Steve Benen

When Donald Trump unveiled a meme coin a few days before his second inaugural, the ethical mess was obvious. The Campaign Legal Center’s Adav Noti explained at the time, “It is literally cashing in on the presidency — creating a […]

Ahead of the floor vote on the poorly named “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” Republican leaders had one obvious goal: keep intraparty defections to an absolute minimum. As the dust settled, it was clear they’d succeeded, with only two GOP

Donald Trump has an odd habit of demanding investigations into all kinds of people and entities whom he perceives as political foes, indifferent to whether his targets have actually done anything wrong. Often, the presidential calls amount to meaningless chest-thumping

When Senate Democrats tried to defeat Frank Bisignano’s nomination to serve as the commissioner of the Social Security Administration, they had plenty of rhetorical ammunition to work with. After all, as recently as February in an interview with CNBC, Bisignano

House members looking for an excuse to oppose the Republicans’ so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” were handed plenty of opportunities. The Congressional Budget Office, for example, delivered a brutal assessment of the party’s far-right reconciliation package on Tuesday night.

As the fight over the Republicans’ so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act unfolded, much of the focus turned to Medicaid, and for good reason. Despite Donald Trump’s promise not to cut the health care program, the GOP legislation would cut

As the Republicans’ poorly named “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” came together, members of the House Freedom Caucus made one thing perfectly clear: They did not like this legislation. The more the evidence showed that the GOP’s reconciliation package would

May 22, 2025, 2:36 PM EDT / Updated May 22, 2025, 2:43 PM EDT By Steve Benen Harvard University has faced an unprecedented and radical offensive from Donald Trump and his team, which to date has focused on eliminating federal grants to the

Ordinarily, Donald Trump isn’t the kind of guy who’s overly concerned with evidence. The president relies on preconceived ideas, assorted conspiracy theories, rumors he’s heard via conservative media and routine assumptions he creates out of whole cloth, but he’s never

May 21, 2025, 3:32 PM EDT / Updated May 21, 2025, 3:41 PM EDT By Steve Benen Donald Trump’s interest in South Africa reached a new level this month, as his administration made a dramatic exception to its opposition to refugees and welcomed