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I was back on NewsNation Thursday night, debating immigration on Katie Pavlich’s show. Sitting across from me was Tricia McLaughlin, former DHS spokesperson and one of the most prolific liars to ever grace the American government. Which, if you’ve been paying attention, is really saying something.

And Tricia did what Tricia always does. She lied her ass off about immigrants in this country.

I’ve debated a lot of professional liars over the last year. I’ve come to expect it. But something about sitting next to Tricia McLaughlin on Thursday set me off, because I simply could not put up with her bullshit for one more second.

So I called her a liar to her face. And I reminded the American people exactly who and what she is.

She called it “character assassination.” Maybe I’d feel bad about that if I thought she had a character to assassinate.

So let me remind you who Tricia McLaughlin is.

She’s a woman who stole $220 million in taxpayer money by secretly funneling it to her own husband’s firm. That alone should have ended her career. Instead, she gets to go on TV and feel important/

And as a taxpayer-funded spokesperson, here’s a partial list of what she lied about:

• A Chicago mom shot five times by Border Patrol. Tricia said the woman rammed agents. The body cam shows the agent swerved into her. The government admitted it in court. Her tweet is still up.
  

• Renee Good and Alex Pretti, killed by federal agents in Minneapolis. Tricia called them domestic terrorists who wanted to massacre law enforcement. Video showed Pretti never drew his gun. It was dissent. Even this administration backed off. She didn’t.
  

• A grieving mother who miscarried in ICE custody. Tricia smeared her as a wanted criminal. Court documents prove the warrant had been thrown out. She never corrected it.
  

• A teenage girl violently detained on camera. Tricia claimed it was year-old footage of Chicago PD arresting a burglar. It wasn’t.
  

• A TV news producer. Tricia said she threw objects at Border Patrol. Bystander video contradicted her. The woman was never charged with anything.
  

• And her signature line, that ICE targets “the worst of the worst.” ICE’s own numbers: 73% of people booked since October had no criminal conviction.

This is a person who lies the way the rest of us breathe.

The reason she worked for Donald Trump is because she lies the way he does and she steals the way he does. That’s the whole job description. He surrounds himself with people who have already decided that proximity to power and money is worth whatever’s left of their soul. Tricia made that trade a long time ago. Now she gets to go on TV and keep lying, keep grifting, keep doing the thing she was hired to do, except now she’s doing it on a cable network instead of from you.

The reason they target independent creators is that we don’t answer to a network or an advertiser — we answer to you. That’s what makes us harder to control. So do the three things that keep us in this fight: like this post, share it, and become a paid subscriber to Endless Urgency. Each one makes this movement harder to kill.

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I tweeted the video out. Katie Pavlich was not happy about that. She responded that Tricia is welcome on her show anytime to talk about “violent illegal aliens,” and that she wants guests who will call out anyone who commits heinous crimes like murder, rape, or trafficking.

For a second I thought she was talking about the Trump administration. Or the Epstein files. Or the Tate brothers.

But no. She was talking about immigrants who were living here peacefully.

Look, I’m in favor of removing anyone who commits a violent act. Of course I am. Who isn’t? I’m in favor of securing the border. I think Democrats have, at times, not been strong enough on it, and I’ve said so. But the immigration policies of this administration are indefensible. That’s precisely why people like Tricia McLaughlin have to lie about them all the goddamn time. You don’t need to fabricate a story about a mother who miscarried in custody if the truth is on your side.

There is no reason for her to be on television. It is irresponsible to hand a microphone to someone who lies this brazenly. But they’re going to keep booking her, because she’ll sell whatever racist slop they come up with to scare people. That is the service she provides. And we should all be outraged by it.

And that’s the thing. This comes back to the thing at the core of this newsletter, the thing I keep coming back to with all of you: there is no accountability for anything that happens in Washington.

There is zero gravity in DC. You can say whatever you want. Do whatever you want. Steal whatever you want. Hurt whoever you want. Nothing ever lands. Nobody ever falls.

In fact, the only accountability coming out of Thursday night is that I probably won’t be invited back on Katie’s show. And that’s fine. I’ve got plenty of shit to do. I appreciate the opportunity, and I love a lot of people at NewsNation. But that segment was ridiculous, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise.

If we’re going to live in a civil society, if we’re going to save this democracy, if we’re ever going to get back to a place where we don’t hate each other, then not handing airtime to people who stole from the American taxpayer and lied to the American people on the taxpayer’s dime is probably a good fucking start.

People need to be held accountable for the lies they tell. For the lives they ruin. For the crimes they commit. I don’t think that’s a radical idea. I think it’s supposed to be the basis of this entire country. Instead we’ve become a goddamn banana republic, and it’s disgusting.

None of this is new. And it’s hard to stay this angry all the time when there’s so much to be angry about.

That’s the plan, by the way. They’re hoping the anger either overwhelms you until you have to quit for your own sanity, or that you go numb. A lot of us have gone numb. There are days I’m numb too.

But I refuse to let them win that way. I’m not going to forget what they’ve done. And I’m going to keep turning my anger into something useful.

This morning at my studio, we’re hosting an event to make hygiene kits for kids dealing with housing insecurity here in Chicago. That’s how I’m spending my time today. I’m writing this to check in with all of you before I head over, because I hope you’re out there doing something like that too.

Find a way to be useful in your community. Spend time with your family. Hug your kids. Whatever it is. I want that for you.

We don’t have to hate each other. And we don’t have to accept that these shitty people keep getting put into positions of power, and then, when they’re done, walk straight into a TV studio to keep being shitty on live television.

This system needs to be fixed. It needs to be torn down and rebuilt. And it’s going to take a lot of us saying enough is enough to get there.

I’m saying it. I hope you’ll say it with me.

With urgency,

—Mike

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Hey folks,

This one is wild. We’ve got new reporting that Donald Trump may finally be done with Andrew and Tristan Tate—and their allies sound increasingly desperate. The whole thing is starting to unravel in public.

• [00:01:24] Lev Parnas says Trump’s response to hearing about the Tate brothers was brutally simple: “fuck the Tates.”

