Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
U.S. Vice President JD Vance

The Feigned Confusion of JD Vance: Erasure by Design

A miniature residence of the President of the United States, the White House, against the backdrop of 100 US dollar bills.

Trump’s State Capitalism Marks a Radical Break in U.S. Policy

a house made of brown cardboard in a person's hands.

Homelessness Just Declined in the U.S.–Trump’s Plans Will Take Us Backwards.

A stage on the national mall with a crowd of people before it.

America’s Birthday Is Not a Trump Rally

Podcast: swamp stories

Podcast: swamp stories
The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumJan 18, 2022
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
See More Writings by author

In this episode of Issue One’s “Swamp Stories” podcast, Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) chats about a range of issues, including legislating instead of “throwing bombs”; fighting pessimism in Congress; election disinformation; using government to solve problems; and the future of conservatism. This is the fifth episode in the periodic series of longform conversations with elected leaders, activists, and experts from across the political spectrum on how to fix America’s broken political system.

Listen now


Latest news

Protesters gather at the Wisconsin State Capitol, holding signs.
Environment

Trump's Water Policies Put America's Drinking Water at Risk

America's Blue Collar Workers Shouldn’t Be the Fall Guy for Everyone Else’s Prosperity
Economy

America's Blue Collar Workers Shouldn’t Be the Fall Guy for Everyone Else’s Prosperity

Spectators on a stadium with USA playing.
Democracy

Democracy Needs Citizens, Not Fans

Read More

President's Trump National Address On Iran Is Watched By New Yorkers In Manhattan

People watch as US President Donald Trump makes a national address on television at Brooklyn Diner Times Square on April 1, 2026 in New York City. US President Donald Trump's address to the nation is expected to lay out the framework for ending the conflict in Iran.

Adam Gray / Getty Images

When Duty Isn’t a Priority: A Megalomaniac President Abuses the Nation

What does it mean when the presidential oath becomes a performance instead of a promise? It means the nation is left vulnerable to a leader whose actions suggest that personal power may matter more than the Constitution he swore to defend.

He raised his right hand and swore to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.” Yet millions of Americans have watched a president whose conduct repeatedly raises doubts about his commitment to that oath. His attacks on constitutional limits, his hostility toward oversight, and his tendency to treat institutional constraints as obstacles to personal objectives have led many to conclude that constitutional duty is no longer his governing priority. When the oath becomes symbolic rather than binding, the consequences are carried by the public.

Keep ReadingShow less
Why Democrats Are Running Against the ‘Epstein Class’

Graham Platner, the Democratic Senate nominee, is running a populist campaign with a focus on corruption and influence.

CJ Gunther/Getty Images

Why Democrats Are Running Against the ‘Epstein Class’

After Graham Platner secured the Democratic nomination for Senate in Maine, his first ad of the general election didn’t mention his opponent, Sen. Susan Collins, or the Republican Party. It focused on the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and who he called the “Epstein class” of elites in both parties.

“Some of the most powerful Democrats and Republicans in the country were on Epstein island,” Platner said in the ad, referring to Epstein’s former residence in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Platner, whose economic-populist campaign combined with controversial online statements and a since-removed tattoo of a Nazi symbol have drawn national attention, framed himself in opposition to this elite class.

Keep ReadingShow less
I Alone Can (Fix) Destroy It

U.S. President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol on June 24, 2026 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

I Alone Can (Fix) Destroy It

Donald Trump’s racist, misogynist, xenophobic view of the world has undermined the USA’s global standing. He has surrounded himself with cabinet officials who believe that competence is determined not by expertise, training, education and experience but with factors perceived to be far more important like, whether they are white, male and retain a feudal sense of subservience, other criteria he values include girth, facial hair and his very subjective perception of attractiveness.

Trump’s attack on wokeness and diversity, equity and inclusion mean that his administration is left without a diversity of knowledge , cultural understanding and empathy which means his negotiators for the Iran War cannot appreciate the history of the region, the cultural nuances, the languages, the political tensions, the emotional impact of their actions or the thinking of the current leadership. Being woke means understanding a variety of perspectives and having empathy for others, something this administration sorely lacks. They represent the total opposite of Kissinger, Brzezinski, Albright and Rice who were lifelong experts on their diplomatic counterparts.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trump’s second term is a murky, embarrassing and costly spectacle

U.S. President Donald Trump displays a graph entitled "Our Pool is Bigger than Skyscrapers" as he speaks on his renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on June 3, 2026, in Washington, D.C.

(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/TNS)

Trump’s second term is a murky, embarrassing and costly spectacle

Every time I get asked by a TV anchor what I think about the drama of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, my favorite “historical” headline from the Onion comes to mind: “World’s Largest Metaphor Hits Ice-Berg.”

And every time I do, I hear from defenders of the Trump administration complaining about the disproportionate media coverage of what should be a very minor story in the grand sweep of things. They have a point. President Trump has done some good work rehabbing Washington, D.C., where I live. But the Reflecting Pool has bedeviled him. Algae keep returning to the pool, despite the administration’s best efforts, and attempts to remedy the problem have yielded further problems.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026