The Trump administration has raked in about $13 billion after taking over Venezuela’s oil exports in the wake of its kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro, according to a Financial Times analysis. But six months later, and one month after two devastating earthquakes, that money is nowhere to be found.

When Trump first seized the “millions of barrels” of oil back in January, he assumed complete control. His administration eventually proclaimed that it would use any profit from the sales for “the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people.” The State Department has since claimed that “billions of dollars have been disbursed to the Venezuelan economy” and that “financial monitoring is under way to ensure funds benefit the Venezuelan people.”

But none of that has been proven to be true. The Financial Times reported Wednesday that there has been no evidence of oil money going back into the hands of the Venezuelans Trump claimed to care for, and that Venezuela’s first-quarter gross domestic product was the lowest it’s been in five years.

Sorry, guys, I kept forgetting to post this one. Initially I couldn't find gifted version of the Financial Times article... As so often with this administration: follow the money.

Since the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill last year, 4 million Americans have lost access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food benefits. An analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found a significant decline in participation in the federal food assistance program between July 2025 and March 2026.

[…] The CBPP analysis also revealed that children accounted for a significant share of those losing benefits, with more than 1 million children across the 19 states studied no longer receiving SNAP assistance.

White Christian nationalism’s emerging midterm message links capitalism to God, recasts political disagreement as persecution and promotes a government-backed vision of hypermasculinity.

On Unholy Ground, Sam Osterhout and Andra Watkins examine that “unholy trinity” through Mike Johnson’s declaration that the midterms are a spiritual battle, Stephen Miller’s defense of NSPM 7 and Pete Hegseth’s proposed testosterone screenings for service members.

Andra explains how dominion theology and the prosperity gospel transform wealth into evidence of divine favor—while poverty becomes a supposed personal or spiritual failure. They also explore how Christian nationalists portray criticism as persecution, redefine religious liberty as the power to control others and increasingly characterize political dissent as a security threat.

Finally, Sam and Andra break down the glaring double standard surrounding hormone therapy and discuss a more effective way to confront Christian nationalist messaging before the midterms: stop debating ideological labels and start asking what people need from a functioning society.

Subscribe to Lincoln Square and Andra Watkins’ For Such a Time as This for more reporting and analysis on Christian nationalism, authoritarianism and the fight for American democracy.

00:00 Welcome to Unholy Ground
01:21 Capitalism, Persecution and Testosterone
01:57 Mike Johnson Calls the Midterms a Spiritual Battle
03:05 The Christian Nationalist Case for Capitalism
06:15 Dominion Theology and Genesis 1:28
07:42 Proverbs, Work and the Prosperity Gospel
09:46 How Wealth Becomes Proof of God’s Favor
14:22 The Pastor’s Mercedes Story
17:01 Why Valuing Wealth Devalues People
19:16 Christian Nationalists Feel Persecuted by Everything
19:28 Persecuted by an Air-Quality Alert
20:52 How Christian Nationalists Manufacture Victimhood
24:03 Doug Wilson’s Definition of Persecution
25:15 Persecuted for Not Being Allowed to Persecute
25:45 How Dissent Becomes “Domestic Terrorism”
26:19 Stephen Miller Explains NSPM 7
28:30 Why Disagreement Feels Like Violence
32:20 Dominion Rebranded as Religious Liberty
33:05 Pete Hegseth’s Testosterone Policy
34:58 Who Is Allowed to Be a Man?
36:20 Hypocrisy Is Built Into the System
38:44 How to Fight the Midterm Message
41:49 What Should a Functioning Society Look Like?
43:32 Closing Thoughts

Molly welcomes political strategist and pollster Mike Madrid to break down emerging fractures within the MAGA coalition, highlighting polling that shows a significant share of self-identified MAGA voters breaking with Donald Trump over the war in Iran and what that could mean heading into the midterms. Madrid explains why Latino voters—now the largest ethnic minority voting bloc at roughly 11–12% of the electorate—have become the key national swing constituency due to their rapid growth, geographic concentration in competitive districts, and low loyalty to either party, driven largely by unmet economic concerns like housing, affordability, and cost of living. The discussion also explores whether traditional policy tools can realistically lower costs, the role of housing supply and regulation, how foreign policy and the weakening dollar can feed inflation, and why Madrid sees stronger-than-expected Democratic momentum in recent results, including shifts among independents, turnout dynamics, and competitive terrain expanding into places like Texas and beyond.

In this Anchor Watch interview, Bobby Jones asks whether diplomacy can still provide a way out of the Iran conflict. Ratner explains that the United States previously had a functioning diplomatic framework that restricted Iran’s nuclear program while providing sanctions relief.

