SINCERETALK

Describing MAGA’s revolt over goofy culture war issues like non-white people playing roles in historical dramas and Christopher Nolan’s the Odessey , former GOP lawmaker and conservative MS NOW host Joe Scarborough said President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement are destined to misunderstand the true nature of America. “The Odyssey, it was an extraordinary movie, and there's nothing I love reading more than MAGA Tears,” Scarborough told Bulwark editor Sam Stein . “Have you been reading all of it? It's unbelievable,” said Stein, describing MAGA outcry at the movie for depicting Helen of Troy as a Black woman and hiring trans man actor Elliot Page to play the Greek soldier Sinon. “Oh, my God, it is unbelievable,” confirmed Scarborough. “You have Ben Shapiro and other people, they're saying, ‘no, this is a great movie.’ And people are like, ‘you're a traitor to the cause out there. How dare you?’ Which goes back, … to where we began with Pat Buchanan. You know, Pat lo...

President Donald Trump’s new tariffs against Canada are “madness” and will hurt his supporters according to an editorial by a prominent right-leaning newspaper. “The White House on Monday exhumed Section 338 of the 1930 Tariff Act to impose 50 [percent] tariffs on hundreds of Canadian goods, including hockey sticks, honey, beer, down feathers, fishing rods and golf clubs,” The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board wrote on Tuesday . “The tariffs are set to take effect in 30 days, which means he’s using tariffs as leverage to win concessions from Canada.” They added, “He may also enjoy showing off his new tariff bazooka. Section 338 lets the President impose tariffs up to 50 [percent] on countries that discriminate against “commerce of the United States, directly or indirectly” in relation to foreign countries. No previous President has used this power, which hails from the disastrous Smoot-Hawley Act.” The Editorial Board went on to describe how Trump’s policies have increased prices an...

President Donald Trump likes to pick winners, not losers. And when he picks a ‘loser’ in a primary or general election he tends to get irritated. And nobody wants to be Trump’s advisor when he’s irritated, said Intelligencer political columnist Ed Kilgore . That’s why advisors may be getting anxious about Trump’s endorsement in South Carolina’s Republican primary. “One of the crosses Donald Trump has had to bear recently is a less-than-perfect record in endorsing Republican primary candidates,” said Kilgore on Tuesday. “His choices in high-profile gubernatorial nominating contests in Iowa and Georgia both lost to rivals who claimed to adore the 47th president despite their manifest willingness to rebel against his wishes. Trump’s fury at his advisers for steering him wrong peaked in South Carolina, where his gubernatorial endorsee, Pamela Evette, was struggling in a GOP runoff against yet another more-MAGA-than-thou rival, Alan Wilson, leading Trump in a panic to endorse Wilson as we...

Trump’s war with Iran has resumed (it never really stopped). The U.S. is sending more warplanes to the Middle East. Two American service members were killed in an Iranian missile attack on Jordan, and a third is missing. The Strait of Hormuz is again closed. Meanwhile, Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first statement following his father’s funeral, saying “revenge is the will of our nation” and that Iran would act against “criminals whose names are known.” In response, Trump threatened to “completely decimate and destroy” Iran if assassination threats against him were acted upon. How long can Iran continue the war? Its economy appears reasonably stable ; it has exported oil sufficient to meet its needs. Its population has become used to sanctions and economic pain, and has no voice, in any event. As shown by its attack on Jordan, as well as those on Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Syria, and Qatar, Iran has ample missile stocks and has also become more adept at evading U.S. air defense systems. H...

President Donald Trump’s economy is so bad, it is reminiscent of the economy under the doomed Republican presidency of Herbert Hoover — at least, according to one of Trump’s former advisers . “We have a few major problems going on in America today,” Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly worked as Trump’s communications director during his first term, posted on X on Monday . He continued that there is an “affordability crisis — prices up across the board,” that Trump broke his promise to end “forever wars” by immersing America “in a quagmire in Iran” and that he continues to cover up his involvement with the late child sex trafficker and his longtime friend, pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. “That’s why his approval rating is at 33 [percent],” Scaramucci added. “As low as Herbert Hoover at the depths of the Great Depression.” This is not the first time Scaramucci has slammed Trump’s performance on the economy and his seeming focus on only helping the rich . In May, Scaramucci argued that “if Barac...

In June President Donald Trump endorsed Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), a far right Republican and backer of Trump’s debunked Big Lie about the 2020 election, to oppose incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA). Now, according to one political reporter, Trump’s pick is putting the key swing state of Georgia in peril for the GOP. “Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins enters the general election facing a challenge that goes beyond winning over swing voters: convincing Republicans in Georgia and Washington that he can defeat Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff,” wrote the Atlanta Journal Constitution's Greg Bluestein on Monday . “The GOP nominee trails in early polls, faces a massive fundraising disadvantage and carries the sort of political baggage that his rivals long warned could doom him in November against a rising Democratic star.” Bluestein elaborated that Collins must simultaneously broaden his appeal beyond the base of hardcore Trump supporters and convince donors that giving to his campaign is ...

