The Trump administration is trying to put the kibosh on a website that has published information exposing the identities of thousands of officials at the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS has been key in waging Donald Trump’s deadly and racist crusade against immigrants and people who support them. The administration’s efforts to shield the mostly masked agents — often citing unsubstantiated threats of violence — have inspired activists to find ways to expose those carrying out the crackdown.

Some groups, such as the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, have used public records to spotlight DHS employees who have been charged with sex crimes against women and children. And now the Trump administration is freaking out after the transparency group DDoSecrets published leaked information identifying more than 40,000 employees at DHS, including some involved in undercover operations.

As The Guardian reported:

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asked ⁠an Icelandic hosting company on Thursday to take down or limit access to data related to thousands ⁠of agency personnel, saying ⁠the content ​put them at risk, according to the request posted online by hosting company FlokiNET.

The database “places more than ⁠40,000 identifiable individuals at risk of harassment, stalking and physical harm,” the request said.

ZeroFox, a company authorized by the US ⁠Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to pursue content removal actions, cited the figure in ​an email to FlokiNET.

FlokiNET’s ‌CEO, Kolja Weber, told ‌Reuters that his company would not remove the DHS data because it ‌included government employee work addresses and work phone numbers, not personal phone numbers and addresses.

Trump has gutted several aspects of the country’s cybersecurity apparatus and left various institutions vulnerable as a result. MS NOW’s Rachel Maddow recently discussed the problem this has created for states:

Last month, the FBI was hit with a cyberattack that current officials and outside experts described to MS NOW as one of the worst counterintelligence disasters in modern history. At the time, one FBI agent gave MS NOW their unvarnished opinion on the source of the breach: incompetency.

From Ken Dilanian and Carol Leonnig’s report:

“This was a vulnerability that supposedly they thought they patched, but managed to miss one of the ways to patch it,” the agent said in a text message, adding that the cause was “definitely incompetence.”

It’s unclear whether or how the Trump administration’s idiotic push to gut the nation’s cybersecurity defenses played a role in the latest DHS hack. But it seems abundantly clear that it hasn’t helped matters.

The post Trump administration freaks out over leaked data on DHS officials appeared first on MS NOW.

With Election Day approaching, backlash continues to mount against the top election official in Arizona’s most populous county — a MAGA loyalist who has used his office to promote election conspiracy theories and empower conservative activists.

I’ve homed in on Maricopa County’s Justin Heap in recent months as many Arizonans — including many of his fellow Republican election officials in the Phoenix-area county — have sounded the alarm on the county recorder’s push to give himself and Donald Trump’s allies more power to intervene in Maricopa’s electoral processes. More than half of Arizona’s residents live in the county, meaning any chicanery that occurs there could significantly affect key state races next week.

Some GOP candidates in Arizona think their chances in next week’s elections are bleak, potentially giving someone like Heap — who has encouraged the Trump administration to intervene in the state’s election processes — incentive to meddle.

Amid such concerns, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Arizona chapter has flagged disturbing reports of voters being falsely told by poll workers that they needed to show ID to drop off their mail-in ballots. Arizona law states that voters can show ID when they drop off ballots if they want to speed up the tabulation process, but doing so isn’t required.

In the video below, you can see Heap pushing back against the ACLU’s claim during a sit-down with a Phoenix television station — only to be told that one of the outlet’s reporters experienced the very same thing when trying to drop off a ballot.

Recorder @azjustinheap contradicts himself yet again.

In an interview with a local station, he said pollworkers were not instructing voters they must present ID to vote.

(This is against the law, voters still have the option to drop ballots for themselves and family members in… https://t.co/vwC216PuNE

— The AZ – abc15 – Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) October 30, 2026

Earlier this year, Heap stood alongside then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a Phoenix press conference, where she said her department — which under Trump has served as a vector for white supremacist propaganda — would ensure that “we have the right people voting.”

It’s rhetoric one might expect to have heard during the height of the Jim Crow era — and Heap was right there. Which is to say, he has given Arizonans no reason to take him at his word on anything he says regarding election integrity.