• [00:03:15] Tate lawyer Joe McBride warns that abandoning the brothers could become a “black mark” on Trump’s legacy—and starts blaming feminists around Trump.

• [00:06:23] We get into Paolo Zampoli, his connections to Trump, the Tates, and the wider web of relationships surrounding this story.

• [00:09:31] The conversation turns to questions about the Tates’ alleged connections in Romania and Russia—and what their lawyer says in response.

• [00:12:18] The bravado is fading. The Tates are flailing, their options are narrowing, and I explain why keeping the victims at the center of this story matters.

There’s a bigger lesson here about proximity to power, online influence, and what happens when people who built their identities around seeming untouchable suddenly realize they might not be. We’re going to keep following this story, keep centering the people who deserve justice, and keep covering what too much of the mainstream media ignores. If you value honest conversations and independent coverage like this, help me keep it going.

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With urgency,

—Mike

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Hey folks,

My dad and I disagree about a lot. And I mean a lot.

For the first episode of Nellis vs. Nellis, I sat down with my Trump-voting, retired FBI agent father to talk about the DOJ coming after my company, the bizarre Natalie Harp story, ICE’s new stun gloves, and what happens when politics gets personal.

We agreed. We argued. At one point my own father accused me of pivoting from political corruption to World War II. This one got heated—but that’s exactly why I think these conversations matter.

• [00:02:14] My dad reacts to the DOJ inquiry into my company—and explains the questions he’d want answered as a retired FBI agent.

• [00:10:03] We get into one of our oldest arguments: are all politicians corrupt, or does pretending they’re all equally bad help people like Trump?

• [00:15:10] Natalie Harp enters the chat, and we try to make sense of one of the strangest relationships inside Trump’s White House.

• [00:30:34] We debate ICE’s new stun gloves, law enforcement training, and whether giving agents another less-lethal tool makes anyone safer.

• [00:39:17] The conversation gets genuinely heated over Alex Pretti, guns, protests, police accountability, and what “following orders” actually means.

This is what I want Nellis vs. Nellis to be: two people who love each other, see the country very differently, and are still willing to sit down and actually talk. No cable-news performance. No pretending the disagreements aren’t real. And no giving up on each other because politics gets uncomfortable. If you value honest conversations like this—and want to help us build a place where they can keep happening—help me keep them going.

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With urgency,

—Mike

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Hey folks,

I sat down with , and this one went places I didn’t expect. We talked Trump, Natalie Harp, accountability, addiction, forgiveness, being the family fuck-up—and what it actually takes to own your story when the whole world thinks it gets to define you.

It gets political. It gets personal. And by the end, it gets deeply human.

• [00:03:36] Hunter and I dive into the bizarre Natalie Harp story, the hypocrisy surrounding it, and why questions about access to the president are absolutely fair game.

• [00:10:00] We get into the “zero gravity” problem in Washington—where lies get amplified, accountability disappears, and everyone acts like the normal rules still apply.

• [00:19:03] This is where it gets personal. Hunter talks about addiction, shame, being the person who screwed up in the family, and why owning your story can become a source of real power.

• [00:28:31] Hunter makes the case for building a much bigger coalition—even with people we strongly disagree with—when the immediate fight is protecting democracy and the rule of law.

• [00:34:30] Hunter gives an emotional update on his dad’s cancer treatment and talks about what it’s like, simply as a son, to watch someone you love go through something this hard.

There’s a lot packed into this conversation, but what stayed with me most is the humanity of it. How do we fight like hell without losing our capacity for forgiveness? How do we hold people accountable while recognizing the struggles that connect so many of us? And how do we stop letting other people weaponize our worst moments against us? If you value honest conversations like this—the political and the deeply personal—help me keep them going.

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With urgency,

—Mike

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Everything I have learned about Donald Trump’s bizarre relationship with White House aide Natalie Harp has been against my will. Every new story raises more questions than it answers — and at minimum, what we’re looking at sure seems like an emotional affair between the President of the United States and a taxpayer-funded staffer nearly fifty years his junior.

When I shot a YouTube video about this yesterday, I blurted out something that stuck with me: Donald Trump can’t even have a normal affair like a typical politician. It has to be some of the weirdest shit you’ve ever heard.

Consider what we actually know about Natalie Harp. She’s a true believer — a former OAN anchor who has swallowed every lie Trump has ever told. According to her own brother, she has a history of obsessing over Republican presidents and writing them love letters. She writes Trump love letters now. She sleeps on a cot in a locker room at Mar-a-Lago. She once got into a shouting match with the Secret Service because there wasn’t room for her in the back of an SUV — so she climbed into the trunk like a little kid. For a long stretch, she didn’t even have a security clearance, making her a national security incident waiting to happen. She follows him around like a sad little puppy dog.

And when Trump abandoned Marco Rubio on Air Force One because he was worried Iran might assassinate him, he made damn sure to take Natalie Harp with him.

I don’t know the true nature of their relationship. Maybe none of us ever will. Some people think her job is changing the man’s diapers. Others think it’s a physical affair. And frankly, whether they're actually sleeping together isn't the most important question here. I don’t know. What I do know is how the White House has responded — and that tells you everything.

This conversation was kickstarted by Senator Jon Ossoff, who casually dropped Natalie’s name into the middle of a speech this weekend — a brilliant Easter egg for the media to become obsessed with. But the Harp reference wasn't really the point. Ossoff’s actual point was simple: Donald Trump is focused on anything other than doing his job. He’d rather golf, jet around the world, slap his name on shit, and yammer about his ballroom than do a single thing that might improve your life — end the illegal war in Iran, get gas prices back down, or make sure our sailors have enough food and provisions on these record-long deployments.

And every single time a MAGA hack or a White House staffer lashes out at Ossoff, or pushes back against the now-numerous leaks about Natalie Harp, they prove his point. They care more about this than they care about you. You are their boss. Donald Trump works for you. Natalie Harp works for you. She’s an adult and a taxpayer-funded staffer, and it is perfectly reasonable to ask questions about her relationship with the president when she appears to be a threat to our national security and our domestic tranquility. Not because the gossip is salacious, but because her extraordinary access and influence raise legitimate questions about who has power inside this White House.

