Welcome to another edition of Lincoln Square’s Weekly Wrap, the newsletter that catches you up the highlights from any live interviews or shows you might have missed during the week.
ICE Agents Can’t Hide Behind their Masks Forever | Stuart Stevens LIVE
Stuart Stevens went live this week to warn ICE officers that everything they’re doing behind the safety of a mask will one day become public, and they will have to answer for what they did. Stuart notes that accountability could come in the form of lengthy government paper trails.
Stuart Stevens: You have the Office of Personnel Management. You have the treasury payroll. You have the security and clearance… and also, you have this little thing called the social security system, which is taking money out of their paychecks and identifying what they do.
So, this is childish. And it’s not only going to be a record of who is in ICE, it’ll be a record of where they were. It’s going to be a record of what expenses they submitted, what weapons they were issued. There’s going to be a record of who signed out pepper spray and how many canisters.
This is a government bureaucracy that is insanely huge and overlapping. It’s going to be ‘where did they spend the night?’ ‘How many miles did they drive that day?’ It is going to be a prosecutor’s dream roadmap of how to go after these ICE agents who wear these little bandanas over their face to feel better.
See more of the discussion here.
What Dems Must Do to Win in 2026 | The Weekly Assignment with Rachel Bitecofer
Special elections giving us a glimpse into what could be for the midterms. Bad Bunny’s halftime show versus Kid Rock’s Milli Vinili style meltdown. Lincoln Square executive editor Susan J. Demas, Sam Osterhout, and guest Rachel Bitecofer discuss it all in this episode of The Weekly Assignment.
Susan J. Demas: There is a huge amount of rot and it needs to be eradicated completely. But it’s very telling to me, the fact that you have your commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, in there and Elon Musk and so many people on the MAGA side that seems to have resulted in a lot more silence than there should be. If it’s the principle, if you really did care about the children, then it shouldn’t matter who’s the one abusing them.
Sam Osterhout: Absolutely. That’s exactly right. And we’ve always thought, “well electeds and billionaires seek to calcify their power,” and I think for people like us who are ultimately in a system where we are mostly powerless – at least compared to the oligarchs – we think, “what is the goal of that particular power?”
For a long time, maybe we thought the goal of wealth and power is the ability to make the rules. The ability to control democracy and clear a way for their corporations and their personal wealth to grow and be persistent for a thousand years.
But now, maybe the goal of that power is so that they can just abuse children and get away with everything they could ever want to. It’s a certain kind of freedom that is against the social order or the fabric of society.
See more of the discussion here.
Epstein Files Bombshells & Trump’s Polling Flameout | The Strategy Session with Rick Wilson, Joe Trippi, & Stuart Stevens
The boys are back together this week for another episode of The Strategy Session. Rick Wilson, Joe Trippi, & Stuart Stevens got together to discuss the latest on the Epstein files releases and just how bad Trump’s numbers are getting in year two of his second term.
Rick Wilson: Here’s the thing, there’s a big push on the right right now to try and say Trump told the sheriff in 2006 what a bad guy Epstein was. What else do we find out today? That Trump never actually banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago.
What else do we find out in the course of this new document release? That Trump was still communicating with them and that everything had gone back to normal under the table.
[...]
I’ve been thinking about this since this tranche of documents came out. This protected group of American men who knew who this guy was. They knew who he was. He had been convicted in 2008. He had served time for this and he was on a sex offender registry. There are hundreds of thousands of emails from hundreds of American influential people, mostly men, some women. And all their emails are just so casual, except for Tina Brown, god love her, who said, “fuck you, I’m not going to the pedophile parade.”
What do you guys think about this?
Stuart Stevens: It is amazing. It brought down a British ambassador, brought down the chief of staff. And Susie Wiles is in there like, ‘mine doesn’t matter. I don’t care.’ I said this going back to Clinton, and obviously what happened with Clinton is nothing in comparison to what’s happened with Trump – but, Clinton did lie to cabinet members. And I’ve always thought that if they had resigned in protest and forced Clinton to resign, then Gore would have become president and Gore would have been elected in 2000.
There’s no way that George Bush would have defeated an incumbent Al Gore. So what does that mean? Maybe we wouldn’t have Iraq. Maybe we wouldn’t have had 9-11. Maybe we wouldn’t have had Afghanistan.
See more of the discussion here.
