December 2, 2025
The news of last Friday, November 28, that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Joint Special Operations commander overseeing an attack on a small vessel carrying 11 people on September 2 to “kill everybody” is shaping up to be a fight over control of the United States government.#HeatherCoxRichardson
Wednesday - the livestream we've all been waiting for!
Heather Cox Richardson interviews NYC Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani. 12PM Eastern Time, 9AM Pacific Time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N15L4PoVBL4
“Walz said to Kristen Welker … ‘This is not normal behavior. It is not healthy … This is a guy that randomly says the airspace over Venezuela’s closed. He’s ruminating on if you could win a nuclear war … It’s the most powerful position in the world, and we have someone at midnight throwing around slurs that demonize our children, at the same time he’s not solving any of the problems. So I’m deeply concerned that he is incapable of doing the job.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/december-1-2025
December 1, 2025
This post has been syndicated from Letters from an American, where it was published under this address.
“Underbussing” in Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letter from an American” on 1 December 2025. #111Words #HeatherCoxRichardson #PeteHegseth #KarolineLeavitt #LetterFromAnAmerican #Venezuela #Bombings #Underbussing #AdmiralBradley #Linguistics #WordFormation #Morphology https://111-words.ghost.io/underbussing-in-heather-cox-richardsons-letter-from-an-american-on-1-december-2025/
December 1, 2025
President Donald J.November 30, 2025
This post has been syndicated from Letters from an American, where it was published under this address.
“The Trump administration is replacing American democracy with a kleptocracy, a system of corruption in which a network of ruling elites use the institutions of government to steal public assets for their own private gain. It permits virtually unlimited theft while the head of state provides cover for his cronies through pardons and the uneven application of the law.
“It is the system Russia’s president Vladimir Putin exploits in Russia . . .”
https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/november-30-2025
“More explosive early resignations are coming. It’s a tinder box. Morale has never been lower. Mike Johnson will be stripped of his gavel and they will lose the majority before this term is out.” #TrumpIsNotWell #ImpeachRemoveConvict #TrumpNaziDeathRegime #MAGAdeathCult. #HeatherCoxRichardson https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/november-29-2025?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=3bhjit
"The Trump administration is replacing American democracy with a kleptocracy, a system of corruption in which a network of ruling elites use the institutions of government to steal public assets for their own private gain.
It is the system Russia’s president Vladimir Putin exploits in Russia, and President Donald J. Trump is working to establish it in the United States of America." - Heather Cox Richardson
November 30, 2025
On Friday evening, the Wall Street Journal published an article about the Trump administration’s negotiations with Russia over Ukraine that illuminated the administration’s approach to the world at home, as well as overseas.November 29, 2025
This post has been syndicated from Letters from an American, where it was published under this address.
Letters from an American – November 29, 2025 – Heather Cox Richardson
Letters from an American, November 29, 2025
By Heather Cox Richardson, Nov 29, 2025
In the wake of yesterday’s report from Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered Special Operations to kill the survivors of a September 2 strike on a small boat off Venezuela, the Senate and the House Armed Services Committees have announced they intend to conduct “vigorous oversight” and “gather a full accounting” of the operation. The two committees referred to the Department of Defense by that name, rather than by the “Department of War” rebrand Hegseth and Trump have pushed.
Today former judge advocate generals (JAGs), military lawyers, in the Former JAGs Working Group issued a statement declaring that it unanimously “considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both,” and called for “anyone who issues or follows such orders [to] be prosecuted for war crimes, murder, or both.”
The Former JAGs Working Group organized in February 2025 after Hegseth purged JAGs from the Army and Air Force and systematically dismantled the military’s legal guardrails. “Had those guardrails been in place,” they wrote, “we are confident they would have prevented these crimes.”
Congress appears to be stepping up on this issue, and that willingness to cross Trump suggests members are recalculating Trump’s power relative to their own. Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo noted: “This is genuinely big news…. Republicans are challenging Trump now because he seems weak. No one wants to back a weak horse.”
A Gallup poll released yesterday shows President Donald J. Trump’s job approval rating at 36% with disapproval at 60%. Since last month, Trump’s approval has plummeted 11 points. Republicans’ approval of Trump has fallen seven points to a second-term low, while approval among Independents has fallen eight points to its lowest point in either term. Only 3% of Democrats approve of his job performance. Although war conditions usually help a president’s popularity, Trump’s threat to attack Venezuela attracts the support of only 30% of Americans. Seventy percent oppose such military action.
There are signs that the MAGA coalition is fracturing. A Politico poll released yesterday shows that just 55% of those who voted for Trump in 2024 see themselves as MAGA. While the MAGA 55% remain largely loyal to Trump, 38% do not consider themselves as MAGA and are less enamored of him than are his MAGA loyalists.
Last week a new feature on X that permitted users to see where accounts originate revealed that a number of high-engagement MAGA accounts that claim to be those of patriotic Americans are in fact from Russia, Eastern Europe, India, Nigeria, Thailand, and Bangladesh. Since X pays certain content creators for tweets that drive engagement, posters from other countries have a financial incentive to post material that feeds the anger of American users and thus will get reposted.
The splintering of the MAGA coalition showed when Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) announced on November 21 she would not run for reelection in a public letter that attacked Trump and “Establishment Republicans.” She called out Trump’s threats to primary her, and said, “I refuse to be a ‘battered wife’ hoping it all goes away and gets better.”
Three days later, Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News said her letter “rang true to” many House Republicans. One senior House Republican wrote to Sherman: “This entire White House team has treated ALL members like garbage. ALL. And Mike Johnson has let it happen because he wanted it to happen. That is the sentiment of nearly all—appropriators, authorizers, hawks, doves, rank and file. The arrogance of this White House team is off putting to members who are run roughshod and threatened. They don’t even allow little wins like announcing small grants or even responding from agencies. Not even the high profile, the regular rank and file random members are more upset than ever. Members know they are going into the minority after the midterms.
Continue/Read Original Article Here: November 29, 2025 – by Heather Cox Richardson
Tags: GOP, Heather Cox Richardson, Hegseth, Letters from an American, MAGA, Mike Johnson, Politico, Substack, U.S. Congress, U.S. House, Venezuela, White House#gop #heatherCoxRichardson #hegseth #lettersFromAnAmerican #maga #mikeJohnson #politico #substack #uSCongress #uSHouse #venezuela #whiteHouse
November 29, 2025
In the wake of yesterday’s report from Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered Special Operations to kill the survivors of a September 2 strike on a small boat off Venezuela, the Senate and the House Armed Services Committees have announced they intend to conduct “vigorous oversight” and “gather a full accounting” of the operation.November 28, 2025
This post has been syndicated from Letters from an American, where it was published under this address.
“As Trump’s popularity continues to drop, the MAGA coalition shows signs of cracking, and Trump’s mental acuity slips, there is a frantic feel to the administration, as if Trump’s people are trying to grab all they can, while they can.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/november-28-2025
November 28, 2025
As Trump’s popularity continues to drop, the MAGA coalition shows signs of cracking, and Trump’s mental acuity slips, there is a frantic feel to the administration, as if Trump’s people are trying to grab all they can, while they can.November 27, 2025
Happy Thanksgiving.
This post has been syndicated from Letters from an American, where it was published under this address.
November 26, 2025
This post has been syndicated from Letters from an American, where it was published under this address.
November 26, 2025
Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday…but not for the reasons we generally remember.Client Info
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