Because set aside the weirdness for a second. Natalie Harp is the person who feeds Donald Trump his information. She’s his “human printer.” She shapes the worldview of the President of the United States. She’s the one who allegedly posted the racist AI-generated image of Barack and Michelle Obama. Just yesterday, it was reported that world leaders go through her to reach Trump. So forget the alleged affair for a second. Who controls the information reaching the President of the United States? Who controls access to him? Who gets to shape what the most powerful person in the world sees, hears, and believes? These are reasonable, credible questions about how a young staffer with a fascinatingly weird background is shaping America’s government — and leaving you worse off. Senator Ossoff has every right to ask them. So does every American.

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And let me be clear: I have zero sympathy for the MAGA movement screaming from the rooftops about how offensive it is to mention a female staffer. Where was the outrage for a decade of Donald Trump’s attacks on women? I might have a shred of sympathy for their argument if they hadn’t spent ten years defending his sexism and his abuse.

This is a man all over the Epstein files, which he continues to try to bury. A man credibly accused of multiple sexual assaults. A man currently paying out millions to E. Jean Carroll after being found liable for sexual abuse — the civil equivalent of an adjudicated rapist. A man who invited Bill Clinton’s accusers to a debate to rattle Hillary. A man who, just last week, attacked Abdul El-Sayed’s wife — and not one of these fucks said a word. They've spent a decade cheering while Donald Trump attacks women, humiliates them, and weaponizes their personal lives for political gain. Apparently, their concern for the dignity of women begins exactly where Donald Trump's humiliation does.

The pushback tells you everything. If this weren’t a real problem for Trump, his White House, and his movement, they would have ignored a throwaway line in a Senate speech. Instead, it hit a nerve. It pissed off Trump. It pissed off Melania. The reporting says they thought it was “below the belt” — which is hilarious, because below the belt is the only place Donald Trump ever punches.

For the first time in a long time, a major Democratic politician has gotten this far under Trump’s skin and put the entire White House on tilt. Staffers are falling over themselves to leak on Harp to get her fired — though I doubt it works, because Trump seems as devoted to her as she is to him. It’s symbiotic. And the harder they fight to make questions about Harp off-limits, the more important those questions become.

So the media needs to stay on this. Independent creators need to stay on this. You need to stay on this. And not because we need to know whether Donald Trump is having an affair. We need to know who is exercising power around the President of the United States. This is a woman who shapes Trump’s worldview, controls his narrative, controls his time, controls his mind — while the man himself is in serious cognitive decline. Yesterday he stood in front of the White House bragging that he’s “very good at flagpoles.” I don’t know what the fuck that means, and no amount of context will make it sound sane.

We’re in a scary moment. Asking hard questions about who surrounds a president waging an illegal war, wrecking the global economy, and stealing billions from the American people isn’t just fair — it’s your patriotic duty. Who has his ear? Who controls his access? Who decides what information reaches him? Those aren’t gossip-column questions. They’re questions about power. And power necessitates accountability. Don’t let them shame you out of asking them. Donald Trump works for you. Natalie Harp works for you. This government belongs to you. Questioning your government is the whole point. Especially when the people running it are begging you to look away.

With urgency,

—Mike

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Hey folks,

This one is wild. Harry Enten is back at the big board with numbers that spell serious trouble for Donald Trump and Republicans heading into the midterms — especially with Hispanic men, a group Trump made historic gains with in 2024.

And the collapse isn’t just about Trump. It’s showing up in how people say they plan to vote.

• [00:01:03] Harry breaks down the brutal shift among Hispanic men: from Trump winning them by 10 points in 2024 to a net approval rating of minus 41.

• [00:03:05] It gets even worse on the economy — Trump’s approval with Hispanic men plunges 49 points underwater, a stunning 60-point swing from 2024.

• [00:05:13] Here’s the number Republicans should really fear: Hispanic men now favor Democrats for Congress by 20 points, a 28-point swing away from the GOP.

• [00:07:21] We zoom out to the national picture, where Trump is underwater in 47 of 50 states — and talk about what that could mean for Senate and House races across the country.

• [00:10:10] After Trump lashes out at CNN reporter Kristen Holmes, I read CNN’s response defending her and talk about why attacks on the free press matter.

This episode is about more than one ugly poll. We’re watching voters who took a chance on Trump move sharply away from him, while Republicans face the possibility that their own political strategy could backfire spectacularly. But none of these numbers matter unless people actually show up in November. If you value conversations that cut through the noise and help build something better, help me keep them going.

Become a paid subscriber to Endless Urgency today »

With urgency,

—Mike

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Given everything happening this week, I keep thinking about how easily the MAGA movement can manufacture a lie and watch it take over the national conversation. It’s maddening.

I’m not going to linger again on Donald Trump’s DOJ targeting my company on the “strength” of Laura Loomer’s conspiracy theory reporting, but there’s a pattern here worth diagnosing — because once you see it, you understand how insane our discourse has become.

Politicians have always lied. There have always been grifters and shameless people who see our politics as a way to grab money or power. I’m not naïve about that.

What’s different now is that there’s no accountability. When someone is caught lying or cheating or stealing, nothing pulls it back to earth — no consequence proportional to the lie, no price for the cruelty, no cost for being deliberately full of shit.

There is no gravity left in American politics.

Start with what happened to Dean Withers this week, a fellow YouTuber I’ve never met. From what he’s laid out on Instagram, a MAGA operative built a fake profile using photos of a real thirteen-year-old girl and invented a sexual assault out of thin air to burn his reputation down.

I want to be careful — these are serious allegations, and I always lean toward believing victims. But the evidence he’s presented that this “victim” never existed looks credible.

What do you have to believe about the world to steal a child’s face and accuse someone of raping her? That you’ll get away with it.

And you might — because there’s no gravity.

