The Dictatorship

Trump is using the Iran war to take more control over business

Published

3 months ago

April 25, 2026

Apr. 25, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT

ByJoseph Zeballos-Roig

President Donald Trump considers China the country’s biggest rival. But he also seems to view it as a model where the state calls the shots on who gets ahead in business.

Since returning to office, Trump has taken a more direct stake in American businesses than his predecessors — especially the Republican ones — turning the federal goverrnment into a major shareholder. While it’s still nowhere near China’s state-directed market economyit’s still closer to it than the U.S. has typically been.

America’s investment portfolio currently spans 16 companies with $21 billion invested so far, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. The roster includes smaller stakes in Intel Corp. — the single-largest federal commitment— and rare-earth mineral companies such as MP Materials among others.

Now he’s poised to use the Iran war to exert more power in the economy.

The Trump administration is galloping ahead with a pair of bailouts for Spirit Airlines and the United Arab Emirates, a Persian Gulf nation and a close U.S. ally. Both are grappling with the fallout of the war, which has rippled through the global economy and spiked fuel prices.

Spirit was already in bad shape before war broke out in the Middle East. The budget carrier cycled through two bankruptcies in two years and has long had a dismal reputation among travelers. A University of Chicago professor once infamously comparedtraveling on the airline to a case of chickenpox since “everyone has endured Spirit once.”

Nevertheless, it is in line to receive a $500 million loanfrom the U.S. government to avoid liquidation or even an outright sale — turning Spirit into America’s first state-owned airline.

“We’re thinking about helping them out, meaning bailing them out, or buying it,” Trump told reporters Thursday evening. “I think we just buy it.”

Next up is the UAE. Iranian missiles bombarded the oil-rich nation, crippling its ability to sell and export oil through the critical Strait of Hormuz. Though the UAE has ample financial reserves, it is still bleeding dollars. Now the administration is engineering a currency swap linethat functions similarly to credit. It is the exact same lifeline that was extended to Argentinalate last year, and may wellbe granted to Asian nations in the future.

In both cases, Trump is using reprecussions from the war to justify more government involvement in the economy.

There is precedent for this. During World War I, the federal government took control of the nation’s railroadsthough they were returned to private ownership after the war’s end. In World War II, the feds ordered auto companies to stop building private cars and focus on planes and tanks, strictly rationingthe remaining civilian automobiles. And during the Korean War, President Harry Truman attempted to seize control of U.S. steel mills, only to be blockedby the Supreme Court.

Republicans have long argued that this kind of state meddling — which former House Speaker Paul Ryan referred to as “picking winners and losers” — risks being corrupted by personal influence. They had a field day when the solar power company Solyndra went bankrupt after receiving a federal loan guarantee from the Obama administration, calling it “crony capitalism” because some people invovled with the company had been campaign contributors.

Crony capitalism is typically definedas a system in which private firms leverage influence in government to secure privileged favors and gain advantage, instead of competing in open markets for success. The term was first usedin the 1980s to illustrate the two-decade dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos over the Philippines. Marcos minted oligarchs who dominated the Philippine economy with insider deals and relied on him to preserve their splendor. His rule ended with the economy in free fall.

Closer to home, the U.S. sugar industry has long been held upas a blatant exampleof crony capitalism. Domestic sugarmakers have been federally backed through a blend of import tariffs, purchasing quotas and price guarantees for more than four decades. The Trump administration has only reinforced the status quo: It tossed them three lifelines over the past year by restrictingsugar imports, boosting price guarantees and issuing temporary one-time payments for sugar producers.

Big Sugar is the dominant political donor among crop producers and an influential constituency. Republicans in particular learned never to cross them. “Don’t f— with sugar,” former Republican House Speaker John Boehner wrote in his 2021 memoir.

With Trump knocking down wall after wall separating business and government, that critique appears prescient.

Now with Trump knocking down wall after wall separating business and government, that critique appears prescient.

Take the UAE, first among equals in the Persian Gulf. Early last year, Dubai pledged $1.4 trillionin direct U.S. investments over 10 years. The UAE is heavily intertwined with the Trump family, who cultivated extensive business tiesin the country. An Emirati-backed investment firm also has a sizable stakein World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture directed by Trump’s sons. Now the war’s fallout has stirred fearsin the Trump administration that the UAE’s enormous investment pledges are in jeopardy.

Over the past 15 months, Trump has laid the groundwork for a command economy, giving him plenty of opportunities to direct government money to friends and family if he chooses. Now, a war of choice against Iran sets the stage for him to take it even farther.

