This didn’t start with DOGE

Teachers and supporters gather on the second day of a teachers’ strike at Civic Center Park in Denver on February 12, 2019. Amid the the fourth week of Donald Trump’s presidency and Elon Musk’s unprecedented blitz against the federal government, dread abounds for the country’s federal civil service — the 2.3 million career government employees…

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The danger of Trump’s promise to pardon J6 defendants

Then-President Donald Trump speaks at the “Stop the Steal” Rally on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images President-elect Donald Trump has been talking for years about pardoning the people who took part in the January 6, 2021, insurrection, and he could do so on day one of his second term. In…

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What really mattered in 2024

Optimus, also known as Tesla Bot, is a general-purpose robotic humanoid under development by Tesla, Inc., shown in Hong Kong. | Bob Henry/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images At the end of every year, journalists like to look back and see where our predictions held up or fell flat, what were the year’s biggest events,…

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The Supreme Incompetents

Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh (right) and Neil Gorsuch at a White House ceremony in 2018. | Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images All of the United States’ most important governing institutions are failing at once. Congress, of course, has long been barely able to function. Every year, it struggles merely to fund the rest of…

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Trump’s felony conviction has hurt him in the polls

These headlines seem to have had an impact. | Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images Donald Trump has been a convicted felon for a little over a week and he has already lost a small but significant chunk of support, according to the polls.  In recent days, the New York Times and Sienna College recontacted 2,000…

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