Systemic Error Podcast

What happened AlterNet reports that Donald Trump has urged Republican voters to “pretend I’m on the ballot” during the midterm campaign, while some Republican candidates are trying to make their campaigns look less connected to him. The outlet says a dozen candidates removed references to Trump from campaign websites and cites Susan Collins and John Sununu as declining to campaign with him, while...

What happened AlterNet, citing The Hill’s review of internal Justice Department metrics, reports that the Trump administration’s immigration policies have sharply increased the department’s legal workload while staffing has fallen. The Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation lost nearly 80 attorneys as its workload rose 63 percent. The office reportedly shrank from about 320 attorneys at...

What happened AlterNet does not establish that $50 million went to Mar-a-Lago. It reports that federal events connected to the United States’ 250th anniversary cost $128 million, with at least $114 million supplied by taxpayers, while The Wall Street Journal reported that corporate donors contributed at least another $50 million. The article does not provide records showing where those private con...

What happened AlterNet reports that psychologist John Paul Garrison identified Trump’s repeated lateral jaw movement as a possible sign of stimulant use—but he also said it could reflect medication, impaired motor function, or a neurological condition. The footage does not establish that Trump took stimulants, and Garrison did not claim proof. Analyzing a Tennessee rally for Sen. Marsha Blackburn,...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump’s effort to punish unfavorable coverage disrupted the extensive television exposure he seeks. Citing a Sunday column by Simon Marks in The i Paper , the outlet says Trump barred three news organizations from the White House, prompting five major television networks—ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox News—to suspend press-pool coverage in solidarit...

What happened AlterNet reports that the Justice Department opened an antitrust investigation into ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC after the networks temporarily stopped sharing pooled White House video coverage. The networks acted after the White House barred CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the grounds and revoked journalists’ press passes. The administration characterizes that coordinated response...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump’s rallies have shrunk, while Republican candidates in competitive races increasingly treat his presence as a liability. A person described as familiar with Trump’s behavior told The Washington Post that he was in a “foul mood,” although an adviser disputed that account and said Trump enjoyed campaigning and believed it was going well. The...

What happened AlterNet reports that retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling and Sen. Angus King argue President Donald Trump’s military decisions have weakened U.S. deterrence and increased the risk of a larger war. Their central warning is that reduced support for Ukraine, troop cuts in Europe and an inconclusive war with Iran may persuade Russia or China that the United States lacks either the capacity o...

What happened AlterNet reports that U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ordered a 72-hour pause on work at a Washington, D.C., golf course after federal officials removed more than 500 trees, including historic cherry trees, despite the court’s repeated expectation that the government would provide meaningful notice. Government lawyers filed notice at 4:55 p.m. on the Friday before a holiday weekend; fe...

What happened AlterNet reports that the Defense Department announced plans to livestream the firing-squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009. The article does not supply a date for the planned execution or establish that it has occurred. Joslin Joseph, an Iraq War veteran writing in The Hill, said the spectacle would make the United States “no different than...

What happened AlterNet reports that the Trump administration removed 430 trees from Hains Point in Washington’s East Potomac Park after a federal court had required advance updates before work proceeded. According to testimony described in the report, officials knew about the planned removal days earlier but notified the court and plaintiffs at 4:55 p.m. on the Friday before a holiday weekend. At...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Trump’s Justice Department admitted a false allegation appeared in federal affidavits used to seek warrants during its investigation of an anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church. The affidavits said journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, producer Jerome Richardson, and others were “chanting with agitators.” Prosecutors later acknowledged that Lemon an...

What happened AlterNet argues that Donald Trump’s refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing may ultimately undermine him, but the article does not establish that this “undoing” has occurred. Its concrete focus is an effort by Trump allies to rehabilitate Richard Nixon: Rep. Riley Moore called Nixon “framed” and proposed naming an aircraft carrier after him, while Vice President JD Vance compared Watergate...

What happened AlterNet reports that federal prosecutors accused Howard Gimmey, 47, of Midwest City, Oklahoma, of threatening to kill President Donald Trump and harm Trump voters. Gimmey, described in the report as homeless, allegedly blamed Trump and his supporters for the conditions that cost him his home and warned that any Trump voter who crossed his path would “feel some” pain. Prosecutors all...

What happened AlterNet reports that The Philadelphia Inquirer published a coordinated editorial package urging Congress to impeach Donald Trump and convict him in the Senate. Attorney and columnist Michael Coard supplied the project’s central argument: waiting for another election is inadequate when the alleged misconduct concerns the integrity of elections and the enforceability of constitutional...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump has repeatedly compared himself with Abraham Lincoln, often casting Lincoln as the lone rival to his claim of presidential greatness. The examples include Trump predicting that history would vindicate him as it did Lincoln, claiming the media treated him worse than any president since Lincoln, and suggesting even a Washington-Lincoln ticke...

What happened AlterNet reports that New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie called President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post urging white Minnesota residents to “fight back” against the state’s Somali immigrant population part of a racist pattern and sufficient grounds for impeachment. Bouie characterized the post as an attempt to incite a race riot; the article does not report that violence resul...

What happened AlterNet reports that Donald Trump twice said Iran could strike Los Angeles or San Diego, first at a Monday rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, and again the following night in Texas. The White House claimed he meant that his war had prevented a nuclear-armed Iran from threatening those cities, but the remarks themselves were ambiguous enough that Forbes said it was unclear whether Trum...

What happened AlterNet reports that the Trump White House released records from the investigation into Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents and obstruction of their retrieval, then watched allied media recast largely known or minor details as evidence of government “weaponization.” Citing New York Times reporter Charlie Savage, AlterNet says the cycle began with an Oct. 2 White House b...

What happened AlterNet argues that Donald Trump’s defining political lesson came from Roy Cohn: deny wrongdoing, counterattack, and generate controversy faster than any single scandal can produce accountability. The result, according to the outlet, is an administration that uses relentless conflict to exhaust the public and crowd consequential decisions out of the news cycle. The article points to...

What happened AlterNet reports that the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court as an institution on October 9, freezing property and obstructing services and transactions involving the Hague-based court. Unlike earlier sanctions against particular officials and organizations, the new package reportedly threatens salaries, financial transfers, cloud services, ins...

What happened AlterNet reports that Donald Trump said at a Republican rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego as “a very small price to pay,” while predicting that the war would end soon. The article presents the remark as treating two American cities as acceptable losses in a conflict Trump announced on February 28, 2026, without prior congressional au...

What happened AlterNet argues that Donald Trump’s administration was escalating the use of federal power against perceived enemies as voting began in several states. The article points to reported efforts targeting Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook and former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, sanctions aimed at companies working with the International Criminal Court, and the administration’s d...

What happened AlterNet reports that the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Editorial Board argued Congress must confront President Donald Trump’s possible impeachment over his administration’s use of the Justice Department. But the supplied reporting never quotes the board explicitly demanding impeachment, so the headline’s stronger claim is not established by the excerpt. Writing for the board, former U.S....

What happened AlterNet argues that a longstanding media reluctance to discuss Donald Trump’s mental fitness is weakening. It cites a Time interview transcript containing disjointed answers and false claims, New York Times reporter Katie Rogers’s observation that his rally remarks sometimes stop making logical sense, and increasingly direct commentary from figures including Lawrence O’Donnell. None...