Systemic Error Podcast

What happened AlterNet reports that the State Department fired Paolo Zampolli, a longtime friend of President Donald Trump, on Thursday after Politico exposed his monthslong feud with Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. A U.S. official told ABC reporter Shannon Kingston that Zampolli’s envoy status had been terminated and that he was no longer a government employee. Emails obtained by Po...

What happened Republican pollster Frank Luntz told CNN that President Donald Trump had squandered what Luntz called an extraordinary political recovery. He blamed Trump’s confrontational rally rhetoric, failure to show empathy over economic anxiety, and recent dismissal of affordability concerns as a “hoax.” AlterNet reported that Luntz cited 36 percent overall approval and 29 percent approval of...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump had four gold chandeliers installed in the West Wing for his June birthday through a $50,000 no-bid contract awarded to a small firm after the White House bypassed normal procedure. The “sleeping giant” in the headline is the American public: the article argues that polling shows voters increasingly connecting Trump’s personal enrichment a...

What happened AlterNet reports that Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger of The Bulwark believe removing White House chief of staff Susie Wiles could accelerate disorder inside the Trump administration. Their assessment is speculative: Politico reportedly said President Donald Trump had asked whether Wiles should be replaced and by whom, but the article does not establish that he decided to fire her. Egg...

What happened AlterNet reports that Democratic lawmakers introduced the Epstein Wall Street Records Act, which would require federal regulators to publish supervisory records and internal communications concerning Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell within 120 days. The proposal would also direct regulators to investigate possible banking, securities, and anti-money-laundering violations involvin...

What happened AlterNet reports that former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she resigned in August because the job required more than 60 hours a week, worldwide travel, and constant availability—conditions she could not reconcile with raising two children. On October 14, she rejected the suggestion that occasional television appearances contradicted her stated reason for leaving,...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump’s tariffs, repeated description of Canada as a potential “51st state,” and involvement favoring Alberta separatism have intensified Canadian anger toward the United States. Carleton University professor Stephen M. Saideman told the outlet that the annexation rhetoric is especially offensive because it denies Canadians a distinct national i...

What happened AlterNet reports that Wisconsin could forgo as much as $2.76 billion in state income-tax revenue from 2028 through 2037 if lawmakers adopt deductions for tipped and overtime income resembling federal policy. Trump’s federal tax law does not itself remove that money from Wisconsin’s treasury; the projected loss depends on a separate state decision. Forward Analytics, the nonpartisan r...

What happened AlterNet reports that CNN aired a compilation of Katie Zacharia, described as President Donald Trump’s new press secretary, repeatedly presenting herself as a lawyer even though she graduated from law school but did not pass the California bar. The clips included appearances in which she called herself a “corporate lawyer,” “attorney at law” and “esquire.” Zacharia said she had consu...

What happened AlterNet reports that historian Timothy Snyder rejected the idea that Russia holds some mysterious “magic grip” over the entire Republican electorate. In an interview with podcaster Shane Smith, Snyder attributed the Republican leadership’s shift toward Russia to Donald Trump’s influence, ideological affinity between parts of the American right and Vladimir Putin’s politics, foreign...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump publicly minimized Kimberly Guilfoyle’s connection to his family after she was asked to resign as U.S. ambassador to Greece amid misconduct allegations. Trump said she had merely dated his son “a long time ago,” although Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr. reportedly dated from 2018, became engaged in 2020, and separated in 2024. Guilfoyle resp...

What happened According to AlterNet, New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie argued that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s October 7 speech in Greece celebrated democratic values through a distorted history while ignoring the Trump administration’s rejection of those same principles. Rubio praised ancient Greece as the foundation of Western thought and complained that nationalism had become “a dirty...

What happened AlterNet reports that a 28-year-old technician at a Siberian laboratory died within 48 hours of an apparent occupational exposure on September 25. One Russian report alleged that she broke a test tube containing a pneumonic-plague pathogen, but the World Health Organization said the pathogen, the testing performed and the reason roughly 200 contacts were quarantined or monitored rema...

What happened AlterNet reports that Donald Trump suspended sanctions for six months against countries buying Russian oil or refined products, a move the outlet says could deliver billions of dollars to Russia during its war against Ukraine. Trump publicly thanked Vladimir Putin and later announced an “energy ceasefire,” but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the purported agreement was “...

What happened President Donald Trump chose conservative commentator Katie Zacharia as White House press secretary without consulting chief of staff Susie Wiles, according to AlterNet’s account of Daily Mail reporting. Four unnamed sources said the decision took roughly 72 hours and lacked the expected vetting process. Trump reportedly acted after seeing Zacharia on Fox News, consulted Boris Epshte...

What happened AlterNet, citing Washington Post reporting, says emails show how consultant Rick Canny expanded his authority at the Kennedy Center after President Donald Trump’s takeover of the institution. Canny was subsequently named artistic director “in a designated executive consulting capacity,” rather than becoming a regular employee. In a March 30 email to then-chief financial officer Donna...

What happened AlterNet reports that Department of Homeland Security agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington, D.C., residence as part of a potentially criminal inquiry into whether her father put incorrect information on naturalization documents years ago. Omar called the search political intimidation and said she would not retreat under pressure from the Trump administration. New York Times c...

What happened AlterNet reports that White House press secretary Katie Zacharia claimed Trump campaign events were drawing “record highs” in attendance, even as CNN aired footage showing entire sections of empty seats at a Monday rally in Youngstown, Ohio. On Tuesday, CNN anchor Erin Burnett said the claim did not match the images from the Covelli Center. The White House responded that press equipm...

What happened AlterNet reports that political scientist and historian Rahmane Idrissa argued that President Donald Trump is “making America little at last” by abandoning the United States’ traditional role as the dominant organizer of the post-World War II global order. In a Wednesday episode of The New York Times podcast “The Opinions,” Idrissa described Trump’s approach as reducing the United St...

What happened AlterNet argues that if Democrats win the House and Senate in the November 3 elections, they should use congressional power to confront the Supreme Court’s 6–3 conservative majority. The proposed agenda includes imposing meaningful ethics rules, investigating judicial conduct, considering court expansion and term limits, and preventing further Trump nominees from receiving automatic...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump’s 2025 tax law is projected to reduce Social Security revenue by $169 billion over a decade, contradicting his promise that Republicans should not cut “a single penny” from the program. The chief actuary’s estimate concerns lost program revenue—not an immediate reduction in retirees’ monthly checks. The law did not eliminate federal taxati...

What happened AlterNet reports, citing Axios, that President Donald Trump directed White House lawyers to examine allegations that former adviser Ric Grenell failed to deliver nearly $6 million intended for the Kennedy Center. The allegation came from former Trump attorney Alina Habba after her husband, businessman Turhan Mildon, said the donation had been included in a $17.6 million payment conne...

What happened AlterNet reports that New York dairy entrepreneur Henry Schwartz helped persuade Donald Trump and prominent Republican officials that Iran could cripple the United States with a high-altitude nuclear detonation producing an electromagnetic pulse. In 2019, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to strengthen national resilience against EMP attacks. The article, sum...

What happened At a midterm campaign rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, Donald Trump said of the reported Iran war, “Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego,” while arguing that higher gasoline prices were a small cost for keeping the country safe. AlterNet reports that the crowd responded with laughter, applause, and cheers, and that Trump continued without correcting the apparent...

What happened AlterNet reports that U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes rejected the Trump administration’s claim that a rushed tree-removal operation at Washington’s East Potomac Golf Links was merely routine maintenance based on a 2019 preservation report. On the limited record before her, Reyes concluded that officials accelerated the work because President Donald Trump wanted haste on his proposed r...