Don't Take Just My Word For It

Here are some of the best explainers and talking points I've seen from others during this long week.

Even while some of my worst fears for Trump’s speech didn’t materialize, in many ways it was uglier… smaller… than I imagined. I hope you didn’t watch.

Some of the worst stretches were Trump’s extended, bullying rants against innocent transgender children. As Senator Chris Murphy predicted, Trump used trans kids as pawns and political cover to distract from the fact that he has no answers to real issues:

Senator Murphy’s post was just one of the great insights I picked up this week. Here are a few more talking points for your family gatherings and group texts this weekend:

Michelle Norris on Why Trump’s Policies Are Insulting to Farmers

MSNBC’s post-speech panel had a robust discussion explaining why Trump’s speech was insulting farmers and why his policies will be particularly harmful to commodity farmers. The discussion starts around the 1:00 minute into this video below.

Pod Save America on Why DOGE is a Scam to Make the Rich Richer

On Monday, the guys over at Pod Save America destroyed any argument that DOGE is designed to reduce the deficit or save money for taxpayers:

And by the way, the end result of [DOGE cuts] is not reducing the deficit... They want to take that money… and [give] a gigantic tax cut for the rich.… Which is why they have to go even further and look to cut Medicaid or look to cut Social Security or whatever they're gonna do to try to pay for these giant tax cuts. So none of this results in any kind of tangible benefit for actual American citizens.

Pod Save on How to Cut the Budget if You Actually Care About Efficiency

A lot of friends well-meaning family might be asking, “well, can’t we get rid of waste and still keep the good stuff government does?”

Of course. The problem is that anyone who actually wants to would never do things the way Trump and Musk are operating. Pod Save explained the less cruel alternative:

You don't have to cut $4 billion [every] day. You don't have to scramble through the agencies finding little bits to cut every day. If you have a goal for a giant budget cut, you can propose it through Congress. … [Or] go to the cabinet secretaries and say… “I need a proposal for this many cuts by this date. And I know it's gonna be hard and I'm gonna be driving you guys every day and I'm gonna be meeting with you, but you tell me what we can cut.” But no, one fucking adult tech bro cannot oversee these cuts across every layer of our government. It's gonna lead to kids fucking dying.

They could have audited USAID, they could have used the authority that they have to trim where they could. And they could have sent Congress a list of cuts, a list of layoffs that they wanted to do. They could have done all that if the whole thing was [actually] about efficiency.

Drug Lords Aren’t Bringing Most Fentanyl into the Country; We Are

President Trump ignited his trade war by justifying tariffs on claims that drug traffickers are smuggling drugs (specifically fentanyl) into the U.S.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has the truth: U.S. government data shows that 80% of people arrested for smuggling fentanyl at US ports of entry are U.S. citizens — not immigrants or international drug lords.

MSNBC Legal Analyst Barb McQuade with an Important Explainer on the Separation of Powers:

The Supreme Court ruled that Trump can’t freeze certain USAID payments. A lower court judge said USAID must pay, and the Supreme Court agreed.

McQuade points out an important nuance: this wasn’t an “activist” lower court judge imposing what they wanted. It was a reasonable judge interpreting what Congress’s law requires. The judge determined that the law on the books says USAID has to pay, and Trump doesn’t have authority to stop those payments unless he gets Congress to pass a new law.

This is what judges are supposed to do. They interpret the law and apply it to the situation in front of them. They don’t decide how they personally want the situation to turn out and issue a ruling that suits them. Don’t let Musk’s “impeach the judges” rants make you believe otherwise.

And One from Me: An Explainer That We Can Still Have Nice Things

I posted on BlueSky earlier this week that “MAYHEM is guaranteed to be a better Lady Gaga album than it is a governing strategy.”

MAYHEM, Gaga’s 7th album, is out at midnight tonight.

We all deserve to just dance this weekend.