Joseph Zeballos-Roig

Joseph Zeballos-Roig is a reporter who has covered economic policy and politics for Semafor, Business Insider and Quartz, among other publications.

The Dictatorship

Trump wants a Supreme Court do-over on birthright citizenship, but he won’t get one

Published

23 hours ago

July 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Trump wants a Supreme Court do-over on birthright citizenship, but he won’t get one

For months, Donald Trump made clear that he expected the Supreme Court to rule against him on birthright citizenship, and his expectations were correct: Last week, a narrow majority of the high court ruled that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment means what it says.

Hours after the decision came down, the president downplayed the importance of his defeat, saying that he would pursue a legislative solution through Congress, but eight days later, the Republican published a very different kind of message to his social media platform that approached the issue in a more hysterical way. The missive read, in its entirety:

Signs and Billboards are being put up all over our Southern Border, and Mexico, advertising BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP, with “Deliveries starting at $4000.” Likewise, similar signs going up all over our Country. Billions of Dollars will be illegally made by this SCAM, with Citizenship going to anyone willing to pay. It will be, by far, the number one way of becoming a citizen, and then the entire family will be allowed to follow. Not sustainable.

NOBODY SAW THIS COMING!!! AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP IS NOT FOR SALE! In fact, that is a crime, and therefore, the Supreme Court’s ruling is wrong. I will be asking for a Rehearing by the United States Supreme Court, IMMEDIATELY. This miscarriage of justice will destroy America if they don’t change their absolutely insane decision. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Even by Trump standards, this one’s a doozy.

The New York Times reported“The president appeared to be referring to a Fox News report that identified a hospital in Texas that had advertised paying for ‘Birth Packages in South Texas’ on billboards in Mexico. The outlet reported that Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a Republican, had ordered an investigation into the hospital, which told Fox News that “marketing materials regarding maternity services are no longer in use due to any unintended misunderstanding.”

Trump apparently took this report and ran with it, inventing various other details, including the amusing idea that cross-border birth tourism will somehow become “the number one way of becoming a citizen” (“by far,” the president added), as opposed to simply being born on U.S. soil to American parents.

But even if such an advertising campaign existed, it wouldn’t generate a rehearing from the Supreme Court. There is no scenario in which justices would say, “Sure, we ruled last week that the unambiguous language of the 14th Amendment means what it says, but if there are billboards going up, that changes everything.”

For good measure, let’s not forget that, according to Trump, his administration has effectively ended illegal border crossings, so as a practical matter, he really shouldn’t be that concerned.

The president’s online rant said he intends to ask for an immediate rehearing. If he orders administration lawyers to go through with such a pointless exercise and they bother to do the paperwork, they should keep their collective expectations low.

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”

The Dictatorship

Democrats’ scramble to replace Graham Platner ramps up in Maine

Published

23 hours ago

July 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Democrats’ scramble to replace Graham Platner ramps up in Maine

Christmas. 9, 2026, 9:46 AM EDT

Maine Democrats are scrambling to replace Graham Platner a day after their nominee for U.S. Senate ended his bid following an allegation of sexual assault.

There’s a July 27 deadline set by state law for the party faithful to pick a new standard bearer in a race that is expected to be instrumental when it comes to whether Republicans can keep control of the Senate in this fall’s midterms.

Incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins may be vulnerable, but she has won five straight races for the seat dating back to 1996, and trying to defeat her was likely to carry challenges for Democrats even in the best case scenario.

Their new candidate will have to essentially start from nothing in the race, mend the divisions sown by Platner, introduce (or reintroduce) themselves to the broader electorate and corral support from the ex-candidate’s outsider-minded current and former followers, all in less than four months.

That amounts to a daunting task with massive implications not only for Maine Democrats, but potentially for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s time in the White House. Democrats need to flip at least four GOP-held Senate seats, and maintain all their current ones from several competitive states, to vault themselves into the majority in the midterms. A loss in Maine would be a significant setback.

Maine Democratic Party leaders announced plans “to hold a nominating convention to choose a new nominee,” while stating that “transparency is of the utmost importance.”

Already, several major voices are in the race, including unsuccessful candidate for governor and past Platner supporter Troy Jackson. The former state senate president made his bid clear less than an hour after Platner left the race. One major Bernie Sanders-aligned group, Our Revolution, has quickly rallied around Jackson.

