Systemic Error Podcast

What happened AlterNet reports that newly released White House documents show FBI investigators collected phone metadata associated with Susie Wiles from at least February through May 2023. The records reportedly catalogued whom Wiles contacted, when calls occurred, and how long they lasted during “Plasmic Echo,” the investigation into Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents and presidenti...

What happened AlterNet reports that U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle allegedly asked Eric Deters, a former Kentucky congressional candidate, to secretly pay her $100,000 American Express bill shortly before her July 9, 2025 confirmation hearing. According to a Wall Street Journal report cited by AlterNet, Guilfoyle suggested she could connect Deters—who wanted help with personal tax an...

What happened Jimmy Kimmel marked Fox News’s 30th anniversary with a montage of the network turning trivial cultural disputes into political grievances. As AlterNet reports, the segment featured outrage over Barack Obama’s tan suit and coffee-cup salute, an alleged “war on Christmas,” gender-neutral branding for Mr. Potato Head, supposedly “woke” Lego, and the green M&M’s redesigned footwear. Kimm...

What happened The word is “corrupt.” AlterNet argues that Democrats should make Republican corruption their central message in the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election, citing an Axios-reported national poll in which a majority of registered voters surveyed reportedly chose “corrupt” to describe Donald Trump. The article points to Péter Magyar’s anti-corruption campaign against Viktor...

What happened AlterNet reports that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Mehmet Oz raised his voice and accused Gray Media reporter Molly Martinez of being “deliberately duplicitous” after she contrasted two provisions of President Donald Trump’s domestic policy law: an estimated $137 billion reduction in federal Medicaid spending in rural areas over ten years and a $50 billion...

What happened AlterNet reports that Lawrence O’Donnell used Donald Trump’s shifting pronouns during a Wednesday campaign rally in San Antonio to renew his warning that changes in the president’s speech could indicate dementia. While recounting Melania Trump correcting his pronunciation of “vegan,” Trump briefly referred to “he” before returning to “she.” O’Donnell argued that such departures from...

What happened AlterNet reports that Missouri Republicans’ attempt to engineer a seventh GOP-held U.S. House seat was blocked before the November midterm election. Acting on President Donald Trump’s advice, Republican lawmakers approved new boundaries in September 2025 that weakened the Kansas City-based district represented by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver. Courts ultimately required the state to use i...

What happened AlterNet reports that the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division presented evidence to a federal grand jury alleging that former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson lied to Congress. The article does not establish that the grand jury returned an indictment or specify which statement prosecutors allege was false. Hutchinson testified before the House committee investigating the Ja...

What happened AlterNet reports that U.S. Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle was accused of seeking $100,000 from Trump donor Eric Deters, describing the alleged demand as an attempt to monetize political access. The article suggests her standing within Donald Trump’s circle may protect her from his anger, but it does not establish that Trump has decided to retain or punish her—or prove why he would do...

What happened AlterNet reports that investor and former journalist Steven Rattner used five economic and political comparisons on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to argue that Republicans could suffer major losses in the 2026 election. The charts do not actually predict a “bloodbath”: they show conditions Rattner considers as bad as, or worse than, those preceding the Democratic takeover of Congress in 2006...

What happened AlterNet reports that Democrats made significant gains in August local elections in Hamilton and Knox counties, Tennessee, but did not overturn Republican dominance. They flipped three seats across county commissions and school boards, won control of the Knox County school board, and reduced large prior deficits in both county-mayor races to four points. The gains coincided with shar...

What happened The supplied AlterNet text does not identify the state, the election, the campaign, the people involved, or evidence that a “white vigilante” effort changed an outcome by 1,800 votes. It consists only of an unexplained list of public figures and political terms. The headline makes a specific causal claim, but the provided material does not substantiate it. No responsible summary can...

What happened AlterNet reports that Democratic strategist James Carville offered two speculative explanations for President Donald Trump’s conduct less than four weeks before Election Day: Trump was either mentally unwell or intentionally making it harder for Republicans to retain control of Congress. Carville supplied no evidence establishing either explanation. On the Politics War Room podcast,...

