November 3, 2025

From the AP's live updates: “... Donald Trump’s administration said Monday that it will partially fund SNAP after a pair of judges’ rulings required it to keep the food aid program running. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had planned to freeze payments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program starting Nov. 1 because it said it could no longer keep funding it due to the shutdown.... It’s not clear how much beneficiaries will receive, nor how quickly beneficiaries will see value show up on the debit cards they use to buy groceries. The process of loading the SNAP cards, which involves steps by state and federal government agencies and vendors, can take up to two weeks in some states.” ~~~

     ~~~ Update. The New York Times liveblog now says, “The roughly 42 million Americans who receive aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will get only partial payments from the federal government this month, the Trump administration told a federal judge. The administration said it would not tap additional money to fund full payments in November, the second month of the government shutdown. At the same time, a separate food aid program for low-income women and children, commonly known as WIC, received more temporary funding.” ~~~

Tony Romm: “The Trump administration said in a second filing with the court that the money it is provisioning for SNAP — derived from an emergency reserve — would cover '50% of eligible households’ current allotments,' meaning that many low-income families could once again be in dire straits in a matter of days or weeks.” ~~~ 

     ~~~ Update 2. A Washington Post story is here. 

Carol Leonnig & Adam Davies from an adaptation of an excerpt from their book Injustice, published by MSNBC, on the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago for classified documents and other items which Donald Trump stole from the White House: “'If it was anybody else, we would arrest him tomorrow,' [Julie] Edelstein [-- a top DOJ expert on mishandling classified documents --] said. Knowingly taking classified documents outside of a secure government facility was a crime, plain and simple, she explained. Trying to conceal them after receiving a May subpoena to return all classified records, as Trump had, made the crime far worse, she argued.... Trump has said recently that the search at Mar-a-Lago violated his civil rights and that he is considering authorizing the Justice Department to pay him $230 million in damages. But these new revelations from an unprecedented probe run counter to Trump’s insistence that he was mistreated and that he engaged in no criminal wrongdoing in withholding top-secret documents at his private social club.” Thanks to RAS for the link.

Mehdi Hasan does a bit of fact-checking of Trump's answers to Nora O'Donnell's softball questions: "There were so many falsehoods and half-truths, and so little pushback, that after a while, I gave up. I stopped counting. Here’s what I did manage to catch, in terms of brazen lies, all of which were left unrebutted, uncorrected, unchallenged, by O’Donnell[.]" Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

~~~ Marie: Here, BTW, are Sam Stein & Will Saletan of the Bulwark discussing the interview. I'm not necessarily recommending you spend the better part of 20 minutes listening to this, but if you'd like to goof off for a few minutes, listening to them diss Trump might be more amusing than twiddling your thumbs:

New York City Mayoral Race. Geoff Earle of the New York Post: “House Republicans are exploring ways to prevent Zohran Mamdani from ever being sworn in as mayor even if he prevails in Tuesday’s election by using the Constitution’s 'insurrection clause.'... The New York Young Republican Club ... cites language in the post-Civil War 14th Amendment to the Constitution barring from office anyone who 'engaged in insurrection or rebellion' or who has 'given aid or comfort to the enemies.' The group argues that Mamdani’s own statements calling to resist ICE could violate the prohibition.... It’s the same provision Colorado used to try to kick Trump off the ballot last year, only to get slapped down by the Supreme Court. The high court ruled that it was up to Congress to enforcement the amendment....  Proponents would like to see a congressional vote on declaring Mamdani ineligible, although that would mean getting it through the narrow 219-213 Republican House majority and overcoming a Senate filibuster should leaders decide to put it on the floor. It would also have to survive any court challenge to removing a popularly elected official.... Meanwhile, House Republicans are doubling down on their effort to push the Justice Department to probe Mamdani’s path to citizenship.” Via RAS in today's Comments. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't know what-all Mamdani may have said, but it would have to be pretty radical to qualify as insurrection. Urging people to resist agents who threaten, unlawfully detain and physically attack American citizens & other residents is not insurrection. It's as American as apple pie & Old Glory.

Lauren Hirsch & Rebecca Robbins of the New York Times: “Kimberly-Clark, the consumer products giant that owns Kleenex and Huggies, said on Monday that it agreed to spend about $40 billion to acquire Kenvue, the embattled maker of Tylenol, which has fought unproven claims by the Trump administration that link the common pain reliever to autism. Shares of Kenvue have plummeted this year as U.S. health officials have claimed that acetaminophen — the active ingredient in Tylenol — was linked to autism. In September, President Trump said that pregnant women should 'fight like hell not to take it.' Kenvue’s stock rebounded strongly on the deal announcement, rising 20 percent in premarket trading. Kimberly-Clark’ shares fell more than 10 percent, which if sustained would drag the company’s value down to a multiyear low.”

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Josh Gerstein & Alex Gangitano of Politico: “... Donald Trump said Sunday he won’t be in attendance at the Supreme Court this week for a pivotal legal showdown that could gut the tariff policy at the center of his economic agenda. Trump had flirted publicly with going to the oral arguments in the tariff case Wednesday, even though such a move by a sitting president would appear unprecedented. But as he returned to the White House from Florida on Sunday, he told reporters on Air Force One that he doesn’t plan to go. At about the same time, Trump posted a longer statement on Truth Social, slipping in confirmation he won’t be at the crucial high court session.”

Nora O'Donnell, et al., of CBS News: Donald "Trump slammed Democrats as 'crazed lunatics' who have "lost their way," blaming them for a government shutdown poised to become the longest in history with no deal in sight. But he offered no immediate plan to address health care costs, a sticking point for Democrats who want Republicans to agree to extend government subsidies for the more than 20 million Americans with Obamacare.... 'We should fix that. Fix it. And we can fix it with the Democrats,' he said 'All they have to do is let the country open and we'll fix it.' Mr. Trump has talked about fixing the health care system for years, including during his first term in office. 'We almost did it. We were one vote short,' he said. That was in 2017, when Senate Republicans failed by one vote to partially repeal Obamacare. There has never been an agreed-upon plan to replace it, and Mr. Trump did not offer a plan in his interview with 60 Minutes." ~~~

