Trumpworld Unnerved as Damning Leaks Expose His Worst War Blunders Yet

Today: "Podcast: Trumpworld Unnerved as Damning Leaks Expose His Worst War Blunders Yet" Plus, John Roberts is trying to defend the indefensible; Trump suffers two brutal court losses in less than 24 hours; and more... John Roberts Is Trying to Defend the Indefensible The chief justice insists he and his colleagues are not political actors, but can’t explain what an overtly politicized right-wing court would do differently from the one he leads. By Matt Ford

The New American Homeless Housing insecurity in the nation’s richest cities is far worse than the government claims. Just ask the Goodmans. By Brian Goldstone The inspiration for Brian Goldstone’s 2026 Pulitzer Prize–winning book, There Is No Place for Us, can be traced back to this 2019 TNR feature about an Atlanta woman, Cokethia Goodman, whose family became homeless even as she worked full-time.   In the story of the Goodman family, the intimate, novelistic attention that distinguishes Goldstone’s work is on full display—as is an uncompromising indictment of the structural forces to blame for their suffering. Read now

Democrats Have a Joe Biden Problem. Again. The former president is reentering politics at the worst possible time. By Alex Shephard IMHO: MUST READ! THIS BUFFOON BRAGS ABOUT FIRING FEDERAL EMPLOYEES -  GOVERNMENT NO LONGER WORKS!  TRY TO GET ANYTHING DONE - YOU CANT!  THIS MINDLESS BOOB FIRED PEOPLE WHO GOT THINGS  DONE!    It’s No Longer Safe for Civil Servants to Be Good at Their Job If you’re an effective federal worker, don’t let Trump find out—you might not be one for much longer. By Timothy Noah excerpt:  Indeed, Trump doesn’t seem to want civil servants at all. Last year he either fired or harassed into quitting 317,000 of them, and this year he’s poised to reclassify 50,000 more as “at will” employees with no civil service protection. White House budget director Russell “Project 2025” Vought famously said in a 2024 speech, “We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains.” The only reason Vought would ever show up at a Sammies ceremony would be to scribble down license plate numbers like a police detective at a Mafia funeral. How Is Tucker Carlson More Antiwar Than Leading Democrats? The party is ceding the issue to Trump’s critics on the right, inviting disaster in the 2028 presidential election. By Liza Featherstone Less Noted, Just as Radical: The High Court’s Rightward Economic Shift The Supreme Court and other federal courts have moved dramatically to the right on economic policy as well as social and democracy policy. It’s time to take on that fight too. By Hannah Garden-Monheit

The Ex-MAGA Influencer Who Now Hates All Things MAGA—and Herself Too Ashley St. Clair used to hang with Erika Kirk. And she bore Romulus, the zillionth child of Elon Musk. She’s now turned her back on MAGA—and wants to tell you all about it. By Virginia Heffernan Read now

T​he Trans Idahoans Fighting an Extreme Bathroom Ban A new legal challenge aims to prevent ​a​ punitive anti-trans law in the state from going into effect—and stave off a future where transgender people are at worst criminalized and at best objects of routine suspicion. By Melissa Gira Grant Trump Gives Least Reassuring Answer Possible on Hantavirus Spread Is the Trump administration prepared to respond to the hantavirus outbreak? By Hafiz Rashid excerpt: Trump’s answer didn’t inspire a lot of confidence, especially considering how badly he handled the Covid-19 pandemic in the last year of his first term as president. His Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., happens to have laid off all of the cruise ship inspectors in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vessel Sanitation Program last year. The Trump administration also cut funding to study the hantavirus last year. Trump has not given any detailed information on how he’s going to handle the recent outbreak. Let’s hope that this virus somehow gets contained, because if it spreads in the U.S., we’ll have an even worse pandemic. Trump Suffers Two Brutal Court Losses in Less Than 24 Hours The courts have delivered major blows to two of Trump’s signature policies: tariffs and the "anti-woke" crusade. By Malcolm Ferguson "Panic Mode": Kash Patel Is in Full Meltdown Over Leaks to Reporters Patel has ordered at least two dozen staffers to take polygraph tests. By Edith Olmsted Podcast: Trumpworld Unnerved as Damning Leaks Expose His Worst War Blunders Yet The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent Officials have leaked word to The Washington Post that they believe Iran can survive Donald Trump’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz for three to four months without experiencing severe economic pain. Also, Iran has kept far more of its missiles and drones than previously known. Those are surely Trump’s worst screw-ups yet, given that he’s repeatedly insisted both that the regime is in terminal collapse and that Iran’s military has been entirely obliterated. This comes as The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump’s advisers are increasingly unnerved by the political price Republicans will pay over the closed strait. Those are related: The new revelations suggest the war could go on longer than expected, which is exactly what his advisers fear will worsen the GOP’s political mess. We talked to New Republic staff writer Tim Noah, who’s been writing well about Trump’s failures. We discuss why the war’s political fallout could last many months, how Trump voters are facing a perfect storm of disastrous policies, and what to expect in the midterms. Listen to the episode here. Read the transcript here.

Indiana Primary Results Prove It: The GOP Is Still a Trump Cult A few state senators bucked Trump on mid-decade gerrymandering. He endorsed their opponents. And Trump’s candidates won. But there is a silver lining here. By Perry Bacon Read now

Our mailing address is: The New Republic, 1 Union Sq W Fl 6 , NY , New York, NY 10003-3303, United States