Take the NYT story this weekend that Trump’s DOJ opened an investigation into my business. We’ll fight it, and it’ll be fine — but understand the pattern, because you’ll see it everywhere: the lie doesn’t have to become true anymore. It just has to activate something.

A fake allegation activates an algorithm. A bogus report activates the police. A smear activates the media. Loomer’s “reporting” apparently gets the Department of Justice poking around my business — and suddenly the person being lied about is the one spending their money, reputation, and sanity proving that something that never happened never happened.

The liar gets five minutes. The victim gets lawyers, legal fees, and anguish. We’ve transferred the cost of the lie from the liar to the person they lied about.

Six weeks ago I wrote about Pete Buttigieg, after someone falsely reported him to CPS for abusing his four-year-old twins. The allegation was bullshit, but the process it triggered was very real — as it should be when allegations are that serious. Police showed up. His kids were sent to their grandparents.

I called that piece “This is how they pick us off,” because this cruelty doesn’t just hurt the target — it scares good people out of public life. Somebody watches what happened to Pete and decides that running for school board isn’t worth putting their family through it.

Here’s the half I missed the first time. It’s not quite right that there are no consequences. There are. We’ve just gotten very good at making the victims pay them.

Pete paid. Dean is paying, in death threats. I’m paying. What are the people manufacturing this shit paying? Where’s the accountability for the person who reported Pete to CPS? Where’s the accountability for Loomer?

Quick note: If you value independent work that calls this stuff out without pretending both sides are playing the same game, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support gives me the freedom to keep writing, investigating, and fighting back — especially when doing that comes with a cost.

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Go back to 2024. Vance and Trump invented a lie about immigrants in Ohio eating people’s pets, and millions swallowed it whole because it flattered the ugliest corner of the internet. Vance went on national television that weekend and admitted out loud that he’ll invent stories to jerk the media around.

What happened to him? Nothing. The media thanked him and booked him for the next hit. The lasting legacy of that lie isn’t that JD Vance is a grotesque liar — it’s a catchy TikTok song stuck in my head.

That’s what covering politics like sports does: Jon Ossoff gets dinged for name-dropping Trump’s alleged mistress in a speech — too far, below the belt — while the other side fabricates a child’s sexual assault to annihilate one of our most effective activists.

These things are not equivalent, and pretending they are is how we got here.

I’m done fighting with one hand tied behind my back, and you should be too. And before someone deliberately misunderstands me: I’m not saying we become them. I’m saying we stop pretending we’re playing the same game.

That’s what I mean by the next version of the Democratic Party — one willing to throw a punch, for the people it loves and the Americans the MAGA machine poisons every day.

You don’t beat a lie by lying harder. You beat it by refusing to reward it — by calling bullshit bullshit, by imposing consequences, by restoring some gravity.

Because a system without consequences doesn’t just tolerate liars — it selects for them. If lying costs nothing, you get more liars. If cruelty makes you famous, you get more cruelty. If shamelessness buys followers and TV contracts, you get more shameless people chasing power. And if decency means your kids get threatened and your life gets turned upside down because someone with an internet connection made something up, decent people decide it isn’t worth it.

That’s how you get the Tate brothers, George Santos, Donald Trump. What kind of person thrives where shame is a disadvantage and shamelessness is a strategy?

So how do we fix it? There’s no one neat policy — government, courts, media, platforms, parties, and you all have a role. But the principle is the same: consequences again.

If Dean can find whoever did this, he should sue them for everything they own, and the platforms that spread it should pay too. When you destroy a life with a lie, that lie should cost you something. I hope Hasan Piker sues Scott Jennings and Fox News for the lies they’ve told about him. I’ve been thinking hard about my own options against Laura Loomer, and it’s a hard road — which tells you exactly where the burden sits.

Six weeks ago I told you this is how they pick us off. This is the other half: this is how the worst people replace them. It’s how you get Trump.

A system without gravity created the conditions for him, and getting rid of him won’t be enough, because the incentives that produced him will still be there, waiting for the next guy.

Nothing changes until there are consequences again.

Nothing changes until gravity comes back.

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Hey folks,

The Tate brothers are running out of options—and now their lawyer is publicly turning up the pressure on Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and the Republican Party to save them.

In this episode of Endless Urgency, I break down the latest developments in Andrew and Tristan Tate’s legal fight, the battle over their potential extradition to the United Kingdom, and the increasingly desperate campaign to convince MAGA that protecting the Tates should somehow be an “America First” cause. Their supporters are pushing AI-generated propaganda, exaggerating their grassroots support, and trying to manufacture political leverage at the exact moment the brothers appear to be losing it.

We also get into the contradictions behind the Tate brand itself: the fake displays of wealth, the bravado about facing authorities that suddenly disappears when extradition becomes real, and the online influence machine that helped turn these guys into heroes of the manosphere. The bigger question is whether Trump—or a potential 2028 contender like Rubio—believes there’s anything politically valuable left in coming to their rescue.

Because this isn’t just a story about Andrew and Tristan Tate. It’s about MAGA, the manosphere, online propaganda, manufactured influence, and what happens when an internet movement built around power and grievance discovers that its supposed power may have been an illusion all along.

If we want to understand how figures like the Tates manufacture influence—and how that influence finds its way into MAGA politics—we have to expose the machinery behind it. If you think more people need to see what’s really happening here, help me get this work in front of them.

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With urgency,

—Mike

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Hey folks,

I’m breaking down how a conspiracy theory pushed by Laura Loomer made its way from the MAGA internet into the halls of Congress—and, according to reporting I discuss in the episode, into a DOJ investigation involving my company. I can’t get into the specifics of an ongoing matter, but I can tell you how we got here, what this has cost, and why I refuse to be intimidated.

• [00:01:24] I explain what I can—and can’t—say about the investigation, and why Laura Loomer’s influence in Washington matters far beyond me.

• [00:03:03] The allegation at the center of this mess, the fundraising hypocrisy I see in it, and why I believe the whole thing is ridiculous.

