Yes, it’s still free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of five films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy.
Stephen’s nearly final monologue:
Jimmy will stand alone next week:
Killing him with kindness but still killing him: CBS revealed that Colbert’s final episode of The Late Show will go beyond the usual hour-long runtime on Thursday. Details about who will guest-star in the franchise finale are being kept under wraps.
Lucian Truscott IV:
Today in an addendum to the corrupt “settlement” of Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS, the director of which he appointed and who reports to him, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, formerly Donald Trump’s personal attorney, announced that the IRS is “forever barred and precluded” from auditing or investigating Trump and his family and “related or affiliated individuals” for anything they did before the date of the settlement, which is today.
So, there it is, everything Trump and his family and anyone associated with the Trump Organization, and presumably anyone who did business with Trump and his companies which provided him with income, is off the hook for any crimes they committed.
This is the dream of crime bosses everywhere. You spend a lifetime skirting the edges of the law, breaking the law, achieving wealth from the crimes you have committed, and you don’t have to pay another lawyer another dime to keep you free from the long arm of the law. You can take your money and spend it any way you want, because it’s now legitimate, every cent of it.
Heather Cox Richardsaon:
The document that purports to be a “settlement” has the words “settlement agreement” written in capital letters across the top of it, but the important word is “agreement.” It is not the settlement of a legal case: Trump dropped the case when it looked like the judge would throw it out.
It is simply an agreement between Trump and his own appointees at the Department of Justice…
With the announcement of the agreement, the Treasury Department’s top lawyer, Brian Morrissey, resigned….Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told Greg Sargent of The New Republic that Trump and his loyalists “are figuring out a way to refund the January 6 militia, presumably to get them ready for the next round of battle.”
Jeff Bezos on Trump this morning:
I think he's a more mature, more disciplined version of himself than he was in his first term. Trump has lots of good ideas. He's been right about a lot of things. You have to give him credit where credit is due.
Campaign 2026
This is the first time I have used the above heading and certainly will not be the last. As some may know, I am something of a “campaign junkie,” going back to my school days, then running the Clean Gene McCarthy club in college and, among others things, writing two pretty well known books about historic races (“The Campaign of the Century” and “Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady”) and directing a 2022 film for PBS, “The First Attack Ads.” And beyond that: writing about every presidential and off-year election for many decades at various sites and blogs and two years ago here at Substack. So expect more to come in this space!
For today, a few notes:
The down side, for MAGA, of Trump getting incumbent GOPers he hates knocked out in primaries is that they then (finally) feel brave enough to (finally) take him on, at least in part. So we had the spectacle last night of the Senate advancing at least that bill aimed at ending the Iran war—after GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, defeated in primary, switched to support it.
Rep. Thomas Massie lost tonight because he wanted the Epstein List released and pedophiles held accountable. Trump didn't want any of that, so he had to go. Now Massie even more free to hit Trump. And with Trump endorsing felon Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate race John Cornyn no doubt will break with him at times. And Paxton so weak and evil, James Talarico now favored by many to take that Texas seat. Nick Anderson:
Music Pick
Stephen Colbert last night joined in with David Byrne on “Burning Down the House.” Will he join Bruce tonight?
From Tune to Toons
Goris:
Luckovich:
Rowe:
Wolverton:
Ohman:
Murdoch:
Photo Finish
“Vineyard, Late Afternoon, Napa”
Great article, Greg. And another painting-like photograph. Man, that's gorgeous! 👍
Thanks! I didn’t know I needed Burning Down The House today but it says it all for me! Thanks for your daily addition to my life!