Republicans are quiet quitting on Trump  —  The White House chief of staff says the president has “an alcoholic's personality”  —  Donald Trump is worried that Republicans aren't as afraid of him as they used to be.  Despite his self-billing as a dealmaker, the president has only ever had one tool to control his party: fear.

Republicans defy Speaker Johnson to force House vote on extending ACA subsidies  —  Four centrist Republicans broke with Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday and signed onto a Democratic-led petition that will force a House vole on extending for three years an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy …

Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado  —  WASHINGTON ‒ The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.

Jack Smith makes his case against Trump in closed-door deposition … He maintained that this team found evidence to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power.”

Inside the Trump Administration's Man-Made Hunger Crisis  —  The End of Aid: Trump Destroyed USAID.  What Happens Now?  —  ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.  Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.  —  Reporting Highlights

They prosecuted the Capitol rioters.  Now the rioters and the DOJ are after them.  —  After Trump's mass pardons of the U.S. Capitol rioters, some have gained influence inside the Justice Department, meeting with officials to push for prosecutions of the federal lawyers who once helped convict them, Reuters found.

Senator Reaches Damning Conclusions After Classified Briefing With Hegseth, Rubio  —  Sen. Chris Murphy trashed a meeting with the Cabinet duo about the Trump administration's boat bombings.  —  Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said a classified meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth …

2026 Economic Outlook, December 2025  —  More Than Six in Ten Say Economy is Not Working for Them Personally.... Economic Pessimism for 2026 Widespread  —  Americans have serious concerns about the economy and how these larger economic forces will influence their personal finances in 2026.

Republicans push mail-in voting for the midterms in defiance of Trump … The nonprofit Citizens Alliance, which aided efforts to get Republicans to return their mail ballots in Pennsylvania last year, is planning to knock 750,000 doors ahead of the midterms to encourage infrequent voters to embrace the practice.

An A+++++  Economy, My A++  —  Trump made big boasts but he isn't delivering  —  When Politico recently asked Donald Trump to grade the current U.S. economy, he replied “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.”  He made this boast at a time when actual economic data were still scarce …

Norman Podhoretz, 1930-2025  —  My father died tonight, December 16, a month shy of his 96th birthday.  Norman Podhoretz passed peacefully and without pain, with a new translation of The Odyssey on his desk that had been sent to him by his friend Roger Hertog.

Rep. Dan Newhouse, one of the last remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, won't seek re-election  —  Newhouse was one of 10 Republicans in the House to impeach Trump over his role in the Jan.  —  Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., on Wednesday announced that he would not seek re-election to the House next year.

Trump: Cost of new ballroom may reach $400M  —  President Trump on Tuesday indicated the cost of his planned ballroom project at the White House could reach $400 million, double the originally announced cost of $200 million.  —  Trump spoke at length about the project during a Hanukkah reception …

Heating Costs Expected to Rise 9.2% This Winter  —  Colder weather and rising electricity and fuel costs will lead to a big jump in costs for individuals, according to estimates from a group representing state energy officials.  —  Consumers already tapped out from rising home energy costs …

A New Way to Understand America's Congressional Doom Loop  —  A simple 2x2 matrix can explain why the House of Representatives has found it harder and harder to get anything done.  —  The House of Representatives is divided closely, bitterly and precariously.

Second near midair collision reported near Venezuela involving US Air Force tanker  —  South America Federal agencies US military Airplane crashes  —  Radio transmissions reviewed by CNN show that the pilots of a private jet narrowly avoided a collision with a United States Air Force refueling …

Democrats need a theory of power, but democracies need a theory of accountability  —  We are at a crucial, once-in-a-century moment for American governance.  Those on the right are, whether they admit it or not, aligning themselves with an increasingly authoritarian model of governance under Trump.

2025 in Global Health  —  The year 2025 will be remembered as one of profound disruption.  For those in global health, political retrenchment undermined decades of progress, leaving health systems strained and communities newly vulnerable.  It was, by nearly every objective measure, a deeply destructive year.

What Is an American?  —  There are two competing visions now emerging on the American right, and they are incompatible.  One vision of American identity is based on lineage, blood and soil: Inherited attributes matter most.  The purest form of an American is a so-called heritage American …

Trump orders blockade of ‘sanctioned oil tankers’ into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on Maduro  —  President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country's authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro.

Spooked by AI and Layoffs, White-Collar Workers See Their Security Slip Away  —  Office workers are hanging on to their jobs for dear life  —  Office workers are filled with anxiety.  —  Tuesday's jobs report was the latest ominous sign in an era of big corporate layoff announcements and CEOs warning that AI will replace workers.

Jared Kushner's firm backs out of Paramount's Warner Bros. bid  —  Affinity Partners, the fund tied to President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, has backed out of Paramount's bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, Axios has confirmed. … - If the board does reject Paramount's offer …

Trump's Son-In-Law Backs Out of Paramount's Takeover Bid  —  SEE YA!  —  Jared Kushner's firm will no longer back Paramount's takeover bid of Warner Bros. Discovery.  —  President Donald Trump's son-in-law has withdrawn his financial backing for a massive media merger that could give …

Bari Weiss' much-hyped CBS News town hall with Erika Kirk was a massive ratings flop  —  According to Nielsen, the Saturday night town hall saw a 41 percent decline in in the key 25-54 advertising demographic compared to the network's standard programming in that time slot year to date.  —  in New York

Trump makes pick to lead NSA spy agency after months of leadership limbo  —  The prospective confirmation of Lt. Gen. Joshua M. Rudd would end eight months of uncertainty at the helm of the nation's largest spy agency and the military's cyber command.

This is Europe's secret weapon against Trump: it could burst his AI bubble  —  Growth in the US economy - and the president's political survival - rest on AI.  The EU must use its leverage and stand up to him  —  The unthinkable has happened.  The US is Europe's adversary.

Putin calls European leaders ‘little pigs’ and says Russia will achieve Ukraine goals by diplomacy or force - Europe live  —  Russian leader says aims of its ‘special military operation’ will be met ‘unconditionally’  —  UK's move to rejoin Erasmus+ ‘significant step’ for EU, UK universities, groups say