Kate Riga and I will discuss today’s Supreme Court ruling, the ominous oral arguments that followed, and, if we’ve had enough coffee, what hope there is for the future of multiracial democracy in a Substack Live tomorrow at 10 a.m. ET.
Editors’ Blog
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We’re about 90% of the way to our goal in our annual TPM Membership Drive. If you’ve somehow missed the theme of the drive, it’s that we here at TPM are chronicling the national crisis. The national crisis we’re talking about obviously includes Donald Trump, who is something akin to a great accelerator or catalyst.
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There is a dimension to the latest developments in the redistricting wars that isn’t hidden precisely but isn’t getting the attention it should. Put simply, Donald Trump’s interests are rapidly diverging from those of his House Republicans.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just introduced a new Florida House map which purports to net Republicans an additional four seats in November. But Florida incumbents are more than a little spooked about it. They don’t like it. When you aggressively gerrymander a state, you do more than create more seats for your party. You also create some level of risk that that map will amplify a wave election into a true blowout. Thin the margin of your safe seats enough to create some more safe or favorable seats and all those existing seats become a bit more vulnerable. It’s only a real danger in a wave election. But that’s precisely what 2026 looks like.
This morning I was reading this Puck article about the public relations woes of the AI industry. In short, having the CEOs and industry leaders tell everyone for years that their product will lose jobs for half the population and quite possibly lead to the extinction of humanity led to some serious reputational challenges for AI. (The article is paywalled. But that and what follows includes the gist.) Author Ian Krietzberg correctly notes that this isn’t just blather or bad messaging. It’s an investment strategy. Silicon Valley venture investing is essentially a well-oiled FOMO machine. Getting people to invest means pumping up the disruptive, game-changing nature of the product. Disruptive dislocation is the basis of all Silicon Valley venture investing since it’s the basis of the stratospheric growth of a small percentage of bets which makes the whole economy make sense.
But that’s not the entirety of it. Or rather the mentality of the key players in the space is so bound up and shaped by the dynamics of the investment logic. In so many words, it breeds a feral mentality and personality type. It’s no accident that you have architects of that world having famous mottos like “move fast and break things.” It’s a culture based on hyperbole and valorizing transgressive attitudes and actions.
Straight off their hugely consequential ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which gave the Voting Rights Act of 1965 its final gutting, justices turned to the issue of temporary protected status for those fleeing turmoil in Haiti and Syria. Oral arguments began as soon as Justice Kagan finished reading aloud a portion of her dissent in Callais.
Success for the Trump administration in this case would set the stage for hundreds of thousands of immigrants to be ejected from the country, predominantly immigrants from a group that the MAGA movement has made a point of targeting. Vice President JD Vance and a cadre of MAGA aligned influencers infamously leapt on white nationalist talking points to stoke conspiracy theories about the large Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, which, they baselessly insisted, was eating pets. A lawyer for the Haitian TPS holders argued Wednesday that racial animus played a clear role in the administration’s decision to terminate the program for this group, a claim the conservative majority was ready to wave away.
You can see this new indictment of James Comey as an outrage. And it is — it’s a wantonly illegitimate act and abuse of power. I see it as more and clearer evidence of his crashing out and collapse, more direct and absurd lashing out at people on his grudge list while he is unable, unwilling to or lacks the mental wherewithal to right his own political ship.
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The Supreme Court exposed the grisly underpinning of the Trump administration Wednesday as it ruled to subordinate minority voters to white ones, and seemed ready to allow the government to summarily end protected status for endangered refugees.
PODCASTS
ICE at the polls, purged voter rolls, ballot seizure, and efforts to block certification: Joe Morelle and other House Dems have put together a team that’s planning to confront “150 threats” that could cause election interference in the midterms.
Talking Popes Memo: Josh and Joe are joined by Deputy Editor Nicole LaFond to figure out why Trump is feuding with the Pope, why Hegseth quoted Pulp Fiction, and what makes the MAGA brand of evangelicalism so different.
Kate and Josh discuss Swalwell’s downfall, Orbán’s ouster and Alito’s possible retirement.
The TPM Social Club is joined this week by Max Rivlin-Nadler of Hell Gate, an independent publication owned and run by journalists devoted to covering NYC.
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Trump Crackdown on ‘Terrorist’ Left Notches a Victory in Texas
Jury finds eight members of a supposed ‘Antifa’ cell guilty of material support for terrorism
