From New York Times bestselling and National Book Awardâwinning author Evan Osnos comes a timely and provocative collection of essays exploring American oligarchy and the culture of excess, providing a wry, unfiltered look at how the ultra-rich shapeâand sometimes warpâour social and political landscape.
The ultra-rich hold more of Americaâs wealth than they did in the heyday of the Carnegies and Rockefellers. Here, Evan Osnosâs incisive reportage yields an unforgettable portrait of the tactics and obsessions driving this new Gilded Age, in which superyachts, luxury bunkers, elite tax dodges, and a torrent of political donations bespeak staggering disparities of wealth and power.
With deft storytelling and meticulous reporting, this is a book about the indulgences, incentives, and psychological distortions that define our economic age. In each essay, Osnos delves into a world that is rarely visible, from the outrageous to the fabulous to the a private wealth manager who broke with members of an American dynasty and spilled their secrets; the pop stars who perform at lavish parties for thirteen-year-olds; the status anxieties that spill out of marinas in Monaco and Palm Beach like real-world episodes of Succession and The White Lotus; the ethos behind the largest Ponzi scheme in Hollywood history; the confessions of disgraced titans in a âwhite-collar support group.â A celebrated political reporter, Osnos delves into the unprecedented Washington influence of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, drawing on in-depth interviews with Mark Zuckerberg and other billionaires, about their power and the explosive backlash it stirs.
Originally published in The New Yorker, these essays have been revised and expanded to deliver an unflinching portrait of raw ambition, unimaginable fortune, and the rise of Americaâs modern oligarchy. Osnosâs essays are a wake-up callâa case against complacency in the face of unchecked excess, as the choices of the ultra-rich ripple through our lives. Entertaining, unsettling, and eye-opening, The Haves and the Have-Yachts couldnât be more relevant to todayâs world.
Evan Osnos joined The New Yorker as a staff writer in 2008. He is a correspondent in Washington, D.C. who writes about politics and foreign affairs. He is the author of “Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, May 2014). Based on eight years of living in Beijing, the book traces the rise of the individual in China, and the clash between aspiration and authoritarianism. He was the China Correspondent at The New Yorker magazine from 2008 to 2013. He is a contributor to This American Life on public radio, and Frontline, the PBS series. Prior to The New Yorker, he worked as the Beijing bureau chief of the Chicago Tribune, where he contributed to a series that won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. He has received the Asia Societyâs Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism on Asia, the Livingston Award for Young Journalists, and a Mirror Award for profile-writing. Before his appointment in China, he worked in the Middle East, reporting mostly from Iraq.
The Tantura massacre occurred on May 22â23, 1948, when Israeli forces from the Alexandroni Brigade captured the Palestinian coastal village of Tantura. Following the villageâs surrender, Israeli troops executed dozens to over 200 unarmed Palestinian men, burying them in mass graves believed to be beneath the current Tel Dor beach parking lot. [1, 2, 3]
The Event
Date: May 22â23, 1948 (during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War).
Location: Tantura, a Palestinian fishing village of roughly 1,500 residents, located about 35 kilometers south of Haifa.
Perpetrators: The 33rd Battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade (part of the Haganah).
Casualties: Estimates range from âdozensâ to over 200 fatalities. [1, 2, 3]
Historical Context & Aftermath
The Attack: Tantura was specifically targeted under Plan Dalet, the Haganahâs master plan for military control of Palestine. The village fell to Israeli forces a week after the declaration of the State of Israel. [1, 2, 3]
The Massacre: Survivors reportedâand later investigations corroboratedâthat after combat operations ceased, disarmed Palestinian fighters and young men were systematically separated, tied up, and shot in groups. [1, 2, 3]
Expulsion & Destruction: Surviving women, children, and the elderly were expelled to the nearby village of Furaydis. Tantura was subsequently demolished, and the Israeli kibbutz and beach resort of Nahsholim was later established on its lands. [1, 2, 3]
Modern Controversy and Investigations
Teddy Katzâs Research: In the late 1990s, Israeli graduate student Teddy Katz collected extensive oral testimonies from both Palestinian survivors and Alexandroni Brigade veterans for a masterâs thesis. His findings prompted veterans to sue him for libel. Facing immense pressure, Katz signed a retraction, though he later stated he did so under duress and maintained that the testimonies were accurate. [1, 2, 3]
The 2022 Documentary: The massacre gained renewed international and Israeli attention following the 2022 release of the documentary Tantura by Israeli director Alon Schwarz. The film featured archival audio of Alexandroni Brigade veterans confessing to the killings and confirming the presence of mass graves. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Forensic Investigation: In 2023, independent researchers at Forensic Architecture published a visual and spatial investigation that analyzed aerial photography, historical records, and survivor testimonies to reconstruct the events and pinpoint the probable locations of the mass graves. [1, 2, 3]
Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance in front of an ambulance being donated to China, 1939, Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) Collection. 1939 ĺš´ďźçş˝çşŚĺ䞨襣éŚčĺäźĺ¨äťäťŹćčľ çťä¸ĺ˝çćć¤č˝Śĺĺ役ďźçžĺ˝ĺäşşĺçŠéŚďźMOCA)
A sign states that a business accepts Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in Gas City, Indiana on July 22, 2025.
