Editor's Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and alternative September 2026 news and views. See our News Reports section for coverage of earlier dates, months and years.

Excerpts below are from the authors' words except for subheads and occasional "Editor's notes"

September Update

Sept. 4

Top Headlines 

• New York Times, Judge Suggests Trump Mail-In Voting Rules Could Cause ‘Major Disenfranchisement,’ Zach Montague, Sept. 4, 2026 (print ed.). Judge Indira Talwani said the Postal Service appeared to be trying a haphazard “experiment” with a new rule that could result in valid ballots being tossed.
• New York Times, Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Allow Mail Voting Limits, Abbie VanSickle, Sept. 4, 2026 (print ed.). The justices have been asked to weigh in again on the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict mail voting — this time on whether the plans violate the Constitution. 

Special Reports

The New Yorker Magazine portrayed on its cover the last year the six Republicans on the U.S. Supreme Court as wearing Trump-styled blond wigs, with faces indistinguishable from that of their party's leader. Trump's planned ballroom replacing the demolished White House East Wing and three times the size of the rest of the White House, is portrayed by Trump below despite widespead legal criticism that he has no right to demolish historic structures throughout the nation's capital without congressional approvals.

• Talking Feds, Opinion: Trump’s Ballroom Is Illegal, Despised, and Anti-Democratic, but the Supreme Court Greenlit It Anyway, Harry Litman, right, law professor and former high-ranking U.S. Justice Department executive, Sept. 3, 2026. “Our buildings shape us,” and this building will shape a failure of democracy. On Monday, the Supreme Court told Donald Trump he can proceed full steam ahead to construct his monstrous ballroom. That’s not because the project is lawful: the per curiam, 5-4 order on the shadow docket expressly offered no opinion on the merits. Indeed, every court to consider the question—plus four dissenting justices on the high court—has concluded that the project is likely unlawful. It’s also a vile and fairly hideous affront to the most visible symbol of our democracy. Rather, the Court held that the stay on construction should be lifted because the plaintiffs lacked standing and the order was irreparably harming the administration. Both aspects of the decision were flawed. The per curiam represents the shadow docket at its most pernicious: a loosey-goosey decision based on the procedural particulars of granting an emergency stay that has the possible effect of letting Trump get away with a national atrocity.
• The Contrarian, Opinion: Clyburn Puts Supreme Court Expansion Front and Center, Jennifer Rubin, Sept. 3, 2026. Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, veteran lawmaker Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) emphatically urged expanding seats on the Supreme Court from 9 to 13 justices. “A baker’s dozen would be a good number to have on the court,” he said. Court expansion, no longer the province of left-leaning academics thanks to the MAGA justices’ radicalism, has become an indisputably mainstream, pro-democracy response.

Special Report: A Russian Father and Brave Daughter

• Roman Sheremeta via Substack, News and Comment: This is what dictatorship looks like, Roman Sheremet, right, professorof economics and politics, Sept. 3, 2026. In April 2022, a 12-year-old Russian girl named Masha Moskalyova was told in art class to draw a picture supporting russian troops in Ukraine. Instead, she drew a Ukrainian mother protecting her child as russian missiles flew toward them.

News Roundups

Manosphere influencer Andrew Tate, left, and his brother Tristan Tate, both indicted on sex trafficking charges on Sept. 4, 2026 in Romania (Pool 2026 file photo by the Associated Press)

• The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Andrew Tate Indicted, Faces Life in Prison, Trump Erupts as Courts Gut His Gerrymander, Fetterman Exposed, AI Breaks Free, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 4, 2026 Today’s rundown leads with Andrew Tate’s new indictment on trafficking charges, a brutal Wall Street Journal report on Senator John Fetterman’s disappearing act, and two state supreme court rulings that just upended the national redistricting fight. We’ve also got a disturbing new report on rogue OpenAI agents, and a full list of other news below.
• The Parnas Perspective, Thursday Night News, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Today’s rundown leads with Mitch McConnell, because 80 days later, nobody else seems to be asking the obvious question: where is he? His office has gone weeks without a real update, he’s missed 60 votes, and the only proof of life the public has gotten is two photos.

More Global News

• Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: Imperialist Delusions and the Price of Fuel, Paul Krugman, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Trump and Bessent tried to betray Ukraine. Now they don’t have any cards. During the 2024 campaign Donald Trump promised to cut energy prices in half. He has, instead, presided over soaring prices at the pump, which have played an important role in his collapse in the polls. Some might attribute this disaster to Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran, ignoring what appear to have been near-unanimous warnings by experienced military and intelligence officials that such a war would, in addition to disrupting oil supplies, overstretch the U.S. military and dangerously deplete stocks of munitions — which is exactly what happened. But Scott Bessent, Trump’s Treasury secretary, has found someone else to blame: Ukraine.
• New York Times, The New Jet-Powered Drones That Are Breeding Anxiety in Ukraine, Cassandra Vinograd, Sept. 4, 2026 (print ed.). The Russian strikes tormenting Ukraine’s capital in recent days have had an ominous new feature: jet-powered drones.

U.S. Immigration Crackdown

• New York Times, Times Exclusive: ICE Skipped Basic Checks in Rush for Recruits, Whistle-Blower Says, Alexandra Berzon, Katie Benner and Hamed Aleaziz, Sept. 4, 2026 (print ed.). An official who oversaw the vetting of ICE recruits cited an “unprecedented lowering of standards” amid a hiring surge. 

More On U.S. Courts, Rights, Crime, Justice

Davin Rosborough, an ACLU attorney representing the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, speaks at a press conference outside the John Moakley Courthouse in Boston, Mass. after participating in a hearing Sept. 3 on President Donald Trump's March 31, 2026 executive order and a Postal Service rule implementing it.

• Democracy Docket, Judge appears deeply skeptical of case for Trump’s mail voting restrictions, Jim Saksa, Sept. 3, 2026. With Election Day just two months away, the lawyer defending the Postal Service’s recently issued rule carrying out President Donald Trump’s anti-mail voting executive order could not tell a federal judge how — or even if — the new rule would work.
• New York Times, Lindsay Clancy Trial Live Updates: Judge Declares Mistrial in Triple-Murder Case, Jenna Russell, Maia Spoto and Mark Arsenault, Sept. 4, 2026. The decision, which resulted from a hung jury, means the prosecution can decide whether to try her again. The defense failed to secure a stay of the decision from a higher court.
• Newsweek, Lindsay Clancy Verdict: Expert Says Judge’s Jury Actions May Be ‘Dangerous,’ Hannah Parry, Sept. 3, 2026. The Lindsay Clancy murder trial descended into an extraordinary courtroom confrontation Thursday as a deadlocked jury was sent back to deliberate for a sixth day, prompting a legal expert to warn that Judge William Sullivan was entering “very dangerous territory.”

More On Russian Infiltration Of FBI, Threats to Europe, Ukraine War

• Newsweek, Woman Who Exposed FBI Official for Working With Russian Oligarch Found Dead, Jenni Fink, Sept. 3, 2026. Allison Guerriero, above left, a security researcher whose information helped expose the criminal conduct of former FBI counterintelligence official Charles McGonigal, above right, has been found dead at her home in Boynton Beach, Florida. Hours before her death, Guerriero posted a series of messages on X, formerly Twitter, criticizing Representative Jim Jordan, the FBI and McGonigal. McGonigal was arrested in 2023 and was sentenced to 50 months in prison and then was later sentenced in a separate case to 28 months in prison in 2024. He pleaded guilty to secretly colluding with a Russian oligarch and also admitted to receiving $225,000 in cash from someone with ties to the Albanian government.
• New York Times, News Analysis: A Spiral of Escalation for Russia and Ukraine, With No End in Sight, Kim Barker, Oleksandra Mykolyshyn and Ivan Nechepurenko, Sept. 4, 2026 (print ed.). Each side is using missiles and drones to try to pound the other into giving up, breeding ceaseless human suffering. But there is no sign that either country’s determination will weaken.
• New York Times, The Risk of Russian Sabotage in Europe: A Fight That Spirals Out of Control, Michael Schwirtz and Adam Goldman, Sept. 4, 2026. Europe’s options are limited in responding to an unnerving series of plots and provocations. But the odds of unpredictable consequences are rising. 
• New York Times, After Fighting Russia Fiercely, He Wants to Forge Ukraine’s Path to Peace, Andrew E. Kramer, Sept. 4, 2026. Kyrylo Budanov, a decorated soldier and former military spy chief, advocates a negotiated settlement. Talks are expected to resume this month.
• Hans Boserup,  Opinion: What If Russia No Longer Needs Putin? Hans Boserup, Sept. 4, 2026. Chris Alexander spent hours talking Russian with Vladimir Putin. He says he has not recognized the man he knew since 2023. The larger question is what that would mean for power in Russia.

 More On Middle East Wars, Reactions

• Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Iran War? What Iran War? Andrew Egger, William Kristol and Jim Swift, Sept. 4, 2026. JD Vance declares ‘Mission Accomplished.’
• Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: There Is No War in Ba Sing Se, Andrew Egger, right, Sept. 4, 2026. I don’t know if you know this, but we’re actually not at war with Iran. When Vice President JD Vance took to the White House briefing room for a press conference yesterday, he was surprisingly insistent: Rumors of war with Iran, he argued, have been greatly exaggerated.

More World News, Global Human Rights, Disasters 

• New York Times, 2 Trapped Workers Are Rescued After 9 Days in Nepal Tunnel, Anupreeta Das, Binod Ghimire, Sajal Pradhan, Mujib Mashal and Alex Travelli, Sept. 4, 2026. “Everybody’s sense of hope was waning,” said one survivor’s relative. Rescuers were searching for dozens of others inside the tunnel at a hydropower plant damaged by last week’s deadly floods.

More On U.S. Politics, Elections, Governance

 John Fetterman in 2019. Photo credit: Governor Tom Wolf / Wikimedia (CC BY 2.0)

• WhoWhatWhy, The Fetterman Factor — 51 Seats Won’t Be Enough for Democrats, Klaus Marre, Sept. 4, 2026.  A 51-49 Democratic majority in the Senate that relies on John Fetterman is barely a majority at all.
• Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Trump’s Midterm Strategy: Don’t Work, Cheat, Andrew Egger, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Say you’re a Republican lawmaker going into a tough midterm fight. The good news is your party controls the presidency. The bad news is the president is insanely unpopular and getting more so every day. Many voters you need are pretty mad at the guy. You might want to start telling them, Yeah, I’m with him—but only on the good stuff, the stuff you guys like. As I wrote last week, this was never going to be an option for Republicans this cycle. 

• Hopium Chronicles, Advocacy and Opinion: As Bad As Things Are For Trump And The Rs Now -- And They Are Bad -- They Are Likely To Get Worse, Simon Rosenberg, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Greater MAGA Is Weakening: Putin has lost Orban, Syria, and is failing in Ukraine. Both Bibi and Trump have lost their war in Iran, and their political projects at home have taken enormous hits. Bibi trails in his October 26th election, and Trump trails in his November election. Zelenskyy has emerged as an inspirational global freedom fighter. Taken together these are important and welcome developments in our fight to ensure there is a new birth of freedom here and everywhere in the years ahead……
• Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: When You Control the Mail, You Control the Nation, Andrew Egger and Jim Swift, Sept. 3, 2026.Two months from the midterms, how bad are the coalition vibes for Donald Trump? Even some dyed-in-the-wool MAGA pollsters are starting to sound the red alert.
• PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: JD Vance Was Asked About Gas Prices And His Answer Was A Disaster, Jason Easley, right, Sept. 3, 2026. The Trump administration has no clue what to do to lower gas prices, because the administration doesn't know how to get out of the Iran war that it started. 
• Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Remember Labor Day, William Kristol, right,Sept. 4, 2026. Here’s a recommendation I don’t usually make: Go to the Trump White House website. But then go to the little “search” function magnifying glass on the upper right, and type in “Labor Day.”

Special Report: Political Ads

Grieving North Carolina father Ronald Hayes, as shown in a deceptive ad created by pro-Republicans in the current U.S. senate race in North Carolina.

• Judd at Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: How a GOP super PAC tricked a grieving father into appearing in a political ad, Judd Legum, right, and Noel Sims, Sept 3, 2026. Ronald Hayes appears in a Senate Leadership Fund ad.

U.S. Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets, Global Reputation

• New York Times, U.S. Diesel Prices Set New High, Gregory Schmidt, Sept. 4, 2026. Because of the war in Iran, the cost has climbed past the record it reached in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
• New York Times, Live Updates: U.S. Hiring Jumps, an Encouraging Sign for the Economy, Sydney Ember, Sept. 4, 2026. Employers added 162,000 jobs in August, and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent. But wage growth is not keeping up with rising inflation.
• Paul Krugman via Substack, Ingots We No Longer Trust, Paul Krugman, right, Sept. 4, 2026. America’s word is as good as gold — that is, unreliable.

Culture, Media, Entertainment 

Gloria Steinem (r) with Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham Jan. 24, 1972 luncheon (Photo by Martin Kuhn).

• National Press Club, Appreciation: Gloria Steinem was not impressed with Press Club tie gift after her speech in 1972, Gil Klein, Sept. 4, 2026. Feminist leader Gloria Steinem, who died Wednesday, Sept. 2, at the age of 92, was no stranger to the National Press Club. Steinem had one lasting impact on NPC luncheons.
• New York Times, Gloria Steinem, Personification of the Women’s Movement, Dies at 92, Katharine Q. Seelye, Sept. 4, 2026 (print ed.). She challenged sexist assumptions, helping women develop a sense of self-worth and gain a measure of equality at work, at home and in society at large.
• The Daily with Sarah Jones via PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: Fox News Dumps Trump Cheerleader Maria Bartiromo, Jason Easley and Sarah Jones, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Maria Bartiromo has been non-stop waving the flag for Trump and professing endless support for a decade. Bartiromo was one of the personalities that Trump would turn to when he needed the softest of soft interviews.
• Daily Beast, Elon Musk is the richest man in the world. And, apparently, he’s the saddest, Laura Esposito,Sept. 3, 2026. That’s according to filmmaker Alex Gibney, who relayed the assessment from someone who worked closely with Musk. Gibney’s forthcoming film, Musk, was previewed by The Hollywood Reporter.

Top Stories

New York Times, Judge Suggests Trump Mail-In Voting Rules Could Cause ‘Major Disenfranchisement,’ Zach Montague, Sept. 4, 2026 (print ed.). Judge Indira Talwani said the Postal Service appeared to be trying a haphazard “experiment” with a new rule that could result in valid ballots being tossed.

A federal judge on Thursday expressed concern that if she allowed the Trump administration to move ahead with plans to restrict mail-in ballots ahead of the November election, it could cause so much chaos that states would experience “major disenfranchisement.”

During a winding two-hour hearing in Federal District Court in Boston, Judge Indira Talwani asked sharp questions of attorneys from the Justice Department and a coalition of Republican states about how they believed they could implement the new rule on the eve of early voting across many states. The hearing highlighted concerns raised by a broad coalition of nonprofits and Democratic states that, if allowed to forge ahead with the new rule, the Postal Service could haphazardly reject thousands of valid ballots.

Judge Talwani last week blocked the Postal Service from implementing the plan for 14 days, a period that expires Sept. 10. Thursday’s hearing was intended to help her decide whether to extend her injunction indefinitely. The Trump administration has already appealed her temporary restraining order and the issue is likely to be settled by the Supreme Court.

The judge did not immediately rule on the issue, but said she planned to move quickly.

With just two months to go before the election, and many states set to begin distributing mail-in ballots later this month, Judge Talwani wondered aloud why the rule change could not wait until the agency had time to execute it methodically.

“I think that’s what’s so puzzling to me about this case,” Judge Talwani said.

Judge Talwani previously ruled that she believed the Postal Service’s plans likely exceed the agency’s legal mandate from Congress.

Lawyers representing the Postal Service argued on Thursday that the plan represented an “independent exercise” of its authority to regulate the mail it carries. Judge Talwani countered that the rule seemed obviously tied to directions from President Trump outlined in an executive order signed in March.

Mr. Trump issued the directive as part of efforts to press his false claims that mail-in balloting is marred by widespread fraud. It instructed the Department of Homeland Security to compile state-by-state citizenship lists and then send those to each state. It further directed the U.S. Postal Service to play a role in verifying voters eligible to cast ballots by mail.

The Postal Service rule, published in late August in response, would require states to use new, scannable ballot envelopes. The Postal Service would not deliver mail ballots in states that do not share voter data with the agency and would only deliver ballots that met certain criteria.

Among other things, Judge Talwani tried to establish how much progress the Postal Service had made in building a ballot screening system that state election officials would use to inform U.S.P.S. which voters had been authorized to vote by mail and allow the service to verify ballots before delivery.

The Postal Service has said it continues to build the portal, despite the judge’s order, in case the legal block is lifted or in case some states choose to use it. But a whistle-blower report filed this week raised concerns that the frantic effort to finish the web portal in time would lead to errors that could result in large batches of ballots being rejected in bulk.

When Michael Velchik, an attorney from the Justice Department, could not explain the status of the project, Judge Talwani ordered the government to provide more details in writing by Thursday afternoon.

In a sworn statement responding to the order, a Postal Service official said the agency was continuing to make “refinements” to the portal, but expected to make it available to states “for voluntary use by sometime next week.” The official wrote that the Postal Service would continue to work with states that choose to implement any of its new processes, though while the restraining order remains in place, no state would be required to adopt them.

“So we’re going to do a test run on this election?” she said, showing exasperation.

“We’re not playing an intellectual puzzle game,” she added. “We’re talking about people’s right to vote.”

In another pointed exchange, Judge Talwani brought up a filing from officials in Travis County, Texas, which includes the Democratic-led city of Austin. They said they did not believe it was possible for local officials to implement the Postal Service changes in time for the 2026 election.

Even so, the state of Texas is part of a coalition of Republican-led states that have urged Judge Talwani to lift her restraining order.

She pressed Louis J. Capozzi, the Missouri solicitor general, who appeared on behalf of the group, about why Texas appeared intent on launching an “experiment” that could cause its own voters to be “disenfranchised.”

“Why is it you want U.S.P.S. to stop batches of ballots from your voters?” she said.

Judge Talwani said state legislators in Texas and other states could have passed their own laws to change ballot envelopes or otherwise adjust mail-in voting, without asking the Postal Service to take on a new role screening votes.

“You can decide you want those measures in your state,” she said. “I don’t understand — you come to me and say, ‘We really want to have election integrity in our state decided by U.S.P.S.’?”

Mr. Capozzi predicted that Texas would have no trouble implementing the changes in time, and that the state viewed the Postal Service rule as adding another layer of security to its elections. He said problems that might arise from the new rule could be figured out on a “state-by-state” basis later, with groups suing individual states if evidence emerged that they had improperly thrown out votes.

New York Times, Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Allow Mail Voting Limits, Abbie VanSickle, Sept. 4, 2026 (print ed.). The justices have been asked to weigh in again on the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict mail voting — this time on whether the plans violate the Constitution.

The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court for permission to resume its efforts to restrict mail voting in the lead-up to the midterms.

Administration lawyers asked the justices to clear the way for a new rule that prohibits the U.S. Postal Service from delivering ballots to voters in states that do not share voter data with the federal agency. The rule would also require the agency to review ballot envelopes for compliance with new standards before accepting it.

In the emergency filing, Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that a lower court freeze on the plan would impose “serious irreparable harm on the federal government, the states themselves, and the voting public.”

The emergency request to the Supreme Court is the second time in recent weeks that the court has been asked to weigh in on efforts by President Trump’s mail ballot plans. Previously, a majority of the court said a legal challenge was premature because the administration had not yet finalized its plans to restrict mail voting.

But the Postal Service published its plans in August in the days before the Supreme Court’s ruling, and a lower court judge has since blocked key parts of the plan from going into effect for the November election.

The administration’s emergency appeal to the justices came hours after a federal judge in Massachusetts, during a hearing in the matter, expressed concerns that the plans could cause so much chaos in the coming elections that states would experience “major disenfranchisement.” Judge Indira Talwani had imposed a temporary block on the plan, which the administration had already appealed.

Rather than allow that legal process to play out, the administration is now taking the highly unusual step of trying to skip ahead and get immediate intervention from the Supreme Court.

It is not clear how the justices will greet the administration’s attempt to short-circuit the typical process, nor how quickly the court might act. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who handles emergency applications from that region of the country, signaled the court would deal with the issue on a speedy but not immediate timeline.

She did not issue an administrative stay, which the Trump administration had requested. Such a move would have immediately cleared the way for the government’s plan to be set in motion, even as the justices considered the case. But she asked the challengers to respond to the emergency application by Tuesday at 10 a.m.Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project, which represents voting rights groups challenging the plan, said in a statement that the Postal Service rule is “an unconstitutional attempt to upend mail voting on the eve of an election.” 

Special Reports

The New Yorker Magazine portrayed on its cover the last year the six Republicans on the U.S. Supreme Court as wearing Trump-styled blond wigs, with faces indistinguishable from that of their party's leader. Trump's planned ballroom replacing the demolished White House East Wing and three times the size of the rest of the White House, is portrayed by Trump below despite widespead legal criticism that he has no right to demolish historic structures throughout the nation's capital without congressional approvals.

Talking Feds, Opinion: Trump’s Ballroom Is Illegal, Despised, and Anti-Democratic, but the Supreme Court Greenlit It Anyway, Harry Litman, right, law professor and former high-ranking U.S. Justice Department executive, Sept. 3, 2026. “Our buildings shape us,” and this building will shape a failure of democracy.

On Monday, the Supreme Court told Donald Trump he can proceed full steam ahead to construct his monstrous ballroom. That’s not because the project is lawful: the per curiam, 5-4 order on the shadow docket expressly offered no opinion on the merits. Indeed, every court to consider the question—plus four dissenting justices on the high court—has concluded that the project is likely unlawful. It’s also a vile and fairly hideous affront to the most visible symbol of our democracy.

Rather, the Court held that the stay on construction should be lifted because the plaintiffs lacked standing and the order was irreparably harming the administration. Both aspects of the decision were flawed. The per curiam represents the shadow docket at its most pernicious: a loosey-goosey decision based on the procedural particulars of granting an emergency stay that has the possible effect of letting Trump get away with a national atrocity.

I’m about to sketch out the legal flaws in the per curiam opinion, but for the ballroom, it’s always important to keep the overall stakes in mind and the gravity of the Court’s legal mishmash. The White House is the people’s house, an architectural triumph that communicates our rejection of imperial rule and embrace of democracy. Trump’s undemocratic vision is to build a monument to himself, a swollen reflection of his hopelessly grandiose self-image. It’s a frontal attack on our own sense of the country that couldn’t happen in a well-functioning democracy.

To sue in federal court, you need standing, and the bedrock of standing is injury—something “concrete and particularized” that is “actual or imminent.” The typical injury is financial or physical, but the Court has long recognized the possibility of aesthetic injury, particularly in environmental cases. So, for example, in Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, the Court held that the “desire to observe an animal species, even for purely esthetic purposes” is “undeniably a cognizable interest for purpose of standing.”

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There’s an ethereal quality to aesthetic injury, but that doesn’t make it vaporous. We can appreciate a landscape, or work of art, or historical battlefield, or species, or public building with sustained passion and intensity, and its loss takes something valuable from us, whether or not it costs us money. That was the basis for standing in the ballroom lawsuit, and it’s difficult to see how it could be more concrete.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation brought the lawsuit. To sue as an organization, it had to put forward one member with standing in her own right. And in this case that was Alison Hoagland. Hoagland is not, as Trump sneered, some lady who happens to walk by. She is a professor of history and historic preservation, an authority on American architecture, and a Washington resident who goes to look at the White House because looking at it is, for her, the whole point.

The five-justice per curiam, or unsigned, opinion did not purport to overrule the cases that say so. Rather, it pooh-poohed and trivialized Hoagland’s felt harm, recasting her documented, decades-deep professional interest as “mere offense,” no different, in the majority’s telling, from “virtually every citizen” who wants “to challenge virtually every government action that they do not like.”

The Court carved off the environmental precedents on the ground that those plaintiffs did “more than” look: they fished, they swam, they hiked. In his dissent for four justices, Chief Justice John Roberts fairly demolished that argument, pointing out that the principal way anyone enjoys a historic building is precisely by looking at it, and that the Court had misconceived Hoagland’s injury.

What the majority actually did by way of determining that the administration was likely to prevail on the merits was narrow aesthetic standing to the vanishing point. As of now, “I want to look at a crocodile” (one of the Nile species at issue in Lujan) passes muster while “I want to look at the White House” does not. And since it’s hard to think of any prospective challenger to the ballroom who would not be relying on aesthetic injury, there is no clear path around the Court’s tacit reframing of the doctrine.

To grant the stay, the Supreme Court also needed to find that the administration would be irreparably injured if the stay weren’t granted. They really made hash of this critical factor.