• [00:05:07] They dragged me into public life. Now they’re getting the full Mike Nellis treatment—and I’m not going quiet.

• [00:07:42] Why I refuse to hand over confidential communications or let the federal government grind me down.

• [00:10:28] So many of you have asked how you can help. I explain what actually matters right now—and why attention, engagement, and independent media are essential.

This isn’t just about me or my company. It’s about what happens when conspiracy theories become political power, when critics believe government institutions are being used to target them, and what it takes to keep fighting without letting politics consume your entire life. I’m going to protect my team, my clients, and the people I love—and I’m going to keep speaking out.

If you want to help me build something they can’t intimidate into silence, become a paid subscriber to Endless Urgency today »

With urgency,
—Mike

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Hey folks,

My buddy Eberlin from Pondering Politics joined me to talk about something I really hate being the story of: the Trump administration targeting me and the very real human cost that comes with it. We get into what’s happening, why I refuse to back down, and why supporting independent voices matters so much right now.

• [00:02:35] I explain what I can about the DOJ investigation, why I believe this is a fishing expedition, and what people can actually do to help.

• [00:06:46] We get into how this went from a House Judiciary investigation to Trump’s DOJ—and why I’m not going to bow down.

• [00:10:15] The part that matters beyond me: intimidation works when it scares good people out of politics. That’s exactly why we can’t comply in advance.

• [00:14:09] I have a message for Jim Jordan and everyone else playing these games: my door is open. Come talk to me.

• [00:17:14] Why we need a thousand independent voices—not one, two, or three—and why lifting up smaller creators is part of fighting back.

This conversation is about more than subpoenas or one political fight. It’s about what happens when the power of government gets turned toward intimidation, what that does to real people and their families, and why our response has to be building stronger communities that refuse to disappear. I’m not going anywhere.

If you want to help me build something they can’t intimidate into silence, become a paid subscriber to Endless Urgency today »

With urgency,

—Mike

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I want to use this space this morning to talk about Laura Loomer — who I’ve come to believe is one of the most tragic people holding onto power anywhere inside Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.

For the better part of the last several years, she has tried to destroy my life. She’s gone after my staff. She’s gone after my company. She’s gone after my family. She is, by any honest measure, a miserable person, and it would be the easiest thing in the world for me to sit here and tell you that I hate her. Frankly, I have every reason to.

But I don’t. This weekend — after The New York Times published a story about Donald Trump’s Department of Justice targeting my consulting business — I sat with all of it. And what I landed on isn’t hate. It isn't even anger anymore. It’s something closer to pity. I actually just feel bad for her.

Let me tell you how Laura spent her weekend. She spent it yelling into the void about conspiracy theories she invented. She attacked me for my weight. She attacked me for my history with my own mental health. She attacked me for being empathetic — for being willing, during the darkest stretch of the COVID pandemic, to talk openly about a period when I seriously considered harming myself. That’s what she did with her Saturday and her Sunday. Think about that. Two days of your one precious life, spent obsessing over somebody you hate.

And I’m telling you: what a sad and lonely way to live. It’s the behavior of someone with no real human connection — no community holding her up outside of a handful of dead-enders on X. She has traded intimacy for engagement. She has substituted clickbait for love. And I say all of this as a content creator myself, somebody who understands the pull of the feed better than most. I know how easy it is to start confusing people paying attention to you with people actually caring about you. They aren't the same thing. Not even close.

Because here’s the contrast. I worked this weekend too — I sure didn’t plan to spend my Saturday morning reacting to a DOJ story, and I wasn’t happy about it. But I also built Legos with my son. I watched the Cubs. I took my wife downtown for a date to see The Notebook and a great dinner. I grilled out back and made a hell of a pork roast. I did all of that because I have a full, vibrant life — one filled with meaning and connection and love. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, it hit me: Laura Loomer can't take any of it away from me. Donald Trump can't either. And that’s real power.

Laura Loomer doesn’t have that. She thinks she does. She thinks the false admiration she gets from Donald Trump every time she manufactures a conspiracy against one of his enemies is the same thing as being loved. She thinks the hearts and the shares on X and Rumble — the only two platforms that will still have her, because they’re built for exactly this — are the same thing as community. They aren’t. Her own father has publicly said that his daughter has serious mental health issues and probably needs to be institutionalized. Think about what that does to a person who has no family and no friends to catch them.

The reason they target independent creators is that we don’t answer to a network or an advertiser — we answer to you. That’s what makes us harder to control. So do the three things that keep us in this fight: like this post, share it, and become a paid subscriber to Endless Urgency. Each one makes this movement harder to kill.

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And it points to something sick in our culture right now. In any other era, Laura Loomer would be a crackpot on a street corner in a tinfoil hat, and the world would simply walk past her. Instead, the worst version of social media handed her a rocket. Then MAGA handed her power. And Donald Trump handed people like her access to the machinery of the federal government. That’s where this stops being pathetic and starts becoming dangerous. She got the entire MAGA movement to come after me, my business partner, and my staff — with no credible evidence of anything. She got the House Judiciary Committee to open an investigation based on her so-called “reporting,” which amounts to posting FEC screenshots of which congressional candidates have paid my firm to run digital ads. That’s the whole case.

And because Donald Trump is the most corrupt man on the planet — so committed to punishing his opponents, so desperate to build a culture of fear that lets him get away with his own corruption and incompetence — his DOJ has picked it up too. Except there’s no there there. They can’t even name the law I’m supposed to have broken. And that’s the point. They don’t necessarily need a crime. They need an investigation. They need the headline. They need you hiring lawyers and wondering what’s coming next. They need your employees scared, your clients nervous, your family worried.

Jim Jordan didn’t have the balls to hold me in contempt when he investigated me after Laura Loomer harassed him. He didn’t have the guts to invite me to testify in front of his committee — which I would have done gleefully, and which would not have gone well for them. I’d have walked in there like Pam Bondi with a burn book and roasted every one of them. The difference is mine would’ve been justified. I wouldn’t have been there to cover up the abuse of kids.