 (Photo by jetcityimage/iStock Editorial/Getty Images)
âThis protects every Oregon family who depends on these programs to put food on the table,â said the stateâs attorney general, who is among the 21 AGs behind the case.
A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked an attempt by the US Department of Agriculture to force state governments to comply with President Donald Trumpâs positions on gender and immigration or lose out on billions of dollars in funding, including for food assistance.
The attorneys general of the District of Columbia and 20 Democrat-led states sued the department and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins in March, arguing that âUSDA has now thrown unconstitutional and unlawful roadblocks between the programs created by Congress and the states that rely on them, threatening critical nutrition support, vital agricultural research, and the safety of our national food chain and communities.â
Specifically, the Trump administration imposed âa vague set of funding conditions relating to USDAâs purported anti-discrimination âpolicies,â âgender ideology,â âfair athletic opportunitiesâ for women and girls, and immigration,â without specifying the policies or even confirming âthat certification is limited to currently existing policies,â says the complaint, filed in the District of Massachusetts.
The March filing also makes the case that âeven if USDA went back and cured its vagueness problem and conducted a reasoned analysis before taking final agency action, the challenged conditions would still be unlawful.â
While US District Judge Myong Joun has not explicitly agreed, the appointee of former President Joe Biden granted a preliminary injunction sought by the AGs and said he would issue a memorandum explaining his decision at a later date.
Welcoming the judgeâs unexplained decision on social media, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield highlighted that the move safeguards funding for school lunches, emergency aid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
âThis protects every Oregon family who depends on these programs to put food on the table,â Rayfield said. âThe court rejected the Trump administrationâs attempt to hold school lunches, WIC, and SNAP hostage to its political agenda. These are lifelines for 86,000 Oregon kids, working families, seniors, and rural communitiesâand they will remain protected.â
New York Attorney General Letitia James also celebrated that âwe won a court order protecting billions of dollars in USDA funding as our lawsuit continues,â and pledged that âmy office will keep fighting to protect New Yorkers and stop the federal government from punishing our state for refusing to bend.â
The other states involved in the case are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Collectively, according to the complaint, â’plaintiff states receive over $74 billion annually in funding from USDA.â
The judgeâs decision came on the heels of four Democrats in the US House of Representatives voting with Republicans to approve legislation that the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has estimated would strip modest fruit and vegetable benefits from ânearly 5.4 million toddlers, preschoolers, and pregnant and postpartum WIC participants.â
Already, since congressional Republicans passed and Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year, at least hundreds of thousands of Americans have lost federal food assistance. Last month, Trumpâs USDA chief suggested that some of them were receiving SNAP benefits fraudulentlyâwithout offering evidenceâwhile others are âmoving into the American dream and off of welfare.â
Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst at CBPP, responded that âunless the Trump administration has redefined âthe American dreamâ to mean âlosing the help your family needs to afford groceries because of federal cuts,â I have some bad news for Secretary Rollins.â
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Mary Alice Pilafian wears a hat that reads, âLock Him Up,â as she joins with other protesters outside of the Trump National Doral golf resort urging congress to impeach President Donald Trump on December 17, 2019 in Doral, Florida.
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
As wild and crazy Trump becomes more of a political disaster for the GOP in November, Republicans will want to save their own political skins over Trumpâs.
Several leaders of national progressive citizen groups are counseling delaying such a drive until after the election in anticipation of a Democratic Party victory in both the House and the Senate. This mirrors what the feeble Democratic Party leadership (Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer) are telling their increasingly restless rank and file in the House and Senate (see the April 11, 2026 article in the New York Times by Annie Karni, âDemocrats Warm to Idea of Removing the Presidentâ).
Meanwhile, as Trumpâs illegal and erratic daily behavior and executive dictates worsen the wrecking of our country, the present majority of Americans favor impeaching Trump and removing him from office is nearing 60 percent.
Consider the pluses for launching an Impeachment drive supported by the people focused on Capitol Hill and a Congress controlled by the Republicans, who are likely to block any vote or formal Committee hearings.
1. It is a great campaign issue â tying together in an authentic way â see Res.1155 â all of Trumpâs vicious shredding of the peopleâs health, safety and economic benefits and constitutional freedoms. Majorities despise openly corrupt Trump, whose support in polls is slumping, but many voters also donât trust or believe in the wavering Democratic Party, which canât come up with a credible compact that addresses the needs of the people and a set of political commitments embodied in specific pending bills. A compact with voters should be convincingly advanced and emblazoned across the land.
