September 16, 2026 at 5:52 PM EDT
'Like a desperate boyfriend': CNN's Jake Tapper has bad news for the GOP

CNN anchor Jake Tapper reports Republican policies have raised health care subsidies for Obamacare and escalated the trade war. Add to that the Iran war driving fertilizer prices and diesel prices to historic levels, and you can see why Republican Senate hopeful Ashley Hinson of Iowa is proposing to "reach across the aisle" to Democrats if elected. "I'm Ashley Hinson, and I approve this message because working across the aisle isn't always easy, but it's how you get results," said Hinson in her new ad.

September 16, 2026 at 5:04 PM EDT
Mitch McConnell appears to need 'prompting' to remember how to vote

On Wednesday, while delivering one of his first votes since returning from his prolonged medical absence, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appeared to have difficulty. According to a video recording of the vote, he seemed unsure what to do when his name was called. "McConnell voting in the Farm Bill markup," posted congressional journalist Jamie Dupree. "He votes 'aye' after a little prompting from fellow Senators and aides." Indeed, when the Senator's name is called, he raises a finger and hesitates for a moment, until his aides and other senators in his vicinity coach him into a yes.

September 16, 2026 at 5:02 PM EDT
Kavanaugh left a clever trap that changes everything

I am not here to rain on your parade, pop all your balloons, or scrape the frosting off of your celebratory cake today, but I am here to tell you that the Supreme Court's decision Monday night to block Donald Trump from getting his fat, little hands on our mail-in ballots was the absolute very least they could do in the face of his latest attack on America. The fact is, Trump accomplished nearly everything he set out to during his ongoing authoritarian power-grab by sowing yet more doubt in our election process.

September 16, 2026 at 4:26 PM EDT
'Could not be true': General busts Trump official's 'strange' Iran story

On Tuesday, a decorated Army general declared that the story of a shot-down pilot's rescue during the war with Iran "could not be true." The general's statement came in response to an installment from the latest episode of 60 Minutes, decried by some analysts as "propaganda," which featured Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and a rescued airman relating a tale that retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey found literally unbelievable. The 60 Minutes segment focused on an American F-15 pilot who crashed in Iran shortly after President Donald Trump launched the war nearly seven months ago. After the episode aired, McCaffrey -- recipient of three Purple Hearts -- took to social media to express his thoughts, posting , "Very strange story. Could not be true. US Army stops parachute ops with wind speed of 15mph. I've jumped with higher wind speeds, and it feels like a train wreck. 100 mph sounds like all bones in body broken and limbs torn off." This came in response to a post that ran down the details of the 60 Minutes piece, explaining, "So the story is that a guy with codename dude bravo survived a free fall to the ground in Iran after his F-15 was shot hitting the ground at speeds of close to 100 mph. He then ran 20 miles and found a cliff that was 7000 feet high and climbed that cliff and was extracted in a two day period."

September 16, 2026 at 4:21 PM EDT
'Total collapse' is helping a more radical element take over GOP: NYT columnist

New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie says the decaying Republican Party has finally lost the strength that for years kept dangerous party infestations at bay. And now the GOP is pest-ridden with a certain element that rhymes with "Swazi," or maybe "Stasi." "This is not slander or pejorative or innuendo; it is the plain truth of the matter, a conclusion drawn from simple observation," said Bouie. "And the problem has been getting worse. Consider a few of the people staffing the Trump administration."

September 16, 2026 at 11:59 AM EDT
Ex-official reveals who he thinks is actually 'dumber' than Trump

Anthony Scaramucci rarely has nice things to say about his former boss, but in a new interview with The i Paper, he revealed one world leader he considers "dumber" than his former boss, President Donald Trump. Scaramucci previously served as White House communications director during Trump's first term, and was infamously fire just 10 days into the job. He has since emerged as a vocal critic of the president and his political movement, frequently attacking him in the media and endorsing his opponents.