And here’s the truth of it: the day Donald Trump leaves office or leaves this earth, Laura Loomer becomes instantly irrelevant. Her only value is her usefulness to him. Nobody else is particularly interested. Because the power Laura Loomer has isn’t actually hers. It’s borrowed. It belongs to Donald Trump. And eventually, the bill comes due on borrowed power.

A lot of you have reached out to ask what you can do. Here it is: keep supporting us as independent content creators, so we can build something fully sustainable and impossible to intimidate. Because that’s how you beat this shit. You build things they can’t scare into submission. You build communities they don’t control. You build a life whose meaning doesn’t rise and fall with the attention of powerful people. Don’t start a GoFundMe. Don’t worry about us. We are going to be okay — financially and legally.

I’m a practicing Catholic. I try to lead with redemption and empathy and love, and I’ll be honest with you, that is hard to do when the person coming for the people you love is as miserable as Laura Loomer. But I want to extend her some grace anyway. Not because she deserves a pass for what she’s done. She doesn’t. And not because I’m pretending I’m above being angry. I’m not. But because I refuse to let people like Laura Loomer decide what kind of person I become. I don’t want to spend my one life consumed by people I hate. I don’t want cruelty to become my personality. She is hurting. And hurt people hurt people.

So, Laura — if you’re reading this, and I suspect you will be because you’re obsessed with me: I hope you get the help you need. I hope that one day you find real community, real connection, something you don’t have to manufacture from a screen. It’s a sad way to exist.

As for me, I’m going to keep doing what actually matters. Focus on the people you love. Work on being better. Be of service to your community. Do some good. Build some Legos. Grill a pork roast. Touch grass. Build a life so full of meaning that people like Laura Loomer can’t possibly take it from you. And whatever you do — don’t let the bastards grind you down.

With Urgency,

—Mike

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Yesterday morning, the New York Times reported that Donald Trump’s Department of Justice is investigating my company. Since then my phone hasn’t stopped. So let me start with the only thing that matters right now: thank you — to every single one of you who reached out.

Here’s the whole sad arc, if you’re just catching up. It started with Laura Loomer inventing a baseless conspiracy theory about my business. It moved to the House Judiciary Committee opening an investigation in 2024. And now it’s Trump’s DOJ. It is ridiculous that our government is being run by right-wing conspiracy theorists. But here we are.

We’re going to be okay.

I mean that. When I’m feeling low — and I’ve felt low this week — I draw on the friendships I’ve built over the course of becoming a content creator, and on this community right here. I’m grateful for where this life has taken me, strange twists like a federal investigation included.

A lot of you have asked how you can help. More than a few of you have offered to start a GoFundMe. Please don’t. I don’t want anyone to do that. We are going to be okay financially — I’m confident of it. And we are going to be okay legally. I’m confident we’re in the right, and we are going to keep fighting back against a government that harasses private citizens over their political beliefs.

If you do want to support the work, the best way is simple: become a paid subscriber. What we’re building here is a sustainable, independent media company — one that doesn’t answer to the billionaire class or anyone else. We have a small but mighty team, and every subscription goes straight to them.

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Already a paid subscriber? Then like, share, and keep showing up in the comments. It matters more than you know.

But here’s my real ask — the one I care about most.

Go find another independent creator out there who’s doing the work and needs it more than I do. Someone earlier in this process than I am — I’ve been at it well over a year now. Someone who could really use $8 a month, or $80 a year. Because I promise you: I am not the only person being harassed by this government over their politics right now. It’s happening in ways seen and unseen, and we won’t know the full scope of it until long after Donald Trump is gone and dead. So go find those people. Build up their base. Lift them up.

I will not let these bastards grind me down, and I’m asking you not to let them grind you down either. The midterms are coming. They are going to get exactly what’s coming to them — and we are going to drag every single thing they’ve done to people like you and I into the light.

With urgency,

— Mike

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There was some breaking news yesterday, and I hate that it’s about me.

For the better part of the last several years, I’ve been dealing with a baseless right-wing conspiracy theory — one cooked up by Laura Loomer and engineered to destroy my business, my reputation, my staff, and my family. And now Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has picked it up and run with it. They’ve opened an investigation into my firm.

Not terrorists. Not drug dealers. Not sex traffickers. Not a single name in the Epstein files. Me and my team.

I have to be careful here — the matter is ongoing, and my lawyers are going to read this thing five times before it ever sees the light of day. So I can’t hand you every detail. But here’s what I can say, plainly: it is complete and total bullshit. It is a fishing expedition based on a conspiracy theory that is completely divorced from reality. It’s designed to bleed me dry on legal fees, to eat my time, and to burn down my reputation.

Here’s how we got here: Loomer spent years tweeting lies about me every single day, and for a long time we ignored her, because responding to something that stupid felt beneath us. Then in 2024 we got a subpoena from Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee — because Jim Jordan is a goddamn coward who couldn’t bring himself to tell Loomer and Trump no, that he would not harass a private business and private citizens to please them. We told him to pound sand. They could have held me in contempt of Congress. They didn’t. But the second Trump seized the DOJ, they went digging through their list of grudges, and my firm was on it.

Trump told you exactly who he was in 2024. He said he’d go after anyone he decided was an enemy, anyone who’d ever slighted him — and he’s done it, over and over. He’s gone after comedians who told jokes he didn’t like. He’s gone after Don Lemon. And he is systematically, deliberately targeting independent creators who report on things he doesn’t want reported. They put David Pakman on a “media offenders list.” They came for Brian Tyler Cohen. This is not a hypothetical anymore. This is happening right now, to real people, for constitutionally protected work.

And every time they do it, the goal is the same: make you afraid. Make you too scared to show up at a protest. Too scared to pull out your phone. Too scared to run for office. Too scared to say a word. Put your name on a list. Open a garbage investigation into your company. Make an example out of you so the next person stays quiet.

