Systemic Error Podcast

What happened AlterNet columnist D. Earl Stephens reported that Donald Trump, speaking at a campaign rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, said Iran should be allowed to “take out Los Angeles” and San Diego because it would be “a very small price to pay.” Stephens described the remarks as disqualifying and said Trump had “lost whatever was left of his mind.” The column says the speech occurred on a Mon...

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 RawStory reports that Madrid police removed 87-year-old María del Carmen Abascal from her longtime apartment on September 23 after her landlord sought a tenant change to raise the rent. Images of Abascal, a wheelchair user, being carried out on a stretcher triggered protests; the landlord later reversed course and allowed her to return home. The article connects her eviction to Spain...

What happened AlterNet published Robert Reich’s speculation that Donald Trump could leave office before completing his term. Reich offered four possibilities: Trump remains president for two more years, resigns within a year in favor of Vice President JD Vance, is impeached and convicted, or is declared unable to perform his duties under the 25th Amendment. The article attributes these scenarios t...

What happened AlterNet reports that Nevada’s reliably Republican Second Congressional District has become unusually competitive after retiring Republican Rep. Mark Amodei blamed GOP nominee David Flippo’s campaign and its scandals. Donald Trump won the district by 14 points two years earlier, but Republicans reportedly reserved more than $1 million in television and digital advertising, while Demo...

What happened Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, who led the Environmental Protection Agency under George W. Bush, told AlterNet that Donald Trump’s family making money during his presidency is “obscene.” She argued that constitutional limits on presidential enrichment are being disregarded and agreed with interviewer Matthew Rozsa’s characterization of Trump as focused on transactions...

What happened AlterNet reports that Donald Trump told a Nebraska campaign rally that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego while defending high prices linked to the ongoing war with Iran. The crowd applauded. California officials condemned the remark, while White House communications director Stephen Cheung said Trump was describing cities that would have been threatened had Iran acquired...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump used a San Antonio campaign rally for Senate candidate Ken Paxton and House candidate Carlos De La Cruz to portray Democrats, immigrants and climate policy as existential dangers to Texas. He called Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico and his party “dirty,” predicted crime, poverty and social collapse if Democrats gained power, and...

What happened Former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor says President Donald Trump is “playing roulette with our lives” by dismantling the DHS Office of Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction. AlterNet reports that Taylor linked the office’s loss of staff and capacity to America’s vulnerability to biological attacks and other mass-casualty threats. Taylor wrote that hundr...

What happened The White House launched an online “arcade” whose games package administration messages as entertainment. AlterNet highlights “Rio Run,” a Snake-style game in which a border guard accumulates a growing trail of arrested migrants, alongside games promoting healthy school lunches and a “Trump savings account.” Scott DeJong, a Concordia University communication-studies researcher and ga...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump said at a Wednesday press conference that he had wanted Social Security “fully invested in the stock market” during the first month of his first term in 2016, but abandoned the idea after criticism from Democrats and some Republicans. The article does not identify a new policy proposal, timetable, or explicit pledge to pursue privatization...

What happened Michael Wolff told the Inside Trump’s Head podcast that Donald Trump’s political coalition appears to be deteriorating as the consequences of his second-term decisions accumulate. As reported by AlterNet, Wolff argued that Trump’s escalation in Iran, rising fuel and produce costs, and a reversal in Hispanic support could produce severe Republican losses in the approaching midterms. W...

What happened AlterNet, citing NBC News, reports that President Donald Trump’s claim of attracting $21 trillion in investment is unsupported by the White House’s own published figures. A White House webpage credits Trump’s leadership with $11.2 trillion in announced U.S. and foreign investments—barely more than half the amount he cited while announcing a Baltimore shipyard project. Trump’s stated...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump told a Nebraska rally that Iran attacking Los Angeles or San Diego would be “a small price to pay” for keeping the country safe amid rising costs attributed to his war with Iran. He presented the destruction of two Democratic-led American cities as an acceptable—or supposedly humorous—possibility. California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the re...

What happened Disney is suing President Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission to block an unusually early review of its local television stations. According to AlterNet, Disney alleges that the review—amid Trump’s repeated demands that ABC fire Jimmy Kimmel and his attacks on The View —is retaliation for protected speech. At a Tuesday hearing in Washington, Disney attorney Beth Wilkinso...

What happened AlterNet argues that Donald Trump’s declining approval could become a broader electoral reckoning for the Republican Party, comparing his position to Herbert Hoover’s before the GOP’s 1932 defeat. The article does not establish that such a realignment will occur; it presents polling, economic pressure and Republican vulnerability as signs that it could. The outlet cites surveys showi...

What happened At a rally, President Donald Trump called aide Natalie Harp onstage to deliver an order expanding access to tax-exempt diesel, signed it, and then praised her as a “perfect person” while comparing the exchange to The Price Is Right , according to AlterNet’s account of Daily Beast reporting. The supplied report does not identify the rally’s date or location, explain the order’s substa...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump met in the Oval Office with Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk convicted in 2024 of seven offenses arising from a 2021 breach of county voting equipment. Former Justice Department official Ed Martin said they discussed election integrity and “the plans” for the midterm elections. Martin connected the meeting to Homeland S...

What happened RawStory reports that Bill O’Reilly called Republicans “blanking dumb” for failing to offer a convincing response to high prices before the November midterms. Speaking Monday on NewsNation, the former Fox News host argued that neither party has a serious affordability plan and described President Donald Trump as consumed by “gimmick mania.” O’Reilly told financially strained American...

What happened RawStory reports that British prosecutors, seeking Andrew Tate’s extradition from the United States, alleged in a Monday federal court filing in South Florida that his seized phone and laptop contained 168 indecent images and videos of a girl who was 17. Prosecutors say Tate appeared with her in a sexualized video, knew she was underage and shared videos of her with three people in J...

What happened RawStory reports that five of ten conservative Michigan focus-group participants who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 said they planned to support Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed over Republican Mike Rogers. One participant backed Rogers; four had not indicated a settled choice. The session aired on Tuesday, with 27 days reportedly remaining before the midterm election. MS NOW...

What happened RawStory reports that menswear writer Derek Guy identified President Donald Trump’s Nebraska rally suit as a Jos. A. Bank garment made overseas, typically in countries including China and Bangladesh. Guy contrasted it with the company’s Joseph Abboud line, which he said is made in the United States, and asked why Trump chose “the cheap import” instead. Trump wore the suit Tuesday at...

What happened Raw Story reports that the U.S. Postal Service contracted with Prosegur to deploy nearly 1,000 armed security officers at at least 55 postal facilities, authorizing almost 40,000 hours of work each week. The contract’s value was redacted. The startled “what the hell?” came from postal contractor and researcher Claire McKean, reacting to a multinational security conglomerate assuming...

What happened RawStory reports that President Donald Trump appeared to stare at senior aide Natalie Harp’s legs during a rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, held for Sen. Pete Ricketts. The moment came shortly after Trump called Harp “the perfect person.” The outlet says the clip repulsed several social-media commentators, including activist Derek Cressman, Democratic strategist Mike Nellis, and podc...

What happened CBS News deleted and replaced a social media post announcing former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s death after criticism that it reduced his criminal case to “violating banking laws” while omitting the sexual abuse those violations concealed. According to RawStory, CBS acknowledged that its original post had “missed the mark.” The replacement said Hastert had been jailed on charges c...