They get along! At least, Donald J. Trump and Zohran Mamdani did on their first in-person meeting Friday in the Oval Office. “He said a lot of my voters actually voted for him, and I’m OK with that,” the president said (per NYT). Watch MTG's resignation video HERE.

11/24 UPDATE: MTG, Comey & Letitia James – First, the last two. Federal Judge Cameron McGowan Currie has dismissed criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney Gen. Letitia James “within weeks of Trump publicly calling on Attorney Gen. Pam Bondi to prosecute several of his prominent critics,” The Wall Street Journal reports. 

The judge dismissed the case against Comey not, because as US District Judge Michael Nachmanoff established last week, US Attorney Lindsey Halligan failed to release Comey’s indictment to the full grand jury deciding the case, but rather, Currie dismissed the cases against Comey and James because as President Trump’s insurance attorney, Halligan was improperly appointed US attorney. 

Whew.

It’s not surprising that Comey and probably James have several issues over which their cases would have been thrown out.

Meanwhile, MTG … Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) released an 11-minute video Friday -- the same day her erstwhile political hero, President Trump, was making nice with New York City mayor-elect and Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani -- in which she announces her resignation from Congress in January, leaving a full year on her third term.

“Americans are used by the political industrial complex of both parties, election cycle after election cycle after election cycle in order to elect whichever side convince Americans to hate the other side more,” MTG says in her video. 

Trump turned on “Marjorie Traitor Greene” after MTG called for release of all the Epstein Files and said he would support a primary challenger to her in next year’s midterms. MTG says that for Trump, loyalty is a “one-way street.”

The Wall Street Journal’s take on all this is that MTG’s resignation is proof that Trump has full control of the GOP. But many pundits figure that MTG is now a major threat to Vice President JD Vance’s bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2028. 

In The Atlantic conservative never-Trumper pundit David Frum evokes Jack Abramoff’s posit that there are two kinds of people in Washington: Those who get “the joke” that all the talk there of ideas and principles is “flimflam to conceal self-enrichment at the expense of the public’s experience” and those who don’t. 

MTG ran for her Georgia House seat in 2020 as one of those who do not get “the joke,” and has since become one of those in Washington who does, according to Frum.

‘The Joke II’ … One is probably not in on “the joke” if one believes that Trump’s playing nice with Mamdani on the same day that MTG announces her resignation is a coincidence; Is Trump about to gain better control of the Democratic Party, too? – TL

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FRIDAY 11/21/25

•Watch Democrats’ video calling on  US Military to reject unlawful orders HERE.

Peace Deal? – President Trump hosts New York’s mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani at the White House Friday afternoon. The mayor-elect hopes the two will find some common ground in working to ease the cost of living in Manhattan and the rest of the US, NPR’s Morning Edition reports.

“I have many disagreements with the president, and I believe that we should be relentless and pursue all avenues and all meetings that could make our city affordable for every single New Yorker,” Mamdani says.

“Look,” Trump responds, “we don’t need a communist in this country, but if we have one, I’m going to be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation.”

He’s no communist … Trump’s effort to Make America the ‘50s again recalls the Joe McCarthy era when the label (not referring to any official Communist party member) was used to call out any American who identified as left of center. Mamdani is aligned more with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who identifies as lower-case democratic socialist.

This makes us think of all the independent American voters who over the past eight or nine years have expressed support for both Sanders and Trump. Perhaps Trump might want to try and be friendly toward Mamdani when they meet at the White House, now that he has lost Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) fervid support.

•••

No Peace Deal – If President Trump remains upset with Russian dictator/President Vladmir Putin, it doesn’t show in a 28-point peace plan US officials handed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thursday, in which Moscow gets just about everything it has demanded all along. Art of the deal indeed.

The key point in the plan, according to The Kyiv Independent is that Ukraine gives up the entirety of the Donbas region, including portions it never lost to Russia. 

The negotiations are considered “urgent” because of Ukraine’s dire energy situation and a senior US official says some reported elements could still change. But European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has reiterated that no deal involving the future of Ukraine can be made without participation of Ukraine, the BBC reports.

“Ukrainian officials and lawmakers describe the proposal as unrealistic and dangerous, warning it could harm civilians and embolden Russia,” according to The Kyiv Independent.

Upshot: Surely if Ukraine were required to cut its army in half, it would not take long for Russian military occupying Donbas to take over the rest of the country.

