THE ATLANTIC – Politics | Politics & Government

Tina Peters is supposed to spend the next eight years of her life in prison. The former Colorado county clerk was convicted last year of charges tied to tampering with voting equipment under her control in 2020. President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for Peters’s release, warning of “harsh measures” if she remains incarcerated. But even a president obsessed with retribution, who granted blanket clemency to people convicted of federal offenses connected to the January 6, 2021, attacks on the Capitol, can’t erase Peters’s sentence. Her state-level conviction is beyond the reach of his federal pardon power. And so she sits in a Colorado prison, the most prominent MAGA prisoner still behind bars.The sprawling campaign to “Free Tina Peters” is testing Colorado’s authority to enforce its own laws without interference from a federal government that wants to undo a conviction handed down by a jury. Trump—aided by the Justice Department,… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

During last year’s presidential campaign, Donald Trump coined a term for his pinballing speaking style—“the weave.” This was on display Tuesday in Pennsylvania, in remarks that included, but were not limited to, the topics of tariffs, U.S. Steel, fracking, wind turbines, electric-vehicle mandates, immigration, crime, gender policies, Obamacare, the Fed, his election victories, rare-earth negotiations, a D.C. terror attack, and “the lips that don’t stop” of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.The diffuse pattern is Trump’s signature. His fans have always loved it when he lights up all the bumpers; the chaos feels authentic, a rebellion against teleprompter politicians. This was true in Pennsylvania. The problem is, now that the engine of the U.S. economy is smoking, the American people are looking for a technician, not an improv comic. And Trump’s sprawling delivery doesn’t just distract from his economic message; it embodies the criticism he’s trying to rebut—that he isn’t… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

The Indiana legislature does not keep its constituents at a great distance. As lawmakers convened in Indianapolis on Monday to consider a bill backed by President Donald Trump to redraw the state’s congressional map, all that separated them from protesters who had gathered in a corridor just outside the capitol chamber was a series of glass windows. Inside the room, chants of “Just vote no!” and “We want fair maps!” could be heard as clearly as the legislative debate.In an era when politicians typically operate at arm’s length from their voters, the public’s easy access to elected representatives is refreshing. In Indiana this week, it’s also a bit jarring. The state Senate is meeting under threat. Trump and his allies have vowed to target Republican lawmakers who vote against a redistricting plan that could wipe out the state’s Democratic congressional representation, protecting the U.S. House GOP majority. Over the past… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

After campaigning on promises to end American entanglements overseas, Donald Trump announced a mere month after winning the 2024 presidential election that the United States’ “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for “National Security and Freedom throughout the World.” In his inaugural address, weeks later, he delivered a casus belli against Panama, accusing the country of mistreating the United States: “China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”Now, as the first year of his second term draws to a close, President Trump is mobilizing for war against … Venezuela?The buildup to a possible conflict with Venezuela, which has included attacks on boats and a gathering of forces in the Caribbean, is unusual, even surreal, in its lack of a coherent public rationale. Not only has the administration failed to seek authorization for… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

In 1982, when the Voting Rights Act was up for reauthorization, the Reagan Justice Department had a goal: preserve the VRA in name only, while rendering it unenforceable in practice. A young John Roberts was the architect of that campaign. He may soon get to finish what he started.Last month, at the oral argument in Louisiana v. Callais, a majority of the conservative justices seemed to signal their willingness to forbid any use of race data in redistricting. That could lead to the end of the VRA’s Section 2 protections for minority voters, and allow states across the South to redraw congressional districts currently represented by Black Democrats into whiter, more rural, and more conservative seats, potentially before the 2026 midterms.A central question of the case, hotly debated during oral arguments, is whether Section 2 should prohibit election laws and procedures that have a racially discriminatory effect, or just those… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.