Dan Kleban, co-founder of Maine Beer Company,”https://x.com/mainebeerbrewer/status/2075028234962677872?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet”>is also in the fray, along with former governor candidate Nirav Shah, who worked as Director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention during the pandemic. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows who also ran for governor this summer is among other potential contenders.

Platner’s exit also brings difficulty for Collins and Republicans as well, however. Instead of facing a Democratic rival with a string of alarming controversies even before the sexual assault allegationan accustation Platner has denied, Collins instead will have to try to keep her seat in a blue state against someone far less defined, and potentially with far fewer vulnerabilities, in November.

Across the country this year, Democrats have navigated a political environment rife with divisions over how to sway voters in these strange times, with tension between more entrenched party leaders and an energetic and angered left wing often spilling out into the open.

What happens in Maine over the coming weeks may prove to be no different.

Hunter Woodall covers politics for MS NOW. He’s reported on politics and presidential campaigns for The Associated Press and CBS News and reported on Congress for The Minnesota Star Tribune.

The Dictatorship

Platner’s exit amplifies a key difference between Democrats and Republicans

Published

23 hours ago

July 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Platner’s exit amplifies a key difference between Democrats and Republicans

It’s been almost three years since Kevin McCarthy became the first sitting House speaker to be ousted in the middle of a congressional sessionbut the California Republican has nevertheless tried to maintain a public profile and has routinely appeared on conservative media to push partisan talking points.

So it wasn’t too surprising to see McCarthy on Fox News on Monday night, responding to the latest sexual assault allegations against Graham Platner, still a candidate for Senate at the time.

As part of an apparent effort to contextualize the scandals surrounding the Maine Democrat, the former GOP leader said, “One thing I know about Republicans is when we had a very bad candidate and found out, we didn’t vote for that person. We walked away.”

Moments later, McCarthy added, “When Matt Gaetz came forward, we got rid of him.”

As is too often the case, the failed former House speaker not only had it backward, but his mistake also offered a timely reminder of details that made him and his party look worse, not better.

Indeed, Gaetz offers a rather extraordinary example. The Justice Department investigated the Florida Republican over allegations of alleged sex trafficking, and while Gaetz repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and the prosecutors’ probe ended without charges, his House GOP colleagues made no effort to “get rid of him” as the scandal intensified.

What’s more, the House Ethics Committee found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz “regularly” paid women for sex, had sex with a 17-year-old during his tenure on Capitol Hill and possessed illegal drugs. Nevertheless, as that evidence came together, he remained a GOP member in good standing; he won re-election in 2024 with the Republican Party’s backing; and President Donald Trump thought it would be a good idea to nominate Gaetz to serve as the U.S. attorney general — a nomination endorsed by Republican senators such as South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Alabama’s Tommy Tubervilleeven after they had seen the House Ethics Committee’s findings.

This is what McCarthy cited as an example of the GOP maintaining the highest standards and throwing “very bad candidates” to the curb. That’s ridiculous.

But there’s no reason to stop with Gaetz. Indeed, the list of scandal-plagued Republicans who continued to enjoy the party’s backing long after ugly allegations had reached the public is not short. Trump is obviously the most glaring example, but the list includes other contemporary figures, including Rep. Cory Mills of Florida and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

There’s no reason to limit the list to electoral candidates, either: Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth faced an avalanche of scandals during his confirmation fight early last year, but Senate Republicans decided to ignore the allegations and make him defense secretary anyway.

As the Hegseth fight unfolded, political scientist Jonathan Bernstein published a smart piece that remains relevant: “I do not believe that Republicans or conservatives are any more prone to [scandals] than Democrats. What has changed, however, is the incentive structure. Once upon a time both parties were equally likely to rid themselves of bad actors; now Republicans are far more likely to tolerate, and in some cases even celebrate, behavior they once would have shunned.”

When Democrats learned of serious allegations against then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the party abandoned him. When then-New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez faced serious criminal charges for which he was later convicted, the party abandoned him, too.

In Maine, the Platner example followed the same path, as evidenced by his decision to withdraw from the Maine race after Democratic officials left him with no other choice.

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, an MS NOW legal analyst, explained this week“The contrast here is hard to ignore. Democrats have shown that when credible allegations of sexual misconduct emerge against one of their own, the conversation turns quickly to accountability. Republicans have made a different choice. That’s not a partisan talking point, it’s a difference in how the two parties have approached questions of character and fitness for office over the last 10 years.”

That’s true, whether McCarthy wants to acknowledge it or not.