So instead, Donald Trump had the final word, offering up gems such as these:

“Ilhan Omar and her brother are thinking about moving together.”

“[Kaitlan Collins] never smiles. Do you ever smile?”

“Pritzker—don’t call him a fat pig, okay?”

“James Tala-freako… he hates sex, hates women.”

“People wanted me to apologize to Elizabeth Warren. I ended up apologizing to the real Pocahontas.”

“What about Bruce Springsteen? What the hell happened to that guy? He looks like hell.”

“I’m pleased to announce my intention to run for a fourth term as president of the United States.”

I understand the WHCA not wanting an act of violence to “have the final word.” But thinking that offering Donald Trump the final word instead is somehow going to uphold the sanctity of the event, the institution, or a free press is not only naive, but frankly, unacceptable for journalists who - of all people - should know better.

In effect, what Trump got was yet another platform from which he could undermine the very institution that the WHCA thought they were bolstering. Trump stood at the podium and spent the bulk of his remarks attacking the very people in that room. The only thing more irresponsible than allowing him to once again disparage the free press is thinking that this time he would be different.

The White House Correspondents Dinner is supposed to symbolize something bigger than any one president — a night where the press and the White House can occupy the same room, roast each other, and still walk out with mutual respect for the First Amendment intact. It’s not supposed to be a MAGA rally. It’s not supposed to be a campaign stop. But to the surprise of no one, Trump used it as another stage from which he could further erode trust in the First Amendment. Trump doesn’t care about the press; he hates the press (unless of course it’s completely loyal to him). But he’s more than happy to have a platform from which he can destroy them. And the WHCA granted him exactly that.

I would ask when legacy media will learn, but they won’t. There is no recognition that conferring favor onto Trump or Republicans buys you exactly zero goodwill. But still, they will roll out the red carpet, give him a primetime speaking slot, genuflect at his altar— they will put him on a pedestal, and he’ll stand up there and destroy them from it.

None of this helps journalism. None of it protects reporters doing their jobs under increasing hostility, growing threats, and vanishingly thin protections. What it does is teach every strongman-curious politician watching that you can walk into the belly of the free press, mock it to its face, and still get invited back next year while these journalists pretend that everything is fine— just fine. Politics as usual. Nothing to see here.

But you cannot do politics-as-usual with a guy who, if he got his way, would eliminate the ability of a free press to exist.

Look, I understand that journalists want to be neutral. But if you are a journalist in the United States of America, you have an obligation to be biased— in favor of democracy. And Trump’s movement is anti-democratic. Autocrats like Trump do not want a free press. He has broadcast as much on a daily basis. He has issued subpoenas to reporters for the crime of reporting on his lies and corruption. He has blocked journalists from entering the Pentagon. He has sicced his FCC on comedians who commit the cardinal sin of making fun of him. The longer the press pretends that Trump is not an enemy of their profession, the more runway he has to undermine them.

If you’re tired of a legacy media that outright refuses to acknowledge the dangers that Trump poses, that refuses to recognize that this is not politics as usual, please consider subscribing to this newsletter. Unlike the legacy outlets, I cannot be leveraged by the federal government. I don’t need approvals for any mergers or acquisitions. I am not owned by some rightwing billionaire. Hell, Trump is so threatened by me and independent media that he put me on his enemies list. I will continue to speak out and I will not pretend that any of this is normal. Because it’s not.

I’ve asked a lot of you these past few weeks — to pre-order it, to help promote it online, and of course, to contend with the barrage of self-promotion. I’m not going to keep doing that indefinitely, because at some point it starts feeling like noise, and that’s not what you signed up for. So today will be my final ask, and then I’ll go back to focusing exclusively on what’s actually happening in this country, which is the reason you signed up for this in the first place.

So why today? Today, Saturday, marks the “official” end of the first week of sales— and the end of the first week that the New York Times uses for its best seller list compilation. A book’s best shot at hitting the list is on week one. The list really shouldn't matter— but as an English major and an author, of course it’s important to me.

But that’s not why I wrote this book, and it’s not why I’ll continue to advocate for its message long after any list is published. I have dedicated my life to doing whatever I can to ensure that we can see a progressive agenda enacted. When the left’s biggest shortfall was its unwillingness to support independent progressive media, I used my platform to advocate for it relentlessly. Now, the moment calls for Democrats who are willing to fight to achieve our goals. I’m now using my platform - and this book - to advocate for that.

So here’s my very, very humble ask.

If you haven’t picked it up yet: now’s the moment, while it’s still fresh and still being talked about.

If you already have: thank you, genuinely — and if you’re willing, a copy for someone else in your life, or a quick review, or just telling one person who hasn’t heard of it, all helps more than you’d think.

None of this works without you, and I don’t say that as a rhetorical flourish. Independent media, the ability to say the things I say on this newsletter and on video without a network telling me to soften them — all of that exists because people like you decided to show up for it.

👉 Get your copy of THE DAY AFTER

Thank you for reading, for showing up, and for putting up with these emails these past few weeks. Back to the regularly scheduled programming.

