Have you been waiting with bated breath to find out who would perform at Turning Point USA’s halftime show? Lo, these long months where we were promised that this alternative halftime show would be epic, but the lineup was a mystery until Monday, when we learned about this absolutely killer lineup: Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett.  Real A-listers here, right?  If you had to Google everyone on this list except Kid Rock, you’re not alone. Rock is no surprise, given his affection for performing at Trump events. Mr. Rock even showed up in a truly remarkable outfit to stand next to Trump while Trump wrote out one of his little executive orders that has no force of law, this one about ticket scalping. Sadly for Rock, none of this has translated into decent album sales or anything like that, but at least Rock was once a very famous musician. The other three? Not so much. Country music artist Brantley Gilbert  Brantley Gilbert was once reasonably famous, hitting Number One with several singles on the Billboard Country Airplay charts, though that hasn’t happened since 2019. His last two records didn’t even crack the top 20 of Billboard’s Country Album charts.  But Gilbert isn’t there because of his middling career as a country singer. He’s there because he has shifted his efforts to being a conservative culture warrior. Remember when conservatives were furious that Bud Light gave transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney a personalized can of beer to promote the brand? Gilbert latched onto that, smashing a can of Bud Light on stage to show his MAGA bona fides.  Gilbert also performed at Turning Point USA’s 2021 America Fest, where he appeared on a bill that included such luminaries as former Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, Rep. Jim Jordan, Donald Trump Jr., and Kyle Rittenhouse. Brice hasn’t released an album since 2020, and even his hot-selling records have never broken 500,000 in sales. His singles have tanked of late as well, with the last four not charting at all on the Billboard Hot 100 or Billboard Country Songs.  As with Gilbert, though, Brice isn’t on this bill because of his innate talent or album sales or anything of the sort. He’s there because he’s the kind of guy who gets a soft-focus NRA profile about how much he loves guns. He’s there because he’s the kind of guy who goes on Will Cain’s Fox News show to talk about how people love country music for “real and honesty” and “God and country.” Singers Gabby Barrett, left, and Matthew West participates in the 103rd National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on the Ellipse, on Dec. 4, 2025. Barrett’s main claim to fame is placing third on “American Idol” eight years ago. Her most recent record did hit # 26 on the charts … the Billboard Christian Albums chart, that is. Like Rock, Barrett has also previously performed for Trump, singing “The First Noel” during the 2018 National Christmas Tree Lighting. Did Barrett see herself as singing to all Americans or honoring Jesus Christ or something similar? Lol, nope.  Barrett’s promo post on X said, “I will be performing ‘The First Noel’ for the President, in Washington D.C. on Wednesday.” To be fair, she did later say that performing for Trump “was an amazing opportunity to represent America and the Lord.” It’s honestly pretty surprising that Alexis Wilkins isn’t on the list. How dare TPUSA cut out Kash Patel’s country singer girlfriend from this superstar jamboree! She’s performed at TPUSA events a bunch of times, but apparently, that isn’t enough to get her in the door for the alternative halftime show.  Fox is desperately trying to spin this as “star-studded,” which it is not by any metric, but what else can conservatives do? They have to pretend that whatever motley collection of pro-Trump artists they dredge up are superstars, even if there is no evidence whatsoever of that.  Bad Bunny Meanwhile, after his Grammy win Sunday night, Bad Bunny’s album sales and streams have jumped even more. When he dropped “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” in January 2025, all 17 singles charted. He ranked Number One on Spotify’s 2025 Global Top Artist charts, notching 19.8 billion—that’s billion, with a “b”—worldwide. He also topped that chart in 2020, 2021, and 2022.  Most of the other artists performing at the actual Super Bowl will also make conservatives incandescent with rage. While they’re probably not all that mad about Charlie Puth, they’re going to be incredibly unhappy with everyone else.  Green Day is performing at the opening ceremony and has made no secret of their loathing of Trump. The band even changed the lyrics of “American Idiot,” from “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” to “I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda.”  Brandi Carlile is openly queer and recently spoke out about ICE’s murder of Renee Good and 32 people who have died in ICE custody. Her foundation also just donated $25,000 to The Advocates for Human Rights in Minnesota to support their efforts to provide free legal assistance to detainees.  As far as Coco Jones, it likely isn’t so much who she is, but what she is going to sing. Jones will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the Black national anthem. Your MAGA uncle is going to spend a lot of time complaining about DEI during this, bet.  It’s going to be a delight to see how pathetic the ratings for this thing will be. It’s going to make Bari Weiss’s cratering numbers over at CBS News look amazingly successful by comparison. Go anti-woke, go super-broke.

