Wednesday, February 18, 2026

In this episode: The White House installed a critic of the CDC as the acting director of the CDC; the U.S. and Iran both claimed they’ve made “progress” in during latest nuclear talks even as the U.S. military is preparing for a possible strike on Iran as early as this weekend; Trump’s top economic adviser said New York Federal Reserve staffers should be “disciplined” for a study concluding that Americans paid nearly 90% of the costs of Trump’s tariffs; FCC Chair Brendan Carr denied censoring CBS after Stephen Colbert said network lawyers blocked an interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico; at least 12 Democrats said they will boycott Trump’s State of the Union next week; and 70% of Democrats have a positive view of the Democratic Party – down from 85% in September 2024.

Read more: Day 1856: "An embarrassment."

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Tuesday, February 17, 2026

In this episode: Congressional Democrats sent the White House a new counterproposal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security after the agency’s funding lapsed Saturday; an 18-year-old man was arrested near the U.S. Capitol after exiting a white Mercedes SUV and running toward the building carrying a loaded shotgun; Senate Republicans have lined up at least 50 votes for the Trump-backed SAVE America Act, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and mandate photo ID nationwide; the U.S. military destroyed three small boats in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean, killing all 11 people aboard; Stephen Colbert said CBS lawyers stopped him from airing an interview with Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat running for U.S. Senate; a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore slavery-related exhibits that the National Park Service removed from the site in Philadelphia where George Washington lived as president; Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader who helped define Black political power after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination and twice ran for president, died; 39% of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance with 56% disapproving; and 38% of Americans approve Trump’s immigration policies – the lowest level since his return to the White House and down from 50% from a year ago.

Read more: Day 1855: "Dissemble and disassemble historical truths."

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Thursday, February 12, 2026

In this episode: The Senate failed to advance a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security through Sept. 30, leaving the agency headed for a partial shutdown when funding expires Friday night; the Trump administration said it will end “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota, drawing down thousands of federal immigration agents after a 2-month crackdown that produced mass protests, more than 4,000 arrests, and two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis; the Justice Department tracked the search histories of lawmakers who reviewed the files from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation; the whistleblower complaint against Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard centers on an intelligence intercept that captured two foreign nationals discussing Jared Kushner; the House passed the SAVE America Act; a federal judge blocked the Pentagon from demoting Sen. Mark Kelly’s retired Navy rank and cutting his retirement pay over a video advising troops not to follow illegal orders; Trump rescinded the EPA’s 2009 “endangerment finding,” removing the legal basis the agency has used to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act for nearly two decades; and 62% of Americans say Trump’s “gone too far” by deploying federal immigration agents into major U.S. cities, and 61% say he’s gone too far using federal law enforcement at protests.

Read more: Day 1850: "Status quo."

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Wednesday, February 11, 2026

In this episode: Democrats accused Attorney General Pam Bondi of turning the Justice Department "into Trump’s instrument of revenge"; a federal grand jury refused to indict six Democratic lawmakers over a video that reminded active-duty military and intelligence personnel they must refuse unlawful orders; the House voted to rescind the national emergency Trump used to impose tariffs on Canada, with six Republicans joining nearly all Democrats in approving the resolution; U.S. employers added 130,000 jobs in January and unemployment fell to 4.3%; the Congressional Budget Office projected a $1.85 trillion deficit this fiscal year, rising past $3 trillion by 2036; and 60% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of border security and immigration.

Read more: Day 1849: "Not sustainable."

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Tuesday, February 10, 2026

In this episode: The Trump administration will rescind the EPA’s 2009 “endangerment finding,” stripping the core legal basis for federal limits on greenhouse gas pollution under the Clean Air Act; a newly unsealed FBI search warrant affidavit showed that the seizure of Fulton County, Georgia’s 2020 election ballots and records began with a referral from a Trump-appointed “director of election security and integrity”; acting ICE Director Todd Lyons defended ICE and told the House Homeland Security Committee that he would press ahead with Trump’s “mass deportation” campaign; Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna disclosed the “hidden” names of six wealthy men they say are “likely incriminated” by their inclusion in the Jeffrey Epstein files; Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told senators he had lunch with Jeffrey Epstein on Epstein’s private Caribbean island in 2012; Trump reportedly told the Palm Beach police chief in 2006 that “everyone has known” what Jeffrey Epstein “has been doing”; 59% of Americans said they’re optimistic about the future – a record low since Gallup started asking the question two decades ago.