— Brian

The point of the whole charade was, of course, to create a pretext for Trump to eventually declare (read: invent) extraordinary powers granting himself control over our elections ahead of midterms. He likely views this move as a necessary first step to ultimately shoehorn through sweeping changes that Republicans have thus far been unsuccessful at implementing. Every Big Lie starts as a little one.

Please order my new book, The Day After, here. And if you live in Los Angeles, grab tickets to my final live show with Pod Save America’s Jon Lovett on Saturday, July 18 here.

Rather than trying to turn the tide (by, you know, governing), Trump is opting to rig the rules the game. On the one hand, it’s a damning indictment of our politics that we’ve gotten to this point. On the other hand, it’s a pathetic act of cowardice that betrays the president’s abject weakness. That’s not to say we shouldn’t take him seriously; if nothing else, the speech showed that Trump will stop at nothing to wield power, even power that he doesn’t have, to get what he wants.

What we saw last night should be a blinking red light for Democrats to continue to fight this anti-democratic MAGA movement on every front. But it should also serve as a lesson for Democrats to recognize the opponent we’re contending with. Trump will stop at nothing to win. We have to see this mentality, take it seriously, and mirror it— not for self-enrichment or vanity projects, but to deliver for Americans. Enough blind deference to our norms and traditions and institutions. Enough symbolic victories and messaging votes. It’s time to wield power like we mean it. It’s time to wield power to secure meaningful, lasting wins. It’s time to wield power like democracy is at risk, because it is.

My new book, The Day After: How To Wield Power in a Post-Trump World, which demands that Democrats finally wield power in office, is out now, and it is meant to serve as a blueprint for how to do exactly that. It’s a roadmap so that we enter 2028 with a plan to not just win power, but keep it. I’m humbly asking you to buy this book, ask your communities online to do the same, and use what you learn from it in the fight for democracy. Because the midterms might still be just over the horizon, but the fight for the future of the republic is already underway.

Well, this week, he got one step closer to the edge of that cliff when Judge Kathleen Williams issued a 56-page order tearing apart the IRS settlement his Justice Department brokered on Trump’s behalf. She referred Blanche for a disciplinary investigation for his trouble.

If you’d like to support my work, my new book, The Day After, is now officially released. Please order a copy today! And tickets are available for my book tour: July 15 in NY and July 18 in LA. Thanks so much.

A quick recap: Trump performed some impressive legal gymnastics to sue his own government – meaning himself – for $10 billion over the IRS leak of his tax returns. Then he oh-so-generously “settled,” opting instead for a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund along with permanent immunity from audits, prosecution, or enforcement for him, his sons, and his businesses, for any returns filed up to the settlement date. Todd Blanche was in charge of the Justice Department that set up the fund and the immunity. If that sounds like malpractice, it sure would be for someone tasked with upholding the law and the Constitution. But that’s not what Todd Blanche does. He has one client, and that’s Donald Trump. He was just doing his job.

Judge Williams ruled that the lawsuit was bogus, because it didn’t fulfill the basic requirement of actually being a lawsuit: having a distinct plaintiff and defendant.
“There was never adverseness between the Parties; there was never a case or controversy; and there was never a question as to who would prevail,” she wrote in her ruling. Blanche tried to create a “heads I win, tails you lose” scenario for Trump, and the judge wasn’t buying it.

Now Blanche could face the same sort of consequences that took down so many of his predecessors. And he wouldn’t be alone in this one. The ruling threatens four lawyers. Alejandro Brito, Trump’s lead counsel, was referred to the Florida Bar for discipline. Stanley Woodward was referred to the D.C. Bar. Daniel Epstein is banned from appearing in the Southern District of Florida for one year. And Blanche himself was referred to the New York State Bar. Not an ideal headline on the eve of a big job interview to become the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

Every single one of Trump’s lawyers looks at the cold dead bodies of those who came before and seems to think it won’t happen to them. But defending Trump never works out well in the end. Todd Blanche is just the latest— but by no means special.

He’s done some fine work sucking up to Trump in order to get here: protecting him from the fallout from the Epstein files, setting up Trump’s January 6 slush fund, bringing politically motivated cases and investigations against Trump’s perceived enemies, and generally weaponizing the Justice Department to be Trump’s personal cudgel. But if I were him, I’d set up a plan B. Because if the past is any indication, Todd Blanche’s future is far from certain.

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Donald Trump has shown that our institutions are not sacrosanct. He barrels through them to get what he wants— the law, the Constitution, the courts, the other branches of government be damned. But he does it for self-enrichment. He does it to build vanity projects. He does it to consolidate power for himself. Democrats can - and, I argue, must - learn from the GOP’s refusal to abide by norms and traditions— but for virtuous reasons! To deliver healthcare for all Americans, to expand voting rights, to combat climate change, to expand the Supreme Court, to deliver a just economy, and so much more.

I think it is essential to have this debate now, so that when we get into power - and I believe we will get into power - we don’t waste that precious time talking about wielding power, but rather simply doing it. With so much disillusionment in politics (on the right and the left), if we don’t take advantage of whatever opportunities come our way, we risk losing a generation of Americans forever. And it is in that vacuum of trust and faith in government where autocracy thrives. The moment that we’re living through right now, today, is a testament to why we must do everything in our power to prevent that from happening.