Former White House press secretary and current Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany went into full propaganda mode Monday, hyping first lady Melania Trump’s new documentary and adding to increasingly dubious stories about stellar ticket sales. “My mom went to it this weekend in Florida,” McEnany said on Fox News. “She said not only was the theater packed, it was, you know, standing room only—if you could, like, try to sneak in the back of the theater. People were cheering through it. They were excited. It was interactive, people interplaying with the film. She said it was just electric.”  xKayleigh: My mom went to see Melania. She said the theater was packed, it was standing room only. People were cheering through it, they were excited. It was interactive—people interplaying with the film. She said it was just electric. pic.twitter.com/dimgT5jGPF— Acyn (@Acyn) February 2, 2026 Name a single film you have attended, or even heard about, where there was “standing room only.” Did McEnany get the “Melania” documentary confused with “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” which highlighted Taylor Swift’s 21-month-long, record-breaking tour? “Melania” did exceed some of the lowest expectations, pulling in a reported $7 million opening weekend. But once you factor in the cost—Amazon bought the rights to the film for $40 million and spent another $35 million to promote it—the opening weekend was anything but “electric.”

A cartoon by Clay Jones. Related | Shady new ad campaign paints ICE thugs as ‘friends and neighbors’

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. Shady new ad campaign paints ICE thugs as ‘friends and neighbors’ This will totally change the public’s mind about ICE’s handiwork. Democrats' blowout victory in special election spells doom for GOP The win isn’t just significant for how much Democrats won by, but for how it happened in the first place. Kennedy Center crumbles under Trump Trump’s strategy seems to be if at first you don’t succeed, try construction instead. Cartoon: Dibs There seems to be a real party division on this one. Republican claims he’s always been ‘warning’ Trump about ICE Why don’t we roll the tape to find out … What the hell is Tulsi Gabbard’s job anyway? Do you think she even knows? Click here to see more cartoons.

Republican megadonor Elon Musk spent the weekend trying to change the narrative about his interactions with accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein after emails surfaced showing Musk arranging to attend a party at Epstein’s notorious private island. The emails, which were sent between 2012 and 2014, were released Friday by the Department of Justice, and they show Musk discussing attending a party hosted by Epstein, who was by then a convicted sex offender. In one email, Epstein referenced making arrangements for Musk to travel to the island with actor Talulah Riley, Musk’s partner at the time. Musk then asked Epstein which nights would have the “wildest party.” Documents that were included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. In another, Musk laments an apparent scheduling conflict preventing him from visiting Epstein. Musk wrote that he was “very disappointed” and “really looking forward to finally spending some time together with just fun as the agenda.” He concluded the email, writing, “Hopefully we can schedule another time in the near future.” Many of the women allegedly abused by Epstein and his associates have said the island in question, Little St. James, was used as a hub for where they were trafficked and assaulted. After the emails were released, Musk went into damage-control mode. He argued on his social media account that the released emails were “performative” and “nothing but a distraction.” As reports emerged on the details of his exchanges, he complained, “Legacy media lies relentlessly.” Musk argued that “nobody” had pushed for the release of the Epstein files as much as he did, and he said legacy media and “far-left propagandists” would “make counter-accusations against me” and that he would be “smeared relentlessly.” Musk also used his X account, which has over 230 million followers, to amplify posts from supporters echoing his attacks on the press and pushing his narrative that he had done nothing wrong. The chummy back-and-forth between Musk and Epstein runs contrary to Musk’s previous claims that he had summarily rejected an invitation to the island. Related | Trump's incompetent DOJ makes a mess of latest Epstein files drop The documents are also notable because of Musk’s deep involvement in Republican politics. He was a major donor to President Donald Trump’s 2024 election campaign and has donated millions meant to help Republicans preserve their control over Congress this year. Additionally, Musk’s company SpaceX is a major contractor doing business with the federal government. Musk’s emails with a suspected sex trafficker are also being released while his company xAI is under probe from multiple foreign governments for providing a service, the chatbot Grok, that has been used to generate nonconsensual sexual images. Grok was also used to produce sexual photos of children. Despite those revelations, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is moving forward with plans to integrate Grok in sensitive defensive systems. The emails show that Trump is not the only figure in the right-wing establishment now dogged by a relationship with Epstein.

