On Our "Virtual Route 99" In America

Our team pulled together a Virtual Snapshot of the week that was in Donald Trump's America with thoughts from Brian Taylor Cohen, Heather Cox Richarsdson and the team at Politico:

Heather Cox Richardson President Donald J. Trump’s behavior over the holiday weekend has increased concern about his mental acuity. A rant on his social media account at midnight on Thanksgiving itself threatened to strip citizenship from naturalized immigrants, called Minnesota governor Tim Walz a profoundly offensive slur, and ended: “HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for—You won’t be here for long!” On NBC’s Meet the Press yesterday, Walz responded by calling for Trump to release the results of an MRI he told reporters he underwent in October, later saying: “I have no idea what they analyze, but whatever they analyze, they analyzed it well and they said that I had as good a result as they’ve ever seen.” Although Trump told reporters the MRI was part of his routine physical, medical experts say such tests are not routine. Walz said to Kristen Welker: “Here we got a guy on Thanksgiving, where we spent time with our families, we ate, we played Yahtzee, we cheered for football or whatever. This guy is apparently in a room, ranting about everything else. This is not normal behavior. It is not healthy. And presidents throughout time have released a couple things. They’ve released their tax returns—not Donald Trump—and they’ve released their medical records—not Donald Trump. And look, the MRI is one thing, but I think what’s most concerning about this is, as your viewers out there are listening, has anyone in the history of the world ever had an MRI assigned to them and have no idea what it was for, as he says? So look, it’s clear the President’s fading physically. I think the mental capacity, again, ranting, you know, crazily at midnight on Thanksgiving about everything else. There’s reasons for us to be concerned. This is a guy that randomly says the airspace over Venezuela’s closed. He’s ruminating on if you could win a nuclear war. Look, this is a serious position. It’s the most powerful position in the world, and we have someone at midnight throwing around slurs that demonize our children, at the same time he’s not solving any of the problems. So I’m deeply concerned that he is incapable of doing the job.” Last night, on Air Force One, Trump responded oddly to a reporter’s question about Walz’s call for Trump to release the MRI results: “[I]f they want to release it, it’s okay with me to release it,” Trump said. “It’s perfect. It’s like my phone call where I got impeached. It’s absolutely perfect…. [I]f you want to have it released, I’ll release it.” When a reporter asked “What part of your body was the MRI looking at?” Trump answered: “I have no idea. It was just an MRI. What part of the body? It wasn’t the brain because I took a cognitive test and I aced it. I got a perfect mark, which you would be incapable of doing,” he said, pointing at the female reporter. He then pointed at another female reporter and said: “You, too.” Today White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt released a memo from the president’s physician, Sean P. Barbabella, saying that “advanced imaging” was performed on the president as a preventative measure. The memo said this imaging “was performed because men in his age group benefit from a thorough evaluation of cardiovascular and abdominal health.” It said Trump’s cardiovascular and abdominal imaging is “perfectly normal.” Conspicuously absent from the memo was any reference to the president’s brain. In the press conference, Leavitt also addressed Friday’s Washington Post story by Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima claiming that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered Special Operations commander Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley to “kill everyone” in a small boat off the coast of Venezuela on September 2. After a first strike left two survivors clinging to burning wreckage, Bradley ordered a second strike that killed the survivors. This so-called double tap has been widely condemned as unlawful and a war crime, although Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yesterday appeared to make fun of those concerns. He posted an AI-faked cover of a children’s book featuring Franklin the Turtle with the title “Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists.” It showed the fake Franklin in a military vest and helmet at the open door of a helicopter, firing what appears to be a rocket launcher at a burning small boat with a person and bundles in it while two other boats with armed men and bundles converge nearby. Above the image, the post read: “For your Christmas wish list…” Hegseth might think targeting survivors is funny, but he’s about the only one who does. A strike on survivors who pose no threat is outside the bounds even of the administration’s own assertion that it can kill civilians it claims are “narco terrorists” who threaten the United States. That assertion itself has met significant disagreement from legal experts. But as Talking Points Memo’s David Kurtz wrote today, the September 2 double tap that killed the two men “would be a violation of the laws of war even under the administration’s own self-justifying description of its campaign as an armed conflict with ‘narcoterrorists.’” The development is so alarming that there has been bipartisan outcry among lawmakers. Democrats have spoken out forcefully, while the Republican chairs of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, Representative Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), have also publicly vowed to conduct oversight not just of the September 2 strike but of the entire operation. Representative Mike Turner (R-OH) explained: “There are very serious concerns in Congress about the attacks on the so-called drug boats down in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and the legal justification that’s been provided. But this is completely outside of anything that’s been discussed with Congress, and there is an ongoing investigation.” Senator Angus King (I-ME), a lawyer who sits on both the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CNN’s Kate Bolduan that “the law is clear. If the facts are as have been alleged, that there was a second strike specifically to kill the survivors in the water, that’s a stone cold war crime. It’s also murder. So the real question is who gave which orders, when were they given, and that’s what we’re going to get to the bottom of in the Congress…. It’s really a factual question. The law is totally clear.” Today, Leavitt told reporters the administration believes the strike was lawful because it “was conducted in self defense to protect Americans and vital United States interests.” This justification would permit the president, or those acting in his name, to be judge, jury, and executioner without regard to the law. But Leavitt was careful to distance both the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from the order. When asked by a reporter, “Does the administration deny that that second strike happened, or did it happen and the administration denies that Secretary Hegseth gave the order?” she said: “The latter is true.” She attributed the orders of September 2 to Admiral Bradley, appearing to be setting him up for underbussing. This evening, Hegseth pushed Bradley under, posting: “Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support. I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made—on the September 2 mission and all others since.” Commentator Brandon Friedman promptly posted: “Hegseth is very transparently blaming a Navy admiral for his own decision. Let this be a lesson for every other military officer: The Trump administration will issue unlawful orders, then blame you for following them.” Hegseth’s Franklin post to dismiss what is shaping up to look like a war crime is an excellent illustration of this administration’s focus on their fantasy of what strength looks like. In The Atlantic today, national security scholar Tom Nichols called out Hegseth, the secretary of defense of the United States of America, for acting like “a sneering, spoiled punk who has been caught doing wrong and is now daring the local fuzz to take him in and risk the anger of his rich dad—a role fulfilled by Donald Trump, in this case.” Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), whom the administration recently threatened to court martial and execute for recording a video to remind service members they must not follow an illegal order, called Hegseth “unqualified” for his job. “He runs around on a stage talking about lethality and warrior ethos and killing people.” But, Kelly said, “the most competent, capable military this planet has ever seen” needs direction about “mission and accountability and the rule of law and training,” as well as being “equipped to do really hard jobs.” “[I]nstead,” Kelly said, “he runs around on a stage like he’s a 12-year-old playing army. And it is ridiculous, it is embarrassing, and I can’t imagine what our allies think of looking at that guy in this job, one of the most important jobs in our country…. He is in the national command authority for nuclear weapons. And last night, he’s putting out on the internet turtles with rocket-propelled grenades…. This is the secretary of defense. This is not a serious person. He should have been fired after Signalgate. And then every single day after that.” Hegseth is not the only Trump appointee unqualified for their job. Today a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that Alina Habba, whom Trump placed in the position of acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, was appointed unlawfully. Trump appointed her to a 120-day acting appointment, after which the district court judges control the spot until the Senate confirms a new U.S. attorney. The judges rejected Habba, who has no experience as a prosecutor, and instead selected Desiree Leigh Grace, an experienced prosecutor, to lead the office. Attorney General Pam Bondi then fired Grace and maneuvered Habba back into control of the office. “It is apparent that the current administration has been frustrated by some of the legal and political barriers to getting its appointees in place,” wrote Judge D. Michael Fisher in the opinion. But the judges say Trump cannot just get his way by ignoring the law. Last week a federal judge found that Trump’s appointment of Lindsey Halligan to the post of U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was illegal and threw out the cases she had brought against former FBI director James Comey and New York attorney general Letitia James. Erica Orden of Politico noted today that federal judges have also found illegal Trump’s appointments of U.S. attorneys for the Central District of California and the District of Nevada. —

