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Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Meanwhile, in Congress... [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-09-18
We begin today with Colby Smith of The New York Times reporting about the decision by the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors to cut interest rates by one-quarter point to offset an increasingly tough labor market.
The decision to lower borrowing costs for the first time since December shifts interest rates to a range of 4 to 4.25 percent. The decision was not unanimously supported, the second straight meeting that featured at least one dissent from a member of the Board of Governors. Stephen Miran, President Trump’s pick to join the Fed who was sworn in just minutes before the start of the central bank’s two-day meeting on Tuesday, voted in favor of a half-point reduction. [...] In its policy statement, the Fed acknowledged that its views on the labor market had changed, saying that policymakers now judge that the “downside risks to employment have risen.” Mr. Powell repeated that line throughout the news conference, noting that even though inflation had ticked back up over the summer, he was less concerned about it morphing into a persistent problem and more worried about the labor market, which has started to flash ominous signs.
Will Gottsegen of The Atlantic warns that, of course, the interest rates cuts won’t appease the tacky shoe salesman.
A quarter-percent rate cut won’t fulfill Trump’s personal wish for a return to the era of easy money, which is to say that it will probably deepen the rift between Trump and Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Trump called Powell (whom he appointed as chair during his first term) a “stupid person” back in June, and gave him the uninspired nickname “Too Late,” in reference to Powell’s perceived reluctance to lower rates. When Trump visited the Fed in July, after reportedly criticizing the ballooning costs associated with renovating two of its buildings, he and Powell appeared visibly uncomfortable in each other’s presence—Powell all the more so when Trump slapped him on the back and chided him once again for refusing to lower interest rates. In an apparent attempt to backtrack some of his more brazen moves, Trump told reporters yesterday that the Fed should remain independent—but also that it should listen to “smart people like me.” If Trump eventually does somehow cow Fed officials into drastically lowering rates, the result would likely have lasting consequences: a boom in the near term and a bust in the long term. For now, the Fed is still independent; the relative restraint of today’s cut reaffirms that, even if Powell’s comments about the decision revealed no clues as to his confidence in the future. “We’re strongly committed to maintaining our independence,” he said when asked whether Miran’s membership on the board might involve the Fed in day-to-day politics. “Beyond that, I really don’t have anything to share.”
Daniel Payne and Isabella Cueto of STATnews summarize a number of key points of the Senate committee testimony of former CDC Director Susan Monarez about working under HHS secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.
Former CDC Director Susan Monarez and former Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry detailed how health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. muzzled their agency, expanded the roles of political appointees, and pushed ideas without scientific backing. All were a departure from the “radical transparency” and “gold-standard” science he promised senators, and risk making the nation sicker, not healthier, they said. [...] They also outlined Kennedy’s short-term plans, which could include overhauling the childhood vaccine schedule and further politicizing agencies like the CDC to reflect his beliefs and agenda. Kennedy and the Department of Health and Human Services have disputed the former officials’ accounts. [...] Before her firing last month, Monarez was instructed by Kennedy to only listen to and support political appointees at the CDC, and separate herself from career scientists, she testified. Every remaining person in the CDC director’s office is a political appointee, Houry added. Houry and three other senior career staffers resigned in protest after Monarez was pushed out. Many center directors who were also career scientists have been reassigned, fired, or left of their own volition, she added.
Ryan Tarinelli of Roll Call summarizes a House committee meeting FBI Director Kash Patel’s handling of the investigative files of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Lawmakers sparred with FBI Director Kash Patel on Wednesday over his handling of investigative materials related to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and whether his posture changed because President Donald Trump’s name appeared in them. Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, showed videos of Patel saying that the FBI was not releasing a list of Epstein clients because of who is named on it and commenting that the FBI director had authority to release Epstein’s client list as well as direct control of his black book. Those comments from Patel were made before he was in the role of FBI director. [...] Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, a leader in the push to release the Epstein files, told Patel that victims who cooperated with the FBI have said the agency has documents that detail at least 20 high-profile men to whom Epstein trafficked victims. Massie said that includes “one Hollywood producer worth a few hundred million dollars, one royal prince, one high-profile individual in the music industry, one very prominent banker, one high-profile government official, one high-profile former politician, one owner of a car company in Italy, one rock star, one magician, at least six billionaires, including a billionaire from Canada.”
