In a chaotic first week that has seen several starts and stops on a variety of issues, Donald Trump has been making headlines with his whiplash-inducing statements on torture. The White House has made efforts to distance itself from a draft executive order that would rescind President Obama’s executive order banning torture, while Trump has […]

As a second week of confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s nominees proceeds, many Americans have watched with disbelief and horror as a parade of unqualified, corrupt, and/or destructive candidates have submitted themselves for (limited) questioning, offering answers that are at turns offensive and chilling, but rarely reflective of the radical changes Trump has threatened to […]

Vice President-elect Mike Pence managed to talk without saying a whole lot during his interview with Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace this week, but there was one response that stood out. Wallace asked Pence the question that CNN’s Jim Acosta never got the chance to ask when Trump froze him out at his press conference, […]

According to the Congressional Budget Office, repealing the Affordable Care Act will result in 32 million people losing their health insurance in the first ten years, and to varying degrees, Republicans freely acknowledge that their plan will leave people out. As angry and fearful constituents flood Republican town halls across the country to oppose the repeal of Obamacare, […]

Donald Trump and his team have repeatedly lied to the media, on issues big and seemingly small. When they do not lie, they refuse to even answer emails from reporters who — despite knowing they are likely to be served up a whopper — do the right thing and ask them for comment anyway. Then, when those stories […]

Following the resignation of former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, which came after new reporting showed that Flynn had lied about his discussions with a Russian ambassador during the presidential campaign, the Trump team has been struggling to keep their stories on the subject straight. As my Shareblue colleague Tommy Christopher reported, the accounts coming […]

After President-elect Donald Trump attacked Rep. John Lewis in response to Lewis saying Trump’s presidency is not legitimate, Democrats outpoured messages of solidarity with Lewis. The strong and widespread support for Lewis is now being denounced by Democratic opponents as partisan politicking. This could not be more wrong. It is wrong because there is nothing […]

In light of persistent and ongoing concerns about his campaign’s ties to Russia, Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed he had met with no Russian officials while he was a candidate for president. However, two reports from early 2016 confirm Trump did in fact meet in person with Russian Ambassador Ivanovich Kislyak during the presidential campaign. Sarah Kogan […]

MSNBC’s Morning Joe is normally a more-than-friendly ally to Donald Trump, a fact which the network has not been shy about advertising. But as the Trump administration continues to descend into chaos and corruption, that relationship is showing signs of strain. Host Joe Scarborough recently ripped Trump senior policy adviser Stephen Miller’s despotic understanding of […]

During his transition, then-President-elect Donald Trump waged an escalating campaign to discredit the intelligence community that is currently investigating allegations of collusion between his associates and the Russian government that helped get him elected. And he had also skipped or turned down several intelligence briefings during that time. Now that he has taken office, it appears […]

President-elect Donald Trump kicked a hornet’s nest when he tweeted this attack on civil rights icon John Lewis over Lewis’ assertion that Trump’s presidency is not legitimate: Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to…… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) […]

During an interview on Monday with ABC’s Brian Ross, former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper spoke at length about his conversation with Donald Trump following the briefing of Trump by FBI Director James Comey on the contents of the supplemental material in conjunction with Trump’s January brief on the Intelligence Community Assessment “Assessing Russian […]

This piece was co-written by Shareblue writers Tommy Christopher and Melissa McEwan. There are many ways President-elect Donald Trump could have responded when Rep. John Lewis publicly stated that he doesn’t regard Trump as a “legitimate” president. Any number of those ways would have been respectful, including silence. But Trump has publicly asserted that winning should inoculate […]

George W. Bush once infamously said, “Fool me once, shame on…shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” But the mainstream media’s reaction to Donald Trump’s speech before Congress shows that in the case of the press in America, they are not only susceptible to being fooled time and again, but appear […]

Before Donald Trump’s inauguration, Rep. Maxine Waters passionately argued for further investigation of Trump’s possible collusion with Russia. Now the House Intelligence Committee has announced that it will investigate ties between Russia and associates of Trump’s campaign. In an interview with The Root (an online news site that provides news commentary from a variety of Black perspectives), Rep. Waters makes the case […]

