The Morning Sixpack - September 25, 2025

Trump’s chaos: Epstein cover-ups, Homan bribes, Kimmel backlash, Tylenol blunders—when power dodges truth, the mess only grows.

House Rebellion Pushes Epstein Files Toward Public Release

Congress is on the verge of forcing a vote to make the government’s secret Epstein files public—and Trump’s allies are panicking. #EpsteinFiles

Adelita Grijalva’s win in a special House election this week delivered the crucial 218th signature for a rare discharge petition, the procedural tool that can bring a bill to the floor over leadership’s objections. Her support ensures Democrats and a handful of Republicans can now demand action on releasing all federal records related to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

The lead sponsor is Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a Trump skeptic who hasn’t minced words. “I do believe that Trump is not implicated,” he said. “[But] I believe that Trump is trying to protect rich and powerful people who are his friends, and that is why this material is not getting released.” Massie has drawn backing from Democrats and firebrands like Nancy Mace, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert.

This is a rare moment—only a handful of discharge petitions have succeeded in the past century—and it pits Congress directly against Trump, who once promised to unveil the Epstein files but now dismisses the matter as a “hoax.” In true Trump fashion, he even lashed out at his own base on Truth Social: “Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work...because I don’t want their support anymore!”

The House calendar games could delay the final vote, but the momentum is real. If the petition holds, the Epstein files could be forced onto the floor in late October, a direct rebuke to Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP leadership who’d prefer to bury this under Rep. James Comer’s oversight probe. That probe has already produced salacious tidbits like Epstein’s infamous “birthday book” entry bearing Trump’s disputed signature.

What happens next depends on whether Trump’s allies can peel away a supporter before the petition gets locked in. But Massie’s message is clear: Transparency is coming, and the days of shielding the rich and connected may be numbered.

Source: The Hill

Editor: Trump went from “I’ll release the Epstein files” to “this is all a hoax” faster than you can say “Mar-a-Lago buffet.” The swamp isn’t being drained—it’s being reinforced with concrete. The real fear here isn’t Democrats scoring points; it’s sunlight hitting the donor class cockroaches.

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Trump World Spins Charlie Kirk’s Murder Into a Weapon Against the Left

The assassination of Charlie Kirk is being used by Trump officials as cover to paint the left as America’s biggest terror threat—facts be damned.

In the days since Kirk’s killing, the Trump administration has wasted no time turning tragedy into a political cudgel. Officials are portraying Kirk as a fallen martyr of free speech while pushing to defund progressive groups and crack down on dissent. White House strategist “Baby Goebbels” Stephen Miller went so far as to declare liberals a “vast domestic terrorist movement,” promising to “identify, disrupt, dismantle, and destroy” them with the full weight of government resources.

Experts in extremism aren’t buying it. “We know better,” said Bill Braniff, the former DHS official who ran the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships before resigning over Trump’s staffing cuts.

Research from federal agencies and academics has consistently shown that right-wing extremists, not left-wing activists, have been responsible for the bulk of politically motivated killings in the U.S. since 2000. Yet the Justice Department has scrubbed those findings from its website.

This is part of a wider pattern. Trump has gutted offices designed to prevent extremism, replacing seasoned experts with loyalists and even a 22-year-old intern. He also signed an executive order labeling Antifa as a terrorist organization, despite former DOJ counsel Thomas Brzozowski noting that U.S. law doesn’t allow domestic groups to be designated this way. As Braniff put it, the administration has taken a bipartisan effort to stop violence and turned it into a partisan purge.

Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, warned that this scapegoating only escalates tensions. “They’re waving the bloody shirt and trying to rile people up against the left,” she said. “And I just don’t see how that helps anybody in this rather perilous moment that we’re in.”

By rewriting the record and dismantling counter-extremism programs, Trump isn’t just ignoring the true source of political violence—he’s clearing the way for more of it.

Source: Talking Points Memo

Editor: When the government deletes inconvenient facts and invents new enemies out of whole cloth, it’s not “law and order”—it’s propaganda with a badge. History tells us what happens when regimes swap truth for loyalty, and it never ends with more safety, only more graves.