This book, The Day After, is a blueprint for how Democrats must govern in the future. It doesn’t seek to entrench the status quo, but rather usher in a new kind of government that works for Americans. A government that doesn’t allow the smallest obstacle stand in its way. A government that isn’t in place to defend its own institutions, but rather one that focuses on outcomes for its people.

If you agree with this message, then I humbly ask you to support my work and order The Day After: How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World at any of the retailers at this link. You can also come to my book tour. I’ll be in Washington DC tonight, July 14, with Jim Acosta (tickets here), in New York City on July 15 with Don Lemon (tickets here), and with Jon Lovett in Los Angeles on July 18 (tickets here).

Thank you so much.

Once you’ve pre-ordered, you must fill out this form. Once you’ve submitted that form, my publisher will be sending hand-signed bookplates out (only to US addresses) shortly after the book arrives. Once you receive the bookplate, you can remove the back to expose the sticky side and stick it inside the book.

Pre-order The Day After

And, importantly, if you live in or near Washington DC, New York, or Los Angeles, I’ll be signing books in person on my book tour. So please grab tickets to join me on July 14 with Jim Acosta in DC, July 15 with Don Lemon in NY, or July 18 with Jon Lovett in LA. There are still tickets available, and I’d love to meet you in person, so if you’re free during my book tour, please grab tickets as soon as you can!

A little background on the book. The Day After is a blueprint for how Democrats can and must wield power in a way that doesn’t simply restore the status quo, but seeks to rebuild our government with a focus on outcomes. If there’s one lesson that we can learn from Trump, it’s that our institutions are not as sacrosanct as we once believed. But unlike Trump, we can overcome those barriers not for self-enrichment and vanity projects, but for virtuous reasons. We must deliver universal healthcare, we must combat climate change, we must expand voting rights, we must create a just economy, we must expand the Supreme Court, and we must reimplement the rule of law. But we need to have this debate now, so that when we take power back, we can hit the ground running by actually wielding power, not just talking about wielding power.

Finally, a heartfelt thank you— for supporting my work, for giving me a little bit of your time each day, and for your trust in an era of such rampant mis- and disinformation. I appreciate it.

While the passage of a bipartisan bill in this political climate is nothing short of a miracle, this one really was a no-brainer. It lowers home prices, speeds up building, and reins in the corporate landlords buying up single-family homes. Democrats called it the biggest housing bill in decades, Republicans called it a win for families. Trump called it a “yawn.”

Here’s a special offer for Substack readers. If you pre-order my new book, The Day After, you can get a signed bookplate by filling out this form. The offer is only valid until July 13. And please come see me on my book tour on July 14 in DC, July 15 in NY, and July 18 in LA.

The bill sailed through both chambers of Congress before reaching Trump’s desk on June 29th— where he defiantly refused to sign it, opting instead to use it as leverage to pass the SAVE America Act, Trump’s fever dream legislation which ultimately amounts to a federal takeover of elections. Yesterday, he reiterated his refusal to budge, explicitly saying on Truth Social that it’s in “protest” of the Senate not passing the SAVE America Act. He’s made it crystal clear to Americans that he’d rather housing be unattainable than give up his crusade to gut voting rights.

His critics claim he’s blowing the midterms. But that’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the Trump psychology. He is, in fact, laser focused on the midterms— because the SAVE America Act would help him rig them. He doesn’t want to earn votes, which he could legitimately do by signing this housing bill; he wants to rig the rules of the game before a single vote is even cast.

The fact that he wouldn’t sign his own party’s bill in accordance with his own campaign promise goes to show that he feels absolutely no need to deliver for the people to whom he pandered on the campaign trail. When a president would rather blow up his own party’s legislative win than let a real election happen on a level playing field, that tells you he’s not preparing to win the midterms. He’s preparing to make sure it doesn’t matter whether he does.

Because the 10-day clock ran out at midnight last night and Trump didn’t explicitly veto the legislation, the housing bill automatically became law. He won’t get to take credit for it, and his tantrum effectively neutered the Republicans’ ability to celebrate its passage. Instead, we’re having a national conversation about how Trump attempted to sacrifice his own campaign promise in his desperation to consolidate political power for himself. Which, ultimately, is the perfect microcosm for the MAGA movement over which he presides.

A reminder: please pre-order my new book, The Day After, and grab tickets to my book tour on July 14 in DC, July 15 in NY, or July 18 in LA.

A week from now, the guy responsible will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee, asking to be confirmed as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. Given everything that just went down, in addition to his long track record wielding the law as a partisan cudgel, I’d say that guy, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, is uniquely unqualified for the job. Which, in this timeline, means he’ll almost certainly get it.

Here’s a special offer for Substack readers. If you pre-order my new book, The Day After, you can get a signed bookplate by filling out this form. The offer is only valid for US addresses until July 13. And please come see me on my book tour. Tickets are still available on July 14 in DC, July 15 in NY, and July 18 in LA.