•••

‘Seditious’ Democratic Video? – Major uproar in Washington is President Trump’s reaction to a video posted by six Democratic lawmakers calling on US military to “refuse illegal orders,” as the Constitution requires of them. 

The 21 known US strikes killing at least 83 Venezuelans accused of smuggling drugs comes to mind. A fleet of warships, including the USS Gerald R. Ford supercarrier now occupy the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela. And of course, there has been deployment of National Guard in major US cities.

Trump Truth Socialed this in reaction to the video, according to The New York Times: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR punishable by DEATH!”

The president is not threatening the six Democratic congressmembers with execution, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a presser, though Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) stood up to say, “Trump’s threats amount to calls for execution of elected officials,” The Guardian reports.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), an ex-CIA analyst who served in Iraq, organized the video. She was joined by Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly (AZ), a former astronaut, and Democratic Reps. Chris Deluzio (PA), Jason Crow (CO), Maggie Goodlander (NH) and Chrissy Houlahan (PA). – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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FRIDAY 11/21/25

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

As you can see from the GasBuddy chart above of the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the US over the past 12 months, the line beginning on the left side of the chart is lower than on the right side of the chart. 

Or simply, gas was cheaper a year ago than it is now.

But according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt yesterday (November 20):

“Thanks to President Trump's 'drill, baby, drill' agenda, the national average price of a gallon of gas on Thanksgiving Day is projected to be the cheapest price since COVID pandemic in 2021.”

Perhaps something will happen and the price will drop by November 27.

Also on November 20 AAA put out a news release about gas prices “As drivers prepare to hit the road for Thanksgiving.”

It says:

“. . .gas prices are relatively steady compared to last week. The national average for a gallon of regular went up by a couple of cents to $3.10.”

Went up!?!

There is an acknowledgement by AAA that pump prices are not particularly high at the moment.

Why?

“Despite the burst of gasoline demand that will occur during Thanksgiving week, overall demand is low this time of year which helps keep prices down.”

In other words, like the period that Leavitt refers to, during the COVID pandemic in 2021, economic forces work: the demand is low, so the prices are low.

While the demand for gas in 2020 and 2021 was low because people were staying close to home — or in their homes — so as not to spread the virus (yes, it is real, and the vaccine that the first Trump Administration did a good job on quickly developing was not, as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., claimed “the deadliest vaccine ever made”), likely the demand is down this Thanksgiving thanks to the tariff-induced price rises that Americans are experiencing in places like grocery stores.

In the event that the Administration lifts other tariffs as it has recently done for some grocery items and Karoline Leavitt goes out and claims something like, “The President’s policies are making things more affordable for the American people,” keep in mind that the reason those prices were higher are because of “The President’s policies.”

Very clever: make something artificially more expensive and then reduce the price and claim that the affordability is a result of policies to bring down prices.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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FRIDAY 11/21/25

September Employment Numbers, Finally – The Labor Department’s September jobs report, delayed six weeks due to the government shutdown, reveals that 190,000 jobs were added two months ago as the unemployment rate inched up by 0.1 points over August to 4.4%. The report shows job gains in health care, food services and drinking places, and social assistance. Transportation, warehousing and federal government employment was down. [CHART: Bureau of Labor Statistics]

THURSDAY 11/20/25

Comey Case Calamity – The Justice Department’s Trump-directed indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is in serious trouble after US District Judge Michael Nachmanoff established that the full grand jury did not see original indictments. In federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, Wednesday Nachmanoff asked US Attorney Lindsey Halligan, the insurance lawyer who replaced an attorney who refused to indict Comey, whether or not the full grand jury were present when the indictment was filed September 25, according to Politico.

Comey was charged with lying to, and obstructing, Congress. 

“The foreperson and another grand juror was also present,” Halligan replied, confirming that the full grand jury was not present. Nachmanoff “just wanted to make sure” the indictment had never been seen by the full grand jury. --TL

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WEDNESDAY 11/19/25

‘HUGE’ Announcement – That’s wording and capitalization from whitehouse.gov following the black tie-red carpet greeting of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Tuesday, in which President Trump designated Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO ally. It doesn’t hurt that bin Salman pledged $1 trillion in Saudi investment to the US, which also will supply his country with F-35 fighter jets.

On Khashoggi’s killing … Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman ordered the brutal 2018 killing and dismemberment of Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, according to a CIA assessment, but President Trump was having none of that at their gilded White House meeting Tuesday. 

