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Is The American Dream Dying Right Before Our Eyes?
A new Times YouGov poll tells us the American Dream is gasping for air. Fifty-nine percent of Americans now say the dream’s less reachable today than when they were growing up. Only 45 percent think they can achieve it even if they work hard. The partisan split’s stark. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans say the dream exists for everyone. Only 28 percent of Democrats agree. A Wall Street Journal poll last year found nearly 70 percent of adults say the dream never held up or doesn’t anymore. A record low. Men and women, rich and poor, young and old, all feel the squeeze. And here’s the kicker. For the first time in over fifty years, more people are leaving America than coming in. About 150,000 more. That’s what forty years of trickle-down economics, union-busting, and billionaire worship gets us. A country so broken, working people are heading for the exits.
World Leaders Mock Trump’s Iran War Lies Behind His Back
Raw Story reports that foreign officials, even our closest allies, are privately laughing at Donald Trump over his wildly conflicting statements on the Iran war. One senior Israeli official put it this way, and I quote, if we put Trump’s statements into ChatGPT, it will implode. End quote. Why? Because Trump keeps declaring America’s already won the war, though none of his stated war aims have been met. He falsely claimed the Strait of Hormuz fully re-opened. He falsely claimed many countries were sending warships to help the U.S. He announces ceasefires that Iran immediately denies. He issues genocidal threats, sets deadlines, then walks them back days later. Israeli officials told Channel 12 they do believe Trump wants a negotiated end to the war, but nobody can read him. This is the man holding the nuclear codes. When even Israeli officials think his brain short-circuits ChatGPT, we’ve got a serious problem. America’s word used to mean something. Now the world’s snickering behind our backs.
Why Should Democrats Finally Fight Fire With Fire?
Tomorrow, Virginia voters decide whether to temporarily suspend their bipartisan redistricting commission and let Democrats redraw the state’s congressional map. If it passes, Republicans lose four House seats. Here’s why that’s fair. Republicans have rigged maps for decades. In Wisconsin, they hold 75 percent of House seats while winning just 48 percent of the statewide vote. In North Carolina, 71 percent of seats on 48 percent of the vote. Nine more seats are being stolen from Democrats through mid-decade Republican redistricting in Texas, Ohio, Missouri, and North Carolina. Only 9 percent of Americans think partisan gerrymandering should be legal. That’s on par with folks who believe Bigfoot’s real. Democrats keep introducing bills to ban gerrymandering nationwide. Republicans keep killing them. So until the rules change, Democrats have a moral duty to use every legal tool to stop Trump’s plan to rig the midterms. A fair fight only works if both sides fight fair.
Trump Crashes The Press Dinner He Spent A Decade Hating
This Saturday, Donald Trump ends a ten-year boycott and walks into the White House Correspondents Association dinner. The same press he calls fake news, enemy of the people, treasonous. The same press he sues, bans from briefings, and strips of White House access. So what could go wrong? Plenty. The WHCA is handing the Wall Street Journal its top honor that night, the Katherine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability. For what? For breaking the story about Trump’s filthy birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein. Trump will be sitting right there when they hand it out. The correspondents picked a mentalist named Oz Pearlman to headline after they cancelled comedian Amber Ruffin for refusing to censor herself. The press corps spent the past year losing access while pretending to fight back. Now they’re inviting the man who shut them out to dinner. That’s not journalism. That’s surrender.
Did An ICE Agent Just Pull A Gun On Civilians And Flee?
Hennepin County prosecutors have charged ICE agent Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. with two felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. And he’s on the run. Back in February, Morgan was driving an unmarked SUV with no ICE markings, on the shoulder of a Minnesota highway, trying to pass other cars. When a civilian vehicle moved back into traffic, Morgan drew his firearm and aimed it at the two people inside. They were so terrified they called 911. Morgan faces up to seven years in prison and fourteen thousand dollars in fines on each count. A warrant went out on April 16. His whereabouts? Unknown. The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t said a word. This is what happens when you turn federal agents into a paramilitary force with no accountability and let them run masked through our neighborhoods. America used to lock up criminals. Now we put them in uniforms.
Will Clean Energy Finally Break Big Oil’s Grip On Our Wallets?
Democrats are finally connecting the dots progressives have been drawing for years. Trump’s Iran war has sent Brent crude up nearly 32 percent. U.S. gasoline prices up almost 40 percent. Jet fuel up over 92 percent in some places. Americans are paying more than four bucks a gallon at the pump. Meanwhile, domestic oil companies could rake in an extra 63 billion dollars in profit from this war alone. Congressman Ro Khanna’s pushing a bill to ban gasoline exports when prices top $3.12 a gallon, plus a windfall tax on the oil giants. Energy Secretary Chris Wright just defended Trump’s budget that slashes billions from renewable energy, solar, and even the Weatherization Assistance Program that saves low-income families 370 bucks a year. The International Energy Agency says 91 percent of new renewable power is now cheaper than fossil fuels. Clean energy isn’t a luxury. It’s how we break the warmongers’ grip on our paychecks.
And that’s the way it is, Tonight Monday April 20, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