Read more: Day 1848: "Now I see what the big deal is."

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Monday, February 9, 2026

In this episode: Ghislaine Maxwell invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer all questions during a closed-door House Oversight Committee deposition; the top House and Senate party leaders received a heavily redacted May 2025 whistleblower complaint against Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard after an eight-month delay; the White House deleted Trump’s racist Truth Social post that depicted Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes; the Trump administration told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer it would release frozen federal funding for the $16 billion Gateway rail tunnel if Penn Station and Washington Dulles International Airport were renamed after Trump; Trump, a noted athlete, called a U.S. skier at the Winter Olympics “a real loser"; and Trump, a noted pop-culture tastemaker, declared Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime show “one of the worst,” calling the largely Spanish-language performance “absolutely terrible” and that “nobody understands a word.”

Read more: Day 1847: "Cover-up mode."

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Thursday, February 5, 2026

In this episode: Democrats threatened to block the Homeland Security funding bill unless Republicans accepted “dramatic changes” to ICE oversight and operations; Trump said Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to attend the FBI search of Fulton County, Georgia’s elections center; the last nuclear arms control treaty between the U.S. and Russia expired; the Trump administration plans to reclassify about 50,000 senior career federal workers, making them easier to fire; U.S. job openings fell to about 6.5 million in December – the lowest since September 2020; Trump insisted that the Federal Reserve is “in theory” independent and that he wouldn’t have nominated Kevin Warsh to be the next Fed chair if he wanted to raise interest rates.

Read more: Day 1843: "Two things can be true."

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Wednesday, February 4, 2026

In this episode: Trump doubled down on his call to “nationalize” voting, saying the federal government should “get involved” in state elections; the Supreme Court allowed California to use its voter-approved congressional map for the 2026 midterms; the Trump administration said it would pull 700 federal immigration officers from Minnesota; the Justice Department removed a Department of Homeland Security attorney in Minneapolis after she told a judge that “this job sucks” and asked to be held in contempt so she “could get 24 hours of sleep”; the man who tried to assassinate Trump at his Florida golf club in 2024 was sentenced to life in prison; the Washington Post laid off about one-third of its staff, calling the elimination of more than 300 newsroom jobs a “strategic reset”; and 37% of voters approve of the job Trump is doing as president.

Read more: Day 1842: "A strategic reset."

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Tuesday, February 3, 2026

In this episode: Trump signed the roughly $1.2 trillion spending package into law, ending the three-day partial federal government shutdown; the U.S. military shot down an Iranian drone after it “aggressively approached” the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea and wouldn’t turn away; a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ending Temporary Protected Status for more than 350,000 Haitians; Tulsi Gabbard told Congress that Trump asked her to show up while the FBI searched Fulton County, Georgia’s election office; Congress still hasn’t received a whistleblower complaint filed last May accusing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard of wrongdoing; and 62% of Americans said ICE officers had gone too far, up from 58% in a poll conducted just before Alex Pretti was shot and killed in Minneapolis.

Read more: Day 1841: "More questions than answers."

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Monday, February 2, 2026

In this episode: The partial federal government shutdown entered its third day after funding lapsed Saturday morning, and the House still doesn’t have the votes needed to pass the Senate-approved bill to reopen agencies; attorneys representing victims of Jeffrey Epstein asked two federal judges to order the Justice Department to take down its Epstein-files website, saying the release exposed victims’ names and other identifying details and created an “unfolding emergency”; the Justice Department opened a federal civil rights investigation into the killing of Alex Pretti; Fulton County, Georgia, plans to sue the FBI and the Justice Department over a search warrant that county officials said resulted in the seizure of 2020 election records; Trump called on Republicans to “nationalize the voting” and seize control of election administration from states; and 44% of voters approve of Trump’s job performance, while 56% disapprove.

Read more: Day 1840: "An unfolding emergency."

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