The U.S. women's Olympic hockey team declined President Donald Trump's invitation to attend his State of the Union address on Tuesday, with a spokesperson for the team telling NBC News that they couldn’t attend «due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments.» An athlete skis past Olympic rings during a cross country training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Feb. 5. «We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal–winning U.S. Women’s Hockey Team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement,» the spokesperson wrote on X. «They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment.» The announcement came after House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Monday that he expected both the women's and men's hockey teams—which both took home the gold in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games—to attend Trump's speech. Trump invited the men to attend his speech during a phone call Sunday as they celebrated an overtime victory against Canada—the first gold medal win in the event since 1980. A video of Trump surfaced, showing him speaking to the team on FBI Director Kash Patel's cellphone as Patel was inexplicably drinking beer and partying with the players on taxpayers’ dime. xDisgusting. Team USA laughing with President Trump as he complains about having to invite the women’s team to the White House too.Yes, the men’s hockey team winning gold is a much bigger deal.But show some fucking respect for your fellow Team USA athletes. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 https://t.co/nn6Y3oWiK0 pic.twitter.com/AUflRNyhjg— All Rice (@thats_bb_suzyn) February 23, 2026 In that same phone call, Trump disparaged the women's team, lamenting that he would also have to extend an invitation to the female players. «I must tell you, we're going to have to bring the women's team, you do know that,» Trump said, as the players laughed. «I do believe I probably would be impeached.» A number of the players on the men's team are Trump supporters, including Matthew Tkachuk, who visited the White House last month with his Stanley Cup-winning NHL team. U.S. men's hockey team celebrates winning gold in the 2026 Winter Olympics. «The two Cups was pretty good, but that walk with you might've trumped it all there. That was pretty amazing,” Tkachuk said at the event, which was held amid backlash to Trump's immigration goons killing Americans. »I'm so proud to be an American and so proud to be here with you and everybody else.« Politics have seeped into this year’s Olympics, with multiple players saying that they were proud to represent the United States but did not support what the Trump administration is doing back home. For example, freestyle skier Hunter Hess said that »it brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now.” “There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren't,” he added. “Just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the U.S.«  And a member of the U.S. curling team, Rich Ruohonen, criticized Trump’s violent and deadly immigration operation in Minnesota. “We'd be remiss if we didn't at least mention what's going on in Minnesota,” he said. “What's happening in Minnesota is wrong. There's no shades of gray. It's clear.” x x YouTube Video Skier Gus Kenworthy was even more blunt, posting on Instagram an AI image with the words “fuck ICE,” which appears to be written in urine in the snow.   x View this post on Instagram A post shared by gus kenworthy (@guskenworthy) “You can call your Senator at (202) 224-3121 to speak up against ICE and put pressure on them during the current DHS funding negotiations,” he captioned the post. Meanwhile, gold-winning U.S. figure skater Amber Glenn said that, »Politics affect us all. It is something that I will not just be quiet about.« Of course, being the malignant narcissist that he is, Trump lost it when he was rightfully criticized by the athletes, disparaging those who spoke out against him on Truth Social. Figure skater Amber Glenn performs at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Feb. 21. “Hunter Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn’t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics. If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it,» he wrote. And Trump’s comments led MAGA trolls and GOP lawmakers to pile on Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told Hess to “shut up and go play in the snow,” while And Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida simply told him to go home. "YOU chose to wear our flag. YOU chose to represent our country. YOU chose to compete at the Olympics. If that’s too hard for you, then GO HOME. Some things are bigger than politics. You just don’t get it,” Donalds wrote on X. Of course, being able to criticize the government is an essential part of being American. Forcing Olympic athletes to stay quiet or to praise the government, however, is something you’d expect from countries like North Korea or Russia.  But Republicans only want free speech for themselves—not for me, not for you, and not even for Olympians.

Leading Republican voices like Donald Trump Jr. are promoting a new “investigation” by conservative activist Nick Shirley which purports to prove voter fraud in California, but the core premise of the video was quickly debunked. The false allegation adds to the ever-growing pattern of behavior by Shirley and other right-wing serial misinformers like James O’Keefe, who promise bombshells that fizzle at the slightest bit of examination. Shirley posted a video on Saturday alleging that domicile addresses registered at a San Diego UPS store were “illegal.” Shirley claims that “you can receive a ballot at a PO Box, but it cannot be the domicile address—which over 30 of them are, errors and suspected fraudulent activity is everywhere in California voter rolls.” Related | GOP ignores reality to boost MAGA YouTuber's racist attacks The self-proclaimed journalist claimed that despite his purported evidence, “California seems to not care about their voter rolls meanwhile you do not even need an ID to vote,” and further insisted that this was just one example of "voter fraud” in the heavily Democratic state. In his post pushing the Shirley video, Trump Jr. wrote, “It never ends. Imagine if the mainstream media actually spent even a few minutes looking into any of these things?” But the claim was false. As X readers pointed out in a community note later added to Shirley’s post, the UPS store in question is part of a mixed-use residential development with apartments above it. The 30 listed residences in question are in fact perfectly legal residential addresses for voters. Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona called out Shirley’s bogus bombshell. Nick Shirley speaks during a roundtable meeting with President Donald Trump on antifa in the State Dining Room at the White House on Oct. 8, 2025, as Savanah Hernandez listens. “PO Box is an acronym for Post Office Box. A UPS Store is not a PO Box and likely serves as the community mail box for the development,” Gallego wrote. “The fact that we are making public policy based on this inexperienced boy is an indictment of the Republican Party.” Shirley’s video is part of an attempt to recreate the fog of disinformation he created a few months ago with a series of videos alleging that Somali immigrants in Minnesota were operating fraudulent daycare centers, and that the practice was being ignored by Democrats leading the state government. But Democrats had addressed those issues previously, with investigations and even resulting convictions.  President Donald Trump and other Republican lawmakers nonetheless used Shirley’s video as an excuse to send federal troops into Minnesota as part of his mass deportation policy, a deployment that led to the shooting deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Shirley is an influencer who pivoted into the world of MAGA politics and tailored his content to support bigoted right-wing policy ideas, bringing him millions of followers and support from prominent Republicans like the Trump family and members of Congress.  Related | MAGA influencer's face-plant shows pitfall in creator culture His dishonest work echoes the behavior of serial misinformer James O’Keefe, himself a protégé of conservative activist Andrew Breitbart. O’Keefe has produced several series of videos targeting progressive activists and Democrats, most of which were debunked soon after their release. Continually seeking new controversy to stir up, O’Keefe was eventually exposed for trying to entrap a CNN reporter on a boat stocked with sex toys, as well as an incident where he was arrested while trying to sneak into the office of a Democratic senator.  With support from the Republican establishment and his work’s underlying dishonesty, Shirley is now following in O’Keefe’s slimy footsteps.