Here’s the source of the report - What NIJ Research Tells Us About Domestic Terrorism | National Institute of Justice

Here’s the full file (pdf): report

And here’s a quote from it:

“Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists, including 227 events that took more than 520 lives,” the study noted. “In this same period, far-left extremists committed 42 ideologically motivated attacks that took 78 lives.”

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Trump Tells Pregnant Women to “Tough It Out” Instead of Taking Tylenol

Donald Trump’s latest health advice for expectant mothers—endure the pain and avoid Tylenol—has enraged women’s health experts and advocates.

At a White House press conference meant to address autism, Trump said nine times that pregnant women should “fight like hell not to take” Tylenol, one of the few painkillers considered safe during pregnancy. “If you absolutely have to take it,” he added, “that’ll be something you work out with yourselves.” To many, this sounded less like medical guidance and more like a man telling women to suffer in silence.

Experts quickly pointed out that Trump’s advice ignored a critical fact: Untreated fever or severe pain in pregnancy can be dangerous for both mother and baby. Dr. Nicole Saphier of Memorial Sloan Kettering put it bluntly: “Advising moderation was sound; delivering it in a patronizing, simplistic way was not.” Women’s rights advocates said his “tough it out” comment was infuriating because it dismissed both their pain and the real risks of miscarriage linked to fever.

Critics also see Trump’s remarks as part of a long tradition of men blaming women for children’s health conditions. Alison Singer, founder of the Autism Science Foundation, said it “took me straight back to when moms were blamed for autism.” Historian Mary E. Fissell noted that Trump’s comments echoed centuries-old myths about maternal imagination shaping unborn babies—a discredited notion used to police women’s bodies.

Even some of Trump’s former allies recoiled. Jerome Adams, his onetime surgeon general, blasted the spectacle:

“Yesterday 5 powerful men stood together in the WH and shamed: Pregnant women, told to ‘tough it out’ through pain; Moms of autistic kids, blamed for their child’s condition; Autistic people, called broken & in need of fixing.”

Trump himself admitted the absurdity at one point: “You know, it’s easy for me to say tough it out.” Easy indeed—for someone who’s never faced the risks, pain, or consequences of pregnancy.

Source: AP News

Editor: Telling women to endure dangerous pain while five men nod in agreement isn’t “family values”—it’s performative cruelty wrapped in bad science. Funny how the same crowd that screams about “government overreach” has no problem legislating uteruses and handing out medical advice like they’re the Mayo Clinic.

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Release the #EpsteinFiles

Inside Trump’s Epstein Meltdown: Chaos, Leaks, and a Base He Couldn’t Control

Trump’s team tried to smother the Epstein story—and instead set it on fire.

For months, the White House treated Epstein as a nuisance that would fade; instead, it triggered Situation Room huddles, clashing egos, and amateur-hour PR. Allies booed at Turning Point USA when asked if they were “satisfied” with the investigation, and the base refused to take the hint.

The summary: misreads, mixed messages, and a president who wanted it all to just go away.

The infighting was relentless. Attorney General Pam Bondi waved “Epstein Files: Phase 1” binders that mostly recycled public info, then blamed leaks; FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Dan Bongino pushed—and then backpedaled—on suicide claims; comms aides complained, MAGA influencers raged.

As former Trump lawyer Ty Cobb put it: “This may be the worst managed PR event in history.”

Disclosures only deepened the hole. A July statement—approved by Trump—declared no incriminating “client list” and no grounds to probe uncharged parties; conservative allies erupted. Elon Musk accused the administration of hiding documents—“The truth will come out”—while Congress edged toward forcing a full DOJ release. Sen. John Kennedy warned Patel, “This issue is not going to go away.”

Damage control turned messy. Rupert Murdoch got a call from Air Force One over a 2003 “birthday book” letter bearing Trump’s name; a defamation suit followed. DOJ interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell—over Chick-fil-A breakfast—then released the transcript and audio. Inside the West Wing, the priority wasn’t justice; it was political triage.

