SINCERETALK

Trump has run out of cards to play in the midterm elections, which is why he’s now talking about the “communist menace.” He can’t talk about the economy, because prices continue to rise faster than wages, which means most Americans are getting poorer. He can’t talk about foreign policy, because his war in Iran has been a debacle, his tariffs are an utter failure, and he obviously hasn’t settled the war in Ukraine on “Day 1.” He can’t talk about immigration, because his raids and mass deportations have become so unpopular. So, facing the midterm elections, what’s left? He’s resorting to the oldest of right-wing tropes — accusing Democrats (especially a rising generation of new, young, vigorous Democratic politicians) of being commies. He kicked off America’s 250th anniversary celebrations on Friday with a speech at Mount Rushmore extolling American culture and warning of a resurgence of the “communist menace.” With the granite faces of four of his predecessors behind him, Trump took ai...

On Tuesday night, the establishment wing of the Democratic Party got a message it would prefer to pretend it didn’t hear. In New York, Mamdani-backed progressives swept the congressional primaries , ousting two sitting Democratic congressmen and taking an open seat in a single evening. Former city comptroller Brad Lander beat Rep. Dan Goldman by more than thirty points. A 32-year-old democratic socialist named Darializa Avila Chevalier knocked off five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat , the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and state Assembly member Claire Valdez won the seat Nydia Velázquez is vacating. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (a recipient of dark money and AIPAC money ) campaigned hard against all three and watched all three win anyway. As Bernie Sanders put it afterward, the message is pretty clear : Americans are sick to death of a rigged economy and of billionaires buying their elections. The corporate press and just about every Republican in the country will ...

Okay, we’ve now gone through the bitter-sweet 250th anniversary. Now let’s get to work. Every day brings more news of Trump’s greed, incompetence, cruelty, and criminality. Raking in $2.2 billion in his first year in office, much of it siphoned off from taxpayers and gullible followers. His Iran debacle. His malignant narcissism, putting his face and name everywhere. His cruel mass deportations. His use of the Justice Department to prosecute anyone he feels has wronged him. And so on. As journalist Tom Edsall writes, “The damage President Trump has inflicted on the United States and the world is so enormous and wide-ranging that it is hard to grasp.” I think it important to separate the loathsomeness of Trump as a person from the horrendous things he’s doing. Trump won’t change, but we can begin seeking changes in our system to prevent such awfulness in the future — especially if/when we boot out the Republican cowards and sycophants from Congress. What basic reforms are necessary to ...

The Daily Beast reports Emmy Award-winning host W. Kamau Bell fears fellow comedian Nate Bargatze is going to take a financial hit for his alliance to President Donald Trump. Bell recently called out Bargatze in a Substack post as one of the many “nice white guy” celebrities who suddenly act “confused when they are judged for their own actions.” Bargatze recently got himself photographed with MAGA campions Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cheryl Hines, among others. A source close to the comedian told the Daily Beast that there was nothing “political” about being at the event “that he is merely a big UFC fan.” But Bell told Obsessed: The Podcast that he doesn’t believe that — and neither will many of Bargatze’s fans. “I’ll say this, his accountant doesn’t want him to be a MAGA comedian,” said Bell, predicting that Bargatze emerging right-wing product will ultimately “hurt Nate’s bottom line, because he’s bigger than every MAGA comedian.” “There’s nothing he’s going to gain from losing peo...

Republican strategist and Bluestack Strategies founder Maura Gillespie warns Republicans are wringing their hands over the spectacle of President Donald Trump fighting old age while the party staggers into the mid-terms. “It will be hard for them to defend that aspect of it,” Gillespie told a CNN Friday panel , speaking of Trump nailing his name on everything in D.C. and broadcasting his face on news. “But I think for the president, who you know, he has long talked about his admiration for leaders who have full control over their country. I think he looks at his approval ratings, which are record lows, and that for someone who, like Trump, loves having power, loves appearing strong and powerful — he’s 80 years old. His decline is starting to really show physically, also cognitively … [with] some of his slurred speeches and things of that nature. And so, he's starting to realize the best way for him to make a legacy is to put his name on everything.” Plastering your image on public...

Solid Republican Oglethorpe County, GA., agreed to settle with a school teacher it removed after she accurately posted that assassinated MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk was a gun enthusiast. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports High school English teacher Michelle Mickens was one of several educators across the nation who were removed from classrooms for a post related to Kirk’s 2025 death. In a lawsuit filed in October, she accused the Trump-voting county school system outside Athens of violating her right to free speech. After posting a quote from Kirk on her private social media account, school system leaders pressured Mickens to resign, according to the original complaint filed with the SPLCenter. The district agreed to pay Mickens $270,420 for “alleged emotional distress” and $17,080 to her attorney to cover legal fees, according to a copy of the settlement agreement obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an open records request. Kirk was fatally shot while ...