Democrats’ Outrage and Fury Heading into the Midterms | Stuart Stevens & Steven Beschloss LIVE
Stuart Stevens and Steven Beschloss went live this week to discuss the outrage of the Epstein files and the lack of transparency in our country. They noted that there have been consequences for people implicated in other countries, and hope that extends to America as well.
Steven Beschloss: I cannot get around the feeling that this has got to keep growing. There’s a level beyond which, even the MAGA crowd can’t stomach, even those people who are part of the cult who are committed to the charismatic leader, who are willing to go along with all of his manipulations and exploitations and corruptions and violations. They’re willing to go with the untethered reality that comes forth from him.
There’s a limit. And we seem to have learned that pedophilia, child rape, was maybe one of those actual red lines and this might be one of those. But, I think the fact that there’s so many powerful, rich people who are in those files – I don’t see how that goes away and I don’t see how that doesn’t keep building.
Yesterday, Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who looked at some of the unredacted files that haven’t been released yet – he said, and I thought he was speaking hyperbolically, that Donald Trump is referenced over a million times. And then he clarified that he didn’t mean hyperbolically, that he meant literally over a million times.
See more of the discussion here.
Meet the Congresswoman Who’s Leading the Fight to Impeach Kristi Noem
Congresswoman Robin Kelly (D-IL) has had enough of Kristi Noem’s assault on the American people. Rep. Kelly joined Sam Osterhout to discuss how she’s leading the fight for ICE accountability after the raids she saw in her own state.
Sam Osterhout: I want to get right into this. You’ve introduced these articles of impeachment against Kristi Noem. We can talk about Bondi in a minute because it sounds like she’s due for some impeachment articles of her own. But I wonder, what was the last straw with Noem for you? When was it that you said enough is enough?
Rep. Kelly: You know, we’ve actually been working on it since October because of Operation Midway Blitz and the helicopters that landed in Chicago, that was in my district. And, as you said, the undocumented and the Americans pulled out of that building, doors kicked in whether you were undocumented or not. So, we started working on it then.
And there were a series of other things that have happened, but when they went to Minnesota and Renee Good died, that was just the last straw. Little did we know, Alex Pretti would come next and it’s still happening and happening.
She has taken a reign of terror across this country: California, Chicago, New Orleans, North Carolina, Maine, and Minnesota.
See more of the discussion here.
Bovino’s Legacy of Violence in Minneapolis | First Draft with Susan J. Demas & Journalist Amanda Moore
The city of Minneapolis has been under siege by ICE since December. Border agents have killed two U.S. citizens and the Trump administration is attempting to provide itself cover with the announcement of a drawdown. Journalist Amanda Moore joined Susan J. Demas to discuss.
Susan J. Demas: Greg Bovino has been at the center of a lot of the worst elements of ICE, whether it was in Chicago or in Minneapolis. When things finally got too hot after Alex Pretti’s murder, he was moved off the scene and Tom Homan came in. Things on the ground haven changed much, but you have really focused on Bovino as a figure.
He was kind of disgraced under the Biden administration, really on his way out. But his career was revived under Trump 2.0… What made you decide that you wanted to devote so much reporting to him? And did you learn anything that was surprising in all of this?
Amanda Moore: I actually live in D.C. and I was originally taking a lot of video of the National Guard and federal agents in D.C. So basically, Trump took over everything for us and ICE began to cooperate with local police and our local police would do traffic blockades while ICE was there.
They would literally point to cars they wanted and our local police would pull them over… So I was taking a lot of videos of that and Mother Jones asked me to write up something about what I was seeing in D.C. and I went to Broadview, the ICE facility outside of Chicago.
[...]
So it was kind of accidental, but also Bovino is such a showboat. He loves to drive around and have protesters following him into gas stations. He loved that chaos. You don’t need to stop at a gas station 15 times in one day. Police protection to go to the Target bathroom. You only do that if you want attention.
See more of the discussion here.
Is ICE Even Worse than We Thought? | Two Joes Podcast with Author Garrett Graff
Republicans are complaining that ICE agents are facing threats and Democrats’ attempts to reform are a non-starter. But as this episode of Two Joes points out, being an elementary school student in the U.S. is more deadly than being an ICE officer. Garrett Graff joined Joe Trippi and Joe Klein to discuss.
Garrett Graff: I calculated as part of this testimony that in the 20 years from 2005 to 2024, which is the most recent year that we have discipline statistics for from CBP – there were 4,913 agents and officers who were arrested themselves. And some of them multiple times. In 2018, there was a CBP employee, and we don’t know whether it was an officer or an agent, but a CBP employee who was arrested five times.
