Trump can rewrite crowd sizes, election calls, and casualty counts, but this week even he ran out of numbers to fudge.
Anthony Fauci spent Wednesday pleading the Fifth over and over in front of Senate Republicans armed with 1,100 pages of his own COVID diary—the very same tactic Trump used more than 400 times in his own deposition. Meanwhile, James Comey’s lawyers uncovered a stack of prosecutorial misconduct in his “seashell” case, including agents tracking his phone to his son’s grave and literally asking ChatGPT what “86” means. Both stories land the same punchline: when the receipts come out, the case falls apart.
And the receipts kept coming for Todd Blanche. After Epstein survivors delivered files directly to Senate Judiciary Republicans, John Cornyn and Thom Tillis pulled the plug on his attorney general vote, indefinitely. Both senators now say the real obstacle was never Blanche; it was someone above him refusing to compromise. Trump responded on Truth Social by suggesting he’ll just wait out Cornyn and Tillis until they leave office next January, apparently unaware that both may be replaced by candidates currently polling ahead of their MAGA-aligned rivals.
That math problem extends further than the Senate. New data out of the redrawn Southern congressional maps shows Republican gerrymandering may be backfiring entirely, with Black voter turnout climbing in the very districts it was designed to suppress. Trevor Potter, former Republican FEC chairman, joins us to break down whether this is a real trend or wishful thinking, plus what’s next after the Supreme Court just handed Trump the power to fire election commissioners at will.
We close things out live with wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen—the man behind those park pass sleeves covering Trump’s face—who’s back for our first-ever in-person DEFIANCE welcome.