~~~ Aliza Chasen of CBS News: Donald "Trump ... says Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids 'haven't gone far enough.' As part of his crackdown on immigration, ICE agents have raided neighborhoods throughout the U.S. One video shows a mother being tackled by an agent. Tear gas was used in a Chicago residential neighborhood. Car windows have been smashed to grab drivers. 'I think they haven't gone far enough because we've been held back by the judges, by the liberal judges that were put in by Biden and by Obama,'  Mr. Trump said. He said he's OK with the tactics being used by ICE 'because you have to get the people out.'" MB: And to tell with Constitutional rights, much less human rights and human decency. ~~~

     ~~~ Because This Is A-Okay. Rebecca Boone of the AP: “Police in a Chicago suburb are collecting videos and other evidence to send to the Illinois attorney general’s office after a car crash involving a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle led to a violent arrest caught on video showing an agent repeatedly punching a man in the head while pinned to the [asphalt].... The Department of Homeland Security later said the officer delivered 'defensive strikes' after the man 'grabbed the agent’s genitals and squeezed.'... Immigration agents arrested three people after a sedan collided with the rear of the U.S. Border Patrol vehicle around noon Friday in the city of Evanston. The episode drew a crowd of onlookers and quickly escalated. Videos posted to social media show some in the crowd appearing to try to interfere with the arrests. Federal agents are seen at times deploying pepper spray, punching a man who approaches the officers, and pointing a gun in the direction of another woman who opened the agents’ vehicle door, where a detainee had been placed.” MB: For video of this multiple-incident encounter, see Sam Stein's podcast near the top of yesterday's page. ~~~

     ~~~ ⭐AND So Is This. Sidney Reid, a Washington, D.C., resident who was arrested, charged, tried and acquitted of felony assault of a federal officer, describes her ordeal in an essay published by MSNBC. The agent tried to take Reid's phone from her while she was recording what ICE officers were doing with detained men. The agent threw Reid against a wall and handcuffed her, and told her, “If you just minded your own f---ing business, this wouldn’t happen.” Reid writes, “Observing and recording what my government does — which is what I was doing when I got arrested — is my business.” ~~~

~~~ Barak Ravid of Axios: Donald "Trump told CBS' '60 Minutes' that he'll 'be involved' in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial 'to help him out a little bit.'... I don't think they treat him very well. He's under trial for some things, and I don't think they treat him very well,' he said, adding: 'We'll be involved in that to help him out a little bit, because I think it's very unfair.'" MB: How nice to know that Trump will take a little time off from interfering in our judicial processes to interfere in Israel's judicial processes. ~~~

~~~ CBS News' “60 Minutes” Edits Out Trumpersnit. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: “...  Donald Trump got snippy as he was pressed about a suspicious pardon for a cryptocurrency billionaire linked to his own family ... but that question got slashed out of the broadcast, The Daily Beast reported.... The question ... related to clemency for Binance cryptocurrency exchange founder Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao.... 'This is a question about pardons,' said [Nora] O'Donnell. '... I do want to ask you about crypto's richest man, a billionaire known as C.Z. He pled guilty in 2023 to violating anti-money laundering laws.'... C.Z., noted the report, 'previously struck a $2 billion deal with the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial.' 