When President-elect Donald Trump shouted down CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s question at a press conference this week, calling him and his organization “fake news,” it was an outrageous continuation of Trump’s campaign of intimidation and marginalization of a free press. Almost as equally outrageous, though, was the reaction of Acosta’s colleagues, who eagerly allowed him […]

While the resurgence of anti-Semitism during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign may have come as an appalling surprise to some, to many Jews in this country, it was a distressing but familiar public emerging of the hatred we have always known lurked beneath the surface. Since their candidate captured the White House — though not by […]

We knew that Russia, a hostile foreign power, committed what some call “acts of war” against the United States during the 2016 election, subverting the will of the U.S. electorate by meddling in the election to help Donald Trump win. We even knew that Trump encouraged the behavior. We knew that National Security Advisor Michael Flynn lied about […]

At CNN’s town hall with Speaker Paul Ryan Thursday night, moderator Jake Tapper introduced Angelica Villalobos, who stood with her young daughter at her side. Villalobos, who was brought to America when she was 11 years old and is currently protected from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, asked Ryan if he thought […]

Key Republicans at the head of committees that would conduct the investigations into Michael Flynn’s wrongdoing and possible collusion with Russia by members of the Trump administrations have indicated no desire for independent examination. Worse, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, went so far as to say Flynn should actually […]

Donald Trump’s executive order and accompanying speech calling for the construction of a border wall was conspicuously missing any reference to his promise to make Mexico pay for that wall. And in an early morning tweet the next day, Trump tried to apply a heavy hand, suggesting that Mexico pay up, or have their scheduled […]

Donald Trump’s violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Emoluments Clause made him impeachable on day one of his ill-gotten presidency, and every day since has brought him closer to removal from office over his ties to Russia, including a six-agency task force that is investigating possible collusion between Trump associates and the Russians; the use of […]

At least 20 Jewish community centers and day schools received bomb threats on one day in 13 states — including Ann Arbor, MI; Staten Island, NY; Asheville, NC; Rockville, MD; and Fairfax, VA. The newest incidents are part of a wave of threats documented coast to coast since the beginning of the year. The Huffington Post reports that that […]

Ever since Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) said he doesn’t see Donald Trump as “a legitimate president” (and Trump attacked Lewis, a Civil Rights icon, on MLK weekend) Lewis’ words have been vindicated, with each passing day. Over President’s Day, as thousands participated in protests across the country to oppose Trump, Rep. Lewis’s constituents gathered to honor him in Atlanta’s 5th […]

The Trump administration has had a rough time executing its communications strategy on the resignation of disgraced National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. In announcing the resignation, Donald Trump did not address the circumstances of Flynn’s resignation at all. And in multiple interviews, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway repeatedly stated that the decision to resign was Flynn’s, […]

The Trump team has now confirmed reports initiated by David Ignatius of the Washington Post and reiterated by other news organizations that Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, Trump’s selection to become his National Security Advisor, contacted the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, in late December 2016. Flynn reportedly made several telephone calls […]

In the face of continuing controversy on multiple fronts, the Trump White House has not held an on-camera press briefing for over a week. The last on-camera briefing with the White House press corps was on February 27. Since then, Press Secretary Sean Spicer has held smaller, off-camera “gaggles” with the press, but has not represented […]

Donald Trump wasted little time getting around to the nationalist anti-immigration agenda that was a pillar of his campaign rhetoric. Less than a week after his inauguration, he issued executive orders, accompanied by a speech filled with his typical bluster and fearmongering, on building a wall along the Mexican border, and on “Enhancing Public Safety […]

President-elect Donald Trump and his surrogates continue furiously to try to deflect allegations that Russia possesses compromising materials it could use to influence his actions as president. Even well-meaning news media are sometimes conflating different aspects of this evolving story and using terms incorrectly. Here are the elements we know at present, as well as […]

Donald Trump’s assault on the free press came to a head last week when Press Secretary Sean Spicer canceled a televised briefing, and excluded major media outlets from the off-camera briefing that took its place. Notably, all of the banned reporters were with outlets which had done heavy reporting on the Trump/Russia connections that prompted this […]