THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced striking questioning from Democratic Senator Elyssa Slotkin on Wednesday. She grilled him on whether he had given an order allowing members of the military to shoot unarmed protesters if necessary. She also pressed him on whether the military has the authority to arrest protesters. Hegseth stonewalled. What his obfuscation ended up revealing, though, is this: H...

President Trump appears dead set on joining Israel’s war with Iran. After a period of negotiations, Trump has now tweeted that he wants Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” The New York Times has a deep dive into his deliberations, and the findings are shocking. Trump is ready for war even though our own intelligence assessments don’t support the case for it. And incredibly, the Times reports, Trump...

After the horrific assassination of a Democratic state legislator in Minnesota, President Trump at first correctly stressed that such violence is absolutely intolerable. But then he uncorked a long, vile, unhinged tirade on Truth Social, threatening to unleash ICE raids more directly on Democratic cities while denouncing them as radical, dangerous and “sick.” Coming after the assassination, this w...

In a little-noticed rant, President Donald Trump furiously vowed on Truth Social that he will now carry out something called “remigration.” This idea is widely prevalent among global white nationalists who see it as key to their vile goal of building white ethnostates, so his open endorsement of it is significant. That comes as a U.S. Democratic Senator has been violently tackled and handcuffed, a...

Stephen Miller had a shouting match Thursday with a GOP Senator over Miller’s demand for massive funds for deportations, which Republicans are debating right now. Yet at around the same time, President Donald Trump openly admitted that his deportations are badly hurting farmers by removing their workers—and described those undocumented workers as “impossible to replace.” Miller is demanding superc...

News organizations have been credulously amplifying the White House’s spin that sending troops into Los Angeles is great politics for President Trump. But the evidence isn’t cooperating. On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt lost her temper amid tough questioning about Trump’s threat to unleash “force” on protesters. She snapped that one reporter had asked a “stupid question,” a...

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump issued a direct promise to use “heavy force” on protesters who dare show up to his military parade this weekend. He made no distinction between peaceful and violent protesters, an extraordinary threat of violence that he didn’t bother disguising. Trump has also repeatedly erupted in anger at California Governor Gavin Newsom, ripping him with vile slurs and tellin...

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump ordered up the National Guard to deal with violence that broke out in Los Angeles amid protests of Trump’s immigration policies. This has angered California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is suing to stop it. But then Trump expressly told reporters that he might send the Marines into California. He also openly endorsed the idea that federal law enforcement shou...

Fox News hosts have gotten very aggressive in pinning down Trump officials over the failures of Trump’s trade agenda. Stuart Varney sharply questioned a top official over the loss of manufacturing jobs in the latest jobs report, and Maria Bartiromo usefully prodded a second official over the failure to produce trade deals. Taken together, these constitute a surprise admission that the latest machi...

As you’ve surely heard, the feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk has erupted, with the two men trading attacks on each other for hours. As of this recording, the last big things to happen are that Trump threatened to cut off all government contracts to Musk’s companies, and Musk then dropped what he called a “big bomb”—that Trump is in the "Epstein files." Former GOP strategist and Never Trumpe...

President Donald Trump appears to have finally turned on Elon Musk over his scalding criticism of the “big, beautiful bill.” At a presser, House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed that Trump told him he’s displeased with Musk, which almost certainly wouldn’t have happened unless Trump authorized it, confirming Trump’s anger at Musk is serious. Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office just released br...

President Trump has been tweeting wildly and angrily over the fate of his “big, beautiful bill.” He’s been lashing out furiously at Democrats and at GOP Senators alike over their opposition, suggesting Senate passage may be in serious doubt. Then Elon Musk threw a grenade into the proceedings, unleashing a pair of tweets that ripped the bill as a “disgusting abomination” that will explode the defi...

President Trump really wants the Senate to pass the “big beautiful bill” that has now gotten through the House. But a number of GOP Senators are, for now, speaking uncomfortable truths about that massive budget measure: It would balloon the deficit and slash spending on the poor and working class, largely to fund a massive tax cut for the wealthy. And right on cue, White House press secretary Karo...