That’s because Blanche isn’t auditioning to be the nation’s top lawyer, or to defend the Constitution, though that’s what the job interview is nominally about. Blanche already has a client, and even though your tax dollars are paying his salary, he’s certainly not working for you. Todd Blanche is in this position for the exact same reason he should be disqualified from it: he’s loyally served as Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney. Clearly, he’s never stopped, even as he rose to the rank of acting Attorney General. He remained loyal to his client, only now with access to Justice Department resources.

When Blanche takes his seat next week, he has a lot to answer for. There’s the issue of the redactions in the Epstein files. Why are the victims’ names published while the perpetrators’ identities are protected? Why was Ghislaine Maxwell moved to a minimum security prison after Blanche personally interviewed her? Why haven’t three million documents been released?

Then there’s another one of his glaring conflicts of interest, in Trump’s suit against the IRS. Trump sued the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. Todd Blanche, acting as the government’s lawyer, despite having formerly been Trump’s lawyer, negotiated against himself and lost spectacularly: no tax enforcement against Trump, his family, or his businesses, ever, plus a $1.776 billion slush fund as a parting gift. That loss was a win, though, in the eyes of his once and future king, Donald Trump.

Of course, a commitment to the weaponization of the law against political enemies should be yet another disqualifying factor for Blanche. But as he’s always performing for an audience of one, it’s in fact the reason he’s the perfect candidate. Blanche has a pattern of political prosecutions, including indicting James Comey (a judge threw that one out), going after John Brennan for looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and investigating Cassidy Hutchinson after she implicated the President in the January 6 riot during House testimony.

Blanche isn’t exactly coasting on this one. He needs the support of every single Republican on the judiciary committee to be confirmed. But neither Thom Tillis nor John Cornyn have committed to backing him. Caveat: both are leaving the Senate. The only Republicans free to offer even an ounce of dissent are the ones who don’t need Trump anymore. If Blanche does make it through to the next round, he can only afford to lose three Republican votes (of which the aforementioned Tillis and Cornyn are included).

The Catch-22 here is that even if he were to lose the vote, it might not cost him the job. Trump can just leave him in place as acting attorney general, where he is free to continue doing what he’s been doing. The hearing is a formality. The upshot won’t really be whether Blanche runs the DOJ; he will - at least for a while. It’ll be whether the Senate co-signs it.

Blanche is in the position he’s in because of his die-hard fealty to Trump. He’s defended the President in two federal cases and a hush money trial in New York. That resume is not insignificant. But he’s just one in a long line of Trump’s personal lawyers who got drunk on proximity to power, and ended up burned. Rudy Giuliani was disbarred. John Eastman’s disbarment is pending. Jenna Ellis’ license was suspended. Michael Cohen is a convicted felon. Blanche is just the latest in this long line of casualties to survive long enough to be handed the keys to the castle before his past catches up with him. And if history is any indication, it will eventually. The question is, how much damage can Blanche do before it does?

So while the rest of team USA and their fans should be celebrating having their star player back on the field, Trump’s forcing everyone to make it about him.

Sure, a corrupt guy did corruption with one of the most famously corrupt organizations on earth. That’s the least surprising part of the story.

The sharper headline is that Trump’s gloating about it puts the stink of politics on something that has been a respite from politics for a nation - or, frankly, a world - that has been relentlessly bombarded by the toxicity of politics for what feels like an eternity.

If you enjoy my work, please join me on my book tour on July 14 in DC, July 15 in NY, or July 18 in LA. Otherwise, please pre-order my upcoming book here.

The World Cup has been an absolute joy across the board, the rare thing we can all agree on. We love it because it is everything Trump is not. It’s not hateful or divisive, it’s joyous and inclusive. You have teams from around the world garnering home team support across America, expressly because this is a nation of immigrants – a fact Trump has done everything in his power to erase.

And then there’s the irony of all ironies: Trump pulled strings to reverse the red card suspension for Balogun, who is a birthright citizen. Balogun only qualified for the US team, becoming its top scorer, because of the 14th amendment, which Trump has been working overtime to destroy. Let the record show that this is probably the first time Trump has advocated for an immigrant’s rights.

Trump pulled this same kind of move when the US Men’s Hockey team won gold at the Olympics. The country was unilaterally thrilled with their win, the first for the team in 40 years. Then Trump forced his way into the chat, gratuitously insulting the Women’s team in a congratulatory phone call to the men’s team, and taking a dump all over their victory lap and our national discourse. And just like that, it was all about him.

Am I surprised? Frankly, I may be physiologically incapable of surprise at this point. This is what Trump does. He can’t stand to let anything dominate the headlines if it doesn’t include him. It doesn’t help that the World Cup has outshined the flop that was Trump’s America 250 (™) celebration. He simply won’t let us have something that isn’t tainted by his insatiable need for attention.

Here are the instructions (they’re important). First, you have to pre-order The Day After between now and July 13 (the pre-order period). Any books ordered after the pre-order period won’t be eligible. You can find pre-order options here (I recommend independent bookstores on that list but all of the retailers are fine).