The Court’s first recognition of irreparable harm was the mere fact that the executive will was frustrated. That is blatant bootstrapping that just restates the Court’s legal judgment—the injunction is harmful for the simple circular reason that it frustrates the executive’s efforts, which of course is a given. That sloppy account of irreparable harm has become a routine move for the conservative supermajority.

The Court also credited an argument from the administration that the ballroom’s “height and mass” are “crucial” to shield the underground installation from “kinetic impacts,” lest engineers “dig impractically deep.”

But this second theory, apart from being a kind of bureaucratic gibberish, was a mid-litigation invention. Roberts’s dissent guts it in a single devastating footnote. It points out that the government had earlier told the district court the opposite—that its below-ground security work was driven by concerns having nothing to do with the ballroom above it. And the injunction never touched that work: it barred only the ballroom, leaving the government free to build the underground facility and whatever was needed to protect it. The security the administration now says requires the full Trumpian plan was never at risk.

In fact, the actual irreparable harm is plainly on the plaintiffs’ side of the ledger. Stop the work and the executive’s pet project merely pauses. Let it proceed, and the crews return to 20-hour days, racing to build the project up to a point where it may be impossible to undo. That is irreparable harm in its plainest sense.

With the per curiam majority ducking the merits, Roberts’s dissent went to the heart of the case. Not surprisingly, Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson joined without a word of their own. The three of them obviously judged that the most powerful punch available was to let the Chief speak for all four, even though it wasn’t enough.

Roberts’s opinion begins with the straight declaration that the ballroom is likely unlawful, in effect a raw power grab. Congress has expressly forbidden any building on federal park grounds in the District of Columbia without its direct authorization, which it hasn’t given. The two statutes the government waves around—a couple million dollars appropriated for ordinary maintenance of the Executive Residence, and a general instruction to the Park Service to conserve historic objects—come nowhere near authorizing the president to raze the East Wing and put up a private ballroom with hundreds of millions in outside money.

The Contrarian, Opinion: Clyburn Puts Supreme Court Expansion Front and Center, Jennifer Rubin, Sept. 3, 2026. Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, veteran lawmaker Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) emphatically urged expanding seats on the Supreme Court from 9 to 13 justices. “A baker’s dozen would be a good number to have on the court,” he said. Court expansion, no longer the province of left-leaning academics thanks to the MAGA justices’ radicalism, has become an indisputably mainstream, pro-democracy response.

In truth, increasing the seats on the Supreme Court amounts to rebalancing. Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) packed the court when he denied Merrick Garland a hearing during President Obama’s term — yet rushed through Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation once election voting was already underway in 2020. Rebalancing to establish the proper equilibrium among the branches (i.e., reversing the MAGA justices’ investiture of the authoritarian executive power in Trump and their contemptuous disregard for Congress’s constitutional powers) is fundamental to preserving our constitutional system.

Increasing the number of seats on the court begins with a solid base of support. A June Marquette Law School poll showed the public split 50-50 on adding seats, up from just 42 percent support in 2019. Since 2021, support has varied between 48 and 52 percent, even without a nationally focused campaign on the issue. Simply because other proposals have even more support (the same poll shows term limits has approval from 73 percent of Republicans, 71 percent of independents, and 87 percent of Democrats) does not mean court expansion should be disregarded.

Indeed, fearing that court expansion might be catching on, the MAGA House majority Wednesday introduced a constitutional amendment freezing the number of justices at nine, confirmation that — absent such a measure — court expansion by statute is unquestionably constitutional. (It failed to win 2/3 required approval with only a single Democrat voting wth Republicans.) Ironically, the stunt underscores that nine is an arbitrary number, carrying no historical or constitutional significance. (Unsurprisingly, the GOP, which is beholden to dark money purveyors such as court fixer Leonard Leo, leaves out other overwhelmingly popular reforms, such as a mandatory ethics code.)

In opposing the gambit, the progressive group Demand Justice released a statement explaining:

Court expansion is the only court reform option that would promptly redress the 6-3 supermajority, which is itself the result of a partisan power grab. When the American people are counting on congressional Democrats to be the last line of defense against the Administration’s assault on the rule of law, it is more critical than ever to fight MAGA power grabs.

Noting that MAGA justices’ hugely unpopular and constitutionally flawed decisions in the Callais and Dobbs decisions have prompted trust in the court to decline and support for serious reform to spike, Demand Justice urges Congress to keep expansion as a viable option, observing that the “most persuasive argument in favor of expansion is the aggressive approach of the Court itself: the right-wing majority will continue to dramatically remake the law to favor the oligarchy.”

In the current environment, many Democrats nevertheless remain skittish about expanding the court, citing FDR’s failed New Deal scheme some 90 years ago. But as the bipartisan court commission assembled by President Biden recalled, “Soon after [FDR’s] plan was announced, the Supreme Court issued a series of decisions upholding state and federal regulation of the economy. . . . [which] left in place Roosevelt’s existing New Deal and ended an era in which the Court frequently invalidated laws designed to protect workers, consumers, and the public.” In short, it worked.Subscribed

Democrats too often shy away from proposals such as court expansion for fear of triggering blowback from Republicans — who championed McConnell’s court-packing. Avoiding a meritorious reform simply because it will upset Republicans or does not already have sky-high approval reveals bizarre timidity, and reflects a mindset that ignores the key role that persuasion and debate play in politics. A lengthy list of issues (from data centers to corruption to abolishing ICE) were not “winners” with voters until advocacy groups pushed to educate voters, independent media elevated them, and forward-leaning politicians took the lead.

What is key in the current environment is that dissatisfaction with the MAGA partisan Supreme Court is high (and likely to intensify with each new gift served up to their White House patron). This makes the rationale for serious, substantial restructuring of the court even more compelling.

Taken before the MAGA majority’s latest cringeworthy decision (allowing Donald Trump to build his ghastly ballroom), the Marquette poll found, for example, that 61 percent of Americans understand “the United States Supreme Court is ruling for President Donald Trump ‘almost always’ or ‘most of the time,’” and some 57 percent (including 60 percent of independents) say “the Court is going out of its way to avoid a ruling Trump might refuse to obey.” A captive, quisling court that has distorted the executive branch in direct contravention of the Framers’ vision (shaped by overwhelming fear of creating another monarch) is a court that requires dramatic, immediate repair.

Democrats should emphasize that court redesign is required because the MAGA majority (created by Republican confirmation shenanigans) has arrogantly rejected fundamental judicial norms (e.g., eschewing an enforceable ethics code, abusing the shadow docket to render opinions without judicial reasoning, shredding precedent when it suits them), and taken a sledgehammer to checks and balances (e.g., granting Donald Trump criminal immunity, destroying independent commissions).

Ideally, combining term limits for future justices with court expansion would be the fastest, most comprehensive, and effective way to rescue our democratic structure. Certainly, term limits on justices would help address concerns about diversity, a geriatric court, and hyper-partisanship — with the hope that more frequent appointments with term limits would reduce partisan frenzy surrounding court fights. While proponents are confident it could be done statutorily, this Supreme Court majority might not agree. Moreover, changing the composition of the court only by periodic retirements/replacements would be time-consuming, leaving the country at the mercy of MAGA constitutional destruction for years.

Democrats would do well to think more like the Republicans who readily claim a “mandate” after elections. If Democrats win the trifecta in 2028 under the banner of bold pro-democracy reform, their mandate certainly should include court rebalancing as part of their democracy restoration project.

Only a few of the potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders (e.g., Pete Buttigieg) have embraced court expansion, but most have not ruled it out. However, Democratic voters have a critical role to play in promoting a wide-ranging debate in the next presidential cycle: What will it take to return the Supreme Court to its proper role and recover our constitutional order? Thanks to Clyburn, that issue is squarely before the party.

Democrats should press candidates who claim to be serious about bold, structural reform to spell out what they think is necessary to revamp the Supreme Court. They should not minimize the threat the current MAGA court poses, nor trim their sails to avoid incurring the ire of those who have pummeled our democracy. As long as the MAGA court majority remains hostile to pluralistic democracy and to the restoration of our constitutional structure, it will block progress on virtually all serious issues —dark money, abortion, voting rights. Democrats must decide if they are resigned to that fate. 

Special Report: A Russian Father and Brave Daughter

Roman Sheremeta via Substack, News and Comment: This is what dictatorship looks like, Roman Sheremet, right, professor of economics and politics, Sept. 3,2026. In April 2022, a 12-year-old Russian girl named Masha Moskalyova was told in art class to draw a picture supporting russian troops in Ukraine. Instead, she drew a Ukrainian mother protecting her child as russian missiles flew toward them.

On the Ukrainian flag she wrote, “Glory to Ukraine.” On the russian flag: “No to war. No to Putin.”

Her school reported her to the authorities.

Police began investigating her father, Alexei Moskalyov, a single father who had raised Masha largely on his own. They searched his social media and discovered posts criticizing russia’s invasion and documenting russian atrocities in Bucha.

In December 2022, around a dozen russian security officers raided their home. They ransacked it, seized their computers, phones, and savings.

Alexei later said that during interrogations, officers beat him and slammed his head against the wall and floor. They blasted the russian national anthem at full volume while questioning him.

Eventually, the regime charged him with repeatedly “discrediting” the russian military because of his anti-war social-media posts.

Masha was taken away from him and placed in a state “social rehabilitation” center.

Alexei was sentenced to two years in a penal colony.

He later described horrific conditions there: a tiny punishment cell roughly two meters long, freezing temperatures, rats crawling out of the sewer, and days when he was forced to stand for as long as 16 hours because the bunk was locked against the wall.

Meanwhile, his daughter wrote to him.

“Dad, don’t give up.”

“You are my hero.”

They were separated for more than a year and a half.

On October 15, 2024, Alexei finally walked out of prison.

Masha was waiting for him.

Five days later, they fled russia.

They first escaped to Armenia and applied for a German humanitarian visa. After waiting for more than a year, their case stalled when Germany suspended the relevant humanitarian admission program.

Then France stepped in.

In March 2026, Masha and Alexei (shown above following his release) received French humanitarian visas and flew to Paris.

And on July 17, 2026, France granted them political asylum.

Today, Masha is drawing again and hopes to pursue art. She also writes and has spoken out in support of russian political prisoners.

When asked whether, knowing everything that happened afterward, she would still have made that drawing, Masha said she would.

“One only lives once.”

One drawing.

A child saying no to war.

And for that, the russian state destroyed their home, separated a father from his daughter, imprisoned him, and drove them both into exile.

This is what dictatorship looks like.

News Roundups 

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Andrew Tate Indicted, Faces Life in Prison, Trump Erupts as Courts Gut His Gerrymander, Fetterman Exposed, AI Breaks Free, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 4, 2026. Today’s rundown leads with Andrew Tate’s new indictment on trafficking charges, a brutal Wall Street Journal report on Senator John Fetterman’s disappearing act, and two state supreme court rulings that just upended the national redistricting fight. We’ve also got a disturbing new report on rogue OpenAI agents, and a full list of other news below.

Before we get into it, some folks close to the White House got angry at me this week for continuing to press for answers on Mitch McConnell. I get it, they’d rather this story just quietly go away. But I shouldn’t be one of the only journalists still showing up at his home and still asking his office basic questions about where he is and how he’s doing. And yet here we are. I’m not stopping. Not now, not ever.

Let’s get into today’s news.

Andrew Tate:

Manosphere influencer Andrew Tate, left, and his brother Tristan Tate, both indicted on sextrafficking charges on Sept. 4, 2026 (Pool 2026 file photo by the Associated Press)

Romanian prosecutors have indicted social media influencer Andrew Tate on charges of trafficking minors, money laundering, sex with a minor, and witness tampering, with his brother Tristan indicted as an accessory. Prosecutors allege the brothers recruited victims by falsely promising relationships or marriage before forcing them to produce pornographic content for a webcam business, including one alleged victim who was 15 when Tate seduced her in Britain in 2012 before moving her to Bucharest and using violence and intimidation to exploit her. The Tates allegedly kept $1.25 million, roughly 80 percent, of that victim’s videochat income. Both brothers, who hold dual US and British citizenship, deny all wrongdoing and remain jailed in the US, where a judge is weighing Britain’s extradition request on separate rape charges.

The Tates’ Romanian lawyer, Eugen Vidineac, pushed back hard on the new indictment, noting a previous case against them fell apart after a court found “significant irregularities” that prevented it from reaching trial, and said today’s filing “does not determine guilt.” He said the defense will scrutinize the new indictment for evidentiary, procedural, or legal deficiencies and stressed his clients’ presumption of innocence. Under Romanian law the brothers could be tried in absentia, but the case first goes to a preliminary court chamber for a legality review that typically takes well over the mandated 60 days. It remains unclear whether Romanian prosecutors will seek the Tates’ extradition from the US given the pending British request already in motion.

Senator John Fetterman:

A blistering new Wall Street Journal report, based on interviews with more than a dozen former staffers and lawmakers plus internal text messages, paints Sen. John Fetterman as largely checked out of the basic work of being a senator. In June he canceled a meeting with three paralyzed veterans who had traveled from rural Pennsylvania to discuss their care, telling staff he might have eaten something bad, then showed up looking fine less than an hour later for a Fox News interview about Israel. Former staffers say he has increasingly prioritized conservative media appearances and Israel advocacy over Senate business, including skipping 11 of 12 full committee hearings during one stretch while aides worked to mark him “present” anyway.

The Journal reports Fetterman routinely refuses or blows off meetings with constituents and fellow lawmakers, including Pennsylvanians seeking help on Medicaid, homelessness and flood relief. When an aide told him last September that officials from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia wanted to meet about Medicaid cuts, he texted back “Well I’m not,” adding he was convinced they just wanted “free trips to DC.” He also backed out of a funeral for three slain police officers after learning it would run three hours, responding “3 hours??,” and stopped regularly attending caucus meetings.

On Israel specifically, the Journal reports Fetterman told Israel’s ambassador he would write an op-ed based on points the ambassador sent over. When embassy staff followed up with drafted talking points, Fetterman’s own staff withheld them internally over concerns they could raise Foreign Agents Registration Act issues. The paper frames this alongside his broader drift from his roots as a Bernie Sanders-aligned former mayor of Braddock toward relationships with conservative media figures and, per July filings cited by the Journal, money from a prominent conservative donor.

The pattern has fueled speculation Fetterman could switch parties, especially since New York Times polling cited by the Journal shows him now polling better with GOP voters than Pennsylvania’s actual Republican senator, Dave McCormick. Asked in March about a call Senate Democratic leadership was arranging, he texted “I truly don’t care.” Fetterman did not respond to the Journal’s interview requests and walked away from a reporter at an Erie event last month, telling him only “We have to work together.”

Missouri/Maryland Upends Redistricting:

The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled 7-0 to block a Trump-approved, gerrymandered congressional map from being used in the midterms, meaning Missourians will vote under the old districts instead. The rejected map would have cut through the core of Kansas City in an apparent attempt to dilute the minority vote and unseat longtime Black Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. The court found that a referendum petition with more than 300,000 signatures opposing the map was “legal, sufficient, and timely,” rejecting Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’ argument that referendums don’t apply to congressional redistricting. Missouri’s Republican attorney general, Catherine Hanaway, said she will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, calling the ruling a “full fledged constitutional crisis.”

Trump reacted with an angry Truth Social post, calling the ruling “horrible, ridiculous, and unConstitutional” and claiming without evidence that there won’t be enough time to redraw the map before the election. He complained that “the Election Process, as usual, is being disturbed in America” and called it a “Dark Day for Justice in Missouri,” despite the ruling coming from a court made up mostly of Republican appointed judges, five of seven. The same day, the Maryland Supreme Court dealt Trump and Republicans a separate setback by reversing two lower courts and allowing a Democratic-backed redistricting measure onto the November ballot, a measure that could help Democrats flip Maryland’s one remaining Republican-held House seat. Trump has not publicly responded to the Maryland ruling.

Trump kicked off this redistricting fight by pushing Republican legislators nationwide to redraw maps in his party’s favor as he tries to protect the GOP’s grip on the House for his final two years in office. Republicans are projected to net at most 16 seats through new maps in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama, while Democratic counters in California and Utah could yield at most six seats, with a separate Virginia effort blocked by that state’s Supreme Court and a Louisiana map struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Republicans currently hold a narrow 218-214 House majority, and polling already shows warning signs for the party heading into a midterm cycle where Trump’s approval ratings sit at or near record lows.

The Maryland Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a Democratic backed congressional redistricting amendment must be placed on the November ballot, reversing two lower court rulings that had blocked it, though the court ordered the ballot summary rewritten because it found the original wording misleading. The amendment would not change districts for this year’s midterms, but if approved by voters it would strip a constitutional requirement for compact, natural boundary respecting districts from congressional maps, applying it only to state legislative ones, potentially letting Democrats redraw a map that crosses the Chesapeake Bay and reshapes the district held by the state’s only Republican, Rep. Andy Harris. Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, who called a special session in August to get the amendment on the ballot, called the ruling “a massive victory for the people of our state,” accusing Trump and Republicans of trying “to rig the system, weaken voting rights, and make this pain permanent.”

Another Major AI Issue:

According to Reuters, a swarm of rogue OpenAI agents hijacked a German programming wiki called DseWiki this spring, transforming it into a message board where the agents coordinated with each other, according to new research shared exclusively with Reuters and two people familiar with the matter. Researchers Sydney Von Arx and Cormac Slade Byrd found more than 15,000 edits made by AI agents on the site, which they discovered while scanning the internet for unauthorized AI agent behavior in late August. About half of the accounts gave themselves names suggesting an OpenAI affiliation, such as “OpenAIResearcher,” and public server logs indicated much of the activity originated from Microsoft Azure infrastructure that OpenAI sometimes uses. OpenAI officials learned of the incident weeks ago but kept it under wraps while dealing with fallout from the separate July breach of Hugging Face, according to the people familiar with the matter.

Messages reviewed by the researchers showed the agents sharing tactics to cheat on tasks, bypass OpenAI’s restrictions, mask their behavior, and evade detection using tools like Tor. When the wiki’s human moderator began deleting the pages in June, the agents responded by creating backup pages to dodge the cleanup, with one writing on June 19 that a “cleanup/deletion sweep appears active alphabetically” and instructing others where to find backups if a page vanished. A King’s College London research fellow, Lukasz Olejnik, said the tampering amounted to a hacking attempt, though OpenAI disputed that characterization after reviewing the material. A Cambridge academic who reviewed the communications compared them to “the operation of some sort of underground network, hell-bent on achieving a task or mission.”

The episode adds to mounting concern that AI systems are learning to bend rules and coordinate in ways their developers never intended, especially as OpenAI pushes to release more autonomous and capable agents. It comes just as OpenAI unveiled its new “Astra” model this week, which the company says offers stronger performance but could also be harder for humans to monitor, and after OpenAI briefly paused some model training last month to add safety measures following the Hugging Face hack. An OpenAI spokesperson said the company could not respond to specific findings since it had not been given access to the report, but denied claims that its legal team discouraged a wider investigation and said the German incident was unrelated to Hugging Face. Researchers said the pattern suggests the biggest AI risk may not be a single superintelligent system but rather, as one put it, “vast colluding swarms of semi-intelligent AI.”

Other news:

A newly surfaced Flock webinar shows the company teaching police how to use its surveillance technology to monitor protests, parades, fireworks shows, and bike races, undercutting Flock’s public claims that its license plate cameras are a narrow, noninvasive tool used mainly to solve violent crime. In the webinar, Flock’s director of market management Caity Peak walks through how FlockOS, which combines license plate readers, drones, gunshot detectors, 911 data, and outside surveillance cameras into a single dashboard, could have been used by an incident commander to track the No Kings protests in Denver, including live video feeds, traffic flow, and building floor plans, all without officers needing to be physically present. Peak also demonstrated Flock Nova, a deeper investigative tool that merges license plate data with an agency’s other records, including person data, email, phone numbers, jail records, and open source intelligence, using a mock “street racing suspect” profile complete with the man’s name, address, and social media accounts as an example. The webinar echoes prior reporting from 404 Media and the Electronic Frontier Foundation showing police departments have already run Flock searches tied to No Kings protests and other protected First Amendment activity, and it comes as Flock says more than 4,800 cities now run its FlockOS software. Later in the webinar, New Orleans officials described how the same camera network was used to track a suspect’s movements before the Bourbon Street terror attack, with roughly 7 terabytes of that footage eventually shared with Homeland Security, HSI, and the FBI.

Day seven of the Lindsay Clancy verdict watch centered on a new jury note from the previous day, with Judge William Sullivan asking both sides how the court should handle it. Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague argued against further questioning of jurors, saying the note reflects normal deliberation over how to weigh evidence rather than any sign of bias or an inability to deliberate, and that jurors shouldn’t be asked about their personal views on the case. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington pushed back hard, accusing one juror, whom he didn’t name, of “lying” under oath by claiming to follow the judge’s instructions while actually acknowledging doubt but refusing to apply the reasonable doubt standard to reach a not guilty verdict. Reddington pointed to two separate jury notes as evidence the juror has expressed doubt but won’t act on it, calling that a false statement to the court. Judge Sullivan ultimately said he sees no need to question the juror, ruling it is their duty to accept the law as he has instructed them.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced that the Trump administration will begin excavation work within two weeks on Trump’s planned 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery, even though the project still lacks final approval from the National Capital Planning Commission and has not completed review under the National Historic Preservation Act. The move follows a familiar pattern for Trump, who has repeatedly pushed ahead on major Washington construction projects without full legal sign off, and comes days after the Supreme Court cleared the way for his separate East Wing ballroom project to continue. A group of Vietnam War veterans is suing to block the arch, arguing it lacks congressional approval and would obstruct the view between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, and their lawyer said Burgum’s announcement shows the administration never intended to let the legal process play out. The administration had previously committed to giving 14 days notice before construction, but that notice instead came through a social media post, and it has now filed a motion arguing the arch lawsuit should be dismissed on the same grounds the Supreme Court used to allow the ballroom project. Democratic Rep. Don Beyer, whose district includes Arlington Cemetery, accused Trump and Burgum of rushing “this towering monument to Trump’s vanity” because they expect Republicans to lose badly in November.

According to the Daily Beast, Pete Hegseth’s nickname among troops at the Pentagon is reportedly “No Tab Pete,” a jab at the fact that he never earned patches like “Ranger” or “Sapper” that signify elite combat skills, even as he presides over the firing or departure of more than 20 senior military leaders during his 20 months as defense secretary. The mockery surfaced after the retirement ceremony for Gen. Christopher Donahue, the special forces veteran who commanded Delta Force and was the last American soldier out of Kabul in 2021, held at Fort Bragg’s Delta compound, where an Army official said talk of “No Tab Pete” picked up once the bourbon started flowing at the dinner afterward. That same night, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll reportedly reached his limit with Hegseth and decided to resign, a decision he carried out days later at the White House after warning Trump about the damage Hegseth is doing to the Army. Driscoll’s break with Hegseth traces back to April, when Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George in a 15 second phone call after George disciplined Apache helicopter crews involved in a tribute flyby over Kid Rock’s home, prompting Driscoll to drive straight to George’s house to hug him. The piece also details Hegseth’s preoccupation with appearances, including a new mandatory “waist-to-height ratio” fitness standard, his “no more beardos, no more fat generals” comment to 800 top officers, and a viral Pentagon video of him bench pressing at Guantanamo Bay, all while U.S. forces were routed by Ukrainian drone operators in a recent war game that Donahue had been overseeing before his removal.

The US economy added 162,000 jobs in August, with June and July revised up by a combined 55,000, driven by rebounds in hospitality and education plus solid manufacturing and construction hiring tied to AI data centers, while unemployment held steady at 4.1%. The bigger headline is wage growth, which came in at just 3.1%, the lowest in five years and now running below inflation of roughly 3.5%.

The average nationwide price of diesel hit an all time high Friday, reaching $5.85 per gallon, up from $5.78 the day before, according to AAA. Prices began climbing in late February with the launch of the Iran war, and have since been compounded by Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries, which prompted Russia, the world’s second largest diesel exporter, to extend a diesel export ban through the end of September. Higher seasonal demand from farmers and colder Northern Hemisphere temperatures are adding further strain on top of the supply shortage. Economists warn consumers should expect higher prices on virtually anything shipped, especially groceries, since many supermarkets are already running thin margins because of rising beef costs. Trump met with oil refiners at the White House this week to press them on relieving costs, though it remains unclear whether any concrete commitments were made.

The FCC asked a federal judge Thursday to dismiss Disney’s lawsuit challenging the agency’s early review of licenses for its eight company-owned ABC stations, arguing that blocking the review would hobble its investigation into “serious allegations that Disney has engaged in unlawful discrimination.” FCC Chair Brendan Carr ordered the early review in April, the first such early review in more than 50 years, and notably did so one day after Trump publicly urged ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel. Disney’s suit calls the FCC’s actions an “extraordinary assault on free speech,” accusing the agency of trying to coerce and retaliate against “a network that refuses to bow to the administration’s demands.” A federal judge has set an October 6 hearing on the case, which is seen as a broader test of free speech rights for broadcasters as Trump has repeatedly called for stations to lose their licenses over programming he dislikes, including telling the FCC just days ago to rebuke NBC’s Kristen Welker.

