Our new book is The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics. The second Trump administration is off to an ominous start. Its incompetence sometimes compounds the harm it does, but it sometimes tempers it.
One week into the shutdown, Republicans are trying to stay on message — but President Donald Trump is making that difficult.Erica Orden at POLITICO:
Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune want to show Democrats there’s no daylight inside the GOP: Republicans will only negotiate a deal to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies once the government is back open.
But Trump is causing major headaches by going off script, Dasha Burns and Jordain Carney report. On Monday, Trump pointed to health care negotiations with Democrats that didn’t appear to exist, but would have contradicted Johnson and Thune’s red line about no ACA talks until the shutdown ends.
On Tuesday, the White House further complicated matters by sending a memo stating some federal workers might not receive backpay after the shutdown’s over. Republicans scrambled to refute that message. After all, Trump himself signed legislation in 2019 guaranteeing all federal workers would be paid following a shutdown — and many Republicans voted for it.
President Donald Trump is deploying the Justice Department to punish and prosecute his perceived enemies and advance his political agenda. But his color commentary — and that of senior members of his administration — about the cases is threatening to derail them in court.
Public comments by Trump and high-ranking officials including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have already become flashpoints in high-profile cases. Judges overseeing criminal proceedings against Luigi Mangione, charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man who was illegally deported by the Trump administration, have warned the administration to stop making remarks that could prevent the defendants from having fair trials, or have suggested they may already have violated rules against doing so.
In two other criminal cases — against former FBI Director James Comey and against alleged Charlie Kirk shooter Tyler Robinson — remarks by Trump and others are all but certain to show up in court filings as the defendants argue their cases should be thrown out. The defense lawyers in all four cases would need to convince the judges that the comments prevent their clients from receiving a fair trial because potential jurors have been prejudiced.
And as the Justice Department, at Trump’s urging, pursues the potential prosecution of Trump foes Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), John Bolton, John Brennan and others, Trump’s tendency to proclaim the guilt of an unconvicted defendant or publicly pressure prosecutors to bring charges will likely continue to create significant legal headaches.
