Opinion | Trump is on a Path to Failure

Opinion | Trump is on a Path to Failure

In May 2017, just a few months into the first Trump administration, I wrote a column arguing that his incapacity was so obvious and destructive that he should be removed from office via the 25th Amendment to the Constitution. This was a popular column, but its argument did not hold up well. Trump’s first-term White … Read more

Elon Musk Says ‘Destiny of Humanity’ Rests on Wisconsin Judicial Race

Elon Musk Says ‘Destiny of Humanity’ Rests on Wisconsin Judicial Race

Elon Musk framed Tuesday’s election for Wisconsin’s state Supreme Court in nothing less than apocalyptic terms, telling a crowd on Sunday night in Green Bay that the vote could ultimately swing control of Congress — meaning it could effectively “affect the entire destiny of humanity.” Mr. Musk revels in provocative, inflammatory rhetoric. But his remarks … Read more

Trump Administration Moves to Eliminate USAID With Final Cuts

Trump Administration Moves to Eliminate USAID With Final Cuts

The Trump administration on Friday detailed its plans to put the U.S. Agency for International Development, the government’s main agency for distributing foreign aid, fully under the State Department and reduce its staff to some 15 positions. An email to U.S.A.I.D. employees informing them of the impending layoffs, titled “U.S.A.I.D.’s Final Mission” and sent just … Read more

Courts Defer to Executive Branch Factual Claims. Trump Complicates That.

Courts Defer to Executive Branch Factual Claims. Trump Complicates That.

The government typically has an advantage when defending its policies against legal challenges. Courts generally defer to the executive branch’s factual declarations and formal representations about what is happening and why, rather than probing for what may actually be going on. But the flood of litigation unleashed by the radical opening months of President Trump’s … Read more

Opinion | There Is a Liberal Answer to Elon Musk

Opinion | There Is a Liberal Answer to Elon Musk

Democrats have a problem that runs deeper than the 2024 election. They have a problem that runs deeper than Elon Musk’s assault on the government. Look at the places they govern: strongholds like New York and Illinois and where I’m from, California. They’re losing people. [CLIP: Since the pandemic started, California is seeing an exodus, … Read more

Rage Against Elon Musk Turns Tesla Into a Target

Rage Against Elon Musk Turns Tesla Into a Target

Tesla charging stations were set ablaze near Boston on Monday. Shots were fired at a Tesla dealership in Oregon after midnight on Thursday. Arrests were made at a nonviolent protest at a Tesla dealership in Lower Manhattan on Saturday. The electric car company Tesla increasingly found itself in police blotters across the country this week, … Read more

Inside the Explosive Meeting Where Trump Officials Clashed With Elon Musk

Inside the Explosive Meeting Where Trump Officials Clashed With Elon Musk

Marco Rubio was incensed. Here he was in the Cabinet Room of the White House, the secretary of state, seated beside the president and listening to a litany of attacks from the richest man in the world. Seated diagonally opposite, across the elliptical mahogany table, Elon Musk was letting Mr. Rubio have it, accusing him … Read more

Federal Workers Again Receive Email Asking Them to Detail Accomplishments

Federal Workers Again Receive Email Asking Them to Detail Accomplishments

Federal workers started to receive emails late Friday evening asking them to provide a list of accomplishments from the week, a reprise of a request by Elon Musk that spread fear and confusion through the government just days ago. The email, titled “What did you do last week? Part II,” echoed an email sent to … Read more

Appearing With Trump, Musk Makes Broad Claims of Federal Fraud Without Proof

Appearing With Trump, Musk Makes Broad Claims of Federal Fraud Without Proof

The billionaire Elon Musk said in an extraordinary Oval Office appearance on Tuesday that he was providing maximum transparency in his government cost-cutting initiative, but offered no evidence for his sweeping claims that the federal bureaucracy had been corrupted by cheats and officials who had approved money for “fraudsters.” Answering questions from the media for … Read more