SINCERETALK

The Supreme Court, which is 6 to 3 Republican, has gone out of its way to help President Donald Trump, from permitting him to construct his illegal ballroom and gutting the Voting Rights Act to allowing him to unilaterally fire federal employees who were previously protected by civil service laws . Now the Supreme Court has stayed an injunction to stop Trump from forcing the Postal Service to not count mail-in ballots submitted by any voter Trump disapproves of — and experts are warning it will wreak havoc on American elections. "A divided Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to move forward with plans to restrict mail-in voting before the midterm elections," reported The New York Times' Abbie VanSickle and Ann E. Marimow on Monday . "In an emergency order, the justices said President Trump could proceed with implementing an executive order he had signed, which directed the U.S. Postal Service to help decide which voters should receive mail-in ...

President Donald Trump continues to struggle in polls because of America’s failing economy, but according to a prominent White House correspondent , he finds economic issues boring. “Let's talk about how the White House could physically look different in the next few years,” CNN correspondent Bianna Golodryga asked Maggie Haberman, a journalist from The New York Times who co-authored a book on Trump’s White House called “Regime Change.” “Before we go, President Trump had this to say about his White House ballroom project, during a White House event on school choice.” Golodryga then said Trump “spends about 70 percent of his time on construction projects. The Washington Post appears to undercut the president's argument that the White House needs a secure structure, noting that federal officials built a highly protected underground bunker more than a decade ago that can shelter the president and his top aides in a national security emergency, according to three former officials....

In three presidential elections in a row, Donald Trump generally performed well among farmers — especially in red states. But according to the New York Times, problems with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are a source of growing worry and frustration for struggling farmers . "Across the country," reporter Linda Qiu explains in the Times, "farmers and rural residents describe struggling to obtain the basic services the Agriculture Department is meant to offer, including loans and grants, technical assistance and financing for housing and utilities. Sharp attrition under the Trump administration, largely through voluntary resignations and dismissals by the Department of Government Efficiency, have left many of the Agriculture Department's local offices with skeletal staffing — and, in some counties, with no one at all." According to Qiu, the Trump administration's "mission of shrinking the federal bureaucracy" has "undercut a competin...

Trump buddy Larry Ellison (one of the richest people in the U.S.) and his son David are a hair’s breadth away from being able to decide what many Americans learn about what Trump is doing to America. The only thing stopping them is California attorney general Rob Bonta’s lawsuit, joined by the attorneys general of 11 other states and the Writer’s Guild of America. Bonta’s coalition is attempting to derail the Ellisons’ proposed $111 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery , alleging it violates a century-old antitrust law. Lawyers for Paramount and the state of California are meeting today to discuss a possible path for settling the suit. But it’s far from clear they’ll come to an agreement, or, even if they did, that it would protect the public’s right to know. Bonta and California are appropriately concerned about what the Ellisons’ plan might do to jobs in Hollywood’s TV and film industry. But the stakes are much larger for America as a whole. Trump’s game plan is for the Elliso...

Natalie Harp's presence in President Donald Trump's inner circle has caused an avalanche of controversy, and now, a journalist and author has revealed to The Daily Beast why she might just be his most "unwell" staff member. Initially joining Trump's orbit during his time between terms, Harp has emerged as one of his closest White House assistants, holding considerable power over the information that he sees and the messages his social media accounts share. Her devotion to him has also raised considerable alarms, with many observers likening it to an obsession, particularly as the various letters she has written for him continue to emerge . On Sunday, author and journalist Kurt Andersen appeared as a guest on the latest episode of The Daily Beast Podcast, and discussed the situation surrounding Harp and explained why the uncertainties about her life that make her alarming as a political staffer would make her a "rich fictional character. “She is a rich fict...

Last week, on an emergency basis, Trump asked the Supreme Court to rescue the centerpiece of his ‘capital improvement campaign.’ Trump now calls his ballroom—a 90,000 ft.2 gilded party palace where donors in haute couture can eat wagyu beef and dance the night away—an “ urgent matter of national security .” Trump’s legal team was responding to a lower court’s stop-work order on the ballroom. An appellate panel ruled that presidents do not own the nation’s capital, or the White House, but rather are entrusted as temporary custodians. As such, they lack the unilateral authority to destroy, raze or replace core national structures without explicit approval from Congress. “The White House is the People’s House,” the majority wrote , “and under the Constitution’s Property Clause, Congress exercises plenary control over the building and its surrounding land.” Astute readers will note that ‘Congress’ is not ‘the president.’ The appellate panel went on : “The White House is owned by the ...