On the sunny Sunday morning of December 7, 1941, Messman Doris Miller had served breakfast aboard the USS West Virginia, stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and was collecting laundry when the first of nine Japanese torpedoes hit the ship.

In the deadly confusion, Miller reported to an officer, who told him to help move the ship’s mortally wounded captain off the bridge. Unable to move him far, Miller pulled the captain to shelter. Then another officer ordered Miller to pass ammunition to him as he started up one of the two abandoned anti-aircraft guns in front of the conning tower.

Miller had not been trained to use the weapons because, as a Black man in the U.S. Navy, he was assigned to serve the white officers. But while the officer was distracted, Miller began to fire one of the guns. He fired it until he ran out of ammunition. Then he helped to move injured sailors to safety before he and the other survivors abandoned the West Virginia, which sank to the bottom of Pearl Harbor.

The next day, the United States declared war on Japan. Japan declared war on America, and on December 11, 1941, both Italy and Germany declared war on America. “The powers of the steel pact, Fascist Italy and National Socialist Germany, ever closely linked, participate from today on the side of heroic Japan against the United States of America,” Italian leader Benito Mussolini said. “We shall win.” Of course they would. Mussolini and Germany’s leader, Adolf Hitler, believed the Americans had been corrupted by Jews and Black Americans and could never conquer their own organized military machine.