I know the fear part intimately. This whole thing traces back to Loomer, and let me remind you what that woman is capable of: she sent me a death threat. She threatened my seven-year-old son. I’ve been getting death threats for years now, courtesy of the mob she and Trump keep pointing in my direction. I’ve had to completely overhaul the security at my home. I bought a firearm. I got a concealed carry license. That is the reality of speaking up in Donald Trump’s America — and this is the person the President of the United States actually listens to.

Now here’s the part that should make every single one of you furious. While they’re spending the full weight of the Justice Department on me, look at who they’re protecting. Todd Blanche — Trump’s personal defense attorney — is now the Attorney General. His job, and Trump brags about this openly, is to keep Donald Trump out of prison. That’s it. Protect the client. Protect the Epstein class. Bury the files. His first real act was changing the rules to make it harder for Democrats to subpoena Trump’s private contacts with his billionaire friends. He appeared at a political rally for a Republican candidate — as the sitting AG. Beyond inappropriate doesn’t begin to cover it.

And the cruelty is the point, too. Look at the Olympic canoeist they hauled in near the Memorial Pool for damage Jeanine Pirro admitted they have no evidence for. Look at the guy whose whole life got upended for throwing a sandwich. Look at them going after the Southern Poverty Law Center — for the crime of fighting white supremacists. They don’t see terrorists and traffickers as the enemy. They see you as the enemy, because you have something you’re willing to fight for, and it stands diametrically opposed to everything they’re doing.

The reason they target independent creators is that we don’t answer to a network or an advertiser — we answer to you. That’s what makes us harder to control. So do the three things that keep us in this fight: like this post, share it, and become a paid subscriber to Endless Urgency. Each one makes this movement harder to kill.

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I come from a law enforcement household. My father gave 34 years to the FBI. He went to work every single day to take down the bad guys and keep people safe. That’s what the Justice Department is supposed to be. What we have now is a purely political weapon, pointed at anyone who dares to speak.

So shame on every Republican who voted to confirm Todd Blanche. They knew exactly what he’d do. Shame on every one of them too scared to say a word while a crazy person whispers in the President’s ear. If we had a functioning opposition party inside the GOP, none of this would be happening.

I can’t tell you everything yet. Maybe someday. But I can tell you this: it will not work. They can investigate me, smear me, threaten me, and drown me in legal bills. I will be okay. My business will be okay. We are going to protect our staff, and I am going to keep protecting my family — because that is my responsibility as a man.

They picked the wrong guy to try and scare into silence. I am not going to let these bastards grind me down.

Neither should you.

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Hey folks,

This one is personal.

A New York Times story just dropped detailing how the Trump administration has been targeting my company—and I sat down with to talk about what that actually looks like when you’re living through it. The legal bills. The threats. The toll on my family and my team. And why I refuse to let any of it scare me into silence.

Here are a few moments you don’t want to miss:

• [00:01:58] I break down how this started, from a conspiracy theory and a House Judiciary Committee subpoena to an ongoing fight involving Trump’s DOJ.

• [00:05:11] Why I decided that if they were going to drag me into this fight, I was going to speak out—and why I see this as part of a much bigger pattern.

• [00:09:05] The part people don’t see: six-figure legal costs, endless calls with lawyers, disruption to my business, and the mental toll that comes with it.

• [00:14:39] We get into the broader strategy behind Trump’s politics: convincing Americans that everyone and everything is corrupt so his own abuses start to feel normal.

• [00:19:37] Why independent media matters so much right now—and why attempts to intimidate people speaking out can end up making all of us stronger.

This conversation is bigger than what’s happening to me. It’s about what happens when political power is used to intimidate critics, what fear does to people and institutions, and why we need independent voices willing to keep showing up anyway. We also talk about corruption, accountability, the changing media landscape, and the kind of democracy we’re trying to build together. If you value honest conversations like this—and independent media that won’t be scared into silence—help me keep building it.

Become a paid subscriber to Endless Urgency today »

With urgency,

—Mike

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Hey folks,

This one is personal.

I’m breaking down the ongoing investigation into my company by Trump’s DOJ and the baseless right-wing conspiracy theory behind it. The legal bills. The threats. The toll on my family and my team. But I believe this is about something much bigger than me: using the power of government to intimidate people who speak out. And why I refuse to let any of it scare me into silence.

I have to be careful about what I say while this is ongoing. But I’m not going to be silent.

• [00:01:31] How Trump’s threats against his perceived political enemies turned into something very real—and why I believe fear is the point.

• [00:04:11] I explain the Laura Loomer conspiracy theory targeting me, how it escalated from internet attacks to a House Judiciary Committee subpoena, and why we fought back.

• [00:07:35] What I can—and can’t—say about the ongoing investigation, plus the quote I gave to The New York Times about what I call a baseless “fishing expedition.”

• [00:10:02] Why this goes beyond my company: the chilling effect that comes when people believe speaking up could put them, their families, or their livelihoods in the government’s crosshairs.

• [00:12:34] A personal message about my business, my staff, my family, and why none of this is going to grind me down.

This episode is about what happens when political intimidation stops being abstract and lands at your front door. It’s about fear, power, accountability, and why we cannot allow threats and investigations to scare good people away from participating in our democracy. If you value independent voices willing to keep speaking out, help me keep this work going.

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With urgency,

—Mike

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Hey folks,

I’m fired up about this one.

John Fetterman says he won’t campaign against Republican Senator Dave McCormick—and I think Democrats need to start acting like Fetterman has already left the party.

But this goes way beyond one senator. We need to talk about who actually fights for our values, who profits from tearing Democrats down, and why independent voices matter more than ever.

• [00:01:04] Fetterman calls Republican Dave McCormick his “friend” and makes an extraordinary promise about 2030.

• [00:03:13] Why a razor-thin Democratic Senate majority could make Fetterman an enormous liability when the stakes are highest.

• [00:05:38] The progressive Fetterman campaigned as versus the politician we’re watching today.

• [00:08:43] I unload on the cottage industry of Democrats going on Fox News to attack other Democrats.

• [00:10:32] What being truly independent means—and why you deserve to know who’s actually behind the voices shaping our politics.