MAGA folks are revisiting their beloved argument that conservative women have more children because they’re hotter.  “Conservative women are just factually more attractive than liberal women. It’s why more conservatives than liberals are having babies,” Katie Miller, the wife of White House chief of staff for policy  Stephen Miller, said via X Wednesday.  Her claims were paired with an equally strange Fox News segment between Jesse Watters and Kid Rock in which the former dad rock singer shared his sexist epiphany on live television. xConservative women are just factually more attractive than liberal women. It’s why more conservatives than liberals are having babies. https://t.co/gfpzhsmEtu— Katie Miller (@KatieMiller) January 21, 2026 “We have this low birth rate in America,” Rock began. “It just hit me right now, because who is going to sleep with these ugly-ass, broke, crazy, [Trump Deranged Syndrome], liberal women? You look at these rallies, it’s like a bunch of women that no guy wants to sleep with and a bunch of dudes that want to sleep with each other.” There are so many problems with Rock’s argument. And it’s a lot to assume any of these hypothetical women would be interested in sleeping with Rock as opposed to, say, someone like Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert. The thing is, studies suggest that conservative women are indeed having more children than liberals. However, it probably has nothing to do with how badly men want to sleep with them. Per the Institute for Family Studies:  In the 2020s, just 40% of liberal women between ages 25 and 35 report being parents, down from 51% in the 2010s. By comparison, conservative women in this age range saw no statistically significant change: in the 2020s, 71% report being parents. This means there is a 31-percentage point gap between young conservative women and their liberal peers today. And it also probably doesn’t have to do with the allegedly radical, leftist, blue-haired women with armpit hair that Watters and the majority of MAGA seem to use as a bogeyman for women’s rights.  While MAGA points to women’s looks as the reason for plummeting birth rates among more left-leaning families, they’re ignoring the policies in place that are keeping women (who want children) from taking that step.  Conservatives are diving toward an ideology that promotes godliness and duty to provide offspring over the practicality of raising children in today’s world altogether. And that concern is what has many liberal families holding off.  Related | Why 'The Great Feminization' is a great big conservative con Things like extreme costs for day care or childcare when parents go to work have come into the public conversation. Despite the desire, in some households, for one parent to be the breadwinner, affordability in Trump’s America makes that reality out of reach for many. Many mothers were able to join the workforce again when working from home was more accessible, but that has steadily declined as they’ve been forced back into the office. Once a pregnant person does give birth, however, there is the fear of exorbitant hospital bills and Trump doesn’t care if that medical debt goes on people’s credit reports.  The only thing that the Trump administration seems to be actively tackling is the incentive, or means, of making babies itself.  With the overturn of Roe v. Wade, abortion has become less accessible—and continues to become less so. On the bright side, should you have a child before 2028, Trump will start a $1,000 savings account for them.  While women on the left are looking at the logistics, MAGA women seem to be pushing the message of faith that, somehow, it will all work out for them.  However, no amount of hair extensions and lip filler will make better policies for mothers.

Former D.C. Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone—who was seriously injured while defending the Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack—told Republican Rep. Troy Nehls, “Go fuck yourself” during Thursday’s House committee hearing featuring former special counsel Jack Smith. Fanone, a vocal critic of MAGA efforts to rewrite the history of Jan. 6 and deflect blame from Donald Trump, was in attendance when Nehls had the audacity to claim that the Capitol Police’s leadership was to blame for the attempted coup after the president held a rally and ordered his followers to march to the Capitol and stop the certification of electoral votes. “The fault does not lie with Donald Trump,” Nehls whined. Fanone responded by coughing loudly while unmistakably directing his message to the stolen valor-wielding, cowardly Nehls. x x YouTube Video A groveling Trump simp, the Texas representative faced an ethics investigation before he abruptly dropped his reelection bid at the last moment—leaving virtually no time for anyone other than his twin brother, Trever, to file to run for Nehls’ House seat. Rep. Jim Jordan, who is also the worst wrestling coach ever, attempted to restore order to the proceedings—but the truth had already landed. Related | 'Stolen valor': GOP blasts one of their own for military pin he didn't earn