“'I don't know who he is,' Trump cut in, but, 'I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that, and I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.' When O'Donnell asked Trump whether he was at all concerned about the appearance of corruption, he complained [,] 'I can’t say, because — I can’t say — I’m not concerned,' said Trump. 'I don’t — I’d rather not have you ask the question. But I let you ask it. You just came to me and you said, “Can I ask another question?” And I said, yeah. This is the question.' Key portions of this questioning, The Beast reported, did not make it into either the 28-minute TV edit or the 73-minute 'extended' cut of the interview – despite the MAGA social media site bragging that it was a  'full' interview.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Somewhere between 20 and 50 percent of Trump's entire net worth is tied up with this C.Z. guy and Trump doesn't know who he is. That's believable. ~~~

~~~ At the top of today's Comments, NiskyGuy asks (rhetorically, I presume), "If the producers edited the 60 Minutes interview with t****, will Paramount pay Kamala Harris $16 million?" I'm going to guess the answer is "no": ~~~

     ~~~ Brian Stelter of CNN: Donald “Trump appeared on '60 Minutes' Sunday night, one year after suing the CBS show over the editing of a Kamala Harris interview — and he was well aware that his answers would similarly be trimmed for time. 'You don’t have to use that one,' Trump remarked after an awkward exchange with interviewer Norah O’Donnell about crime in Washington, D.C. 'You don’t have to put this on, because I don’t wanna embarrass you,' Trump said at another point while praising the new owners of CBS. The newsmagazine’s producers evidently agreed that those moments weren’t the most newsworthy. CBS News aired about a third of O’Donnell’s sit-down with Trump on TV, and posted most of the rest on YouTube. The network also published the complete transcript of the 90-minute interview online.” Stelter reports some of the controversies surrounding both the Harris & Trump interviews. ~~~

     ~~~ CBS News says this is the full transcript of O'Donnell's interview of Trump. 

Marie: It's nice to see that Trump's Gatsby party got attention not just from lefties like Sam Stein (see yesterday's page) and from gossipy-type sites but from the MSM: ~~~ 

     ~~~ Fritz Farrow & Ivan Pereira of ABC News: "... Donald Trump has come under fire after he hosted a 'Great Gatsby'-themed Halloween party just hours before millions of Americans lost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits."

Anna Griffin of the New York Times: “A federal judge ruled late Sunday that the Trump administration cannot send in National Guard soldiers to Portland, Ore., for another five days, until she makes her final decision in the case. But she strongly suggested that she would keep them out permanently. Judge Karin Immergut, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, issued a preliminary injunction, which essentially extends her earlier temporary restraining order blocking ... [Donald] Trump from using Guard troops to protect an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in the city that has been the site of daily protests since early June. Judge Immergut said she needed more time to fully consider the 'voluminous' evidence and three days of testimony she heard in a trial last week.... She said would issue a final ruling on the case by 5 p.m. local time on Friday. But in explaining the injunction, Judge Immergut, a Trump appointee, said the federal government had not proven its case based on what she had reviewed so far. She also said that the evidence so far indicated that the proposed deployment violated the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which says that powers the Constitution does not give to the federal government belong to the states.”

Marie: We all should be frightened that the nitwit with his finger on the U.S. nuclear button has proved he has no idea what he's talking about, as Tom Nichols of the Atlantic noted last week:. After Trump tweeted that he had "instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis," Nichols wrote, "Almost none of [what Trump wrote] is right."~~~

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: “The nuclear testing ordered by ... [Donald] Trump will not involve nuclear explosions, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday, adding that the testing would involve 'the other parts of a nuclear weapon' to ensure they are working properly. Mr. Wright’s comments came four days after Mr. Trump made the declaration that he was ordering the U.S. military to resume nuclear testing 'on an equal basis' with other countries, raising the specter of a return to the worst days of the Cold War. 'I think the tests we’re talking about right now are systems tests,' Mr. Wright said in an interview on the Fox News show 'The Sunday Briefing.'  'These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call noncritical explosions.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: “Asked for clarification by reporters later [on the day he made the announcement], Trump did not make clear whether he was calling for the U.S. to restart explosive nuclear weapons testing or ordering new testing of weapons systems that could deliver a nuclear weapon, which is more routine.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That of course is because Trump was clueless. Here was his “answer” when asked on AF1 to clarify: “You’ll find out very soon. But we’re going to do some testing, yeah.... Other countries do it. If they’re going to do it, we’re going to do it. I’m not going to say here.” And this: “Trump [had] initially ignored a question from a reporter on the announcement during his meeting with Xi, but told reporters after that the news 'had to do with others' when asked whether it had to do with Xi. 'They seem to all be nuclear testing. We have more nuclear weapons than anybody,' the president said. 'We don’t do testing, and we halted it many years ago, but with others doing testing, I think it’s appropriate that we do also.' North Korea is the only country that has carried out nuclear testing since the 1990s.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't know why it took four days to clarify this. Maybe Wright thought it prudent not to immediately contradict Trump. By delaying his clarification, perhaps it seems more like it was our misunderstanding rather than Trump's ignorance. (Trump's "answers" don't make sense. The U.S. has been testing its delivery systems all along. Trump was essentially ordering DOD to do something the DOE routinely does. He's just an ignoramus. And he doesn't care.) To be fair, Trump seldom knows what he's talking about, no matter what the subject. Whether the issue is as trivial as the decor in a White House bathroom or as consequential as nuclear armaments, Trump just "goes in, guns-a-blazing": ~~~