The steel pact, as Mussolini called it, was the vanguard of his new political ideology. That ideology was called fascism, and he and Hitler thought it would destroy democracy once and for all.

Mussolini had been a socialist as a young man and had grown terribly frustrated at how hard it was to organize people. No matter how hard socialists tried, they seemed unable to convince ordinary people that they must rise up and take over the country’s means of production.

The efficiency of World War I inspired Mussolini. He gave up on socialism and developed a new political theory that rejected the equality that defined democracy. He came to believe that a few leaders must take a nation toward progress by directing the actions of the rest. These men must organize the people as they had been organized during wartime, ruthlessly suppressing all opposition and directing the economy so that businessmen and politicians worked together. And, logically, that select group of leaders would elevate a single man, who would become an all-powerful dictator. To weld their followers into an efficient machine, they demonized opponents into an “other” that their followers could hate.

Italy adopted fascism, and Mussolini inspired others, notably Germany’s Hitler. Those leaders came to believe that their system was the ideology of the future, and they set out to destroy the messy, inefficient democracy that stood in their way.

America fought World War II to defend democracy from fascism. And while fascism preserved hierarchies in society, democracy called on all men as equals. Of the more than 16 million Americans who served in the war, more than 1.2 million were Black American men and women, 500,000 were Latinos, and more than 550,000 Jews were part of the military. Among the many ethnic groups who fought, Indigenous Americans served at a higher percentage than any other ethnic group—more than a third of able-bodied Indigenous men between the ages of 18 and 50 joined the service—and among those 25,000 soldiers were the men who developed the famous “Code Talk,” based in tribal languages, that codebreakers never cracked.

The American president at the time, Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt, hammered home that the war was about the survival of democracy. Fascists insisted that they were moving their country forward fast and efficiently—claiming the trains ran on time, for example, although in reality they didn’t—but FDR constantly noted that the people in Italy and Germany were begging for food and shelter from the soldiers of democratic countries.

Ultimately, the struggle between fascism and democracy was the question of equality. Were all men really created equal as the Declaration of Independence said, or were some born to lead the rest, whom they held subservient to their will?

Democracy, FDR reminded Americans again and again, was the best possible government. Thanks to armies made up of men and women from all races and ethnicities, the Allies won the war against fascism, and it seemed that democracy would dominate the world forever.

But as the impulse of WWII pushed Americans toward a more just and inclusive society after it, those determined not to share power warned their supporters that including people of color and women as equals in society would threaten their own liberty. Those reactionary leaders rode that fear into control of our government, and gradually they chipped away the laws that protected equality. Now, once again, democracy is under attack by those who believe some people are better than others.

President Donald J. Trump and his cronies have abandoned the principles of democracy and openly embraced the hierarchical society the U.S. fought against in World War II. They have fired women, Black Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ+ Americans from positions in the government and the military and erased them from official histories. They have seized, incarcerated and deported immigrants— or rendered them to third countries to be tortured— and have sent federal agents and federal troops into Democratic-led cities to terrorize the people living there.

They have traded the rule of law for the rule of Trump, weaponizing the Department of Justice against those they perceive as enemies, pardoning loyalists convicted of crimes, and now, executing those they declare are members of drug cartels without evidence, charges, or trials. They have openly rejected the world based on shared values of equality and democracy for which Americans fought in World War II. In its place, they are building a world dominated by a small group of elites close to Trump, who are raking in vast amounts of money from their machinations.

Will we permit the destruction of American democracy on our watch?

When America came under attack before, people like Doris Miller refused to let that happen. For all that American democracy still discriminated against him, it gave him room to stand up for the concept of human equality—and he laid down his life for it. Promoted to cook after the Navy sent him on a publicity tour, Miller was assigned to a new ship, the USS Liscome Bay, which was struck by a Japanese torpedo on November 24, 1943. It sank within minutes, taking two thirds of the crew, including Miller, with it.

We hear a lot these days about how American democracy is doomed and the radical right will win. Maybe. But the beauty of our system is that it gives us people like Doris Miller.

Even better, it makes us people like Doris Miller.