At the White House press conference, an ABC (“fake-” said the president) News reporter asked bin Salman about the murder of Khashoggi, NPR’s All Things Considered reports. Trump broke in with this:

“As far as this gentleman is concerned, he’s done a phenomenal job. You’re mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happened, but he knew nothing about it. And we can leave it at that. You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.”

Bin Salman called the killing of someone who was expressing his opinions "painful" (without taking any responsibility) and assured reporters at the presser that it won't happen again.

“There’s no justification to murder my husband,” Hanan Elatr Khashoggi responded publicly. Khashoggi’s widow has requested a meeting with bin Salman while he is in the US. A spokesman for the crown prince told NPR’s Morning Edition Wednesday that bin Salman does not have the time for it.

Other guests … They include Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, the latter significant because he owns The Washington Post for which Khashoggi wrote, before the Amazon founder made its editorial board more Trump-friendly, and the former of interest because of his infamous falling-out with the president late last spring. 

It should not come as a surprise that the Tesla CEO would attend a presidential black- tie dinner, in part because Musk remains tight with Vice President Vance and Trump’s sons, but also because Trump is most certainly in awe that the World’s Richest Life Form™ has a Tesla contract that could make him the World’s First Trillionaire.

•••

Five Seats Taken from Texas GOP – Texas cannot use its shiny new mid-decade congressional map for the 2026 midterm elections, a three-judge panel that includes a Trump appointee ruled Tuesday, per The Texas Tribune. Republicans had hoped the map would give the GOP 30 of 38 congressional seats, up from 25. 

President Trump had requested the mid-term redistricting made possible by the Texas legislature’s Republican majority, to assure a GOP congressional majority after the midterms. 

Texas Republicans’ remaining hope is an overturn by the US Supreme Court. Meanwhile, California has secured, for now, a five-seat Democratic Party gain after a November off-year election ballot measure.

•••

On the Resolute Desk – The House Tuesday afternoon passed 427-1 a bill compelling Justice Department release of its files of the investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, CQ Roll Call reports. The Senate later approved the discharge petition by unanimous consent on a motion from Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and delivered it to the White House for President Trump’s signature.

After months downplaying the Epstein Files as a “Democratic hoax” (despite implicating former President Clinton and his treasury secretary, Lawrence Summers, along with other Democrats) Trump has said he would sign the discharge petition. Schumer is waiting.

Sole “no” vote in the House came from Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA).

“If enacted in its current form, this type of broad reveal of criminal investigative files released to a rabid media, will absolutely result in innocent people being hurt,” Higgins said.

Records related to the investigation of Epstein and his associate/ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell will be released within 30 days of Trump’s signature, except for materials related to ongoing investigations, according to Roll Call, and advocates warn that the way officials choose to comply with those restrictions could result in the release of fewer files than they hope.

Meanwhile … Summers, a Harvard University economics professor and former president says he will step down from the Open AI board, according to The Wall Street Journal. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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WEDNESDAY 11/19/25

President Trump greets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House Tuesday, the day after he touted his administration’s efforts to make things affordable (above), at the McDonald’s franchise owners’ summit in Washington, D.C. (per USA Today). Trump intends to sell bin Salman, whom the CIA assesses ordered the assassination of Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, F-35 fighter jets. [From a White House video]

TUESDAY 11/18/25

Go Ahead, Vote, House Republicans – On Sunday, President Trump Truth Socialed that he now is in favor of making the Epstein Files public. On Monday, rather than issuing and executive order and do that himself, he called on House Republicans to join Democrats in a floor vote to force release of the files by the Justice Department.

Tuesday morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who has been carrying Trump’s water for months in opposing their release, called the floor vote about to take place a “show vote.”

A week or two ago, there were 40 to 50 Republicans ready to vote for the measure sponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) and by this week that number had grown to at least 100 from the president’s party, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) (whom Trump now calls “Marjorie Traitor Greene”). 

Khanna told NPR’s Scott Detrow, on All Things Considered Monday that releasing the files will scrutinize “the Epstein class,” including both Republicans and Democrats like former President Bill Clinton, his treasury secretary, Larry Summers, venture capitalist Reid Hoffman and other members of a “group of people with extreme wealth who have donated to politicians and been part of the system that has shafted a lot of forgotten Americans.” –TL

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FRIDAY 11/14/25

•Scroll down with the far-right trackbar to read our discussion of Elon Musk’s $1 trillion Tesla pay package.

