The hottest Presidency Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top U.S. Politics Topics

Robert Mueller’s Tarnished Legacy

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 129 implied HN points • 23 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. He was widely respected for long public service and praised for helping protect the country after 9/11 and for his commitment to the rule of law.
  2. The president’s blunt posthumous insult shows how extreme, routine vitriol has become in the current political era.
  3. He missed the chance to decisively debunk the Trump-Russia claims, and that failure let the scandal fester and helped fuel the rancorous MAGA politics, tarnishing his legacy.

TGIF: Bring Them Back from Palm Beach

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1650 implied HN points • 20 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. A senior national security official, Joe Kent, resigned over the Iran war, quickly joined the new right media circuit making Israel-centric claims, and is reportedly under FBI investigation for allegedly sharing classified information.
  2. A reductive, conspiratorial narrative blaming Israel for many unrelated global events is spreading widely online, simplifying complex conflicts and gaining traction across different platforms.
  3. The piece is a short, sarcastic political and cultural roundup produced with AI narration, and much of the deeper reporting is behind a paywall that asks readers to subscribe.

March 22, 2026

Letters from an American • 4 implied HN points • 23 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. The president has been making increasingly erratic and inflammatory public statements, including inappropriate historical references and threats toward opponents and foreign targets.
  2. Military action against Iran has backfired, contributing to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the administration lifted long-standing oil sanctions to try to lower prices—moves critics say could send billions to Iran and worsen global security risks.
  3. The Department of Homeland Security is shadowed by allegations of crony contracts and excessive influence from political allies, while ICE has been expanded and threatened to be used as a political tool, with funding tied to controversial voting restrictions.

Joe Kent Resigns. Will Others Follow?

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 996 implied HN points • 18 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. Joe Kent, who led the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned in protest over a potential war with Iran and is being hailed by some as an anti-war dissident.
  2. His resignation letter claims President Trump was misled by Israel and its backers about an imminent Iranian threat, which raises doubts about Kent's reliability as an intelligence witness.
  3. Reactions are divided—Tucker Carlson praised Kent as brave while figures like Tulsi Gabbard defended the president—so it’s unclear whether more officials will follow his lead.
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The Anti-Israel Podcasters Don’t Speak for MAGA

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 695 implied HN points • 17 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. Some online influencers say Trump betrayed MAGA by fighting Iran on Israel's behalf and that his voters are abandoning him over the war.
  2. Actual polls show Republican voters still overwhelmingly support both the military action and the U.S.-Israel alliance, contradicting those influencer claims.
  3. The idea that young MAGA voters are defecting is largely false, and social media chatter and media coverage overstate dissent within the base.

Trump Announces A Sort Of Cease Fire, and, The US Strategic Goal Seems To Be "Mowing The Grass"

Phillips’s Newsletter • 186 implied HN points • 23 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. The US lacks a clear, consistent strategic goal and seems to be practicing “mowing the grass.” That means repeated, limited strikes without a path to decisive victory, making the campaign costly and purposeless.
  2. A short cease-fire announcement looks like a tactical backtrack to avoid extreme actions and calm markets, but it probably only pauses operations rather than ends the conflict.
  3. This approach effectively guarantees the Iranian regime survives and can rebuild smarter, so regime change is off the table and strategic gains are doubtful.

Nasty, Brutish, and Long.

Breaking the News • 2103 implied HN points • 26 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. The speech will probably be old news quickly but still matters as a sign that the Republican Party is deeply servile to the president and as a moment future historians will point to.
  2. It combined awkward, poorly delivered scripted passages with long, recycled rally riffs — the prepared parts sounded wooden and the rest was narcissistic blame-gaming that drew rapturous GOP applause.
  3. The act is losing its novelty and energy; what used to be unpredictable and compelling now felt boring and low‑energy, weakening its ability to hold or grow a broad audience.

What The Longest State Of The Union In History Didn't Clarify

TK News by Matt Taibbi • 2800 implied HN points • 25 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. The State of the Union was the longest in history and full of soaring rhetoric, but it did little to ease fears that a new Middle East quagmire may be coming.
  2. The speech emphasized themes of war and peace and highlighted claims like the capture of Nicolas Maduro and an end to eight wars, yet offered few concrete policy details.
  3. Iran loomed largest in the debate, with leaders stressing its nuclear and ballistic missile programs as a national security threat, signaling pressure for measures that could heighten the risk of conflict.

The lifeline election (part two)

Comment is Freed • 146 implied HN points • 19 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. Trump is likely to try to influence the midterms because losing would weaken his presidency, but elections are run by states and the constitution limits what a president can legally do.
  2. His main options are inserting the federal government into voting, pushing laws like the SAVE America Act, or encouraging voter intimidation, yet each path is legally dubious and risky.
  3. Those tactics are more likely to backfire than succeed, potentially hurting Republican prospects and helping Democrats win Congress, which would greatly curb his power.