VING THE DAY

President Donald Trump presents Gene Simmons, a member of the band Kiss, with his Kennedy Center Honors medal in the Oval Office on Dec. 6, 2025. | Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

EMCEE-IN-CHIEF: President Donald Trump has gone to great lengths to remake Washington in his image during his second presidency — often in historic and unprecedented fashion. Tonight, Trump is set to break yet another norm when he plays host at the 48th Kennedy Center Honors, marking the first time a president has presided over the event. The emcee duties typically have fallen to a more traditional media figure, like Walter Cronkite, or a celebrity like Stephen Colbert or Queen Latifah. It is also a break from Trump’s previous posture toward the event, which he did not attend at any point during his first term. At a dinner for the honorees held by the State Department last night, Trump said he was hosting “at the request of a certain television network.” (The broadcast is set to air on CBS and Paramount+ on Dec. 23.) The honorees: This year, the crop of celebrities being christened comprises Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, Gloria Gaynor, Michael Crawford and the band KISS. The inductees received their medallions (which have a brand-new design this year courtesy of Tiffany & Co.) during an Oval Office ceremony last night, where Trump heaped praise on the “incredible” honorees. “These are among the greatest artists, actors and performers of their generation. The greatest that we’ve seen,” Trump said. “We can hardly imagine the country music phenomena without its king of country, or American disco without its first lady, or Broadway without its phantom — and that was a phantom, let me tell you — or rock and roll without its hottest band in the world, and that’s what they are, or Hollywood without one of its greatest visionaries.” But even the selection process was upended this year by Trump. In the past, the honorees have been chosen by the Kennedy Center board over a period of months. But Trump — who elevated himself to chair of the Kennedy Center and installed a group of loyalists on the board — said in August that he was “about 98% involved” in putting this group together. He claimed that he denied “a couple of wokesters” that were proposed by the board and praised Stallone as a friend. As for the other honorees, it’s unclear where exactly they fall on the political spectrum. “Strait and Gaynor have said little about their politics, although Federal Election Commission records show that Gaynor has given money to Republican organizations in recent years,” AP’s Darlene Superville and Hillel Italie write. “Kiss co-founder Gene Simmons spoke favorably of Trump when Trump ran for president in 2016,” they add, while noting that he had choice words for Trump in 2022. In keeping with long-running tradition, the names of those who will deliver performances in honor of the awardees is being kept secret until the program tonight. But the Trump-led “upheaval at the Kennedy Center has led to questions about who will be there this year,” NPR’s Elizabeth Blair writes. “Historically, even when artists have disagreed with past administrations, they've in large part showed up. Some make it a point to come every year.” The event tonight will cap off a weekend during which Trump has put the Kennedy Center on display following the FIFA World Cup 2026 draw held there on Friday that brought delegations in from across the globe and saw Trump receive the organization’s inaugural peace prize from FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Tonight offers Trump a chance to revel in the pomp — and the former TV star’s confident that his stage presence will deliver. “It’s going to be something that I believe, and I’m going to make a prediction: This will be the highest-rated show that they’ve ever done and they’ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but there’s nothing like what’s going to happen,” Trump said yesterday. And it’s safe to say that he won’t be taking cues from some Hollywood host types. “I’ve watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible,” Trump said. “If I can’t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don’t think I should be president.” (Kimmel has never hosted the Kennedy Center Honors, though he’s emceed events like the Oscars and the AMAs.) — SPOTTED at yesterday’s Kennedy Center Honors Medallion Reception hosted at the State Department: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor, Ambassador and Chief of Protocol Monica Crowley, Richard Grenell, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, George Strait, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, Gloria Gaynor, Michael Crawford, Sylvester Stallone, Tiffany Trump, Kelsey Grammer, Stephen and Katie Miller, Robert Kraft and Norah O’Donnell. NOT BY THE BOOK: “Trump’s Presidential Library Will Be an ‘Icon.’ But Will It Be a Library?” by Luke Mullins for POLITICO Magazine: “Forget glamor-free presidential libraries in towns like Little Rock or Grand Rapids. Sometime after 2029, enthusiasts might be able to take in a facility whose possible elements include a 47-story tower, a hotel, a rooftop restaurant, and a prime perch in the Miami skyline. Donald Trump’s presidential library, like Donald Trump’s presidency, is already breaking molds — and it hasn’t even been commissioned yet. “The hype around the building gathered force back in September, when Trump’s son Eric — a trustee of The Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation — announced the location, proclaiming the library would be ‘one of the most beautiful buildings ever built’ and ‘an Icon on the Miami skyline.’ No official plans have been released, but in conversations with Florida power players, local activists, real estate pros and Trump insiders familiar with the discussions, it appears that the project is shaping up to be a lot more glamorous, a lot pricier, and a whole lot more lucrative than the libraries of his predecessors.”

A message from Instagram: Automatic protections for teens. Peace of mind for parents. Last year, Instagram launched Teen Accounts, which default teens into automatic protections. Now, a stricter “Limited Content” setting is available for parents who prefer extra controls. And we'll continue adding new safeguards, giving parents more peace of mind. Learn more.