Trump Says to Release the Files – As the House of Representatives prepared to vote this week on a measure to force release of files collected on the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, President Trump suddenly has reversed his position and now favors making them public, numerous news outlets. Though considered a “major test of GOP loyalty” according to The Wall Street Journal, at least 40 and possibly 50 Republicans, including such MAGA stalwarts as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) were expected to join Democrats in passing the measure. 

“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democratic Hoax,” Trump wrote on social media. He called it a “distraction” from GOP successes. 

Republican leadership in the House Oversight Committee last week released more than 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate, many of which mention Donald J. Trump. 

Perhaps the resulting Republican reaction from their release has given Trump confidence this is another “I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue” situation among his staunchest supporters? 

--TL

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FRIDAY 11/14/25

Whither Economic Data? – With the government up and running again, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics is working hard to get employment and Consumer Price Index data up and available again to economists, the Federal Reserve and the like. It has set Thursday, November 10 for its September employment growth report (which hasn’t pleased President Trump for months), from its original posting date of Friday, October 3. Stay tuned – as usual, we will post those numbers here Thursday.

•••

GOP-Side Epstein Files – Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released three Jeffrey Epstein emails that mention Donald J. Trump, and not in a good way, on Wednesday. Later Wednesday, the Oversight Committee as a whole, which means the Republican majority, release some 20,000 documents. You can review them here.

Tip: Click on the “Data” tab at the top.

•••

Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte – Charlotte, North Carolina is the latest Trump administration target for federal law enforcement intervention despite a violent crime rate that’s down 20% year-to-date versus 2024. Two federal agents contacted Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary McFadden, a Democrat, to alert him that US Border Control could deploy to Charlotte as early as Saturday, the sheriff’s office announced in a statement, NPR’s Morning Edition reported. The Mecklenburg’s sheriff’s office was not asked to assist or participate. –TL

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THURSDAY 11/13/25

Will the Epstein Files Save Schumer? – Though Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) voted himself against the continuing resolution reopening the government to try and force extension of health insurance subsidies, he did not try to tell his Democratic caucus how to vote. And therein lies the rub.

A sufficient number of Senate Democrats voted with Republicans to pass a continuing resolution back to the House without the extension of health care subsidies the Democrats wanted. All sorts of Democrats as well as Jon Stewart on The Daily Show are outraged and say it is time for Schumer to step down as minority leader.

Grijalva steps up … Meanwhile, with the House reopened, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) kept his promise and swore in newly elected Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), who promptly provided the 218^th signature to a petition to force a House vote on a subpoena for the Trump administration Justice Department to release its files containing more than 23,000 documents regarding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

For the interim, Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released three Epstein emails in which the sex offender, who committed suicide while being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City in 2019, to Trump.

Donald J. Trump campaigned on releasing the Epstein files, which are expected to contain as many Democratic leaders’ names as Republican leaders’ names, and business moguls’ names. Since he returned to the White House in January, Trump says he does not want the files released.

Meanwhile … Multiple sources told ABC News that “top administration officials” called Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) to the White House Wednesday to try and change her mind about having signed the Epstein files petition. According to the Washington Examiner, Boebert denies the report.

After Johnson swore in Grijalva, the House passed H.R. 5371, the continuing resolution, 222-209, with six Democrats and two Republicans flipping sides, The Hill reports.

Then Trump says … “So with all of that, I just want to tell you the country has never been in better shape,” the president said at the late-night Oval Office signing photo op. “We went through this short-term disaster with the Democrats who thought it would be good politically. And it’s an honor now to sign this incredible bill and get the country working again.”

Because a minority of Democratic senators caved on reopening the government at expense of health insurance subsidies, the speaker reconvened the House and swore in Grijalva. Did Grijalva’s signature on the petition to release save Schumer as minority leader, at least for now? 

Even though at least 50 Republicans are expected to join Democrats in the House vote, according to NPR’s Morning Edition, Senate Democrats will still need help in passing the measure on to President Trump and then maintain that majority in order to overturn a veto.

If all that somehow happens and the Epstein files provide revelations about President Trump, Schumer may be forgiven, if not forgotten. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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THUSDAY 11/13/25

Commentary by K.E. Bell

“What Elon did with USAID should be an extinction-level event for his reputation.” So said noted author and philosopher Sam Harris in a conversation with journalist Shane Smith.