How a Billionaire Friend Changed Trump’s Mind About Pot

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 222 implied HN points • 16 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. A billionaire friend persuaded the president to reverse long-standing Republican opposition to marijuana through a close personal relationship.
  2. The influencer made his fortune by pioneering affinity credit cards and now lives in a lavish Palm Beach estate.
  3. Personal ties can change political positions, showing that relationships sometimes matter more than party orthodoxy.

Make America Pay Again

Slack Tide by Matt Labash • 211 implied HN points • 21 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. His policies and reckless behavior are costing ordinary people money and leaving them with less spare cash for small purchases.
  2. He added about $2.25 trillion to the national debt in his first year back, pushing the total toward $39 trillion.
  3. Instead of draining the swamp, his actions have worsened fiscal problems by driving debt increases that outpace past yearly jumps.

March 20, 2026

Letters from an American • 27 implied HN points • 21 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. Attacks have escalated to hit major Gulf energy infrastructure like the South Pars gas field, disrupting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and forcing countries to declare force majeure on oil exports.
  2. The U.S. appears to have coordinated strikes and is preparing to send thousands of troops and possibly seize key oil facilities, while congressional Republicans are largely avoiding public oversight and the White House is packaging the war with entertainment-style messaging.
  3. The war is driving up oil prices and inflation, hurting markets and adding huge economic costs, and most Americans disapprove of the military action, especially if it raises gas prices.

It's SOTU Time!

Breaking the News • 1475 implied HN points • 22 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. The State of the Union is one of the few times a president reaches tens of millions of viewers, so how the speech is framed and paced can have outsized impact.
  2. There’s a constant fight between stuffing the SOTU with detailed policy items and focusing on one clear, uplifting theme, and which side wins usually determines whether people keep watching.
  3. A president who prefers rally-style improvisation may struggle with the formal, scripted demands of a SOTU, so pay attention to the first 5–15 minutes, who sits in the guest box, and which Supreme Court justices attend for clues about tone and strategy.

TGIF: The Situation Has Snowballed

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1562 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. The U.S. men's hockey team's dramatic gold-medal win gave us an iconic, bloody-toothed celebration but became controversial after the president called them on speakerphone and made a joke about the women's team.
  2. Sports moments are being heavily politicized, with media and fans reading politics into who cheers for whom and treating athletes' supporters as political statements.
  3. Many people want to celebrate athletic achievement itself — praising both the men's hockey team and athletes like Eileen Gu — instead of letting national ties or politics erase admiration.

There Is No MAGA Split on Iran

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 370 implied HN points • 12 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. Major outlets are claiming there's a split in the MAGA movement over the Iran war, pointing to anti-war figures like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly.
  2. The piece argues that this narrative is driven by a handful of high-profile commentators and commentators’ platforms, not a broad base rebellion.
  3. Polling shows there isn’t a large MAGA split on Iran, which contradicts much of the media coverage.

Friday Funnies: Trump, You Magnificent Bastard!

Who is Robert Malone • 44 implied HN points • 20 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. The post highlights a witty exchange by President Trump and treats it as a funny, crowd-pleasing moment that celebrates surprise and boldness.
  2. It mocks government fear-mongering about backyard eggs and raw milk, arguing that’s absurd when many public restrooms are dirtier and more hazardous.
  3. It shifts to lighter, personal notes about the spring equinox and farm life, celebrating longer days, renewal, and the pleasure of getting outside.

The lifeline election (part one)

Comment is Freed • 126 implied HN points • 17 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. If Democrats win both the House and Senate they could seriously constrain the President by blocking appointments, subpoenaing officials, stalling budgets, and launching investigations, though they still couldn’t remove him or stop all presidential powers.
  2. The House is likely to flip to the Democrats — Republicans hold a narrow four-seat majority, polls favor Democrats, and competing gerrymanders in different states largely cancel each other out.
  3. The Senate is far more competitive and could go either way: Democrats need multiple pickups, nine key Senate contests will decide control, and rising concerns about Trump’s approval and candidate choices have made control roughly a 50/50 outcome while raising worries he might try to undermine fair contests.

Guess they were more B-O-R-E-D of Peace

The Rubesletter by Matt Ruby (of Vooza) | Sent every Tuesday • 570 implied HN points • 01 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. War with Iran would be risky and unpredictable, and trying to force regime change from the air without clear goals, congressional approval, or a postwar plan could have serious, unforeseen consequences.
  2. The president’s McDonald’s spectacle with the U.S. men’s hockey team shows crass, politicized showmanship and how pulling athletes into political theater can backfire; public apologies often don’t satisfy outrage culture and can incentivize denial.
  3. The BAFTAs incident where a person with Tourette’s shouted a racial slur raises a painful dilemma between condemning racism and being sensitive to neurodivergence and ableism, forcing a hard conversation about accountability versus compassion.

