Chris Brennan

tough look for a man with a line of antiperspirant deodorant

It's Russia, not America, that benefits from Trump's Iran war | Opinion Putin has zero motivation to help America end its war on Iran, because Russia is cashing in on the conflict.

Donald Trump and his top aides shrug when asked about Russia helping Iran target American military assets in the Middle East, while also cashing in on the conflict. And all Trump can say is that Putin is "very impressed" with his war. My USA Today column.
www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

It's up to Congress to disrupt Pam Bondi's Epstein cover-up | Opinion Attorney General Pam Bondi and the DOJ have been openly violating federal law to shield President Trump from transparency in the Epstein files scandal

Pam Bondi is not in the justice business. She's in the protect Trump business. The House Oversight Committee members – Republicans and Democrats – must plow through her cheap theatrics to disrupt her Epstein Files cover-up. My USA Today column:
www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

Captain America Avengers GIF ALT: Captain America Avengers GIF

Wait, wasn't Shield of Americas infiltrated by Hydra?

Kristi Noem speaks in Nashville minutes after Trump ousts her Kristi Noem took the stage at a conference in Nashville minutes after President Donald Trump announced he was replacing her as Homeland Security Secretary.

A post-defeat victory lap of sorts.
www.tennessean.com/story/news/p...

Wait, who gets custody of the shagadelic deportation jet?

With ethics complaints piling up against DOJ lawyers at state bar associations, AG Pam Bondi is proposing a new big-government regulation to suspend investigations until the DOJ first takes a look, and for as long as she likes. My USA Today newsletter:
www.usatoday.com/story/nlette...

Trump wastes no time using Iran war to help federalize midterms | Opinion If Trump were really concerned with foreign countries attempting to influence our elections, he would be beefing up security, not scaling it back.

Trump and his election-denying allies are hunting for some sort of "emergency" so he can try to federalize the midterm elections. Is that why he was posting about Iran and past elections less than two hours after the bombing started? My USA Today column:
www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

Military officials question fortifications at site where U.S. troops were killed in Iranian strike The first American service members to die in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran were killed in an apparent Iranian drone attack on a makeshift office space in Kuwait, sources told CBS News.

On the 6 US troops who died at Shuaiba port in Kuwait: Troops asked for more drone defeat capabilities, none came. It was recommended that the makeshift tactical operations center not be used because it was hard to defend and concentrated too many troops in one place. www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-st...

REPORTER: Yesterday you told us Israel was going to strike Iran and that's why we needed to get involved. But today the president said Iran--

RUBIO: No. Were you there yesterday?

REPORTER: Yes. I asked the question

How is the latest Trump team rational — America had to go to war with Iran because Israel was about to go to war with Iran and then Iran would have attacked American locations in the region — playing with the anti-Israel MAGA influencers?

Voter ID laws are popular. Trump making it harder to vote isn't. | Opinion It's not enough for Democrats to just defeat the SAVE Act. They have to tell the story of why it can never become law.

John Thune is looking to trade a legislative defeat on the SAVE act for a messaging win. Democrats should meet the challenge and ask voters why the president and Republicans in Congress want to make it harder for Americans to vote. My USA Today column:
www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

A man who has never learned that actions have consequences should never be allowed to start a war.

"Which Trump are we supposed to believe here? And – yes – I think not believing either version is an option," writes columnist @bychrisbrennan.bsky.social. bit.ly/4aXevOy

📸: Damon Higgins/Palm Beach Daily News/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

FAA closes Texas airspace after military accidentally downs CBP drone, lawmakers say The Federal Aviation Administration barred flights on Feb. 26 near El Paso, Texas, after a reported incident with an anti-drone system.

