Raw Story

President Donald Trump has declared his intention to campaign on the deeply unpopular "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which one analyst said should be an ominous sign for how he views next year's midterm elections.

Both the president and the domestic policy legislation he pressured Republicans to pass are unpopular with voters, but Salon columnist Heath Digby Parton said his midterm strategy was only risky insofar as next year's elections are free and fair.

"Trump is a man with an unprecedented track record of trying to overturn elections," Parton wrote. "There was a time when many Americans thought his behavior following the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was so egregious that he should be prosecuted and, at the very least, never be allowed near elective office again. Those days are long past, and Trump’s return to the presidency has emboldened him."

"While his decimation of any semblance of Justice Department independence is troubling," she added, it’s downright spine-chilling when it comes to elections."

The president has an eager and obliging attorney general in Pam Bondi, and her deputies are his former personal lawyers, and Trump has tasked them with rooting out the types of election fraud that he has baselessly claimed cost him the 2020 contest – which Parton says could give him to pretext to tamper with future results.

"Back in March, he signed an executive order requiring voters to present proof of citizenship to vote and all ballots to be received by election day, not simply postmarked as many states allow," Parton wrote. "He also called on states to share voter lists and prosecute election crimes, threatening to pull federal funding if they refuse. Ostensibly to prevent fraud, he ordered states to cease using barcode or QR code in the vote counting process, which would bar many jurisdictions from using voting machines. Trump and his minions fatuously insisted this was being done to restore faith in the electoral process — faith that was shaken by his 'Big Lie.'"

Those orders are being challenged in court, but the Justice Department continues to follow up on his directives, and Parton said that uncertainty could give Trump and his Republican allies space to tamper with election outcomes they don't like.

"All of this was foreshadowed by Project 2025, which laid out plans to create unprecedented federal interference in the way elections are managed," she wrote. "Based on Trump’s behavior and how closely he and the administration are following the Project 2025 blueprint, it’s not paranoid to expect, at minimum, court challenges to midterm election results in races that would shift the balance of power. And I wouldn’t bet too much money on the courts being as straightforwardly dismissive as they were the last time."

Parton expects Republicans to appeal losing results all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could cast congressional majorities in doubt until the 2028 presidential election is already underway.

"The midterms are only 16 months away, which is both a short time and an eternity," Parton wrote. "When it comes Trump’s thirst for absolute power and penchant for corruption makes it clear: Vigilance is a necessity."

More than three months after a federal judge threatened to hold representatives of the Donald Trump administration in contempt for delaying an order to halt deportation flights of Venezuelan migrants, the case remains stalled with no explanation, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

“It’s very unusual,” Stephen Vladeck, law professor at Georgetown University, told the Times. “An appeals court may need hours or days to figure out an administrative stay, but it doesn’t need weeks and certainly not months.”

The case stems from an emergency order in March by Judge James Boasberg, who instructed the Trump administration to halt flights deporting more than 100 Venezuelans to El Salvador. Alleged to have ties to the Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua, the migrants were mid-flight when Boasberg ordered the planes turned around.

According to a DOJ whistleblower's account, the deportations went forward despite the order. Boasberg pressed the DOJ for weeks in an effort to determine whether the administration had deliberately ignored his ruling and, on April 16, warned that the government would either need to provide the deported individuals with due process or face a contempt investigation that could result in criminal charges.

Two days later, however, an appeals court issued an administrative stay pausing Boasberg’s proceedings, with the court having taken no action since.

“Justice (Amy Coney) Barrett said administrative stays could be problematic because they can be issued quickly and without delving into the merits of a case,” wrote Alan Feuer with the New York Times Tuesday. “If left to linger, she suggested, they could be used as a way to freeze a case in place without discussing any of its underlying facts.”

MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk sought to calm his audience after initially saying he was "done talking" about President Donald Trump's Jeffrey Epstein controversy.

On his Tuesday podcast, Kirk noted that media outlets — including Raw Story — had reported on his attempt to avoid discussing the Trump administration's decision not to release additional files from the Epstein case. On Monday, Kirk said that he wanted to discuss other topics after reportedly receiving a call from Trump.

"This is a total obsessive hoax," Kirk said of the media coverage on Tuesday. "And even some people were emailing me, Charlie, why are you not talking about Epstein? Why are you saying to move on? I never, ever, ever said move on, ever!"

"I didn't whisper it. I didn't think it. I didn't say it," he continued. "But let me say this again. You know my opinion about Epstein. The messaging fumble."

But on Monday, he said, "Honestly, I'm done talking about Epstein for the time being. I'm gonna trust my friends in the administration, I'm gonna trust my friends in the government to do what needs to be done, solve it, ball's in their hands."

Kirk said he was making "an addendum to what was said yesterday."

"We're going to keep on talking about it," he insisted. "You see, but what's so disappointing, not disappointing, to an extent I get it, is that the MAGA base is so fired up about this. And that's why I didn't take a lot of this seriously. Is that, you know, people were incoming, Charlie, why are you moving on? No one's saying that!"

