Infighting Is Funny

The Hill reports: Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) on Thursday slammed a New York Social Security office closure plan. “The decision to close the only Social Security Hearing Office in the Hudson Valley is a slap in the face to thousands of my constituents who rely on these services,” Lawler said. Social Security Administration offices around the U.S. are expected to …

The Washington Post reports: The Social Security numbers and other private information of more than 200 former congressional staffers and others were made public Tuesday in the unredacted files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, according to a review by The Washington Post. “It’s absolutely outrageous. It’s sloppy, unprofessional,” said former Trump campaign lawyer Joseph diGenova, 80, …

Mediaite reports: Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) kicked off a firestorm of criticism and controversy this week when he posted to X, “Multiculturalism will tear our country apart.” While some critics offered Gill replies boasting the merits of diversity, like Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), many were quick to call the post hypocritical as Gill is married to an Indian-American. Meanwhile, Stew …

“Tucker has no actual substance, right? He’s been attacking me since 2022 when he became obsessed with me. I live rent-free in that little mongrel’s head. And yeah, you know, people ask me all the time, like, ‘Why does he hate you? And I’m like, you know, the fact that you can’t answer that question is indicative of the fact …

“What is the goal of all of this? Seriously, I don’t understand. What is the goal? I want President Trump to succeed. If President Trump is to succeed, we need a thriving economy. Declaring a trade war on Canada under the terms of the USMCA, which he himself negotiated in Trump term one, is not going to be a productive …

Axios reports: President Trump said Monday he will “lead the charge” to oust Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) for his refusal to support Republicans’ government funding bill. A doctrinaire libertarian, Massie has been a persistent thorn in the side for both Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) by defecting on key votes and imperiling major GOP legislation. Trump said Massie …

Politico reports: Former Vice President Mike Pence is breaking with his former boss, criticizing the Trump administration’s tariffs strategy and calling for free trade to lower the cost of goods. Pence responded to comments from Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent defending the tariff policy despite the possibility of it causing economic disruptions. “Access to cheap goods is not the …

The New York Times reports: Marco Rubio was incensed. Here he was in the Cabinet Room of the White House, the secretary of state, seated beside the president and listening to a litany of attacks from the richest man in the world. Seated diagonally opposite, across the elliptical mahogany table, Elon Musk was letting Mr. Rubio have it, accusing him …

The Hill reports: Republican senators vented their concerns about tech billionaire Elon Musk’s aggressive approach to freezing federal spending and cutting government jobs during a private meeting with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles on Wednesday. Gathered in the historic Mansfield Room outside the Senate chamber, some GOP senators complained about what they view as a lack of transparency …

The Daily Beast reports: Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s apparent threat to Tucker Carlson drew backlash from the right on Monday, especially after the Texas Republican was caught out denying it ever happened. In a hot mic moment after an interview with British journalist and GB News correspondent Steven Edginton, Crenshaw was asked if he had ever met the former Fox News host. …

“I’m concerned with this because I want to see President Trump victorious. Distractions are the enemy. Yesterday, it was Edward Martin, the US attorney for the District Of Columbia. “He put out a statement, quote, ‘as President Trump’s lawyers, we are proud to fight to protect his leadership as our president, and we are vigilant in standing against entities like …

Axios reports: Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) said he’d kill Tucker Carlson if he ever met him, in an apparent hot mic moment captured on Monday. The threat, which a Crenshaw spokesperson downplayed after it came to light, is the latest incident in a spat between the two Republicans. Carlson has called Crenshaw one of the “dumbest, most liberal” Republicans. Crenshaw …

Florida Politics reports: Florida’s First Lady sounded like a candidate for her husband’s job during a speech to the Global Liberty Institute. Casey DeSantis delivered a dire warning about how Florida could become a “purple state” sooner than later, mirroring rhetoric from Gov. Ron DeSantis. “While we are leading here in the state of Florida, I would say, and this …

The Floridian reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis weighed in on the 2026 governor’s race on Monday by lashing out at Donald Trump’s candidate, Byron Donalds, for failing to help defeat “the left” in Florida while suggesting his wife, Casey DeSantis, would be the stronger pick in the 2026 race. This is the first time DeSantis hasn’t brushed off rumors that his …

“You can tell President Trump doesn’t totally trust the oligarchs. We’re putting in very tough antitrust people into the Justice Department and to the alphabet agencies. Look, I’m not a conservative, right? I’m a Republican ’cause I’m a registered Republican. I’m really a populist nationalist. “And by the way, those oligarchs – and people on CNN are gonna understand it …

“So here’s President Trump saying some stuff about Ukraine. [Plays clip.] I have some moral objections to the stuff that he is saying about Ukraine here because I don’t think that it is true.  “So for example, at one point during this press conference, he made the signally false statement that Ukraine started the war. This is not true. Ukraine …

The Washington Post reports: Republican senators find themselves in an unusual position these days: begging Trump officials to release funds they themselves appropriated. Senators have in recent days made the case to Cabinet secretaries and other Trump officials to let money flow back into their states. They are trying to finagle exceptions to President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive orders or …

The Daily Beast reports: Steve Bannon unleashed a new torrent of insults at Elon Musk on Tuesday, escalating an ongoing feud with President Donald Trump’s new favorite confidant. “Musk is a parasitic illegal immigrant,” the former media impresario turned Trump White House adviser turned podcaster, told UnHerd. “He wants to impose his freak experiments and play-act as God without any respect …

The Daily Beast reports: Social media commentators slammed Elon Musk as a hypocrite following claims that the DOGE leader fathered his 13th child with a fourth woman—right-wing influencer Ashley St. Clair, 26. Although Musk, despite a stream of tweets since, has yet to respond to St. Clair’s claim that she had his baby five months ago, the news has set …

McConnell writes for the Louisville Courier-Journal: But no matter our best intentions, tariffs are bad policy. As Sen. Rand Paul, put it: “Tariffs are simply taxes… Taxing trade will mean less trade and higher prices.” So Republicans ought to be clear-eyed about the full, unadulterated impact of tariffs as we work to restore sound fiscal policy to our government. Blanket …