This episode is about Fetterman, but it’s also about something much bigger: power, money, loyalty, and whether the people talking to you about politics actually believe what they’re saying. Politics isn’t a game. People’s lives are affected by these choices every single day, and we need leaders—and media—willing to fight like it matters. If you value independent voices willing to call this stuff out, help me keep building one.

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With urgency,

—Mike

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Hey folks,

and I got into everything today—from Stephen Miller’s latest immigration cruelty and his increasingly awkward place in Trump’s orbit to a much bigger question Democrats need to answer: Are we actually prepared to use power?

This one gets funny, angry, personal, and pretty damn blunt. And by the end, we’re talking about what accountability really needs to look like if Democrats get another shot at governing.

• [00:05:09] Stephen Miller is back in the spotlight—and we dig into the administration’s push targeting thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children.

• [00:11:49] Is Trump turning on Stephen Miller? We break down the humiliations piling up inside a White House that looks increasingly chaotic.

• [00:17:16] The palace intrigue gets messier: Pete Hegseth, Trump’s cabinet, and why dysfunction doesn’t necessarily mean anyone is getting fired.

• [00:23:18] We get into the right’s obsession with women, voting rights, and culture-war distractions—and why Democrats need to start shifting the conversation instead of constantly reacting.

• [00:30:11] The bigger argument: Democrats need leaders who understand power, demand accountability, and are willing to make genuinely difficult structural changes.

This conversation is about something much bigger than Stephen Miller or the latest chaos inside Trump’s White House. It’s about power—who has it, who’s willing to use it, and whether Democrats are prepared to fight for accountability and rebuild the institutions that are failing us. That’s also why independent media matters. We need more places willing to have these conversations, call out corruption, and push back against a right-wing media machine built to dominate the conversation.

If this episode made you think, laugh, or get a little pissed off, like it, leave a comment, and share it with someone who needs to see it. Every interaction helps us reach more people and keep building an independent media movement that can actually fight back.

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With urgency,

—Mike

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Hey folks,

This one is wild. Ken Paxton gets confronted about his personal scandals, but that’s only the beginning. What’s happening in Texas could tell us something much bigger about where this country is heading—and why Republicans have real reasons to be worried heading into November.

• [00:01:52] Paxton’s response to being confronted about his marriage—and why the hypocrisy around his politics matters.

• [00:04:19] We dig into reporting about donations to Paxton-aligned groups from a Texas family named in released Epstein-related documents—and the broader political fallout.

• [00:06:42] The conversation gets dark as we confront allegations contained in the files, what remains unproven, and the larger question of accountability.

• [00:09:02] New Senate race ratings put Texas in startling territory, with other traditionally red states suddenly looking competitive too.

• [00:11:22] Forget the MAGA noise. This is the moment to lock in, organize, donate, knock doors, make calls, and have the difficult conversations that actually move people.

This episode is about more than Ken Paxton. It’s about accountability, a Republican Party carrying deeply unpopular baggage, and the possibility of a working-class political shift that could reshape the 2026 elections. Texas is part of that story—and so are Ohio, Iowa, Alaska, and every place people are deciding they’ve had enough. If you value independent media that connects these dots and pushes people to act, help me keep building it.

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With urgency,

—Mike

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Hey folks,

We need to talk about Natalie Harp—and more importantly, what her extraordinary proximity to Donald Trump tells us about the people shaping the president’s worldview.

This one gets weird fast. But beneath the gossip is a much bigger and more consequential story about loyalty, influence, and what happens when a president surrounds himself with people who refuse to challenge him.

• [00:00:38] We dig into the new reporting on Harp, the 34-year-old Trump aide who seems to be constantly at the president’s side—and the unusual role she plays in his orbit.

• [00:02:24] A reported personal letter takes things to another level: Harp allegedly told Trump, “you are all that matters to me,” raising serious questions about the nature of their relationship.

• [00:05:20] Trump reportedly tells staff that Harp loves him as much as his own family—and reporting suggests people inside his orbit have raised concerns about their closeness.

• [00:08:08] We go back to Harp’s OAN days and hear her pushing election-denial claims herself. This matters: she isn’t just another staffer doing a job. She appears to be a true believer.

• [00:10:38] Here’s where the story becomes bigger than gossip: Harp reportedly helps feed Trump social media content, memes, and information—and that means someone deeply committed to his worldview may also be helping shape it.

That’s what makes this worth your attention. I don’t particularly care about speculation over the private lives of two adults. I care about who has the ear of the president of the United States, what information reaches him, and whether anyone around him is willing to tell him something he doesn’t want to hear. If you value independent conversations that dig beneath the spectacle and ask those questions, help me keep them going.

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With urgency,

—Mike

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Hey folks,

Republicans are starting to panic—and when you look at what’s happening in Texas, Ohio, and across the country, you understand why.

The midterms are only a couple months away, and races that should be safe for Republicans suddenly aren’t. We’re talking about states and districts that could completely change the balance of power in Washington. This is a must-watch.

• [00:01:55] A Republican strategist admits what Democrats have been waiting decades to hear: Texas might actually be in play.

• [00:03:58] Ohio becomes another huge problem for Republicans as Max Miller struggles to raise money—and Democrats suddenly have a real opening.

• [00:06:01] A Republican poll has Miller down 14 points, while new numbers out of Texas show James Talarico ahead of Ken Paxton.

• [00:08:25] The Republican gerrymandering strategy could backfire spectacularly as Hispanic and younger voters move away from the GOP.

• [00:11:28] Here’s the opportunity: a big enough coalition could take back the House and Senate—and dramatically limit Trump’s power in Washington.

There are competitive races opening up everywhere. Texas. Ohio. North Carolina. Alaska. Maybe even Mississippi and Nebraska. We’re not going to win every one of them, and some will probably break our hearts. But when the battlefield gets this big, we have an opportunity to build a massive coalition, take back Congress, and stop some of the worst things this administration wants to do. If you value independent media that talks honestly about what’s at stake, help me keep building it.

Become a paid subscriber to Endless Urgency today »

With urgency,

—Mike

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