I read six sycophantic pro-Trump books — and then I read Omarosa  —  Hagiographies of the president share seven core traits.  —  Some are born Trump sycophants.  Some achieve Trump sycophancy.  And some have Trump sycophancy thrust upon them — since he's a star, they let him do that.

Documents Reveal Successful Cyberattack in California Congressional Race  —  The FBI investigated hacking attempts targeting a Democrat who ran against “Putin's favorite congressman”  —  WASHINGTON — FBI agents in California and Washington, D.C., have investigated a series of cyberattacks …

Tim Pawlenty goes down and six takeaways from Tuesday's primaries  —  First Read is your briefing from “Meet the Press” and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.  —  WASHINGTON — Last night's primaries in Connecticut, Minnesota …

New poll suggests attacks on Nancy Pelosi won't matter in midterms  —  GOP using Pelosi in ads as a midterms motivator  —  (CNN)Republican House candidates have attacked their Democratic opponents over their future potential vote to make Nancy Pelosi the speaker of the House again.

Trump revokes John Brennan's security clearance  —  President Trump has revoked the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, according to White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders at today's press briefing.  —  The details: Sanders also stated that Trump is also considering revoking …

The organizer of the Charlottesville rally just got humiliated by his own father  —  “Get out of my room,” Jason Kessler's father said to him during a live stream.  —  I reported from the “Unite the Right 2” rally in Washington on Sunday.  It was a dreary failure that attracted around 30 people …

House: Three More GOP Seats Join the Toss Up Column  —  For Republicans, the 2018 House playing field is a lot like a game of Whack-a-Mole: everywhere they turn, new problems keep popping up in surprising places.  In January, we rated 20 GOP-held seats as Toss Ups or worse, including three leaning towards Democrats.

Andrew Cuomo: America “Was Never That Great”  —  8.15.18

Can Manafort's Team Make a Killer Closure?  —  ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Paul Manafort's opportunities to attack the weighty federal case against him here have dwindled to a two-hour closing argument.  —  President Trump's former campaign manager's defense team lost all of the motions it made publicly …

Trump Supporter Claims Social Distortion Lead Singer Mike Ness Beat Him Up Over Politics  —  SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Trump supporter claims he was attacked by the lead singer of a punk rock band when he jeered the frontman's political statements.  —  Tim Hildebrand of Galt says the attack happened …

Mystery Russian satellite's behaviour raises alarm in US  —  A mysterious Russian satellite displaying “very abnormal behaviour” has raised alarm in the US, according to a State Department official.  —  “We don't know for certain what it is and there is no way to verify it,” …

Elizabeth Warren has a plan to save capitalism  —  She's unveiling a bill to make corporate governance great again.  —  Elizabeth Warren has a big idea that challenges how the Democratic Party thinks about solving the problem of inequality.  —  Instead of advocating for expensive …

Hostility unabated: Colorado seeks to punish cake artist Jack Phillips again  —  ADF attorneys file suit against state officials  —  DENVER - Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that Colorado cannot treat cake artist Jack Phillips differently than others, state officials have continued …

New Estimates Show Overdose Deaths Surpassed 72,000, a New High, in 2017  —  Fentanyl is a big culprit, but there are also encouraging signs from states that have prioritized public health campaigns and addiction treatment.  —  Drug overdoses killed more than 72,300 Americans last year …

Treasury retweets Trump, possibly violating campaign law  —  The Treasury Department on Wednesday retweeted a post from President Trump  —  celebrating Republican wins in congressional elections this year, potentially violating federal campaign law.  —  The department's official Twitter account shared …

Did I Join a Movement That Naturally Attracts Extremists and Kooks? … This week's news about Omarosa secretly taping chief of staff John Kelly and President Donald Trump is yet another reminder of something about Trumpworld: Politics has always attracted eccentric opportunists, but people in this administration are especially weird.

Democrats Discard Washington Platform in Bid for House Control  —  DALLAS — House Democrats, looking to wrest control of the chamber from Republicans in November, are discarding the lessons of successful midterms past and pressing only a bare-bones national agenda, leaving it to candidates …

Jim Carrey's (Reluctant) Return to Hollywood: At Home With an Actor, Artist and Trump-Era Agitator  —  In his first extensive profile in years, the one-time $20 million-a-movie star and current political cartoonist opens up about his disappearance, his personal pain, his outrage and why he's returning …

Former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman says cancer has returned to his lungs, ‘shaken my soul’  —  Coleman said his prognosis is not “overly optimistic,” but he will fight on.  —  TEXT SIZE  —  The throat and neck cancer that former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman began battling almost three years ago …

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Alex Jones, election security and regrets  —  “We can't build a service that is subjective just to the whims of what we personally believe,” Dorsey told NBC News' Lester Holt in an exclusive interview.  —  Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Wednesday defended …

Let's Hope There Is No Tape of Trump Using the N-Word  —  But if there is ...  I hope there isn't a tape of Donald Trump using the N-word in a manner that's clearly meant to be offensive, bigoted, and derogatory.  —  We've now reached the stage where the existence of such a tape is not proven, but is more than theoretically possible.

Your Name Is All Over the Internet.  It Doesn't Need to Be.  —  As more activity is linked to our real names, the stakes seem excessively high.  There has to be a better way.  —  In the 1981 sci-fi novel “True Names,” Vernor Vinge describes a dystopian future in which hackers go to great lengths …

200+ newspapers will write pro-journalism editorials.  Will they also listen?  —  On Thursday, more than 200 newspapers will publish editorials in a “coordinated response” to President Trump calling the press the “enemy of the people.”  Each publication will write its own editorial.

When a Young Trump Went to Russia  —  On a frigid December day in 2017, Oleg Kalugin opens the door of his house in Rockville, Maryland, an upper-middle-class suburb of Washington, D.C., to meet me.  Nothing in particular distinguishes his split-level suburban home from those of the other professionals …