A cartoon by Mike Luckovich. Related | High-profile resignations and replacements as Epstein case fallout spreads

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. Americans are pissed at the state of Trump's union He’s just as popular as he was after Jan. 6. Despite crises in US, FBI director chugs a beer in Italy U.S.A.! U.S. … ugh. All the ways Trump will illegally impose more tariffs He’s nothing if not a petulant jerk. Cartoon: Stocks & Bondis The attorney general’s fawning over Trump won’t save her. Lawyer who took down tariffs trolls Trump Children of immigrants: They get the job done. Nicki Minaj trades 'Barbz' for bots amid MAGA transformation Looks like there are some “super freaky” shenanigans going on. How Democrats can leverage Trump’s economic disaster It’s still the economy, stupid. Trump tells grieving families all about his own suffering It’s the “Let’s not make this about me” challenge, level: impossible. Click here to see more cartoons.

After a Winter Olympic Games of athletes celebrating each other as much as they did winning, the response from the Trump administration is equal parts disheartening and gross.  These are people who are functionally incapable of seeing the Olympics as anything but an opportunity to display their xenophobic loathing of other countries and to celebrate victory as a sort of violent domination.  In short, the Trump team simply didn’t understand anything about these Olympics.  Amber Glenn takes a selfie with ice dance team Madison Chock and Evan Bates after winning gold on Feb. 8. Perhaps the highest-profile example of this was the diminutive FBI Director Kash Patel partying with the U.S. men’s hockey team on your dime.  Or maybe it’s that, after the men’s hockey team beat Canada for the gold, the official White House X account posted a picture—which we can all safely assume is AI slop—of a bald eagle attacking a Canadian goose on a frozen lake. Beating Canada in a hockey game apparently means we have subjugated the entire country? Terrific.  Or perhaps it’s the AI slop video of President Donald Trump—the biggest, most pathetic starfucker there ever was—inserting himself into the game so he could punch a Canadian hockey player.  This behavior would be disgusting at any time, but it’s especially jarring after an Olympics where the athletes themselves made conscious decisions to show care for each other—including their rivals. Nowhere was this clearer than in figure skating, where U.S. skaters banded together to cheer other countries’ skaters on, with Ilia Malinin taking time to congratulate Mikhail Shaidorov for his gold medal—even after Malinin’s didn’t place at all for his free skate performance.  And after Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto was inundated with reporters forcing cameras in her face, she learned that she lost the gold to U.S. skater Alysa Liu. Liu’s teammate, Amber Glenn, rushed to comfort Sakamoto, telling one reporter to stop trying to film her crying.  But it wasn’t just figure skaters.  After Australian snowboarder Valentino Guseli unexpectedly made it into the finals of the big air competition, Swiss snowboarder Jonas Hasler carried Guseli around on his shoulders in celebration. Australia's Valentino Guseli competes during the men's snowboarding halfpipe finals on Feb. 13. And we also were treated to the adorableness of “Dads Podium,” where all three dual moguls winners were joined by their partners and young children.  It also wasn’t just athletes.  The closing ceremony highlighted how important togetherness was to the games, with International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry  telling athletes in her final remarks, “You showed us that the Olympic Games are a place for everyone. A place where sport brings us together.” She also thanked the Italian people for their graciousness toward the athletes. “You celebrated your champions and you cheered for athletes of every nation, showing that passion and respect can live side by side,” Coventry  said. The notion that people can care for each other—even as sports rivals—and that connection matters more than jingoism and xenophobia is utterly foreign to people like Trump. The only thing he knows how to celebrate is the subjugation of others.  Related | Why the Olympics turn Republicans into sore losers Sadly, it looks like the U.S. men’s hockey team is totally down for this sort of thing, eagerly accepting Trump’s invitation to his State of the Union address on Tuesday.  The plans for it already sound gross, with House Speaker Mike Johnson trying to break the House rule that says that no special guests are allowed on the floor. He says he’s “trying to work out logistics to see if there’s some way to perhaps get them into the gallery and the doors, wave and receive the applause they’re due.” Proposing to break legislative rules to do some xenophobic screaming about AMERICA is so on brand for this administration that it feels like the writers’ room for this season is getting lazy.  But unfortunately, it’s real. At least the rest of us can fall back on our memories of what it looks like when athletes come together and care for each other.

You may already have forgotten that MyPillow CEO and all-around weirdo Mike Lindell has mounted a vanity campaign for governor of Minnesota. He’s got little chance of making it through even the Republican primary, but nonetheless, some suckers out there have donated money to Lindell. However, out of the roughly $350,000 in contributions he’s netted so far, he has spent over $187,000 on buying his own book—and you betcha he is going to keep doing it. x x YouTube Video When NewsNation pressed Lindell on the book purchases, he claimed that he was handing out the books in lieu of campaign literature, like pamphlets.  “What you can do instead of paying money for flyers and stuff, we had to go around do debates for about a month and a half, these debates, and we gave out the books instead of giving them a little flyer about me,” he said. Also, he said he got the books at a “very good price.” This is an especially odd move given Lindell is not hawking a new book. Rather, “What Are the Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO” is Lindell’s self-published memoir from 2019. Back then, he printed 3 million copies at his own expense.  The thing is, conservatives regularly rely on bulk-buying schemes to juice their books’ sales numbers. Typically, that has involved external groups, like the Republican National Committee, snapping them up and then giving them away. That’s what you have to do when you can’t compete in the marketplace of ideas.  However, Lindell’s grift isn’t without precedent. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, shown in 2024. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas allegedly tried a similar trick back in 2020, spending over $153,000 to buy his book “One Vote Away” from third-party retailers. This illegal move triggered complaints from the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan legal organization. However, that alleged scheme was just a drop in a bucket for Cruz. Between 2015 and 2020, a political action committee affiliated with him raked in over $54 million, according to Open Secrets.  That stands in stark contrast with Lindell, who has spent over half of his meager total haul—a move that may be illegal but is also unsustainable. Lindell is not exactly raking in money, so he doesn’t have a lot of money to waste on propping up his book sales.  There’s also the problem of Lindell owing millions of dollars while claiming he is just too broke to pay up. He owes millions of dollars after losing a lawsuit and millions more to his attorneys, who tried to quit back in 2023 over his failure to pay them. (Note: Those are not the same lawyers of Lindells who were recently slapped with sanctions for filing a brief that included AI-hallucinated fake cases.) One should never feel sorry for Lindell, but it is notable that he remains one of President Donald Trump’s staunchest soldiers still promoting the lie that Trump won the 2020 election. However, Lindell, unlike countless others, has not been rewarded with a place in the administration. Sure, Trump shouted out Lindell at a conservative conference in 2025, but that’s about it. Imagine being too weird or too inept for this administration.  Nevertheless, potential Lindell donors, beware! You’re better off lighting that cash on fire.

