Trump administration set to purchase $400 million worth of armored Teslas  —  The Trump administration is expected to purchase $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles, according to a new State Department document detailing procurement for fiscal year 2025.

Europe braces for a future without the US as a reliable ally  —  European defense leaders are preparing for a tense gathering with the Trump team.  —  MUNICH — European allies are bracing this week for the answer to a question they've been dreading to ask: Can they really count on the United States?

Trump and Musk can't seem to locate much evidence of fraud  —  They keep justifying their bold moves as combating fraud, but they have been unable so far to point to much of anything specific that's actually fraudulent.  —  President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's efforts to disrupt …

Some Migrants Sent by Trump to Guantánamo Are Being Held by Military Guards  —  The Times has obtained a list of 53 Venezuelan men the Trump administration has put in a wartime prison built to hold Al Qaeda suspects.  —  Dozens of Venezuelan migrants sent by the Trump administration …

Linda McMahon is much worse than you think  —  💭 🤔 💥 With corporate outlets obeying in advance, supporting independent political media is more important right now than ever.  Public Notice is possible thanks to paid subscribers.  If you aren't one already …

Justice, FBI ousters remove longtime experts from daily threats meeting  —  Trump administration shake-ups at the Justice Department and FBI have eroded continuity on national security matters, people familiar with the situation said.  —  Every morning at 9:45, top FBI and Justice Department officials meet …

How to stop Trump's power grab  —  At this point, there is little doubt that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are engaged in a fundamentally unlawful effort to rewrite the American constitutional order.  Their efforts to redirect federal spending are attempts to seize Congress's power of the purse …

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman: 'There Isn't A Constitutional Crisis'  —  Everyone needs to cool it on the rhetoric, the Pennsylvania senator said Wednesday.  —  LOADING  —  Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) urged everyone to tone down the rhetoric about President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk moving …

Mass firings have begun at federal agencies  —  Mass firings have begun at federal agencies, with terminations of probationary employees underway at the Department of Education and the Small Business Administration, federal employees and union sources told CNN Wednesday.

If Indians and Pakistanis Can Relocate, Why Can't Gazans?  —  Population transfers aren't a Trump innovation.  There are plenty of examples from the 20th century.  —  President Trump's idea that the U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip and relocate two million Palestinians has elicited outrage and derision.

Trump executive order leads to $100 energy bill hike for hundreds in Alabama  —  Donald Trump promised that, as president, he would drastically lower Americans' energy bills.  “[W]e're going to make it a much — a much different place,” Trump said during a November 14 speech at Mar-a-Lago.

Measles Outbreak Hits Town in Texas  —  As of Tuesday, 22 children and two adults had been infected, all of whom were unvaccinated, local officials said.  —  A worsening measles outbreak has taken root in Texas, sickening two dozen and hospitalizing nine on the western edge of the state …

Trump nominations loom over Senate's cherished Munich trip … - In an email to senators, Thune warned they may have to stay in town to vote on President Trump's nominations on Friday, sources familiar with the matter told Axios.  — That would delay, and potentially cancel …

Trump and Musk Are Going to War Against Military Veterans  —  The president's new exec order gives Musk and DOGE carte blanche and sets limits on hiring veterans and transitioning active duty military personnel … This executive order seeks to impose severe hiring restrictions …

The White House Is Now Running The Justice Department  —  A lot of things happened.  Here are some of the things.  This is TPM's Morning Memo.  Sign up for the email version.  —  As Bad As It Gets  —  The dangerous co-optation of the Justice Department by the Trump White House continues in ways both substantive and symbolic.

Apple Resumes Advertising on X  —  Apple this month started advertising on X for the first time in more than a year.  The company had stopped advertising on the social media platform in November 2023 following controversial remarks made by its owner Elon Musk.

Hegseth's rough start: Pentagon chief faces protest at U.S. base abroad  —  The question isn't why the defense secretary faced pushback at U.S. European Command headquarters; the question is whether he'll see more protests soon.  —  Though it still seems hard to believe, a couple of weeks ago …

Dozens Injured as Driver Crashes Car Into Munich Protest  —  The authorities believe the crash, into a union's strike-day demonstration, was a deliberate attack carried out by a 24-year-old man who was known to the police.  —  More than two dozen people were injured when a car crashed …

Musk team kicks off federal layoffs as White House eyes big cuts  —  The Trump administration's plan for shrinking the civilian workforce is coming into increasingly clear view.  —  Billionaire Elon Musk's team has initiated sweeping layoffs of federal employees, as the Trump administration races …

Senate panel votes ‘yes’ on Trump's pick to lead the FBI  —  Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's controversial pick to lead the FBI, was voted out of committee along party lines on Thursday morning.  The 12-10 vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee paves the way for Patel to be confirmed …

Republicans Confirm Anti-Vax Conspiracy Theorist to Run Nation's Health Systems  —  Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services had been in doubt — but the GOP once again caved to Trump … The position will allow him to inflict untold damage …

Musk Claims To Know The Net Worths Of Federal Employees - But How?  —  His Oval Office remark suggests a remarkable invasion of privacy of potentially millions of federal employees.  —  LOADING  —  WASHINGTON - Elon Musk suggests he has obtained access to the personal financial records …

New York Got $80 Million for Migrants.  The White House Took It Back.  —  The New York City comptroller's office, which first noticed the missing money, said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had unilaterally taken the funds from the city's accounts.

Jayapal Introduces Constitutional Amendment to Reverse Citizens United  —  WASHINGTON — U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) introduced an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would end corporate personhood, reverse Citizens United, put power back into the hands of people, and make it clear that money does not equal speech.

Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith says she is not running for reelection  —  The Minnesotda Democrat has served in the Senate since 2018 and won reelection in 2020 by five points.  —  Minnesota Democratic Sen. Tina Smith will not seek reelection in 2026, setting up an open race in the blue-leaning battleground state.

Elon Musk's X to pay about $10 million to settle Trump lawsuit over account suspension … Social media company X has agreed to pay about $10 million to settle a lawsuit by President Donald Trump, who has put X's billionaire owner Elon Musk in charge of a major government cost- and staff-cutting effort.

Musk took all their power, so Republicans remake Congress into a ministry of disinformation  —  A couple weeks into Elon Musk's rampage through the federal bureaucracy, we finally have an answer to whether congressional Republicans mind that he's usurped their main source of authority, the power of the purse: No, they do not care.

Sen. Ted Cruz's list of ‘woke’ science includes self-driving cars and solar eclipses  —  There is nothing like being in the path of totality during a total solar eclipse.  —  “For just a few minutes, it feels like the whole world stands still and yet everything changes,” says Corinne Brevik …