- Erin Banco, Jonathan Landay, Ned Parker and Phil Stewart @ Reuters: How Trump’s obsession with ‘rigged’ voting machines spread across US government
What began with a search for evidence inside a Puerto Rico voting machine grew into a vast quest involving intelligence agencies, election deniers and White House officials for proof that the 2020 vote was stolen. It failed — but Trump diehards remain undeterred.
- Sarah Fitzpatrick @ The Atlantic: Is There Anything Kash Patel Won’t Do for Trump Before the Midterms?
“The president wants indictments. He wants people in handcuffs.”
- Christopher Mathias @ Talking Points Memo: Chris Rufo — Known For ‘DEI’ and ‘CRT’ Panics — Tries to Make ‘the Indian Question’ a Thing
Rufo often gets treated as a "respectable" conservative. His latest podcast episode — framing Indian-Americans as a problem in need of solving — is more evidence that he shouldn't be.
- Scott Nover @ The Washington Post: Trump administration is paying $1.6 million a week to keep Voice of America staff on leave
Hundreds of VOA staffers have been on paid leave since the agency sidelined them in March 2025.
- Steven Walker @ The Orlando Sentinel: ‘Gobsmacked’: Florida parents, teachers decry changes to science education
Florida’s new plan for teaching science in public schools lacks depth, skirts around the important topics of climate change and evolution and would be a “disservice” to the state’s students, dozens of parents and teachers told the Florida Department of Education late Wednesday.
- Kiera Butler @ Mother Jones: What to Know About Hegseth’s New Office of Religious Affairs
“Our department is, you might say, putting on the full armor of God.”