H.Res.1155âs thirteen Impeachment Articles, introduced by Cong. John Larson (D-CT) and their connection to âkitchen-table necessitiesâ must be highlighted in this yearâs political campaigns.
The people want fighters for them who care for them in Washington, D.C., using the citizensâ delegated powers and tax revenues in the interest of the people, the families, and the children. âImpeachmentâ is our founding fathersâ word for âYOUâRE FIRED,â a phrase used by Tyrant Trump against millions of civil servants, contractors, and other people working to help make a better country.
Regardless of their political labels, just about all families want fair play, justice, protections, and opportunities where they live, work, and raise their children. Articles of Impeachment are constitutional-level MANDATES for a political party and candidates to run on, replacing insincere throw-away lines and bloviating rhetoric so despised by a disgusted populace.
2. Making Impeachment front and center educates and inspires people about how central this Constitution of ours is to their daily lives. The mission of our government is to âpromote the general welfare.â Only Congress can spend your money, not the president. Only Congress can take us from peace to war, not the president. Only Congress can define the authority entrenched in the executive branch, not the president or six âInjusticesâ on the Supreme Court for life. Only Congress can tax or not tax, not the president wielding arbitrary tariffs, charging fees, or riddling the tax code with loopholes and escapes for the super-rich and powerful.
Only âWe the People,â not âWe the Corporations,â nor âWe the Congress,â is in the Preamble to our Constitution, making us the fundamental sovereign power in our country.
3. A grassroots Impeachment movement â already petitions are circulating (see impeachtrumpagain.org) â signals deterrence if Trump, with his rabid, dangerous personality, is thinking of more major disruptions of the November elections. Foreshadowing his invoking the Insurrection Act to take over the gears of the statesâ election machinery, the fevered Trump said in January, ââŚwe shouldnât even have an electionâ in November. This is subversion of our Republic, and the Constitution for which it stands, beyond the wildest imaginations of our historic overseas enemies.
The most promising reform movements are often sparked and strengthened by the perpetrating outlaws providing continual, incriminating evidence of their own lawlessness. That is the essence of the foul-mouthed, lying, violent, corrupt, delusional, egomaniacal Trump. (See the April 30, 2026 statement from medical professionals in the Congressional Record â âMedical Concerns About President Donald J. Trump and His Fitness For Office.â Remember, with Trump the worst is yet to come as he continues to double down. Even a conservative columnist for the Washington Post, military historian Max Boot, is fearful of what might come abroad from the zigzag actions of an impulsive, fact-deprived Trump with his finger on the nuclear trigger.
All this is to say that what the Democratic Party leadership thinks is prudent to delay until after the election is in reality a very risky position. They are barely in contention to recover the Senate, even with the advantage of having far fewer seats (12) up for election than do the Republicans (20).
The Democrats, who are comfortable taking big bucks from giant corporate PACs, should run WITH and FOR the people. The time for political posturing is over. If their âloser leadersâ donât step aside, they should at least free the rank and file, including the progressive primary winners, to show the way to landslide, by far, the worst GOP in history. That means, for starters, let a willing Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, have âshadow hearingsâ on Trumpâs many ongoing impeachable offenses. Such a hearing would draw prominent witnesses and great media attention to further galvanize the people.
Since all Democrats on Capitol Hill, if asked, would say âYes,â Trump should be impeached, but the Partyâs upper echelons say taking it to a vote canât go anywhere so long as the GOP runs Congress. The push for Impeachment doesnât have to reach a vote. As wild and crazy Trump becomes more of a political disaster for the GOP in November, Republicans will want to save their own political skins over Trumpâs.
Thatâs what happened with defiant Nixon in 1974, after the one-time Watergate scandal, when the GOP jumped ship and forced his resignation. Trumpâs crimes are far worse than Nixonâs and intensifying every day. As in 1974, it is before the elections when the GOP feels more insecure. Today Republican members of Congress know their majority is at risk.
In raw politics, sometimes it doesnât take a vote. It just takes pressure from a Presidentâs Congressional base and, for Tiring Trump, the public humiliation that comes with abandonment.
In addition to all its collateral benefits, an impeachment drive is a road to Trumpâs resignation.
Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate and the author of “The Seventeen Solutions: Bold Ideas for Our American Future” (2012). His new book is, “Wrecking America: How Trump’s Lies and Lawbreaking Betray All” (2020, co-authored with Mark Green).
A supporter of Israel counterprotests as Palestine solidarity activists take part in a demonstration on Nakba Day on May 15, 2026, in New York City. Photo: Adam Gray/Getty Images
Adam Johnson is co-host of the Citations Needed podcast and author of âHow to Sell a Genocide: The Mediaâs Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza,â which is available now.
As Israelâs standing in the U.S., and among liberals in particular, continues to crater, the mainstream American media is vaguely taking notice. But when they report on this increasingly potent political dynamic, national publications continue to frame it as a tension among Democratic voters â rather than a tension between Democratic voters and their party leadership.
