Snapshot · The Rest Is Politics: US
Scaramucci and Maggie Haberman both observed that Trump is acting with classic disinhibition of an 80-year-old, doing and saying whatever he wants without regard for polls or party.
Where this was said
At 14:40 · chapter starts 13:40
Cassidy is an interesting character in this drama, Scaramucci notes: the Louisiana senator Trump didn't endorse, whose seat was taken by Julia Letlow, and yet who seems to have found a spine now that he's on his way out. Katty Kay traces his contradictory week — voting to invoke the War Powers Act to restrain Trump on Iran, then reversing that position to give the president latitude to negotiate. Kay's reading is charitable: Cassidy is trying to be the adult in the room, not opposing Trump for sport, but threading the needle between accountability and not undermining live negotiations while US troops are in the field. Scaramucci is less generous, arguing the reversal was driven primarily by Republicans' inability to be seen as anti-military. But both agree on the key observation: Republican senators are close to flexing on Trump. They haven't broken yet, but the conditions are there. Scaramucci says if he were advising Trump, the message would be blunt: 'Dude, they're about to turn on you. Stop acting crazy.' The green algae reflecting pool and the general chaos of Washington right now are accelerating that moment, not delaying it.
Haberman and Swan's book 'Regime Change' reveals a White House where decisions are made by one person on gut instinct, nobody else's input matters, and the last thought in Trump's head becomes policy. It's the most detailed account of the second term yet — sourced from inside the Situation Room.
A total of 8 states have filed lawsuits against social media platforms, including an ongoing case in Tennessee, using product liability and public nuisance theories to seek accountability.
France built 56 nuclear plants in the 1970s and now has the cheapest energy in Europe, making it independent of Russian or Middle Eastern energy geopolitics.
Estonia has a single tax form, a law preventing the government from asking citizens for the same information twice, and a flat rate of tax — enabling competitive taxation.
Portugal's Lisbon, once a city with a major heroin problem, legalised drugs and redirected enforcement spending into rehabilitation and housing, dramatically reducing crime.
The first Boland Amendment banning CIA and Defense Department funds for the Contras passed the House unanimously — yet the Reagan administration ignored it.
Over just two years, Saudi Arabia alone donated $32 million to the Contra rebels, giving loosely affiliated factions millions they had no way to spend on arms.
The National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty raised $6.3 million for the Contras but only $3.3 million reached them — a shockingly low 52% program expense rate.
Richard Secord and Albert Hakim marked up their arms shipments to the Contras by as much as 300%, making enormous personal profits from the covert operation.
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, tapped to run the entire covert Contra support operation, had no prior experience in covert operations whatsoever — he was learning as he went.
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