Back in the early 20th Century, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) separated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS)—the Mormon Church — to protest its 1904 manifesto renouncing polygamy. The FLDS is a marginal group that the vast majority of Mormons, from former Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) to R&B star Gladys Knight, AKA The Empress of Soul, have zero connection to. But according to the Washington Post, the FLDS could endanger Rep. Andy Biggs' (R-Arizona) gubernatorial campaign in the Grand Canyon State. Biggs is seeking the GOP nomination in Arizona's 2026 gubernatorial race. If he wins the nomination on Tuesday, he will take on Democratic incumbent Gov. Katie Hobbs in the general election. According to Washington Post reporter Hannah Knowles, however, a 2013 controversy involving the FLDS could come back to haunt the far-right Biggs. "Momentum was growing in 2013 to crack down on a polygamist religious group accu...

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has been a raging success, judging by the numbers , the atmosphere and the absence of any major security incident. It’s ironic, then, that officials from the powerful European nations are pushing for FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s resignation despite him pulling off one of the globe’s great spectacles. This 39-day celebration of soccer took place despite myriad geopolitical fears , border disputes, and visa crises blighting the tournament’s buildup. There were a few major scandals There were controversies, as you’d expect. Three months before the event began, the United States – staging 78 of the 104 matches – started a war with one of the competing nations: Iran . One can only imagine the frantic negotiations behind closed doors that enabled Iran to play all three of its group games on US soil. The president of Iran’s football federation, Mehdi Taj, requested FIFA relocate the team’s home base from Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico, just across the border. This ...

“‘It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.’” That’s how federal judge Mark Walker began his 2022 injunction blocking enforcement of Ron DeSantis’ “Stop Woke Act” in Florida institutions of higher education. In case you don’t recognize the quotation, it’s from George Orwell’s “1984:” You know, the novel where the Ministry of Truth rewrites history and forbids free enquiry. Certain words are banned; wrong thinking is punished. Even hearing about disfavored ideas is considered an attack on decency and order. As defendant in the case, the State of Florida argued (apparently with a straight face) university professors have the right to free speech, sure, but only if the state approves of that speech. The law forbade teaching anything that explores racial or gender injustice . You weren’t allowed to say, given how we still struggle to overcome discrimination against minorities, women, and the disabled, that maybe diversity, equity and inclusion programs hel...

Huge international sporting events on the level of the FIFA World Cup are a prime opportunity for a country to make a good impression on the world, but as a new piece from MS NOW argued , President Donald Trump took the perfect chance for the U.S. to do so and "blew it." In the Sunday piece, MS NOW's Zeeshan Aleem shared his own experience visiting Russia for the 2018 World Cup, calling the experience a "breeze" that left him rooting for Russia throughout the game and lamenting "the rich Russian culture that rarely gets covered in the Western press." This trip, one of the greatest of his life, was a prime example of "sportswashing," he explained, a phenomenon that involves "governments staging sports events to launder their reputation and divert attention from their misdeeds." "President Donald Trump was handed a golden opportunity to boost America’s image to international visitors here for the 2026 World Cup," Aleem wr...

There’s been a lot of discussion this past week about the meaning of integrity. You didn’t hear the word used directly; it was alluded to indirectly — in wondering whether Lindsey Graham was an immoral opportunist or clever pragmatist; in suspecting Todd Blanche of being more loyal to Trump than to the nation; in distrusting Erica Schwartz, Trump’s latest pick to lead the CDC, when she said she’ll never compromise on the science; in doubting that Jay Clayton, his pick for director of national intelligence, will tell Trump anything he doesn’t want to hear. The word integrity is rooted in the Latin word integer , meaning “whole” or “complete” — living by your principles, choosing honesty over opportunism, making ethical choices that may be inconvenient or unpopular, maintaining your moral compass. Graham’s public record of denouncing Trump on the Senate floor after January 6, 2021, and then becoming Trump’s most loyal Senate apologist revealed someone who traded honesty for influence — ...

Last week, Donald Trump essentially told us exactly what he will do this November. When reports start coming in that the Democrats are winning this fall, he will send in the troops. He’ll point back to last night‘s speech and tell the nation: “I told you so. I warned you. They rigged the election for the Democrats and now I have to stop it.” He’ll mobilize ICE and the National Guard’s “Rapid Reaction Force” that he’s assembled over the past six months to seize ballot boxes and crush the inevitable “insurrection” — protests in the streets against his seizing ballot boxes — by “left-wing communist radical domestic terrorists.” He’ll declare a state of emergency, invoke his NSPM-7 , and blame it on a foreign country and/or “Antifa.” He’ll declare protesting a crime, and tear gas will fill our streets. This is easy for me to imagine: I was there in 1967 when Lyndon Johnson did nearly the same thing, although for an entirely different purpose, and I’ve worked in several countries where thi...

A top official for President Donald Trump has found himself embroiled in an embarrassing new scandal about their abuse of tax-funded privileges, with the D.C. insiders at Pod Save America exposing how the situation is the perfect example of "how to lose a presidential election." Last week, MS NOW reported that Secret Service members were becoming "fed up" with the trips demanded of them by Vice President JD Vance , which some agents considered "inappropriate" and an "unprecedented use of government resources." This growing issue was typified by a recent request to use Marine Two, the vice president's military helicopter, as a means to take his son to a golf lesson in Washington, D.C. "But the Secret Service staff’s complaints about a planned chopper ride for an elementary school student reflects a building morale problem inside the team of agents assigned to shield Vance and his young family, according to the two people and another pe...

