Politics | Voter.org

The Logical End Point of Trump Saying He Could Shoot Somebody on Fifth Avenue

January 25, 2026 Avenue, could, point, Trump, Saying, Fifth, shoot, Somebody, Logical0 comment

On January 23, 2016, Donald Trump notoriously declared, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” That statement was understood at the time as a metaphorical expression of the depth of Republican voters’ commitment to him. Ten years and one day later, his administration’s agents shot a disarmed man on the street in full view of the public. Perhaps we should have taken him not only seriously but also literally. The dynamic Trump observed is that he had created a…

Trump Can Prosecute Anyone Now

January 21, 2026 Anyone, Prosecute, Trump0 comment

This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. A year into Donald Trump’s second term, the Department of Justice has become his private law firm, devoted less to the impartial administration of justice than to blackmailing, intimidating, and persecuting Trump’s foes while selectively enforcing the law to spare allies who break it. The chairman of the Federal Reserve reveals that the Justice Department has been attempting to blackmail him into lowering interest rates with the threat of a federal indictment. The…

‘Maybe DHS Was a Bad Idea’

January 17, 2026 maybe, Idea0 comment

“We don’t do politics in the Department of Homeland Security,” Tom Ridge, the nation’s first DHS secretary, liked to say whenever reporters would ask how he handled pressure from the White House. Ridge, a moderate Republican and a Vietnam vet with a square jaw and gentle manner, was the governor of Pennsylvania when nearly 3,000 Americans were killed on September 11, 2001. The nation was gripped with fear and horror, and President George W. Bush put the bipartisanship-seeking Ridge in charge of making sure there wouldn’t be another terrorist strike.…

The Biggest Myth About Trump’s Base (And Why Many Believe It)

January 13, 2026 many, Biggest, base, trumps, myth, about, believe0 comment

This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. To judge by recent accounts, Donald Trump’s intervention in Venezuela has imperiled his standing among his own supporters. Traditional-media outlets have warned of a MAGA schism, as have some high-profile right-wing influencers. “President Trump seized control of the Republican Party on an anti-interventionist ‘America First’ platform,” The New York Times reported on January 4, but his removal of Venezuela’s leader “threatened to open a new rift within the political movement he has built.”…

How ICE Lost Its Guardrails

January 9, 2026 Lost, Guardrails0 comment

If the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties was still functioning as it did before Donald Trump returned to the presidency, Julie Plavsic and her former colleagues would have spent yesterday opening an investigation into the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE officer in Minnesota. Although the DHS inspector general takes the lead on criminal investigations of officers, after an incident like this, CRCL’s job would have been to review policies, training, and oversight procedures to try to prevent anything like it…

Trump’s Retro Imperialism

January 5, 2026 trumps, imperialism', Retro0 comment

President Donald Trump’s fans like to cheer on his most audacious moves by declaring, “I voted for this.” It is safe to assume, though, that very few people who pulled the lever for Trump in 2024 expected that he would soon announce that he had seized control over Venezuela. One of Trump’s most popular qualities has always been his supposed opposition to foreign wars, his anti-imperialist isolationism. Yet J. D. Vance, who once wrote an op-ed headlined “Trump’s Best Foreign Policy? Not Starting Any Wars,” now declares the new war…