To recap: The U.S. Military just used a laser to shoot down a U.S. Border Patrol drone... while the Pentagon is demanding that AI safeguards be dismantled to allow fully autonomous weapons. Maybe the Pentagon needs more safeguards, not less.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

"Forget the feel-good and make-money fake reform of the Stop Insider Trading Act. Pass the Restore Trust in Congress Act instead," writes columnist @bychrisbrennan.bsky.social. bit.ly/40gTx8F

📸: U.S. Network Pool via Reuters

Team Trump face-plants on retribution. Again.
My USA Today newsletter:
www.usatoday.com/story/nlette...

Trump lied about DOGE 'dividends' that never came. His chatbot just admitted it. | Opinion Trump might suggest that he'll send you money. But he really wants you to send him money.

Background on that tariff check that is not in the mail:
www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

Conservatives on the Supreme Court cast the decisive votes last week to cancel Trump’s tariffs. But he’s blaming Democrats in a fundraising email, claiming they canceled “tariff rebate checks” (that were never coming anyway.)

Trump's State of the Union insider trading push isn't reform | Opinion Forget the feel-good and make-money fake reform of the Stop Insider Trading Act. Pass the Restore Trust in Congress Act instead.

It felt incongruous, a wealthy politician like Donald Trump calling in his #SOTU to reform how members of Congress profit in the stock market. But the more you know about what Trump asked from Congress, the less impressive it gets. My USA Today column.
www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

An unsurprising and uninspiring state of the union address from Trump — short on substance, shifty on facts, and stacked with spectacle. Don’t expect this to move the needle on the midterms. A long speech soon to be forgotten.

Trump's favorite Florida judge is still running cover for him | Opinion Some judges might not want to be known for 'unprecedented deference' to President Trump. Not U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, apparently.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals should overturn District Court Judge Aileen Cannon's coverup and let us see how Trump handled classified documents after he lost the 2020 election, and the lengths he went to cover up his own behavior. My USA Today column:
www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

Pretty amazing that comms person at FBI called my @ms.now colleague @kendilanian-nbc.bsky.social a liar and demand a correction only for Kash to post a photo from the locker room

Trump can't remember whether he 'obliterated' Iran's nukes | Opinion Which Trump are we supposed to believe here? And – yes – I think not believing either version is an option.

Donald Trump bragged twice last week about knocking out Iran's nuclear program eight months ago – while threatening to knock out Iran’s nuclear program soon. Such startling cognitive dissonance from a politician threatening war. My USA Today column:
www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

"Barack Obama, in his two terms as president, was assigned a moniker he never embraced," writes columnist @bychrisbrennan.bsky.social. bit.ly/4kyk1vo

Roll Call Factba.se - Speech: Donald Trump Discusses the Economy in Rome, Georgia - February 19, 2026 Full transcript of Donald J. Trump: Speech: Donald Trump Discusses the Economy in Rome, Georgia - February 19, 2026

Trump on Thursday: "And to think I have to be in the United States Supreme Court for many, many months waiting for a decision on tariffs."
rollcall.com/factbase/tru...
Supreme Court on Friday: Here you go.
www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s sweeping tariffs, upending central plank of economic agenda The Supreme Court has struck down President Donald Trump’s far-reaching global tariffs, handing him a significant loss on an issue crucial to his economic agenda.

Does the Supreme Court striking down Trump's tariffs make it more likely that he bombs Iran again, if only to shift the narrative away from this big loss from the conservative-controlled institution?
apnews.com/article/supr...

Less than eight months ago, Trump's White House insisted Iran's nuclear facilities were "obliterated."
whitehouse.gov/articles/202...

The sources I spoke to about Donald Trump's high-profile mass deportation policy, in last week's three-column series, all said his efforts to also stymie legal immigration should get more attention. My USA Today newsletter:
www.usatoday.com/story/nlette...

"It's true that Trump made immigration a winning issue. But that support is rapidly evaporating in recent public opinion polling, as Americans watch the chaos he has unleashed and start to reject it," writes columnist @bychrisbrennan.bsky.social. bit.ly/3OiSUbK