POLITICO:
Trump does Epstein U-turn as House Republicans prepare to spurn him
Before the reversal, even some House GOP leaders were mulling whether to support the effort to release DOJ files dealing with the late sex offender.
“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax,” he wrote Sunday night on Truth Social, adding, “I DON’T CARE! All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT” discussing economic issues.
...
The internal GOP strife underscores how politically toxic Trump’s association with Epstein has become, especially after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released an email Wednesday in which Epstein suggested that Trump “knew about the girls.”
There will be 100 GOP votes in the House tomorrow. Mike Johnson loses bigly, America wins. And if you can defy them on this, you can defy them on everything.
That’s why Trump 2.0 is beginning to feel like his first term. Same crooked grifter, now with pushback. So, yes, those negative polls do matter.
G Elliott Morris/Strength in Numbers:
The 2024 Trump "realignment" is already over
Claims of a conservative realignment of non-whites, the working class, and young voters have been highly exaggerated
But the interpretation of Trump’s 2024 win is a matter of opinion. Some, like the Republican pollster Patrick Ruffini, have argued Trump’s inroads with traditionally left-leaning voters represented a fundamental realignment in American politics. He is not alone in arguing this. Many in the Democratic Party, too, interpreted Trump’s 2024 win as a historic blow — the performance of a coalition on life support. On marches the emerging Republican majority. Left-liberalism is dead.
Other analysts have been more skeptical. On the subject of realignment, political scientists have tended to land on the answer “it’s complicated.” For one thing, they argue, the national shift away from Democrats in 2024 stemmed mostly from non-ideological and non-Trump variables, such as inflation and the pandemic. Longer-term trends, too, have been pushing voters toward either party regardless of what nominees say or do, including the sorting of conservatives, regardless of race, into the Republican Party. Yes, residual group-level swings exist, but they are mostly small. Trump doesn’t look so indomitable in Dec. 2024 if you account for all the variables that set him up for victory (and it was a small victory at that).
It is clear now that claims of a fundamental realignment of American politics have been highly exaggerated. The 2024 election is best seen as an anti-incumbent election stemming from economic anxiety, most but not entirely driven by rising inflation during Joe Biden’s presidency. The elections held this week were a continuation of the anti-incumbent sentiment from last year — this time directed toward the new party in charge. The biggest difference between 2024 and 2025 is that Republicans are running the country now, instead of the Democrats.1
CNN:
Republicans have lost ground with Latino voters after Trump’s 2024 gains
Trump made considerable inroads with Latino voters in 2024, losing this group by just 5 points nationally after losing by 38 and 33 points in 2016 and 2020, respectively, according to CNN’s 2024 exit poll. Analyses by Catalist and the Pew Research Center also found a close race among Latinos last year.
Trump’s relatively strong performance came amid a wave of economic discontent. CNN’s exit poll found that Latino voters were more likely than any other racial or ethnic group to select the economy as their top issue and to describe inflation as a severe or moderate hardship. They were the least likely to say their financial situation had improved since 2020...
But in CNN’s latest poll, just 20% of Latinos approved of his job performance, down from 41% in February. This 21-point drop far outpaces the 4- and 9-point drops among Black and White Americans and the 10-point drop in his approval rating overall. Several other polls have also found Trump’s approval rating among Latinos declining from the start of his second term.
Sure, ICE has a major role, but it’s still the economy, stupid. As always.
MediaITE:
Tim Dillon Claims ‘This Is The End Of The Trump Administration’: ‘It’s Obvious To Everyone’
Popular podcaster and comedian Tim Dillon, who’s credited with helping bring young male voters over to President Donald Trump, now has a dire prediction for MAGA.
“Let’s look at Trump here, and I do think, unfortunately, this is, kind of is the end of — and I say unfortunately not because I care, truly — but I say unfortunately because it seems to not be doing anything good for anyone,” Dillon said.
“This is the end of the Trump administration. This is the beginning of the lame duck presidency. It’s obvious to everyone, even his most ardent supporters show up to the White House like Laura Ingraham, she’s kind of shocked, like, “What the hell is going on?” Now we’ll start three years talking about the ballroom. He will trail off, he’ll get older, he’s adorning the White House in gold. Epstein’s gonna suck the oxygen out of a lot of this.”
If you want to hear him say it, it’s at 17:08. And if you think the MAGA breakup/Heritage civil war isn’t real, try Tim Carney (from AEI, but originally Washington Examiner piece):
The Trump Era Is One of GOP Decline
But just as Trump’s policy record is mixed (increased spending, federal support for in vitro fertilization, oodles of corporate welfare), so is the Trump-era political record. If you step back from the current political balance in Washington, D.C., you see a troubling trend, highlighted by the recent blowouts in New Jersey and Virginia:
Republicans, in the Trump era, are mostly losing.
Yes, Trump wins. Yes, when Trump is on the ballot, the downballot Republicans get some lift from Trump. But when Trump isn’t on the ballot, the Trump era is a story of GOP loss.
This is a big problem for Republicans because Trump will never be on a ballot nationwide again. It’s very possible that after Trump is gone, Republicans will experience their darkest hour and lowest point since the New Deal.
That’s why Trump’s approval decline matters, even though the election is next year. It’s a permission structure for more honest discussion. Of course, there are always dead-enders. And opportunists like Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Stuart Stevens/X:
[referenced link: Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts]
Starting in 2015, the Trump campaign was a large criminal enterprise. Everyone in the Republican party knew it and looked the other way.