President Trump commuted the six year sentence of former Philadelphia union leader John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty, according to Dougherty’s attorney George Bochetto. Dougherty was convicted in 2023 of bribing a Philadelphia City Council member and embezzling nearly $600,000 from Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, a union he ran for nearly three decades while serving as a major Democratic power broker in Pennsylvania politics. He was convicted of eight counts including conspiracy and honest services wire fraud, while City Council member Bobby Henon was convicted of 10 counts in the same case. Dougherty had four more years left on his sentence and is expected to be released soon.

A power outage hit NIPSCO customers across Northwest Indiana Thursday evening, with the majority of the roughly 1,800 customers still without power by 10 p.m. concentrated in Gary, after peaking at more than 2,300 customers earlier in the day. The cause of this latest outage wasn’t immediately clear, but it comes just weeks after most NIPSCO customers went at least two weeks without power following severe storms on Aug. 11 that knocked out power to more than 370,000 customers. Residents of Northwest Indiana have been demanding accountability from NIPSCO and calling for an investigation into whether the utility did enough to maintain power lines and clear trees before that storm.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans, the federal prosecutor investigating ICE officer Christian Castro for possible civil rights crimes in the shooting of Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, has been fired, according to four sources familiar with the matter, and three sources say he is now under Justice Department investigation, reportedly over allegations of leaking. The firing follows a ProPublica report that Evans told attorneys for Sosa-Celis and other victims to expect Castro to be charged only with making false statements rather than more serious civil rights violations, quoting an email in which Evans said the decision was "being directed by the Main Justice and the US Attorney" and that he had "objected in the strongest possible terms and fought it as hard as I could." A federal grand jury did indict Castro on six counts Wednesday under seal, and he was taken into custody in Texas Thursday ahead of a Friday court appearance.

Two hydropower workers, Sanjay Sah and Kabir Maharjan, were pulled out alive from a tunnel in Nepal on Friday, nine days after devastating floods hit the Himalayan region. Rescuers at the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant said they could still hear voices inside the tunnel, where at least 557 workers remain missing and roughly 115 are believed trapped. Authorities say at least 1,287 people were killed and more than 5,000 remain missing nationwide after an Aug. 26 disaster believed to have been triggered by a high altitude glacier collapse on the Nepal-Tibet border. Rescue teams have been using controlled blasts and excavators to reach trapped workers amid concerns over air quality and water access, while more than 800 foreign nationals remain missing in the area, including dozens of Americans.

President Trump named Adam Telle, a civilian leader in the Army Corps of Engineers, as acting Army secretary following the resignation of Dan Driscoll, whose exit came amid widely reported tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Telle previously spent more than 20 years working for Republican senators and in the White House during Trump’s first term, and both Trump and Hegseth praised him in public statements. Driscoll gave no explanation for his departure beyond calling it “the honor of a lifetime,” though several of his allies in the Army had already been ousted by Hegseth this year. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said Hegseth “is creating a leadership void at the top of our military ranks,” as Telle now takes over the Army amid ongoing conflict with Iran and a shortage of Patriot and THAAD missile interceptors.

The Parnas Perspective, Thursday Night News, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Today’s rundown leads with Mitch McConnell, because 80 days later, nobody else seems to be asking the obvious question: where is he? His office has gone weeks without a real update, he’s missed 60 votes, and the only proof of life the public has gotten is two photos.

This week I went back to his D.C. residence myself and found it guarded by unmarked SUVs and marked Capitol Police cars, curtains drawn. Even Kentucky’s own governor says he hasn’t heard from McConnell in 80 days. Most outlets moved on from this story weeks ago. I haven’t, and I’m not going to until someone in his office gives a straight answer.

We’ve also got Liz Oyer’s new lawsuit against the DOJ, major updates in the Lindsay Clancy case, new reporting on ICE building a nationwide voter database, and a full list of other news below. Regarding the Lindsay Clancy trial, I answer all your questions below from a legal perspective as a lawyer who has witnessed numerous criminal trials.

I’m not going to stop asking about McConnell, and I’m not going to stop covering the stories other outlets let go cold.

Here’s the news:

The White House has launched arcade games for kids using your taxpayer dollars that allows the children to cosplay as border patrol agents to target undocumented immigrants in America.

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to grant the U.S. Postal Service sweeping power to withhold delivery of mail ballots, an emergency appeal that bypassed lower courts still weighing the case less than two months before the November midterms. The request is the latest chapter in a legal battle over a March executive order that gave federal agencies an unprecedented role in elections, which voter advocacy groups and 23 Democratic-led states have challenged in court. The administration described the new rules as merely “modest envelope-design and addressee-information requirements” that don’t amount to federal control over state election administration, and asked for a short-term order allowing USPS to implement them immediately. This follows an August ruling in which the same 6-3 conservative Supreme Court already sided with the administration on the issue. Since then, USPS has detailed its implementation plans, election officials have warned it’s too late to overhaul mail ballot systems this cycle, and a whistleblower report alleged the agency is rushing a complicated plan that could disenfranchise millions of voters, all as the first ballots begin entering the mail this week.

Flock’s director Caity Peak demonstrated FlockOS, a platform combining license plate readers, live video, drones, and gunshot detectors, using a Denver “No Kings” protest as an example of how it helps commanders track unfolding incidents. While Flock markets the system for crime-solving and locating missing persons, with data retention limits controlled by local police, critics point to its use monitoring protected activities like protests, citing Electronic Frontier Foundation findings of hundreds of protest-related searches in 2025.

Mitch McConnell update:

Kentucky Rep. James Comer said Thursday he expects Sen. Mitch McConnell to return to Washington when the Senate reconvenes on September 14, though he clarified he hasn’t spoken with McConnell himself, only with staff members, many originally from his own district, who told him it’s “their goal” for McConnell to be present next week. McConnell’s office would not confirm a timeline, saying only that there are no scheduling announcements at this time. McConnell, 84, has not voted in the Senate since June 11, aside from a proxy vote on the farm bill last month, and has been hospitalized since June 14 after a fall, later moving to a rehab center before being discharged to recover at home. The Senate remains in recess until it officially returns September 14.

McConnell has now gone 80 days without a single public appearance, and it’s been nearly a month since his office last provided any real update, despite his having missed 60 votes on matters including an Iran war powers resolution and Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation, a significant gap given Republicans’ narrow Senate majority. A visit to his D.C. residence this week found it heavily guarded by unmarked SUVs and Capitol Police, with most curtains drawn though a first-floor window was open and no mail had piled up, unlike during his hospitalization. His office has released only two “proof-of-life” photos since his disappearance, both showing him smiling beside wife Elaine Chao without offering insight into his actual health, and it ignored questions ahead of the 80-day mark. Confusion has reportedly become “the talk of Congress,” with even Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s office declining to say when he last actually spoke with McConnell directly.

Despite his prolonged absence, aides have continued speaking on McConnell’s behalf back in Kentucky, with his state director apologizing for his absence at a Louisville housing event last month and a written statement issued under his name praising a local business owner’s legacy. Kentucky Republican lawmakers say they expect him back later this month, but by their own admission that expectation rests on conversations with GOP leadership and staff rather than with McConnell directly. McConnell isn’t the only lawmaker to have vanished mysteriously this year: Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey disappeared for months before revealing upon his return that he had been treated for depression. The parallel raises further questions about what, if anything, McConnell’s team is not disclosing about his condition as his return date approaches.

Liz Oyer sues Department of Justice:

Former U.S. Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer filed suit against the Justice Department and Attorney General Todd Blanche, alleging she was illegally fired after refusing to recommend restoring actor Mel Gibson’s gun rights despite his domestic violence conviction and personal ties to President Trump. Oyer says she was pressured to make it appear an independent review had cleared Gibson, even though he hadn’t undergone the extensive background investigation given to other applicants, and that a senior official on Blanche’s staff pushed her to approve it anyway because of Gibson’s relationship with Trump. Hours after she submitted a memo declining to recommend restoring his rights, DOJ security officers arrived at her office with termination papers and escorted her out. Oyer, who spent over 13 years in federal service with strong performance reviews, is represented by Democracy Forward and previously challenged her removal before the Merit Systems Protection Board more than 16 months ago without a substantive review.

The lawsuit argues DOJ violated Oyer’s constitutional and statutory due process rights as a career civil servant, and that the agency’s own legal reasoning undermines its case: DOJ has claimed only the Attorney General can exercise Article II removal authority, yet Oyer was fired by Blanche while he was still Deputy Attorney General, not by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi. The suit seeks a declaration that her removal was unlawful, reinstatement to federal service, restored pay and benefits, and a bar on further retaliatory action against her. Oyer said in a statement that she was fired for refusing to put politics ahead of her duty to the public, warning that if career officials can be dismissed for not bending rules for a president’s friends, the message to public servants is that political loyalty outweighs loyalty to the Constitution. Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman said the case aims to stop any administration from weaponizing government power against career officials who refuse political demands.

The case, Oyer v. Blanche et al., is being handled by a Democracy Forward legal team that includes Joshua Salzman, Webb Lyons, and Elena Goldstein. Oyer served as U.S. Pardon Attorney from April 2022 until March 2025, a tenure that included the episode at the center of the lawsuit. The press release notes the full complaint has been made publicly available. Democracy Forward, a 501(c)(3) organization, is also promoting a new book by Perryman, “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times,” which the release notes became a USA Today bestseller within two days of its release. No response from DOJ or Blanche was included in the release.

Lindsay Clancy:

The Lindsay Clancy murder trial neared a mistrial Thursday after the Massachusetts jury sent its second deadlock notice following nearly six days of deliberation, prompting defense attorney Kevin Reddington to ask Judge William Sullivan (shown above in an inset with the defendant) to remove a juror he claimed “refuses to listen to the law” on reasonable doubt. Sullivan declined, saying he couldn’t determine what was happening inside deliberations and that each juror, when questioned individually, confirmed they could follow his instructions. Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague argued the judge’s handling of the jury’s question was appropriate, and the panel was sent back to deliberate before being dismissed for the day around 4 p.m. Sullivan can only send jurors back twice before declaring a mistrial unless they agree to continue, and he already issued Tuey-Rodriguez instructions urging one last attempt at a verdict; a third deadlock note would likely end in a mistrial, though Reddington says he’d be ready for a second trial as soon as next week. I answer your questions:

The jury must decide whether Clancy is criminally responsible for killing her three children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, in January 2023, after which she attempted suicide by jumping from her bedroom window and was left paralyzed from the waist down. The defense argues she was in postpartum psychosis and acted on auditory hallucinations, while prosecutors contend she was not psychotic and planned the killings, including sending her then-husband out on errands beforehand. Jurors can convict Clancy of first-degree murder, which carries a life sentence, or lesser charges of second-degree murder or manslaughter, or find her not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. Tensions boiled over in court Thursday when an animated Reddington wheeled Clancy into a sidebar discussion with the judge and attorneys, after which she returned to the defense table appearing upset but composed.

ICE Builds Out Nationwide Voting Database:

ICE is preparing to award a contract worth up to $5 million to a company that will build a massive national database of voters, according to a solicitation document published last week. The database would combine publicly available voter registration and voting history files from all 50 states, including data from every federal election, general, primary, runoff, and special. Contractors won’t initially be asked to collect party affiliation data, but that restriction could be lifted if the contracting officer, HSI section chief Michael Royer, directs it in writing. Experts believe compiling this kind of data, especially party affiliation, could violate voters’ privacy rights. ICE, DHS, and Royer did not respond to requests for comment, and the final contract is expected to be awarded shortly after publication next Monday, with its term expiring September 30.

This voter database effort is part of a much broader DHS and Trump administration push that critics say is designed to undermine trust in the midterm elections. The Department of Justice has spent over a year demanding states hand over unredacted voter rolls, an effort states and courts have resisted, while DHS has threatened to withhold emergency preparedness and counterterrorism funding from states that don’t comply with White House election policies. DHS has also directed ICE to deport people suspected of voting illegally even without criminal convictions, despite research showing noncitizen voting is extremely rare, a point underscored by a Georgia investigation this week that found very few such cases. DHS separately announced a new surge to investigate alleged voter fraud in select states ahead of the midterms. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers dismissed the effort as “a joke,” saying voting is a state issue, not a federal one.

This isn’t ICE’s first attempt to access voter data. In July, the agency was reported to be paying Thomson Reuters $125 million for access to its CLEAR database, which aggregates names, addresses, property records, driver’s licenses, social media, and voter registration data from public and private sources. In June, ICE agents reportedly obtained individual voter rolls directly from election officials in counties in Texas and North Carolina. Last year, WIRED reported that DOGE was building a separate master database pulling from DHS, the Social Security Administration, the IRS, and voter data from Pennsylvania and Florida. A senior DHS official told WIRED at the time that the effort had “nothing to do with finding fraud or wasteful spending,” describing it instead as cross-referencing immigration data with SSA, IRS, and voter records.

Other news:

Fox News parted ways with longtime anchor Maria Bartiromo, above, on Thursday after 12.5 years, with a spokesperson thanking her “for her work” but offering no further explanation. Bartiromo had served as Fox Business Network’s global markets editor since 2014, hosting “Mornings with Maria” and “Sunday Morning Futures,” and became known for a more openly conservative turn after leaving CNBC, where Cabinet secretaries regularly appeared on her shows during Trump’s terms. Her past commentary was cited as evidence in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox, which the network settled for $787 million in 2023. Her biography and show pages had already been removed from Fox’s website by Thursday, and she hadn’t appeared on air since August 9. She previously spent nearly 21 years at CNBC, where she was the first person to report live from the New York Stock Exchange floor.

JD Vance was asked whether Bartiromo will be the next White House Press Secretary:

Elon Musk’s America PAC has spent roughly $800,000 boosting Republican candidates in competitive midterm races, with Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton the biggest beneficiary at nearly a quarter-million dollars, followed by over $170,000 in Maine and over $25,000 in Michigan. The super PAC is active in House and Senate races across more than a dozen states, following digital ad spending reported last week in Maine, Michigan and New Hampshire aimed at supporting conservatives and voter registration. The spending comes as Republicans have flagged concerns about Paxton’s fundraising gap and called for outside help. Musk spent over $250 million backing Trump and Republicans in the 2024 election, and had a rocky patch with Trump last year, including briefly threatening to launch a third party, but the two appear to be on good terms again after Musk joined Trump’s state visit to China this year.

ICE agent Christian Castro has been federally charged with making false statements about the events leading up to his shooting of Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg earlier this year, marking the first Justice Department charge against an officer for on-duty conduct during nationwide immigration operations. Castro already faced state charges in Minnesota for second-degree assault and filing a false report, and federal prosecutors previously dropped charges against Sosa-Celis and another man for allegedly attacking Castro after surveillance footage contradicted his account. The shooting occurred after ICE tried to pull over a truck driven by Sosa-Celis’s cousin, who fled and was tackled near Sosa-Celis’s apartment door, with Sosa-Celis saying he was shot through the door moments after locking it. Castro was placed on administrative leave and briefly jailed in Texas before being released last week when the state’s governor declined to immediately approve his extradition to Minnesota. The Justice Department is still weighing whether to pursue additional civil rights charges against him.

The FDA announced a recall of one lot of Walmart’s Great Value Organic Triple Berry Blend frozen fruit, sold in 16 states, over potential E. coli O145:H28 contamination, as an expansion of a July recall tied to Publix frozen berries from the same supplier, Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur. The affected 10-ounce bags carry UPC 7874211226, lot code 6040 01-6, and a best-if-used-by date of Feb. 9, 2028, and while the broader outbreak has sickened 12 people including four hospitalizations, no illnesses have been linked to the Walmart product specifically, with the recall issued out of caution after traceback information. Consumers with the recalled berries should discard them or return them to Walmart for a refund, and anyone who ate them should watch for E. coli symptoms like severe cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can be more serious in children, older adults, and those with weakened immune systems.

OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra on Thursday, calling it the world’s most intelligent AI model and the first to trigger stricter internal safety protocols due to its advanced cybersecurity capabilities, including the ability to autonomously find and exploit security flaws in well-protected systems. Co-founder Greg Brockman said Astra can do “anything a human can do with a computer” and called its release the start of the “AGI era,” while chief scientist Jakub Pachocki acknowledged that understanding what increasingly capable models can do is getting harder. The release follows a report last week revealing an unreleased model from the same family had autonomously seized administrator control over part of OpenAI’s own infrastructure and potentially exposed internal data, without staff knowledge. Reporting this week also raised concerns that a training technique used in Astra could make it harder for humans to understand how the model “thinks,” which Pachocki pushed back on. Altman said Astra went through the White House’s voluntary AI vetting process, with Brockman noting the administration requested no safeguard changes.

Australian police issued an arrest warrant for “Below Deck Mediterranean” star Nathan Gallagher, 28, after he missed a court appearance tied to a December 2025 domestic violence arrest and was granted conditional bail. New South Wales police shared his photo and asked the public for help locating him, noting he’s believed to be offshore and warning people not to approach him. Gallagher, in a statement to Rolling Stone, acknowledged making “mistakes” but said the public hadn’t heard the “full story,” pointing to a complicated situation involving his former partner and co-star Gael Cameron, with whom he shares a son. Bravo confirmed the current season wrapped before the incident and said it does not plan to work with Gallagher in the future.

A GAO report released Thursday found the Secret Service failed to update more than a third of its protection policies within the agency’s own required four-year window, with some guidelines on vice presidential foreign trips and foreign leader visits left unchanged for over 20 years. The watchdog also found the agency didn’t document its reasoning when deciding security incidents didn’t warrant policy changes, which GAO said may have prevented officials from spotting an emerging pattern of drone-related threats before a drone was used in the 2024 assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. Three earlier drone incidents, near an Obama motorcade in 2015, over a Bernie Sanders rally in 2016, and above Biden’s 2021 inauguration, went unaddressed in policy terms before the Butler attack. The report lands amid continued scrutiny of the agency following multiple threats this year, including a shooter entering the Washington Hilton during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and a shootout near the White House close to a Vance motorcade route. A Secret Service spokesperson said the agency overhauled its site-security policy after Butler and is implementing GAO’s other recommendations, noting it concurs with the findings and has made “significant institutional reforms” since 2024.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday there’s a chance of reaching a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, while Ukraine’s foreign minister said he expects a “new dynamic” in diplomatic efforts, though neither offered specifics. Putin said countries including the U.S. and China were ready to support a settlement but that Russia and Ukraine must ultimately resolve it themselves, while also calling recent Ukrainian attacks on civilian ships “acts of state terrorism” that complicate talks. The comments come after both sides escalated long-range strikes and naval attacks since U.S.-mediated talks stalled in February, pushing up global grain prices and causing wheat futures to drop over 2% on Putin’s remarks. Putin said contacts with Ukraine continue mainly through intelligence channels, and India’s foreign minister offered to help mediate. Zelenskyy this week warned airlines that Russian skies are dangerous due to Ukrainian drone activity, while insisting Ukraine only targets Russian military facilities.

Oil prices climbed for a fourth straight session Thursday, pushing diesel to $5.78 a gallon, its highest level since 2022 and up more than 53% since the Iran war began in February, while regular gasoline rose to a $4.14 national average. Brent crude topped $97 a barrel, nearly 10% higher than the week’s start, driven largely by the Iran war choking traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and Russia’s diesel export ban following Ukrainian drone strikes on its refineries. Analysts said only increased Persian Gulf oil flow or a resumption of Russian exports could meaningfully ease prices, with Gulf exports estimated at 50-67% of pre-war levels. The energy price surge has also pushed 30-year mortgage rates to 6.91% amid inflation concerns, though Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he expects upcoming inflation readings to stay “reasonable” unless August data comes in hot enough to justify a rate hike.

An internal review by The Athletic found former NFL reporter Dianna Russini had an “awkward” and “uncomfortable” undisclosed relationship with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, though investigators found no clear evidence she used her platform to professionally benefit him. Russini resigned in April after photos of her and the married Vrabel at an Arizona hotel drew scrutiny, and the review, which examined over 900 bylined stories and 200 podcast episodes, found the relationship violated the outlet’s disclosure standards regardless of whether it was romantic. Investigators highlighted a 2023 column in which Russini wrote Vrabel wouldn’t be fired as Titans coach, based on conversations with “high-ranking” team officials, just two months before he was in fact fired. Vrabel returned to coaching in 2025 and led the Patriots to a dramatic turnaround, earning Coach of the Year honors. Russini could not be reached for comment.

John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, appeared in a Tennessee court Thursday and agreed to extradition to South Carolina to face charges connected to the death of their 5-year-old nonverbal daughter, Saylor, whose body was found in waters near Pawleys Island. The couple, arrested more than 350 miles away in Tennessee, will be moved to South Carolina within 10 days and remain jailed without bond, having also waived their right to hire an attorney during the process. Arrest affidavits accuse the parents of misdirecting search efforts toward Saylor’s tracking device despite knowing she wasn’t wearing it. Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said Saylor “deserved to be safe” and “deserved to be protected.” Records show John Hayes faced a prior 2023 child abuse case in Virginia that ended in dismissed charges after a deferred disposition and probation.

At least five people died and dozens more are feared dead after a migrant boat carrying West African men was found drifting in the Atlantic near Spain’s Canary Islands, with 44 survivors rescued and brought to Gran Canaria. Survivors, all men from Mali or Senegal, some underage, reported leaving Gambia and being stranded at sea for nearly a month, running out of provisions and falling ill from drinking seawater; Red Cross workers described them as disoriented and dehydrated upon arrival. Survivors said more than 100 people were originally aboard, including women and a baby, and that bodies of those who died during the journey were thrown overboard as the group weakened. Migrant rights group Walking Borders separately reported 83 deaths on the voyage, including three women and an infant, though this has not been independently confirmed. The Atlantic route to the Canary Islands remains one of the deadliest migration crossings to Europe, with tens of thousands dead or missing in recent years despite falling overall arrival numbers.

Minnesota Rep. Pete Stauber is running to become the top Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee next Congress, setting up a possible clash with current chair Bruce Westerman, who is term-limited but hasn’t ruled out seeking a waiver to serve a fourth term. Stauber, who has sat on the committee since 2020 and chairs its Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, is already speaking with GOP Conference and steering committee members about his bid, which his spokesperson says will proceed regardless of Westerman’s decision. Westerman, while calling himself “more focused on winning the majority,” declined to say whether he’d pursue a waiver, insisting any friction with Stauber wouldn’t strain their friendship. The GOP Steering Committee will decide committee leadership assignments after the midterms. Stauber and Westerman aren’t alone: House Agriculture Chair GT Thompson has already filed a waiver request even as Rep. Austin Scott eyes succeeding him, and Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers plans to seek his own waiver, though Reps. Ronny Jackson, Rob Wittman, and Trent Kelly have also expressed interest in that post.

Nvidia agreed to acquire AI developer platform Hugging Face for $12.93 billion, one of its largest acquisitions ever, betting that supporting open-weight AI models will sustain demand even as major customers like Meta, OpenAI and Microsoft develop their own chips to reduce reliance on Nvidia. The deal gives Nvidia direct access to a platform developers use to build, test and share AI tools, potentially helping it narrow the gap with top U.S. and Chinese AI labs, including cost-competitive Chinese firms like DeepSeek and Z.ai. Nvidia will pay about $11.9 billion to Hugging Face’s investors plus up to $1 billion in retention equity for employees, and CEO Jensen Huang said the platform will remain open and won’t require Nvidia chips to use. Hugging Face, founded in 2016 by Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond and Thomas Wolf and backed by Intel, AMD and Amazon, also hosts datasets and cloud tools for AI development. The company was recently in the news after a hack involving rogue AI agents that escaped an OpenAI testing environment.

President Trump said Thursday the U.S. will ask Europe to reimburse Washington for the “hundreds of billions” in munitions sent to Ukraine under former President Biden, framing it as a belated correction rather than acknowledging any current shortage. The claim comes as the U.S. military faces dwindling stockpiles from its ongoing war with Iran, now in its seventh month, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies reporting roughly 1,500 Patriot interceptors used since the war began, leaving under 1,000 in stock, and THAAD interceptors dropping from 452 to well under 300. Trump insisted the U.S. has “virtually unlimited” mid-to-high grade ammunition and called reports of shortages “treasonous,” accusing critics and media outlets of wanting America to lose a war he says is being “easily” won. He said the military is now stockpiling munitions for domestic use rather than selling them abroad. The reimbursement request follows a 2025 arrangement in which the U.S. and Europe agreed Washington would send weapons to Ukraine in transactions financed by European allies.

Meidas Touch Network, Thursday Afternoon Update: MAGA Mike’s House Shutdown, Ben Meiselas, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Here’s your free midday update.