President Donald Trump wants to hurt Democratic-controlled states by withholding infrastructure funds, but ironically, his moves could sink Republicans in key races in this year’s midterm elections. On Monday, Trump went on yet another diatribe against the critical Gateway project, which will  expand the rail systems between New Jersey and New York, reducing delays that have plagued the nation’s busiest rail corridor.  Trump had been withholding the project’s funding for months, leading to a work stoppage as well as the need to lay off more than 1,000 construction workers. Withholding those funds already hurt Republicans last November in New Jersey’s gubernatorial election, which Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill won easily after making the project a top issue in the race.  A tunnel is under construction in Manhattan that will connect New York and New Jersey. Last week, a federal judge forced Trump to finally release some of the funds. Yet the president still raged against the project, writing on Truth Social on Monday, “I am opposed to the future boondoggle known as ‘Gateway,’ in New York/New Jersey, because it will cost many BILLIONS OF DOLLARS more than projected or anticipated.” Those comments raise questions about whether Trump will try again to delay Gateway funds. However, ending train delays under the Hudson River are important to millions of voters in the New York and New Jersey suburbs, which are home to vulnerable GOP lawmakers. New Jersey GOP Rep. Tom Kean's district has thousands of commuters who are desperate to see the end of tunnel-related New Jersey transit delays. If the Gateway project is delayed further due to Trump's «unhinged» behavior—as Democratic Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey described it—it could sink Kean's already tough odds in November. In January, Kean, who claims to support the tunnel, refused to sign on to a letter from New Jersey’s congressional delegation that urged Trump to release the funds Congress had appropriated for the project. Here’s how the New Jersey Globe described Kean’s political peril over Trump’s tunnel drama: Kean’s many Democratic opponents, hoping to take him down in this year’s competitive election for the 7th congressional district, see an opening. Rebecca Bennett called Kean’s response “lots of words, and zero spine,” Brian Varela said he’s “Trump’s puppet,” and Tina Shah said the district needs “someone in Congress who will actually stand up for what we need here in the district. Meanwhile, Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, who represents a toss-up district with many commuters, also faces electoral risk if the project stalls due to Trump. When reports emerged that Trump was withholding the funds in an attempt to get Penn Station, as well as Virginia’s Dulles Airport, named after himself, Lawler refused to condemn Trump, leading to attacks from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. x x YouTube Video “Mike Lawler is once again choosing blind loyalty to Trump, even when it means screwing over New York commuters and tanking the regional economy,” the DCCC said in a statement. “If Lawler actually cared about getting Gateway done, he’d be calling out Trump’s reckless obstruction instead of defending it on national television.” It's not just New York and New Jersey being targeted by Trump's revenge tour. Michigan is also in Trump's crosshairs. He said he would refuse to allow a nearly complete bridge that connects the state to Canada to open unless Canada met some arbitrary demand to treat «the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve.» Michigan is a swing state where Republicans are seeking to pick up a U.S. Senate seat and the state's governor's mansion, and defend a handful of House seats. If he vindictively stops the bridge from opening, it could hamper the GOP's chances in those races. Former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan, shown in 2016. Even the state's Republican former governor slammed Trump over his latest extortionist threat. «The threat to block the bridge’s opening as 'leverage' for broader trade disputes—whether over dairy, liquor, or Canada’s engagement with China—is not a course of action that I believe is appropriate,» former Gov. Rick Snyder wrote in an op-ed in the Toronto Star. «Every day that the Gordie Howe bridge isn’t open raises costs for both businesses and consumers on both sides of the border. Connecting infrastructure of this scale and importance needs to be protected and prioritized, not put at risk.» And in July, Trump pulled funding for a high-speed rail project in California, a state where the GOP is already nearly extinct but could go the way of the Dodo even faster thanks to Trump's actions. Ultimately, Democrats need to net just three seats to win control of the House in November.  By targeting infrastructure projects that impact some of the most competitive House contests on the map, he could help ensure Democrats take control of the chamber and functionally make him a lame duck for the last two years of his presidency.

A cartoon by Pedro Molina. Related | Bezos guts the Washington Post—just like Trump wanted

CBS prevented late night host Stephen Colbert from airing an interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico on Monday night, the latest act of censorship from the increasingly right-wing network in coordination with the Trump administration’s regime at the Federal Communications Commission. x x YouTube Video Colbert revealed the details of the plot on the Monday edition of his program, “The Late Show.” “We were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have [Talarico] on the broadcast,” Colbert explained. “I was told, in some uncertain terms, that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on. And because my network clearly does not want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this” Colbert said that CBS’ reasoning for blocking his interview with Talarico was sourced to a recent directive from FCC Chair Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee. Carr argued that late-night comedy shows and daytime talk shows are no longer exempt from equal time regulations for broadcasts that require news programs to provide “equal opportunities” for rebuttals during candidate interviews. Related | Does James Talarico know how to flip Texas? FCC commissioner Anna Gomez, the only remaining commissioner appointed by a Democratic president, slammed Carr’s argument at the time. “[Carr’s] announcement therefore does not change the law, but it does represent an escalation in this FCC’s ongoing campaign to censor and control speech,” she said in a statement. Colbert further noted, “Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV, because all Trump does is watch TV. He’s like a toddler with too much screen time. He gets cranky and then drops a load in his diapers.” x x YouTube Video Colbert also announced that he was nonetheless going ahead with the interview and posted it in full to his YouTube page where it racked up over 719,000 views in the first nine hours of availability. Talarico posted the interview on his social media account, noting, “This is the interview Donald Trump didn’t want you to see. His FCC refused to air my interview with Stephen Colbert. Trump is worried we’re about to flip Texas.” In the interview, Colbert and Talarico discussed Carr’s decision to launch a probe of ABC’s “The View” after he was interviewed on that program and Talarico said the federal action reflected fear of a Democrat winning the Texas Senate race. While Republicans have held both Texas Senate seats since 1997, both Talarico and fellow Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Jasmine Crockett have polled within striking distance of the three current Republican frontrunners. Talarico is within the margin of error in polling against Ken Paxton, John Cornyn, and Wesley Hunt. Related | Jasmine Crockett on blazing her own trail in Texas politics Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate and Democrats would need to flip four seats to take control. CBS’ decision to censor Colbert echoes the network’s ongoing move to the right. At CBS News, conservative editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has been withholding news stories critical of the Trump administration, while CBS parent Paramount paid out a settlement to Trump while the Republican donors who own the company are given a green light for mergers by the administration. Trump is waging war against free speech and corporations like CBS are there to help.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson died on Tuesday, at age 84. The famed civil rights activist inspired hope in generations of young progressives with his inclusive vision following the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr, and tributes to Jackson Tributes began pouring in soon after news of his death.  Former Vice President Kamala Harris called Jackson “one of America’s greatest patriots,” recalling how she proudly drove her car with a “Jesse Jackson for President” bumper sticker while in law school. “Today and every day, we will carry forward his call to ‘Keep hope alive,’” she wrote. Bernice King, the youngest daughter of Martin Luther King, remembered her father’s former comrade and his tireless advocacy for the marginalized. “As we grieve, we give thanks for a life that pushed hope into weary places,” she said in a post on X. Former South African President Nelson Mandela, left, walks with the Rev. Jesse Jackson after their meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2005. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson described Jackson as a mentor and friend, detailing the many causes Jackson championed. “As we lift up his life and wrap our arms around his family and all those who loved him, I ask you to anchor your hope in action to honor Rev. Jackson's enduring contributions. He believed in you, and found hope in humanity. Do something today to keep hope alive,” Johnson said. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani praised Jackson as a giant of the Civil Rights Movement, writing on X, “He marched, he ran, he organized and he preached justice without apology. May we honor him not just in words, but in struggle.” Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called Jackson a “legendary voice for the voiceless, powerful civil rights champion and trailblazer extraordinaire.” Stacey Abrams, a former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives, wrote on X, “With courage, tenacity and an audacious spirit, he widened our capacity for imagining true unity and deepened our commitment to justice for all.” Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts described Jackson as a “trailblazer and a fighter” who gave hope to a new generation of leaders. Former President Barack Obama honored Jackson’s “lifetime of service,” saying that “we stood on his shoulders.” xMichelle and I were deeply saddened to hear about the passing of a true giant, the Reverend Jesse Jackson. We will always be grateful for Jesse's lifetime of service, and the friendship our families share. We stood on his shoulders. We send our deepest condolences to the Jackson… pic.twitter.com/Q68r4IJt9U— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 17, 2026 In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump called Jackson “a good man, with lots of personality, grit, and ‘street smarts,’” before attacking President Barack Obama and people who call Trump racist. It was classy stuff. C-SPAN posted the historic video of Jackson receiving the President Medal of Freedom in 2000 from president Bill Clinton. xJesse Jackson receives the President Medal of Freedom in 2000 from @BillClinton. RIP. pic.twitter.com/B6P87pb5TV— CSPAN (@cspan) February 17, 2026 Here is a memory of Jackson that I, along with tens of millions of others who grew up knowing that we were somebody, will hold close: Jackson’s legendary 1972 appearance on “Sesame Street.” x x YouTube Video Rest in power.

Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana is ringing the alarm that his party is headed for big trouble in this year’s midterm elections, singling out the ongoing failure of the Trump economy as a key factor. In an interview with The Hill, Kennedy advocated for Republicans to pass more legislation via the reconciliation process used to pass the “One Big Beautiful Bill” in 2025. Kennedy argues that Republicans need to address rising costs or else they will be punished this fall. He notes that installing pro-Trump operatives in the government and in the judiciary hasn’t helped the party’s approval. “We’re not going to win the midterm by going to the American people and saying, ‘Look, we passed 11 out of 12 appropriations bills and we confirmed all of President Trump’s nominees,’” Kennedy said. Related | American optimism hits new low Kennedy went on to explain, “[Voters are] worried about the cost of living. … In their minds, they’re tired of selling blood plasma to go grocery shopping.” But ironically, Kennedy was one of 51 Senate Republicans who voted for the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which passed on a party-line vote opposed by every Democrat. The bill cut subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), contributing to the increase in health care costs that has been a part of the affordability problems booming under Trump.  The senator is a part of the problem he is now openly worrying about. In Trump’s first year back in office, the economy added almost no jobs—a reversal from the strong job gains that had occurred under former President Joe Biden and a return to Trump’s poor job performance in his first term. Policies like the Big Beautiful Bill and huge tariffs have acted like an anchor on the economy, raising taxes and costs instead of helping consumers. Things have gotten so bad that even a handful of congressional Republicans recently joined with Democrats to symbolically rebuke and rein in Trump’s tariff powers. Recent special election results and races last year have almost uniformly shown voters shifting towards the Democrats, with even Republican wins in previously safe areas showing much narrower margins. There are clear signs of a coming blue tsunami of votes in favor of the Democrats, which has left Republicans scrambling to rig election rules to preserve their party’s power. It hasn’t helped Republicans that Trump’s approval ratings have nosedived. He did not start out his second term from the strong position of other recent presidents like Obama and Biden, and his failures on economic policy have been compounded by his abuse of migrants, embrace of racism, and stumbling on the world stage. On the key issue of affordability, Trump has made things difficult for Republicans trying to win races. He has falsely declared that inflation has been “solved,” and argued that the very notion of affordability was a “hoax” pushed by Democrats. Kennedy is unlikely to get his wish of a Republican bill designed to stop Democratic gains in this year’s elections. Instead, he and his party are stuck with Trump’s poor economy while voters are set to punish the GOP’s failures. Again.

A cartoon by Clay Jones. Related | Trump posts video of the Obamas as apes—and won't apologize

When Victor Villa arrived back at his taqueria in Los Angeles—just 24 hours after appearing alongside Bad Bunny in the Super Bowl halftime show—confetti streamers filled the air as his parents embraced him.  The owner of Villa’s Tacos was among the revelers featured by rapper Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (aka Bad Bunny) during his iconic performance highlighting the deep, colorful Latino culture that has long existed across the Americas. And the message couldn’t have come at a more crucial time for the U.S.  In the past year, Latin Americans and Latino immigrants have become targets of the Trump administration’s cruel mass deportation plan.  “I pray for [the immigrants]. And more than anything, I pray for discernment for ICE agents, that they can open their hearts,” Villa told Daily Kos.   x x YouTube Video When Bad Bunny turned towards the camera on Feb. 8, he was surrounded by a makeshift Puerto Rican sugar cane field. Various other scenes familiar to Latin Americans played out across the performance. All of them aimed to bolster a sense of pride for people and cultures currently under attack by the Trump administration.  “The lady on the corner selling flowers isn't the problem,” Villa said, explaining that the countless arrests happening likely aren’t targeting the hardened criminals the Trump administration claims to be going after.  Related | All the Easter eggs in Bad Bunny’s halftime show While other nationalities have been impacted by Trump’s chaotic deportation crusade, ICE data shows that people from Central and South American countries in particular have had the highest number of arrests. Latinos across the U.S. have been in a state of terror and shock by the federal government’s aggressive approach. Doors remain locked, school graduations have been missed, people aren’t going to work—all out of fear that they or someone they love will be snatched and disappear in Trump’s callous deportation system.  And their fears are increasingly shown to be justified. In the past year, ICE detention facilities saw the highest number of deaths in over 20 years. Meanwhile, men accused of being gang members have been sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador, despite no due process and many not even being from that country.  Many others have been deported to countries other than their homelands, as well.  Leading up to the Super Bowl, headlines swirled with threats of ICE’s presence outside of the Bay Area stadium. And MAGA supporters seethed over the concept of a halftime show by the Puerto Rican artist, who isn’t bringing his new world tour to the U.S. over fears that his shows will be targeted by immigration authorities. But at the Super Bowl, that fear was set aside for at least 13 joyful minutes. Villa, standing behind a mobile grill for his Michelin-recognized tacos, was among the many celebrating that day—both on the field and at home watching the show on TV. Another featured guest during Bad Bunny’s performance also made the magical moment memorable with a legitimate proposal.  x x YouTube Video Daily Kos also spoke with Victor Dimaren, who got on one knee during the performance. He confirmed via text that the proposal to his now-fiancée, Emma Eldridge, was real. Still, after the dust settled and Villa returned to Los Angeles, the business owner’s whirlwind moment of celebration came juxtaposed with the reality of why Bad Bunny closed his performance by saying, “Mi patria, Puerto Rico, seguimos aquí (My country, Puerto Rico, we’re still here).” Latinos, including Puerto Ricans—who are definitely American citizens no matter how many times Republicans forget it—are facing cultural erasure in the U.S.  Related | MAGA freaks out as millions of normal people enjoy Bad Bunny But Villa, after handing out beers to the excited patrons standing in a long line waiting to try his tacos after his Super Bowl cameo, told Daily Kos that he has nothing but pride.  “I started this business, my parents were immigrants and I'm a byproduct of those immigrants,” he said.  “We look at everybody as just people, they deserve to be loved. They deserve to be appreciated. They deserve to be treated with respect.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continued to command the world stage, providing at least one sane emissary from the United States amid the rise of Donald Trump’s chaotic, autocratic movement.  In a wide-ranging interview Sunday at Technische Universität Berlin with German Bundestag member Isabel Cademartori, Ocasio-Cortez took aim at the architects of MAGA’s «anti-cancel culture» movement who are now trying to dodge accountability over the Epstein files—and slammed attorney general Pam Bondi’s pathetic performance before Congress. x x YouTube Video Ocasio-Cortez described the “cancel culture” narrative as a politicization of decency.  “That's the erosion in culture [and] morality that is being hinted at here when Pam Bondi says there's no more work here to be done,” she said. “Really? You are the Attorney General of the United States of America and you don't want to hold any one of these pedophiles accountable. Resign or be impeached.” Bondi’s bizarre performance last week did little to ease the public's frustration over the Trump administration’s handling of the long-promised files.  Related | Pam Bondi loses her sh-t at Epstein hearing The well-earned public scorn being experienced by many powerful figures does not preclude the need for true accountability, and Ocasio-Cortez could run for any office on that—and maybe she will.

