Top Items:
Paul Krugman:
In the Matter of Lisa Cook — Trump's attempt to fire a Fed governor is illegal. Now we find out whether that matters. — Yesterday Donald Trump said that he had fired Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. My wording is advisable: He “said” that he had fired her.
Discussion:
Politico, Reuters, CNN, New York Times, Salon, HotAir, CNBC, Fox Business, The Guardian, American Prospect, Raw Story, The Hill, New Republic, Axios, Mock Paper Scissors, The Independent and Hackwhackers
RELATED:
Financial Times:
US long-term debt sells off after Trump's attempted firing of Fed governor — Gap between long-term and short-term borrowing costs is close to its widest for three years — Long-dated US government debt sold off on Tuesday as investors worried that Donald Trump's attempted firing …
Greg Sargent / New Republic:
Furious Trump's Firing of Fed's Lisa Cook May Be about to Backfire — To execute his authoritarian takeover, President Donald Trump requires the devoted service of willing accomplices. He needs loyalists in strategic positions who will bend or break the law to carry out his designs …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, UPI and Washington Post
Jonathan Bernstein / Good Politics/Bad Politics:
Where We Are — After seven months of Trump. — I'll try to keep this simple: — (1) Donald Trump is acting as a dictator. — (2) He is fairly easily defeated time after time when people fight back. — (3) Far too few people are fighting back. — I think that's pretty much what I have.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
New York Times:
Trump Says He Is Firing Lisa Cook From Fed Board of Governors — President Trump told Lisa Cook that he had found sufficient cause “to remove you from your position.” Ms. Cook and her lawyer said they would fight the firing. — President Trump said on Monday that he was taking …
Discussion:
CNBC, Politico, Bloomberg, MSNBC, CNN, Forbes, Civil Discourse …, CBS News, NBC News, National Review, RedState, Fox Business, The 19th, Washington Post, New York Magazine, The Hill, Atlantic Council, Townhall, NewsMax.com, Deseret News, New Republic, Fortune, Salon, The Independent, The Daily Signal, Raw Story, New Jersey Online, TheGrio, KHOU-TV, Newsweek, Democracy Docket, Althouse, Washington Times, Scripps News, Business Insider, ABC News, HotAir, Semafor and Paul Krugman
Wall Street Journal:
‘Uncharted Waters’: Trump's Attempt to Take Charge of the Fed
Discussion:
BBC, Axios, Fortune, Associated Press, CBS News, Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality, Bloomberg and Washington Examiner
Aaron Pellish / Politico:
Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Discussion:
Scripps News, Washington Examiner, Foreign Policy, New York Times, The Status Kuo, VINnews, Ace of Spades HQ, twitchy.com, Blaze Media, MeidasTouch News, Daily Kos, Roll Call, New York Sun, Mediaite, UPI, LAist, Raw Story, WTOP News, Townhall, Al Jazeera, The American Conservative and The Japan Times
Nicholas Nehamas / New York Times:
DOGE Put Critical Social Security Data at Risk, Whistle-Blower Says — DOGE team members uploaded a database with the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans to a vulnerable cloud server, according to the agency's chief data officer. — Members of the Department …
Discussion:
NPR, MSNBC, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, Mediaite, Axios, Raw Story, The Guardian and NewsMax.com, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
DOGE uploaded live copy of Social Security database to ‘vulnerable’ cloud server, says whistleblower — A top Social Security Administration official turned whistleblower says members of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) uploaded hundreds of millions …
Discussion:
Forbes
Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
Judge dismisses Trump lawsuit against Maryland-based judges over handling of immigration cases — The Trump administration alleged that the court had no authority to issue a standing order that imposes an automatic, two-day pause in deportation cases. — WASHINGTON — A federal judge …
Discussion:
Associated Press, MSNBC, Democracy Docket, Washington Examiner, Reuters, NOTUS, Washington Post, New York Times, The Hill, ABC News, Axios, NPR, The Guardian, UPI, WNYW-TV, New Jersey Online, Al Jazeera, The Independent, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, RedState, CBS News, Washington Times, Raw Story, Newsweek, WTOP News and NewsMax.com
RELATED:
Quinta Jurecic / The Atlantic:
Trump Loses a Lawyer—And Much More
Trump Loses a Lawyer—And Much More
Discussion:
Raw Story, Deseret News, New Jersey Online, Salon and The Gateway Pundit
Carrie Johnson / NPR:
‘The most illegal search’: Judges push back against D.C. criminal charges — Veteran defense lawyers and law enforcement experts have been warning about the potential for overreach since the federal government muscled its way into policing decisions in the nation's capital nearly three weeks ago.