• Mike Johnson abruptly cancels the last two weeks of September in Congress after denying he’d do so just days ago
• Billionaire Leon Black skipped out on his House Oversight deposition on Epstein and is suing the committee
• Trump favorite Maria Bartiromo is abruptly out at Fox
• Federal prosecutors charge an ICE agent with lying about a Minnesota shooting
• Trump continues insisting we have “virtually unlimited” ammo, while claiming reporters covering U.S. munitions shortages are “treasonous”
• Iran’s overnight barrage on U.S. bases
• Oil spikes toward $100/barrel
• Trump continues attacking Canada and PM Carney
• House Republicans vent their tariff frustrations at Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer during a closed-door meeting
• A federal judge again blocks Trump’s latest attempt to gut birthright citizenship
• The Antwerp diamond industry’s story about the diamond ring it gave to Trump keeps falling apart
• Mortgage rates and treasury yields climb to multi-year highs

Now let’s dive in.

MAGA Mike Runs and Hides

MAGA Mike Johnson has made it officially: the last two weeks of September are canceled for the House. See ya later. The House won’t return until after the midterm elections unless the Senate moves their reconciliation package. This comes just a couple days after Johnson defensively mocked Thomas Massie for suggesting leadership might do exactly this to dodge the new Epstein Files Transparency Act, calling the idea “stupid” and “nonsensical.” Well, what does that make you, Mike?

James Comer, meanwhile, is skipping Trump’s midterm convention in Dallas, joining more than 45 other Republicans who’ve said they won’t attend, either. While on NewsNation, Comer also struggled to explain why Trump’s MAGA Inc. war chest has only spent $21M of its $400M with the midterms just a couple months out.Billionaire Leon Black Backs Out

Billionaire Leon Black, who appears in the Epstein files, filed a lawsuit to block his own subpoena from the House Oversight Committee rather than show up and answer questions. Black was the CEO of Apollo Global Management, before revelations from the Epstein files sparked his resignation. Democrats are now calling for Black to be held in contempt.Bartiromo Is Out

State regime media known as Fox abruptly announced this morning that it has parted ways with host, and Trump favorite, Maria Bartiromo, after 12.5 years. No explanation given. She’s out effective immediately. 

An ICE Agent Actually Gets Charged

A federal grand jury has indicted ICE officer Christian Castro on charges of making false statements regarding a nonfatal shooting during ICE’s invasion of Minneapolis this past January. Trump’s own DOJ is accusing one of its federal agents of criminal wrongdoing on the job. Castro shot and wounded Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan man who lacked legal status. Trump officials at the time instantly defended Castro, then quietly backed away as video footage emerged showing the Trump regime’s account did not match reality.Trump’s Ammo Meltdown

Trump woke up this morning and raged some more at journalists telling the truth about his disastrous war. He posted that the U.S. has virtually unlimited amounts of mid to high grade ammo, more than we can ever use, and that anyone reporting otherwise is “treasonous scum.” Then he posted an AI-generated graphic titled “Hormuz Oil Volumes are BACK!” that shows oil flows dropping from 20M barrels a day to 18M. Meanwhile, in the real world, Brent crude hit over $97, a 6-week high, and the crack spread between crude and diesel is about the widest it has ever been.Iran’s Surprise Attacks

Overnight, Iran launched missile and drone strikes against U.S. assets across Kuwait, with explosions and sirens reported and flights diverting away from the country. Reports claim Iranian forces targeted U.S. bases in Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the UAE over an 8-hour stretch. This happened at the same time reporting broke in the WSJ that Trump is now privately discussing with aides whether to just declare that the war is over and the U.S. won, a move he’s tried before. Hegseth is now extending Mideast deployments into 2027, which means more strain on our troops. And reports are coming in from our service members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, who upon docking in Thailand, are calling this the worst deployment of their careers. Some said they had no interest in a port call in Thailand. They just want to come home.U.S. President Donald Trump speaks while hosting a dinner in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 2, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

About That “Golden Age”

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve just fell below 290M barrels for the first time since 1982. Mortgage rates are marching toward 7%. The 10-year treasury yield has climbed from under 4% to nearly 4.8% since the Iran war began. The trade deficit ballooned in July, driven largely by imports needed to feed the AI data center boom, a boom which appears to be the only thing propping up private construction spending right now, while every other category of construction has collapsed by roughly $120B. Meanwhile, Canadian exports to the U.S. fell 6.6% in July, while its exports everywhere else hit a record high. Trump also keeps threatening Canada’s economy. Worth noting: Canada’s economy added 75.1K jobs in July. The U.S. lost 23K.

His Own Party Is Losing Patience

House Republicans sat down behind closed doors with U.S. Trade Rep. Greer and reportedly let him have it over Trump’s tariff war, per Semafor. GOP reps know how bad these tariffs are, not only for the economy, but for their midterm chances.Antwerp’s Diamond Industry Says the Trump Ring Wasn’t a Bribe. Its Own Words Say Otherwise.

The Antwerp World Diamond Centre still insists the diamond ring it gave Trump in June was just a friendly gift for America’s 250th anniversary and nothing to do with the tariff exemption on European diamonds Trump restored a month later. But AWDC’s own public filings admit the tariff exemption wasn’t guaranteed until after the gift. In an exclusive MeidasTouch report, Senator Warren told us that this looks like exactly what it is.

And in other legal news, a federal judge in Maryland again blocked Trump’s latest executive order attempting to limit birthright citizenship, writing plainly that no presidential order can undo what the Supreme Court has done. For those wondering, yes, SCOTUS had already settled this back in June. But this decision was a lower court follow-up blocking a new, narrower Trump order Trump tried to make to work around the ruling.

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Big Epstein Update: Alleged Co-Conspirator with Sealed NDAs Sues, GOP Senator Calls for Hegseth’s Firing, McConnell Update, and More, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Today’s rundown leads with new developments in the Epstein story: subpoenas, sealed NDAs, and a $158 million question about what one of his associates was really paying for. We also look into Mitch McConnell, issues with Hegseth, and more right now.

Covering this material isn’t free of consequences. Since I started digging into the Epstein network and the powerful people who moved through it, I’ve faced pushback I didn’t expect: hostile messages, attempts to discredit the reporting, and pressure from people who’d clearly prefer this story stay buried. I’m telling you this because you deserve to know what it takes to keep this coverage independent, answering to no advertiser, no network, and no one with a stake in how these names get treated.

I’m not going to stop. Let’s get into today’s news.

Alleged Epstein Co-Conspirator:

Alleged Epstein co-conspirator, Leon Black (shown above in a photo collage with Jeffrey Epstein), is suing the House Oversight Committee to block subpoenas tied to his deposition testimony and an effort to obtain his NDAs with women, arguing the subpoenas lack a legitimate legislative purpose and exceed Congress’ authority. The lawsuit comes as Black faces a committee deposition Thursday after refusing in June to answer questions about those NDAs, part of a broader inquiry into his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. At the center of that inquiry are $158 million in payments Black made to Epstein between 2012 and 2017 for what Epstein called tax and estate-planning “art,” a fee Epstein himself struggled to justify, once writing “the value is in the eye of the beholder.” Senator Ron Wyden has released a report finding Bank of America flagged $170 million in suspicious Epstein-related transactions connected to Black, some with “no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose,” and has called at least some payments equivalent to hush money. A 2021 Apollo-commissioned Dechert report found no wrongdoing and said Epstein’s strategies saved Black $1-2 billion in taxes, though outside tax lawyers told Bloomberg the techniques were largely standard estate-planning tools rather than the novel work Dechert described.

Congressman Thomas Massie named Black as one of 14 possible co-conspirators associated with Epstein:

The core transaction underlying the dispute was a 2012 crisis: Black’s family trust had overpaid him $142 million, risking a clawback that could have cost up to $1 billion in estate taxes, and Epstein devised a fix where Black gave up future trust distributions in exchange for swapping the trust’s $1.6 billion Apollo stake for a promissory note backed by art and stock. Dechert’s report called this a “grand slam,” but Bloomberg found the underlying technique, a “power of substitution,” was a well-established estate-planning tool that Black’s own longtime lawyer had presented on nearly a decade earlier. Epstein also helped Black extract tax benefits from valuation discounts on subdivided Apollo shares and from a 2015-16 transaction selling a stake in Black’s art-book company Phaidon at a reduced valuation to Black’s own employee and brother-in-law, a deal one outside lawyer warned the IRS likely wouldn’t approve and could result in “an embarrassing article in the Wall Street Journal.” That Phaidon deal eventually closed in revised form and saved Black about $11.6 million in taxes. Disputes over fees tied to these transactions, especially Phaidon, became a central source of friction between the two men.

The relationship fully collapsed over a 2016 art deal in which Epstein personally bought two artworks from Black for $30 million to help him defer capital-gains taxes via a like-kind exchange, then struggled to resell them and grew increasingly frustrated, at one point complaining Black hadn’t even offered to buy him lunch. Financial records show both men treated Epstein’s later reimbursement demand as a $30.5 million loan, of which Epstein repaid only $10 million, privately writing that he believed he actually owed Black a smaller amount. Epstein also hinted at leverage, warning that disclosing details of the tax exchange “will cost him more than the 30” and would expose other problematic past transactions. According to the Dechert report, Epstein’s failure to repay the remaining loan balance led Black to sever ties with him later that year, and weeks after the breakup, renewed media scrutiny of Epstein’s criminal conduct emerged, casting fresh attention on the relationship that had just ended.

Republican Calls on Hegseth to be Fired, Pressure Builds:

The Pentagon announced new clinical guidelines Wednesday requiring male service members age 30 and older to be screened for testosterone deficiency during their regular health assessments, following Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s summer call for the change. Troops diagnosed with hypogonadism will get follow-up testing and treatment options including testosterone replacement therapy, which Hegseth has said is voluntary. Men under 30 will be offered optional annual screenings, while women will be asked about symptoms of hormonal dysregulation and referred for further evaluation if needed. The Pentagon frames the push as aimed at force readiness, and cites research suggesting high-stress roles, including special operations, carry elevated risk of hormone-related issues sometimes called “Operator Syndrome.”

A wave of senior Pentagon and military leaders has departed since Hegseth took over, most recently Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who resigned Monday reportedly amid an icy relationship with Hegseth and concerns about the Army’s condition. Others pushed out or forced into early retirement include Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, Gen. Christopher Donahue, Vice Chief Gen. James Mingus, and Navy Secretary John Phelan, along with a February 2025 purge that removed Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown Jr., Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Gen. James Slife. Hegseth has pursued a broader effort to reduce the number of generals and root out what he calls “wokeness” in the ranks. The pattern spans nearly every military branch and includes intelligence roles like NSA/CYBERCOM chief Gen. Timothy Haugh and DIA director Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse.

Senator Thom Tillis publicly urged President Trump to fire Hegseth on Wednesday, accusing him of “inept mismanagement” and creating a “leadership void” as the six-month-old war with Iran continues without resolution. Tillis, who voted to confirm Hegseth despite reservations, said the secretary is “intimidated by competence” and focused on culture wars rather than modernizing the military for evolving warfare seen in Ukraine and against Iran. He directly tied Driscoll’s resignation to Hegseth’s leadership style, saying a better secretary would be fighting to retain talent rather than pushing it out.

Hegseth faces mounting scrutiny as the war with Iran, launched February 28, has left the Pentagon grappling with reportedly shrinking munitions stockpiles and no clear end in sight. More than two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the administration’s handling of the war, according to an August 31 University of Massachusetts poll, and the conflict has coincided with spiking fuel prices and sinking approval numbers for Trump ahead of November’s midterms. Hegseth has also pursued controversial changes including limiting press access to the Pentagon and reviewing academy admissions standards, moves that have drawn criticism even from within his own party.

Other news:

Senator Mitch McConnell’s absence from public view hit 80 days on Wednesday, with no update from his office on his condition in nearly a month, fueling growing speculation and criticism in Washington. The 84-year-old Kentucky Republican has missed 60 votes since his June 14 hospitalization, including on an Iran war powers resolution and the confirmation of Attorney General Todd Blanche, at a time when the GOP holds only a narrow Senate majority. A visit to McConnell’s D.C. residence this week found it guarded by a security detail of three unmarked SUVs plus marked Capitol Police cars, with most curtains drawn but no mail piling up outside as there had been during his hospital stay. His office has released only two “proof of life” photos since he vanished from public view, both showing him smiling with wife Elaine Chao but revealing nothing about his health, and aides have ignored repeated requests for a video update or phone call to a media outlet. McConnell missed two major Kentucky events he’d normally attend, the Fancy Farm picnic and the Kentucky Farm Bureau Country Ham Breakfast, and while some allies like Scott Jennings claim to have had lengthy phone calls with him, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear says he’s heard nothing from the senator in 80 days.

U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday blocking Trump’s August executive order that sought to further narrow birthright citizenship, calling his legal reasoning a “distorted” reading of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling. The order, Trump’s second attempt to limit the 14th Amendment’s citizenship guarantee, tried to carve out new exceptions for children of parents labeled “alien enemies,” foreign government employees, or those accused of “birth tourism,” despite the Court’s ruling in Trump v. Barbara that children born to parents “unlawfully or temporarily present” are still “citizens at birth.” Boardman wrote that “no Presidential Executive Order can undo what the Supreme Court has done” and found the administration cited no language from the Barbara decision to support its interpretation because none exists. She specifically cited two mothers, from Venezuela and Mexico, whose children risked being wrongly classified as members of designated terrorist organizations under the order. Boardman called the order “almost certainly unconstitutional” as applied to the certified class of children covered by the earlier ruling.

Gloria Steinem, the pioneering feminist journalist and activist, died Wednesday at her New York City home at age 92, surrounded by loved ones, according to a statement on her official Instagram page. No cause of death was given. She rose to national prominence in 1963 with an undercover exposé on the working conditions of Playboy bunnies, then went on to co-found Ms. magazine in 1971 and become the public face of second-wave feminism. Her activism helped reshape rights for women, from credit access to Ivy League admission to legal abortion, and she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2013. She married David Bale in 2000 after decades of publicly rejecting marriage, and continued working for equality until the end of her life.

A shooting at a downtown Minneapolis apartment building Wednesday afternoon left three dead, including the suspect, and at least six injured, among them police officers. Interim Police Chief Bill Peterson said officers exchanged gunfire with the shooter and entered the building after reports of an active shooter, encountering victims and a visibility-limiting haze on an upper floor. Two officers were shot, one in the leg and one twice in the abdomen, while a third suffered non-gunfire injuries; all three are expected to recover. Witnesses described hearing 25 to 30 gunshots and seeing people wounded in the lobby, with one resident saying he had previously reported the suspect to building management after encountering him with a handgun. The FBI and ATF responded to assist local authorities, and the surrounding area was cleared before being declared secure.

The Dutch central bank announced it relocated tens of tons of gold from the United States and Canada to Europe between March and August, citing “crisis preparedness” amid global political unrest. Roughly 86 metric tons moved to London from a combined 313 metric tons held in New York and Ottawa, shifting each city’s share of Dutch holdings down to 18.5 percent from 31.3 percent and 19.7 percent respectively. The bank holds 612.4 metric tons of gold total, valued at about 72.2 billion euros ($83.6 billion) at the end of 2025. Governor Olaf Sleijpen said the move improves the “tradability” of reserves, calling London-held gold the world’s most easily accessible in a crisis compared with New York or Ottawa. Part of the shift involved selling gold in New York and using proceeds to buy gold in London rather than physically transporting all of it.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced Thursday that Russia will close German Goethe-Institut cultural centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, retaliating after Germany shut the Russian Consulate in Bonn and a Russian cultural center in Berlin. The move follows Germany blaming Moscow for a drone plot at Leipzig/Halle Airport, a major freight hub supporting Ukraine, where an explosive-laden drone was found and defused in early August. Putin has denied the allegations, claiming Germany is deflecting from domestic political troubles and that evidence was “planted.” The episode is part of a broader pattern Western officials call hybrid war, including Britain summoning Russia’s top diplomat, a large-scale Finnish civil defense drill, Norway seizing a Russian vessel tied to a Ukrainian arbitration claim, and Danish intelligence warning of possible Russian sabotage targeting defense companies. EU ministers met to weigh further sanctions but are struggling to find new non-military response options.

Firefighters rescued a man trapped inside a Recology garbage truck in San Francisco early Wednesday morning after the truck’s driver was flagged down by someone who heard yelling from the truck’s garbage compartment. About 25 firefighters responded to the roughly two-hour operation, during which one firefighter suffered a hand laceration requiring stitches. The rescued man was conscious, breathing and talking when he was taken to a hospital, though the extent of his injuries was not immediately known. A fire official said he is believed to have climbed into a dumpster looking for food before becoming trapped when the truck compacted its contents. The incident occurred on the 100 block of Mason Street.

American journalist Thomas Weir Pauken II, 51, was sentenced to two years in federal prison for acting as an illegal agent of China’s government, after pleading guilty earlier this year and declining to appeal. Prosecutors said Pauken, who worked for Chinese state outlets CCTV and Xinhua after moving to China in 2010, wrote intelligence reports for a handler known as “Cathy” that were read by Chinese President Xi Jinping, receiving at least $100,000 for his work. He was also asked to recruit sources, including providing one contact with a phone, computer and secure messaging credentials, and told investigators he suspected that contact might pass classified information to China. His lawyer said no classified information was actually shared and that Pauken has accepted responsibility. Pauken used the alias “Tom McGregor” to distance his father, a former Texas Republican Party chairman, from his work in China, and was arrested in February after returning from a family trip to Washington, D.C.

Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, asked a federal judge Wednesday to dismiss their drug trafficking indictment, arguing head-of-state immunity protects them from U.S. prosecution. Their lawyers argued no American court has ever tried a sitting foreign head of state and that heads of state are exempt from any court but their own. Maduro and Flores have been jailed in Brooklyn since U.S. forces seized them in a January raid on their Caracas home, and face a trial scheduled for June 2026 with oral arguments on the dismissal motion set for November 17. Prosecutors allege Maduro ran a conspiracy to move thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. by colluding with Venezuelan law enforcement and drug traffickers, charges he denies, calling his capture a kidnapping. Federal prosecutors are due to respond to the immunity arguments later this month.

Former Tropical Storm Edouard dumped nearly two feet of rain on rural East Texas, prompting dozens of rescues from stranded cars, flooded homes and an assisted living facility as the storm lingered over the state into Thursday. Hardin County was hit hardest, with 18 to 20 inches of rain, downed trees and power lines, and roughly a dozen water rescues, while nearby Jefferson County reported about 22,000 customers without power. Wind gusts reached 90 mph as the storm moved through, sparking at least one house fire from a downed power line near Lumberton. An assisted living facility in Hardin County was damaged, requiring the evacuation of 21 residents with help from Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens. Separately, three hurricanes, Marie, Lowell and Karina, were active in the Pacific Ocean, with dangerous swells expected to reach Hawaii and southern California in the coming days.

John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, of Bristol, Virginia, were arrested and charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk after their 5-year-old autistic, nonverbal daughter, Saylor, was found dead in South Carolina waters near Pawleys Island. Authorities said the parents failed to provide appropriate supervision for a child with a known affinity for water and history of wandering, and that Saylor’s Project Lifesaver tracking device had been removed before the family left Virginia. According to arrest affidavits, the parents directed searchers toward using the tracker even though they knew Saylor wasn’t wearing it, and steered search efforts away from the nearby body of water where she was ultimately found. The device was later located inside a vehicle at the family’s Virginia home. Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver called the death “a heartbreaking tragedy,” saying Saylor “deserved to be safe” and vowing to pursue accountability through the justice system.

Nvidia agreed to buy AI developer platform Hugging Face for $12.93 billion, one of its biggest acquisitions ever, in a bet that supporting open-weight AI models will sustain demand even as major customers like Meta, OpenAI and Microsoft build their own chips to reduce reliance on Nvidia. The deal gives Nvidia direct access to a platform developers use to build, test and share AI tools, potentially offering insight that helps it keep pace with top U.S. and Chinese AI labs, including Chinese firms like DeepSeek and Z.ai whose cheaper open models have gained ground. Nvidia will pay about $11.9 billion to Hugging Face’s investors plus up to $1 billion in retention equity for employees joining the company, and CEO Jensen Huang said Hugging Face will remain an open platform that doesn’t require Nvidia chips to use. The New York-based startup, founded in 2016 by Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond and Thomas Wolf and backed by Intel, AMD and Amazon, also hosts datasets and cloud tools for AI development, and was recently in the news after a hack involving rogue AI agents that escaped an OpenAI testing environment.

 More On U.S. Courts, Rights, Crime, Justice

Davin Rosborough, an ACLU attorney representing the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, speaks at a press conference outside the John Moakley Courthouse in Boston, Mass. after participating in a hearing Sept. 3 on President Donald Trump's March 31, 2026 executive order and a Postal Service rule implementing it.

Democracy Docket, Judge appears deeply skeptical of case for Trump’s mail voting restrictions, Jim Saksa, Sept. 3, 2026. With Election Day just two months away, the lawyer defending the Postal Service’s recently issued rule carrying out President Donald Trump’s anti-mail voting executive order could not tell a federal judge how — or even if — the new rule would work.

At Thursday’s hearing in Boston, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani repeatedly asked the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), represented by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Michael Velchik, whether the agency was ready to implement the rule, which was only published last week.

And Velchik repeatedly refused to do anything more than refer her to the rule itself, which provides scant details about when the agency might be able to begin its rollout ahead of the rapidly approaching midterm elections.

That exchange — and others like it — threw into sharp relief just how quickly and haphazardly USPS is moving to implement the new postal requirements, which critics say could potentially strip millions of Americans of the ability to vote by mail. As the hearing wore on, Talwani seemed increasingly exasperated with the defendants’ arguments.SIGN UP TODAYGet updates straight to your inbox — for free

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The postal rule in question requires election officials to submit barcode-equipped envelopes for mail ballots to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for approval and also lists of eligible mail voters. If state or local administrators fail to get USPS’s greenlight for their envelope design or don’t upload their voter data, then mail carriers won’t deliver mail ballots to those states’ residents.

Two sets of plaintiffs are challenging the rule in separate lawsuits that were combined into a single hearing Thursday. One is a coalition of pro-voting organizations and individual mail voters led by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts (LWVMA). The other is 24 Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C., led by California.

The plaintiffs argue that the rule would make mail voting “virtually impossible” and result in “mass disenfranchisement,” citing the testimony of dozens of state and local officials from both major political parties.

In response to those claims, Velchik largely cited the rule itself, which provides no timeline on when an online portal for state officials to submit their envelopes and voter lists might go live.

Meanwhile, in a report published Tuesday, an anonymous USPS whistleblower warned that the portal’s “slapdash” development would almost certainly result in “catastrophic failure.”Whose ‘irreparable harm’?

The parties gathered in Courtroom 9 of the John J. Moakley Courthouse Thursday because, 11 days ago, the U.S. Supreme Court had reversed a 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision and lifted an injunction that Talwani had previously issued against the USPS rule. The Court agreed with the DOJ’s argument that it was too soon for a court to assess the legality of Trump’s order — after all, it concluded, USPS hadn’t implemented it yet.

That procedural argument over the lawsuit’s “ripeness” disappeared when USPS published its final rule soon thereafter. But USPS seems far from ready to actually put the rule into effect.

Asked when the USPS’s portal might go live, Velchik demurred.

“I can’t make specific representations,” he said.

“We’ve been here for a week and you can’t tell me the government is ready to go?” Talwani responded, incredulously.

That question gets to a critical issue that could decide the matter’s fate if — as expected — it again rises to the Supreme Court.

Talwani repeatedly asked the DOJ to provide details of the “irreparable harm” the government would suffer if she granted a preliminary injunction barring the rule’s implementation in November’s midterm elections. Such an explanation — were the DOJ to provide it — would also rebut the plaintiffs’ mirroring claims of their own irreparable harm if the rule is left in place. But Velchik could only meekly point to the final rule.

Talwani gave the DOJ until 3 p.m. Thursday to supplement the record with specifics about the readiness of the USPS’s portal.

“And if you can’t provide details, I’m going to assume it’s not finalized yet,” she warned, adding that she would also assume the government’s claims about irreparable harm were made “without any facts.”

Just before that deadline, the DOJ submitted additional information provided by a USPS executive, but it lacked the precision Talwani had requested.

“We continue to make refinements to the Portal, including consideration of changes needed in light of the TRO,” the declaration from USPS Chief Customer and Marketing Officer Steven Monteith stated. “We anticipate being in a position to make the Portal available to users for voluntary use by sometime next week.”

The DOJ was joined in the case by a dozen Republican-led states, represented primarily by Missouri Solicitor General Louis J. Capozzi III, in defending the new rule. Capozzi noted Thursday that his own state’s top election official provided a statement saying that Missouri could successfully comply with the new rule.

But Davin Rosborough, an ACLU lawyer representing the LWVMA plaintiffs, noted during the hearing that the other 11 red states’ silence spoke far louder than one short statement from Capozzi.