Have you been feeling like you need to rush to get a passport in case the SAVE Act voter suppression jamboree becomes law? What if, somehow, President Donald Trump signing a piece of paper means that the provisions of the SAVE Act go into effect even without legislation?  Well, good luck scoring that passport in time.  In what is a nakedly transparent move, even for this administration, the State Department announced that it is just straight-up making it harder to get a passport. Nonprofit libraries were just informed that they can no longer process passport applications. Though the administration teed this up last November when it began sending cease-and-desist letters to nonprofit libraries, it didn’t bring the hammer down nationwide until last week. Oh, and it’s already in effect as of February 13, 2026. Related | GOP's new voter suppression bill won't SAVE anything It sure looks a lot like this is being done with the hopes that either the SAVE Act passes or Trump’s big cool conservative friends on the Supreme Court bless Trump’s assertion that he can just singlehandedly impose a voter ID requirement nationwide. How is the administration justifying this? Well, like so many things—birthright citizenship, sending the military into cities, firing everyone at independent agencies—the administration has decided that decades of settled law and regulations have simply been interpreted by the courts and Congress wrongly all this time. According to the State Department, they’ve suddenly discovered that an obscure 1920 law forms the basis for prohibiting nonprofit libraries from issuing passports.   There’s no explanation as to why, even if the State Department’s novel interpretation had any merit, this had to be rushed through. There’s also no explanation as to why the State Department has repeatedly reviewed, approved, and reauthorized nonprofit libraries to process passport applications in the past, only now discovering it is super-illegal. Government-run libraries are not affected by this announcement, so if your library is run by the county or the city, for example, you’re in luck. Nonprofit libraries are independently run and, gosh, whaddya know? They are most common in Northeastern states: Connecticut, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.  Huh. It’s probably just a coincidence that this would disproportionately affect blue states, right? Roughly 21 million people lack access to the additional documents required to comply with SAVE’s requirements. Driver’s licenses aren’t enough, so people need an additional document like a birth certificate or, you guessed it, a passport. No surprise the administration thus wants to make passports harder to obtain.  Related | Republicans bail on states’ rights so Trump can rig elections You also won’t be surprised that the State Department is lying about the scope of this, saying it only affects “less than one percent of our total network” of 7,500 passport processing facilities. However, the American Library Association—which, let’s face it, is going to be far more reliable here than the administration—says it affects about 1,400 nonprofit libraries, a good deal more than 1%. While this move is no doubt part of an overall voter suppression plan, it’s also part of the administration’s overall attack on libraries. A public service open to everyone? With books about everything? That provides additional support and services to a community? Well, we can’t have that.  At the start of his second term. Trump tried to kill the Institute of Museum and Library Services, firing the board members, placing nearly all staff on administrative leave, and cutting off grants for libraries nationwide. States had to sue to restore the funding, and a court ordered the administration to reinstate the grants last November. IMLS grants are the primary source of federal funding for state libraries, providing about $160 million each year, representing about one-third to one-half of library budgets.  Barring nonprofit libraries from offering passport services is also a financial hit. In Connecticut, for example, one library processed almost 8,000 applications in the last year and received just under $200,000 for those services.  Finally, eliminating nonprofit libraries makes it more likely that people will have to go to government-run offices to get passports. Naturalized citizens are entitled to vote and entitled to a United States passport. However, the administration desperately wants to strip citizenship from naturalized citizens. Where doing so has been quite rare in the past, the administration is shooting for 100-200 of these per month. Sure would be nice and convenient to be able to snatch people up right from the passport line, right? And given that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been given the authority to racially profile people and detain them if ICE decides their proof of citizenship just isn’t valid, based on vibes, it’s likely that plenty of people will just choose not to get a passport at a government-run office.  Nonprofit libraries, on the other hand, often have longer hours, have a space for children to stay occupied during a parent or caregiver’s application process, and assist with language barriers. In short, they make it much safer and easier for people with less means to get a passport, and that’s exactly what the administration seeks to prevent.  It’s tempting to fall back on saying this is a nonstarter because elections are run by the states, and the Supreme Court will not agree that a random executive order is suddenly the law nationwide, but the Supreme Court has been asleep at the wheel when it comes to curbing Trump’s excesses. And of course, the court’s conservatives are also extremely into voter suppression.  Isn’t it fun that the very foundations of American democracy are now based on the whims of the very worst people?