SUNDAY BEST … — Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on the Affordable Care Act subsidies fight on “Fox News Sunday”: “[I]f we do continue the subsidies, you can put that over here, 100 percent going to the patient, and put it into a health savings account. … Off the bat, that's a better thing. Let's give the American people the choice ... We've got to do it by next year. We can do this by next year. So, I've been talking to Democrats. There's absolute interest.” On the vaccine advisory board’s recent vote to alter Hep B vaccine requirements for newborns: “If the system is that every mother is offered this vaccine, and every child is offered this vaccine, not a mandate, it's a recommendation, then the insurance company pays for it, it's recommended, and she can elect to have it. By the way, it is safe … there's no side effects, and it's effective. Let's give the mama the ability to give the gift to her child of protection against hepatitis B. She may not know her hepatitis B status, and the doctors may not know. But if they're all offered, it works.” — White House border czar Tom Homan on ICE detainments of legal citizens on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “I think there's been zero U.S. citizens that have been detained for questioning because reasonable suspicion said they may be in the country illegally. They may have an issue with that, but as soon as that questioning is over, if they're a U.S. citizen, they will be released.” More from POLITICO’s Cheyanne Daniels — Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) on Trump’s immigration crackdown on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “If I were mayor, the very first thing I would do is, I'd sit down with ICE and I say, I want the bad guys out of my city and I want my citizens to feel safe. Now let's do that. And too much of that isn't happening. … I think, to the extent that ICE is not transparent, it brings this fear into a community, and we have got to get rid of that fear. We have got to get rid of the bad guys and to be compassionate at the same time. We can do it.” TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces. “The Coming MAGA Crackup,” by Leighton Woodhouse for Social Studies on Substack “Peace Through Strength Is Worth Paying For,” by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for WSJ “The Last Democrat Redneck,” by Chuck Rocha for Rocha Revolution on Substack “Republicans’ War on Property Taxes Will Lose Them the Suburbs,” by Aaron Renn for NYT Opinion “Republican populism craters as Trump stumbles, Democrats surge,” by Andrew Bates for Fox News “Why Democrats Won the Shutdown,” by Neera Tanden for WSJ “The Henhouse Liberalism Built,” by Waleed Shahid on Substack “What Trump Is Really Doing With His Boat Strikes,” by Phil Klay for NYT Opinion

The unusually small group includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. | Yuri Gripas/ABACA

9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. THE CIRCLE OF TRUST: In a year that has seen an intense focus on foreign affairs for the White House, Trump “has entrusted only a handful of his closest advisers to tackle his most important foreign policy priorities from Russia to the Middle East. Even as their portfolio expands – now including a possible strike on Venezuela – the group remains small,” POLITICO’s Diana Nerozzi and Eli Stokols report. “It’s a mark of the president’s unyielding belief in his inner circle made up of old friends, family and confidants, and underscores his deep distrust of the broader national security and State Department apparatus that has served as the backbone of foreign relations for decades. The unusually small group includes Trump’s long-time real estate friend Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and chief of staff Susie Wiles.” 2. CARLSON IN QATAR: Conservative media host Tucker Carlson said today that he’s buying a place in Qatar. The announcement, made onstage at the Doha Forum as Carlson interviewed Qatar’s prime minister, comes as Carlson has faced withering criticism from MAGA stalwart Laura Loomer for his ties to the Arab state, POLITICO’s Nahal Toosi writes in from the forum. Carlson said he’s buying property in Doha “because I like the city. I think it’s beautiful, but also to make the statement that I’m an American and a free man, and I’ll be wherever I want to be.” Carlson pressed the Qatari leader, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, about his country’s links to Hamas. It’s an old but sensitive subject. Al Thani stressed that Qatar has hosted Hamas leaders for years at the request of Israel and the U.S., and that doing so helped mediate a ceasefire in Gaza. Carlson, who is skeptical of U.S. ties with Israel, pointed out that Israel recently bombed Doha (targeting Hamas). He also questioned why wealthy Arab states such as Qatar should be asked to pay to rebuild Gaza given that Israel destroyed much of the enclave. Loomer has used her influential social media accounts to blast Carlson and others in conservative circles for showing up in Doha. Loomer’s attacks on Carlson have gotten some back-up from GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Donald Trump Jr. also attended the forum, but has drawn a more sympathetic reaction from Loomer: “I worry about the Trump family being exploited by anti-American Muslims who seek to destroy Western civilization,” she wrote. 3. RUSSIA-UKRAINE LATEST: At the Doha Forum, Trump Jr. “criticized corruption in Ukraine and suggested Sunday that his father may walk away from the country if it doesn’t make peace with Russia,” Nahal reports from Doha. “Trump Jr. stressed that Ukraine has long been hamstrung by corruption in its official ranks and argued that such graft is fueling the war in both Moscow and Kyiv.” What he said: “When asked if the U.S. president could walk away from Ukraine, the younger Trump said, ‘I think he may,’” per Nahal. ‘What’s good about my father, and what’s unique about my father, is you don’t know what he’s going to do,’ he added. ‘The fact that he’s not predictable … forces everyone to actually deal in an intellectually honest capacity.’” The view from Moscow: The Kremlin lauded Trump’s new national security strategy today, saying the new directive to stop calling Russia a direct threat was a “positive step,” per Reuters. On the ground, Russia launched a wave of missile and drone attacks over the weekend, targeting power stations and energy centers in Ukraine, per Al Jazeera.