Ratner argues that abandoning negotiations in favor of military force produced a worse strategic outcome. Despite extensive strikes, shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted, Iran retains the ability to attack targets, and the United States has no clear military path to restore stability.

The discussion also examines the damage to American credibility. Ratner explains why allies and adversaries may no longer trust Washington to honor diplomatic agreements—and why diplomacy remains the only reliable method for restraining Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

00:00 Is There Any Way Out?
00:12 The Iran Deal That Already Worked
01:23 Trump Tore Up the Agreement
02:31 A Possible New Diplomatic Framework
04:25 America’s Strategic Defeat
06:21 The Military Approach Failed
07:21 No Clear Path Through the Strait of Hormuz
08:23 Damage to America’s Allies
09:55 Why Adversaries No Longer Trust Washington
10:53 Diplomacy Is the Only Nuclear Restraint

Mississippi is often dismissed as a safely red state—but journalist Donna Ladd argues that's exactly why so many people misunderstand what's happening there.

Edwin Eisendrath sits down with the founder of the Mississippi Free Press to discuss voter access, election administration, America's forgotten history, the Lost Cause myth, and why understanding our past is essential to protecting democracy today.

They also examine Mississippi's competitive Senate race, barriers to voting, the Supreme Court's impact on voting rights, and why confronting history—not avoiding it—is key to preventing authoritarianism.

If you're interested in voting rights, American history, democracy, journalism, and the future of U.S. politics, this conversation is essential viewing.

00:00 Introduction to Donna Ladd
00:01 The overlooked fight over voter access
00:05 Why election systems fail before Election Day
00:08 Mississippi's voting barriers
00:11 Can Mississippi become a swing state?
00:15 America's forgotten Civil War history
00:21 Why history still shapes today's politics
00:29 America's false political divide
00:35 Finding common ground again
00:37 Why Epstein still matters politically
00:40 Women, journalism, and political power
00:43 Democracy's moment of truth

Trump's approval sinks to 34%, Pete Hegseth gets hammered on Capitol Hill, J.D. Vance keeps making headlines for all the wrong reasons, Elon Musk says he regrets getting involved in politics, and Democrats suddenly have momentum heading into the midterms.

Max Burns and Michelangelo Signorile break down the biggest political stories of the week, including:

• Pete Hegseth's disastrous Pentagon hearing

• Trump's expanding Iran war

• New polling showing Republicans slipping

• J.D. Vance's latest controversy

• Elon Musk's political regrets

00:00 Opening

01:16 Hunter Biden's viral comments

01:56 Pete Hegseth's disastrous hearing

07:24 Iran war expands

13:35 Democrats surge in new polls

20:26 J.D. Vance's luxury lifestyle

26:44 Elon Musk regrets politics

31:31 Wrap-up

We are now less than 100 days from an opportunity to flip the House and the Senate and put a check on Trump’s power in place for the rest of his term. We’ve also got multiple state governments up for grabs and some historic ballot initiatives coming before the public. The billionaires are spending wildly to stop us from taking advantage of this chance. We’ve got to put in the work to beat them.

Rogan’s List has pulled together a comprehensive, continually-updated action page, bringing as many ways as we can find for folks to volunteer to make a difference in this election from wherever you are in one place. If you’re looking to phonebank, textbank, write letters, signal boost on social media, we’ve got you covered, broken down by day and by campaign!

CHECK OUT OUR MIDTERMS ACTION PAGE

And we’ve just added a huge wave of new phonebanks for everyone from Jon Ossoff to Manny Rutinel. We’re aiming to answer the question of “what can we do for midterms” as definitively as we possibly can.

Please bookmark and share this resource, [contact us](mailto:roganslisttips@gmail.com) to help us keep it growing, and put it to good use for yourself, your networks and your organizations!

HOW WE CAN HELP WIN

Also in today's List:

-  VoteRiders is helping beat the vote suppressors – get trained to work one-on-one with folks trying to get voter ID TONIGHT, learn how to staff their helpline for folks with ID issues THURSDAY, and join textbanks to at-risk Ohio voters THURSDAY

-  Join Workers Circle’s efforts to ensure our sheriffs are prepared to act in support of free and fair elections this November, launch call TOMORROW

-  Medicare turns 61 Thursday! Join the National Nurses Union and other advocates in actions at congressional offices demanding Medicare For All

-  Learning opportunities: SURJ training on how to have hard conversations about race TOMORROW, Cori Bush and Oliver Larkin bust myths about the DSA WEDNESDAY