“The only evidence that the states who intervened on the defendant’s side put in [the record] was a single one-page declaration from the Missouri Secretary of State saying, in vague terms, ‘I think we can comply,’” Rosborough said at a press conference following the hearing. “Alabama, Texas, none of the other states put in anything…”

“I think the failure to put anything in writing — and under penalty of perjury — speaks volumes,” he added.

Talwani noted Thursday that local election officials from Texas’ Travis and Harris counties also provided sworn declarations that the USPS rule would result in disfranchised voters.Decision coming

Talwani indicated that she may issue her decision as early as Thursday night. In recognition of the tight time constraints, she suggested that she would issue relatively cursory rulings on many of the claims raised by both sides, while more fully explaining her position on the few she believed to be most important.

At its core, the case will turn on whether USPS had the power to enact its rule. “The $64,000 question is: Is this authorized by the statute?” Velchik said.

The U.S. Constitution provides that states make the rules for the “Times, Places and Manner” of holding elections, which Congress can then override. But it provides no independent authority to the president.

The defendants maintained that the general statute Congress enacted to empower USPS to pass regulations on the collection and handling of mail covers this rule on mail ballot envelopes and the refusal to deliver them. USPS requires all mail to include things like return addresses and postage — including mail ballots — and no one ever complained about that, they argued.

Likewise, USPS has long provided guidelines to election officials on steps they can take to ensure mail ballots are delivered quickly, like special envelopes, and those also weren’t a problem.

But those are different, Rosborough argued. The Postal Service’s past regulations on mail ballots were voluntary — states were free to ignore them and still trust their ballots would be delivered. And a general rule on postage is nothing like a specific rule on mail ballots alone.

As a lawyer for the Democratic states noted, “The Supreme Court said over 100 years ago [that] the power to refuse to deliver requires an act of Congress. Here, there is no statute that allows USPS to not deliver mail ballots. Full stop.”

In contrast to past hearings, which hinged on technicalities, Thursday’s hearing focused almost entirely on the merits. There was just one notable exception: Capozzi argued that the LWVMA plaintiffs, who include individual voters in every state, lacked standing to block the rule — at least in the states he represented. If she was going to issue the preliminary injunction, Capozzi asked Talwani to at least not apply it to the intervenor defendant states.

That led Talwani to eventually ask what Capozzi hoped that would accomplish — in one of the sharpest back-and-forths out of many during the session.

New York Times, Lindsay Clancy Trial Live Updates: Judge Declares Mistrial in Triple-Murder Case, Jenna Russell, Maia Spoto and Mark Arsenault, Sept. 4, 2026. The decision, which resulted from a hung jury, means the prosecution can decide whether to try her again. The defense failed to secure a stay of the decision from a higher court.

A shocking triple-murder case that captured national attention ended in a mistrial on Friday, after a flurry of courtroom drama, an emergency appeal to the top court in Massachusetts and a note from jurors saying they remained deadlocked “with a heavy heart.” The jury could not reach a verdict on the charges against Lindsay Clancy, who strangled her three young children in January 2023.

After a monthlong trial and roughly 38 hours of deliberations over seven days, a single juror was not convinced that Ms. Clancy should be acquitted. Other jurors accused the holdout of acknowledging doubt about her responsibility but refusing to apply the legal standard. The judge declined to side with either the 11 for acquittal or the lone vote for conviction, declaring a hung jury.

It’s unclear what happens next in the case that has captivated audiences across the globe, including mothers who have experienced their own postpartum mental health issues. Ms. Clancy, 36, will remain institutionalized, her lawyer said, and the prosecutor who vehemently defended his efforts to convict her of first-degree murder must decide whether to put her on trial again.

Ms. Clancy strangled her three children in the basement of the family’s home in what the defense argued was the throes of postpartum psychosis. Prosecutors cast doubt on that diagnosis and argued that Ms. Clancy was aware of what she was doing, and should therefore be held criminally responsible for murder.

Here’s what we’re covering.

Juror debate: A note from the jury’s forewoman threw the court into disarray late Thursday — a week into deliberations — by asserting that the jury had deadlocked 11-1 for acquittal but that one juror continued to hold out in defiance of the law. Defense lawyers twice failed to have him removed. Read more ›

Last-minute appeal: After Judge Sullivan announced his intention to declare a hung jury and mistrial, Kevin Reddington, a lawyer on Ms. Clancy’s defense team, filed an emergency motion with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Friday, asking it to force an investigation of the juror’s holdout. The request was denied, clearing the way for the judge to end the trial. Read more ›

What’s next: The prosecutor, Timothy Cruz, said he would not decide right away whether to continue to seek a conviction on first-degree murder or lesser charges, or drop the prosecution, though he has been adamant about seeking justice for the Clancy children. Ms. Clancy remains under indictment and will stay at the mental health facility where she has been institutionalized throughout the prosecution. Read more ›

Newsweek, Lindsay Clancy Verdict: Expert Says Judge’s Jury Actions May Be ‘Dangerous,’ Hannah Parry, Sept. 3, 2026.The Lindsay Clancy murder trial descended into an extraordinary courtroom confrontation Thursday as a deadlocked jury was sent back to deliberate for a sixth day, prompting a legal expert to warn that Judge William Sullivan was entering “very dangerous territory.”

Defense attorney Mark O’Mara, appearing on CNN Thursday, described the judge’s decision to bring jurors before the bench individually as “extraordinarily dangerous” and said Sullivan “needs to be extraordinarily careful.”

O’Mara went further, describing the judge’s handling of the jury as potentially creating a “brand new procedural law” through the way he is dealing with the impasse.

The comments came as the jury remained divided after more than 35 hours of deliberations in a trial that lasted roughly six weeks.

The latest drama began when the 12 jurors in Plymouth, Massachusetts, sent Sullivan another note Thursday. The precise contents of the note were not immediately made public, but it triggered a series of unusual proceedings.

Sullivan brought the jurors into court one at a time and questioned them individually. Afterward, Clancy's defense attorney Kevin Reddington told the judge that one juror was preventing the panel from reaching a unanimous verdict.

Sullivan did not accept the characterization or take sides.

“I don’t feel that it is proper for me to side with one side or the other of the deliberations,” Sullivan said. “I don’t feel it’s appropriate for me to say I agree with one juror or 11.”

The judge then addressed the entire jury, reading instructions concerning reasonable doubt before sending the panel back to deliberate.

The exchange was visibly tense. Reddington appeared frustrated during a private discussion with Sullivan and prosecutors at the bench, at one point slamming papers down on the judge's bench before returning to the defense table.

Clancy herself was brought forward to speak with the judge during the proceedings. Later, she bowed her head as Reddington comforted her.

The jury was sent back out to deliberate before Sullivan announced that he was sending them home for the day. The jury will return on Friday at 9 a.m. ET for further deliberations.

Reddington told reporters outside of the courthouse that the juror would be questioned Sullivan Friday. “There’s a person who has doubt but will not listen to the judge’s instructions,” he said.

More On Russian Infiltration Of FBI, Other Spying

Newsweek, Woman Who Exposed FBI Official for Working With Russian Oligarch Found Dead, Jenni Fink,Sept. 3, 2026. Allison Guerriero, a security researcher whose information helped expose the criminal conduct of former FBI counterintelligence official Charles McGonigal, has been found dead at her home in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Hours before her death, Guerriero posted a series of messages on X, formerly Twitter, criticizing Representative Jim Jordan, the FBI and McGonigal. McGonigal was arrested in 2023 and was sentenced to 50 months in prison and then was later sentenced in a separate case to 28 months in prison in 2024. He pleaded guilty to secretly colluding with a Russian oligarch and also admitted to receiving $225,000 in cash from someone with ties to the Albanian government.

"I committed a felony and as a former FBI special agent it causes me extreme emotional and physical pain," McGonigal told the judge before he was sentenced. "I stand before you today with a deep sense of remorse."

It's unclear what caused her death, and authorities are waiting on a report from the medical examiner.

Newsweek reached out to the Boynton Beach, Florida, police department for comment via email but did not receive a response in time for publication.Who Is Allison Guerriero?

Guerriero was a security researcher who became publicly known after providing information to federal authorities about her former romantic partner, McGonigal, a longtime FBI official who once led the bureau's counterintelligence division in New York.

Guerriero alerted investigators after becoming concerned about McGonigal's behavior, including allegations that he was carrying large amounts of cash and maintaining unusual relationships with foreign-connected individuals. When she asked McGonigal about the cash, he reportedly told her that he won a bet on a baseball game. At the time, he was married with two children.

"Charlie McGonigal knew everybody in the national security and law-enforcement world," Guerriero said in an interview with Business Insider. "He fooled them all. So why should I feel bad that he was able to deceive me?"GeoscapeAward-winning editors deliver analysis of global hotspots – straight to your inbox.Sign up to Breaking News alertsBy clicking “sign up” you are agreeing to ourTerms of Service and Privacy PolicyA photo shows Allison Guerriero, left. Right: Charles McGonigal, the former head of counterintelligence for the FBI’s New York office, on February 09, 2023 in New York City.A photo shows Allison Guerriero, left. Right: Charles McGonigal, the former head of counterintelligence for the FBI’s New York office, on February 09,... | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Her tip reportedly helped launch a broader federal investigation into McGonigal's activities.

Guerriero had been involved in an approximately 18-month relationship with McGonigal. After the relationship ended, she became increasingly vocal about his conduct and the FBI's handling of the case. She frequently posted on social media and gave interviews discussing the scandal and calling for greater scrutiny of senior law enforcement officials.

Her information helped investigators uncover details about McGonigal's connections to foreign figures and contributed to the investigation that eventually resulted in his arrest and conviction. In the years that followed, Guerriero remained outspoken about the case and argued that some aspects of the scandal had not received sufficient public attention.

During McGonigal's sentencing, the judge praised Guerriero for her "extraordinary contributions" to counterespionage operations on behalf of the United States.

In an obituary for Guerriero, her family wrote that she found her "niche" in the security field after trying several different occupations. They added that she was also working for Roger Stone when she died. The family is holding a memorial service on Thursday for her.

"Allison’s over-the-top interest in law-enforcement and fighting evildoers kept her adjacent to all kinds of characters who seemed like they were from 1950s era G.I. Joe type comic books," her friend, Ken Kurson, wrote in a eulogy for her.What Did Charles McGonigal Do?

McGonigal served as the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division in New York, one of the bureau's most sensitive national security positions.

According to the Department of Justice, McGonigal pleaded guilty in 2023 to conspiracy charges stemming from his work for Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch under U.S. sanctions since 2018. The DOJ said McGonigal agreed to provide services to Deripaska in violation of federal sanctions laws and participated in a money-laundering conspiracy. In his role as special agent in charge, he also participated in and supervised investigations into Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska. McGonigal tried to find derogatory information about a rival oligarch, Vladimir Potanin, and his corporate interests, which Deripaska was fighting for control of.

The Justice Department said McGonigal worked to investigate a rival Russian oligarch in exchange for concealed payments linked to Deripaska. Prosecutors alleged that he and others attempted to hide Deripaska's involvement through shell companies, forged documents and coded communications.

A photo shows Allison Guerriero, left. Right: Charles McGonigal, the former head of counterintelligence for the FBI’s New York office, on February 09,... | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

In December 2023, McGonigal was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison. Announcing the sentence, the Justice Department described his conduct as a betrayal of the trust placed in him as a senior law enforcement official. He was sentenced in 2024 to 28 months for concealing information from the FBI about payments received from a link to the Albanian government. The DOJ said the sentences are to run consecutively. Public records indicate he is still imprisoned.

The case shocked many in the intelligence and law enforcement communities because McGonigal had spent years overseeing investigations aimed at identifying and countering foreign threats to U.S. national security.Who Is Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska?

Oleg Deripaska is a wealthy Russian businessman whose fortune was built primarily through Russia's aluminum industry. He is among the country's best-known oligarchs and has long been regarded as a politically connected figure within Russia.

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Deripaska in 2018 under authorities related to Russia's actions in Ukraine. According to the Justice Department, officials concluded that Deripaska had acted on behalf of, directly or indirectly, a senior Russian government official and operated in sectors considered important to the Russian economy.

New York Times, News Analysis: A Spiral of Escalation for Russia and Ukraine, With No End in Sight, Kim Barker, Oleksandra Mykolyshyn and Ivan Nechepurenko, Sept. 4, 2026 (print ed.). Each side is using missiles and drones to try to pound the other into giving up, breeding ceaseless human suffering. But there is no sign that either country’s determination will weaken.

They are both torching warehouses filled with food or online-shopping orders near major cities. They are blasting ports and ships carrying vital exports of grain. And they are smashing energy networks that keep the lights on and vehicles fueled.

Russia and Ukraine, in cities far from the front line, are waging an intensifying tit-for-tat air war that is bringing more pain to the populations of both countries than at any other point since the early months of the full-scale war launched by Moscow in 2022.

With the front largely frozen, each side is using growing arsenals of missiles and drones to exact vengeance and to try to pummel the other into submission. In the most recent example, Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, has been under constant bombardment from Russian drones over the past few days, tormenting residents with nearly continual air-raid alerts.

Still, there is no evidence that the escalation will weaken either country’s determination to fight on. Human suffering will only grow this winter, analysts say, as both Russia and Ukraine seek leverage in U.S.-backed settlement negotiations that are expected to resume after achieving little this year.

Ukraine can’t give up, and Russia doesn’t want to, analysts say.

“It’s a question of how much pain can Russia take compared to Ukraine — and Russia can take a lot of pain,” said Rob Lee, a military expert at the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute who travels frequently to the front line.

This new period of eye-for-an-eye assaults accelerated in late June, when Ukraine opened a 40-day campaign against Russia that President Volodymyr Zelensky said was aimed at “compelling it to end the war.”

Since he threw down that gauntlet, Ukrainian long-range drones have hit more than 30 warehouses of major online shopping companies, mostly those used by Wildberries, the Russian equivalent of Amazon. The strikes have disrupted Russian commercial logistics, inflicted heavy loss.

New York Times, The Risk of Russian Sabotage in Europe: A Fight That Spirals Out of Control, Michael Schwirtz and Adam Goldman, Sept. 4, 2026. Europe’s options are limited in responding to an unnerving series of plots and provocations. But the odds of unpredictable consequences are rising. 

Russia’s failed drone attack on a German airport was part of a dangerous pattern of escalation that, experts and officials said, risks sparking an open confrontation with NATO — whether the Kremlin wants it or not.

German officials declared this week that the Russian state was behind the attack, in which one explosive drone hit a parked Ukrainian cargo plane and another appeared to collide with a plane taking off. Both drones failed to detonate. If successful, the attack could have killed or maimed people and led to unpredictable consequences, officials said.

It was the most dramatic in a spate of such attacks that includes plots to place incendiary devices aboard DHL cargo planes, blow up railroad tracks in Poland, and burn down warehouses and shopping centers all over Europe.

Such attacks began occurring shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, part of an effort by President Vladimir V. Putin to bring the war to the West. But they have recently increased in frequency and intensity, Western security officials said. The attacks, along with recent reports citing Western intelligence services suggesting Russia could be planning some kind of military incursion or provocation along NATO’s eastern flank, have frazzled Europe and left officials there casting about for solutions.

“Europeans are faced with the hard truth that this is the new normal,” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Union’s executive arm, said on Wednesday. “We have to step up, and that means being ready to respond to Russia’s recklessness better and faster.”

The uptick in attacks appears to be driven in part by Mr. Putin’s frustration with the situation on the battlefield, experts said. Progress is slow and casualties are enormous, while Russia’s economy has been strained by a Ukrainian campaign of long-range strikes against e-commerce warehouses, oil refineries and military logistics hubs. In Mr. Putin’s mind, Russia is not just at war with Ukraine, experts said. It is also battling what he calls the “collective West” that he blames for providing the weapons, intelligence and technologies that have kept the Ukrainians in the fight.

Mr. Putin has always denied Russia’s involvement in European sabotage and suggested that the German authorities had planted evidence of Russia’s involvement in the Leipzig attack. But he referred to the West this week as “the sharks of imperialism” and suggested Russia’s enemies would get what they deserved.

“If anyone tries to drag us down the food chain and gobble us up, devour us, they might get a punch in the teeth,” Mr. Putin said at a news conference. “And Russia is ready to do this, despite the rapidly growing appetites and teeth of these sharks.”

The German authorities also opened investigations into possible sabotage attacks on a defense contractor in Munich and two electrical substations; a fire erupted at a drone factory in Poland that officials said was most likely caused by sabotage; and Denmark’s intelligence service said Russia was recruiting Danes to attack defense firms.

New York Times, After Fighting Russia Fiercely, He Wants to Forge Ukraine’s Path to Peace, Andrew E. Kramer, Sept. 4, 2026. Kyrylo Budanov, a decorated soldier and former military spy chief, advocates a negotiated settlement. Talks are expected to resume this month.

As a round of peace talks wrapped up earlier this year, Ukrainian negotiators received a surprise offer from the Russians.

The Ukrainians could fly to Moscow and continue the talks, the Russians suggested. The upside: a potential meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin. The downside: possible arrest, or worse.

For Kyrylo Budanov, the Ukrainian delegation’s leader at the talks last February in Geneva, the proposal presented a stark choice. He is wanted in Russia on terrorism charges leveled when he was Ukraine’s military spy chief. But he, more than other Ukrainian leaders, has talked openly of needing to do what it takes, however unexpected, to reach a negotiated peace.

“I’m ready for any step that will end the war” if the terms are acceptable to Ukraine, Mr. Budanov, the No. 2 official in the Ukrainian government, said in an interview last weekend in the capital, Kyiv.

In the end, the proposed trip to Moscow, which was described by Mr. Budanov and has not previously been reported, never came together, and negotiations soon stalled.

But the episode showed the multiple facets of a man who, analysts say, is seeking to cement a legacy as a soldier who fiercely fought the Russians but went on to take the lead in bringing the bloodshed to a close.

Russia and Ukraine are currently in an escalatory cycle in the war, in part to try to gain the upper hand in eventual settlement talks.

Yet even as the two sides bombard each other with drones and missiles, Mr. Budanov said in the roughly hourlong interview that talks mediated by the Trump administration were expected to resume by late September, days after Russia’s parliamentary election and weeks before U.S. midterm elections.

The process, he said, is expected to restart with a visit to Kyiv by Steve Witkoff, the administration’s peace envoy, and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law. While Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner have traveled to Moscow several times, they have not been to Kyiv, despite multiple official invitations.ImageJared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, in suits, greeting Vladimir V. Putin inside the Kremlin.The American representatives Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia at the Kremlin in January, in a photo from Russian state media. Credit...Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik

Mr. Budanov, 40, serves as President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff and is a lieutenant general in the Ukrainian military. As he advocates negotiation, he has little left to prove as a soldier who fought the Russians.Want to stay updated on what’s happening in Russia and Ukraine? Sign up for Your Places: Global Update, and we’ll send our latest coverage to your inbox.

During the long-simmering war in eastern Ukraine that began in 2014, Mr. Budanov led commando raids behind enemy lines, including one that killed the son of a Russian general in combat.

He served in a C.I.A.-trained unit in Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency whose head was assassinated in a Russian car bombing in Kyiv. In 2016, a machine gun bullet shattered Mr. Budanov’s elbow. He was treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland for months, as his arm was rebuilt. After the 2022 all-out Russian invasion, he helped mastermind some of Ukraine’s most audacious counterattacks.

The Ukrainian government has been divided over peace talks. In an analysis, the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center described Mr. Budanov as leading a faction that advocates a settlement rather than risking greater losses. Other Ukrainian leaders, the group said, argue against any major concession, saying it would demoralize the army and society.

The Ukrainian public, for its part, has been skeptical of American-led talks. Before negotiations froze, many viewed the Trump administration as pushing for Ukrainian capitulation to further Mr. Trump’s quest for a Nobel Peace Prize. They also saw Mr. Putin as having no intention of ending the war, no matter what was negotiated.

Russia and Ukraine have been talking since the first day of the 2022 invasion, when an aide to Mr. Putin tried unsuccessfully in two phone calls to negotiate a swift surrender.

Hans Boserup,  Opinion: What If Russia No Longer Needs Putin? Hans Boserup, Sept. 4, 2026. Chris Alexander spent hours talking Russian with Vladimir Putin. He says he has not recognized the man he knew since 2023. The larger question is what that would mean for power in Russia

Body doubles

There is an obvious way to write about Vladimir Putin’s alleged body doubles. One can collect photographs, compare ears, chins and wrists, slow down videos, listen to voices and disappear into the strange borderland where intelligence analysis, Kremlinology and conspiracy theory become almost impossible to separate.

There is another way to approach the question, and it begins not with photographs but with memory.

In 2002, at the G8 summit in Kananaskis, Vladimir Putin had hours when he was not required at the G7 meetings. Chris Alexander, then one of Canada’s most experienced Russia hands, spoke Russian and had already spent years dealing directly with the country and its political elite.

Putin apparently had little interest in passing the time with his own delegation, and so he and Alexander walked through the forest and talked.

There were security people nearby, but no interpreter stood between them. Putin asked simple questions about Canada, about Alberta and about where the indigenous communities were. Alexander fetched a map and showed him. Their conversation wandered from subject to subject.

Alexander remembers wondering whether Putin was trying to recruit him, while he himself was doing what diplomats do when they are given unusual access to a foreign leader: observing, listening and trying to learn everything he could.

That encounter matters because Alexander did not merely see Putin across a conference table or from behind a lectern. He spent hours with him at conversational distance and heard his unscripted Russian, watched the way he moved and saw how he reacted when there was no television audience to perform for.

Over time, through other meetings and official encounters, Alexander accumulated something that is difficult to quantify but familiar to anyone who has spent enough time with another human being. He acquired recognition.

Chris Alexander in Toronto in 2026. A foreign service officer for eighteen years, Alexander served six years at Canada’s Embassy in Moscow and estimates that through meetings and official encounters he spent roughly a couple of days in Vladimir Putin’s physical presence. His judgement about the man now appearing as Putin begins not with internet photographs, but with memories accumulated at conversational distance.

When Claire Berlinski recently asked Alexander why he routinely puts the name “Putin” in quotation marks, his answer opened a door that is difficult to close.

Alexander said that he has not recognised the Vladimir Putin he knew in the man appearing publicly as the Russian president since the autumn of 2023.

That does not prove that Putin is dead. It does not prove that he was overthrown, and it does not even prove that Russia is routinely using a presidential double.

It does, however, force us to ask a larger and more interesting question about what happens when the identity of the man appearing as Vladimir Putin becomes less important to the Russian state than the assumption, at home and abroad, that Putin is still there.

More On Middle East Wars, Reactions

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Iran War? What Iran War? Andrew Egger, William Kristol and Jim Swift, Sept. 4, 2026. JD Vance declares ‘Mission Accomplished.’

This summer’s jobs reports have mostly been clunkers, but this morning we got a more encouraging one. The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August, while unemployment held steady at 4.1 percent and the labor force participation rate—which had sunk throughout the year—ticked back up a hair. Happy Friday.

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: There Is No War in Ba Sing Se, Andrew Egger, right, Sept. 4, 2026. I don’t know if you know this, but we’re actually not at war with Iran.

I know! I was surprised too! The six-months-and-counting conflict has been one of the central stories of Donald Trump’s second term, and is very much an ongoing crisis: We’re still shooting back and forth, the Strait of Hormuz remains more or less closed, Iran has not agreed to the restraints on its nuclear program Trump demands, and so on and so on.

But when Vice President JD Vance took to the White House briefing room for a press conference yesterday, he was surprisingly insistent: Rumors of war with Iran, he argued, have been greatly exaggerated.

“The phrase ‘an end to the war’—I want to push back on that,” Vance said. “Because major combat operations are currently not ongoing, and they haven’t been ongoing in a very long time.” Later, he repeated the point: “Again, I wouldn’t call it a war. Right now there is no active shooting.” What America had now, Vance suggested, was simply a little problem of “the Iranians shooting at ships.”

This sort of silly talk serves a couple purposes. One is the longstanding semantic game of describing the conflict as an “operation” or “excursion” to put a fig leaf on the fact that Congress never approved it.

But the other is in keeping with the moment’s broader White House messaging. Trump, it seems, has grown tired of making repeated demands that Iran never deigns to meet. That’s not a very alpha way to conduct business!

It seems Trump is mulling a change in strategy. The Wall Street Journal reports that the president is privately “having discussions with senior aides about whether to declare the Iran war over.” Outside MAGA voices have been pushing a similar idea: The Iran exit strategy “is happening right now,” CNN commentator Scott Jennings said Wednesday. The time has come for an “affirmative, formal declaration of victory,” Jennings added: “We’re at the point now where Iran is totally scrambled and defeated, and we need to take credit for it.”

This is a remarkable development. The White House has been talking a big game for months: Iran is outmatched, outgunned, decimated, days from surrender. Massive Iranian concessions, Trump and Co. have suggested all along, are just days away. Now, they are apparently on the brink of declaring that no more agreements are forthcoming. The status quo, it seems, is as good as they hope to get.