A cartoon by Clay Jones. Related | Trump repeatedly confuses Greenland for Iceland

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. ICE goons to America: We don’t need no stinkin’ warrants The lawlessness continues unabated. Democrat shreds GOP's Trump worship: 'We took an oath' Too bad Republicans’ fealty is devoted to the crooked president. ‘I won’t be complicit’: Newsom stands against Trump’s bullying The California governor refuses to bend the knee. Cartoon: NRA goes MIA Where have all the gun nuts gone? Vance: So what if ICE kills a mom or abducts some kids? Apparently, these deadly “mistakes” are just “the nature of law enforcement.” Trump’s FCC goon demands talk shows give Republicans equal time This regime is so salty about late-night jokes. GOP loses another battle in gerrymandering war it started We love to see it. Click here to see more cartoons.

Congratulations, Republicans: Your mentally incapacitated president—who’s running the country without guardrails, constraints, or adult supervision—is burning through nearly a century of international goodwill, with consequences that will echo for decades. “You cannot put the genie back into the bottle. Things might get better and more calm a few months down the road, and Trump, he can’t be reelected, and the next president might be somewhat different,” Anders Schelde, chief investment officer of a Danish pension fund, said while announcing his exit from U.S. markets. “But what comes then in five, six, 10 years? I think there’s a strong realization across Europe that we need to be able to stand on our own feet.”  A crowd protests against President Donald Trump in front of the U.S. consulate in Nuuk, Greenland on Jan. 17. The fund he manages, AkademikerPension, is only about $100 million—a rounding error in global finance. But that’s not the point.  What matters is what he’s saying and what he represents: a growing belief among global investors and governments that the United States is no longer a reliable anchor for the world economy. For decades after World War II, the United States sat at the center of a global system for which it largely paid and designed—and it paid off enormously. The United States underwrote global security through alliances like NATO, stabilized trade through institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, and enforced rules that made markets predictable and conflicts less likely to spiral out of control. In return, the dollar became the world’s reserve currency, and U.S. companies enjoyed preferential access to global markets. Foreign capital flowed in not just because of returns but because the United States was seen as stable, serious, and governed by adults. President Donald Trump has lit all of that on fire. Related | ‘F-ck off’: Danish leader has had it with Trump’s Greenland nonsense And once the world adjusts—and allies build parallel systems that don’t rely on the United States—that advantage won’t simply snap back when Trump is gone.  The genie cannot go back in the bottle. During his first term, much of the world treated Trump as a fluke—a mistake we would quickly correct. Now the world understands the deeper problem: No matter how sane or responsible the next president might be, the United States is always just one deranged electorate away from putting another madman in charge. The world handed the United States enormous power because it trusted we would use it responsibly. Thanks to Trump and the Republicans who enabled him, that trust is gone.

Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was interviewed on Friday at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin. When asked by The Atlantic’s Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg whether he believed Vice President JD Vance to be a “fascist,” Buttigieg replied with a withering critique. x x YouTube Video Buttigieg: If it's convenient for him to be a fascist, he'll be a fascist. Maybe later on, he'll go back to being a Silicon Valley Democrat. He'll be whatever he needs to be. Right? I mean, this is a guy who went from Donald Trump is Hitler—that’s what he said—to I have seen the error of my ways. He’ll be something new later on, maybe. Related | It sure seems like JD Vance doesn't give a sh-t about his family

