Sadly, it's another in our Trump 2.0 Era "Then They Came For..." series on The BradCast, which previously included "the Judges", "the Mayors" and "Members of Congress". In today's case, at least, the victim, a U.S. Senator, was roughed-up and handcuffed but not arrested and was fairly quickly released. But those elected officials are hardly the only folks they are now coming for in Donald Trump's "New Police State". [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]
Among our stories today highlighting that New Police State, Trump's continuing failures as President on several fronts, and his ongoing war with the Golden State...
- Breaking shortly before airtime... Just two days after the Trump Administration's corrupted and actually weaponized Dept. of Justice indicted a sitting Democratic U.S. Congresswoman from New Jersey on absurd assault charges related to allegedly impeding the arrest of Newark's Democratic Mayor (for whom all charges were soon dropped), California's Democratic U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, the state's first Hispanic Senator, was roughed up on Thursday, forcibly pushed out of a room where Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem was holding a press conference in L.A., was thrown onto the floor by FBI agents and handcuffed after he'd peacefully dared attempt to ask a question of Noem.
- A new Quinnipiac poll finds that Donald Trump is being rejected by voters on virtually every front. His approval rating in the survey of more than a thousand registered voters has now fallen to 38%; his budget bill is opposed by almost twice as many as those who support it (while a huge majority of Americans want to see Medicaid expanded or left as is, as opposed to cut, as the Trump/GOP "Big Beautiful Bill Act" would do); and he is deeply underwater on every single issue they polled on, including immigration, deportation and the economy. New polling out today from AP/NORC finds similarly poor numbers for the President, which is largely unprecedented in modern times this early in a new term.
- Those 4,000 California National Guard soldiers federalized by Trump and deployed against Americans on U.S. soil over the weekend against the wishes and needs of the state's Governor and the Los Angeles Mayor? They aren't getting paid yet, according to Military.com, which cites military sources describing a chaotic, still-incomplete activation, leaving soldiers without pay, a place to sleep, food, amid a local community uncharacteristically unsupportive of the deployed troops.
- But Trump's New Police State is not only rolling out in large cities. WaPo's Catherine Rampell has a chilling story of heavily armed masked men, claiming to be federal agents (while refusing to show ID), showing up with out-of-state plates to sweep up migrant gardeners in a tiny New England town. Yes, Trump's New Police State is coming to a town near you as well, no matter where you live.
- On Thursday at the White House, Donald Trump signed three bills that were recently --- and perhaps unlawfully --- rammed through the Senate by Republicans in violation of its rules, nuking the filibuster in the bargain to do so. They are meant to strip California of its legal right to establish its own clean air and car pollution standards. Specifically, the new laws, if they are allowed to stand --- CA has already said they are filing suit --- would, among other things, ban the state's 2036 deadline for phasing out the sale of new, gasoline-only cars and trucks. A dozen or so other states have previously adopted CA's now "banned" standards. Despite the fact that used all-gasoline cars and trucks could still be sold and that those who really wanted a new one could still buy them from another state in 2036, this is apparently what Trump has been falsely describing as "Joe Biden's EV mandate" for years now. Today, once again, he did another solid for his owners in the fossil fuel industry. Desi Doyen has the full scoop and context.
- Then, Desi is here with our 1,500th Green News Report! Sadly, with the above news and much more, it's a rather grim milestone today, largely from top to bottom.
- BUT, we close with something a bit brighter that we hope might cheer you up after all of that, and help you leave the theater whistling. It's the latest Randy Rainbow tune on Trump Derangement!...
(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)
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