âA Democratâs Dodge on AIPAC Points to the Partyâs Tensions Over Israel,â read one recent New York Times headline. âTensions over pro-Israel lobbying group highlight rifts in Democratic primaries,â read another Reuters headline. âIsraelâs subsequent military campaign in Gaza has driven a significant, deeper-than-ever divide among Democrats,â NBC News reported last week. âThe U.S.-Israel alliance has rapidly gone from a point of bipartisan consensus to a wedge issue dividing both parties,â opined the Washington Post.
All of those were just last month, but the false equivocation goes back further. âThe Democratic primary electorate,â The Hill informed readers in March, âis increasingly divided over Israel.â âIsrael tensions threaten Demsâ midterm plans,â Politico announced in a January headline, which continued in the piece: âJust as Democrats are finding their footing by focusing on affordability, their differences on Israel are threatening to tear them apart.â âNew York Cityâs annual Israel Day Parade has long been considered a bipartisan tradition â but this year, the event is becoming a symbol of the growing divide within the Democratic Party over Israel,â Sinclairâs National News Desk reported last week.Â
Thereâs only one problem with the âtensions,â âdivided,â and âwedge issueâ framing: It is not supported by any polls. The âdivide,â such as it is, is increasingly not among Democrats or even liberals; it is between the supermajority of Democratic Party voters and party leadership. While party leaders such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and big Democratic donors, are pro-Israel, actual Democratic voters have moved on from Israel with remarkable speed and consistency. Letâs take a look at the polling:
According to an August 2025 Quinnipiac poll, 77 percent of Democrats think Israel is committing genocide in Gaza versus 11 percent who say it is not.
According to a May 2026 New York Times/Siena poll, 74 percent of Democrats oppose âproviding additional economic and military support to Israel,â while 20 percent support doing so.
According to a June 2026 Institute for Global Affairs/YouGov poll, 67 percent of Democrats think the U.S. relationship with Israel does more to hurt the U.S. than help it, and only 5 percent think it does more to help than hurt.
According to a May 2026 NBC News poll, 67 percent of Democrats now sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis (17 percent). Just 13 percent of Democrats have a positive view of Israel, and 57 percent, a majority, have a negative view.
To contextualize that 13 percent â which is down from 34 percent of Democrats who said they viewed Israel positively back in 2023 â itâs even lower than the number of Democrats who say they support traditional right-wing stances, such as:
Allowing teachers to lead children in Christian prayers in public schools (18 percent, Pew 2024)
Making all abortions illegal (14 percent, Pew 2024)
Not mandating MMR vaccines in schools (14 percent, Pew 2025)
The media justifiably treats all of these issues as Republican or conservative-coded views. Yet support for Israel is still treated as a mainstream, if contested, liberal value.
In reality, itâs simply not: Itâs overwhelmingly a Republican, right-wing view not backed by a supermajority of Democrats. So why has this consistently misleading narrative in U.S. media been allowed to persist?
The Israel âdivide,â such as it is, is increasingly not among Democrats or even liberals; it is between the supermajority of Democratic Party voters and party leadership.
Thereâs an obvious tension over Israel and the U.S. role in supporting it, which has been writ large in high-profile battles, from Democratic Senate campaigns to debates over the Democratsâ platform. The media has to cover that tension, but describing it more accurately â as a divide between party elites and the rank and file â is an awkward narrative, one that requires a deeper class and material analysis.
So instead, itâs just indexed under the misleading and generic label of âparty divisions.â Naturally, Israel is not a 100â0 issue in favor of Palestine among voters, but no issue is that one-sided. A minority of Democrats support all kinds of relatively fringe, right-wing opinions. Here are some of them compared alongside the issue of IsraelâPalestine. The percentage of Democrats who:
Support sending military aid to Israel: 20 percent
Believe teachers should be allowed to lead children in Christian prayers in public schools: 18 percent
Believe Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza: 11 percent
Believe there is solid evidence of âwidespread voter fraud in the 2020 electionâ: 10 percent
Polls are not a perfect snapshot of political beliefs and can be somewhat contradictory (a profile of the 2 percent of Democrats who think Israel is committing genocide and have a positive view of the country would make an interesting read). But polls over the past three years, and the last few months in particular, show a very clear trend that support for Israel is now an increasingly fringe belief among Democrats. Itâs worth emphasizing that the issue of Democratic voters souring on Israel is not particularly sectarian, either, with Jewish Democrats, especially those under the age of 35, steadily abandoning Israel. A Washington Post poll from October found that among Jewish Americans ages 18 to 34, only 36 percent claimed to have an âemotional attached to Israel,â and half agree with the broad liberal consensus that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
But if watching how Democratic leadership and the partyâs funders continue to back Israel to the hilt was your only barometer, you might assume thereâs been no shift in public sentiment at all.