President Donald Trump is panicking about an impending House vote on releasing the Epstein files. In a Truth Social post Friday morning, Trump called the Republicans who plan to vote in support of the release «weak,» «soft,» and «foolish.»  And White House aides have suggested that any Republicans who vote to release the files can kiss goodbye to any future endorsements from the president. GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, for example, was seeking Trump's endorsement in a crowded Republican gubernatorial primary. But given that she seems to support releasing the Epstein files, she likely won’t get it. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky speaks with fellow Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, both of whom support the release of the Epstein files. “Helping Democrats deflect from Republican success is not a good GOP primary election strategy,” an unnamed White House official told NOTUS. But Trump's threats don’t seem to be working. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said that his fellow GOP lawmakers are telling him privately that they plan to vote in favor of the bill, which Massie co-authored with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California. Massie and Khanna had to resort to a discharge petition to get the bill to the floor, as House Speaker Mike Johnson was running cover for Trump and refused to put it up for a vote.  The discharge petition reached a majority of signatures on Wednesday after Johnson finally swore in Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona.  Massie also told Republicans that this is not the issue to cave to Trump on. “The deal for Republicans on this vote is that Trump will protect you if you vote the wrong way. In other words if you vote to cover up for pedophiles you've got cover in a Republican primary,« he told CNN. »But I would remind my colleagues that this vote is going to be on your record for  longer than Trump is going to be president. And what are you going to do in 2028 and 2030 when you’re in a debate either with a Republican or a Democrat and they say, ‘how can we trust you, you covered up for a pedophile back in 2025?’” It's unclear why Trump is so adamant on keeping the files hidden, especially since he insists that he is not implicated in them. However, a trove of emails released by House Democrats Wednesday show Epstein claiming that Trump knew about the girls he trafficked and even spent time with them at Epstein’s home. A cartoon by Pedro Molina. Indeed, Courier Newsroom released a searchable database Friday, providing access to the 20,000 documents in which Trump is mentioned in more than 1,600 of them. Perhaps that’s why Trump is doing everything in his power to not only stop the vote but to change the subject, like his Thursday announcement of new military action in South America. But that plan is unlikely to work, as Republicans who traditionally back Trump are breaking with him on the Epstein files and are even planning a media blitz with Epstein survivors next week. «Many of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein were abused as teenagers. And this information should have come out a long time ago! The American people deserve full transparency into who was involved in these horrific acts,” GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia wrote on X. “I believe the victims. They along with their attorneys have told me numerous times that President Trump is NOT implicated in this.”  She concluded, “I stand with these women and all victims of sexual abuse. It is a shame our government is working harder to protect pedophiles than they are fighting for the victims! These women deserve our fight!!»

Support my Patreon for early access and exclusives. Follow me on Mastodon, Bluesky, or at my website. Related | Enough Senate Democrats appear ready to cave on the shutdown—for nothing

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. Trump suddenly declares military operation as Epstein scandal reignites Talk about a deadly distraction. How screwed is the GOP in 2026? One upcoming election may tell us. Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District could be a bellwether. Trump basically admits his tariffs are raising grocery prices Certain items will get exemptions from Trump's moronic tariffs in an effort to lower costs. Cartoon: On second thought ... Donald Trump is probably wishing the government was still shut down. Federal workers can kiss free speech goodbye in Trump's America Speaking up will get you a pink slip. DOJ gets green light on bogus case against ICE-protesting Democrat The Trump administration’s retaliatory prosecutions continue. Mike Johnson has run out of Epstein excuses The House speaker can’t delay a vote any longer. Click here to see more cartoons.

The latest sham investigation by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, based on sham invocations of mortgage fraud, just got referred to the Department of Justice so that Mr. Weaponization Working Group himself, Ed Martin, can likely kick off a sham prosecution. This time, it’s California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell. Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California So weird that these totally neutral and fair investigations just happen to always converge on people Trump perceives as his enemies, right? What are the odds? It’s especially weird given that Pulte really needed to look no farther than his own father and stepmother to locate the kind of mortgage arrangements he insists are fraudulent.  Oh hello, Pulte’s daddy. It looks like you and your wife just happen to be claiming two homestead exemptions, one in Michigan, and one in Florida. Neat trick, really. Dad claimed one exemption, stepmom claimed the other, and that little bit of what Pulte says is prosecutable fraud when anyone else does it likely saved his parents an estimated $158,000 in taxes for 2025 alone.  But now, if Federal Reserve Board of Governor member Lisa Cook did that, it is for sure fraud, right? Federal Reserve Board of Governor member Lisa Cook Hmm. Well, that’s just his parents. They’re not part of the administration, and definitely no one in Trump’s administration would have any sort of untoward mortgage arrangements.  Well, except for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has two primary residences, one in Bedford Hills, New York, and one in Provincetown, Massachusetts.  Oh, and except for Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who did two primary residence mortgages back to back in a hurry, including one for her second home in Arizona. Oh also, and except for Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has a primary residence in New Jersey and another one in Washington, D.C. Sorry, wait, one more. Environmental Protection Agency Director Lee Zeldin has one primary residence in Long Island and another in D.C.  When faced with the fact that multiple Cabinet members have the same type of mortgage arrangements that Pulte says was criminal behavior when undertaken by anyone with a (D) after their name, the White House went with one of its blustery, fact-free denials. “This is just another hit piece from a left-wing dark money group that constantly attempts to smear President Trump’s incredible Cabinet members. Unlike [Fed Gov.] Lisa ‘Corrupt’ Cook who blatantly and intentionally committed mortgage fraud, Secretary DeRemer, Secretary Duffy, and Administrator Zeldin own multiple residences, and they have followed the law and they are fully compliant with all ethical obligations,” the White House said in a statement to ProPublica. Show your work. New York Attorney General Letitia James Oh hello again, Pulte’s daddy. Did you rent out one of your primary exemption homestead homes this year? Whoopsie, that’s super illegal, and is what your son determined was completely fraudtastic behavior on the part of New York Attorney General Letitia James.  Now, thanks to Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, always the number one Florida insurance lawyer in our hearts, the DOJ did score an indictment against James, though it appears to be rapidly falling apart. James’ mortgage contract did not prohibit renting and it also looks like Halligan may have just withheld exculpatory evidence from the grand jury to get that indictment. There are no guardrails left to stop Pulte, however, as once the Fannie Mae watchdogs started looking into whether Pulte improperly obtained mortgage records of Democrats Trump hates, they referred it up to the Office of the Inspector General for FHFA, and then the acting inspector general sent it to the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia and … we’re back to Halligan.  So, the ethics and internal investigation folks at Fannie Mae were fired and then Trump fired FHFA’s acting inspector general, just for good measure. That’s one way to solve it. Nothing is going to stand in the way of Pulte using his position improperly to gin up sham charges that just somehow happen to be things that are totally fine when Republicans—like his daddy—do them. 

