Plausible Deniability?

Some gloating here from Scott Jennings, as CNN's resident Trump apologist took delight in slagging the Never Trump movement, the Lincoln Project, and other former Republicans saying they've "bilked millions upon millions upon millions of dollars from Democratic donors." Members of that movement have ridiculed Jennings and others of his ilk given prominent places in the mainstream media to normalize Trump's antics.

There will be endless ink spilled over the 2024 election, trying to sort out the overlapping reasons why the world’s oldest democracy placed its fate in the hands of a would-be strongman who promises to dismantle democratic norms. There are many culprits—rising costs, raw white supremacy—but among them, let’s not forget the role of Chief Justice John Roberts and the US Supreme Court. Under Roberts, American democracy felt humiliating, looked like a joke, and became increasingly tenuous. The Supreme Court has become a major force in American politics in recent years.

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Private jet flights have soared in recent years, with the resulting climate-heating emissions rising by 50 percent, the most comprehensive global analysis to date has revealed. The assessment tracked more than 25,000 private jets and almost 19 million flights between 2019 and 2023.

Over the last few months leading up to the election, I’ve been writing about an ascendant fundamentalist religious movement whose leaders believe that the United States is a Christian nation, that the Constitution is based on the Bible, and that Christians are called to take over the government. These figures have found a powerful ally in President-elect Donald Trump.

Donald Trump’s comeback is now certain, after he decisively won re-election to the White House, but there is growing uncertainty over how his second-term administration will deal with the Asia-Pacific—a region of increasing strategic relevance and home to a number of international economic and security concerns for the U. S. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Experts tell TIME that Trump’s first term, as well as his promises on the campaign trail, can offer clues about his potential approach to Asia.

A federal judge on Thursday struck down a Biden administration policy that aimed to ease a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants who are married to U. S. citizens. The program, lauded as one of the biggest presidential actions to help immigrant families in years, allowed undocumented spouses and stepchildren of U.