And I know neither of you Joes are sort of professional law enforcement leaders, but let me tell you, one of the goals of running a police department is that your own employees are arrested fewer than five times per year. That’s just sort of like a baseline integrity goal that a lot of departments try to set.
Joe Trippi: Boy, is that a high standard.
Garrett Graff: Exactly. So, that population of 4,913 agents works out to be one agent or officer arrested every 24 to 36 hours since 2005. It is a population that is so large that if it was its own police department, it would be the fourth largest police department in the United States – equal to the entire size of the Philadelphia Police Department.
See more of the discussion here.
ICE is Trump’s Slippery Slope in the Polls | Behind the Numbers with Rick & Andrew Wilson
Trump was at -8 in a Rasmussen poll. That should tell you how bad things are getting as the MAGA movement tears itself apart. Rick & Andrew Wilson discussed the latest numbers in a country of chaos on this episode of Behind the Numbers.
Andrew Wilson: This is a headline from Politico this week. Democrats think that Pam Bondi helped them in the midterms. I think that’s probably a pretty accurate assessment. This Epstein saga, we’re at another high tide of the Epstein files right now and it’s not over. We are not done with this, there will be more. It might ebb for a moment, but it will come back with a vengeance and if Pam Bondi is still in her position as attorney general, which I would be surprised if she is.
Rick Wilson: I think you’re absolutely right, Andrew. I think she will. Look, he can’t fire her yet because that would involve having to name a new attorney general and I don’t think he can get another one through the Senate right now.
Andrew Wilson: I think it would be extraordinarily difficult for him. There’s maybe some people lined up to replace her – he’s obviously going to want a loyalist – Blanche is sort of the obvious choice. But, could Blanche make it through a Senate confirmation? We’ll see.
See more of the discussion here.
Since the videos of the person on Nancy's porch disabling her "Ring" system, has there been any attempts to run a check on the Proud Boys and others who were pardoned by Trump for their violent attempts to stop the certification of the vote? Savannah Guthrie is one of the female journalists who angered Trump by their questions, and one of his loyal thugs might have thought he would teach her a lesson. I've not heard motives discussed beyond money.
Thank you for the article Evan. My friend of twenty five years adopted a kitten from a place he goes to purchase movies. She is very sweet. Both of us are trying to figure out a name for her. It will help him emotionally, for his Parkinson’s. I hope all is well with you. Derek Schmidt lost two races from Governor Kelly she is a progressive! I find Derek Schmidt a disgrace with him standing by Trump! While he wanted to nationalize elections. He makes adds on you tube. Yet he lives in the same town I do. I already have voter ID card which has been a law for apparently along time. This town’s housing is falling apart. A bunch of us got together and found out his contact number maybe a fake number? These elderly folks are seeking help with Social Security disability benefits. If you can’t contact someone, that is serving in your community and or congress member. Then why put a fake address perhaps? I really let the nurses and doctors have it because I am extremely exhausted from walking around being tired, and hurting. The Department of Veterans Affairs, got rid of the neurologist, as he was totally asleep at the wheel trying to treat people with epilepsy and trying to take away their medication. They have been hospitalized from having seizures. He told me that I could not get off my medication, I didn’t know what he was talking about? I never asked to! Luckily the podiatrist in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, gave me a number, to get my surgery done. The community healthcare heard me out. As they have had big problems with communication and getting my vouchers faxed to my doctors. My eye doctor will be filling out a complaint form and is hoping that this department figures dismissed from their jobs. A person can’t just hire anyone that doesn’t know how to do their jobs. I got very upset with the front desk in the small office in Parsons as the nurse said she would order my records. She told me to find a neurosurgeon. Guess what it was my podiatrist. I found her a disgrace. Oh we don’t have your said another nurse passing the buck to me when it’s her job to do! Perhaps I am just going to wait it out! Evan in life it can have a bowl lemons well they can drink lemonade so to speak, I drink orange juice. I am tired of the government bureaucracy! What in the world did Kennedy say he sniffed cocaine from toilet seats I found that he is a big disgrace, who would really do that accept someone who has a fried brain from shooting up heroine sound like he still does? His brain is mush. Impeach the hole lot of them. They are destroying America. I find them disgusting! Substack and other websites went down the down the day of AG Bondi hearing on Capitol Hill. Facebook, Twitter and and substack. I thought perhaps they were working on the lines connected to our internet. Nope know one can figure out why? The computers inside the banks even went down! Hope you’re doing well? Give those dogs a big hug.