Donald Trump’s Really Especially Bad Day

In his “To the Contrary” Substack Charlie Sykes summed up Friday, Dec. 12, the worst day of Donald Trump’s second term:

“The House rejected one of his executive orders; another grand jury refused to indict Letitia James; a judge freed Kilmar Abrego Garcia and called out the Administration’s bullshit; Kristi Noem faceplanted in congressional testimony; his concept of a health care plan crashed in the Senate; and his poll numbers continued to crater.”

“But all of this was merely prologue to Trump’s humiliation by the sort of Republicans we are thought were utterly extinct.”

“Despite a vicious pressure campaign, the Republican-dominated Indiana Senate overwhelmingly rejected Trump’s demand that they gerrymander the state’s congressional map to benefit the GOP.”

“What happened yesterday — an outburst of Republican courage — was as rare as a sighting of Bigfoot, Lindsey Graham’s spine, or natural breasts at Mar-a-Lago.”

Trump’s War on the Federal Reserve Could Be His Most Damaging Economic Policy

“There are many items on President Trump’s agenda that are hurting the U.S. economy: the pointless trade wars, the socialization of the private sector, the mass deportations, and much more. … But in the long run, the most damaging policy of all might be one that’s gotten scant attention, at least from non-finance-nerds: Trump’s quest to crush the Federal Reserve. If Trump succeeds, he may doom the United States to high inflation for years, if not decades, to come.”

Catherine Rampell