Once you’ve pre-ordered, you must fill out this form. Once you’ve submitted that form, my publisher will be sending hand-signed bookplates out (only to US addresses) shortly after the book arrives. Once you receive the bookplate, you can remove the back to expose the sticky side and stick it inside the book.

Alternatively, if you live in/near DC, New York, or Los Angeles, I’ll be signing books in person on my book tour. So please grab tickets to join me on July 14 in DC, July 15 in NY, or July 18 in LA.

A little background on the book. The Day After is a blueprint for how Democrats can and must wield power in a way that doesn’t simply restore the status quo, but seeks to rebuild our government with a particular focus on outcomes. If there’s one lesson that we can learn from Trump, it’s that our institutions are not as sacrosanct as we once believed. But unlike Trump, we can overcome those barriers for virtuous reasons. As opposed to self-enrichment and the consolidation of power, we can deliver universal healthcare, we can combat climate change, we can expand voting rights, we can create a just economy. In fact, as I argue, we must.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I must say, for an English major who could only dream of one day being an author, I am eternally grateful for those of you who are kind enough to support my writing. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Pre-order The Day After here

Even without the record-breaking heat throwing a wrench in things, America 250 has already been upstaged by a different marquee event: the World Cup. For weeks now, Americans have been glued to their TVs, packing sports bars and outdoor watch parties, and flocking to stadiums to watch soccer. Not even one of our top 3 pro sports. But here we are, with the US Men’s National Team taking their first knockout stage win in 25 years.

Naturally, Trump’s going to try to take credit for it, calling the US team the “best in the world” after the win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. But the success of this team comes in spite of Trump, not because of him. Half of the roster is made up of dual citizenship holders, foreign-born players, and children of immigrants. Coach Mauricio Pochettino is Argentine. This team is a repudiation of everything Trump stands for and is working towards. It could never exist in the world that Trump has tried to bring about with his brutal immigration crackdowns and isolationist foreign policy. You can’t take credit for the success of the team while simultaneously trying to eliminate the conditions necessary for it to exist.

If you enjoy my work, please join me on my book tour on July 14 in DC, July 15 in NY, or July 18 in LA. Otherwise, please pre-order my upcoming book here.

One of the more delightful features of the World Cup is the opportunity for foreign players and fans to discover our uniquely American culture, including such gems as Baja Blast, Waffle House, and Ranch dressing. It’s a testament to the fact that even after all the damage Trump has done to our reputation on the world stage, we still have culture (and food) that the world wants to consume. Hundreds of thousands of people have traveled from all over the world, which is a massive economic boost, by the way. Imagine how much more the world would embrace us if we didn’t try to scare them off with our roving bands of ICE agents and rampant gun violence.

This kind of global cooperation and collaboration is exactly the thing Trump and Republicans have been trying to kill with their xenophobic rhetoric and by taking a sledgehammer to the global order. And despite their best efforts, it’s not working. But the world does still value our culture, and we still want to embrace the world. It’s why you’re seeing massive crowds in the streets in Koreatown in Los Angeles to watch South Korea vs. Mexico, and why everyone you know is googling “where is Cape Verde?”

This is the America we’re fighting to protect. It’s the America that Trump is afraid of, because he’s not at the center of it. And this is the America we should be celebrating in our 250th year.

For comparison, Biden’s final financial disclosure was - wait for it - 11 pages.

But, let’s say, hypothetically, you wanted to make the argument that Trump’s a businessman. Remember when he said, “My whole life I’ve been greedy greedy greedy, I’ve grabbed all the money I could. But now I want to be greedy for the United States”? This is simply what Trump does— and now he’s doing it for America. Not quite. The reality is that his greed is still limited to just one man. In 2024, his total revenue was $622 million. In 2025, that ballooned to $2.2 billion. Being the President is the business, man.

🚨 If you live in NY, DC, or LA, please grab tickets to my live shows between July 14-18. I’ll be with Jim Acosta in DC, Don Lemon in NY, and Jon Lovett in LA. Tickets are still available here.

In actuality, what it is is a grift. This man doesn’t build things. This revenue comes from slapping his name on things, and letting other people do the work. The Trump golf courses. Trump hotels. The memecoin. Trump bibles. Trump watches. These are just glorified licensing deals— and not even good ones. Need proof? When was the last time you flew on Trump Airlines?

.

But this isn’t just in poor taste, because a lot of these deals could also fall into the category of “national security risk.” Trump is licensing his name to properties in countries where the U.S. has foreign policy interests, places like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. If he’s personally pocketing money from these countries, the relationship with them benefits his personal interest, not the best interest of the U.S.

And those countries have also pumped money into Trump’s crypto business, raising yet another conflict of interest. Trump’s crypto operation is maybe one of his most egregious “get rich quick” schemes, if only because he profited at the massive expense of regular people. Trump launched the $TRUMP memecoin ahead of his inauguration, conning legions of his followers into investing. While Trump made over $600 million off the deal, hundreds of thousands of his loyal fans lost catastrophic amounts of money.

The metaphor here is almost too perfect to describe the way Trump regards his followers. They’re suckers. He’s willing to bleed them dry to enrich himself and give nothing in return. Because the financial interests of regular people aren’t of interest to him. In fact, they bore him.

