How do you get through Thanksgiving?

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The news, in brief …

• “That cannot be the law”: Judge tosses Trump’s “extraordinary” case against James Comey

  A federal judge ruled that the DOJ prosecutor who brought the case was not lawfully appointed to her role. Read more.

• “Morale has never been lower”: Republicans fear “rough” 2026 midterms

  Senior Republicans are spilling on internal rifts and plummeting morale as a washout looms. Read more.

• “The swamp won”: Republicans lament loss of Elon Musk’s DOGE

  The controversial department promised to cut costs, but may have ended up costing taxpayers instead. Read more.

• “It won’t work”: Kelly responds to Trump admin’s court-martial threat

  The senator from Arizona said he refuses to give in to "bullies." Read more.

Make me smarter …

Charlie Kirk’s death is tearing MAGA apart

The killing of the Turning Point USA founder didn’t unify the base — it triggered infighting. Read more.

Everyone’s thankin’, the whole world’s thankin’ ….

My mother-in-law is a shark.

I don’t mean that in the cold-blooded, bloodthirsty manner of a musty stand-up routine. Mrs. Crash Course’s mom dedicated her life to teaching Special Education pedagogy. She has a grip of post-secondary degrees and more commendations than I’ve had years on this Earth. She is an absolute delight by any metric. But sit down on the other side of a card table from her, and you’ll stand up patting your pockets to make sure your wallet’s still there.

My wife’s mother grew up in a family of card players, closing every evening with a few hands after clearing the dinner plates. She brought that same tradition to her own family, bringing them all to the dinner table for an inevitable loss in game after game of rummy and spades.

To make matters worse, she’s a jocular Arkansan who never quite lost the sing-song accent of exurban Memphis, and her home training also included a healthy dose of humility. She knocks entire tables’ worth of challengers into the dirt with a laugh and a shrug, insisting it was just the cards she was dealt as the all-time win-loss record tilts ever more ridiculously in her favor.

Still, it works for her family. The whole clan of ultra-competitive daughters and one determined dad let a little of the intrafamily stress dissipate harmlessly in the air every night by making mostly doomed attempts to beat her. On the rare occasions she slips up and loses? The audible joy reaches a wallowing Casey in the basement of a Mudville dive.

My own immediate family is similarly light on tension, despite having significant political differences, because we all enjoy arguing for the sport of it. I’ll admit that bickering about restaurants and the news is less heart-healthy than a game of cribbage, but results are the only thing that will get no argument from me. Nothing’s ever allowed to boil over when constant shouting about everything keeps the conversation simmering.

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, bringing with it the start of the holiday season and the endless takes about how to make it through a single meal with your family. We’re as tired of writing these pieces as you probably are of reading them. So, we’re putting the question to you:

What’s the pressure release valve in your family? How have you ensured a peaceful gathering that doesn’t get blown up by partisan politics? What works in your house? Comment with your stories and suggestions. We’ll share the best later this week.

Before you go …

Social media’s reckoning may have arrived — thanks to Elon Musk

Foreign bots have long plagued X. Musk has introduced a potential fix. Read more.

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