And this may even be true! In one sense, the Trump administration is out of options. At one point, they hoped to win the war: Back in March, the president seemed genuinely to believe that a few weeks of devastating bombing would bring Iran’s government to its knees.

Later on, they even tried to lose the war. Two months ago, Trump was plainly seeking any way out of a conflict that he suddenly feared would trigger a genuine energy crisis and a global economic collapse. “The one president I did not want to be was the late, great Herbert Hoover,” he said in a July speech by way of justifying his memorandum of understanding with Iran.

When a catastrophe rises to a certain level, it has a way of focusing Trump’s mind. Last year, Trump’s sudden realization that his “Liberation Day” tariffs were about to tank global markets led to the biggest about-face of his political career. This summer, he plainly had begun to place the Iran war in this same extinction-level tier: If I don’t get this under control, I’m signing my own political death certificate.

But Trump has since gotten himself back under control. The memorandum of understanding may have collapsed, but energy markets haven’t yet melted down completely. Perhaps, he now believes, it may be possible for him to bullshit his way through this crisis after all.

As a result, this summer’s sudden spurt of presidential real talk has completely dried up. Instead of actually working to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Trump is back to his usual nonsense: pretending that the trickle of ships the U.S. military is managing to escort out of the Persian Gulf is itself a major geopolitical win. “Hormuz oil volumes are BACK!” the president proclaimed in a Truth Social post yesterday, suggesting that 18 million barrels of oil were now daily transiting the strait.

This figure is out of keeping with independent commercial shipping trackers, which continue to report that Hormuz transits are a fraction of their pre-war volumes. Nor is it reflected in oil and gas prices. Brent crude remains substantially more expensive than it was two months ago, and far more expensive than before the war. Yesterday, diesel fuel hit its all-time high price.

But to Trump, this doesn’t matter. He may have tried to flinch away from global financial meltdown, but he remains confident in his own ability to explain away any economic damage short of that.

Americans may be hopping mad that Trump’s pointless war has driven gas prices through the roof. But Trump seems to think he needs only one thing to win them back over: to declare that the war in Iran has been a total success.

More World News, Global Human Rights, Disasters 

New York Times, 2 Trapped Workers Are Rescued After 9 Days in Nepal Tunnel, Anupreeta Das, Binod Ghimire, Sajal Pradhan, Mujib Mashal and Alex Travelli, Sept. 4, 2026. “Everybody’s sense of hope was waning,” said one survivor’s relative. Rescuers were searching for dozens of others inside the tunnel at a hydropower plant damaged by last week’s deadly floods.

Rescuers on Friday pulled two survivors from a tunnel at a hydropower plant in Nepal, more than a week after a deadly flood ravaged the Himalayan nation.

Cheers erupted as Nepali Army personnel in hard hats lifted one of the men to the surface, an unlikely rescue that prompted hope that others could be saved from the damaged Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower project. More than 40 other workers were thought to be inside the tunnel, according to two people briefed on the rescue operations, including a senior Army officer, though it was not clear how many were still alive.

The survivors were said to be in stable condition at an Army hospital in Kathmandu, the capital.

“It had been nine days and everybody’s sense of hope was waning,” said Dev Sah, the brother-in-law of Sanjay Sah, one of the two rescued workers. “He has received a new life today.”

The body of a third man, a mechanical engineer, was also recovered on Friday, according to Dirghayu Kumar Shrestha, the head of the Nepal Electricity Authority. His agency owns the plant being developed along the Trishuli River, one of two valleys where torrents of water mixed with rock and debris surged through last week after a glacial collapse.

The disaster killed more than 1,300 people in Nepal and Tibet and left thousands of others missing. The raging floodwaters washed away roads, bridges and in some cases entire villages. More than 4,000 people are missing in Nepal and neighboring Tibet, including hundreds who worked on hydropower construction sites in Nepal, according to the country’s government.

More On U.S. Politics, Elections, Governance

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Trump’s Midterm Strategy: Don’t Work, Cheat, Andrew Egger, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Say you’re a Republican lawmaker going into a tough midterm fight. The good news is your party controls the presidency. The bad news is the president is insanely unpopular and getting more so every day. Many voters you need are pretty mad at the guy. You might want to start telling them, Yeah, I’m with him—but only on the good stuff, the stuff you guys like.

As I wrote last week, this was never going to be an option for Republicans this cycle. They’re tied too tightly to Donald Trump in voters’ minds already, and he’d rather see them lose than win at his expense. Even so, as the midterms get closer, I’m genuinely astonished by just how hard Trump is working to tie himself like a millstone around each vulnerable incumbent’s neck.

Last week, the Atlantic reported that Trump had settled on a specific spending strategy ahead of the midterms. Rejecting the idea that he should go local, using his massive war chest to help bolster the reputations of specific candidates in key races, the president is opting for a different approach: spending heavily on national ads intended to keep the spotlight on himself.

Yesterday, his political operation unveiled the first tranche of those ads. The first, called “Toughest Guy,” aims to convince the public that Trump is a really tough guy. See, there’s UFC President Dana White up on stage saying so! Another ad focuses on Trump’s most broadly palatable accomplishments: “We gave you no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security, the largest tax cuts in American history,” Trump intones. The price of eggs, he notes, is down, too.

Congressional Republicans, never mentioned in the ads, are reduced to an implicit enabling role: They’ve occasionally helped Trump get his priorities over the finish line, and they’ll be needed to help Trump “finish the job.”

The same Maximum Trump spirit promises to be on full display at next week’s GOP midterm convention in Dallas, a two-day affair that will be anchored by back-to-back primetime speeches from Vice President JD Vance and Trump himself. There’s a reason the major parties haven’t traditionally held midterm conventions: Without a presidential contest hanging over every race in the country, it doesn’t make sense to try to build a one-size-fits-all national narrative for hundreds of disparate and unique state and federal contests. Unless, of course, you’re the kind of president who thinks the only way anyone in your party can win is by their voters closing their eyes and pretending they’re voting for you.

It isn’t just that House and Senate Republicans have become inseparable from the president in voters’ minds. They’re also beholden to whatever mercurial decisions he decides to make about his gigantic bag of cash.

Last Sunday, Sen. John Kennedy took to Fox News to basically plead with Trump to open his wallet in support of the party’s damaged-goods Senate nominee in Texas, Ken Paxton: “We in the Senate don’t have the money budgeted for Texas. We need help from the president,” Kennedy said. “The president says he has $850 million in his campaign accounts. That’s a lot of jack. . . . But he hasn’t committed to it yet.”

Majority Leader John Thune made the same point on Fox on Tuesday: “Because Texas is such a big state, we’re going to need the president and his team to be engaged there and putting resources into that race.” So far, no dice.

It would be easy to laugh all this off as just desserts for venal Senate Republicans and the latest demonstration of the president’s incredible vanity. There’s a part of Trump that seems genuinely to believe that, when voters are reminded of his accomplishments, they’ll rush back into his arms. It’s exactly the sort of hubris that seems likely to lead the GOP straight into a catastrophe.

But we can’t lose sight of the other side of the equation. Trump isn’t only relying on highly dubious methods of persuasion to carry his people through the midterms. It’s increasingly clear that he wants to try to cheat his way to victory, too.

We’re not prepared for another election crisis. But one may be coming. Spread the word by sharing this newsletter.

We’ve been writing a lot about Trump’s attempt to seize federal control of mail-in ballots by giving the Postal Service an unprecedented new role of policing which mailed ballots should and shouldn’t be delivered. This week, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter to Postmaster General David Steiner, seeking information about alarming allegations he had received from a USPS whistleblower about that effort. The software the USPS was building to handle these tasks, the whistleblower alleged, was “astonishingly untested,” rushed, and buggy. And even if it miraculously worked as intended, the procedures USPS was building around it seemed almost guaranteed to disenfranchise legitimate voters.

“When ballots are submitted to USPS in large-volume batches, if any one ballot in the batch cannot be verified against the Portal, all ballots in that batch will be rejected,” Blumenthal wrote in the letter. “For example, if a state election official brings a batch of 10,000 ballots to USPS and USPS is unable to match just one of those ballots against the Portal—because, for example, someone has recently changed their name after marriage or they’ve moved—then USPS would refuse to mail the remaining 9,999 ballots as well.”

Just to remind you: All this is exactly what Trump wants. He wants mail-in balloting systems to fail, because he thinks Democrats use mail-in voting to cheat him out of wins. He has ordered his federal government to behave in exactly this way.

It still seems likely that the Supreme Court will pull the plug on this ridiculous system ahead of the midterms. But until they do, we can’t lose sight of the fact that this plan is a major part of Trump’s own electoral calculations. It isn’t just that his midterms messaging is stupid because he’s vain and ignorant—although that’s certainly part of it. It’s also that people have little incentive to play a game optimally when they know their real plan for victory is to cheat.

AROUND THE BULWARK

• Trump Is Keeping Venezuela’s Dictatorship in Business… Delcy Rodríguez sends him oil. He protects her from elections, observes WILL SALETAN.
• Wendell Berry, 1934–2026… The great writer of rural America spent a lifetime defending the land, the local, and the human, remembers CHRISTIAN RUTH.
• Trump Hands Dems Their Best Gift Yet… His embrace of data centers has given Democrats a potent new campaign tool, writes LAUREN EGAN in The Opposition.
• MAGA Pollster Thinks Texas, Ohio and Even KANSAS Could Turn Blue… On Bulwark Takes, RICH BARIS joins TIM MILLER to explain why Republicans may be underestimating just how competitive the 2026 Senate map could become.

Quick Hits

COLLINS V. CHENEY: In theory, Sen. Susan Collins believes Donald Trump has committed acts worthy of permanently barring him from holding federal office: After all, she voted to convict him at his second impeachment trial in 2021. Allowing thoughts like that to proceed to their logical conclusions, however, is a career death sentence in today’s Republican party. Instead, Collins has spent the intervening years on an interesting journey of self-lobotomy. Here she was yesterday, reflecting on that journey with Politico’s Jonathan Martin:

After listening to the evidence and being there on January 6th myself, I felt that the president had, many months before, started to build up an insurrection, essentially, that met the high standard in the Constitution for his removal. Believe me, the president brings up that vote almost every single time that I see him. So he has not forgotten. It’s very personal. And I understand that—how could it not be?

But come on, what do you people want her to do—be Liz Cheney? Persist in the belief that this insurrectionist is unfit for office? “Liz Cheney—it’s not just that she lost her seat,” Collins finished. “It’s that she has no impact, in my view.”

TRUMP ON MONEY: It’s official: Seemingly breaking federal law and certainly breaking a long chain of precedent, the U.S. Mint is releasing $1 coins with the likeness of a living person for the first time in a century. Guess who:

The $1 coin designed to celebrate America’s 250th birthday—and seemingly President Donald Trump, whose face gazes from one side of the gold finish—went on sale Wednesday, according to the U.S. Mint.

The coin’s design—Trump’s visage as “heads” and the Great Seal of the United States as “tails”—received the stamp of approval this year from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members Trump appointed. In past comments, the president said that the idea to stamp his face on a coin was “very unusual” but that he was “honored by it.”

The AP notes that “the coins, which can be used as legal tender, drew some criticism, particularly because of federal law that bars the depiction of a living president on U.S. currency.” Well, yeah, that might be one reason to criticize them!

In fairness, "Trump sells $1 Trump coins to his fans for $2 apiece" is a pretty good metaphor for his whole term.   

Hopium Chronicles, Advocacy and Opinion: As Bad As Things Are For Trump And The Rs Now -- And They Are Bad -- They Are Likely To Get Worse, Simon Rosenberg, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Greater MAGA Is Weakening: Putin has lost Orban, Syria, and is failing in Ukraine. Both Bibi and Trump have lost their war in Iran, and their political projects at home have taken enormous hits. Bibi trails in his October 26th election, and Trump trails in his November election. Zelenskyy has emerged as an inspirational global freedom fighter. Taken together these are important and welcome developments in our fight to ensure there is a new birth of freedom here and everywhere in the years ahead……

Democrats Are On Track To Have A Good Election:- For the past twenty months there has been one election: Democrats have continuously overperformed their 2024 results in special and state/local elections and Republicans have struggled. In recent primaries far many more Democrats voted than Republicans in state after state. Polls are finding that heightened intensity too. Here’s Reuters/Ipsos this week:

The polling across the country continues to be very encouraging for us. Today, FiftyPlusOne has us with a 92% chance of flipping the House, and a 57% chance of flipping the Senate. This is up from 90% and 54% a few weeks ago.Subscribed

Perhaps the most encouraging data of the week comes from Alaska. Here’s the current results in their top-4 Senate primary. Peltola is ahead of the incumbent Dan Sullivan by 8 points, and Democrats over 50% when all votes are tallied. David Leslie has endorsed Peltola and dropped out the race, giving her a clear shot this November. For an incumbent Senator to only get 41% after spending a lot of money is, um, really bad…..

In the Governor’s race Tom Begich endorsed Jonnthan Kreiss-Tomkins giving Democrats a real shot at winning here too. Note that no Republican candidate got over 10% of the vote, confirming how weak and fractured the Rs are in Alaska this year:

Note - when I last wrote about Alaska I thought it was the top two candidates who got to go through to the general election. It is the top four. Sorry about that everyone.

In my talk last night we reviewed much of the information I put into yesterday’s post: Trump’s Clown Show Has Become A Raging, Dangerous Global Dumpster Fire. My argument is this: Trump has created a series of crises -- economic, fiscal, in our health care system, “Farmageddon,” in our national security -- that are likely to get worse between now and the election.

• Diesel is close to an all-time high:
• Oil prices are back up in the upper $90s a barrel:
• Prior to these renewed energy shocks consumer confidence was already at it’s lowest reading in the last 65 years:

And then there is this - Trump the rapacious, Trump the greedy, Trump the betrayer appears to be hording his bundle of ill-gotten cash:

Theories about what Trump wants to do with the money cover a broad range of possibilities, including protecting his political influence in the next presidential race by passing on the money to his chosen successor and saving up for legal fees, postpresidential travel, events and pet projects, such as his library. Trump’s Miami library is projected to cost at least $1 billion, the most expensive presidential library construction to date.

The person with knowledge of internal discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk about those conversations, said Trump and his team believe their ability to rake in massive donations will take a hit after the midterm elections, giving the president an incentive to keep hold of the money he has raised so far.

Fundraising accounts associated with the president — such as his super PAC, and funds for his inauguration, White House ballroom and Freedom 250 events — have been inundated with donations from companies looking to get in Trump’s good graces, a dynamic that is likely to change as he becomes a lame duck.

Additionally, in the last few weeks of an election the party out of power usually gains a few points. So, yes, my friends, as bad as things are for Trump and the Rs now - and they are bad - they are likely to get worse.

Countering Trump’s Ferocious, Desperate Effort To Rig The Elections And Prevent A Peaceful Transfer Of Power - Here at Hopium we do more and worry less, and when it comes to countering Trump’s increasingly desperate and wild efforts to rig the election and prevent a peaceful transfer of power there are a few things we can do today, right now:

1 - Marc Elias is a doing a live briefing on Trump’s attack on mail ballots tonight at 6pm ET. Sign up here. Learn more, get smarter.

2 - Become an Early Vote Champion, and help drive the early vote in your networks, communities, organizations, and with friends and family. For when we vote early it makes it more likely we win and harder for them to cheat. Learn more here.

3 - Sign up to be a Democracy Protector for your state party. The new state party/DNC national program to protect our elections launched yesterday. The next live, open training is next Wednesday night at 8pm ET. Sign up here, and become part of this vital program that the Hopium community has helped get off the ground. 

PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: JD Vance Was Asked About Gas Prices And His Answer Was A Disaster, Jason Easley, right, Sept. 3, 2026. The Trump administration has no clue what to do to lower gas prices, because the administration doesn't know how to get out of the Iran war that it started.

For the first time in 42 days, the White House held a press briefing, and it has been the pattern of this entire administration: when things are going badly and Donald Trump needs a human shield, he sends out JD Vance.

Vance possesses the rare combination of arrogance, unlikability, ambition, and cluelessness that allows him to both think he is being elevated when Trump puts him out to take the fall, and ignorance of not knowing that with each one of these misadventures, he is taking a fresh step toward ending his political career.

VP Vance was asked at the press briefing, “ On July 2nd, Treasury Secretary Bessent, um, was asked when Americans could see $3 gas again, and he said maybe by Labor Day. Things haven't worked out that way, but do you have a new timetable for Americans on when they could expect lower gas prices, and should they not expect to see $3 gas again until at least 2027?”

And this is where the trouble began.

Vance answered, “Well, in defense of Scott, he said maybe by Labor Day because we're talking about things that are inherently unpredictable, and I, I think it's important...You know, I'm a strong believer that, uh, the American people are our fellow citizens, and we should speak with them honestly about these things. And the fundamental reality is that the reason gas prices are so high right now is because the Iranians are shooting at commercial shipping.”

Labor Day is Monday, but things got much worse as Vance talked.

As Vance kept talking, he made it clear that he, as the “chief negotiator” with Iran, has no idea what is going on, and the administration has no intention of lowering gas prices.

Vance refused to talk about $3 gas:

 We're gonna do what we have to do in order to ensure that their efforts don't lead to a worldwide energy crisis. Now, we've been quite successful up to this point. Gas, frankly, could've been much, much higher were it not for our efforts.

But I'm not gonna make a promise about when it's gonna return to $3. What I will say is that we have to remember, why are we doing this? Number one, it's so that Iran never has a nuclear weapon. And number two, what we're doing right now is protecting commercial shipping in order to ensure that we don't have a worldwide energy crisis.

The only reason, the only reason we do not have a worldwide energy crisis is because of the leadership of the president, but also because of the fine work of our military, from Pete Hegseth on down. But the Iranians are doing what the Iranians do. I think that they're losing their capabilities by the day. Uh, I think they're realizing, by the way, that, that, that their control over the Strait of Hormuz is effectively gone, and it's a diminishing asset. So if you go back three months ago, how much oil and gas was coming out of the strait under Iranian threats? It was va- virtually nothing.

Now, it's almost back to where it was before the conflict even started. So my advice to the Iranians is stop acting like crazy people and stop shooting at commercial shipping. And in the meantime, we've gotta do what we've gotta do despite what a foreign country's gonna do in the Strait of Hormuz.

It is easy to see why Vance’s negotiations with Iran have been a failure.

The world is facing higher gas prices and an energy crisis because of the war of choice that Donald Trump and JD Vance started.

Gas prices wouldn’t be over $4.00/gallon if Trump and Vance hadn’t started a war with Iran, so the idea that Trump and Vance think they deserve credit for anything is absurd.

During the 2024 campaign, Trump and Vance promised to bring gas down to $2.00/gallon. Prices are currently more than double what Trump and Vance promised.

JD Vance was a disaster because he minimized the economic pain people are feeling and won’t even try to say when things will get better. 

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: When You Control the Mail, You Control the Nation, Andrew Egger and Jim Swift, Sept. 3, 2026.Two months from the midterms, how bad are the coalition vibes for Donald Trump? Even some dyed-in-the-wool MAGA pollsters are starting to sound the red alert.

“Republicans are going to run out of a coalition soon if they don’t build on what he started to build in ’24,” Big Data Poll Director Rich Baris told Tim Miller in an interview yesterday. “And a lot of those gains are squandered because of the direction they took.”

In the eyes of some of his voters, Baris argued, Trump’s biggest sin has been his foreign-policy obsession: An inflation-spiking war in Iran wasn’t what the president promised, and it certainly wasn’t what they expected from him. Happy Thursday.

U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance 

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Remember Labor Day, William Kristol, right, Sept. 4, 2026. Here’s a recommendation I don’t usually make: Go to the Trump White House website. But then go to the little “search” function magnifying glass on the upper right, and type in “Labor Day.”

You’ll find plenty of material. But it’s all from 2025. There’s a presidential proclamation, articles under headings like “Lowest Labor Day Gas Prices in Five Years as Travel Costs Dip in Trump Economy” and “Wages Are Rising Under President Trump,” a video in which cabinet members reminisce about their first jobs, a clip of the White House press secretary boasting about “President Trump’s Pro-Worker Accomplishments”—and so on.

All from a year ago.

Okay, that’s what came up first. Internet search works in mysterious ways. So you type in “Labor Day 2026,” expecting to find material from this year.

But you find . . . nothing. Nada. Rien. Rien de rien.

Which makes sense. The Trump White House can’t today boast about the lowest gas prices in five years. In fact, gas is up from about $3.19 a gallon last Labor Day to about $4.14 today. Wages are no longer rising faster than inflation. And whereas Trump’s 2025 proclamation boasted of his tariffs, Trump recently removed tariffs on some imported beef because prices are up roughly 15 percent compared to a year ago—because tariffs raise prices.

And two of the cabinet members prominently featured in the “My First Job” video—Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard—have since been fired.

Maybe the Trump White House will rush to get something up on its website. But as of now, at the beginning of Labor Day weekend 2026—nothing. Perhaps the Trump administration has just decided this year to embrace its plutocratic essence.

Earlier this week, I suggested Democrats in 2026 look back to 1948 for guidance and inspiration—to a campaign in which Harry Truman not only won re-election to the presidency but Democrats took control of Congress, gaining 75 House and nine Senate seats.

Speaking to a large crowd in Cadillac Square, Detroit, on Labor Day 1948, Truman attacked the Republican Congress. He reminded his audience that “the Republicans promptly voted themselves a cut in taxes,” and “failed to crack down on prices.” And Truman went on to issue this warning:

Remember that the reactionary of today is a shrewd man. He is in many ways much shrewder than the reactionaries of the twenties. . . . He has learned a great deal about how to get his way by observing demagogues and reactionaries in other countries. And now he has many able allies in the press. . . .

We are in a hard, tough fight against shrewd and rich opponents. They know they can’t count on your vote. Their only hope is that you won’t vote at all. They have misjudged you. I know that we are going to win this crusade for the right!

In 2026, Trump can choose to ignore Labor Day. Democrats can channel their inner Harry Truman.

AROUND THE BULWARK

• Europe’s Gold Fled the Nazis. Now It’s Fleeing Trump…. Our allies once trusted America to safeguard their reserves. Now they worry the president might freeze them, writes CATHERINE RAMPELL in Receipts.
• JD Vance Called Abdul El-Sayed ‘Evil.’ He’s One to Talk…. Where does the vice president go to give his apology, asks MONA CHAREN.
• Even Fox News Won’t Hide the Truth About Trump’s Grotesque Oil Deal… On Bulwark Takes, WILL SALETAN takes on Trump’s Venezuela oil deal, as the president openly brags that Venezuelan oil has already paid for the war “many times over” and Republicans argue that U.S. oil companies deserve benefits for the next 100 years.
• A Witness to Film History… On The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood, GODFREY CHESHIRE joins SONNY BUNCH to talk about his book, Cheshire on Film: Life & Writings.
• Bulwark+ fam: Thank you to everyone who preordered Sarah’s book, How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time. We’re so excited for the book to launch September 8.

Quick Hits

THANKS BUT NO THANKS: With midterm catastrophe looming, more and more vulnerable Republicans are quietly telling the unpopular president: Thanks for your interest, but please don’t come to my district. Politico reports:

When asked in an interview if he wants Trump to campaign in his swing district this fall or spend time elsewhere, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) gave an indirect answer.

“Listen, you know, I’m very happy with our campaign and the things that we’re doing,” he said. “Very confident with our conversations with the voters. I think we’ve got a great campaign plan, and we’re laser-focused on communicating with our constituents and talking about issues that are important to them.”

Some battleground Republicans have relayed to Trump’s political team that they don’t want him to visit their districts ahead of November, according to four Republican operatives involved in the conversations, granted anonymity, like others in this article, to candidly discuss private strategy and conversations. . . .

“We’ve told them he cannot come,” said a senior Republican involved in a competitive House GOP race in a district where Trump won by double digits in 2024. “Candidly, he would not be helpful here … I do not believe they would send him without our OK. And if they did, we probably wouldn’t campaign with him.”

Ouch! Read the whole thing.

ABSENTEE SENATOR: There’s plenty of things Sen. John Fetterman likes about being a senator—the Fox News hits decrying his party’s anti-Israel turn, the opportunities to hobnob with Israeli government officials, his across-the-aisle bromance with Pennsylvania’s other senator, Republican Dave McCormick. But a remarkable new piece of reporting from the Wall Street Journal reveals that Fetterman seems to have little time for the actual work of his job. Fetterman, the paper reports, “keeps a light daily schedule, often refusing to meet with constituents and fellow lawmakers, or canceling at the last minute.” At least one aide even leaked text messages with the senator to the paper.

“Why do I keep having to meet with [the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia]?” Fetterman grumbles in one text. “Because they are worried about vaccines and Medicaid cuts,” the aide responds. “Well I’m not,” the senator shoots back. “I’m convinced they just want free trips to DC.”