September 16, 2026 at 11:53 AM EDT
The 'false mythology' that gave the Supreme Court unconstitutional power

Political scholars often describe the U.S. Supreme Court as one of the three "co-equal branches of government" in the United States' system of checks and balances. But according to Mother Jones, the High Court is being elevated by a "false mythology" that isn't in the U.S. Constitution -- and as a result, often overreaches. Journalist Pema Levy, in Mother Jones, explains, "Today's Court bolsters its authority to decide what the Constitution means for the entire country by cultivating an aura of expertise and impartiality, like oracles who hand down Constitutional truths from on high. This mythology is powered in part by a lack of transparency or accountability -- mechanisms of control reserved for political actors, which they claim vociferously they are not."

September 16, 2026 at 11:49 AM EDT
One Trump move brought the 'American Age' to an end: security expert

Since the end of World War Two, the United States has been the dominant nation in the world due to its military, economic and diplomatic power. But according to a leading global security expert, President Donald Trump has hastened the "American Age" to its end, and while a number of his policies have contributed to U.S. decline, none have exposed the country's diminished capacity like the spiraling war with Iran. This is according to strategic studies professor Phillips P. O'Brien, who on Wednesday wrote in the Atlantic that Trump has brought the end of American dominance within "plain sight."

September 16, 2026 at 10:43 AM EDT
Voters giddy to punish GOP as 'Trump hangover effect' takes hold

Voters in the U.S. are growing increasingly "excited" about the prospect of punishing Republicans in the coming midterms, with a new piece from The Hill arguing that the trend is a result of the growing "Trump hangover effect." On Wednesday morning, longtime Democratic strategist Max Burns published his latest op-ed for The Hill, writing that November's midterms look set to be a continuation and an escalation of the "historic electoral wipeout" that Republicans suffered in 2025's off-year elections. Those races saw Democrats make a clean sweep of statewide races, and now, "Things have only gotten worse for Republicans after a year of inaction in Washington amid skyrocketing gas prices and stubborn inflation."

September 16, 2026 at 10:43 AM EDT
Trump has a midterms game plan -- Republicans are 'ignoring' it: analysis

With President Donald Trump suffering from poor approval ratings in countless polls, many GOP insiders are, behind closed doors, saying that they wish he would keep a lower profile until after the midterms. But Trump is doing the exact opposite. And according to Washington Post reporters Clara Ence Morse, Gregory S. Schneider and Theodoric Meyer, GOP candidates are "ignoring" Trump's advice for the midterms. "President Donald Trump handed Republicans what he said was a surefire formula for winning the midterm elections this fall: Act as if Trump is on the ballot and promise $5000 payouts to every citizen," Morse, Schneider and Meyer report in the Washington Post. "A week after the Republican midterm convention where Trump delivered his advice, most GOP congressional candidates are ignoring it, a Washington Post analysis of more than a million social media posts by politicians found. Republican candidates are sticking to their own messages, not Trump's, as they navigate an increasingly difficult political landscape marked by high consumer prices, a protracted war in Iran and a president whose own approval rating has stayed stubbornly low, the analysis shows."

September 16, 2026 at 6:00 AM EDT
Earthquake as Canada negotiates with the EU to join as associate member

The European Union has formally invited Canada to work toward becoming the 27-nation bloc's first "associate member," marking a major geopolitical shift aimed at strengthening economic and security alliances. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen extended the historic invitation to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during her annual State of the European Union speech in Strasbourg, France. Describing the proposal as a partnership for "common strength" rather than an alliance directed against any specific nation, von der Leyen's speech was met with a standing ovation from European lawmakers.

September 15, 2026 at 10:18 PM EDT
'Lucy and the football': GOPer cornered by CNN host over Trump promises

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins did not let up in demanding to know where Republicans planned to pull the cash to pay for President Donald Trump's $5,000 checks for "every American" if Republicans retain the House and Senate in November. "But on the checks, you're drafting the bill to actually turn this into a reality. Where does the money for those $5,000 checks come from?" Collins demanded in Tuesday night CNN grilling.