The dynamic is playing out over efforts to push a war powers resolution to end U.S. support for Israelâs bombing and occupation in Lebanon. On Wednesday, Axios, citing ânumerousâ anonymous âHouse Democratsâ and âaides,â attempted to paint a Rep. Rashida Tlaib-led bill to end U.S. support as a provocation dividing Democrats. âAn impending House vote to constrain the Trump administration from joining Israelâs war in Lebanon has some Democrats fuming that one of their own members is forcing them to take an agonizing vote,â reporter Andrew Solender lamented.
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But what Solender fails to note is that Tlaibâs bill is overwhelmingly the majoritarian position among Democrats. A recent Arab American Institute commissioned poll found that 62 percent of Democrats âbelieve the U.S. should take more steps to pressure Israel to stop bombing and leave southern Lebanon,â and only 17 percent disagree. The substance of Tlaibâs bill is the Democratic voter position by almost 4 to 1. The tension in this story, such as it is, is between anonymous âDemocratic leadershipâ and rank-and-file Democrats. And we know this because every single source in the Axios article opposing the war powers resolution had to be anonymous, while everyone supporting it proudly put their name on their quotes. What does this tell us about how popular support for Israelâs boundless violence in the Levant is?
Democratic leadership, like its Big Donor base, is entirely out of sync with the current sentiment within the party.
Meanwhile, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other majority pro-Israel groups are well aware of the existential shift thatâs underway and have responded by intervening in primaries at an unprecedented clip. Already in this midterm cycle, as Donald Shaw at Sludge reported, âfour major pro-Israel committees â AIPACâs PAC, its outside spending arm United Democracy Project (UDP), the closely aligned Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) super PAC, and the Republican Jewish Coalitionâs Victory Fund â have poured nearly $50 million into congressional races nationwide.â Receiving money from AIPAC has become politically toxic for Democrats, so much so that the lobbying group is deploying an elaborate web of shell organizations to funnel money to their preferred candidates.
The two most powerful Democrats in the country, Jeffries and Schumer, are prominent and consistent backers of Israel, despite their partyâs sizable shift. Jeffries was the largest recipient of pro-Israel money in the House last election cycle out of 435 voting members. And Schumer, who has explicitly said his âjobâ is to âkeep the left pro-Israel,â spent last weekend marching in a pro-Israel parade in New York City alongside war criminals and self-identified âfascists.â Leadership, like its Big Donor base, is entirely out of sync with the current sentiment within the party.
Itâs not just pro-Israel donors driving this âwedge.â Backing Israel and the endless arming of its military has been, and continues to be, a boondoggle for the broader U.S. militaryâindustrial complex that captures the Washington consensus. Of the some $22 billion in military aid that Israel has received since October 7, 2023, roughly 75 percent has gone to U.S. arms companies that themselves employ an army of lobbyists and think tank boosters to promote Israel and its sprawling, seemingly never-ending expansionism and mass violence.
Despite 77 percent of Democratic voters saying Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, only 8.5 percent of Democrats in Congress have. Despite Democratic voters sympathizing more with Palestine than Israel at a ratio of 4 to 1, the number of Democrats in Congress who put the rights of Palestinians ahead of the interests of Israel could likely be counted on one hand. How long will our media continue to act like there is meaningful disagreement among Democrats, as such,when â among the rank and file â itâs an issue as settled as prayer in public schools, abortion, and climate change?
As the gap between the will of Democratic voters and its leadership grows more and more apparent, our media will continue to vaguely acknowledge this âdivisionâ without identifying the actual source of it. Itâs not between the voters themselves, whose opinions are measurable and consistent, but between the voters and the leaders they elected â in theory â to represent their interests.
FIVE MINUTE NEWS Jun 7, 2026 THE WEEKEND SHOW with MeidasTouch Tech entrepreneur and former Congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti joins Anthony Davis to debrief on the primary election results and discuss why running for office might still require tough political gameplay and strong establishment connections – only on The Weekend Show. Shopify: Sign up for a one-dollar per month trial at https://shopify.com/weekend
California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer speaks during an election night event, Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in San Francisco. Credit: Noah Berger/AP Photo
Letâs begin with California. Though Republican Steve Hilton is currently leading in the jungle primary for the governorâs race, with Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer running second and third, there are still millions of late ballots to be counted. It remains a possibility that the final two in the November election will be Becerra and Steyer.
The late votes are likely to be strongly Democratic and could push Steyer into the top two. Thatâs because Democrats held their ballots until the last minute to vote strategically, and polls showed Steyer with momentum in the final week.
That would set up a classic center-vs.-left contest for governor. Steyer, though a self-funded billionaire, is by far the most progressive gubernatorial candidate anywhere in the country. Becerra rose in the polls because of massive corporate funding and an organized effort from the state political machine, which meandered among candidates before settling on Becerra once Eric Swalwellâs campaign imploded. An all-Democrat final would also be lethal for Republican down-ballot candidates and a boost to the billionaire wealth tax that will be on the ballot in November.
