curated citations to news sources
David French: The Boy Who Cried Hoax
President Trump isn’t just trying to change the subject; he’s also trying to rewrite history — or maybe I should say reality.
Earlier this month — while Trump was struggling to answer questions about his long friendship with Jeffrey Epstein — Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, released a report purporting to show that senior Obama administration officials participated in a “treasonous conspiracy” in 2016 that was designed to hurt the incoming Trump administration.
Last week the Justice Department piled on. It announced that it was creating a “strike force” to “assess” Gabbard’s evidence and “investigate potential next legal steps.” For his part, Trump reposted a fake video depicting former President Barack Obama’s arrest.
And he’s kept on posting. Days later he reposted a meme that Photoshopped Obama into the infamous white Bronco from O.J. Simpson’s police chase in 1994, with JD Vance and Trump himself Photoshopped into police cars.
(David French more…)
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ProPublica: Immigration Officers Smash Car Windows to Speed Up Arrests
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ICE says its officers use a “minimum amount of force” when making arrests. You can judge for yourself.
(ProPublica more…)
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WSJ: U.S. Hiring Was Weak in July, With 73,000 Jobs Added
Jobs numbers for May and June are revised down sharply, while July’s figures fall short of expectations
(WSJ more…)WSJ: Trump Orders Firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Chief After Weak Jobs Report
President Trump said he directed his team to fire the top Bureau of Labor Statistics official after the bureau issued a weak jobs report on Friday.
Trump in a social media post said Erika McEntarfer, the BLS commissioner, would be “replaced with someone more competent and qualified,” asserting without evidence that the government’s jobs numbers have been manipulated for political purposes.
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CNN: Smithsonian removes reference to Trump’s impeachments from presidency exhibit
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NBC: A ‘beautiful’ ballroom and a new Lincoln bathroom: Trump relishes remaking the White House
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – July 31, 2025
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It certainly doesn’t seem as if much governance is going on in Trump’s White House. As Josh Marshall pointed out today in Talking Points Memo, when the head of the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy resigned today, it turned out that the White House had never formally appointed him in the first place. Marshall added: “We’re six months into this administration and it wasn’t even clear whether this guy was ever in the position at all…. And now he’s gone from the position…that he may or may not have held. This is the state of things from the very top to the very bottom of this administration. And the impact of that is bleeding out into every aspect of the society and economy.”Trump’s claim that he has ended six wars is pure fantasy, and as for his boasts that Europe and Japan are going to pay huge sums of money to the U.S.—which is not actually how trade deals work—the European Union and the U.S. have already published different versions of what was in the agreement between them, although that agreement itself was only preliminary.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Jennifer Rubin: Undaunted: The State Attorneys General
These lawyers are the tip of the legal spear to fend off MAGA extremism.
On Tuesday, they filed suit in Massachusetts alleging that the “Defund” provision in the big, ugly bill targeting Planned Parenthood was unconstitutional. The prior day, they filed a suit in the Northern District of California “challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) demand that states turn over personal and sensitive information about millions of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients.”Last week, they obtained a nationwide injunction to suspend Donald Trump’s blatantly unconstitutional attempt to repeal birthright citizenship. That was also the week they sued the Trump regime for an abrupt imposition of onerous documentation requirements that could block legal immigrants’ access to Head Start, community health centers, anti-poverty centers, and other critical programs.
Who are these dogged litigants? Democratic attorneys general, their states’ chief prosecutor. …
(Jennifer Rubin more…)
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Al Jazeera: Trump orders nuclear submarines closer to Russia in escalating war of words
The US president has been exchanging barbs with Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev, who warned of ‘how dangerous’ Russia can be.
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NPR: Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it’s shutting down
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TNR: Republican Town Hall Goes Off the Rails as He’s Showered in Boos
Representative Bryan Steil’s town hall didn’t exactly go to plan.
(TNR more…)
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MEDIAite: Trump’s Name Redacted From Epstein Files: Report
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Allison Gill: Someone Waived Ghislaine Maxwell’s Sex Offender Status to Move Her to a Minimum Security Camp in Texas
According to sources, you can’t move someone with a Public Safety Factor (PSF) designation – which Maxwell had – without waiving it. That’s what happened here.
Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Trump Pardons Database
Project 2025 Tracker
DOGE Tracker
ProPublica: Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew
Wired: 6 Tools for Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Civil Liberties