Mychael Schnell of MSNBC reports that with a government shutdown looming, Democrats are taking a stand on preserving tax credits for the Affordable Care Act.
With a government funding deadline less than two weeks away — Sept. 30 — Democrats insist they won’t support any spending bill that doesn’t address their health care concerns, most notably the looming expiration of certain Affordable Care Act tax credits. Republicans say that position is a nonstarter. [...] The enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits are set to lapse at the end of the year. If they expire, millions of people would face higher health care premiums. While Republicans maintain lawmakers could address the tax credits issue later this year — the GOP spending bill goes through only Nov. 21, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Tuesday that the fight is a “December policy issue, not a September funding issue” — Democrats say people making health care decisions need certainty now. Open enrollment begins Nov. 1, and Democrats fear many people will elect not to get health coverage if they’re looking at higher prices.
Jake Lamut of Wired details the Trump regime’s rapid acceleration of further distorting reality over the murder of Turning Point’s Charlie Kirk.
In the week since Kirk’s death, mourning over his shocking loss has metastasized into an unprecedented mobilization effort among the MAGA base, focused on a few main fronts. There is the successful push for firings of regular civilians over the tone and content of their social media posts about Kirk’s death. There is a pendulum swing toward something approaching cancel culture and actual, government-backed censorship on big social media platforms. And then there are the preexisting priorities of the Trump administration. [...] There was talk of unity from some, but the more dominant tone was expressed by Vice President JD Vance when he hosted Kirk’s podcast. “There is no unity with people who scream at children over their parents' politics. There is no unity with someone who lies about what Charlie Kirk said in order to excuse his murder,” he said. “There is no unity with someone who harasses an innocent family the day after the father of that family lost a dear friend. There is no unity with the people who celebrate Charlie Kirk's assassination.” [...] As time went on, there appeared to be only one source of true unity: Agreement between the ultra MAGA and Silicon Valley wings of the party over who the they responsible for Kirk’s murder really is. It’s anyone Republican leaders want it to be. According to one expert, that’s the entire point: Trumpworld and its Republican allies, from influencers to tech overlords, have started to become the digital equivalent of high on their own supply.
Finally today, Lily Conway reviews the online posting of Kirk’s alleged shooter for The Contrarian and sees familiar patterns and language...and it is not the language of “The Left.”
The alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, turned himself in to authorities last Thursday. While we still don’t know much about him or his rationale, it is being speculated that he may have been deeply embedded into alt-right online culture. This is far more plausible than the hypothesis floated on Saturday by Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R): that Robinson had been “indoctrinated into leftist ideology.” When I read what was engraved into the unfired cartridges found with Robinson’s weapon, I immediately identified the internet slang and memes. Four messages were presented: Notices bulges OwO what’s this?
Hey fascist! Catch! [Beside the depiction of five arrow symbols: one up, one right, and three down]
Oh Bella ciao Bella ciao Bella ciao ciao ciao
If you read this, you are gay lmao The first is a copypasta (text repeatedly shared online) parodying the furry community (a subculture interested in sexualized anthropomorphic animals). The second is a phrase and button combination used in the video game Helldivers 2 that calls in an airstrike. The third is a reference to the anti-fascist, anti-Nazi Italian folk song, “Bella Ciao.” The final engraving exemplifies a typical troll joke. For someone unfamiliar with the tactics and communication styles of the online alt-right, these messages may appear as a jumble of nonsense (or even leftist messaging, especially the second and third engravings). However, the alt-right does not communicate through straightforward, earnest speech. Rather, it “weaponizes irony to attract and radicalize potential supporters, challenge progressive ideologies and institutions, redpill normies, and create a toxic counterpublic.” They communicate through terse, coded, and generally offensive phrases meant to signal group recognition. Nothing is said in earnest–in fact, any expression of earnestness is roundly mocked. Every true meaning is hidden under double or triple layers of irony only accessible to the in-group. As Julia Rose DeCook argues, “trolling itself has become a kind of political aesthetic and identity.” Indeed, it’s not unreasonable to question if these users carry any political ideology beyond mockery, irony, and bitter cynicism.
There’s a lot of sobering news but still...try to have the best possible day that you can!
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