Down-ballot, progressives had an interesting night. Elsewhere in California, in the Central Valley seat currently held by Republican David Valadao, progressive Randy Villegas is ahead of centrist Democratic rival Jasmeet Bains to take on Valadao in the November final. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who has had a rough time governing Californiaâs largest city, symbolized by but not limited to the Pacific Palisades fire, survived, but she will face one of two tough challengers in the November final. Whether that challenge comes from the right or the left remains to be seen.
And in Nancy Pelosiâs former seat in San Francisco, the primary contest featured progressives of different stripes. San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan and state Sen. Scott Wiener advanced to the final, Chan with the help of Pelosiâs endorsement. Saikat Chakrabarti, a former chief of staff to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and onetime tech executive, spent $10 million of his own money but lagged far behind, criticized as a carpetbagger.
In other notable races, Sam Forstag, a union leader and smokejumper, is winning the primary in a possible swing seat in Montana. AOC stumped for him on the final weekend.
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And Adam Hamawy, a combat surgeon who worked in Gaza, won the primary in a safe New Jersey seat. Hamawy was attacked by the Israel lobby for his forthright defense of the rights of Palestinians, but to no avail.
Part of the backstory there is the crushing defeat of rival candidate Sue Altman. She is not quite as progressive as Hamawy on the issues but is a hero nonetheless for having led the successful fight to end the âcounty lineâ system in New Jersey, which was the basis of the power of notorious bosses like South Jersey power broker George Norcross. The reform opened up New Jersey politics. Altman finished a distant sixth, but her actions opened up the election for someone like Hamawy.
On the Republican side, President Trump suffered a defeat when his preferred candidate for Iowa governor, Randy Feenstra, was narrowly defeated by business executive Zach Lahn, who aligned himself with the MAHA movement. (Taking on monopolies was a central theme of his campaign.) Lahn will face Democrat Rob Sand in November in the marquee race, with Iowa Democrats eager to win the governorâs mansion for the first time since 2006. Sand, the Iowa state auditor, is the lone Iowa Democrat to hold statewide office; the Prospectprofiled him on Monday.
Democrats hope to win the Senate seat in Iowa as well, and state representative and former Paralympian Josh Turek, Chuck Schumerâs preferred candidate, won the primary on the back of a $10 million investment from VoteVets, which is closely allied with the Democratic leadership.
Overall, progressives had a good night that could end up even better pending the results on the West Coast.
Trump DOJ says he has the right to bulldoze Statue of Liberty, judge strikes down Trump immigration policy, ICE detainees in four states go on hunger strike
Good evening. Iâm John Byrne, in for British Chris.
Trumpâs acting Attorney General is already hard at work making it harder for Democrats to prosecute Trump and his allies under a future Democratic administration. The Trump DOJ is now defending the presidentâs ballroom by arguing Trump has the right to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty. A federal judge just issued a ruling striking down one of Trumpâs most extreme immigration policies. And migrants locked in ICE detention facilities across the country are going on hunger strikes to protest conditions that include beatings, tear gas, and contaminated water.
Before we get into the news, I need to ask you to help keep Raw Americaâs independent journalism funded. When I launched Raw Story 22 years ago, I saw firsthand how dogged journalism can lead to the administrationâs preferred narrative crumbling. Weâre in a similar moment today, and I feel even more confident that Raw America can be the independent voice that holds power accountable at a time when our legacy media outlets are either too scared of losing their access to challenge those in power, or too captured by right-wing billionaires to serve the people.
I launched Raw America this year as the answer to right-wing oligarchs trying to silence journalism across the country. We are proudly reader-supported, editorially independent and not for sale. But that also means our work is only possible if enough readers like you step up to become paying subscribers. If youâve become a paying member of the Raw America community, thank you sincerely. But if youâve been reading us on a free subscription, please take a moment to upgrade today. Independent journalism requires resources, and it can only survive with your support.Subscribe
Blanche Already Working to Keep Trump Out of Jail
In 2024, Todd Blanche was Donald Trumpâs personal defense lawyer, hired to keep his client out of prison. Now heâs running the same Justice Department that once prosecuted his boss, but his goal appears to be the same: keep Trump out of prison.
In a recent NewsNation appearance, host Katie Pavlich asked Blanche about whether a future Democratic administration could go after Trump. Blanche said heâs convinced a Democratic revenge plot against his boss is coming, and that heâs already making preparations.
Blanche referred to the prosecutions against Trump â which were handled by special counsel Jack Smith â as âweaponizationâ of the DOJ, rather than an attempt to honestly prosecute an attempted coup and the mishandling of classified documents. Most notably, he said heâs already putting âroadblocksâ in place, so Trump is never prosecuted again.
The acting attorney generalâs remarks came after Illinois Governor JB Pritzker suggested that a future Democratic administration should pursue criminal cases against Trump officials who broke laws. That kind of talk has sent MAGA world into full panic mode.