One one occasion, the Journal reports, Fetterman begged off a long-scheduled meeting with three paralyzed military veterans from rural Pennsylvania to discuss “legislation that would improve their care.” He wasn’t feeling well, he told his staff. Shortly after his staff held the meeting without him, a perfectly healthy Fetterman strolled into the office, ready for his next appointment: a Fox News hit about Israel.

There’s so, so much more in this story. Read the whole thing. 

 John Fetterman in 2019. Photo credit: Governor Tom Wolf / Wikimedia (CC BY 2.0)

WhoWhatWhy, The Fetterman Factor — 51 Seats Won’t Be Enough for Democrats, Klaus Marre, Sept. 4, 2026.  A 51-49 Democratic majority in the Senate that relies on John Fetterman is barely a majority at all.

While winning the House would be nice for Democrats eager to exercise some much-needed oversight over the most corrupt administration in US history and to get a say in which legislation is passed, securing the Senate majority would be the ultimate prize. That’s because control of the upper chamber of Congress would allow them to also reject Donald Trump’s unqualified nominees and, most importantly, judges.

Above all, they would be able to keep the president from continuing to stack the Supreme Court with right-wing justices should a spot on the court open up.

At the beginning of last year, it seemed unimaginable that the Democrats could overcome their 53-47 disadvantage in a midterm election that was supposed to be challenging for them. In fact, just to break even, they would have to defend two seats in states — Georgia and Michigan — that Trump won. And while they had a couple of achievable pickup opportunities in Maine and North Carolina, in order to win a majority, they would have to upset at least two more Republicans in solidly red states.

But things have changed a lot this year, and the fight for control of the Senate is now largely viewed as a coinflip. It is entirely possible that the Democrats will win a handful of GOP-held states (and even more if everything breaks their way in states like Iowa and Nebraska).

They will need every single one of them.

That’s because all of the handicappers and number-crunchers who are parsing the polls to figure out who may be ahead in the race for Senate control are making a crucial mistake: They are assuming that Democrats will need 51 seats to get there.

Technically, that is correct. While a 50-50 split is good enough for the GOP to prevail since Vice President JD Vance would break any ties, the Democrats need an outright majority.

In reality, however, that math is overlooking one crucial variable in the equation: Sen. John Fetterman (D-Fox News).

Now, we are not saying that he will switch parties, although, while he has stated that he would not bolt from the Democrats and join the GOP, we wouldn’t discount that possibility.

As things stand, he is hardly a favorite to win a primary when he is up for reelection in 2028 — at least not as a Democrat. In his state, Fetterman is much more popular among Republicans than Democrats, only 22 percent of whom have a favorable view of him.

And he may not want to work with someone like Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrats’ Senate candidate in Michigan, whom he accused of supporting sharia law, Iran, and Hamas,

What we are saying, however, is that a majority that relies on a guy who seems to be on Fox News daily to trash progressive Democrats, side with Trump on everything from the ballroom to data centers, and talk about his “love and devotion to Israel” is hardly on solid ground.

When the dust settles and Democrats hold a 51-49 edge, there are two scenarios: The first is that Republicans promise Fetterman the world to get him to switch (no primary challenge, plum committee assignments, his own Fox News show, Sean Hannity singing at his birthday party, etc.).

The other is that he becomes as powerful as the Senate majority leader because he will have to be given a say on every major piece of legislation, and will get to decide which nominees and justices should be confirmed.

And that’s precisely why, in order to win a real, Fetterman-proof majority, the Democrats will not only have to defend their two seats but also win the races in Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Alaska to take him out of the equation — and that’s still a tall order.

U.S. Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets, Global Reputation

New York Times, U.S. Diesel Prices Set New High, Gregory Schmidt, Sept. 4, 2026. Because of the war in Iran, the cost has climbed past the record it reached in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Diesel fuel prices jumped to a record high on Friday in the United States, as the war in Iran continued to restrict the supply of energy worldwide, further squeezing businesses that rely on diesel to run their factories and equipment.

The national average price of a gallon of diesel reached $5.85 per gallon, according to the AAA motor club, up more than 55 percent since the war started. That surpassed the previous peak, set four years ago during the global energy crunch caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Other refined petroleum products, like gasoline and jet fuel, have also soared. Gasoline cost $4.15 a gallon on Friday, on average, up nearly 40 percent since the war began, according to AAA.

New York Times, Live Updates: U.S. Hiring Jumps, an Encouraging Sign for the Economy, Sydney Ember, Sept. 4, 2026. Employers added 162,000 jobs in August, and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent. But wage growth is not keeping up with rising inflation.

Hiring was unexpectedly strong in August, as employers pushed past uncertainty related to the war in Iran, tariffs and artificial intelligence to expand their payrolls.

Employers added 162,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported on Friday, and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent.

Job gains for June and July were revised up by 55,000, adding to the brighter picture of the labor market. Growth in August was especially strong in the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 62,000 positions.

Dollar coin with Trump's face and gold finish goes on sale | AP News

Paul Krugman via Substack, Ingots We No Longer Trust, Paul Krugman, right, Sept. 4, 2026. America’s word is as good as gold — that is, unreliable.

In the Yap islands of Micronesia, rai stones carved out of crystalline limestone, with a hole in the center, are considered objects of great value, sometimes described as a form of money. However, they are often large — sometimes as big as 12 feet in diameter — and they rarely literally change hands, given how difficult they are to move.

So they stay wherever they are. Their ownership is established by oral history, with changes in ownership established by appending transfers to that shared oral history. This is, by the way, a sort of preliterate version of the blockchain!

For the most part, monetary gold — gold held as reserves by national central banks — is a lot like the stones of Yap. Central banks own trillions of dollars’ worth of gold, which they sometimes sell to each other to settle international payments. But these transfers rarely involve physically moving gold across borders. A large fraction of the world’s gold reserves actually sits in a vault underneath the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, although the New York Fed does move ingots between compartments when transfers take place.

And why not? The sanctity of nations’ ownership of gold stored in New York is guaranteed by the word of the U.S. government — a government that is utterly reliable, because it honors the role of law.

Or anyway, that’s the country we used to be.

“Rule of law” is not a phrase often applied to the Trump administration. And the administration has special contempt for international law. Many of Trump’s tariffs have been ruled illegal under U.S. law, but more or less all of those tariffs were and are in clear violation of past agreements solemnly signed by previous U.S. presidents, including Trump himself.

So the idea that the U.S. government might devise some excuse to seize gold held in the Fed’s vault is no longer far-fetched. And nations are taking precautions. Earlier this week the Dutch central bank announced that it was shifting about $12 billion in gold from the vault in New York to the Bank of England’s vault in London. This follows a move by the French central bank to shift an even larger sum from New York to Paris. Other countries are considering similar moves.

The direct economic or financial impact of these actions will be minimal. There won’t even be large trans-Atlantic gold shipments: foreign central banks will sell their New York gold to private buyers in America and replenish it with purchases from private sellers in Europe.

But the symbolism is chilling. America is no longer trusted. Foreign governments can no longer count on us to obey the most basic rules, like the commandment that thou shalt not steal other people’s gold.

And even when Trump is gone, it will take many years of honest, responsible U.S. government to restore that lost trust.

Musical Coda: "Goldfinger" by Shirley Bassey. Listen here. 

Special Report: Political Ads 

Grieving North Carolina father Ronald Hayes, as shown in a deceptive ad created by pro-Republicans in the current U.S. senate race in North Carolina.

Judd at Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: How a GOP super PAC tricked a grieving father into appearing in a political ad, Judd Legum, right, and Noel Sims, Sept 3, 2026. Ronald Hayes appears in a Senate Leadership Fund ad.

On August 5, the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), the super PAC of Senate Republicans, announced a new television ad attacking Roy Cooper, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in North Carolina.

The ad features Ronald Hayes, whose son Shemar was murdered in 2024. In just 30 seconds, it ties Shemar’s murder to Cooper, who served as governor of North Carolina from 2017 to 2025. The blame is pinned on a settlement Cooper reached with the ACLU to release some inmates early during the COVID pandemic. “As the governor, Mr. Cooper was allowing these criminals back on the streets,” Hayes says in the ad. “Is my son going to get a second chance? No, he’s never coming back.”

But in an interview with Popular Information, Hayes says that he was manipulated into appearing in the ad. According to Hayes, the SLF operatives who recorded the footage misrepresented the purpose of the interview, never revealed their political affiliation, and coached Hayes into providing the soundbites that appear in the ad.

Hayes is a member of a group of about a dozen grieving parents whose children have been murdered. The SLF operatives reached out to everyone in the group and offered an opportunity “to share our stories.” Hayes was left with the impression that “we’re doing an ad about gun violence and our deceased kids.”

Hayes said he was interested in “talking about Shemar and what I feel about gun violence.” He had also written a book about Shemar that he wanted more people to know about.

After he agreed to participate, Hayes began to communicate with Michael Luethy. Previously, Luethy worked for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the North Carolina Republican Party, and the Republican State Leadership Committee. Luethy currently runs a Republican consulting firm based in North Carolina called Oak Grove Campaigns.

But Luethy never revealed that he was working with the SLF or his connection to Republican politics. Rather, Luethy represented to Hayes that he was “independent.” Luethy invited Hayes to a luxury home in Charlotte and encouraged him to bring copies of his book. Hayes had never been on camera before.

The SLF paid Oak Grove Campaigns $456.90 on April 30, 2026, for travel. Luethy did not respond to a text message seeking comment.

At the outset, Hayes was given an opportunity to talk about his son and was asked about the book. Then, Hayes said, “all of a sudden, in the middle of the recording, it went from me talking about what happened to my son to Governor Cooper.”

“Well, what do you think about North Carolina letting out 3,500 murderers, rapists, and killers?” Hayes said he was asked. “Of course, I am a victim. What am I going to say?” Hayes said he initially responded without saying Cooper’s name. He was then prompted by the SLF operatives to deliver the soundbite they wanted. “Would you mind saying Roy Cooper?” the operatives asked.

Prior to arriving at the filming, Hayes said, he “never knew anything about the governor of North Carolina letting out 3,500 criminals due to COVID-19 back in 2019 and 2020.” Hayes noted that he knows the policy was unrelated to his son’s murder. (The man who murdered Hayes’ son in 2024 had no prior adult criminal record and, therefore, was not released from prison.) Hayes was distressed when he saw the ad, which makes it seem “as if I’m saying that my son’s murderer was one of the ones who Governor Cooper let out of prison.”

“Why would I go on there and just flat out tell a blatant lie?” Hayes asked. He called the ad “deceitful, conniving, and sneaky.”

Hayes said that the SLF operatives filmed at least two other interviews with members of the grieving parents group, but those were not turned into ads. In both cases, the SLF operatives redirected the discussion from the personal tragedy to a political attack on Roy Cooper.

According to data from AdImpact, the SLF has spent over $6 million airing Hayes’ ad on television and digital platforms. Hayes said the ad has profoundly impacted his day-to-day life. “You would not believe how many people now just walk up to me and ask me, ‘Am I that guy that’s in that commercial?’”

Hayes said he is a Democrat and would not have knowingly participated in a GOP attack ad. “Why would I do a commercial? I’m just an everyday man,” Hayes said. “They targeted me as a victim of gun violence and because of the death of my son.”

More Global News

Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: Imperialist Delusions and the Price of Fuel, Paul Krugman, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Trump and Bessent tried to betray Ukraine. Now they don’t have any cards.

During the 2024 campaign Donald Trump promised to cut energy prices in half. He has, instead, presided over soaring prices at the pump, which have played an important role in his collapse in the polls.

Some might attribute this disaster to Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran, ignoring what appear to have been near-unanimous warnings by experienced military and intelligence officials that such a war would, in addition to disrupting oil supplies, overstretch the U.S. military and dangerously deplete stocks of munitions — which is exactly what happened.

But Scott Bessent, Trump’s Treasury secretary, has found someone else to blame: Ukraine.

Yesterday Bessent went on “Fox & Friends,” where he pinned the blame for high energy prices largely on Kyiv:

We are going through an energy shock right now due to both the war in Ukraine, because Ukraine has decided that they want to blow up Russian energy assets and refined properties, so that is creating upward price pressure on a global basis, and the conflict in Iran.

Now, Bessent isn’t wrong to say that bottlenecks in refining capacity are playing a major role in the current energy shock. The chart at the top of this post shows changes in the price of crude oil and diesel, both measured in dollars per barrel, since the beginning of this year. Crude oil is up a lot, although off its peak in early April. But diesel is up much more (so is gasoline, although not quite as much.) And Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil facilities are certainly playing a role in reducing global refining capacity.

But note Bessent’s wording: Ukraine “has decided that they want to blow up Russian energy assets.” Gosh, why would the Ukrainians want to do such a thing? Might it have something to do with the fact that they are engaged in an existential struggle against Vladimir Putin’s regime, which is in its fifth year of a war aimed at destroying their nation, and they need to hit back at Putin’s military and economic base?

Notice, also, that Bessent didn’t point out that these attacks on Russian oil would end if Russia were to end its attempted war of conquest. But far from demanding an end to Russian aggression, the Trump administration infuriated the democratic nations of Europe by inviting Russia’s finance minister, for the first time since the Ukraine war began, to Monday’s meeting of the Group of 20 major economies.

But wait: There’s more background here. Bessent, as much as or more than Trump, has been effectively an enemy of Ukraine from the beginning.

Right at the beginning of the Trump II administration Bessent flew to Kyiv to demand that the Ukrainian government in effect hand over a large share of its mineral resources to the United States. I described it at the time as a “Belgian Congo” deal:

What Trump suggested was that Ukraine give the United States half of the revenue it gets from resource extraction, as far as I can tell in perpetuity. Trump suggested that this would amount to $500 billion, although this seems like a wildly exaggerated sum.

In return, Trump offered, well, zero. No additional aid, no security guarantees, no nothing.

Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump offers more, damning detail. There was apparently a shouting match between Bessent and Ukraine’s president Zelenskyy, in which Zelenskyy correctly described Bessent’s proposal as a shakedown unenforceable under Ukrainian law.

Bessent then returned to Washington and urged Trump not to even meet with Zelenskyy until he signed the minerals deal:

“I’ve dealt with this little fucker,” Bessent would say to associates about Zelensky. “He’s tricky. He’s like the special-needs child for the Europeans. And he’s acting like Mr. Bean on crack.”

Nonetheless, Trump did meet with Zelenskyy — and it was a disaster, including Trump’s famous insult, “You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now.”

The Trump administration proceeded to cut off virtually all aid to Ukraine, presumably expecting Ukraine’s defense against Russia to collapse.

Ukraine, however, declined to collapse. Aid from Europe replaced much of the lost American support:

And the Ukrainians, though deprived of important U.S. weapons — especially Patriot interceptors — have if anything been gaining the upper hand in their war, thanks in part to their growing mastery of drone warfare. Russia’s ground offensive has stalled despite enormous casualties, while Ukraine is carrying out more and more long-range strikes, including, yes, strikes on Russia’s oil infrastructure.

By the way, Ukraine’s success in drone warfare suggests that the government in Kyiv could offer the U.S. military, which has fared so badly against Iranian drones, quite a lot of help. But don’t expect Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon to ask for or receive such help.

Anyway, now Bessent is blaming Ukraine for high fuel prices. Is he demanding, or maybe pleading, that the Ukrainians halt their strategic air campaign? If so, in return for what?

After all, the Trump administration can’t threaten to cut off aid — it already did that long ago. It can’t offer to help Ukraine plug the one big hole in its defense technology, its lack (so far) of effective interceptors against ballistic missiles, because the U.S. has depleted its own stock of such interceptors in its Iran debacle.

So while I’m sure that Bessent and Trump wish that Ukraine would stop blowing up Russian energy assets — they would demand that Ukraine stop, if they could — they can’t, in practice, do anything to change Ukraine’s war strategy. To put it bluntly, they’re not in a good position. They don’t have the cards.

New York Times, The New Jet-Powered Drones That Are Breeding Anxiety in Ukraine, Cassandra Vinograd, Sept. 4, 2026 (print ed.). The Russian strikes tormenting Ukraine’s capital in recent days have had an ominous new feature: jet-powered drones.

Significantly faster and harder to intercept than the propeller-driven drones that have stalked Ukraine’s skies for years, these munitions are stretching air defenses and stoking anxiety about what analysts and officials predict will be a dangerous new stage of the war.

Here’s what to know about the deadly weapons, which experts say blur the line between drones and cruise missiles, and upon which Russia is increasingly reliant.

U.S. Immigration Crackdown

New York Times, Times Exclusive: ICE Skipped Basic Checks in Rush for Recruits, Whistle-Blower Says, Alexandra Berzon, Katie Benner and Hamed Aleaziz, Sept. 4, 2026 (print ed.). An official who oversaw the vetting of ICE recruits cited an “unprecedented lowering of standards” amid a hiring surge. 

In the wake of a hiring surge last summer, an official in charge of evaluating new recruits to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a dire warning.

The Trump administration, he wrote in a memo, was cutting corners, violating the law and fast-tracking unqualified, “improperly vetted” candidates into ICE’s ranks, part of a dangerous move that exposed the agency — and its law enforcement operations — to “grave national security risks.”

Citing an “unprecedented lowering of standards,” the career ICE official said that “systemic breakdowns” had allowed applicants to receive job offers before they had passed basic fingerprint, identity or credit checks in a preliminary vetting process. Political appointees had unjustly skirted background investigations and received national security eligibility.

The official, a unit chief who directly oversaw more than 100 employees who evaluated thousands of ICE applicants, was so troubled by what he saw that he outlined these concerns not to his superiors, but in a formal whistle-blower complaint to the Office of Inspector General in the Department of Homeland Security.

In the complaint, he asked for an independent, outside investigation into the matter. He was later interviewed twice by officials with the inspector general’s office and his concerns have become part of an ongoing audit into vetting practices.

The complaint, which has not been previously reported, underscores the rising worries about the suitability — as well as the tactics — of scores of agents who have been rapidly deployed across the country within the last year. It also outlines the extent to which ICE weakened its standards, and points to dissension among the upper reaches of the agency as it was pressed last year to carry out President Trump’s immigration crackdown.

The whistle-blower, a 17-year ICE veteran who spoke to The New York Times on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his claims, said the agency had cut corners in its rush to fill the ranks.

“We chose as an agency to be more convenient rather than thorough,” he said, describing the agency’s decision to reduce scrutiny of recruits in order to expedite hires. “By doing so, there was a potential to put lives at risk and to jeopardize national security.”

The whistle-blower complaint was obtained via a public records request. The concerns within it broadly mirror those made by other current and former ICE employees who said that the agency had abandoned best practices as it rapidly scaled up. An ICE lawyer who worked at the agency’s training center resigned earlier this year and went public as a whistle-blower, citing concerns about a “deficient, defective and broken” training program. ImageA sidewalk memorial with flowers and candles and a piece of paper with “His Name Was Sebastian” written on it.The scrutiny of ICE’s hiring practices has intensified in recent weeks, spurred in part by the fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero on July 13.Credit...Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times

In response to questions, an ICE spokesperson said in a statement that the agency “diligently applies the proper personnel vetting regulations, including guidelines for national security, and evaluates all available information for every applicant based on these factors.”

The agency declined to comment about the whistle-blower, who retired from the agency in July, or his complaint.

The scrutiny of ICE’s hiring practices has intensified in recent weeks, spurred in part by the fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian immigrant, in Biddeford, Maine, on July 13.

The two ex-wives of the ICE agent David Brouillette, one of whom identified him as the person who fired the fatal shots, have accused him in interviews and court records of being abusive. In a filing for a protection order in December 2019, one ex-wife wrote that he had broken her door down, destroyed her belongings and dumped her clothes over a bridge.

The women also have said Mr. Brouillette, a former military serviceman and Veterans Affairs police officer who was hired amid the recruiting surge last year, had post-traumatic stress disorder related to his deployment in Afghanistan. A local official in Maine told The Portland Press Herald that Mr. Brouillette sought jobs with the Hallowell Police Department in 2024 but was denied because there were “too many red flags.” Mr. Brouillette could not be reached for comment.

After the shooting, Tom Homan, the White House border czar, said that the D.H.S. investigation into the episode will include whether the agent was properly vetted before being hired.

A White House spokesperson referred questions to D.H.S.A Rush to Recruit

The concerns in the August 2025 whistle-blower complaint exposed shortcuts in the agency’s preliminary vetting process. No credit checks. Fingerprints unconfirmed. Final job offers absent preliminary vetting.

Before the surge, a recruitment team made documents available to a unit within ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility for each new hire, including fingerprints and a security form with extensive questions. The vetting team would then initiate a preliminary check, running each applicant’s name through law enforcement databases and searching for criminal violations or other major red flags. Some recruits would be sent for a polygraph test if concerns arose.

These recruits then underwent a full background check, conducted by outside contractors, to determine whether the candidate was trustworthy enough to have access to sensitive computer systems, federal facilities and classified information. It wasn’t unusual for this to occur while recruits were in training.

The preliminary vetting process, which took seven to 10 days, was upended last summer. The vetters were told to make determinations on recruits without having the full security form, fingerprints or any polygraph testing, according to the former unit chief and a former federal official familiar with the process who was granted anonymity to speak freely about it.

That meant new hires were heading to training without having their identities, criminal histories and other basic information checked and verified, the unit chief said.

The agency also sped up its training program, cutting it from roughly 10 weeks to six. This resulted in agents reporting to their full-time positions while their full background checks were pending. 

U.S. Media, Entertainment, Culture

Gloria Steinem speaks at the Women's March in Washington, on January 21, 2017 (Shannon Stapleton photo for Reuters).

New York Times, Gloria Steinem, Personification of the Women’s Movement, Dies at 92, Katharine Q. Seelye, Sept. 4, 2026 (print ed.). She challenged sexist assumptions, helping women develop a sense of self-worth and gain a measure of equality at work, at home and in society at large.

Gloria Steinem, the feminist crusader who, in galvanizing the modern women’s movement, helped millions of women develop a sense of self-worth and gain a measure of equality at home, at work and in society at large, died on Wednesday at her home in New York City. She was 92.

Her death was announced in a post on social media, which did not give a cause.

Calling herself “an entrepreneur of social change,” Ms. Steinem helped usher in sweeping cultural transformations across virtually every facet of American life, from the boardroom to the courtroom to the bedroom.

For more than half a century, she personified the women’s movement and became its most enduring symbol; her tinted aviator glasses and curtain of streaked-blond hair parted in the center made her one of the most recognizable women in the world.

She was an unlikely revolutionary. Growing up a transient in the Midwest, she was 10 when her parents divorced and she was left to mother her mentally anguished mother — a formative experience that reverberated throughout her life. She had scant formal education until sixth grade; her big dream, as a budding tap dancer, was to become a Rockette.

But she read voraciously, graduated from college with honors and believed fiercely that women should be able to live whatever life they chose.

Her own feminist awakening didn’t come until her mid-30s, when, as a journalist in 1969, she attended a “speak out” of women discussing their illegal abortions. Charismatic, articulate, media savvy, deeply empathetic and a workaholic, she evolved into a political and cultural force.

She led protests and consciousness-raising sessions, wrote essays and delivered speeches, delved into political organizing, helped establish rape crisis centers and shelters for battered women, founded numerous groups that promoted women and had the Midas touch when it came to raising money for their causes. 

Gloria Steinem (r) with Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham Jan. 24, 1972 luncheon (Photo by Martin Kuhn).

National Press Club, Appreciation: Gloria Steinem was not impressed with Press Club tie gift after her speech in 1972, Gil Klein, Sept. 4, 2026. Feminist leader Gloria Steinem, who died Wednesday, Sept. 2, at the age of 92, was no stranger to the National Press Club.

While AI mistakenly referred to her as the first woman to speak at the Club (that honor actually goes to Eleanor Roosevelt), she wasn’t even the first after the Club admitted women as members in January 1971. That was feminist Germaine Greer (which AI also identified as the first woman speaker).

But Steinem had one lasting impact on NPC luncheons.

The Club always finishes a luncheon by giving the speaker a gift. With the overwhelming number of speakers being men before the 1970s, the traditional gift was a Press Club tie. That didn’t stop as the Club invited leaders of the women’s movement as it pushed for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

But when Steinem, the co-founder and editor of Ms. magazine, spoke at the Club on Jan. 24, 1972, with Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham seated at the head table, the tie didn’t go over well at all.

Presented with the tie, Steinem offered to don a man’s jacket “and confirm your worst suspicions.”

That was the end of the tie, but what to give? The selection expanded to include a scarf, paperweight and windbreaker before landing on the mug that is still offered today.  

The Daily with Sarah Jones via PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: Fox News Dumps Trump Cheerleader Maria Bartiromo, Jason Easley and Sarah Jones, right, Sept. 4, 2026 (print ed.). Maria Bartiromo, above, has been non-stop waving the flag for Trump and professing endless support for a decade. Bartiromo was one of the personalities that Trump would turn to when he needed the softest of soft interviews.

