'Tuesday's chaos had Trump's fingerprints all over it'

Donald Trump speaks during a briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on March 21, 2020

(Image credit: Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images)

published 8 February 2024

'Welcome back to the chaos of the Trump era'

David A. Graham in The Atlantic

America just got a "preview of what life will be like if Trump is reelected in November," says David A. Graham in The Atlantic. House Republicans' tried but failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Senate Republicans defeated the bill they negotiated after tying Ukraine aid to an immigration crackdown. And Trump appeared poised to promote an election denier to become Republican National Committee chair. This "wild carnival" was just the start of the madness.

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President Joe Biden left thousands of military personnel "needlessly scattered about the Middle East" facing regular militant attacks, says Doug Bandow in The American Conservative. Now that some are being killed, he's campaigning on their deaths. That's "a new low." America has 2,500 troops in Iraq. They're "not promoting freedom." Instead of deterring Iran-backed militias, they're becoming "targets." It's time to bring them home instead of leaving them to "risk their lives for nothing."

The Internal Revenue Service will collect billions from rich tax cheats thanks to the IRS funding boost in President Joe Biden's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, says the New York Daily News editorial board. House Republicans' desperation to claw back the funding shows "they're quite uninterested in the rich paying their taxes." Democrats should take credit for their "historic" IRS investment and explain to the public how it makes the wealthy subsidize health care, roads and more.

If Donald Trump picks a female running mate, it would mark a step backward for women, says Pamela Paul in The New York Times. In 2016, Trump "was caught bragging about molesting women." His "thuggish sexism" continued in office. Then a jury found him "liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll." As women's rights are "stripped and threatened," a female No. 2 in another sexist Trump administration "is the last vision of womanhood America needs."

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.