~~~ Rachel Chason & Abiodun Jamiu of the Washington Post: “Nigerians described a mixture of confusion and fear on Sunday as people across the country tried to decipher ... Donald Trump’s threat to stop all aid to Africa’s most populous country and go in 'guns-a-blazing' after accusing Nigeria’s government of allowing 'the killing of Christians.'... Nigeria is a diverse, multiethnic country of more than 230 million with a population that is roughly split between Muslims and Christians.... Analysts say violence in the country has broadly impacted Nigerians, regardless of their religion.... On Friday, Trump announced that he would designate Nigeria a 'country of particular concern,' placing the country on a watch list of states thought to systemically violate religious freedoms. The move, pushed by [Texas Sen. Ted] Cruz, opens the door to punitive sanctions, but does not necessitate their imposition.”

Karl Mathiesen, et al., of Politico: “European negotiators were personally targeted by their American counterparts during a brutal negotiation over green shipping rules, European Commission officials told Politico — a highly unusual gambit that left diplomats shaken after the meeting. The threats were made last month, as the U.S. maneuvered to block a new effort to tax pollution at a meeting of the International Maritime Organization in London. Eight envoys, officials and civil society observers from Europe..., confirmed national delegates had reported they had been threatened with personal consequences if they went against Washington.... 'People being summoned to the U.S. Embassy in London — intimidation, threats of cessation of business, threats of family members losing visas.'... Since Donald Trump’s return to office, the administration has sought to undermine global climate policy and promote U.S. fossil fuel interests.... The threats were not limited to European delegations....

“In a close vote, the summit chose to delay the emissions tax for a year — a feat viewed by many as a near-death blow to the measure and a major victory for Trump.... U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said he and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins had personally called more than 20 countries to pressure them. A senior Western diplomat confirmed the U.S. threatened Caribbean countries with tariffs if they did not agree to postpone the shipping emissions decision.”

Paul Krugman: "During [Donald Trump's] recent Asian trip, foreign leaders flattered him and showered him with personal gifts, so he came home with his ego even more inflated than usual. Nobody close to him would dare tell him that if you look at the substance of what he agreed to, it amounted to an ignominious retreat. When Chuck Schumer pointed out the reality of what Trump didn’t accomplish, [Trump's] reaction was hysterical: [He tweeted that Schumer's remarks were 'almost treasonous!!!'] The whole world knows ... Trump’s ... confrontation with China has ended up demonstrating Chinese strength and American weakness.... If this was a trade war, China won. Why?... [Trump] was clearly oblivious [to China's advantages], imposing punitive tariffs without any apparent awareness that China could strike back.... Add in the way that Trump has alienated our allies, and it seems fair to say that America is no longer the world’s leading power. Unless a future president can engineer a miraculous recovery in our global stature, the future now belongs to China."