Blanche became acting AG in April after Trump pushed out Pam Bondi. Bondi was accused of bungling the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files while failing to deliver the prosecutions of Trumpâs political enemies that the president wanted. Blanche stepped in and quickly moved to revive investigations into Trump adversaries like New York Attorey General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey.
This week, Trump announced heâll nominate Blanche to the job permanently. Blanche called it âthe honor of a lifetime.â
Weâre watchin the complete transformation of the DOJ into a shield for one man. Blanche is going far beyond law enforcement and explicitly working to preempt accountability before the process even starts.
DOJ Argues Trump Has Absolute Right to Tear Down Statue of Liberty if He Wants to
The Trump administrationâs legal team went to a federal appeals court Friday and made an argument that should stop every American in their tracks.
The case is about Trumpâs White House ballroom project, which would take the place of the demolished East Wing. A federal judge tried to halt construction back in March. The appeals court paused that ruling and let construction continue. And now the administration is defending the whole thing with a legal theory that has almost nothing to do with the ballroom itself.
The administrationâs lawyers are arguing that once the federal government moves fast enough and spends enough money, courts canât touch it: even if itâs illegal.
Judge Patricia Millett, an Obama appointee, pressed DOJ attorney Yaakov Roth, asking if the same logic applies if the government decided to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty and moved too fast for anyone to stop it legally.
Roth said yes.
The DOJâs position is that because national security is involved, the courts should step back entirely, and if thereâs a legal problem, Congress can sort it out later. Roth pointed to the 3 million pounds of steel rebar already installed as evidence the project has crossed the point of no return.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed the lawsuit, arguing the White House grounds are a designated national park and canât be altered without congressional approval. Their attorney, Tad Heuer, made it simple: âThey just donât want to go to Congress.â
Two of the three appeals court judges on the panel expressed real skepticism about the administrationâs position. The third, a Trump appointee, questioned whether the plaintiffs had standing to sue at all.
But the broader legal argument is the thing worth paying attention to. The DOJ is telling the federal courts that speed and scale can immunize presidential action from judicial review. That shows this isnât about a ballroom, but rather about a president attempting to place himself beyond the reach of the law.
Federal Judge Rules Trump Broke the Law on Immigration
A federal judge handed down a significant ruling Friday, finding that the Trump administration violated the law when it froze immigration applications for people from 39 different countries.
The policy, implemented by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services starting last November, placed a hold on processing asylum requests, work permits, green cards and citizenship applications for immigrants from countries subject to Trumpâs travel bans. Those countries span Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.
Chief District Judge John McConnell from the District of Rhode Island, an Obama appointee, ruled that the policy was unlawful from the start.
He wrote that USCIS âthrew the lives of countless immigrants living in the United States into indeterminate legal limbo.â He pointed out that the people affected hadnât done anything wrong, followed the rules, went through the legal process and were still left waiting anyway, âfor months on end, for benefit requests that USCIS refuses to adjudicate.â
âThe rule of law has to apply to everyone equally,â he added.
The lawsuit that led to this ruling was filed back in March by immigrant service organizations and labor unions. They argued that the administration had essentially decided to bypass the immigration system that Congress created and USCIS is legally required to administer. Judge McConnell agreed.
Murad Awawdeh, the president of the New York Immigration Coalition, called the ruling a reaffirmation of what advocates had been arguing all along: that the administration acted against both the rule of law and existing law itself, and that freezing applications based solely on a personâs country of birth is exactly the kind of thing the courts were meant to stop.
Immigrant Launch Hunger Strikes at ICE Detention Centers Nationwide
Hundreds of migrants held in ICE detention facilities in at least four states have launched hunger strikes to protest the conditions inside.
At Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, roughly 300 detainees are taking part in an ongoing hunger and labor strike. The facility is run by private prison company GEO Group under a 15-year contract with ICE. Outside the building, there have been daily protests. Inside, families say their relatives are being beaten and tear gassed by guards.
In Adelanto, California, at least 20 detainees at the Desert View Annex went on hunger strike to draw attention to what they described as substandard conditions, including mold, unsafe drinking water and inadequate medical care.
Last month, hunger strikes broke out at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan, which is the largest ICE facility in the Midwest. Detainees are also on a huger strike at Moshannon Valley in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, which is the largest in the Northeast. In Pennsylvania, striking detainees were reportedly placed in solitary confinement.
The GEO Group operates all four facilities.
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherill said the state Department of Health tried to conduct a health inspection of Delaney Hall and was denied full access. Sheâs called for the facility to be shut down, saying the consistent stonewalling âraises serious questions about what ICE is trying to hide.â
Gabriela Fuentes has been protesting outside Delaney Hall for days. Her husband came to the U.S. from Guatemala on a work visa and told her heâd been beaten and tear gassed inside.
