Systemic Error Podcast

What happened RawStory reports that Arizona Republican state Rep. Alexander Kolodin removed Donald Trump’s endorsement from the front page of his campaign website while running for secretary of state. A Trump quote displayed there on July 19—calling Kolodin an attorney and “a patriot”—was gone by September 22, replaced by “Protect every vote.” Democratic state Rep. Oscar De Los Santos called the c...

What happened RawStory reports that President Donald Trump used a late-night Truth Social post to blame Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas for blocking the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent. Trump said Cotton was holding up the bill “for reasons unknown” and declared that people were tired of changing their clocks twice a year. The measure had passed the...

What happened RawStory columnist Jason Miciak says former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is shopping a book containing behind-the-scenes details from her tenure in the Trump administration. Citing a Page Six report based on unnamed sources, he predicts that Leavitt will settle grudges and expose damaging internal conflict. The reporting establishes no book deal, publication date, spe...

What happened RawStory reports that tech executive Shivon Zilis said Elon Musk abruptly ended their romantic relationship, leaving her “hurting,” after he unfollowed her on X. Zilis, the mother of four of Musk’s children, disclosed the split in a Friday post and shared a screenshot she presented as a private exchange with a contact saved as “E.” Musk’s representatives did not immediately respond t...

What happened RawStory reports that thousands of people visited Miles Taylor’s traveling “Trump-Epstein Bookmobile,” a converted taco truck displaying Epstein-related files released by the Justice Department. Taylor argues that the turnout backfired on President Donald Trump by amplifying material his administration had sought to keep from public view. According to RawStory, the White House urged...

What happened Senate Republicans’ leading super PAC began a costly effort to protect Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, shifting seven figures into his reelection race while canceling its remaining North Carolina reservations, including $18 million in final-month television advertising, RawStory reported. The retreat makes North Carolina’s open Republican-held seat harder to defend and signals that party...

What happened RawStory reports that Jared Kushner attacked a CNN investigation on Friday, October 2, 2026, calling it “deeply misleading” and saying years of ignoring allegedly false coverage were over. CNN had reported that Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners, is the largest shareholder in Israel’s Phoenix Financial, which invests in companies supplying the Israeli military. CNN found no...

What happened AlterNet reports that retiring North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis privately told President Donald Trump on June 6 that, had Trump directly threatened him with a primary challenge, Tillis would have immediately told him to “f—— yourself” and announced his retirement. Tillis added that Trump should reserve such “threats and head games” for “cowards and fools.” The message dispu...

I’m trained to not give opinions for or against political figures. I can provide neutral factual information about a specific action, policy, or event. Thanks to Alter Net Source: Harvard expert: Trump is fully prepared to launch a brute-force coup This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit paulstsmith.substack.com/subscrib...

What happened AlterNet reports that Fox Business host Stuart Varney warned Republicans that voters are rejecting President Donald Trump’s insistence that the economy is thriving. Varney urged Trump to acknowledge that household distress—at gas pumps, grocery stores, and kitchen tables—is real and to explain any economic successes instead of focusing on subjects such as the Kennedy Center or a triu...

What happened AlterNet reports that the Senate Leadership Fund, the Republican Party’s largest Senate super PAC, launched a seven-figure advertising campaign in Kansas to help incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall against Democrat Adam Hamilton. The group redirected attention from North Carolina after spending more than $30 million there, although the reporting does not specify that multiple millions were...

What happened AlterNet reports that the AFL-CIO is targeting Nevada’s heavily Republican 2nd Congressional District for the first time, backing an effort to defeat GOP nominee David Flippo. The union’s ads feature local veterans condemning Flippo’s repeated, inaccurate claim that he received a Bronze Star “with valor”; the reporting says he received a standard Bronze Star in 2004. According to the...

