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ANALYSIS | One day after he warned the country about political division and the “perils” of social media, President Donald Trump contradicted himself with a series of tweets criticizing his predecessor and a perceived big-tech nuisance. And he again turned to his favorite cable network for an assist.

The president addressed the country Monday morning in a speech meant to console the families of the victims of two deadly weekend mass murders in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. Gunmen opened fire in a WalMart in the former and an entertainment district in the latter. The violence has prompted calls for Trump to call on Congress to interrupt its August recess to send him gun-control legislation.

President Donald Trump on Monday, for the first time in front of television cameras, suggested four freshman House Democratic congresswoman who have harshly criticized him should leave the United States.

Trump, very much in reelection mode during almost every public appearance, suggested the House freshmen congresswoman prefer the al Qaeda terrorist group over the United States and alleged they “hate our country.”

President Donald Trump is not backing down after calling on minority Democratic congresswomen to “go back” to the countries of their ancestry, tweeting on Monday that they should apologize — not him.

The president on Sunday drew immediate outrage from Democratic members and other critics when he lashed out at a handful of freshman House Democrats who have been in a war of words with Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California while also sharply criticizing Trump since before they took office in January. They also support impeachment proceedings against him, something that has angered him for months.

Editor's Note: A July 11 story that described the number of times members of Congress have appeared on television in 2019 was incorrect and based on incomplete statistics.

The story relied on CQ’s Newsmaker transcripts from Jan. 3 through June 26, which include appearances on CNN, CNN International, MSNBC, Fox News, Fox Business, PBS NewsHour, cable news town halls and the Sunday morning talk shows. The transcripts do not include every TV appearance by members of Congress.

The new film “Mike Wallace Is Here” shows how legendary journalist Mike Wallace pioneered holding the powerful accountable, be they politicians, celebrities or real estate developers. But today’s world is one where journalists are in danger and the credibility of its practitioners is constantly called into question. What happened?

On the latest Political Theater podcast, the documentary’s director, Avi Belkin, discusses the arc of Wallace’s career and where things started to shift. In the course of compiling the movie — from thousands of hours of archival footage from CBS’ “60 Minutes” program that made Wallace a star — Belkin says he noticed just how much richer and articulate conversation was among journalists and the subjects they covered. And he argues that the audience bears a responsibility in all this too. 

A federal special counsel nominated by President Donald Trump is calling for White House counselor Kellyanne Conway to be removed from office for taking overtly political actions while fulfilling her official government duties.

But the White House is pushing back, saying the office violated Conway’s due process rights and is questioning the special counsel’s motivations.

Republican lawmakers are increasingly breaking with Donald Trump — through critical words and high-profile votes — but White House officials contend the president still has a grip on his party mates on Capitol Hill.

The Senate floor in recent weeks has become ground zero for GOP members jumping out of line. With a series of national security and government spending speeches and vote results, the president’s party has issued a string of stinging blows after nearly two years of mostly sticking with and defending him.

President Donald Trump used his pre-Super Bowl interview to send mixed signals about his next move in his border wall standoff with Democratic leaders and to blast Speaker Nancy Pelosi as “very bad for our country.”

In an interview set to air Sunday morning ahead of the NFL championship game as part of CBS’s pregame coverage, the president floated a second partial government shutdown and declaring a national emergency that would allow him to access Pentagon funds for his proposed U.S.-Mexico border structure — and inevitable court challenges from Democrats and pro-immigration groups.

The West Wing portico was vacant most of Tuesday morning. The U.S. Marine who stands guard when a president is in the White House office space was not seen until 14 minutes before noon. In the meantime, President Donald Trump zeroed in on a new critic and fired away.

Cliff Sims, a former special assistant to Trump, is making the book tour rounds on cable television as he peddles the latest explosive tome about life in Trump’s West Wing. That included a stop by CNN’s “New Day” morning show Tuesday. As Sims spoke, the president appeared to be watching from the White House residence, slamming the tell-all book that describes the West Wing as a chaotic place occupied by a “team of vipers” and the man who penned it — even appearing to threaten legal action over an alleged nondisclosure agreement.

Will appealing to Whataburger partisans get out the vote? What about a new Willie Nelson song? These are but some of the questions that will be answered by the Texas Senate race between Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke. 

That’s because some of the Lone Star State’s favorite sons, like country-music legend Nelson and filmmaker Richard Linklater, have come out strong for O’Rourke and are putting their artistic talent where their mouths are. Will it make a difference, though? Leah Askarinam from Inside Elections and McClatchy’s Alex Roarty, who grew up in Houston, discuss the race, whether famous Texans will help O’Rourke and what sort of downstream effect the race has on competitive House races we might see on the latest Political Theater Podcast.