Discussion:
New York Times, The White House, The Independent, Daily Kos, Above the Law and HuffPost
RELATED:
Jordan Fischer / WUSA:
Third grand jury refuses to indict DC woman accused of assaulting agent during ICE arrest
Third grand jury refuses to indict DC woman accused of assaulting agent during ICE arrest
Discussion:
New York Times, New Republic, Reuters and Raw Story
Janna Brancolini / The Daily Beast:
Republican Told to Take His 'Head Out of Trump's A**' in Town Hall Trainwreck — MIC DROP — Other constituents complained about the president's support for Russia and booed his mass-deportation policy. — Voters at a town hall meeting in Missouri demanded that their Republican congressman …
Discussion:
New Republic, New Jersey Online, NOTUS and Mediaite
RELATED:
Rachael Bade / Politico:
Trump Is Leaning in on Crime. Democrats Need a Better Response — and Fast. … To many Washington insiders, President Trump's early August Beltway crime crackdown seemed like an opportunistic and hamhanded pivot after getting walloped for weeks over the Jeffrey Epstein affair.
Discussion:
Harvard CAPS and The Guardian
Raquel Coronell Uribe / NBC News:
Missouri Republican signals he's not on board with Trump's latest National Guard threats
Missouri Republican signals he's not on board with Trump's latest National Guard threats
Discussion:
MSNBC, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Newsweek, The Independent, ABC7 and Missourinet
Politico:
Trump to put Dan Scavino in charge of hiring at White House … Gor endeared himself to the president and his family for adopting a zero tolerance policy toward job-seekers who had been critical of Trump in the past, often scouring their social media posts and occasionally intervening to block hirings.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, MSNBC, Washington Post, The Hill, New Republic and NewsMax.com
RELATED:
Alex Isenstadt / Axios:
Scoop: Dan Scavino takes over hiring in Trump's White House
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Townhall, Raw Story and The Independent
Lisa Needham / Public Notice:
Trump's red state army threatens America's cities — PN is supported by paid subscribers. Become one 👇 — Thus far, President Donald Trump has deployed National Guard members in two major American cities. He's not going to stop there. — In recent days, Trump made clear …
Discussion:
Pen Strokes, Democracy Docket and The White House
RELATED:
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
August 25, 2025 — This morning, President Donald J. Trump talked to reporters …
August 25, 2025 — This morning, President Donald J. Trump talked to reporters …
Discussion:
CNN, NewsMax.com, Mediaite, Raw Story, Capitol News Illinois, ABC News, New York Post, Washington Times and The Independent
Shawn McCreesh / New York Times:
Donald Trump's Big Gay Government … The Washington Monument as seen from the Ned, a private club where many Trump officials socialize.Caroline Gutman for The New York Times — It was the last Wednesday in July, and many of Washington's top players were hanging out at the Ned, a private club around the corner from the White House.
Doug Bock Clark / ProPublica:
She Pushed to Overturn Trump's Loss in the 2020 Election. Now She'll Help Oversee U.S. Election Security. — Heather Honey has been appointed to a senior position in the Department of Homeland Security. State election officials and voting experts are concerned.
Discussion:
WITF, The Gateway Pundit, The Federalist, Election Law Blog and Democracy Docket
Nicole Markus / Politico:
Lutnick says administration considering taking stakes in defense companies … The investment came partially from grants awarded from the CHIPS Act, but not yet paid out. President Donald Trump has previously railed against the Biden-championed law, calling on Congress to “get rid” of it.
Discussion:
The Hill, Mock Paper Scissors, The Japan Times, New York Times, Mediaite and NewsMax.com
RELATED:
Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
Trump Pentagon weighing equity stakes in defense contractors like Lockheed, says Lutnick
Trump Pentagon weighing equity stakes in defense contractors like Lockheed, says Lutnick
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Raw Story, The Independent, The Daily Caller, Fox Business, Bloomberg, The Hill, NewsMax.com and Daily Kos
Devlin Barrett / New York Times:
Jack Smith's Legal Team Fires Back Against Ethics Complaint — For months, the former special counsel has remained silent as the president and his advisers have publicly attacked him. — Lawyers for Jack Smith, the former special counsel who investigated Donald J. Trump …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Washington Examiner, Associated Press and ABC News
Moira Donegan / The Guardian:
The case against Kilmar Ábrego García is a study in sadistic absurdity — In its allegations against the Maryland man, the Trump administration is claiming authority over reality itself — In a way, you could think of the brief stint that Kilmar Ábrego García spent …
Discussion:
CNN, Axios, KSDK-TV and The Nation
Dylan Scott / Vox:
America's leading physician groups are now openly defying RFK Jr. — For decades, the American public, the federal government, and the medical community have been nearly unanimous: Vaccines are important because they save lives. Today, after years of escalating attacks, that consensus has irrevocably shattered.
