THE ATLANTIC – Politics | Politics & Government

Sherrod Brown can be hard to follow at times. He apologizes for his frequent rambles, parentheticals, and asides.“I don’t think that’s what you came to talk about,” the former and maybe future senator from Ohio told me after a brief soliloquy about how much he enjoys Diet Coke. And also about his efforts to cut back on his intake of Diet Coke.“It’s just, you know,” he wondered, “what’s in it, man?”“I’m trying not to drink that shit,” he affirmed.Brown was sitting in a Toledo coffee shop, having just finished a roundtable discussion about rising health-care costs. A small group of Ohioans had expressed all manner of concerns about how they would afford their medical bills, co-pays, and prescriptions. This was the kind of event that Brown used to do a lot of before he departed the Senate after losing reelection in 2024.Now that he’s running again, Brown, 73, seems to… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

Last Thursday, the White House tried to get President Trump to focus on the economic concerns driving the midterm elections. Instead, he issued a 10-to-15-day ultimatum to Iran, claimed that his wife’s documentary was so good that some women had seen it four times, and accused his predecessor Barack Obama of releasing classified information about space aliens.Few actually watched his 68-minute speech on the economy later that afternoon at the Coosa Steel Corporation in Georgia. But even if they had tuned in, they would have found Trump’s recitation of his economic talking points overshadowed by his banter about wanting to award himself the Congressional Medal of Honor, claims that the FBI found “plenty of stuff” when it raided Fulton County’s election office, or the suggestion, denied by his own advisers, that inflation was no longer an issue: “I’ve won affordability.”So it fell to aides at the White House to email… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

Here’s how much things have changed since Donald Trump last addressed Congress: A year ago, he shouted out a beaming Elon Musk, who was watching in the gallery.At the time, Trump was triumphant. But tomorrow night, when he returns to the Capitol to deliver the State of the Union address, he will be trying to turn around a stumbling presidency. His prized tariffs have been sharply curtailed by the Supreme Court. His most visible immigration push—federal surges into U.S. cities to carry out mass deportations—has become broadly unpopular since two Americans were killed by his masked agents. War with Iran seems to be approaching, yet Trump has not tried to sell the public on the conflict, articulated his goals, or laid out what would come next. He is facing an onslaught of questions about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the dead and disgraced sex offender, as well as his efforts… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

Over the past few months, during his agency’s chaotic crackdowns in Chicago and Minneapolis, the U.S. Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino has worn an unusual uniform: a wide-lapel greatcoat with brass buttons and stars along one sleeve. It looks like it was taken right off the shoulders of a Wehrmacht officer in the 1930s. Bovino’s choice of garment is more than tough-guy cosplay (German media noted the aesthetic immediately). The coat symbolizes a trend: The Republicans, it seems, have a bit of a Nazi problem.By this, I mean that some Republicans are deploying Nazi imagery and rhetoric, and espouse ideas associated with the Nazi Party during its rise to power in the early 1930s. A few recent examples: An ICE lawyer linked to a white-supremacist social-media account that praised Hitler was apparently allowed to return to federal court. Members of the national Young Republicans organization were caught in a group… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has faced intense scrutiny from Republicans and calls for her firing from Democrats since the January 24 shooting of Alex Pretti by Customs and Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis. Now Noem’s tenuous standing with the Trump White House is creating concern in her home state of South Dakota that she might leave the Cabinet to challenge Senator Mike Rounds in the state’s June Republican primary.Political allies of Rounds have begun preparing for this scenario, even though they remain skeptical that Noem will actually make the move, three people familiar with the discussions told me. To get into the race, Noem would have to register for the primary and collect the 2,171 supportive signatures statewide by the end of next month. A Noem adviser told me today that she has no plans to leave. But Noem could have an incentive to seek elective office if Democrats… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.