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Hey fam, JVL here. On Monday you’ll see something new in Morning Shots: an ad.
We’ve never done ads in print products before, so this is an experiment. Maybe it’ll work; maybe it won’t.
I just want to explain our thinking.
We have always tried to keep the vast majority of what we do free and open for everyone. That includes this newsletter, which is never locked for subscribers. We can do that because Bulwark+ members support us.
But we keep growing and adding new voices and new products—Mark Hertling and Catherine Rampell are the two latest—and we want to do even more. If you’re getting Morning Shots for free, then putting up with an ad is how you can support us, too, and contribute to our ability to grow and try to put a dent in the universe while everything is going to hell.
So, you know, thanks for that?
Anyway, Bulwark+ members won’t get ads in their newsletters, so if you hate ads, then joining us is the other way to support our mission.
However you do it—by joining Bulwark+, by sharing our stuff, or even just by reading Bill and Andrew—we’re grateful for your support. Thanks.
—JVL
You don’t really get the sense these days that Donald Trump views his authoritarian outbursts as a limited resource, something he can only indulge in so much before he’s wasted all his political capital. Here he was yesterday on Truth Social, fuming about how much he wants to make it illegal to publish “fake polls”:
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“Fake and Fraudulent polling should be, virtually, a criminal offense,” he went on in a follow-up post. “I am going to do everything possible to keep this Polling SCAM from moving forward!” Happy Friday.
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Always the Last Place You Look…
by Andrew Egger
Yesterday I reported a remarkable new development in the story of ChongLy Thao, the U.S. citizen whom ICE took half-naked from his Minnesota home last weekend. ICE had claimed it had been looking for a pair of migrant sex offenders at Thao’s address; in repeated social-media posts, the Department of Homeland Security said the men were still loose in the streets and asked people to call in tips. But they should have known exactly where to find at least one of the migrants in question, Lue Moua: He’s in state prison on a felony kidnapping conviction, and has been since 2024.
This information wasn’t exactly secret. Moua’s name, face, and criminal record are easy to find in a public database of state criminal records. Minnesota Department of Corrections Communications Director Shannon Loehrke confirmed to The Bulwark Thursday that the Moua in their custody is the same individual DHS is seeking. Moreover, Loehrke added, Moua is already under an ICE detainer—meaning ICE is already aware he is there and has requested he be placed into their custody upon his release from state prison, which is currently scheduled for early 2027. . . .
Why the agents who manhandled Thao this weekend thought Moua might be at Thao’s home is unclear. It’s unclear, too, why DHS officials spent days imploring citizens to keep their eyes peeled for Moua in the streets of Minneapolis when at least some part of ICE already knew he was in state prison.
DHS didn’t respond in time for publication yesterday, but late last night, spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin sent a belated statement. She confirmed ICE had placed a detainer on Moua,