Everything Is Gong Very Smoothly. Christina Jewitt of the New York Times: “Dr. George Tidmarsh, the head of the Food and Drug Administration’s drug division, resigned on Sunday amid an investigation into criticism he aired publicly about a drug tied to a former business associate. Dr. Tidmarsh said he believed the review was opened in retaliation to concerns he raised last week about the legal basis of a new program for the rapid approval of some new drugs. Dr. Tidmarsh, a drug industry veteran who joined the agency in July, said in an interview Sunday that he believed the new program injected politics into the drug review program, superseding decisions based on science. Late on Sunday, a pharmaceutical company lodged explosive claims against Dr. Tidmarsh in a lawsuit claiming that the regulator had acted vengefully against its board chairman and investor, Kevin C. Tang, who had previously asked Dr. Tidmarsh to leave several companies. The lawsuit claimed that Dr. Tidmarsh attempted to extort him. Dr. Tidmarsh denied the allegations.... The tumult at the F.D.A. is just the latest in a series of ousters, firings and high-profile disagreements under the nation’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.” ~~~

     ~~~ Will McDuffie of ABC News: Dr. Tidmarsh “claimed the move [-- putting him on administrative leave --] was in retaliation for his speaking out against Vinay Prasad, the FDA’s chief medical and scientific officer. Tidmarsh said he had criticized a new regulatory process at the FDA designed to speed up the review process for certain drugs. Tidmarsh raised concerns about the legality of the arrangement, which uses a tumor board-style review process to fast-track approvals for 'companies aligned with critical U.S. national health priorities,' according to an FDA description of the program.” 

Scott Clement, et al., of the Washington Post: “Americans broadly disapprove of how ... Donald Trump is handling his job, and a majority say he has gone too far in exercising the powers of his office, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll. But a year out from the 2026 midterm elections, there is little evidence that negative impressions of Trump’s performance have accrued to the benefit of the Democratic Party, with voters split almost evenly in their support for Democrats and Republicans.” ~~~

~~~ Ezra Klein of the New York Times, based on different polling, draws the same conclusion even though, as he writes, “You can imagine a world where the violence and corruption of President Trump’s first nine months in office had led to a collapse in support for him and his party.” For Democrats to prevail, Klein argues, will “require a more pluralistic approach to politics.” Then he goes on to essentially contradict himself. He argues that Democratic politicians must cater to local sensibilities at the same time he says that social media have made all politics national. “... what happened over the past 15 years is that the Democratic Party has made room on its left and closed down on its right.” Klein concentrates on the these two facts, which together create a structural challenge for Democrats: (1) Unlike many systems, the U.S. federal is “place-based”: “Democrats don’t just need to win more people. They also need to win more places.” (2) “Trump and the Republicans lead a coalition built on overwhelming strength in rural counties. America’s place-based politics gives rural places disproportionate political power. Trump and the Republicans can hold power with a smaller coalition than Democrats can.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Millions of years ago, the Appalachians were the tallest mountains on Earth. Old age has worn them down. I think of Klein's arguments as Appalachian: they're nothing new. But as worn down as his points are, he isn't wrong. I wrote the other day that Democrats have a recruitment problem, and I don't think I'm wrong, either. For instance, I feel sure there are at least 20 people in Maine who have never had Nazi tattoos and who would make good candidates for U.S. Senate AND would be a good senator. I don't know who they are, and neither does Chuck Schumer or Kirsten Gillibrand, who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. A person who does know is Maine Gov. Janet Mills. But instead of recruiting one or more of these potential candidates, the 77-year-old governor, bless her heart, has put herself in the running for Maine's freshman senator. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, Heather Cox Richardson looks at how Nazism fits into the GOP.  

     ~~~ Marie: When you think about it for half a sec, you realize that The Great Unwashed have a lot of trouble deciding whether they prefer to live in a fascist state or a democratic one. We may assume that of course Americans are democrats; my God, we fought an all-consuming war to save the world for democracy. But the truth is that living in society means living in conditions that aren't all that different from fascism; that is, most of us obey societal "norms." Some of us are better at obeying those rules than are others. For, instance, if  you live in a small, conservative town, you may consciously or unconsciously follow quite strictly-conforming standards of behavior. (Then again, if that's where you live and you're a teenager, you may disobey the rules and/or move to New York City!) That is, if you're already living like the Church Lady, it's not that difficult to curb your own speech or go along with discriminating against tribal "outsiders" or nonconformists. Even those of us who consider ourselves to be "liberal" or rules-breakers quite often "go along to get along" on the excuse that it's just easier. That is to say, I'm quite good at being a cranky old lady, but I also pick my fights.