Case in point: he’s refusing to sign a landmark bipartisan bill to alleviate the country’s crippling housing shortage because it’s “a yawn.” I’m not making this up. Trump looks at Americans struggling to keep a roof over their heads the same way I do at an entire 8-episode Netflix documentary I half-watched while doing my laundry. That’s how little he cares about you.

Congress managed to do the impossible in passing a bipartisan housing bill that would actually deliver on Trump’s own promise to make life better for Americans. But Trump cancelled the signing ceremony at the last minute, preferring to hold it hostage in exchange for passing the SAVE America Act, which takes a hatchet to what’s left of voting rights. He’s throwing away a bill that has universal support from both sides of the aisle in favor of pushing through his deeply unpopular pet project that has languished for months and stands no chance of becoming law.

Every decision he makes as president is a calculation of self-interest. Whether it’s setting up a cryptocurrency scam or launching a war of choice against Iran, he’s not thinking of anyone but himself.

The takeaway here: this is all the proof we need that Supreme Court expansion is beyond necessary. The fact that you have three to four justices (depending on how you read Kavanaugh’s flaccid argument) on the record saying that the Constitution does not apply in the case of upholding birthright citizenship should be a flashing red light to anyone watching. Birthright citizenship - which is affirmed in the plain text of the Constitution - barely survived this session. And I’d venture to guess that what’s left of our voting rights will have an even slimmer chance of making it out of the 2027 session alive.

As far as this court is concerned, we’re no longer in a position to “hope for the best,” to watch and wait for things to turn out alright. We have to act.

Interestingly, this came up in a conversation with Governor Gavin Newsom about my new book, The Day After, on his podcast. Newsom and I have disagreed about Supreme Court expansion. But in a discussion about my book, which is literally a blueprint for how Democrats should wield power in a post-Trump world, I got Newsom to agree with me for the first time on how to wield it.

“I’m with you. I’m done winning arguments, we gotta win.”

If and when Democrats retake control of the government (already a Herculean feat unto itself) and manage to pass progressive legislation (another Herculean feat), all of it will be rendered completely moot by a court that’s guaranteed to strike down everything that doesn’t comport with its political ideology. We have to decide if we want to win symbolic victories and simply get caught trying or if we actually want to make permanent, meaningful change. If it’s the latter, then inherently, that requires us to expand the Court. 

Now, this isn’t the only conversation taking place about this. Sen. Adam Schiff appeared on CNN and said, in response to my discussion with Newsom, that he agrees with me that the Court should be expanded and reformed.

But he makes a crucial point here; it’s not enough for Democrats to institute term limits for justices or get into the weeds on ethics reforms, because all of it goes before an existing Supreme Court that will always rule in its own self interest. So unless Democrats expand the court – and Schiff argues for that to be to 13 – none of this matters.

This is exactly what I lay out in my book, The Day After. It’s what I’m going to talk about the most and the loudest while I’m on my book tour. And now we have two of the most powerful Democrats in the government, including one who’s a likely 2028 presidential candidate, joining the discourse and beating the drum for expanding the court.

This is exactly what the book was meant to do: push Democrats to fight harder to make real material change, and to fix what’s been broken. And now, in conversations about the book, I’m pushing Democrats to fight harder, and they’re agreeing to get into the fight. It’s a testament to how effective this book could be. So, immodestly, I will ask that you not only pre-order a copy and grab tickets to my book tour in NY, DC, and LA (both of which can be found here) but tell people about it. The more books we sell, the more attention it gets, and that’s how this conversation spreads and these ideas pick up steam. Courage can be contagious, but it has to start somewhere.

We have the opportunity to take back control of Congress in the midterms, and I believe we can do it. But once we do, we have to be ready to get to work. This is the instruction manual for how to do it when the time comes.

Naturally, the guy tapped to lead the nation’s intelligence agencies has zero experience in intelligence, the military, or even a proper security clearance ahead of assuming the position. What he does have, though, is a documented history of using government power to go after Trump’s enemies. Look at his track record while running the Federal Housing Finance Agency: going after Letitia James, Adam Schiff, Lisa Cook, Jerome Powell, accusing them all of mortgage fraud.

How does that qualify him to run the government’s entire intelligence apparatus? Great question. It doesn’t. Because keeping the country safe from terrorist attacks, espionage, and cyber-warfare isn’t the job. Wielding government power as a weapon on behalf of Trump against his perceived enemies is. The only qualification that matters to Trump is complete and total fealty to Trump. And Pulte got on his knees to prove it. He lobbied hard for the job. He had strong endorsements behind him, too. Roger Stone allegedly pushed for him. Other MAGA insiders called him a “bulldozer,” which is exactly what Trump is looking for. He wants someone to go in, clean house, and demolish his opponents.

If you’d like to support my work, please pre-order my new book The Day After. And if you live in NY, DC, or LA, grab tickets to my book tour!

And if this looks like just another instance of a completely incompetent Trump loyalist getting rewarded for prostrating themselves at the altar of the Godking, it’s not just that. The stakes on this one couldn’t be higher. Pulte has the ability to completely unravel our intelligence infrastructure just as this country faces serious security threats (of Trump’s own making, naturally).