A cartoon by Mike Luckovich. Related | Trump's incompetent DOJ makes a mess of latest Epstein files drop

Congressional Cowards is a weekly series highlighting the worst Donald Trump defenders on Capitol Hill, who refuse to criticize him—no matter how disgraceful or lawless his actions. President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he thinks that the federal government should take over the 2026 midterm elections—an obvious effort to rig the results in favor of Republicans to prevent Democrats from flipping control of Congress. An FBI press office person approaches the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in Georgia on Jan. 28. «These people were brought to our country to vote, and they vote illegally. The Republicans should say, we should take over the voting in at least 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting,» Trump told Dan Bongino, the loser podcaster who quit his job at the FBI. «We have states that I won that show I didn't win. You're gonna see something in Georgia.» But rather than condemn the obviously illegal and dangerous threat, Republicans have been gaslighting Americans into thinking that Trump didn't mean what he said and is actually just talking about the need to pass their voter suppression SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Take a look at what Senate Majority Leader John Thune said when asked whether he agreed with Trump's horrific demand to «nationalize» elections. «I think the president has clarified what he meant by that, and that is that he supports the SAVE Act,» Thune said Tuesday—an obviously false statement as Trump explicitly said that he wants the federal government to take over elections. xQ: Do you agree with Trump saying we should 'nationalize' elections? THUNE: I think the president has clarified what he meant by that, and that is that he supports the SAVE Act (That is not what he meant)— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-03T19:52:16.346Z Similarly, Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio was also asked if he agrees that the federal government should take over elections, and gave a mealy-mouthed response that did not answer the question. «I understand the president's frustration,» Husted said on CNN. «We can instill confidence in both the president and American people that elections are run well through the SAVE Act.» And when host Dana Bash pushed further, Husted demurred. «I don't know exactly what he means,» Husted said.  Yeah, sure bud. xBASH: Do you agree the state is 'an agent for the federal govt' in elections? HUSTED: I understand the president's frustration. We can instill confidence that elections are run well through the SAVE Act B: He wasn't talking about the SAVE Act, though HUSTED: I don't know exactly what he means— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-04T18:05:14.622Z Meanwhile, Coward of the Year House Speaker Mike Johnson spread voter fraud lies to defend Trump's call to take over elections—something the former constitutional lawyer should know is illegal.  Related | Why Trump's raid on Georgia election site is so chilling Article I Section 4 of the Constitution explicitly states that, “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.”  So Congress can make laws regulating elections, but they cannot run them—as Trump is demanding. «We had three Republican candidates who were ahead on election day in the last cycle, and every time a new tranche of ballots came in they just magically whittled away until their leads were lost. It looks on its face to be fraudulent,» Johnson told reporters on Tuesday. «Can I prove that? No.» xJohnson: “We had three House Republican candidates who were ahead on Election Day…And every time a new tranche of ballots came in, they just magically whittled away until their leads were lost…It looks on its face to be fraudulent. Can I prove that? No.”— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2026-02-03T20:17:21.200Z Of course, the order in which ballots are counted means nothing. Trump then made all of the GOP defenders look like idiots a day later, when he again said that, yes, he really did mean that the federal government should take over elections because of some nonexistent fraud he now has Director of National Intelligence Tulsia Gabbard probing. A cartoon by Clay Jones. «Take a look at Detroit … take a look at Philadelphia, take a look at Atlanta,» Trump said Thursday. «The federal government should not allow that. The federal government should get involved. These are agents of the federal government to count the vote. If they can’t count the vote legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over.» Indeed, Trump has already tried to take over election administration with executive orders that sought to require people to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote, limiting the use of electronic ballot-counting machines, and blocking states from counting mail-in ballots that were postmarked on Election Day.  But federal judges have blocked the orders, saying that Trump cannot unilaterally change election law. Republicans, who purport to be supporters of states’ rights, should be appalled at Trump's call to federalize elections. But because they’re all sniveling cowards, they’ve instead found any way possible to defend Dear Leader.