House Democrats on Wednesday released emails from Jeffrey Epstein, in which the deceased financier accused of child sex trafficking said that President Donald Trump «knew about the girls» and that Trump even “spent hours« at Epstein's house with one of the victims. The emails are the biggest proof yet that Trump—who has denied knowledge of Epstein's sex trafficking and called the scandal surrounding the files a “hoax”—is lying about his involvement in Epstein's crimes as he seeks to block the files the government has on his former friend from ever becoming public. Based on the emails released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, it’s easy to see why Trump doesn’t want the documents to be seen. In one email from 2011 that Epstein sent to convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein wrote: »i want you to realize that that dog that hasn't barked is trump.” x🚨BREAKING: Oversight Dems have received new emails from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate that raise serious questions about Donald Trump and his knowledge of Epstein’s horrific crimes. Read them for yourself. It’s time to end this cover-up and RELEASE THE FILES.— Oversight Dems (@oversightdemocrats.house.gov) 2025-11-12T13:31:14.921Z Epstein added that a victim, whose name the Oversight Committee redacted, “spent hours at my house with” Trump. In another email exchange from 2015—when Trump was first running for president—reporter Michael Wolff told Epstein that Trump could get a debate question about his relationship with Epstein.  When Epstein asked Wolff how Trump should respond to such a question, Wolff replied: «I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn't been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt. Of course, it is possible that, when asked, he'll say Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in a Trump regime.» And in a third email from 2019 to Wolff, Epstein wrote about a victim who was at Mar-a-Lago, saying of Trump, «of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.» “Oversight Dems have released serious and disturbing emails today about the Trump and Epstein relationship,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), ranking member of the Oversight Committee, wrote in a post on X. “An email from Epstein alleges Trump ‘spent hours at my house’ with a victim. We won’t stop until we end this White House cover-up. Release the files, NOW.” Democrats released the emails on the same day that a discharge petition—which will force a vote on a bill that would require Trump to release the Epstein files—is set to gain the required number of signatures. That's because House Speaker Mike Johnson is finally going to swear in Arizona Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, who will be the 218th signature on the petition, giving it a majority. Johnson had refused to swear Grijalva in for nearly two months, keeping the House out of session in order to have an excuse to now seat the Arizona Democrat so that the discharge petition would not get a majority. But now that the House is returning after an insane eight-week-long recess, Johnson has to swear Grijalva in, and the discharge petition clock will begin. That means the House will vote on whether to release the files in the coming weeks, likely in early December. Republicans will have to decide whether to do what polls say voters want and vote to release the files, or instead vote to protect Trump, as Dear Leader demands.