Section 702 of FISA, which gives us the surveillance authority to monitor foreign threats, just lapsed, and both Democrats and Republicans cited Pulte’s appointment as the reason they blocked its renewal. That means our intelligence agencies are flying partially blind as we’re in the middle of a war with Iran that Trump started, and facing very real threats from Russia and China. The cuts at the National Counterterrorism Center in particular pose a real risk. This is an agency established in the wake of 9/11 that’s responsible for pooling intelligence across agencies. If Pulte succeeds at firing everyone there, we’ve lost exactly the people whose job it is to connect the dots before something happens. Which, ironically enough, is the exact intelligence failure that reportedly led to 9/11 in the first place.

This is the exact same playbook we’ve seen used at DOJ, DOD, State: gut the institution, install an unqualified Trump loyalist, and weaponize the position against his perceived enemies. It’s governing by pettiness. The lack of competence in these positions isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. Trump wants useful idiots to do his bidding, and up until this point, it’s worked.

Only this time, the idiot’s playing with fire. Intelligence agencies handle the most serious security threats facing the country. When something goes wrong - and history tells us something will - who will be there to handle it? More importantly, who will have to answer for it?

These elusive “vandals” have taken “some form of knife or blade, and put a 250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete. They also poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool,” according to Trump on Truth Social. Predictably, the 250 foot gash has evolved into a 300 foot gash according to Trump’s newest screed this morning. It hit 350 feet this afternoon. I’m excited to see what new lengths tomorrow brings.

These vandals remain unidentified even under the watch of National Guardsmen deployed to the Reflecting Pool. And they were apparently reckless enough to do their dirty work under 24/7 surveillance - there’s a permanent wide angle camera mounted atop the Washington Monument. You can drop in on the feed any time.

OK, granted, it’s an extremely wide angle, and you’d need some CSI-grade zoom-in technology to get a good look at the alleged vandals. But Trump himself claims there are tapes. So this is a problem very easily solved. Just release the tapes, and we can clear this all up. (Not the water, of course; that much has proven impossible.)

Not gonna happen.

My new book, The Day After, comes out July 14. Pre-order your copy today, and get tickets for my book tour in DC, NY, and Los Angeles. They’re going fast— so grab your ticket today!

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As erratic as Trump’s behavior can be, at the end of the day, he’s the most predictable guy there is. Because he’s been in this exact same kind of situation before - backed into a corner, attacked on some spurious claim that can be easily cleared up by evidence he confidently proclaims exists but never actually produces.

Trump could have released the Epstein Files and dispelled the toxic rumors that have dogged his second term and tanked his approval ratings. He promised to do it. We’re still waiting and he’s still getting roasted over it.

Trump continues to perpetuate the blatant and repeatedly disproven lie that the 2020 election was stolen, claiming there’s tons of evidence. He’s siccing his lackeys on election officials, seizing ballots, sending minions to monitor vote counts in California, and has yet to publicly produce a single piece of viable evidence to support the claim.

Earlier this year, in the most egregious instance of this practice, after ICE agents shot and killed two innocent Americans during immigration raids in Minneapolis, Trump insisted “the tapes” proved that the killings were in self defense, that the victims had attacked the agents. Only that time, there was footage, and it completely debunked the claims, and revealed Trump for the liar that he is.

Which is exactly why we’ll never get the Epstein Files or evidence of a stolen election, or - for that matter - security camera footage of a team of vandals doing a football field’s-worth of damage to a very public national monument in broad daylight. Either it doesn’t exist, or he’s just refusing to release the footage that would validate his claims. I’ll let you be the judge of that.

So, just like the putrid water in the reflecting pool, Trump will continue to circle the drain, clinging to lies like a life raft.

For every copy of The Day After sold during the pre-order period, I will be donating a portion of the proceeds directly to the Free Election Fund. And both my editor and my publisher, HarperCollins, have generously agreed to match those funds.

This match is only valid for pre-orders placed before the book’s release on July 14. So if you’ve been waiting, now is the time to pre-order (pre-order here).

And more good news: Now, everyone who pre-orders is eligible to receive a signed bookplate, shipped to any address in the US. You must fill out this form with your information and proof of purchase, and you will receive your signed bookplate in the mail (please note, the signed bookplate will arrive separately from your book).

Marc’s team is in federal and state courts right now fighting to protect mail-in voting, block illegal gerrymanders that strip Black and Latino voters of representation, challenge proof-of-citizenship laws designed to keep people off the rolls, and stop the Trump administration’s systematic assault on the foundations of free and fair elections. These cases will determine who gets to vote, whose vote counts, and whether the results of elections actually mean anything.

They’re on the front lines, but they can’t do this alone. Every book you buy funds that fight directly. Every person you share this with expands the coalition. This is how we build something durable enough to outlast the moment we’re in. This administration will end, but what comes next will call for strong collective action to rebuild what Trump broke, and to find a way to do things better. That’s exactly what my book is about.

Please pre-order The Day After today. The match ends July 14.