Some election leaders are preparing for the possibility of federal pressure. By Jonathan Shorman for Stateline President Donald Trump’s calls this week to “nationalize” elections capped a year of efforts by his administration to exercise authority over state-run elections. The demands now have some state and local election officials fearing — and preparing for — a tumultuous year ahead. “I don’t think we can put anything past this administration,” Oregon Democratic Secretary of State Tobias Read told Stateline in an interview. “I think they’re increasingly desperate, increasingly scared about what’s going to happen when they are held accountable by American voters. So we have to be prepared for everything.” Ever since Trump signed an executive order last March that attempted to impose a requirement that voters prove their citizenship in federal elections, the federal government has engaged in a wide-ranging effort to influence how elections are run. Under the U.S. Constitution, that responsibility belongs to the states. Then came Trump’s remarks on a podcast Monday that Republicans should nationalize elections and take over voting in at least 15 places, though he didn’t specify where. In the Oval Office the next day, the president reaffirmed his view that states are “agents” of the federal government in elections. “I don’t know why the federal government doesn’t do them anyway,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday, despite the Constitution’s clear delegation of that job to states. Related | Election officials draw on sobering 2020 lessons as Trump calls for nationalizing voting Across the country, election officials are watching recent developments and, in some instances, grappling with how the Trump administration’s moves could affect their preparations for November’s midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress. Local election officials say they are considering how they would respond to the presence of federal law enforcement near polling places and what steps they need to take to ensure voting proceeds smoothly. Several Democratic election officials, and some Republicans, have spoken out. Placing voting under control of the federal government would represent a fundamental violation of the Constitution, they note. The U.S. Constitution authorizes states to set the time, place and manner of elections for Congress but also allows Congress to change those regulations. The elections themselves are run by the states. “Oh, hell no,” Maine Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said in a video statement posted to social media about federalizing elections. Bellows, who is running for governor, said she would mail the White House a pocket Constitution, “because it seems they’ve lost their copy.” The U.S. Department of Justice already has sued 24 states and the District of Columbia to obtain unredacted voter rolls that include sensitive personal information that it says is needed to search for noncitizen voters. The Department of Homeland Security wants states to run their voter rolls through a powerful citizenship verification tool. Those opposed to the demand say sharing the data risks the privacy of millions of voters. Many fear the administration could use the information to disqualify eligible voters, challenge the legitimacy of a victory in a closely contested midterm election, or use the information to target political enemies. In recent weeks, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi linked the presence of federal immigration agents in Minneapolis in part to Minnesota’s refusal to turn over its voter rolls. And the FBI seized ballots from an elections warehouse Fulton County, Georgia — a state that was a central focus of Trump’s push to overturn his 2020 election loss. Related | Why Trump's raid on Georgia election site is so chilling “I think it does affect our planning as far as, what if there is some sort of federal law enforcement presence on Election Day or before or after? So that definitely factors into our planning,” said Scott McDonell, the Democratic clerk in Dane County, Wisconsin, which includes Madison. Ingham County, Michigan, Clerk Barb Byrum, a Democrat running for secretary of state, said she and other election administrators conduct tabletop exercises and keep emergency plans for numerous scenarios. Those used to focus on floods, power outages and cyberattacks. “Now, unfortunately, it’s turning into the president of the United States meddling in elections,” Byrum said. “We will be prepared. Voters will hopefully not see anything different at their polling locations. … But we need to be diligent.” Pamela Smith, president and CEO of the election security nonprofit Verified Voting, said election officials and their lawyers need to study up on laws and regulations, including chain-of-custody requirements for ballots. David Becker, director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, which operates the Election Official Legal Defense Network, said more than 10,000 lawyers have been recruited who are ready to provide pro bono legal assistance or advice to election officials. When Stateline asked Read whether he anticipates Oregon facing federal pressure over its voter rolls, the secretary of state said he was set to meet this week with county clerks in the Portland metro area “to talk about that very question.” Read’s office later confirmed the meeting took place. Oregon’s largest city, Portland, has been a focus of the Trump administration. Last year, Trump deployed federalized Oregon National Guard members to the city after protests outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. And federal agents last month shot two people in a hospital parking lot. Portland is a self-described sanctuary city that does not aid the federal government in immigration enforcement. A protester in a frog costume stands in front of federal law enforcement officers outside an ICE facility in Portland, Ore., in Oct. 2025. The concern in Oregon comes after Bondi on Jan. 24 sent a letter to Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz after federal agents killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti in separate shootings in Minneapolis that were captured on video. Bondi’s letter outlined three “common sense solutions” that would help end the “chaos” in Minnesota, she wrote. One of those solutions called for the state to provide the Justice Department with its full, unredacted voter rolls. Minnesota Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon has called Bondi’s letter an “outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota” into handing over the data. Simon hasn’t provided the voter list, but White House border czar Tom Homan is pulling 700 immigration agents from Minnesota amid outrage over their presence. Roughly 2,300 agents will remain in the state. In North Carolina, Durham County Director of Elections Derek Bowens called Trump’s rhetoric and recent federal actions concerning. Bowens, a nonpartisan official appointed by the Durham County Board of Elections, said that as long as the rule of law persists, a “constitutional guard” will protect election administration. Still, Bowens, who oversees elections in a largely Democratic area in a presidential swing state, said he and other local officials are preparing to prevent potential “intrusion” into the process. “I’m not at liberty to divulge what that would be in terms of security protocols, but that’s definitely in the forefronts of our minds,” Bowens said in an interview, adding that he would be working with local emergency services officials “to make sure we’re positioned to ensure everyone that is eligible has unfettered access to the ballot box.” Trump wants federal control Trump appears to be crossing a line from urging Congress to set additional election requirements into wanting the federal government’s hands on states’ election administration infrastructure, said Barry Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the director of the Elections Research Center at the university. “That would be brand new,” Burden said. After Trump called for nationalizing elections during Monday’s appearance on the podcast of Dan Bongino, a right-wing media personality who was previously a top FBI official, the White House said Tuesday that the president had been referring to legislation in Congress that would require individuals to show proof of citizenship to register to vote. The bill has passed the House but is stalled in the Senate. But Trump late Tuesday doubled down on his original comments during an unrelated bill-signing ceremony in the Oval Office. He suggested the federal government should take a role in vote counting. “The federal government should get involved,” Trump said. “These are agents of the federal government to count the votes. If they can’t count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over.” Related | FBI's search of Georgia election center is 'dangerous,' experts warn Even before Trump’s nationalization comments, Democratic state chief election officials and some Republicans had refused to turn over copies of voter rolls containing driver’s license numbers, date of birth and full or partial Social Security numbers after the Justice Department began demanding the data last spring. Federal judges in California and Oregon have ruled those states don’t have to provide the data; numerous other lawsuits against other states are ongoing. Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a Trump-supporting Republican who campaigned for office on calls to hand-count ballots, told a Missouri House committee on Tuesday that he wouldn’t provide the state’s full voter list without a court order. He said his office had only shared a public version of the voter rolls; Missouri hasn’t been sued by the Justice Department. The Trump administration has previously confirmed it is sharing records with Homeland Security, which operates an online program that it uses to verify citizenship. The Justice Department has also offered some states a confidential agreement to search their voter lists. “Clean voter rolls and basic election safeguards are requisites for free, fair, and transparent elections,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote in a statement to Stateline. “The DOJ Civil Rights Division has a statutory mandate to enforce our federal voting rights laws, and ensuring the voting public’s confidence in the integrity of our elections is a top priority of this administration.” But U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter, a Clinton appointee, wrote in a Jan. 15 decision that the voter roll demands risk a chilling effect on Americans who may opt not to register to vote over concerns about how their information could be used. He dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking California’s voter rolls. “The taking of democracy does not occur in one fell swoop; it is chipped away piece-by-piece until there is nothing left. The case before the Court is one of these cuts that imperils all Americans,” Carter wrote in a 33-page decision. Some Republicans oppose nationalization Amid Trump’s call for nationalizing elections, some Republican election officials have broken with the president even as they have avoided criticizing him directly. State control has long been a central tenant of conservatism, though Trump has challenged elements of Republican orthodoxy over the past decade. Hoskins, the Missouri secretary of state, told state lawmakers on Tuesday, “I personally don’t believe we should nationalize elections.” Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a news release on Monday urged lawmakers to focus on strengthening state administration of elections. He said that was better than “moving to federalize a core function of state government.” Raffensperger, who is running for governor this year, was famously targeted by Trump following the 2020 election to overturn his loss in Georgia. In a phone call, Trump told Raffensperger he wanted to “find 11,780 votes” — the size of his loss in the state. Raffensperger refused to aid Trump. Five years later, Raffensperger now faces pressure from Georgia state lawmakers to provide the state’s unredacted voter list to the Justice Department. The Georgia Senate on Monday passed a resolution calling on the secretary of state to fully comply with the department’s request. Georgia Republican state Sen. Randy Robertson, the resolution’s lead sponsor, said during a state Senate committee hearing last month that federal law supersedes limits on data sharing in Georgia law. He didn’t respond to an interview request. In a statement to Stateline, Raffensperger said that state law is “very clear” that officials aren’t allowed to turn over the information. “I will always follow the law and the Constitution,” Raffensperger wrote. The Georgia Senate vote came less than a week after the FBI searched the Fulton County elections warehouse and seized ballots. Fulton County, which includes much of the Atlanta metro area, was where Trump was indicted on charges of conspiracy and racketeering related to his efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election. The case was dismissed last year. The Justice Department didn’t answer a question from Stateline about whether it plans to seek search warrants for other election offices. On Wednesday, Fulton County filed a motion in federal court demanding the return of the seized ballots and other materials, Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chair Robb Pitts, a Democrat, said at a news conference. The motion also asks for the unsealing of the affidavit used by the FBI to support its search warrant application. “We will fight using all resources against those who seek to take over our elections,” Pitts said. “Our Constitution itself is at stake in this fight.”