By September, the message was exhaustion, not transparency. Trump fretted friends might be named, insisted there was nothing more to do, and told reporters, “Really, I think it’s enough.” The problem: His base didn’t agree—and neither did a Congress inching toward daylight.

Source: The Wall Street Journal (gift article)

Editor: If your crisis plan is “deny, delay, then dump half-truths in a binder,” you don’t have a strategy—you have a shredder with talking points. The White House didn’t manage the story; it managed to prove why the files need sunlight.

Pro tip for aspiring strongmen: When your biggest fans start booing, the message isn’t “talk louder”—it’s “start telling the truth.”

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Trump Tried to Cancel Kimmel—Instead He Made Him a Ratings Juggernaut

Donald Trump’s push to silence Jimmy Kimmel handed the late-night host his biggest audience in more than a decade.

Kimmel’s first show back after a weeklong suspension over remarks about Charlie Kirk’s killing drew 6.26 million viewers—nearly four times his usual audience and his best ratings since a 2015 interview with Barack Obama. His monologue, mixing apology with a sharp defense of free speech and jabs at Trump, racked up another 26 million views online.

“He tried his best to cancel me but instead forced millions of people to watch the show,” Kimmel told viewers. That rebound came despite nearly a quarter of ABC affiliates refusing to air the episode, highlighting just how wide the backlash to Trump’s pressure campaign has spread.

The White House had leaned on ABC after FCC chairman Brendan Carr threatened the network and its affiliates with regulatory consequences. Disney, ABC’s parent, caved quickly—then reversed itself, sparking fury on both the right and left. Conservatives blasted Disney for bowing to liberals, while free-speech advocates accused the company of surrendering to government intimidation in the first place.

The episode underscores how Trump’s second-term FCC has become a blunt political weapon, already implicated in the Paramount-Skydance merger drama and Disney’s $16 million settlement of a Trump defamation case. Yet instead of silencing one of his loudest critics, Trump gave Kimmel something every entertainer craves: a massive audience and a powerful cultural moment.

Source: MarketWatch (gift article)

Editor: Trump tried to bury a comedian and ended up resurrecting his career. That’s not cancel culture—it’s clumsy authoritarianism with Nielsen receipts. Imagine being so thin-skinned you turn a late-night host into a First Amendment folk hero.

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Democrats Demand FBI Tapes in Tom Homan Bribery Scandal

White House border czar Tom Homan is accused of pocketing $50,000 in cash, and Democrats want the recordings that could prove it.

Lawmakers in both the House and Senate have launched inquiries into the bribery controversy surrounding Homan, a top Trump official. In letters to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, Rep. Jamie Raskin and other Democrats demanded “all recordings from Mr. Homan’s meeting” along with investigative files and communications between the DOJ, FBI, and the White House. They called the abrupt shutdown of the probe a “brazen cover-up to protect Donald Trump’s allies.”

The case stems from undercover FBI agents who, about a year ago, allegedly caught Homan on tape accepting $50,000 in a Cava bag while suggesting he could help secure contracts under a future Trump administration. The investigation continued until Trump returned to the White House—then it fizzled, and earlier this month the case was formally closed.

Homan, pressed by Fox News’ Laura Ingraham this week, insisted he “did nothing illegal” but carefully avoided directly denying the cash exchange. Meanwhile, press secretary Karo-Lyin’ Leavitt claimed Homan “never took the $50,000,” a defense that contradicted earlier statements and only added to the confusion.

The Trump team could end the speculation immediately by releasing the FBI tapes, but so far, transparency has taken a back seat to stonewalling. With Democrats in the minority and lacking subpoena power, their oversight push may hinge on public pressure. “Release the Homan tapes” is now echoing the familiar call to “Release the Epstein files.”

Source: My Daily Grind News

Editor: The script writes itself: A border czar, a bag of cash, and an administration allergic to sunlight. Funny how the “law and order” crowd suddenly develops amnesia when it’s their guy on camera stuffing money into a tote bag.