The post MAGA election official in Arizona tries to downplay disturbing reports about poll workers appeared first on MS NOW.

This is the Oct. 30, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.

Joe, when you were in Congress we had a balanced physical budget. What happened that changed that?

— Robert R., Hertford, N.C.

Robert,

When I was in Congress, we balanced the budget four years in a row. That was the first and only time that happened in 100 years. When I left Congress in September 2001, Washington was running a $155 billion surplus. How did we do it? We made tough choices and only paid for programs and weapons systems that the federal government could afford.

After the 9/11 attacks, George W. Bush and Republicans responded by spending billions more at the Pentagon and protecting the homeland. While that was rational to a degree, it became an excuse to allow bloated defense budgets to explode over the coming years.

Unfortunately, Bush Republicans also joined Democrats to increase entitlement and domestic spending, and hike up funding for every bureaucratic department.

By the end of his presidency, Bush had doubled the national debt, from $5.6 trillion to $11.5 trillion. Barack Obama’s administration added trillions more through sustained deficits, bringing the total to $19.5 trillion.

But no president has run larger deficits and increased the debt more than Donald J. Trump. This is rich because candidate Trump ran promising to balance the budget and to pay down the federal debt. Like most of his other campaign pledges, that proved to be a lie.

Washington has been unwilling to make tough choices. Until Congress and the president find the courage to do so in all areas, we will remain on the road to financial ruin.

Time is running out fast to turn around this crisis, and we can only hope that the next Congress and president get serious about saving our country.

I am a longtime show watcher (you all have become a big part of my morning!) and appreciate all of your excellent contributors, and now I am happy to be a MS NOW Member and receiving your newsletter. I get so frustrated when war crimes are mentioned — Putin, most of all, and now Trump/Hegseth and so many others. Do any of these brutal killers ever get charged? Where is the accountability? I especially worry about the people of Ukraine and [am] heartbroken about the Iranian girls’ school where there should be charges. Thank you.

— Suzy C., Batavia, Ill.

Suzy,

Millions of Americans share your dismay over the savagery unfolding in war zones around the globe. We expect no better from Vladimir Putin after more than four years of his bloody war on Ukraine. We are also concerned about the administration’s callous attack on the Iranian girls’ school — and its refusal to even apologize for a tragedy that could have been avoided.

America needs a foreign policy that is strong and protects our interests around the world, but also remains consistent with American values. Donald Trump and his defense secretary have unleashed a foreign policy that runs counter to everything this country has traditionally said it believes in.

Pete Hegseth needs to go.

If the Democrats take control of the House and/or the Senate this fall, I am worried that they will have such a huge task ahead of them that they will only be able to make minimal progress (especially with Trump still in office) on digging us out of our current situation and will then get blamed for not delivering on a mandate for change. How can the Democrats approach such a situation so the public will trust them with the presidency in 2028?

— Caroline G., Bloomington, Ind.

Democrats need to remain focused on their campaign promises to lower the cost of living for working Americans. They can start by reclaiming Congress’ power over tariffs and then invoking the War Powers Act to limit the president’s ability to launch endless wars with Iran and around the world. Just those two items would go a long way toward reducing inflation at the grocery store and the gas pump.

They should also prioritize affordable housing and give Americans a real shot at providing decent healthcare for their families. Right now, that is an impossible task for too many middle-class Americans.

LETTERS FROM READERS

Not really a question, but I pray we get a blue wave on Nov. 3, which is my birthday. Having a birthday during the first week of November means every six years, either midterms or a presidential election falls on that day. Last time it was 2020, and I did get my wish for Biden to beat Trump. I really enjoy your show and the variety it brings. Residing in Arizona where we did not adopt daylight saving time, I am up at 3 a.m. M-F to watch all of you. Thank you for everything you do to keep this fragile democracy of ours on track.

— Kerry O., Peoria, Ariz.

