing, established precedent.”

Cooper leads first public poll since jumping in North Carolina Senate race The former governor is six points up in what will be one of the most competitive Senate races in the country next year.

Should be interesting in N.C.

Playbook: Liberation Day, Part III And a new poll shows Roy Cooper leading Michael Whatley by 6 points in the North Carolina Senate race.

“I think voters feel like Democrats have sort of been assholes to them,” @mcbride.house.gov tells @politico.com.

The SouthBound finale: Host Tommy Tomlinson on talking to fascinating Southerners This week on SouthBound, we air our final episode. WFAE’s Ely Portillo interviews host Tommy Tomlinson about Tommy's favorite SouthBound moment, the future of journalism and what still gives him hope....

Very much worth the listen.

Opinion | How a fluke trivia question at age 17 changed the course of my life An occupation writing sentences as a journalist for 47 years feels like a miracle.

One of the greats.

Democratic Governors Are Angling for 2028 The mood at the Democratic Governors Association meeting was remarkably bullish on 2028.

Phil Murphy: “... I think history will show when you lose there’s a lot of infighting, there’s lots of finger points, and a bit of this. And how do you get out of that? I think you get out of that by winning.”

Tracking Trump's flood-the-zone approach to distracting from Epstein Tracking Trump's flood-the-zone approach to distracting from Epstein

47 things Trump would rather talk about than Jeffrey Epstein.

YouTube video by POLITICO McBride: Republicans ‘are obsessed’ with trans issues

Sarah McBride: “Republicans are the ones that are obsessed with this issue. And that’s one of my gripes with sort of Rahm’s framing is he perpetually accepts this notion that the Democratic Party is more interested in bathrooms than classrooms, and that’s just not true.”

Playbook: How Joe Biden is living And President Donald Trump gears up for another tariff deadline.

“His footprint is significantly smaller, and it’s sort of shocking.”

‘He’s a Great Guy’: Trump’s Favored Aide Has Troubled Past Sources say Max Miller has a history of aggressive behavior that includes slapping his ex-girlfriend, former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.

This ran four years ago today. That's it?

Bobblehead mania is real — and it's reshaping the sports economy The bobblehead boom is driving up baseball ticket prices and boosting attendance.

Here's this sentence: The Pope, Elon Musk, and even viral sanitation workers have become fast-selling bobbleheads.

Playbook: ‘The center of everything’ To understand where we are in Trump's second term, look no further than Florida.

“The combination of Mar-a-Lago, a modern-day castle, and Trump, a modern-day king, has attracted all types.”

Epstein is our national horror story The conspiracy theory captures our anxieties about how power really works, but the boring version might say more.

POLITICO Weekend.

A Drag Queen Leaves the Stage on Her Own Terms

“My name is Kai Brown. My pronouns are they/them. I’m so glad you came tonight.”

Today.

Trump anoints a new power elite on K Street Trump's "big, beautiful bill" and frenetic tariff activity have fueled a lobbying gusher in the opening months of his term.

“The largest driver of business right now is the overarching trend of uncertainty and the need for C-suites to try to minimize uncertainty and political risk as much as possible.”

South Park skewers Trump over Epstein files, depicts him in bed with Satan The hit Paramount show aired the incendiary new episode as the first of its new season.

South Park skewers Trump over Epstein files, depicts him in bed with Satan.

Playbook: The Epstein bombshell explodes

“They’re going to accuse me of some funny business. ... They’re going to fuck me anyways.”

They thought her home was empty. She had been dead inside for over a year. Kathryn Norris disappeared long before she died.

Ran in the St. Pete Times 14 years ago tomorrow.