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One of Trump’s pet projects has failed spectacularly: his attempt to fix the notoriously leaky and algae-riddled Reflecting Pool while improving on the 100 year-old design by installing a cheap pool liner in “American Flag Blue” backfired. The water has instantly turned bright green, thanks to an out-of-control algal bloom.

Now, in fairness, this is a problem that didn’t start with him. Previous administrations had devoted time, money, and care to trying to fix it. But it proved challenging, with root causes that go all the way back to its design in 1922. Despite best efforts, no one had effectively solved it. The Obama Administration put $34 million into rehabbing the pool, shoring it up for a few years at least.

But the putrid Reflecting Pool problem isn’t the only Obama era challenge Trump has attempted to solve this week— only to make it much, much worse. Much like the crumbling lining of the Reflecting Pool, details from Trump’s Iran deal have leaked, and it’s a mess.

Trump announced on Sunday, as a birthday present to himself, that a deal had been reached and that the war was finally (for the 12th time) over. This deal would be the best deal, better than any deal that has ever been made, and certainly completely different from the Iran Nuclear Deal negotiated under Obama in 2015, which Trump himself destroyed.

But here at the end of a completely unnecessary war of choice that no one wanted — that still, Congress has never approved — Trump has put the US in a far worse position than it was in before, and Iran in a better one than ever.

Essentially what it leaves us with is a more extreme Iranian government: more repressive, more anti-West. Iran will reportedly gain access to a $300+ billion fund to tap for reconstruction. And Iran now knows that it can use the Strait of Hormuz - through which a significant portion of the global oil supply passes on a daily basis - as leverage at will. In other words, Iran walks away with a playbook to hold the world economy hostage whenever it so chooses.

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Trump inherited a flawed Reflecting Pool that had been shored up over and over again, but it was always on shaky ground. DC is a swamp, and the ground beneath the pool has been constantly shifting, cracking the infrastructure and causing it to leak up to 16 million gallons per year at some points. Despite Trump’s assurances that his proposed fix would be both cheaper and better, what he ended up doing cost almost seven times more than he initially promised, and has been an utter disaster. On top of the over $14 million it cost to make a historic landmark look exactly the same as my grandma’s in-ground pool on Long Island, Trump now has to drop another $1.7 million on a system to clean up the mess he made. Naturally, he found a way to frame this as “not his fault,” by rebranding the algae as “Biden’s filth.”

This new Iran Deal is just another transparent rebranding effort. Trump couldn’t stand to have a deal in place that bore Obama’s name. So he tore it up, and launched a war just so that he could slap his name on a similar – re: worse – deal. But what we’re left with is a deal so incomplete and inadequate, it’s already turning green before our eyes.

What I learned as a wrestler was that on the mat, there’s no way to hide. There are no shortcuts. It’s you and your opponent out there. If you don’t put in the work, you will lose. I also learned discipline. I spent most of my high school career cutting weight. There were days I’d go to school with a baggie of iceberg lettuce for lunch. That’s all. Even if I hadn’t eaten in a week, if I was still over weight (for my weight class), that was all I got. It was mentally excruciating, physically exhausting, physiologically challenging. But still, at the end of a bout, when my hand was raised, there was the ecstasy of knowing that I got the win. The hard work paid off. I did that.

Trump can’t say the same. His entire existence has been marked by a desire to steal credit for what other people built. He got rich off the backs of contractors he stiffed. He slapped his name on products and brands that were doomed to fail. He has no lasting legacy other than his willingness to plow over people while enriching himself.

The dichotomy at tonight’s UFC event is going to be stark: a guy who lied, cheated, and stole his way through life, watching fighters who could only get into that octagon because they worked for it. There’s no way to lie, cheat, or steal your way through a fight. Tonight, Trump’s big walk-out will be from the Oval Office to the Octagon. Twenty feet, maybe thirty. I wouldn’t put money on him making it in a straight line.

He’ll bask in the spotlight of an event paid for in sweat and blood that isn’t his, on a lawn that, by the league’s own estimate, will cost $700,000 to repair afterward— money that also isn’t his.

A bigger man might draw a lesson from that about what it actually looks like to work for something. He’s not that. His legacy will be having conned his supporters into voting for him on the pretense that he’d help them, when the only people he’s ever looked out for are the ones in his own family.

That’s exactly how he’s governed. While he swore on the campaign trail that he’d focus on an America First agenda, since the moment he took office, it’s been about him. His new jet. His ballroom. His gold-plated Oval Office. His reflecting pool. His arch. All for him.

Tonight, Trump will watch from the good seats under The Claw that our tax dollars paid for. He’ll pose for photos with titans of industry like UFC president Dana White, his family members who are obligated to be there, and not a single relevant celebrity invitee; those people turned him down. He’ll wave and clap and bask in the attention he orchestrated for himself. Hopefully, he’ll be able to stay awake for the whole event; his track record isn’t great, and Knicks fans won’t let him forget it.

But when they run the photos tomorrow, if you look closely, I bet you might be able to see a modicum of humiliation in his eyes. Because tonight, he’ll be surrounded by people who have worked hard to earn the win, and he’s going to feel exactly how small he is.