A cartoon by Clay Jones. Related | Trump's incompetent DOJ makes a mess of latest Epstein files drop

Survey Says is a weekly series rounding up the most important polling trends or data points you need to know about, plus a vibe check on a trend that’s driving politics or culture. President Donald Trump loves football, but football may no longer love him. One year ago, Trump became the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl. He had just retaken the White House after winning the popular vote, and he held a net-positive approval rating. And seemingly as a tribute to his bigotry, the NFL painted over the words “End Racism” in its end zones, replacing it with the vague and benign “Choose Love.” He likely went to the game expecting to be cheered.  This year, though, Trump won’t attend. If you ask him, it’s because the game, which will be hosted in California, is “just too far away.” That’s a particularly funny thing to say for a man with Air Force One at his disposal. Nevertheless, he wants you to know that it has nothing, nothing at all, to do with his now-dismal approval rating. No, much the opposite, he claims.  “I’ve [gotten] great hands [at] the Super Bowl. They like me,” he told the New York Post last month. But if Trump believed that, he would be there. The real reason he won’t attend is that he, perhaps more than any previous president, grasps the political power of football in America—and he now sees that it could be used against him. In the U.S., no sport attracts more of the public’s love than football. Last summer, Quinnipiac University found that not only do 29% of Americans call football their personal favorite sport, but also an overwhelming majority (74%) recognize it as “America’s sport.” x Datawrapper Content More relevant to this year’s midterm elections, nearly 7 in 10 likely voters are fans of the NFL, according to a new poll from Echelon Insights. That’s far more than the second-most popular sport, baseball, which 47% are fans of. And 56% of Americans say they’ll definitely or probably watch the Super Bowl this year, per YouGov. Trump is attuned to these facts. When endorsing political candidates or even nominating judges, he is sure to mention whether the person played or coached football, no matter if it was in college or the NFL. He’s even taken the unusual step of lobbying for Washington, D.C., to host the 2027 NFL Draft. You have to wonder if that’s one reason he flooded the city with troops last year, signaling to the locals what he may do if they try to protest the big televised event. Trump’s social media feeds are filled with football, too. He’s posted demands that teams bring back their formerly racist names. And during this January alone, he’s spoken out on team staffing decisions, Hall of Fame ballots, and the NFL’s new “sissy” kickoff rules. To him, the previous rule was “Big Time, Strong, Glamorous, and Exciting,” no matter that the new rule has more than doubled the number of regular-season kickoff returns, which sagged to an all-time low during the 2023 season. In fact, while in office, Trump’s personal and governmental social media accounts have mentioned “football” or “NFL” in 161 posts on X and Truth Social, according to a Daily Kos analysis. That far outpaces former Presidents Barack Obama (26) and Joe Biden (15). x Datawrapper Content Some of that may derive from the fact that Trump is both a windbag and a football fan. It’s not hard to find him posting online about the poor showings of his hometown teams, the New York Jets and the Giants. Instead, he seems to prefer the New England Patriots, regularly congratulating them on social media, praising their performance, and wishing them good luck. He’s close with former quarterback Tom Brady and team owner Robert Kraft, so maybe his fandom is based on personal ties. Or maybe it’s because they’ve won a lot of Super Bowls (unlike, say, the Jets). It’s hard to know how much of Trump’s football focus is due to his own fandom or to a strategy to reach less engaged voters, like the one he employed when he made the rounds on “bro” podcasts ahead of the 2024 election. It’s probably both. Then-President Barack Obama throws a football at Soldier Field following the NATO working dinner in Chicago in May 2012. Forgive this comparison, but like Trump, Obama understood the special power of football. He was not shy about his love for the Chicago Bears, even welcoming the 1985 team to the White House in 2011 and declaring them “the greatest team in NFL history.” Even now, Obama will pop up on ESPN to cheer on Da Bears. Last month, the Obama Foundation posted an old photo on Facebook of him throwing a football and jokingly offered him up to quarterback the team. Sports fandom, among many other things, made him likable and relatable.  That’s why Obama always agreed to the Super Bowl’s traditional pregame interview. It gave him a platform to reach a very large and less politically engaged America. It’s also probably why Trump brought the interview back in 2025, after Biden skipped it two years in a row, despite the fact that the interviews are usually softballs—or should I say deflated balls? In fact, Biden dodging those two interviews presaged what would come later in 2024, at that catastrophic presidential debate, where he made repeated gaffes and struggled to complete his thoughts. In a given year, the Super Bowl brings in more viewers than any other single TV event, and it seems Biden—or at least his team—was afraid of that. After all, his number of public events greatly declined toward the end of his presidency.  x Datawrapper Content But when it comes to politics, the most meaningful aspect of this year’s Super Bowl may not be that Trump will avoid the stadium and the boos. It’s that the NFL itself is starting to create separation from him.  This past September, the league and its partners announced that Puerto Rican megastar Bad Bunny would perform at the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show, sparking backlash from the right. Not only did conservatives not want to suffer the immeasurable pain of hearing a person sing in Spanish, but also Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, stands fervently opposed to Trump’s immigration agenda. The artist mocked Trump in a music video last summer, and he went as far as to avoid performing in the U.S. out of a fear of federal agents harassing his fans. And yet, despite this right-wing backlash, the NFL held firm. Bad Bunny, who will perform at the Super Bowl LX Halftime Show, departs after a news conference on Feb. 5. In October, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, «[Bady Bunny is] one of the most popular entertainers in the world. ... I think it's going to be exciting and a united moment.» And later that month, the league’s chief marketing officer added, “Not everyone has to like everything we do. Bad Bunny is fucking awesome.” Even individual teams have backed El Conejo Malo. In November, Charlotte Jones, who is the ​​Dallas Cowboys chief brand officer and whose father owns the team, told a podcast that having Bad Bunny perform would be “awesome.” “We have a mixed culture and our whole society is based on immigrants who have come here and founded our country, and I think we can celebrate that,” she said. Quite the turn from just a year ago, when the NFL scrubbed “End Racism” off its fields in deference to Trump. And all of those above statements came before Trump’s federal agents killed two Americans in Minnesota in January, sparking protests across the country.  In fact, one day after federal immigration agents killed intensive-care nurse Alex Pretti, Trump took to social media to post about the NFL’s new kickoff rules. “I can’t watch the new NFL Kickoff. Like many others, I just turn my head. Who has the right to make such a change? So disparaging to the game!” he wrote to a nation that had just witnessed its second needless execution in a handful of weeks. Trump wasn’t reading the room then, but he seems to be reading it now—and he’s not liking what it’s telling him. Any updates? Democratic governors have been a brake on the Trump administration, and there’s some good news for two high-profile candidates this year: New polls show Sen. Amy Klobuchar with double-digit leads over her Republican rivals in Minnesota, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul with a 26-percentage-point lead over the expected Republican candidate, Bruce Blakeman. Vibe check Another reason Trump might want to avoid the Super Bowl is that one of the teams has the most liberal fanbase in the NFL. Forty-three percent of Democrats have a “very favorable” view of the Seattle Seahawks, more than any other team, according to data that Morning Consult released in 2020. Only 27% of Republicans are Seahawks fans. That puts the partisan difference at a sizable 16 points. The wild thing is, all but one team—the Tennessee Titans—has a fandom that leans left. It also could be that liberals just like a wider swath of teams than Republicans do. Or some mix of both. x Datawrapper Content