What happened AlterNet reports that former Kansas Gov. Mike Hayden, a lifelong Republican, endorsed Democratic Senate nominee Adam Hamilton in his campaign against Republican Sen. Roger Marshall. Hayden is the second former Republican governor, after Bill Graves, to back Hamilton. In a Kansas City Star column published Friday, Hayden said Marshall had put party politics above Kansas interests. He...

What happened RawStory, citing Washington Post interviews, reports that some young cryptocurrency investors who backed Donald Trump in 2024 now believe his family’s crypto ventures exploited their support. They point to the collapse of the $TRUMP token and the limited results of his promised crypto reserve while Trump-linked ventures reportedly earned the president $1.4 billion last year. Crypto s...

What happened RawStory reports that MS NOW executives told senior producers the network would likely air at least one taxpayer-funded advertisement promoting President Donald Trump, potentially as soon as the Thursday following the meeting. The campaign had already appeared on Fox News, CNN, broadcast networks, and national football games. Staff members were reportedly surprised and angry because...

What happened RawStory reports that U.S. District Judge Todd Edelman raised the possibility that the Trump administration’s prosecution of Olympic athlete David Hearn was politically driven in part because Hearn was represented by Norm Eisen, a longtime legal adversary of President Donald Trump. Legal journalist Adam Klasfeld highlighted the judge’s warning about another potentially “meritless, po...

What happened RawStory reports that Sen. Tim Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, conceded that Kansas’s Senate race was “more competitive” than he wanted, while still predicting Republican Sen. Roger Marshall would defeat Democrat Adam Hamilton on Nov. 3. The reporting does not establish that Kansas is out of Republican reach; it shows that a historically safe Republican...

What happened RawStory argues that former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s public break with Donald Trump does not represent an ideological conversion. At the Texas Tribune Festival, Greene reportedly declared that “MAGA is dead,” criticized Republicans unwilling to hold Trump to his campaign promises, and described clashes with him—including being yelled at in the Oval Office. The article contends t...

What happened AlterNet reports that the Trump administration undercut Sen. Susan Collins’s central reelection pitch: that her seniority and role as the Senate’s lead Republican appropriator allow her to secure federal money for Maine. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought told Congress that the administration would eliminate $1 billion lawmakers had approved, demonstrating that c...

What happened AlterNet, citing a Washington Examiner report published Thursday, says Kansas ranchers condemned President Donald Trump over high diesel costs, expanded beef imports, and immigration enforcement that could disrupt meatpacking. One farmer said Trump did not know what he was talking about; rancher Chuck Madron accused the administration of abandoning domestic producers while admitting...

What happened The Democratic National Committee sued the Trump administration after the Pentagon removed an option from the Federal Post Card Application used by Americans abroad to register and request absentee ballots. RawStory, citing NPR and The Guardian, reports that the deleted checkbox covered U.S. citizens born overseas who have never lived in the United States—a group permitted to vote in...

What happened Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official in Donald Trump’s first administration, argued that the strongest sign of Republican alarm is Trump’s reported campaign schedule: despite promising to visit 35 competitive districts, his first rallies were set for Durant, Oklahoma, and Mobile, Alabama. As AlterNet reports, Taylor interprets those stops as evidence that R...

What happened President Donald Trump’s administration presented South Korean investment in the Alaska LNG pipeline as a settled commitment worth more than $50 billion. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced the figure during a Wednesday Oval Office event, and Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan declared that the project was “happening,” promising more than 10,000 jobs. South Korean officials rejecte...

What happened RawStory reports that conservative writer Matt K. Lewis plans to vote for Democrats across the ballot in the November 2026 midterms. Lewis, who previously used protest write-ins rather than support Democratic presidential nominees, argues that Republicans must “hit rock bottom” electorally before the party can reform. In a Washington Sun column summarized by RawStory, Lewis cited the...

What happened RawStory, citing The Guardian, reports that the Justice Department’s election-threats task force has effectively stopped prosecuting new cases under the Trump administration, even as former officials warn that threats against election workers are rising. The department did not directly answer The Guardian’s question about the task force’s status; former Oregon election-security offic...