Will Trump Call Time on the Iran War?

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 268 implied HN points • 10 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. Trump says the military campaign is largely complete and is running ahead of the original timeline.
  2. Israeli leaders fear he may cut the campaign short again, repeating a past pattern of limited patience.
  3. Israel wants a longer operation—roughly four to five weeks—to exhaust its list of targets because the current 11-day window is seen as too short.

Donald Trump’s Feel-Good State of the Union

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 783 implied HN points • 25 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. He used an upbeat "we're winning" message to sell the first year of his second presidency. That tone was meant to distract from slipping approval ratings and weak midterm prospects.
  2. He mixed patriotic pageantry with partisan provocation, spotlighting Olympic athletes and awarding a Medal of Freedom. Those theatrical moments were aimed at energizing supporters and setting a triumphant mood.
  3. The address was designed to reset his presidency and revive a proven campaign formula. It focused on projecting confidence and highlighting achievements to shift the political narrative.

Trump’s Tariffs Are Down—but Not Out

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 867 implied HN points • 20 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. The Supreme Court struck down the president’s broad country-by-country reciprocal tariffs, and the president quickly moved to impose new tariffs under a different legal authority.
  2. Not all tariffs were affected by the ruling — industry-specific tariffs remain in place, so parts of the trade policy survive.
  3. The justices were sharply divided, with different blocs offering different legal reasons and a strong dissent, leaving the legal question unsettled and open to future challenges.

One Voice

Steady • 27772 implied HN points • 06 Feb 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. A federal appeals court rejected Donald Trump's immunity claim for alleged crimes regarding the 2020 election.
  2. The court panel comprised of judges from both Democratic and Republican parties unanimously ruled against Trump.
  3. Trump has a tight deadline to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court as his legal strategies face challenges.

Mr. President, Don’t Mock the Dead

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 5105 implied HN points • 15 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. President Trump posted a mocking response to the horrifying death of a film icon on Truth Social, and that choice was an unthinking cruelty that a national leader shouldn’t show.
  2. Americans have grown numb to his social media taunts, yet he still finds ways to shock with especially callous comments.
  3. Some Republican lawmakers may distance themselves by claiming they didn’t see the post, and the editorial demands accountability instead of avoidance.

TGIF: Bored of Peace

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 2007 implied HN points • 23 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. President Trump has launched a U.S.-led “Board of Peace” pitched as an alternative to the United Nations, but its purpose, powers, and structure remain vague.
  2. Headlines that a permanent seat would cost $1 billion sparked outrage, and the White House’s reply reframed it as a vague “demonstration of commitment,” making the setup look like pay-to-play membership.
  3. Many see the move as more spectacle and branding than a serious diplomatic institution, with skepticism about replacing established bodies like the UN or NATO.

The problem with Tucker

Michael Tracey • 152 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. Urging prayer instead of concrete political or civic action encourages passivity and weakens efforts to address real crises.
  2. Publicly allying with a powerful politician erodes independent scrutiny, leading to blame-shifting onto others rather than holding that leader accountable.
  3. Spreading conspiratorial, evidence-light theories degrades public reasoning and diverts attention from practical responses, which is especially dangerous during an active war.

TGIF: ICE on Ice

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1956 implied HN points • 16 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. Most politicians are unpopular right now, and Democrats are struggling to find an effective response to a performative, transactional Trump who dominates the news cycle.
  2. American diplomacy is being disrupted by presidential priorities, illustrated by the G7 being delayed because of a planned MMA birthday event.
  3. The news roundup mixes alarming and surreal moments—incendiary political claims, extremist-inspired crimes, and odd tech stories like an app that asks “Are you dead?”—showing a blend of outrage, spectacle, and weirdness in public life.

Donald Trump’s State of Exhaustion

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 324 implied HN points • 25 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. The State of the Union no longer moves the public. It still serves as a clear window into what the president and his team are thinking.
  2. The recent speech revealed an exhaustion of ambition and no clear agenda for the rest of the term. It failed to clarify priorities or lay out a concrete plan.
  3. The administration lacks an organized policy process and is not meeting normal budget deadlines. It operates largely as an extension of the president's personal whims rather than a conventional governing team.

What’s the “Chevron doctrine,” and why should you want to preserve it?

Robert Reich • 21187 implied HN points • 16 Jan 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. The Chevron doctrine allows agencies to interpret laws to protect the public, but it's under threat
  2. Challenges to the Chevron doctrine could give judges, not experts, power to invalidate regulations
  3. Corporate interests are pushing to end the Chevron doctrine to increase profits and reduce public protections

Niall Ferguson: Trump, the Midterms, and the Six-Year Itch

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 871 implied HN points • 02 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. The US constitutional election cycle creates a predictable "six-year itch" where second-term presidents often see their domestic agenda stall and face scandals, crises, or public fatigue.
  2. Historically the president's party almost always loses seats in the midterms, which can leave the president politically weakened or a lame duck for the rest of the term.
  3. Even energetic leaders with foreign-policy successes can be hit by this cycle, so Trump is vulnerable to the same midterm troubles in a second term.