Now the man who has blood on his hands for denying aid to the world’s most vulnerable people wants to be paid $1 trillion. Of course, that $1 trillion would come in the form of stock so he can hold onto it and avoid paying taxes. Never let the government get its share to help the people.

Obscene.

This comes while Musk is in the midst of court proceedings over his previous $56 billion pay package — you know the one that aims to pay him about 200 times more than other high-end CEO salaries, which were about 290 times the pay of the average worker in 2023. Now he wants to increase that by a factor of 20. There can be only two reasons to have the temerity to ask for such a package: ego and greed that know no bounds.

I think Musk is evil, and not just because of his greed. His DOGE exploits put thousands of Americans out of work, took the heat off his companies as he scuttled investigations, and very likely illegally gathered data on just about everyone in the country. He threw Nazi salutes at Trump’s inaugural, he’s a far-right internet troll, and he says empathy is a “fundamental weakness of Western civilization.” He is to be derided, not praised.

But none of that is enough for people to distance themselves from him because he may pad their pocketbooks. After all, integrity no longer matters in the age of Trump.

Over the Last Thursday, shareholders approved this disgusting pay package. That’s because capitalism is more than just an economic policy in this country. It’s a religion.

Capitalism is amoral. That’s not to say it’s immoral. Morality just doesn’t even factor in. Sure, companies can choose to act morally, but when dumping the mercury in the water is cheaper than handling it responsibly, capitalism says go the cheap route. 

It also says “maximize the earnings,” and that’s the goal with Musk’s new pay package. Tesla is a meme stock built on the cult of personality that holds that Musk is a genius. Tesla stock currently trades about 300 times earnings in a market that aims for about 20:1 when healthy. Its stock price is currently about $445. If it were a normal, profitable company it would trade at about $30 a share. That stock price would gives Tesla a valuation of about $1.5 trillion. 

To get his pay Musk has to raise Tesla’s valuation to $8.5 trillion. It’s a big bet on AI and robots, and the shareholders don’t care if a man completely lacking moral character is the one who leads them there, as long as their bank accounts rise.

The cult of Musk is currently good for a factor of 15 in Tesla’s valuation even after he played shadow president to advance his own agenda. It would have to account for far more than that to get to the goals of this new pay package, goals he very likely won’t achieve. But he’ll goose the stock on a regular basis by making outlandish claims, most of which will never come to fruition. 

Musk got his win. He demanded the moon and his adoring shareholders gave him the win, or at least the façade of a win. They said he’s worth a trillion dollars. That should feed the ego, even if the goals are unrealistic.

Musk should be considered so toxic that his presence is a negative for the company, not an outsized positive. I hope that this bet against integrity costs the shareholders in the end.

Bell is a left-column contributing pundit to The Hustings.

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WEDNESDAY 11/12/25

(Photo courtesy Tesla)

Commentary by Rich Corbett

Elon Musk‘s new Tesla pay package isn’t a guaranteed $1 trillion payout, it’s a stretch-goal incentive structure requiring him to achieve extraordinarily ambitious milestones: Deploying 1 million robotaxis, selling 10 million full self-driving subscriptions, scaling to 1 million Optimus robots, and growing Tesla’s market cap 6x to $8.5T (surpassing Nvidia’s peak).

"Tesla also laid out a series of earnings milestones for Musk, beginning with $50 billion in annual adjusted profit and moving up to $400 billion. In the third quarter, Tesla reported adjusted EBITDA of $4.2 billion." – CNBC

These aren’t “easy” bonuses—they demand transforming transportation, labor, and society at a scale no company has ever achieved. Hitting even a fraction would create immense shareholder value and advance humanity.

Shareholders approved it 75-25 because they recognize: Visionaries who swing for the fences and connect should be rewarded massively when they deliver. Musk has done it before; tying his compensation to these moonshots aligns incentives perfectly. 

Ambitious targets deserve ambitious upside.

Corbett is a right-column contributing pundit to The Hustings and writes mydesultoryblog.

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WEDNESDAY 11/12/25

The US has granted Hungary a one-year exemption from oil and gas sanctions on Russia, White House officials said (per Reuters) after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had an especially warm and friendly day with President Trump at the White House Friday.

