Systemic Error Podcast

What happened RawStory reports that former Republican operative and anti-Trump activist Steve Schmidt argued on his podcast that voters could “break MAGA” as a nationally viable coalition by defeating Trump-aligned candidates in the November midterm elections. He predicted a sweeping repudiation but offered no polling, electoral analysis, or other evidence in the article to establish that outcome....

What happened AlterNet reports that a Nebraska family nearly lost childcare because the state took unusually long to renew its subsidy. Parent Josh Wigginton said repeated calls failed, an email to his caseworker bounced back, and the uncertainty threatened a routine that allows both parents to work. Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services acknowledged temporarily longer processing time...

What happened RawStory reports that President Donald Trump’s 51-day bombing campaign against Yemen’s Houthis ended in a hastily accepted truce that failed to eliminate the group and gave it time to rebuild. Trump launched Operation Rough Rider on March 15, 2025, promising complete annihilation; by May, after more than 1,000 strikes and an estimated cost exceeding $1 billion, he declared victory an...

What happened AlterNet reports that Fox Business host Stuart Varney and UBS managing director Jason Katz presented a Treasury-bond sell-off as a “generational opportunity” for investors wealthy enough to endure the economic strain. Katz acknowledged that the price was painful but said conditions were “not as bad” for high earners who could buy bonds and wait. The segment also described corporate g...

What happened RawStory reports that President Donald Trump pledged to preemptively pardon anyone who had come “within 200 feet” of the Oval Office before leaving office. The remark covered no precisely identified group, and the reporting does not establish that any pardons had been issued. Democrats were considering whether administration officials’ alleged misuse of authority, including Justice D...

What happened RawStory reports that President Donald Trump demanded the arrest of The New York Times and other media outlets after the newspaper described empty seats in the upper sections of his Ohio rally. Trump disputed that account, claimed the arena was full and said thousands of supporters were turned away. Trump posted the accusation twice on Truth Social and shared a 27-second video of a l...

What happened According to AlterNet, anti-Trump conservative Rick Wilson said Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio and campaign adviser Chris LaCavita were the Trump allies supposedly desperate for “the mess” to end. Wilson offered no direct statements from either man; he attributed the claim to unnamed Republicans and used the “sweet meteor of death” line as his own characterization. On Molly Jong-F...

What happened AlterNet reports that the FBI acknowledged possessing nine training videos, totaling about 75 minutes, used to instruct more than 1,000 agents reviewing Jeffrey Epstein investigative files. According to a sworn FBI declaration described by legal analyst Allison Gill, two videos taught agents to flag documents containing specified names—including Donald Trump’s—for supervisory review....

What happened AlterNet reports that Robert Jeffress, a prominent evangelical pastor and longtime Donald Trump ally, said he would not ostracize congregants who vote for Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico over Republican nominee Ken Paxton in Texas. Jeffress told New York Times columnist David French that he would explain his objections to Talarico but ultimately tell such a congregant to fol...

What happened AlterNet reports that U.S. District Judge Gary Brown found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents wrongfully arrested two people—including a U.S. citizen—and then falsified official records to support claims of mistaken identity. Brown, a Trump appointee in New York, reached that conclusion after examining explanations ICE had repeatedly offered for detentions arising from c...

What happened The Trump administration confirmed that all U.S. bombers deployed to RAF Fairford had returned to their home stations in the United States after British authorities investigated a suspected terror plot near the base. RawStory, citing NBC News, characterized the redeployment as rushed and suggested it may have ended a military partnership dating to 1950. The reporting does not establi...

What happened RawStory reports that attorney and Democratic strategist Dmitri Mehlhorn outlined a possible route for Donald Trump to return to the presidency in 2028 despite the Constitution’s presidential term limit. His scenario begins with the Republican Party nominating Trump and election officials struggling to remove or disqualify him. Mehlhorn argued on The David Pakman Show that litigation...

