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September 2, 2025
Trump's LA Troop Deployment Violated Federal Law, Judge Rules
(Bloomberg) A US judge ruled President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles during protests against his immigration crackdown violated federal law. US District Judge Charles Breyer on Tuesday issued an order barring barring the use of troops deployed in California and any other military troops in the state “to execute the laws.” But he paused his ruling pending further legal action.
Go to discussion'Big betrayal': Trump accused of breaking campaign promises by major union
(Raw Story) Although President Donald Trump's administration likes to boast that it puts "American workers first," several news reports published on Monday document the president's attacks on the rights of working people and labor unions. As longtime labor reporter Steven Greenhouse explained in The Guardian, Trump, throughout his second term, has "taken dozens of actions that hurt workers, often by cutting their pay or making their jobs more dangerous."
Go to discussionAmericans Lose Faith That Hard Work Leads to Economic Gains, WSJ-NORC Poll Finds
(Wall Street Journal) America is becoming a nation of economic pessimists. A new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll finds that the share of people who say they have a good chance of improving their standard of living fell to 25%, a record low in surveys dating to 1987. More than three-quarters said they lack confidence that life for the next generation will be better than their own, the poll found.
Go to discussionRepublicans Keep Getting Booed at Their Own Town Halls
(Mother Jones) It hasn’t been a great last week of the August recess for Republican members of Congress. At town hall events across the country, attendees booed, laughed, jeered, and demanded answers as their GOP representatives tried to defend Donald Trump’s agenda. The list of issues angering their constituents is long—everything from the Trump-backed cuts to Medicaid and other impacts of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, to the deployment of the National Guard to Democratic-run cities, to the lack of transparency over the Epstein files.
Go to discussionRepublicans fret about inflation's impact on 2026 midterms
(Axios) Republican operatives and lawmakers are increasingly anxious about how inflation could affect the GOP in the 2026 midterms, and want President Trump to take more aggressive steps to address rising prices. GOP insiders and lawmakers believe the cost of drugs and consumer items — and how the White House deals with Trump's tariffs potentially turbocharging prices and creating shortages — will be key to whether the GOP keeps control of Congress next year.
Go to discussionRepublicans Struggle to Sell Their Megabill
(Political Wire) Playbook: “House Republicans bet big that their newly-minted megabill would help them hold their majority in next year’s midterms. But what they learned during August recess is that they’re facing major challenges in selling their sweeping revamp of the tax code and safety-net programs. The White House is gearing up to press Republicans to do better in messaging around the president’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’“
Go to discussionA Spectacular Diplomatic Disaster
(Political Wire) Paul Krugman: “America has spent decades trying to cultivate good relations with India, which could be a useful counterweight to China. Now we have a nearly complete rupture, with India actually cozying up to China ... And what was that about? Apparently Trump, in his bizarre pursuit of a Nobel peace prize, tried to bully Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, into giving him undeserved credit for a cease-fire between India and Pakistan. The two men haven’t talked since.”
Go to discussionFormer CDC directors say RFK Jr.'s actions should alarm every American'
(USA Today) Every American should be alarmed at what’s happening to the nation’s public health system under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nine former leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are warning. In an opinion piece published in The New York Times on Sept. 1, the former directors wrote that what Kennedy is doing is “unlike anything our country has ever experienced.”
Go to discussionAlarm after FBI arrests US army veteran for 'conspiracy' over protest against ICE
(The Guardian) The arrest of a US army veteran who protested against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has raised alarms among legal experts and fellow veterans familiar with his service in Afghanistan. Bajun Mavalwalla II – a former army sergeant who survived a roadside bomb blast on a special operations mission in Afghanistan – was charged in July with “conspiracy to impede or injure officers” after joining a demonstration against federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in Spokane, Washington.
Go to discussionTrump Family Amasses $5 Billion Fortune After Crypto Launch
(Wall Street Journal) The Trump family notched as much as $5 billion in paper wealth on Monday after its flagship crypto venture opened trading of a new digital currency. The launch is akin to an initial public offering, in which the cryptocurrency, called WLFI, can now be bought and sold on the open market like a listed company’s shares. Beforehand, people who had privately bought WLFI from the Trump venture, World Liberty Financial, hadn’t been able to exchange their tokens.
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