I just want to thank you and Mika. I have watched you for many years and [am] glad you are steadfast in reporting the truth. God bless you and your co-workers for all you do. Keeping us the America I knew before MAGA.

— Sherrie S., Bowling Green, Ky.

The vice president said that he thinks the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have done a good job for the most part and that people “who screwed up” should face consequences. There is a place he can go to find how to “strike a balance.” It’s called the United States Constitution, and for even more information he could read all the relevant laws passed to re-enforce and clarify the Constitution. The founding fathers PURPOSELY made it hard to detain someone. Hence, presumption of innocence, burden of proof, protecting the individual, due process, privacy and seizure, right to remain silent, double jeopardy, speedy and public trial, impartial jury, right to an attorney, no excessive bail, excessive fines and more.

— Keith M., Stamford, Conn.

I am flabbergasted when I watch a Trump rally clip on TV to see the people behind him just smiling and laughing at the inhumane, incoherent, and despicable things he says. I just don’t understand how they think this is a presidential leader. I would hope most people don’t want an entertainer for their president but rather someone intelligently able to solve problems. And right now, we have a lot of problems. I’m so embarrassed by his shtick. We are becoming a nation that is dumber, sicker, and poorer because of his policies and the elected officials who turn a blind eye to suffering. We should insist that our leaders have integrity and that quality character traits matter.

— Anonymous

I think we need to get election reform; in fact, it should be the first thing they tackle. If they don’t put a cap on campaign spending, no decent person could run. Races like the Texas Senate wouldn’t even be close if the rich and powerful hadn’t poured $500 million into that campaign. I fear we are becoming a dictator-oligarch government.

— Lorraine Z., Trumbull, Conn.

The post Joe Scarborough answers reader questions about the first thing Democrats should do after the midterms appeared first on MS NOW.

Call it the slop election.

This year’s midterms have dovetailed with the moment experts have been warning about for years: when generative artificial intelligence makes content that looks real enough to fool people, is accessible to almost everyone and can be deployed at massive scale.

Political action committees and campaigns spent well over $100 million on fake ads to influence federal, state and local elections this year. Fake pollsters used AI to make up shops and reports overnight. And political-attack websites disguised as nonprofit think tanks swayed local elections. I wrote in September about the Local Government Accountability Institute, a fake research organization that used AI to spin up fake studies and papers as well as attack videos and ads targeting two Sarasota County commissioners in Florida.

This kind of “slopaganda” — which researchers define as unwanted AI-generated content spread in order to manipulate beliefs to achieve political ends — is everywhere.

A Russian disinformation campaign doctored celebrity videos to mock Democrats and urge social media users to vote Republican. A Republican running for a county judge seat in Texas shared an AI-generated video depicting Black voters expressing support for his campaign. In Wisconsin a Republican U.S. representative running for re-election prompted Grok for a video of his opponent ordering “peasants” to vote for her. President Donald Trump has depicted himself as Jesus, the pope and the Green Lantern.

Slop was used by campaigns big and small this year, almost exclusively in support of right-wing candidates. Slopaganda is affordable and so easy to produce that anyone with a basic understanding of the internet can deploy it with minimal effort.

So I did.

With an afternoon to spare, a few prompts to ChatGPT and Claude and Grok, and a $14 charge to the company card, I created a website for the Generative Research Institute for Truth (or GRIFT). I wanted to show how easy it would be to launch a fake political organization like LGAI, and convince the algorithms — and, if I wanted to take it further, the voters — that my slopaganda was legit.

The site features a mission statement, an advisory council, research papers full of statistics and even an award section, all created by AI. I announced the organization on Substack and Facebook pages I set up, and had Grok create videos using my likeness to advertise. The GRIFT was on, and my slopaganda campaign was more successful than it had any business being.

Watch “SLOPAGANDA!” the second episode of “The Deep End with Brandy Zadrozny” on YouTube and at MS NOW.

The post ‘Slopaganda’ has taken over the midterms appeared first on MS NOW.

Our analysis exposes the heavy humanitarian and economic toll of the military siege suffocating Palestinians in Hebron.