PsyPost reports that casual disregard for reality poses a "uniquely potent threat" to public knowledge and belief. People are more likely to believe false information when it comes from someone who ignores the truth altogether rather than a liar “who actively tries to deceive.” This is because repeating statements made by someone who is completely indifferent to facts “heavily increases how truthful those statements feel” to an audience. Additionally, casual Trump-style disregard for reality appears to pose a deadly threat to community knowledge. According to researchers, the divide sits between a simple “liar,” — someone who knows the truth and intentionally tries to mislead an audience — and a “bulls——er,” who “communicates with little to no regard for the truth, evidence, or established facts.” A statement made by a “bulls——er” might happen to be true, or it might be false, but the defining characteristic is the speaker’s absolute indifference to reality. Because they ...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney incited a MAGA meltdown after pointing out that the United States shared responsibility for the climate change currently dumping wildfire smoke all over the upper U.S. Nearly 900 wildfires were burning without control in the north, as of Friday, in the wake of an abnormally dry and hot summer. This led to air quality alerts throughout the northeast and the Midwest, with Chicago and Detroit having the worst air of any major cities in the world — and more US cities due for pollution further east over the next few days. But Republicans, who are loathe to admit that climate change is real and regularly jumps borders, prefer to blame whatever nation is currently suffering out-of-control fires, whether they are blue US states or neighboring ally nations. However, Carney, while speaking of the disaster to Canadian citizens, pointed out in French that “We need a contribution from the Americans in the fight against climate change ... climate change is ever...

Epstein survivor Jess Michaels says Trump’s nominated attorney general Todd Blanche is still utterly committed to representing President Donald Trump over justice for victims of convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. “The short answer is [‘m] disappointed,” Michaels told MS NOW anchor Nicole Wallace on Friday, while describing a meeting with the acting attorney general at the Department of Justice. “This seems par for the course. The way we were treated yesterday was no different than any other time. We were hoping it would be something different, and it was not.” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) demanded Blanche meet with victims earlier this week as Blanche seeks Senate confirmation as the permanent U.S. attorney general. But Michaels said Blanche delivered the very minimum in the meeting, and even told victims that they were back on square one in terms of prosecuting Epstein’s cohorts involved with his sex-trafficking network. “He was patronizing. It felt very much like the attempt to...

President Donald Trump’s policies and public relations approach are in large part shaped by a journalist who has long had a reputation for being unreliable. “Solomon’s decades-old reputation for letting down his audience is starting to reach conservatives,” wrote The Bulwark’s Will Sommer on Thursday , referring to right-wing influencer John Solomon. “Popular conspiracy theory blog Conservative Treehouse has grown skeptical of Solomon’s promises, even adding a bolded warning label of sorts to a preview of Trump’s Thursday speech so readers wouldn’t get too excited.” Sommer quoted a popular conspiracy theory blog, Conservative Treehouse, which warned readers about Solomon by saying “caution should be noted as newly appointed Special Government Employee John Solomon is responsible for the content.” Similarly an anchor from MyPillow founder and right-wing conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell’s channel, Emerald Robinson, expressed skepticism about Solomon’s record. “LOL why would anybody trus...

The swing state of Georgia may be one of the most important elections to help curtail President Donald Trump’s congressional power next year. But in the lead-up to the November midterms, Zeteo reports the state’s Republican-dominated election board is laboring hard to blow the results. One of their methods apparently involves Republicans’ effort to install buggy new software to challenge voters’ registration. “Recently, the State Election Board has … undertaken the unprecedented move of directly challenging the voter registration of 220 voters in Chatham County, home to Savannah and another largely Democratic bloc of voters,” reports Zeteo writer Justin Glawe. “The board utilized a software program called ‘ELLY’ to identify the voters. ELLY is the brainchild of Dr. Rick Richards, a hardcore election denier who was previously behind the EagleAI program that sought to use public databases to identify voters who may have been ineligible to vote based on address changes.” ELLY is big-ti...

President Donald Trump’s former Homeland Security chief of staff, Miles Taylor, is mocking the Republican’s current press secretary for a gaffe that arguably symbolizes the administration’s larger seeming ineptitude. Reflecting on how Karoline Leavitt said that what Trump reveals tonight "will shock you if you have an honest eye listening to the president,” Miles Taylor quipped that “yes, and if your ears watch closely, you'll be doubly stunned.” This is not Leavitt’s first faux pas. Earlier this month , while speaking with Fox News journalist Jesse Watters, the 27-year-old — who achieved her wealth by marrying a New Hampshire real estate developer who is 32 years older than her — expressed scorn for members of Generation Z that she claimed have turned to left-wing politics because they are supposedly entitled. “My generation — I hate to say it, Gen Z and those younger than me —have been raised with just silver spoons in their mouths, just getting everything handed to them,”...