"And of course, I don't trust the deep state," he added. "I trust people that I have known for years... And if there's one thing I've learned from you guys in the grassroots in this audience, you are not letting this story go."

Watch the video below from Real America's Voice.

A top deputy for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton unknowingly spilled the Republican administration's plan to undermine clean energy efforts in favor of the oil and gas Texas is known for, according to reporting in Rolling Stone.

Reporter Lauren Windsor obtained a secret recording of Paxton's top deputy, First Assistant AG Brent Webster, speaking in January to a group of conservatives and fossil fuel advocates.

“We’re not recording this, right?" Webster is heard saying. "Please don’t quote me, because I’m telling the inside story on this.”

On the recording, Webster "recalled how his office moved to cut off lucrative bond business to Wells Fargo," Windsor wrote. "Webster then shared how he, in a private dinner at the governor’s mansion with Gov. Greg Abbott, Paxton, and the bank’s execs, told the bank Texas could 'reinstate the bond market' if it left the Net Zero Banking Alliance," with a mandate to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

When the Wells Fargo team seemed to balk, Webster bragged that he could easily file an antitrust lawsuit against them "right now."

The Texas AG's office was successful using the method against BlackRock and other major management firms" in the past. Windsor wrote. So much so that when Webster called up Wells Fargo and warned, 'you guys might be next,' it worked."

Wells Fargo left the Net Zero Banking Alliance a week later, Webster said, and then all the banks "started dropping like flies."

Once the banks abandoned the clean energy crusade, "Paxton allowed them to get municipal bond business again," Windsor wrote. She was unable to obtain comment from Paxton's office for the piece.

Read The Rolling Stone article here.

President Donald Trump has declared his intention to campaign on the deeply unpopular "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which one analyst said should be an ominous sign for how he views next year's midterm elections.

Both the president and the domestic policy legislation he pressured Republicans to pass are unpopular with voters, but Salon columnist Heath Digby Parton said his midterm strategy was only risky insofar as next year's elections are free and fair.

"Trump is a man with an unprecedented track record of trying to overturn elections," Parton wrote. "There was a time when many Americans thought his behavior following the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was so egregious that he should be prosecuted and, at the very least, never be allowed near elective office again. Those days are long past, and Trump’s return to the presidency has emboldened him."

"While his decimation of any semblance of Justice Department independence is troubling," she added, it’s downright spine-chilling when it comes to elections."

The president has an eager and obliging attorney general in Pam Bondi, and her deputies are his former personal lawyers, and Trump has tasked them with rooting out the types of election fraud that he has baselessly claimed cost him the 2020 contest – which Parton says could give him to pretext to tamper with future results.

"Back in March, he signed an executive order requiring voters to present proof of citizenship to vote and all ballots to be received by election day, not simply postmarked as many states allow," Parton wrote. "He also called on states to share voter lists and prosecute election crimes, threatening to pull federal funding if they refuse. Ostensibly to prevent fraud, he ordered states to cease using barcode or QR code in the vote counting process, which would bar many jurisdictions from using voting machines. Trump and his minions fatuously insisted this was being done to restore faith in the electoral process — faith that was shaken by his 'Big Lie.'"

Those orders are being challenged in court, but the Justice Department continues to follow up on his directives, and Parton said that uncertainty could give Trump and his Republican allies space to tamper with election outcomes they don't like.

"All of this was foreshadowed by Project 2025, which laid out plans to create unprecedented federal interference in the way elections are managed," she wrote. "Based on Trump’s behavior and how closely he and the administration are following the Project 2025 blueprint, it’s not paranoid to expect, at minimum, court challenges to midterm election results in races that would shift the balance of power. And I wouldn’t bet too much money on the courts being as straightforwardly dismissive as they were the last time."

Parton expects Republicans to appeal losing results all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could cast congressional majorities in doubt until the 2028 presidential election is already underway.

"The midterms are only 16 months away, which is both a short time and an eternity," Parton wrote. "When it comes Trump’s thirst for absolute power and penchant for corruption makes it clear: Vigilance is a necessity."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt alleged that Democrats had blamed President Donald Trump for the recent deadly flooding in Texas.

During Monday's White House press conference, Leavitt lashed out at Trump's critics.

"Unfortunately, in the wake of this once-in-a-generation natural disaster, we have seen many falsehoods pushed by Democrats such as Senator Chuck Schumer and some members of the media," she said. "Blaming President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and it serves no purpose during this time of national mourning."

The press secretary insisted that "the National Weather Service did its job" despite staffing cuts.

"The National Weather Service office in New Braunfels, which delivers forecasts for Austin, San Antonio, and the surrounding areas, had extra staff on duty during the storms, despite claims of the contrary," Leavitt asserted. "So to any person who has deliberately lied about these facts surrounding this catastrophic event, you should be deeply ashamed."

"May God bless the great people of Texas, especially the parents who have lost their children," she added. "President Trump loves you."

Watch the video below from MSNBC.