Transition of Power: What's Next for Virginia Join POLITICO in Richmond on Dec. 9 for dynamic conversations on the transition of power in the commonwealth and the future political stakes for Virginia residents. Key speakers include Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, Virginia Senate Republican Leader Ryan McDougle, and Virginia House Speaker Don Scott. The event will be in-person and streamed live, and participants can request to join here.

4. SCOTUS WATCH: “Trump’s plans to shatter the bureaucracy have a green light at the Supreme Court,” by POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein: “The Supreme Court will debate Monday whether to finally finish off a teetering, 90-year-old precedent that limited presidents’ power over many federal agencies. But lurking in the wings is a far more radical bid by the Trump administration to remake the federal government from top to bottom by ending the concept of the civil service. Indeed, some legal experts say that as a practical matter, the administration — emboldened by the justices — has already managed to eliminate job protections that have been on the books for nearly 150 years.” 5. ON THE MONEY: Behind the scenes in the West Wing, Trump’s aides and advisers have been pressing him for weeks to reconfigure his messaging around voters’ affordability concerns, showing him polling numbers and social media posts on economy, WSJ’s Josh Dawsey and Meridith McGraw report. “Almost every senior White House official is involved in the effort,” though Trump has continued to dismiss aides' concerns, arguing affordability is a “trap set by Democrats.” Still, “White House aides are reorienting some of Trump’s public events to focus on costs” as some allies have “have encouraged the White House to focus less on issues abroad and turn their gaze back to the U.S.” 6. DEEP IN THE HEART: Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) is prepared to make a decision tomorrow over whether she is jumping into the Lone Star State’s Senate primary or opting to run for reelection. The Dallas-Fort Worth area lawmaker told CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere that she has “two cashier’s checks made out” for tomorrow, one for reelection and another for a Senate bid: “Her down-to-the-wire indecision, she knows, is driving even her staff crazy. She’s invited hundreds of people to an announcement event Monday that’s scheduled 90 minutes before she needs to submit one of the checks.” Over a 45-minute conversation, Crockett “expressed annoyance at accusations that she’s just barreling into the race,” Dovere writes. “I’m not crazy,” Crockett said. “It’s weird that people believe that I could win the races that I won and I’m just like out here willy-nilly. But OK. I am very self-aware, right? Even when I go in to help candidates in other states, I ask them, have you polled for me?” Pardoner’s remorse: Trump lashed out at Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), whom he pardoned last week, over his decision to run for reelection as a Democrat. In a post on Truth Social this morning, the president decried “vicious” Democrats, who he claimed had targeted Cuellar. Trump said Cuellar running as a Democrat would mean “continuing to work with the same Radical Left Scum that just weeks before wanted him and his wife to spend the rest of their lives in Prison - And probably still do! Such a lack of LOYALTY, something that Texas Voters, and Henry’s daughters, will not like. Oh’ well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!”

The $148 billion failure: Watchdog's final report excoriates America’s attempt to rebuild Afghanistan By Thomas Novelly After nearly two decades of oversight, SIGAR will conclude its work early next year.

On Our "Virtual Route 99" Around the world (Special W-End Edition): is the Kaaba Safe in Saudi Arabia?

 

On Our "Virtual Route 99" In Donald Trump's America

December has begun in earnest!!

Our Team Pulled Together a Sampling of Recent Discourse throughout the Social Grid regarding the Trump Administration and discourse on MS NOW on the Trump Adminstration and results of the Special Election in Tenessee courtesy Heather Cox Richardson, as there were reports of a targeted campaign against opponents (some 470 of them, according to Reuters).:

As a closing thought, we present the following courtesy of the team at the Daily Beast: 

December 3, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson Dec 4

Republican Matt Van Epps won yesterday’s special election in Tennessee’s seventh congressional district, but Republicans aren’t celebrating triumphantly. Van Epps beat out Democrat Aftyn Behn by about 9 points in a district Donald Trump and Republican senator Marsha Blackburn each won in 2024 by 22 points. Yesterday’s vote shows a 13-point shift toward the Democrats in about a year.

Aaron Pellish and Meredith Lee Hill of Politico reported the comment of a House Republican after officials called the election: “Tonight is a sign that 2026 is going to be a b*tch of an election cycle. Republicans can survive if we play team and the Trump administration officials play smart. Neither is certain.”