A cartoon by Mike Luckovich. Related | Epstein files vote on the horizon as shutdown nears end

The Trump administration is really, really into offshore oil and gas drilling, but maybe not so much where Republicans have to actually see it. Hence the plan to force California to accept oil rigs dotting its shores and doing some cool oil spills while sparing states like Florida.  Surely it’s just a coincidence that this move targets a blue state with a governor who President Donald Trump hates while giving the red state where Trump lives a pass, right? Offshore drilling in state waters has been banned in California since 1969, after a huge oil spill near Santa Barbara. But state waters only extend three miles from shore, so anything after that is apparently fair game for federal drilling. No new leases have been issued since the mid-1980s, but Trump is here to change that.  Clean up crews remove oil-laden sand on the beach at Refugio State Beach, site of an oil spill, north of Goleta, Calif., on May 20, 2015. Part of how you know what a trash deal this is, just a way to target California while rewarding some pals, is that the company the administration is backing for this, Sable Offshore, is already an environmental nightmare in the state. Sable owns a pipeline in California, having purchased it from the previous owner.  Did we mention that before Sable bought it, the thing sprang a 140,000-gallon leak and trashed beaches from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles? Sable bought it and was apparently so eager to start that it overlooked obtaining permits, for which the California Coastal Commission fined it $18 million. The California state attorney general recently sued Sable on behalf of the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, thanks to Sable’s habit of discharging waste into state waterways. And the Santa Barbara district attorney filed felony criminal charges against the company in September for the harm it has caused to wildlife and the pollution of the state’s waterways.  It will surprise literally no one that Sable’s CEO, James Flores, has ties to Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. So, since Sable is being thwarted by California for state drilling, why not get the nod from the administration for federal drilling off California’s shores instead? Sable dropped them a line to see if they couldn’t pretty please get some expedited permitting so they can drill in federal waters. Trump with Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Somehow all of this enthusiasm for drilling is more muted when it might happen along a red state coastline. South Carolina’s governor just wrote to the administration to ask to be exempt from Trump’s plan to open both the East and West Coasts up to offshore drilling, because their coastline is pristine.  Trump had already helpfully put a moratorium on drilling off of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina during his first term because Republicans in those states were concerned about oil spills hurting tourism and fishing. Florida’s GOP senators want a little more reassurance, though, so they’ve proposed a law banning offshore drilling for just Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.  Environmental catastrophe for me, but not for thee.  The whole thing feels akin to the 2024 survey on the glorious return of manufacturing to American shores, in which 80% of Americans agreed with the statement that “America would be better off if more people worked in manufacturing.” Switch that to “I would be better off if I worked in a factory,” and that number plummets to 25%.  The administration’s enthusiastic embrace of fossil fuels keeps running into a big problem, which is that even fossil fuel companies are not as enamored of the whole thing as Trump is.  The L.A. Times spoke with Dan Pickering, head of a Houston-based investment firm, who said energy companies will likely be eager to pay for new drilling leases off Louisiana and Texas, where they already have infrastructure, but California gets a big meh. “California is going to have either no interest or very low interest, with a much smaller subset of players.”  Clark Williams-Derry, another energy industry analyst, told the L.A. Times that “Nobody really wants offshore oil, except for maybe Texas and Louisiana. In my mind, this is at least in part politically motivated rather than substantively motivated.” You don’t say.  Trump has the same problem with coal, which is that even coal companies don’t really want it. A recent attempt to get coal companies to bite at the opportunity to mine on public land in Montana drew a bid of a fraction of a penny per ton of coal. Companies that own coal-fired plants want to shut them down and phase them out, but instead, the administration is forcing them to stay open.  And now, perhaps, California gets forced to accept offshore rigs and all the risk of oil spills that they bring. But never the pristine shoreline of South Carolina or Georgia, and certainly never ever in Florida.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took time away from overseeing unjustified air strikes against alleged drug boats to revisit another of his battlefronts: the war on beards. "Whether you're an airborne ranger or a chair-borne ranger, a brand-new private or a four-star general in the Pentagon—you need to beat height and weight standards and pass the PT [physical training] test twice a year,” Hegseth said at the Northeast Indiana Defense Summit on Wednesday. “I also said we don't need to be in [a] military of beardos anymore.”  x x YouTube Video Hegseth wasn’t finished pushing his latest thinly veiled bit of racism.  “Do you know how many troops claim to be Nordic pagan?” he continued. “Suddenly, it's become like this real religious—fake religious—affiliation inside the Pentagon where troops claim to be Nordic pagan so they can grow a beard, and no one challenges them on it because no one's upheld standards for a long time. Now a quarter of the platoon’s sporting beards because they're now suddenly Nordic pagans. We're not doing that stuff anymore.”

