Edward Luce/Financial Times:
The Epstein rot goes deep
America must now ask itself if it can restore a culture of shame
The Epstein files offer America the opposite of closure. They are the latest widening of a scandal that has become a leitmotif of our time — not only because half the material remains unreleased. A budding Vladimir Lenin, or Benito Mussolini, might see the files as kindling awaiting a revolutionary spark. On the basis that politics is downstream of culture, today’s public moral outrage will further corrode faith in US democracy. How can you throw the bums out when they span the system?By that measure, Donald Trump is a short-term beneficiary of the latest 3mn or so page release. Though he, his wife and his Mar-a-Lago club are referred to 38,000 times, Trump is in sufficiently broad company that others are taking as much of the airtime. His pitch has always been that everybody has their hand in the proverbial till. In that respect, Trump can claim a diabolical kind of vindication. But his relief is likely to be fleeting. The pressure on Trump’s Department of Justice to release the rest of the files will be sustained.
POLITICO:
Republicans are freaking out about Hispanic voters after a Texas upset
Democrats flipped a deep-red state senate district over the weekend that has the party worried about November.
Republicans are in full-out panic mode over their plunging support with Hispanic voters after losing a special election in a ruby-red Texas district over the weekend.
…
Polling already showed that Republicans were rapidly losing support from Hispanic voters. But the electoral results were a confirmation of that drop.
“It should be an eye-opener to all of us that we all need to pick up the pace,” U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Republican from a majority-Hispanic district in South Texas, said in an interview. “The candidate has to do their part, the party has to do their part. And then those of us in the arena, we have to do our part to help them as well.”
Alejandro Serrano/Texas Tribune:
How Taylor Rehmet upset a MAGA candidate to flip a North Texas Senate district
Observers of the race said Rehmet’s working-class appeal, along with Latino and suburban backlash to GOP policies, fueled his win in a district Donald Trump carried by 17 points.
Rehmet’s upset victory, according to interviews Sunday with half a dozen people who supported or worked on his campaign, is explained by a variety of factors, including the combination of Latino and suburban backlash to once-fringe conservative policies that have taken root in Tarrant County and Washington; a MAGA opponent who drove some of those policies and embraced them on the campaign trail; and a message from Rehmet, centered on his union background, that won over working-class voters, independents and even some moderate Republicans.
…
On paper, Wambsganss’ conservative bona fides were unmatched by many GOP candidates seeking office in Texas.
She is the chief communications officer for Patriot Mobile, a cellphone company that has helped back the Christian conservative school board candidates who overhauled libraries, curricula and raised hell in board meetings across the state about what children are taught.
She had the backing of party state leaders and the district’s former state senator.
“They could have built her in their garage,” veteran Texas Democratic operative Matt Angle said. “Taylor Rehmet is just an absolute reflection of that district. Leigh Wambsganss is an absolute reflection of national MAGA. The voters decided which one they like, and it wasn’t a close call.”
Adam Serwer/The Atlantic:
The Real Reason ICE Agents Wear Masks
Face coverings may work less to protect federal agents from danger than to make it easier for them to do unconstitutional things.
Tillis’s logic [it’s so they won‘t get doxxed] illustrates how distorted the American approach to law enforcement has become. Police officers are civilians; they are public servants, not above the public. It is part of the job of police—and, for that matter, politicians—to be identifiable, because of the profound authority bestowed upon them. The ability to use force is a weighty responsibility, requiring high standards of conduct, and it can and should be revoked when abused. It is not “doxxing” federal agents for the public to know who they are. We are supposed to know who they are, because that is how we hold them accountable. This is why police officers wear visible badge numbers and name tags. The responsibilities they are given are not compatible with anonymity.
Ordinary police officers do not wear masks except in extremely rare and specific circumstances. This is the case even though, statistically, regular police officers are at far greater risk than immigration agents. According to an analysis by Alex Nowrasteh at the Cato Institute based on data from last year, “law enforcement officers who don’t work at ICE or Border Patrol have a death rate 6.3 times higher than that of immigration enforcement officers.” In fact, the report found, immigration agents are at no greater risk than regular people: “The chance of an ICE or Border Patrol agent being murdered in the line of duty is about one in 94,549 per year, about 5.5 times less likely than a civilian being murdered.”
Aaron Blake/CNN:
The Trump team can’t get its story straight on the president, Gabbard and Fulton County
Asked by CNN on Thursday what Gabbard was doing at an election center in Georgia, Trump said, “She’s working very hard on trying to keep the election safe.”
But in the days that followed, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche repeatedly downplayed her involvement.
“She happened to be present in Atlanta,” Blanche said Thursday.
G Elliott Morris/Strength in Numbers:
More evidence that a large share of "moderates" are non-ideologues
A reader replicated my analysis of political ideology using alternative data
As you can see, the non-ideological responses are generally about “the vibes” — “good things for all people,” “getting stuff done” — whereas the highly ideological responses are laundry lists of policy positions or implicit statements group membership.
Now that you know what the data is, let’s make some graphs.
G Elliott Morris/Strength in Numbers:
Democrats hit historic high in Fox News Poll as GOP loses ground on key issues
Plus: Trump's approval among independents falls to a record low, and the issue landscape shifts ahead of 2026. Your weekly political data roundup for February 1, 2026.
Some commentary from me: A lot of people have noted that Republicans still retain an advantage on immigration despite the negative backlash to Immigration and Customs Enforcement this last month. I think this interpretation is a little too reductive for two reasons. First, the question is a retrospective question, baking in a lot of prior beliefs about which party has typically handled the issue better. And the trend is moving in Democrats’ direction, suggesting recalibration for recent events.
But second, electorally speaking, what has been a better predictor of election outcomes historically is the percent of voters who say they think the Democratic/Republican party is best at handling each individual’s single most important issue. Per Gallup below, whichever party has led on this question in the past 20 years has won the subsequent presidential election. The results also predict midterms reasonably well if you apply a slight penalty for the party in control of the White House.
David Shuster/Blue Amp:
From Warrants to Whims: ICE’s New Authority to Enter Homes on Trump’s Say-So
Administrative warrants turn home invasions into internal paperwork—and erase a core safeguard of liberty.
According to internal documents disclosed by whistleblowers and reviewed by multiple news organizations, including The Washington Post and the Associated Press, this memo directs ICE officers to rely on internal “administrative warrants” — not warrants signed by a neutral judge — to forcibly enter residences to make arrests.
In practical terms, it gives the Trump administration license to break down doors without the traditional judicial oversight that has long been a cornerstone of American liberty.
This is not merely a policy adjustment. It is a confession—of contempt for the U.S. Constitution and for the intelligence of the American public.