As G. Elliott Morris of Strength in Numbers noted, “[t]he fact that a rural Tennessee district ended up just a high-single-digits win for Republicans should be a five-alarm fire for the party ahead of the 2026 midterms.” Morris explains that congressional special elections have swung 17 points on average toward the Democrats, while special elections for seats in state legislatures have swung toward the Democrats by about 11 points. Morris combines these results with turnout differences in special, midterm, and presidential elections, to estimate that—as of right now—the 2026 midterms can be expected to see a swing of 7 to 8 points toward the Democrats. These numbers would give Democrats control of the House of Representatives and put the Senate into play as well.

It is safe to assume, Morris says, “that something big has shifted in the national environment.” He adds that the Republican Party “will likely find itself defending an unusually wide array of seats next year, even in districts previously thought to be immune to national swings.”

Democrats and many Republicans think that shift has come about in large part over the issue of affordability, the rising costs of food, housing, energy, gasoline, and healthcare that are squeezing most Americans. Trump insisted yesterday that “affordability” doesn’t mean anything to anybody,” but most Americans would disagree. According to Morris of Strength in Numbers, the word “affordability” appears to mean not just the pressure of higher prices, but also frustration at economic stagnation, the unfair way in which the economic system operates, the idea of being stuck and unable to rise, the current illusiveness of the American dream.

After the voters rejected Republican candidates in the early November elections, Republicans vowed they would address affordability issues. Trump initially moved in that direction but now is rejecting the idea that his economic policies have caused hardship, although news dropped today from Automatic Data Processing (ADP), a private human resources management company, that the U.S. lost about 32,000 jobs last month. The losses were primarily in small businesses, which are often considered a bellwether for the rest of the economy.

The secretary of commerce, billionaire Howard Lutnick, admitted to CNBC that Trump’s policies have caused disruption, but promised they would start to build the economy in 2026. “Remember,” he said, “as you deport people, that’s going to suppress private job numbers of small businesses. But they’ll rebalance and they’ll regrow. So I think this is just a near-term event and you’ll see as the numbers come through over the next couple of months, you’ll see that all pass, and next year the numbers are going to be fantastic.”

On the table more immediately are the rising costs of health insurance premiums. The Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill of July extended tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations but neglected to extend the premium tax credits that supported the purchase of healthcare insurance on the Affordable Care Act insurance markets. The loss of those credits will throw at least two million people off healthcare insurance while driving up healthcare costs for millions more. This will undermine the Affordable Care Act, a goal many Republicans have held since the measure became law about fifteen years ago. But in September, close to 80% of Americans wanted the credits extended; as the issue became politicized, some Republicans withdrew their support so the number dropped to about 75%.

In October, Senate Democrats refused to agree to vote in favor of a continuing resolution to fund the government unless the Republicans extended that premium tax credit, but after weeks of party members calling attention to the issue, seven Democrats and one Independent voted in November to end the shutdown in exchange for a Senate vote on a measure to extend the tax credits.

That bill is now coming due, trapping Republicans between their ideology, which calls for slashing all government programs, and voters, who overwhelmingly want the credits extended.

Trump said he was going to produce a healthcare plan that would extend the premium tax credit for two years, along with new restrictions on who could use the credits, by last Monday but postponed the announcement after Republican lawmakers demanded the extension include a nationwide abortion ban. The White House has not indicated when a new plan might appear. On Air Force One, Trump told reporters he doesn’t actually want to extend the tax credits. “I’d rather not extend them at all,” he said. “It may be, some kind of an extension may be necessary to get something else done, because the Unaffordable Care Act has been a disaster.”

Kaia Hubbard of CBS News notes that any plan Senate Democrats come up with will need the support of 13 Republicans to pass the 60-vote Senate filibuster threshold. So far, though, Republican senators seem inclined not to extend the credits as they currently exist, but to try to force through a partisan measure that Democrats will not support. Republican senators are proposing different options, but say there is no point in figuring out their own position until Trump tells them what he is willing to sign.

In the House, Republicans in safe districts don’t want to extend the credits, saying that an end to support for the system will make it easier to kill the law they insist is a disaster. According to Alice Miranda Ollstein and Robert King of Politico, some Republican strategists think that voters won’t care about healthcare costs by the time of the midterm elections, especially if Republican policies bring down the costs of housing, energy, food, and gas. They think voters will be angrier at support for the Affordable Care Act than at higher healthcare costs.

Vulnerable Republicans disagree. They are calling for a temporary extension of the credits to help lower costs again before the midterms.

Meanwhile, House Democrats have announced they have 214 signatures on a discharge petition to force a vote on extending the tax credits and invited Republicans to join them to bring the measure to the floor. Today, Democratic caucus chair Pete Aguilar (D-CA) told reporters: “Republicans have said that they want an extension, that they support the Affordable Care Act tax credits. We’re giving them an opportunity to do that. That’s what this discharge petition is about. As Leader [Hakeem] Jeffries has said for months, Democrats will go anywhere and have any discussion with our Republican colleagues about addressing the Affordable Care Act tax credits or the affordability crisis. If Republicans want to have a conversation about solutions, we’re all ears.”

