MOTHER JONES – Politics | Politics & Government

The number one thing everyone at the Curtis Sliwa election night watch party could agree on was loving Curtis Sliwa. The number two thing was hating Andrew Cuomo. Aside from that, it was kind of a mixed bag. Last night, dozens of Sliwa supporters packed into the basement of Arte Cafe, an old-school Italian haunt on the Upper West Side, to mark the end of a historic New York City mayoral race. Sliwa—the cat-loving, red-beret-sporting Republican nominee for mayor, best known for founding the vigilante crime-fighting group the Guardian Angels in 1979—was always a long shot for Gracie Mansion. Still, he stayed in the race until the bitter end, resisting repeated calls (and, he claims, offers for up to $10 million) to drop out. The day before the election, President Donald Trump urged his supporters to hold their nose and cast a ballot for former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo,… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

After Wednesday’s oral arguments at the Supreme Court, it appears that a majority of the justices will vote to halt Trump’s imposition of sweeping tariffs under a 1977 emergency powers act. But a loss for Trump will, in fact, be doing him a favor. And the GOP-appointed justices—who have spent the past 10 months giving Trump virtually everything he wants—surely know this.  An anti-Trump turn is a problem not just for the president, but also for the Republican-appointed justices. Beginning in February, Trump imposed sweeping and ever-changing tariffs on nearly every nation in the world. The Constitution explicitly gives Congress the power to levy tariffs and taxes. But Trump claims an unlimited tariff power under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 law that authorizes the president to respond to “any unusual and extraordinary threat” from abroad. This includes the power to “regulate… importation or exportation of…property… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

Though it was hardly a national focal point of the 2025 elections on Tuesday, Maine became the twenty-second state to adopt a “red flag” law for regulating guns, with the approval of nearly 59 percent of voters. Starting in January, Maine will allow families to petition a judge to remove firearms temporarily from a family member who appears to pose a threat to themselves or others. It’s a notable development in a state with a strong gun and hunting culture, where even the Democratic governor, Janet Mills, opposed the measure.   The new policy stands as a clear response to the devastating mass shooting that took place in Lewiston, Maine, in October 2023 at the hands of a profoundly troubled man, whose worsening condition had long alarmed those around him. As I reported previously: Army reservist Robert Card, the 40-year-old suicidal perpetrator who killed 18 people and injured… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

When Curtis Sliwa called me on Wednesday afternoon, the failed New York City Republican mayoral candidate sounded chipper, even a bit boastful. “Everybody loves Curtis,” Sliwa told me. “It’s just a question of getting them to vote for you.” But everybody does not, in fact, love the red beret–wearing subway vigilante turned mayoral candidate. His unusually optimistic stance, despite his resounding loss to democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, came amid a sustained fury against him from those who see Sliwa as directly responsible for Andrew Cuomo’s loss. That includes Republicans turned reluctant supporters of the former New York governor and conservatives who claim Sliwa siphoned votes from Cuomo. There was disgraced ex-Rep. and recently commutated felon George Santos, who wrote on X: “Fuck you [Sliwa] I HATE YOU, your dumb wife, that stupid Beret of yours and all your fucking cats!” “You fucking sold out like fucking Judas sold out… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

Democrats won big on Tuesday night, with victories in high-profile races across the country, including that of 34-year-old Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani in New York City’s mayoral race, centrists Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill in, respectively, Virginia’s and New Jersey’s gubernatorial races. On Wednesday, Dems celebrated their victories on social media, while Republicans grappled with their losses. Some chalked up their defeat to strategic errors, blaming their party for overemphasizing culture war issues and failing to address voters’ affordability concerns. President Donald Trump insisted on Truth Social that the government shutdown was to blame, as well as the fact that he was not on the ballot. But the far-right had some different takes. First up, the TheoBros, a network of mostly millennial self-proclaimed Christian nationalist pastors and influencers who have fashioned themselves as the shock jocks of X. One of the most outspoken, Texas pastor Joel Webbon, had this… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.