Ming Lee Hui, who goes by the name of “Carol,” has lived for 20 years in the town of Kennett, Missouri after coming here from Hong Kong. She has been raising a family there and works as a waitress, and as The New York Times reports in a piece featuring quotes from Carol and many locals, she’s well liked in the community. But Carol was recently arrested and now faces potential deportation. This has...

President Donald Trump’s advisers are raging over a court ruling that temporarily blocked many of Trump’s tariffs. Stephen Miller called it “judicial tyranny.” Another top adviser called the judges “globalist.” And press secretary Karoline Leavitt seethed that “unelected judges” have grown “dangerous.” While an appeals court did put a stay on the court ruling, letting the tariffs proceed for now,...

In a series of rants to reporters, President Trump’s rage at Harvard took a sadistic and unhinged turn. He made it clear that only total subjugation to him on Harvard’s part will satisfy him. This comes as a judge just blocked another one of his executive orders aimed at grinding a major law firm into submission, a big setback to Trump in a string of legal losses on that front. In today’s episode,...

In a series of public remarks, President Trump has lashed out at Vladimir Putin for keeping up his attacks on Ukraine in defiance of Trump’s stated desire for peace. Trump has called Putin “crazy,” has admitted he has no idea what Putin is thinking, and has even tweeted that Putin is “playing with fire!” Trump is plainly feeling embarrassed by Putin—who has only escalated his attacks amid Trump’s...

After President Donald Trump threatened to single out Apple with tariffs, he offered remarks to reporters that undercut his case. First he seemed to say this would apply to many iPhone makers, but then reiterated he’d said this straight to Apple CEO Tim Cook, a potentially serious abuse of power. Then Trump said U.S.-manufactured jobs would not result in higher prices due to automation, but this c...

After raging at Harvard earlier this month, President Donald Trump is now revoking the university’s right to receive foreign students. The administration sent an unhinged letter to Harvard making the announcement while demanding extensive information about international students, a grotesque abuse of power. The White House statement justifying this seethed with angry, McCarthyite nonsense. We thin...

President Trump’s presser on Wednesday flew off the rails. He raged at a reporter for questioning his acceptance of a luxury jet from Qatar. He snapped when asked why he’s resettling white Afrikaners but no other refugees. And he tried to humiliate the South African president by brandishing printouts about the deaths of white South Africans but couldn’t defend his lie of a “white genocide” unfoldi...

President Trump has raged at Bruce Springsteen for days, demanding investigations as retaliation against him for criticizing the president. This is easy to dismiss as the usual lunacy, but Rolling Stone reports that there’s a genuine idea at work here: Trump has long planned to use government agencies to constrain his opponents’ political activities, and that’s now under way. Indeed, the U.S. Atto...

President Donald Trump’s feud with Walmart is intensifying. After the retail giant warned that its prices will go up due to Trump’s tariffs, he erupted on Truth Social, and even threatened Walmart to get it to “eat” the costs of his levies. Then White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated the threat to reporters. Amusingly enough, all this constitutes an admission that other countries...

President Donald Trump has been ranting wildly at the Supreme Court. In a pair of tweets after oral arguments over his effort to end birthright citizenship displeased him, Trump raged that the people are on his side, a dark hint that he will wield the wrath of his supporters against the high court. Then, after it dealt a setback to his use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportations, Trump shared a...

President Donald Trump has been growing angry over the criticism of his decision to accept a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar. He snapped at a reporter who questioned him about it, and erupted over it on Truth Social. Now The Atlantic reports that Trump is privately telling his advisers it’s “humiliating” for a president to fly around in an outdated jet—and has even mused about keeping the gift...

The House GOP is forging ahead with its massive domestic policy bill implementing President Donald Trump’s agenda. And it’s becoming clear that it will seriously screw over Trump voters. But don’t take our word for it. Senator Josh Hawley, a staunch ally of Trump, went on CNN and said this in strikingly direct terms. He decried the bill’s massive cuts to Medicaid, and confirmed that they are a bet...