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THE BIG PICTURE
Trump's voter-purge machine is now in full force ahead of the midterms, and Bill Cassidy's primary wipeout sent an unmistakable message to every Republican left in Washington: fall in line or get buried.
Meanwhile, the president skipped his own faith rally to go golfing, threatened a "bloodbath" when he did show up, and is still making secret stock trades that have Wall Street alarmed.
The chaos is here, and the week is only just starting. By the way: Clicking an ad from one of our vetted sponsors costs you nothing and helps us keep covering… all of this. Just saying!!!
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS
1. The Great Voter Purge is underway — and 2026 is in the crosshairs
The Trump administration has quietly run 67 million voter names through federal databases in a hunt for alleged noncitizens and deceased registrants (AP Politics). Critics are calling it exactly what it looks like: a pre-midterm purge operation designed to knock Democratic-leaning voters off the rolls before they can cause problems in November. The gutting of the Voting Rights Act is already being used to redraw districts around James Clyburn, potentially eliminating the only Black congressman South Carolina has had since 1897 (The Guardian US). The machinery of disenfranchisement is running in parallel across multiple fronts. Expect this to dominate the week as voting rights groups sound the alarm and Democrats finally start treating it like the emergency it is.
You should check your voter registration here early and often.
2. Trump's money grabs are getting too brazen to ignore
Wall Street is alarmed. Trump is reportedly engaged in a secret personal trading spree while sitting in the Oval Office (The Daily Beast), and Rep. Jamie Raskin is calling the whole operation "completely lawless" (The Daily Beast). Meanwhile the Senate parliamentarian has already blocked a $1 billion taxpayer-funded White House ballroom proposal on procedural grounds (The Guardian US), and Sean Duffy is catching heat from Pete Buttigieg over a pay-to-play reality TV venture out of the Transportation Department (The Daily Beast). The corruption is coming from every direction at once, and the sheer volume is what makes it politically combustible this week.
3. The MAGA purge of the GOP is accelerating — and it's getting ugly
Bill Cassidy just lost his Senate primary in Louisiana, a direct consequence of his vote to convict Trump after January 6 (AP Politics). Lindsey Graham immediately went on television to deliver the message with zero subtlety: cross Trump and you are finished (Huffington Post News). Meanwhile Trump is personally targeting Rep. Thomas Massie, posting "vote the bum out" as Massie faces a Trump-backed primary challenger (The Guardian US). The purge of anyone who has ever shown a spine is now the central organizing project of the Republican Party. The question for the next 24 hours is whether Massie survives — and what it means for the last few non-sycophants left in the caucus.
4. The LIRR strike and the AI utility squeeze: working people are getting crushed from both sides
The Long Island Rail Road has gone dark after five unions representing thousands of workers walked off the job (AP Politics). This is not a minor disruption — it is the shutdown of North America's largest commuter rail system, hitting working-class commuters while their bosses drive in. At the same time, a separate but connected fight is brewing in state capitals over exploding electricity bills driven by AI data center energy demands (AP Politics). Regular people are watching their utility bills climb so tech billionaires can train their chatbots. Both stories feed the same class-conscious frame: labor is being squeezed from every direction while capital hoards the gains.
5. The media is being captured in real time — and the press isn't saying it loudly enough
Anderson Cooper used his final appearance on 60 Minutes to take a parting shot at what CBS is becoming under its new MAGA-friendly ownership (The Daily Beast). Workers painting the National Mall reflecting pool blue for Trump's 250th anniversary vanity celebration are being rushed without adequate safety measures, with unions raising alarms (The Guardian US). And Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche went on Fox News to claim there is a "ton of evidence" the 2020 election was rigged — then produced none of it (Huffington Post News). The state broadcaster is being assembled in plain sight. Anderson Cooper just told you so on the way out the door.
THINGS TO WATCH
The machinery of electoral suppression is being built in public, in plain sight. Voter database purges, VRA gutting, redistricting of Black districts, and a DOJ that goes on Fox to claim election fraud evidence exists but won't show it — these are not separate stories. They are one story about who gets to vote in November 2026.
The MAGA coalition is showing stress fractures in unexpected places. Marjorie Taylor Greene describing a "reign of terror" over Epstein transparency (The Daily Beast), a three-time Trump voter publicly breaking on C-SPAN (Huffington Post News), a former Trump economic booster warning of a tsunami election (The Daily Beast), and Cassidy shading Trump after his loss (The Daily Beast) — these are not coordinated. They are independent signals of a coalition under pressure. Watch for more.
The AI-utility cost fight is coming to a kitchen table near you. State-level battles over who pays for the electricity demands of AI data centers are intensifying (AP Politics). This is a class war story: working people and small businesses bearing the cost of infrastructure that enriches a handful of tech billionaires.
Pandemic preparedness is at its lowest point since 2019 — and nobody is talking about it. Experts are warning the U.S. is not ready for the next outbreak after years of funding cuts and an active misinformation ecosystem (The Guardian US). This is not abstract. It is the ground condition for the next crisis.
👀 KEPT OUT OF YOUR FEED
What the algorithm buried:
Trump spent Sunday posting AI images of himself nuking things from space — and that's not even the wildest part.
A $2.4 billion Democrat is running for California governor wearing a "class traitor" hat — and he wants to tax people exactly like himself.
A one-time Trump cheerleader is now warning Republicans about a tsunami election coming in November
Democrats think they finally found the missing ingredient for a 2026 wave — and the Supreme Court handed it to them.
The American oil empire is crumbling — and China is already building what comes next
MTG is threatening a "political revolution" if Trump sends troops into Iran — and even she thinks this war is "stupid"
Parents had to choose between saving leave for when baby came home — or keeping their jobs.
Trump said rededicating the nation to God was important enough to back — just not important enough to actually attend
James Carville says Trump just handed Democrats the greatest self-own in presidential history — and then Trump doubled down on it.
Jen Psaki just aired a supercut of Kash Patel bragging about his drinking — and the FBI director is not going to like it.
Trump held a free, eight-hour "National Jubilee of Prayer" on the National Mall — and almost nobody showed up
NOTICE POLLING
Yesterday, we asked, Do you think Trump will get away with stealing $1.7 BILLION from U.S. taxpayers?
69% OF YOU SAID YES:
“He has gotten away with every other illegal thing he's done and he's been stealing taxpayers money from day one anyway. Is there anyone who's going to stop him?”
- jaycee0703
“He gets away with everything. The only thing he is good at is grifting. And…. He’s the best. ”
- dalesallybaldwin
“If it ends up in Supreme Court review, sadly, his cronies on the Court probably will allow it.”
- carol.a.jones“His corruptness is in plain sight to the extent that people are almost immune to it. Anyway, he’s not being held accountable for anything else, so why should this be any different?”
-a.smoot
“The corruption in this administration is beyond pale. The actions or in many cases the inactions of Congress and the Supreme Court are clear indications that the ruling elites are grabbing everything they can before the midterms. The Democrats have very poor leadership and need a complete revamping. Times are tough for the average American Citizen!”
- jmacs53
“Trying to be optimistic here but he seems to get away with a lot so really not sure. I sincerely hope not ”
- pat
“The only way I see to stop him is impeachment and republicans have no taste or backbone for that.”
- bradfordrayball
“The only way to stop him and his cronies is a Democratic/Independent landslide in November. To quote him with an edit...LOCK HIM UP!”
- anne.gunn19805
“He's got all his "appointees" in on the scam, too. Why else would they pander to the bastard in such an open and brazen way? From the SCOTUS TO THE POTUS, they are CORRUPT, EVIL F*CKS.”
- michaelhogshooter
Until next time,