Now the Trump Administration is a large criminal enterprise filled with the freaks and maladjusted wierdos who always wanted to be involved in national politics but no one would let them in.
It's time to start talking about the process that will hold these criminals accountable. Kristi Noem is breaking laws every hour and Stephen Miller is part of a child trafficking kidnapping ring. They think Trump will protect them. But Trump is a weak man who will not be with us for long.
Adam Serwer/The Atlantic:
The President Who Cried Hoax
Republicans went after Epstein only when it was politically useful.
“Trump says he will release the Epstein client list if elected,” the right-wing propagandist account Libs of TikTok wrote in September of 2024. “The Democrat elites are shaking rn.”
Well, a year later, someone is certainly shaking...
Explaining what happened here is relatively easy. As long as conservatives believed that the Epstein files would provide a pretext for persecuting “Democrat elites,” it was politically advantageous to speculate about who might be implicated or suggest that those people had Epstein killed. As soon as it became clear that Trump himself was in said files, all those right-wing media influencers, who had promised their audience a lib bloodbath, began to drop or downplay the issue. The DOJ’s attempt to block the release of more files does not necessarily mean they contain a smoking gun or other damaging information; although Trump has an almost supernatural lack of shame, his overdeveloped sense of pride often motivates irrational and odd behavior. Nevertheless, what we already know about Trump’s relationship with Epstein is disturbing.
POLITICO:
RFK Jr. calls for unity after supporters attack Trump aides
The health secretary said White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was a friend of his MAHA movement and that his aide, Stefanie Spear, is a Trump loyalist.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended top Trump administration aides Susie Wiles and Stefanie Spear Friday after some of his supporters accused them of working against Kennedy’s ‘Make America Healthy Again’ movement.
“The MAHA movement has no better friend in Washington than @SusieWiles, who has supported every effort to end the chronic disease epidemic and restore health freedom to every American,” Kennedy wrote in an X post about President Donald Trump’s chief of staff.
He thinks it’s a defense. I think it’s a confession.
Marjorie Taylor Greene/X:
I am now being contacted by private security firms with warnings for my safety as a hot bed of threats against me are being fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world.
The man I supported and helped get elected.
Aggressive rhetoric attacking me has historically led to death threats and multiple convictions of men who were radicalized by the same type rhetoric being directed at me right now.
This time by the President of the United States.As a woman I take threats from men seriously.
I now have a small understanding of the fear and pressure the women, who are victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his cabal, must feel. [my bold]
As a Republican, who overwhelmingly votes for President Trump‘s bills and agenda, his aggression against me which also fuels the venomous nature of his radical internet trolls (many of whom are paid), this is completely shocking to everyone.
My phone is blowing up with constant amazing support. I’m so thankful!
The Political Industrial Complex and the toxic violent nature of American politics must end.Our country is worth saving and it can only be done if we pull together and save ourselves.
Kabir Khanna/CBS:
The voters Mamdani added to the Democratic coalition in New York: CBS News analysis
As the Democratic Party discusses whether to focus on turning out its base or persuading those on the other side, CBS News dove deeper into the data on new Democratic voters in last week's election — specifically, people who didn't back them in 2024. This group differs demographically from voters who backed Kamala Harris in the presidential election. Mamdani's new voters are younger, more ethnically diverse, and less affluent — and they also voted in the off year for reasons distinct from those that drive consistent voters to the polls…
Queens stands out as the borough where the Mamdani campaign both flipped and activated the most voters. About one in 10 Mamdani voters backed Mr. Trump last year, and another 7% did not vote for president. Looking at the numbers another way, our polling suggests that 15% of Trump voters turning out in the mayoral election flipped to Mamdani. [my bold]
Turnout? Persuasion? The answer is yes in NYC and most other places. But for you turnout fans, Connecticut was mostly turnout. See:
A deep dive into the Democrats' rout of local Republicans in CT cities and towns
Across Connecticut, we saw pretty much the same pattern in the Nov. 4 election. As most observers know by now, Republicans suffered a rout, ceding the top office in 28 cities and towns to Democrats – or 30, depending on how you count oddities in Killingly (no mayor or first selectman) and Putnam (a mayor who switched parties), up in the state's odd corner.
The GOP took back exactly one town, Easton, by five votes after a recount Wednesday.
With lopsided results like that, you might assume Democrats lured swing voters to their side as Republicans saw their support shrivel. Not true. Republicans didn't lose voters; Democrats gained them.
Cliff Schecter/Blue Amp:
Eric Trump: Patron Saint of the Stupid Rich
While Americans ration groceries, Trump’s dimmest heir lectures the nation on midnight billion-dollar Bitcoin transfers over Merlot.
America decided mediocrity was more fun than people who knew stuff and wanted to govern. Elect a guy you wanna have a beer with! Hell, Reagan climbed into bed with a chimpanzee. Fred Thompson’s future may’ve been riding golf carts to the studio to do reverse mortgage ads to impoverish the elderly, but did you see him in Die Hard 2!?
How can you not vote for the guy who sang “I Got You Babe?”
Along the way, many a reverse mortgage salesman—some Democrats, to be sure, but an exponentially growing percent of the GOP til nothing else was left—started running for office with no understanding or care their job was to work for the people.
And then…hello Second Gilded Age.