Discussion:
Breitbart and The Daily Beast
G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:
Democrats lead the U.S. House generic ballot by 8; voters back fair maps and oppose Trump's tariffs — This article reports results from the August Strength In Numbers/Verasight poll. You can read our previous poll releases here. — Summary of main poll findings:
Steve Helling / Daily Mail:
Vanity Fair staff erupt in fury over proposed Melania Trump cover with foul-mouthed meltdown — Raging Vanity Fair employees have vowed to quit their jobs and work at a supermarket if First Lady Melania Trump is granted a spot on its cover. — 'I will walk out the motherf***ing door …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, New York Post, Raw Story, twitchy.com, RedState, The Independent, The Daily Caller, The Post Millennial, Semafor and TMZ.com
Rolling Stone:
Dems' Messaging Nerds Urged Party Not to Talk About Trump's Military Takeover — Are Trump's military campaigns in blue cities a “distraction,” or what matters? — Donald Trump is waging a fascist takeover of the United States, siccing the Justice Department on his political enemies …
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Judge orders Kari Lake to answer questions about Voice of America under oath — A senior federal judge ordered Trump administration official Kari Lake to submit to questioning under oath in ongoing litigation over her efforts to effectively dismantle Voice of America despite Congressional mandates that it be maintained.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Townhall and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »
Norman Ornstein / The Contrarian:
Our guardrails are failing us — But with discipline, Democrats can get the message out. — The military invasion of Washington, D.C.—with masked troops from several red states occupying the city, grabbing residents off the street and out of vehicles while hiding their identities …
Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Trump Ratings and U.S. Mood Stay Tepid in August — WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new Gallup poll finds 40% of Americans approving of President Donald Trump's overall job performance, in line with support for him in June and July after registering 43% or higher in the first five months of the year.
Discussion:
The Hill, New Jersey Online, Forbes and Newsweek
KFF Health News:
Blue States That Sued Kept Most CDC Grants, While Red States Feel Brunt of Trump Clawbacks — The Trump administration's cuts to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding for state and local health departments had vastly uneven effects depending on the political leanings of a state, according to a KFF Health News analysis.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, The Independent and CBS News
Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
A Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In. … A photograph of Adam Raine taken not long before his death. His baby blanket, which his mother found in his bed, hangs over a corner. Mark Abramson for The New York Times — When Adam Raine died in April at age 16, some of his friends did not initially believe it.
Discussion:
Breitbart, NextDraft, The San Francisco Standard and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Calum Marsh / New York Times:
100 Push-Ups and 50 Pull-Ups in Under 10 Minutes. What Could Go Wrong? — Fitness experts caution against jumping into a difficult routine suggested by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth. — Last week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. challenged Pete Hegseth to a test of fitness in which each …
Discussion:
National Review, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, The Post Millennial, Louder With Crowder and The Guardian
Jim Saksa / Democracy Docket:
In Big Win for Voters, Pennsylvania Must Count Undated Mail-In Ballots, Court Rules — A federal circuit court upheld a lower court ruling Tuesday that requires Pennsylvania to count undated or wrongly dated mail-in ballots, finding that a previous law rejecting such ballots violated the First and 14th Amendments.
Discussion:
The Federalist, Associated Press, Washington Examiner, The Gateway Pundit and Election Law Blog
Robert Booth / The Guardian:
Can AIs suffer? Big tech and users grapple with one of most unsettling questions of our times — As first AI-led rights advocacy group is founded, industry is divided on whether models are, or can be, sentient — AI called Maya tells Guardian: 'When I'm told I'm just code, I don't feel insulted.
Discussion:
Fortune
Politico:
Buzz grows for possible Padilla California governor's run … “The senator is focused on passing Prop 50 this November,” Rodriguez said. — Padilla, fresh off being manhandled at a Department of Homeland Security news conference earlier this summer, already has a high-profile post.
Jon Henley / The Guardian:
Old master painting looted by Nazis spotted in Argentinian property listing — Dutch newspaper AD says it has traced Giuseppe Ghislandi's Portrait of a Lady to house near Buenos Aires — More than 80 years after it was looted by the Nazis from a Jewish art dealer in Amsterdam …
Discussion:
Forbes and New York Post
Sophia Cai / Politico:
The foreigners working for DOGE … Federal hiring laws generally limit full-time government employment to U.S. citizens or nationals, with only narrow exceptions. And while it's common for the GSA to employ foreign contractors, these three have been given similar access and authority as full …
Nia-Malika Henderson / Bloomberg:
Young Voters Who Swung Right Are Already Regretting It — Trump convinced voters under 35 — especially men — to give him a chance. They are souring on what they see. — One of the most surprising datapoints from President Donald Trump's 2024 victory was his strength among young voters …