What happened RawStory reports that Brazil’s Federal Police opened an investigation into possible U.S. interference in Brazil’s presidential election and executed two search-and-seizure warrants in São Paulo on the Friday before the first-round vote. Authorities seized computer equipment and communications while examining a reported Trump administration plan to direct U.S. taxpayer money toward gr...

What happened RawStory reports that President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image depicting himself in a snowy landscape with flag-draped penguins as part of his continuing campaign to claim Greenland. Penguins do not live in Greenland’s Arctic environment, and Greenlandic commentator Orla Joelson mocked the geographic error. Trump also posted another synthetic image of himself looming over...

What happened RawStory reported that Senate Democrats said they could block any Supreme Court nominee President Donald Trump puts forward if they win the Senate majority in November. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer framed control of the chamber as a way to prevent Trump from appointing more “MAGA justices,” while Sen. Ruben Gallego explicitly endorsed using the blockade Republicans imposed on Barack...

What happened AlterNet reports that an April argument over Donald Trump at Centerville Mills Dog Park in Bainbridge, Ohio, ended with Emmanuel “Mike” Mathews shooting David Mattai in the lower back and Mattai firing at least four rounds at Mathews’ departing vehicle. Mathews was not hit; Mattai suffered intestinal damage and a fractured spine, underwent two surgeries, and spent months in rehabilit...

What happened AlterNet argues that the Trump era has weaponized a transfer of economic and political power that began in the 1970s and 1980s. Robert Reich identifies the beneficiaries as major corporations, executives, shareholders, financial elites and technology billionaires, whose wealth finances campaign contributions, media ownership, litigation and public-relations campaigns. Reich ties that...

What happened AlterNet reports that Laura Leigh Taylor, a 37-year-old farmer in Smithville, Georgia, plans to vote for Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in November after supporting Donald Trump in 2024. The “simple fact” behind her switch is that Democrats have addressed family separation under Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign. Taylor said she regretted her Trump vote after a friend’s father—...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump confused India with Brazil in a late-night post attacking American elections. He initially attributed Brazil’s roughly 125 million valid first-round presidential votes to India, then deleted the post after Indian news outlets highlighted the error. He later corrected the country but retained the unsupported accusation that delayed U.S. res...

What happened According to AlterNet, White House communications director Steven Cheung attacked former special counsel Jack Smith after Smith was photographed wearing a “No Kings” shirt at a Maryland music festival organized by guitarist Tom Morello. Cheung called Smith a partisan operative and accused him of weaponizing the justice system against President Donald Trump. The outburst followed a co...

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: Trump is telling us exactly how he plans on stealing the midterms: expert 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/sub...

What happened AlterNet reports that geriatric neurologist Dr. Germaine Odenheimer said Donald Trump’s conduct may reflect cognitive changes, medication effects, the removal of institutional restraints, or some combination of those factors. She did not diagnose dementia and stressed that Trump’s medications, laboratory results, and cognitive-test results are unknown. Speaking Monday on Dr. Steven H...

What happened AlterNet reports that lawyers for Donald Trump’s former co-defendants asked the 11th Circuit to postpone oral argument over the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s Mar-a-Lago report. The argument was scheduled for November 2, 2026; the filing requested a date in or after January 2027, placing it beyond the midterm elections. The stated reason was scheduling conflicts. The dispute...

What happened AlterNet reports that psychologist John Garrison interpreted videos of President Donald Trump at a Texas Peterbilt factory, an Oval Office signing and an exchange with reporters as possible evidence of neurological impairment. Garrison said apparent spasms had spread from one side of Trump’s body to the other—what he described as dysfunctional pathways “crossing the brain”—and sugges...

What happened AlterNet argues that Donald Trump could strategically resign before finishing his term to install Vice President JD Vance as president. The article’s central theory is that an early transfer would preserve Trump’s influence over the Justice Department and the broader administration while sparing him political exposure after possible Republican losses in the November 2026 midterms. Th...