Evening Roundup, June 4
Featuring Jennifer Weiss-Wolf; Paul Rieckhoff & Jen Rubin; Max Stier; Eliza Orlins; Josh Levs; Megan Armstrong; and Katherine Eban in conversation with Jen Rubin
When women wield power to do active harm
At a town hall meeting in Parkersburg, Iowa, last Friday, Sen. Joni Ernst (R) faced a boisterous room of constituents, with many in the crowd expressing concern about the “big, beautiful” budget bill on its way to the Senate, with proposed cuts to the committee that oversees Medicaid.
Trump Betrays Veterans: Paul Rieckhoff on June 6 Veterans Protest and Standing Up for Americans Who Served
More than 6,000 of the federal workers fired by DOGE are veterans. As Elon Musk slinks out of Washington, he leaves behind a legacy of disrespect and disregard towards Americans who have served our country in uniform. But veterans are fighting back—and you can too.
For Trump, 'The state is me'
By Max Stier
That's why his administration wants to subject government employees to loyalty tests.
SCOTUS Wants to Expand the Second Amendment. Why?
The Supreme Court is gearing up to expand the Second Amendment even further. New York City public defender Eliza Orlins explains their complicity through delay and inaction.
Veterans’ D-Day rally is a chance to set the media straight
Over the next two weeks, a new battle will take place over the U.S. military. The chief theater in which it’s fought will be the media.
The WNBA does not need a white knight
By Megan Armstrong
Caitlin Clark is a generational star, but she is not the league.
RFK Jr. doesn't know what he's doing: Katherine Eban on the world of 'Make America Healthy Again'
Calley Means is a top adviser to RFK Jr. and an outspoken proponent of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement. Katherine Eban joins Jen to discuss her latest piece in Vanity Fair investigating Means’ rise to power, his nonexistent background in medicine and healthcare, and the general erosion of the Department of Health and Human Services
The BIG news is the Musk/ Trump split on the budget. Musk calls the Trump spending bill a "disgusting abomination."
Both are in denial about whether DOGE has cost the Treasury bigly. 6 Nobel Prize-winning economists warned that Trump’s budget bill would gut Medicaid and food stamps, increase debt by over $3 trillion, and fuel inflation and inequality, despite GOP lies that it would boost growth.
Hope that Musk and Trump will beat up each other, causing outright defeat of the Big Beautiful budget.
Everything in Trump world is turning to shit right now. A cacophony of lawless stupidity, contempt for expertise, legislative incoherence and cruelty, arrogance, illogic, food fights, incompetence —- total clusterfuckery on a rancid cracker.
But look at the bright side. In the middle of the maelstrom, “He’s a Macho, Macho, Macho Man” Pete Kegsbreath managed to remove Harvey Milk’s name from a second-class Navy vessel in honor of Pride Month. Eye on the ball, that one! 🤪