Rep. Nancy Mace's unhinged ranting about an airport is nearing its third week, with the South Carolina Republican now alleging that she was the target of a conspiracy by airport staff to target her for extra surveillance.  For days, Mace has been seeking revenge on staff at the Charleston International Airport, in South Carolina, after an embarrassing news report dropped on Halloween about how she allegedly berated law enforcement officers and Transportation Security Administration staffers at the facility over an allegedly delayed security escort.  After an incident report filed by the officers was publicized, Mace threatened to file a lawsuit against the airport and others for defamation. But on Tuesday, she posted a new deranged conspiracy theory to her congressional website, claiming that she was «subjected to inappropriate surveillance and targeting by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Charleston International Airport security personnel (CHS)» and called for staff at the airport «to come forward with information» about her supposed mistreatment. Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, shown in February 2024. «I was allegedly 'randomly selected' by TSA and the Charleston Airport for extra surveillance. What are the odds? It gets better—I've been told I'm the ONLY elected official who got this special treatment. Totally random, I'm sure,» Mace wrote in a post on X late Tuesday night, along with an image of herself with the text «ESTABLISHMENT ENEMY #1» superimposed over it.  «To whoever greenlit this amateur-hour intimidation tactic: Did you think I'd be scared? Or flattered? Go ahead and make my day. Waste your time, waste taxpayer money, waste whatever credibility you had left,” she continued. “HOLD THE LINE.» I, too, was randomly selected for extra TSA screening on Saturday when my family and I traveled home from Florida. I do not think I was the subject of a conspiracy. Rather, I was randomly selected by the TSA staffers who are currently not being paid because the government remains shut down. Like a normal person, I allowed them to swab my hands and went about my travel day. But not Mace. She instead continued to harass airport staff, saying in posts on X that her selection for additional screening at the airport «is the stuff of the DEEP STATE and BIG BROTHER,» and that her lawsuit against the airport «may bring South Carolina's Attorney General down in flames with it, and several others.» Mace's bizarre, one-sided fight with an airport has members of her own party flummoxed. South Carolina Sens. Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham, both Republicans, have individually praised airport staff and criticized Mace's outbursts. «It is never acceptable to berate police officers, airport staff, and TSA agents who are simply doing their jobs, nor is it becoming of a Member of Congress to use such vulgar language when dealing with constituents,» Scott wrote in a Facebook post. «Not only are these officers sworn to protect us, but we also take an oath to represent them. We work for them, not vice versa.» “I concur with [Scott’s] statement when it comes to the men and women who provide security at the Charleston International Airport,” Graham wrote in a post on X. The editorial board of The Post and Courier, which is based in Charleston, also flamed Mace for her abhorrent behavior. Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, shown in June. The editorial board wrote: «Rep. Mace's foul language and her attitude toward security and other airport staff were out of bounds. Most people would have apologized after such an embarrassing display, perhaps explaining that they were understandably angry or even frightened and said things they now regret. Not Nancy Mace. Nancy Mace has built her public persona around using socially unacceptable language. If I cursed at these underlings, she told a news conference last week, I should have cursed more.» Even right-wing media personalities are raising questions about Mace's mental health in the wake of her public meltdowns. “There’s something wrong with Nancy Mace. And I’m not a fan of hers, and it’s increasingly because she’s not mentally well, and it’s really clear she’s not mentally well, and I don’t know if she has friends who can do an intervention with her, but Nancy Mace needs a real intervention, right-wing radio host Erick Erickson said on his program. Mace, for her part, is running for governor in South Carolina. She faces a crowded primary for the GOP nomination against fellow Rep. Ralph Norman, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, and state Attorney General Alan Wilson. A recent poll shows Mace and Evette in a statistical tie, though it was conducted before the airport brouhaha.  Erickson said he doesn’t think Mace will win the primary, and that he worries for her if she loses. “She’s using her privilege in Congress to smear other people to advance her own career, which, in and of itself, is bad, but then her reactions to the blowback out of Congress is—I’m really worried about her mental well-being,” Erickson added. “That’s not the behavior of a normal person.”