THE FEAR THAT DROVE TRUMP TO WAR

Seymour Hersh • 28 implied HN points • 19 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. Fear of a nuclear Iran — even if exaggerated — was presented as the main justification for the recent war and the resulting slaughter.
  2. Senior U.S. military figures engaged in highly secret contacts with Iran’s military leadership, including indirect dealings with the supreme leader, showing intense behind-the-scenes engagement before open conflict.
  3. A pointed joke about the supreme leader captures how officials saw him as inscrutable and suggests that dark humor and misperception played into serious decision-making.

The State of the Union Is Overstated

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 282 implied HN points • 24 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. State of the Union speeches used to shape history, but today they mostly play out as partisan theater for tribal audiences.
  2. Nothing a president says in the speech is likely to break deep polarization or meaningfully reverse current political headwinds.
  3. Media and public obsession with parsing every line and reaction exaggerates the speech’s real impact compared with steady trends like approval ratings.

Transcript - America This Week, Jan 23, 2026: "Why Davos Sucks."

TK News by Matt Taibbi • 1061 implied HN points • 24 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. A flood and cleanup revealed how trauma can make people keep seemingly useless receipts and mementos, while others reject hoarding altogether.
  2. A political leader framed international relations in blunt, street-level dealmaking language and even hinted at using force when discussing territorial demands.
  3. That rhetoric points to a broader shift from moral or normative talk toward naked transactionalism in global politics, which unsettles traditional diplomatic norms.

MAGA’s new excuse for Iran war: Israel made us do it

Aaron Mate • 209 implied HN points • 03 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. Top Republican leaders argued the US struck Iran preemptively because Israel was going to attack and a US strike was needed to prevent Iranian retaliation against American forces.
  2. The president publicly contradicted that claim, saying he acted on his own judgment that Iran would attack first rather than being forced by Israel.
  3. Independent reporting indicates the US and Israel had planned attacks on Iran for months, suggesting the strikes were part of a coordinated push for regime change rather than a purely defensive move.

Our Unserious President

Slack Tide by Matt Labash • 203 implied HN points • 02 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. The president is acting unserious, focusing on gold drapes and ballroom plans instead of treating a new military action with the solemnity it requires.
  2. The administration’s reasons for the war keep shifting while people are dying—U.S. service members and innocent civilians, including schoolgirls—showing real consequences behind the rhetoric.
  3. This mix of vanity and shifting justifications exposes misplaced priorities and hollow patriotism, and true patriotism should involve honestly questioning leaders and policies.

Trump’s Immunity Defense Crumbles

The Status Kuo • 14662 implied HN points • 10 Jan 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. The panel was skeptical of Trump's absolute immunity claim, even a Republican appointee was doubtful.
  2. Allowing presidential immunity from prosecution could lead to dangerous outcomes, like enabling the president to order assassinations.
  3. The Judgment Impeachment Clause argument is weak, as it does not provide absolute immunity from prosecution for a president.

The lawless presidency

Popular Information • 13306 implied HN points • 22 Jan 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. Donald Trump argues for absolute immunity for any crimes committed as President.
  2. The Constitution allows for Presidents to be criminally prosecuted, even after leaving office.
  3. It is crucial for government officials, including the President, to consider the legality of their actions and comply with the law.

A New Rule for Social Interactions with Anyone Who Ever Voted for or Thought of Voting for Donald Trump

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 499 implied HN points • 02 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. People who voted for or even thought of voting for Donald Trump should start interactions by apologizing, repenting, and agreeing to let someone less easily grifted guide all their future voting decisions.
  2. Trump’s plan to close the Kennedy Center leans on vague claims of “highly respected experts,” but there’s no public record of prior warnings, so the closure looks like a post hoc justification rather than a long-standing necessity.
  3. There are real worries about his mental fitness, and it’s alarming that he hasn’t been declared incompetent or had a guardian appointed despite actions that raise serious doubts about who should be making major decisions.

American Cruelty Fatigue

Erik Examines • 1075 implied HN points • 11 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Presidency
  1. Cruel actions by institutions like ICE and the permissive politics of the Trump era have deeply damaged trust in America and sparked strong moral outrage.
  2. America was once a bold, inspiring global role model, so its current behavior is especially harmful because the country’s example has wide ripple effects around the world.
  3. History shows societies can change over generations, as with postwar Germany, but real recovery takes a long time and many people tied to the current political movement may never change.