The declining fortunes of MAGA Republicans are widening the rifts in the party. Annie Karni of the New York Times reported today on House Republicans’ anger at Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who has defended the priorities of President Donald J. Trump at the expense of the interests of Republican lawmakers. Johnson’s letting Trump call the shots means the House has accomplished very little apart from passing the budget reconciliation bill Republicans call the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a law the American people appear to hate.

Although Republicans hold the majority in the House, Johnson has kept the members subservient to Trump’s demands. He kept them out of session for almost eight weeks during the government shutdown, for example, to try to jam the Senate into either accepting the House version of a continuing resolution to fund the government or ending the filibuster to enable Trump to force through his unpopular policies. Now, angry that they will have to run in 2026 with little to show for their House majority, House members are talking to the media about their frustration with Johnson.

The Republicans have other concerns as well. Today House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) subpoenaed former special counsel Jack Smith to testify in private, rejecting Smith’s offer to testify in public. Smith wanted to testify in public to prevent committee members from leaking his comments selectively to the press, spinning them to mislead Trump loyalists. But public testimony could expose some of the evidence Smith gathered about President Trump’s participation in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and retention of classified documents.

In a statement, Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top-ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, asked: “What are our colleagues so afraid of, that they won’t let the American people hear directly from the Special Counsel?... The American people deserve to hear the full unvarnished truth about Special Counsel Smith’s years-long effort to investigate and prosecute the crimes committed by Donald Trump and his co-conspirators.”

Also today, Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Jeffrey Merkley (D-OR), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), along with Representatives Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi asking for a briefing no later than Friday on what she has claimed is “new” material in the Epstein files that she said on November 14 had caused her to initiate investigations into connections between Jeffrey Epstein and former president Bill Clinton, former treasury secretary Larry Summers, and investor Reid Hoffman. On July 7, an FBI memo said there was no new evidence to open new investigations “against uncharged third parties.”

Now the bipartisan lead sponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act from both chambers of Congress are calling out what looks to be Bondi’s attempt to shield Trump, first by saying that there was no information in the files that would warrant an investigation of “uncharged third parties” and then by opening such investigations on Democrats to muddy the waters and possibly claim that she could not release the files because of ongoing investigations.

The lawmakers noted they “are particularly focused on understanding the contents of any new evidence, information or procedural hurdles that could interfere with the Department’s ability [to] meet [the] statutory deadline” of December 19, and expressed their interest in making sure “the law is fully implemented.”

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Notes:

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/02/tennessee-election-republican-midterms-fallout-00674124

Strength In Numbers

What the special election in Tennessee says about the 2026 midterms

Voters in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District voted on Tuesday, Dec. 2, to fill a vacancy left by Republican representative Mark Green, who resigned from Congress in July 2025. The election for this rural seat went for Republican candidate Matt Van Epps over Democratic candidate Aftyn Behn, with Van Epps having a 9-point margin in the vote as of…

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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/us/politics/republican-women-speaker-johnson.html

Strength In Numbers

Eight charts that explain why "affordability" is suddenly everywhere

Everyone is suddenly talking about “affordability.” That includes Zohran Mamdani, Donald Trump, and seemingly the entire Democratic party messaging apparatus — even GOP Senators are writing strategy op-eds now…

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2 days ago · 132 likes · 19 comments · G. Elliott Morris

https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/03/economy/us-adp-private-jobs-report-november

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7974x7248go

https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/poll-support-for-extending-the-expiring-enhanced-aca-tax-credits-remains-high-but-dips-among-republicans-and-maga-supporters-as-shutdown-continues-and-partisanship-takes-hold/

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/us/politics/republicans-trump-obamacare-subsidies.html

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/23/politics/trump-health-care-proposal

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/back-to-the-future-trumps-history-of-promising-a-health-plan-that-never-comes/

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/24/trump-health-care-subsidies-backlash-00667751

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-health-care-negotiations-vote/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/12/03/jack-smith-judiciary-subpoena-testimony/

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/03/obamacare-subsidies-expire-this-month-many-republicans-are-shrugging-00672949

https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/ranking-member-raskin-s-statement-on-chairman-jordan-s-refusal-to-let-the-american-people-hear-directly-from-former-special-counsel-jack-smith

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26330855-doj-epstein-files-briefing-request-letter/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/02/trump-epstein-files-countdown/87506171007/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/epstein-files-lawmakers-ask-ag-pam-bondi-status-update-rcna246980

Bluesky:

housedemocrats.bsky.social/post/3m74bxp4fmk2r

atrupar.com/post/3m73sc4c6py2j