TUESDAY 11/11/25

Senate Votes to Reopen Government -- The Senate voted 60-40 to send to the House its measure approved late Sunday to fund the government to January 30, with full-year (to September 30) appropriations for agriculture, Veteran Affairs and legislative operations (which means congressional staff will get paid), according to Congressional Quarterly’s Roll Call. 

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he would give House members 36 hours to return to Washington, in time for a Wednesday vote on the appropriations bill. 

“I’d like for us to be voting on this as early as Wednesday, which is the quickest we could process it if the Senate does their work,” Johnson said. 

Hello, Grijalva? … Johnson said he can swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) when the House reconvenes Wednesday, The Washington Examiner reports. Grijalva won a special election September 23 for the seat of her father, Raul Grijalva, who died in March, and plans to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files. Johnson has refused to swear in Adelita Grijalva, raising much speculation that he is protecting President Trump from appearing in the investigation of the late sex trafficker. 

Paul defends hemp … Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the lone Republican who rejected the spending package over the agriculture funding bill that regulated the hemp industry, which he says is a significant employer in Kentucky.

“Every hemp plant in America will have to be destroyed, every hemp seed in America will have to be destroyed, and 100% of the hemp products that are sold will no longer be allowed to be sold,” Paul said. 

Paul’s amendment was tabled, 76-24.

Baldwin and Schumer … Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) offered an amendment for a one-year extension of health care subsidies, the issue that has kept the federal government mostly closed for 42 days. Her amendment failed along party lines, 47-53. 

Meanwhile, there has been quite the rumble from House and Senate Democrats that it’s time for Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to go. Though Schumer voted with the majority of Democrats in rejecting the spending package because it does not provide the Affordable Care Act subsidies extension, he also failed to keep Senate Democrats in line in the vote, especially after Republicans were weakened by Democrats’ success in the November 4 off-year elections.

But wait, there’s more … If Republicans back out of their promise to negotiate the health care subsidies in December, Democrats could force another partial shutdown in January as primaries start to heat up for the November 2026 midterms. –TL

______________________________________________

Shutdown Day 41 -- MONDAY 11/10/25

Over? For Now? Almost? – Seven Democratic Senators and one independent broke the filibuster and voted with Republicans 60-40, to approve a continuing resolution to reopen the federal government. As part of the deal, Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) will schedule a vote later this year to extend enhanced health insurance premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, according to The Hill.

At least 40 Senate Democrats do not trust Republicans to vote for the tax credits. Among them, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who voted against the measure Sunday. 

Filibuster-busters … Senators who guaranteed a two-thirds majority were Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), who retires at the end of the year, the independent Angus King of Maine, New Hampshire Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine, Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman and Nevada Democrats Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen.

Fetterman and Cortez Masto have voted on continuing resolutions with Republicans – there were 14 ahead of this compromise -- for weeks.

The bill funds military construction, Veterans Affairs and the Agriculture Department though the fiscal year, to September 30, 2026. 

Cans to be kicked … Stopgap measures that would expire January 30 include funding the rest of government at fiscal 2025 levels, retaining more than 4,000 federal workers targeted for layoffs during the shutdown and preventing the Trump administration’s firing of additional workers via reductions in workforce (RIFs). The latter provision was responsible for getting Tim Kaine of Virginia, who has thousands of constituents in Washington suburbs, on board.

House Republicans will have to rely on their three-seat majority to pass the Senate bill in the lower chamber.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) called the Senate compromise “unconditional surrender” in an interview on NPR’s Morning Edition.

“Why are we acting like we lost the election?” Torres said, referring to the Democratic Party’s off-year success last week.

Uh oh, SNAP … Meanwhile, the Trump White House on the weekend demanded that states “undo” (refund?) full benefits paid under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during a one-day window between a federal judge ordering full funding and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily pausing the payments via emergency order late Friday (The Associated Press). Jackson, who handles emergency matters from Massachusetts.

•••

Trump Pardons Election Denial Supporters – President Trump extended a “full, complete and unconditional” pardons of attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and ex-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and dozens of others.

The Wall Street Journal cited a release Monday by US pardons attorney Ed Martin, who previously announced the pardons on X-Twitter. 

Pardoned for their involvement in an alleged Trump scheme to overturn results of the 2020 presidential election, they were “prosecuted by the Biden administration,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Monday. 

“Getting prosecuted for challenging results is something that happens in communist Venezuela, not the United States of America, and President Trump is putting an end to the Biden Regime’s communist tactics once and for all.” –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 11/10/25