âWeâre all human, weâre all people,â she said. âJust because weâre Hispanic does not mean that we need to be treated like this.â
Attorneys and advocates are struggling to even track the full scope of whatâs happening. In Pennsylvania, communication lines to affected units were cut after the strike began, leaving families and legal advocates unable to find out what was happening inside. In Michigan, an attorney called for more state oversight, noting that current mechanisms are woefully inadequate.
This is what it looks like when a government refuses to treat human beings with basic dignity.
Raw America is hard at work not only breaking down stories like these, but putting reporters on the ground at the Capitol, breaking exclusive stories the billionaire-owned outlets wonât cover. Our Capitol Hill partner, Joe Galina with Call to Activism, recently interviewed Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in Washington. Weâll be releasing that video this weekend.
Weâre also expanding our live interview coverage, speaking to both prominent elected leaders and respected experts offering you inside perspectives on the biggest stories of the day that the Trump regime wants to keep hidden. If youâve been enjoying Raw Americaâs independent journalism on a free subscription, now is the time to upgrade to a paying membership. None of this would be possible without you.Subscribe
Iâm John Byrne, with Raw America. Thanks for reading. Weâll see you next week.
US President Donald Trump holds a rendering of the White House South Terrace balustrade view as he speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on March 29, 2026.
 (Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
âAmericans know theyâre being ripped off and are demanding accountability.â
The American Economic Liberties Project and Groundwork Collaborative on Wednesday released a joint report detailing how President Donald Trumpâs unprecedented corruption is padding his own pockets at the expense of US taxpayers.
The reportâtitled âThe Price of Corruption: How Trumpâs Pay-to-Play Administration is Driving Up Costs for Working Familiesââexplains how Trump isnât just using the presidency to enrich himself, but leaving ordinary Americans to foot the bill for his corrupt dealings.
The report notes that the TrumpRx website, which purports to offer Americans deep discounts on drugs, is actually a scheme for funneling even more money to large pharmaceutical companies.
âWhen Trump rolled out TrumpRX earlier this year, the administration claimed it was a way for Americans to access more affordable prescription drugs,â the report states. âInstead, the platform fails to disclose information about less expensive generic alternatives and, in some instances, charges consumers more for products that are available for less elsewhere.â
Rather than providing real relief, the report charges, TrumpRx âserves as free advertisement for Big Pharma and may be lining the pockets of the presidentâs eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who is on the board of prescription drug platform BlinkRX, which stands to benefit from the administrationâs promotion of direct-to-patient medicine sales.â
The report also highlights the way that Trump has used his tariffs, which raise the cost of imported goods for US consumers, as a personal self-enrichment tool, such as when he slashed tariffs on Switzerland âjust a few days after Swiss business leaders presented him with a personalized gold bar worth more than $130,000 and a Rolex desk clock.â
Trump levied tariffs against Brazil last year in retaliation for that country convicting a political ally, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, of plotting a coup to illegally stay in power after he lost an election to current President Luiz InĂĄcio Lula Da Silva.
âAmericans paid the price for Trumpâs international allies breaking the law,â states the report, âas coffee imported from Brazil surged to a 40% increase in price.â
One particularly egregious instance of Trumpâs corruption, the report explains, comes from the presidentâs unprecedented number of pardons of political allies, including hundreds of rioters who violently stormed the US Capitol on his behalf on January 6, 2021.
Beyond the high-profile rioter cases, the report shines a spotlight on a number of white-collar criminals who have received presidential clemency, including Paul Walczak, âa nursing home executive convicted of tax evasionâ who was pardoned âthree weeks after his mother donated $1 million to Trump at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser,â and cryptocurrency mogul Changpeng Zhao, who received a pardon months after helping boost the Trump familyâs crypto venture.
The report notes that the Trump administration has also stacked regulatory agencies in ways that directly benefit the business interests of the presidentâs family members, most prominently in the realm of online prediction markets tied to Donald Trump Jr.
âOver the past year, Donald Trump Jr. has served as a strategic advisor to Kalshi and a large investor in Polymarket, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)âthe agency overseeing these firmsâhas acted as their ally, rather than their watchdog,â the report says. âBoth firms had actively lobbied Trumpâs CFTC to block states from regulating prediction markets in the same way they regulate gambling companies.â
Morgan Harper, director of policy and advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project, called the report on Trumpâs corruption âa reminder that we cannot afford to look away or pretend that any of this is normal.â
âThe country,â Harper added, âis not Trumpâs to liquidate.â
Molly Claflin, senior fellow at Groundwork Collaborative, made the case that Trumpâs corruption and the economic pain being felt by Americans are inseparable.
âAs working families buckle under the weight of Trumpâs high prices, the president is further driving up costs by abusing his position to direct taxpayer-funded kickbacks to his family and political allies,â said Claflin. âHis erratic policymaking is making daily life more expensive. Americans know theyâre being ripped off and are demanding accountability.â
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