What happened AlterNet reports that Fox News has intentionally reduced live coverage of President Donald Trump’s midterm rallies, apparently judging that his speeches no longer attract enough viewers and may hurt Republican candidates. A Fox host, speaking anonymously to CNN, said the decision came “from the top down,” while Fox offered no public explanation. The retreat follows tension between Tr...

What happened AlterNet reports that the Trump White House barred reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico beginning September 19 after President Donald Trump accused the outlets, without publicly cited specifics, of publishing “fake news” that endangered national security. Politico said the Secret Service confiscated a reporter’s credentials, while MS NOW said its journalists were denied access to...

What happened AlterNet reports that Kimberly Guilfoyle, President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Greece, is reportedly the subject of a State Department inspector general inquiry after complaints about her treatment of embassy personnel, travel, gifts and possible ethics violations. Five unnamed sources told the Daily Mail that a formal investigation had begun, but the inspector general’s office wou...

What happened AlterNet reports that Fox News obtained White House-released documents showing the FBI cataloged Susie Wiles’s phone activity from at least February through May 2023 during the federal investigation into Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents and presidential records. The records reportedly identify contacts with at least 21 attorneys, as well as journalists, campaign staff,...

What happened Donald Trump’s niece, psychologist Mary L. Trump, said Republican candidates were “diving out of windows” to avoid appearing with him—her metaphor for distancing themselves from an increasingly unpopular president. AlterNet reported that she pointed to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s absence from a San Antonio event and to a Reuters review finding that candidates in 41 of 62 competitive con...

What happened AlterNet argues that Donald Trump’s worsening political position stems not merely from broken promises but from collapsing trust. The outlet cites polls reporting that 70 percent of respondents believed his policies were raising grocery costs, while only 17 percent of U.S. adults approved of his handling of the cost of living. The article links that distrust to Trump’s conduct during...

What happened AlterNet reports that Congress’s “letting-go problem” is sustained by the identity incumbents derive from office and by institutions that reward them for staying. Parties prize incumbency, staff careers depend on sitting lawmakers, and constituents may value seniority. In Massachusetts, 80-year-old Sen. Ed Markey defeated 47-year-old Rep. Seth Moulton in the September 1, 2026, Democr...

What happened Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen named President Donald Trump an admiral in the Great Navy of the State of Nebraska during a Monday midterm rally in Grand Island, AlterNet reported. The title is a civic honor with no military authority, duties, pay or privileges. Pillen presented it after a speech lasting more than 20 minutes, calling the ceremony “one little fun thing.” Nebraska governors h...

What happened RawStory reports that Sen. Susan Collins, during a Tuesday debate in Maine against Democratic challenger Troy Jackson, answered a question about President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada by touting her success in getting road salt removed from the tariff list. Jackson replied, “What about everything else? We can’t eat road salt.” Jackson also linked household affordability to what h...

What happened RawStory, citing The Washington Post, reports that Republican groups entered the final midterm stretch with a large financial advantage but could not identify a race in which that advantage had fundamentally changed the contest. Donald Trump had said his super PACs would spend $400 million to $500 million supporting Republican candidates, yet by the Wednesday covered in the report th...

What happened RawStory reports that Marc Beckman, Melania Trump’s senior adviser and a producer of her documentary, celebrated its per-theater opening performance by claiming it beat Tom Cruise’s Digger by about 67 percent. His comparison relied on a narrow metric: Digger opened in 1,543 more theaters. The broader figures undercut the boast. According to reports cited by RawStory, Melania opened t...

What happened Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the official under fire. AlterNet, citing Wall Street Journal reporting, says CodePink activists confronted him over U.S. sanctions at Reveler’s Hour in Washington in December 2025. Bessent allegedly called them “ignorant,” berated the restaurant owner for not removing them and, according to the owner, spat into his own food before leaving. The res...