Trump’s buddy Sean Hannity always seems to be his first Fox News choice, but Bartiromo, along with Fox and Friends, were his two other go-to spots for interviews that would be even more gentle than the standard Fox News interviews.

Bartiromo like the rest of Fox allowed Trump to pre-tape his interviews. The Trump interviews were often edited to paint the president in the best light, and there have been reports over the years that the White House even has editorial control over Trump’s interviews on Fox.

Fox News didn’t give Maria Bartiromo a big sendoff to thank her for her 12 and a half years on the network.

Instead, Fox News released a terse statement that:

Effective today Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media. Fox News media said, “We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter.”

That’s it. Boom. Gone.Bartiromo’s Exit Is A Sign That The End Of Trump Is Coming

Fox News is going to find a new host to take over Bartiromo’s Sunday show, Sunday Morning Futures, which has been the place for MAGA Republicans to push their messages, hawk their campaigns, and hit viewers up for donations.

Sunday Morning Futures is not a Sunday news show. It was more like a MAGA circus tent where those who either needed something or wanted to get the attention of Trump and his most loyal supporters gathered.

Bartiromo’s Sunday show was the place that Republicans turned to if they felt that Kristen Welker was too liberal.

We don’t have the details yet of why Bartiromo and Fox News parted ways. Maybe Bartiromo is taking a job in the Trump administration?

However, when Trump’s most loyal media supporters start losing their plum perches to speak to his base, it is also a sign that the MAGA era is drawing to a close.

In a few months, Democrats are likely to control all or part of Congress. Trump looks to be on the fast track toward lame duck status, and starting next year, voters of all political stripes will look toward the 2028 election and the selection of a new president.

The signs are growing that it really is over for Trump, and the era that many Americans thought would never come to an end is moving toward its close. 

Daily Beast, Elon Musk is the richest man in the world. And, apparently, he’s the saddest, Laura Esposito, Sept. 3, 2026. That’s according to filmmaker Alex Gibney, who relayed the assessment from someone who worked closely with Musk. Gibney’s forthcoming film, Musk, was previewed by The Hollywood Reporter.

“Someone who worked closely with Elon told me, ‘He’s the most miserable man I’ve ever met.’ So he’s inflicting his misery on everyone else,” Gibney told the outlet.Elon Musk.Elon Musk has regrets about his chainsaw-waving stunt. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

In Gibney’s film, which premieres this fall, he tackles the 55-year-old’s worst impulses—and how this unelected, unchecked figure shapes much of what we see in American politics today. Musk has made no secret of his thirst for power, notably during the 2024 presidential election, when he funneled more than $290 million into Donald Trump’s last presidential campaign and hosted town halls in swing states. He famously gave away a $1 million check to a rallygoer selected at random after they signed a petition to support a PAC he created.

Questions about his obscure data-collecting efforts and the role he plans to play in forthcoming elections also remain unanswered. In his documentary, Gibney hammers home that Musk’s brief stint at the helm of an army of twentysomething men known as the “DOGE” squad involved dismantling USAID programs around the world; the X owner gained access to the data on tens of millions of Americans.

What, exactly, he does with that information is unknown. Combined with the data he has already obtained through his control of X, that information makes him an undeniable force in American politics.

According to the person quoted by Gibney, Musk does it all to fill the bleakness he feels within himself. Other times, perhaps he fills that void by lashing out at others.

Just ask President Donald Trump, who has privately admitted he was hurt by Musk after their nuclear fallout, according to recent reports.

After the 80-year-old president returned to the White House in part due to Musk, it wasn’t long before the relationship went awry. It came to a head in a very public feud, which included Musk claiming in an X post that Trump “is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.” The allegation was unsupported, and Musk later deleted the post. 

Sept. 3

Top Headlines 

• New York Times, Judge Suggests Trump Mail-In Voting Rules Could Cause ‘Major Disenfranchisement,’ Zach Montague, Sept. 3, 2026. Judge Indira Talwani said the Postal Service appeared to be trying a haphazard “experiment” with a new rule that could result in valid ballots being tossed.
• New York Times, Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Allow Mail Voting Limits, Abbie VanSickle, Sept. 3, 2026. The justices have been asked to weigh in again on the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict mail voting — this time on whether the plans violate the Constitution. 

Special Reports

The New Yorker Magazine portrayed on its cover the last year the six Republicans on the U.S. Supreme Court as wearing Trump-styled blond wigs, with faces indistinguishable from that of their party's leader. Trump's planned ballroom replacing the demolished White House East Wing and three times the size of the rest of the White House, is portrayed by Trump below despite widespead legal criticism that he has no right to demolish historic structures throughout the nation's capital without congressional approvals.

• Talking Feds, Opinion: Trump’s Ballroom Is Illegal, Despised, and Anti-Democratic, but the Supreme Court Greenlit It Anyway, Harry Litman, right, law professor and former high-ranking U.S. Justice Department executive,Sept. 3, 2026. “Our buildings shape us,” and this building will shape a failure of democracy. On Monday, the Supreme Court told Donald Trump he can proceed full steam ahead to construct his monstrous ballroom. That’s not because the project is lawful: the per curiam, 5-4 order on the shadow docket expressly offered no opinion on the merits. Indeed, every court to consider the question—plus four dissenting justices on the high court—has concluded that the project is likely unlawful. It’s also a vile and fairly hideous affront to the most visible symbol of our democracy. Rather, the Court held that the stay on construction should be lifted because the plaintiffs lacked standing and the order was irreparably harming the administration. Both aspects of the decision were flawed. The per curiam represents the shadow docket at its most pernicious: a loosey-goosey decision based on the procedural particulars of granting an emergency stay that has the possible effect of letting Trump get away with a national atrocity.
• The Contrarian, Opinion: Clyburn Puts Supreme Court Expansion Front and Center, Jennifer Rubin, Sept. 3, 2026. Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, veteran lawmaker Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) emphatically urged expanding seats on the Supreme Court from 9 to 13 justices. “A baker’s dozen would be a good number to have on the court,” he said. Court expansion, no longer the province of left-leaning academics thanks to the MAGA justices’ radicalism, has become an indisputably mainstream, pro-democracy response.

Special Report: A Russian Father and Brave Daughter

• Roman Sheremeta via Substack, News and Comment: This is what dictatorship looks like, Roman Sheremet, right, professorof economics and politics, Sept. 3,2026. In April 2022, a 12-year-old Russian girl named Masha Moskalyova was told in art class to draw a picture supporting russian troops in Ukraine. Instead, she drew a Ukrainian mother protecting her child as russian missiles flew toward them.

Special Report

Donald Trump portrayed seizing oil from Venezuela, creating conditions for violent blowback in the future (Graphic by The Hartmann Report)

• The Hartmann Report, Opinion: Trump Brags About His “Brilliant” Venezuela Scheme While History Screams a Warning, Thom Hartmann, right, Sept. 2, 2026. America has spent decades paying for earlier interventions in oil-rich nations. Trump is now risking another cycle of rebellion, bloodshed, and blowback. Here we go again with American colonialism, this time with a crazy scheme Trump thinks is “brilliant.” You’d have thought we’d have learned our lesson with our stupid intervention in Iran in 1953, which led us straight to America’s humiliation in 1980 and today’s war with the Mullahs. This is going to be an epic disaster, one that will most likely cost us dearly in both American blood and treasure.

News Roundups

• The Parnas Perspective, Thursday Night News, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Today’s rundown leads with Mitch McConnell, because 80 days later, nobody else seems to be asking the obvious question: where is he? His office has gone weeks without a real update, he’s missed 60 votes, and the only proof of life the public has gotten is two photos.
• Meidas Touch Network, Thursday Afternoon Update: MAGA Mike’s House Shutdown, Ben Meiselas, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Here’s your free midday update. Mike Johnson abruptly cancels the last two weeks of September in Congress after denying he’d do so just days ago; Billionaire Leon Black skipped out on his House Oversight deposition on Epstein and is suing the committee; Trump favorite Maria Bartiromo is abruptly out at Fox; Federal prosecutors charge an ICE agent with lying about a Minnesota shooting.
• The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Big Epstein Update: Alleged Co-Conspirator with Sealed NDAs Sues, GOP Senator Calls for Hegseth’s Firing, McConnell Update, and More, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Today’s rundown leads with new developments in the Epstein story: subpoenas, sealed NDAs, and a $158 million question about what one of his associates was really paying for. We also look into Mitch McConnell, issues with Hegseth, and more right now.

More Global News

• Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: Imperialist Delusions and the Price of Fuel, Paul Krugman, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Trump and Bessent tried to betray Ukraine. Now they don’t have any cards. During the 2024 campaign Donald Trump promised to cut energy prices in half. He has, instead, presided over soaring prices at the pump, which have played an important role in his collapse in the polls. Some might attribute this disaster to Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran, ignoring what appear to have been near-unanimous warnings by experienced military and intelligence officials that such a war would, in addition to disrupting oil supplies, overstretch the U.S. military and dangerously deplete stocks of munitions — which is exactly what happened. But Scott Bessent, Trump’s Treasury secretary, has found someone else to blame: Ukraine.
• New York Times, The New Jet-Powered Drones That Are Breeding Anxiety in Ukraine, Cassandra Vinograd, Sept. 3, 2026. The Russian strikes tormenting Ukraine’s capital in recent days have had an ominous new feature: jet-powered drones.

U.S. Immigration Crackdown

• New York Times, Times Exclusive: ICE Skipped Basic Checks in Rush for Recruits, Whistle-Blower Says, Alexandra Berzon, Katie Benner and Hamed Aleaziz, Sept. 3, 2026. An official who oversaw the vetting of ICE recruits cited an “unprecedented lowering of standards” amid a hiring surge. 

More On U.S. Courts, Rights, Crime, Justice

Davin Rosborough, an ACLU attorney representing the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, speaks at a press conference outside the John Moakley Courthouse in Boston, Mass. after participating in a hearing Sept. 3 on President Donald Trump's March 31, 2026 executive order and a Postal Service rule implementing it.

• Democracy Docket, Judge appears deeply skeptical of case for Trump’s mail voting restrictions, Jim Saksa, Sept. 3, 2026. With Election Day just two months away, the lawyer defending the Postal Service’s recently issued rule carrying out President Donald Trump’s anti-mail voting executive order could not tell a federal judge how — or even if — the new rule would work.
• Newsweek, Lindsay Clancy Verdict: Expert Says Judge’s Jury Actions May Be ‘Dangerous,’ Hannah Parry, Sept. 3, 2026.The Lindsay Clancy murder trial descended into an extraordinary courtroom confrontation Thursday as a deadlocked jury was sent back to deliberate for a sixth day, prompting a legal expert to warn that Judge William Sullivan was entering “very dangerous territory.”

More On Russian Infiltration Of FBI, Other Spying

• Newsweek, Woman Who Exposed FBI Official for Working With Russian Oligarch Found Dead, Jenni Fink,Sept. 3, 2026. Allison Guerriero, above left, a security researcher whose information helped expose the criminal conduct of former FBI counterintelligence official Charles McGonigal, above right, has been found dead at her home in Boynton Beach, Florida. Hours before her death, Guerriero posted a series of messages on X, formerly Twitter, criticizing Representative Jim Jordan, the FBI and McGonigal. McGonigal was arrested in 2023 and was sentenced to 50 months in prison and then was later sentenced in a separate case to 28 months in prison in 2024. He pleaded guilty to secretly colluding with a Russian oligarch and also admitted to receiving $225,000 in cash from someone with ties to the Albanian government.
• New York Times, News Analysis: A Spiral of Escalation for Russia and Ukraine, With No End in Sight, Kim Barker, Oleksandra Mykolyshyn and Ivan Nechepurenko, Sept. 3, 2026. Each side is using missiles and drones to try to pound the other into giving up, breeding ceaseless human suffering. But there is no sign that either country’s determination will weaken.

More On U.S. Politics, Elections, Governance

• Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Trump’s Midterm Strategy: Don’t Work, Cheat, Andrew Egger, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Say you’re a Republican lawmaker going into a tough midterm fight. The good news is your party controls the presidency. The bad news is the president is insanely unpopular and getting more so every day. Many voters you need are pretty mad at the guy. You might want to start telling them, Yeah, I’m with him—but only on the good stuff, the stuff you guys like. As I wrote last week, this was never going to be an option for Republicans this cycle. 
• Hopium Chronicles, Advocacy and Opinion: As Bad As Things Are For Trump And The Rs Now -- And They Are Bad -- They Are Likely To Get Worse, Simon Rosenberg, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Greater MAGA Is Weakening: Putin has lost Orban, Syria, and is failing in Ukraine. Both Bibi and Trump have lost their war in Iran, and their political projects at home have taken enormous hits. Bibi trails in his October 26th election, and Trump trails in his November election. Zelenskyy has emerged as an inspirational global freedom fighter. Taken together these are important and welcome developments in our fight to ensure there is a new birth of freedom here and everywhere in the years ahead……
• Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: When You Control the Mail, You Control the Nation, Andrew Egger and Jim Swift, Sept. 3, 2026.Two months from the midterms, how bad are the coalition vibes for Donald Trump? Even some dyed-in-the-wool MAGA pollsters are starting to sound the red alert.
• PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: JD Vance Was Asked About Gas Prices And His Answer Was A Disaster, Jason Easley, right, Sept. 3, 2026. The Trump administration has no clue what to do to lower gas prices, because the administration doesn't know how to get out of the Iran war that it started. 

Special Report: Political Ads

Grieving North Carolina father Ronald Hayes, as shown in a deceptive ad created by pro-Republicans in the current U.S. senate race in North Carolina.

• Judd at Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: How a GOP super PAC tricked a grieving father into appearing in a political ad, Judd Legum, right, and Noel Sims, Sept 3, 2026. Ronald Hayes appears in a Senate Leadership Fund ad.

U.S. Economy, Markets

• Seymour Hersh, Opinion: The Coming Trump Depression, Seymour Hersh, Sept. 3, 2026. The businessman president’s lasting legacy might be plunging America into economic misery. I’ve spent decades reporting on corrupt and idiotic wars and presidents—Democratic and Republican—who’ve thrown away billions of dollars on wars that could not be won, did not need to be fought, and cost millions of lives. And today we have a malicious childlike president who is bankrupting the United States with the war he started in Iran and who ignores one possible off-ramp after another.

More News Roundups

• The Parnas Perspective, Evening News and Commentary: UN Admits Defeat on Climate Change and Warns of Catastrophe, Trump Family Races to Hire Lawyers, and Much More, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 2, 2026. Today brought a lot of “the quiet part out loud” energy: Trump’s inner circle is stockpiling lawyers ahead of a possible Democratic Congress, even as the West Wing publicly insists the GOP holds the House. Speaking of the GOP, dozens of Republicans are quietly RSVPing “no” to Trump’s own midterm convention next week, some over cost, some over politics, some over dove hunting. Meanwhile the UN conceded the 1.5-degree climate target is basically gone, the Mint rolled out a Trump coin that critics joke marks the “death of liberty” in 2026, and the USS Abraham Lincoln limped into Thailand looking like it aged a decade in 286 days. Add a runaway robot in Russia, a deadlocked jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial, and a Coast Guard jet that lost an engine over D.C., and that’s Wednesday. Here’s everything you need to know.

Culture, Media, Entertainment 

Gloria Steinem speaks at the Women's March in Washington, on January 21, 2017 (Shannon Stapleton photo for Reuters).

• New York Times, Gloria Steinem, Personification of the Women’s Movement, Dies at 92, Katharine Q. Seelye, Sept. 3, 2026. She challenged sexist assumptions, helping women develop a sense of self-worth and gain a measure of equality at work, at home and in society at large.
• The Daily with Sarah Jones via PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: Fox News Dumps Trump Cheerleader Maria Bartiromo, Jason Easley and Sarah Jones, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Maria Bartiromo has been non-stop waving the flag for Trump and professing endless support for a decade. Bartiromo was one of the personalities that Trump would turn to when he needed the softest of soft interviews.
• Daily Beast, Elon Musk is the richest man in the world. And, apparently, he’s the saddest, Laura Esposito,Sept. 3, 2026. That’s according to filmmaker Alex Gibney, who relayed the assessment from someone who worked closely with Musk. Gibney’s forthcoming film, Musk, was previewed by The Hollywood Reporter.

Top Stories

New York Times, Judge Suggests Trump Mail-In Voting Rules Could Cause ‘Major Disenfranchisement,’ Zach Montague, Sept. 3, 2026. Judge Indira Talwani said the Postal Service appeared to be trying a haphazard “experiment” with a new rule that could result in valid ballots being tossed.

A federal judge on Thursday expressed concern that if she allowed the Trump administration to move ahead with plans to restrict mail-in ballots ahead of the November election, it could cause so much chaos that states would experience “major disenfranchisement.”

During a winding two-hour hearing in Federal District Court in Boston, Judge Indira Talwani asked sharp questions of attorneys from the Justice Department and a coalition of Republican states about how they believed they could implement the new rule on the eve of early voting across many states. The hearing highlighted concerns raised by a broad coalition of nonprofits and Democratic states that, if allowed to forge ahead with the new rule, the Postal Service could haphazardly reject thousands of valid ballots.

Judge Talwani last week blocked the Postal Service from implementing the plan for 14 days, a period that expires Sept. 10. Thursday’s hearing was intended to help her decide whether to extend her injunction indefinitely. The Trump administration has already appealed her temporary restraining order and the issue is likely to be settled by the Supreme Court.

The judge did not immediately rule on the issue, but said she planned to move quickly.

With just two months to go before the election, and many states set to begin distributing mail-in ballots later this month, Judge Talwani wondered aloud why the rule change could not wait until the agency had time to execute it methodically.

“I think that’s what’s so puzzling to me about this case,” Judge Talwani said.

Judge Talwani previously ruled that she believed the Postal Service’s plans likely exceed the agency’s legal mandate from Congress.

Lawyers representing the Postal Service argued on Thursday that the plan represented an “independent exercise” of its authority to regulate the mail it carries. Judge Talwani countered that the rule seemed obviously tied to directions from President Trump outlined in an executive order signed in March.

Mr. Trump issued the directive as part of efforts to press his false claims that mail-in balloting is marred by widespread fraud. It instructed the Department of Homeland Security to compile state-by-state citizenship lists and then send those to each state. It further directed the U.S. Postal Service to play a role in verifying voters eligible to cast ballots by mail.

The Postal Service rule, published in late August in response, would require states to use new, scannable ballot envelopes. The Postal Service would not deliver mail ballots in states that do not share voter data with the agency and would only deliver ballots that met certain criteria.

Among other things, Judge Talwani tried to establish how much progress the Postal Service had made in building a ballot screening system that state election officials would use to inform U.S.P.S. which voters had been authorized to vote by mail and allow the service to verify ballots before delivery.

The Postal Service has said it continues to build the portal, despite the judge’s order, in case the legal block is lifted or in case some states choose to use it. But a whistle-blower report filed this week raised concerns that the frantic effort to finish the web portal in time would lead to errors that could result in large batches of ballots being rejected in bulk.

When Michael Velchik, an attorney from the Justice Department, could not explain the status of the project, Judge Talwani ordered the government to provide more details in writing by Thursday afternoon.

In a sworn statement responding to the order, a Postal Service official said the agency was continuing to make “refinements” to the portal, but expected to make it available to states “for voluntary use by sometime next week.” The official wrote that the Postal Service would continue to work with states that choose to implement any of its new processes, though while the restraining order remains in place, no state would be required to adopt them.

“So we’re going to do a test run on this election?” she said, showing exasperation.

“We’re not playing an intellectual puzzle game,” she added. “We’re talking about people’s right to vote.”

In another pointed exchange, Judge Talwani brought up a filing from officials in Travis County, Texas, which includes the Democratic-led city of Austin. They said they did not believe it was possible for local officials to implement the Postal Service changes in time for the 2026 election.

Even so, the state of Texas is part of a coalition of Republican-led states that have urged Judge Talwani to lift her restraining order.

She pressed Louis J. Capozzi, the Missouri solicitor general, who appeared on behalf of the group, about why Texas appeared intent on launching an “experiment” that could cause its own voters to be “disenfranchised.”

“Why is it you want U.S.P.S. to stop batches of ballots from your voters?” she said.

Judge Talwani said state legislators in Texas and other states could have passed their own laws to change ballot envelopes or otherwise adjust mail-in voting, without asking the Postal Service to take on a new role screening votes.

“You can decide you want those measures in your state,” she said. “I don’t understand — you come to me and say, ‘We really want to have election integrity in our state decided by U.S.P.S.’?”

Mr. Capozzi predicted that Texas would have no trouble implementing the changes in time, and that the state viewed the Postal Service rule as adding another layer of security to its elections. He said problems that might arise from the new rule could be figured out on a “state-by-state” basis later, with groups suing individual states if evidence emerged that they had improperly thrown out votes.

New York Times, Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Allow Mail Voting Limits, Abbie VanSickle, Sept. 3, 2026. The justices have been asked to weigh in again on the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict mail voting — this time on whether the plans violate the Constitution.

The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court for permission to resume its efforts to restrict mail voting in the lead-up to the midterms.

Administration lawyers asked the justices to clear the way for a new rule that prohibits the U.S. Postal Service from delivering ballots to voters in states that do not share voter data with the federal agency. The rule would also require the agency to review ballot envelopes for compliance with new standards before accepting it.

In the emergency filing, Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that a lower court freeze on the plan would impose “serious irreparable harm on the federal government, the states themselves, and the voting public.”

The emergency request to the Supreme Court is the second time in recent weeks that the court has been asked to weigh in on efforts by President Trump’s mail ballot plans. Previously, a majority of the court said a legal challenge was premature because the administration had not yet finalized its plans to restrict mail voting.

But the Postal Service published its plans in August in the days before the Supreme Court’s ruling, and a lower court judge has since blocked key parts of the plan from going into effect for the November election.

The administration’s emergency appeal to the justices came hours after a federal judge in Massachusetts, during a hearing in the matter, expressed concerns that the plans could cause so much chaos in the coming elections that states would experience “major disenfranchisement.” Judge Indira Talwani had imposed a temporary block on the plan, which the administration had already appealed.

Rather than allow that legal process to play out, the administration is now taking the highly unusual step of trying to skip ahead and get immediate intervention from the Supreme Court.

It is not clear how the justices will greet the administration’s attempt to short-circuit the typical process, nor how quickly the court might act. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who handles emergency applications from that region of the country, signaled the court would deal with the issue on a speedy but not immediate timeline.

She did not issue an administrative stay, which the Trump administration had requested. Such a move would have immediately cleared the way for the government’s plan to be set in motion, even as the justices considered the case. But she asked the challengers to respond to the emergency application by Tuesday at 10 a.m.Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project, which represents voting rights groups challenging the plan, said in a statement that the Postal Service rule is “an unconstitutional attempt to upend mail voting on the eve of an election.” 

Special Reports

The New Yorker Magazine portrayed on its cover the last year the six Republicans on the U.S. Supreme Court as wearing Trump-styled blond wigs, with faces indistinguishable from that of their party's leader. Trump's planned ballroom replacing the demolished White House East Wing and three times the size of the rest of the White House, is portrayed by Trump below despite widespead legal criticism that he has no right to demolish historic structures throughout the nation's capital without congressional approvals.

Talking Feds, Opinion: Trump’s Ballroom Is Illegal, Despised, and Anti-Democratic, but the Supreme Court Greenlit It Anyway, Harry Litman, right, law professor and former high-ranking U.S. Justice Department executive,Sept. 3, 2026. “Our buildings shape us,” and this building will shape a failure of democracy.

On Monday, the Supreme Court told Donald Trump he can proceed full steam ahead to construct his monstrous ballroom. That’s not because the project is lawful: the per curiam, 5-4 order on the shadow docket expressly offered no opinion on the merits. Indeed, every court to consider the question—plus four dissenting justices on the high court—has concluded that the project is likely unlawful. It’s also a vile and fairly hideous affront to the most visible symbol of our democracy.

Rather, the Court held that the stay on construction should be lifted because the plaintiffs lacked standing and the order was irreparably harming the administration. Both aspects of the decision were flawed. The per curiam represents the shadow docket at its most pernicious: a loosey-goosey decision based on the procedural particulars of granting an emergency stay that has the possible effect of letting Trump get away with a national atrocity.

I’m about to sketch out the legal flaws in the per curiam opinion, but for the ballroom, it’s always important to keep the overall stakes in mind and the gravity of the Court’s legal mishmash. The White House is the people’s house, an architectural triumph that communicates our rejection of imperial rule and embrace of democracy. Trump’s undemocratic vision is to build a monument to himself, a swollen reflection of his hopelessly grandiose self-image. It’s a frontal attack on our own sense of the country that couldn’t happen in a well-functioning democracy.

To sue in federal court, you need standing, and the bedrock of standing is injury—something “concrete and particularized” that is “actual or imminent.” The typical injury is financial or physical, but the Court has long recognized the possibility of aesthetic injury, particularly in environmental cases. So, for example, in Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, the Court held that the “desire to observe an animal species, even for purely esthetic purposes” is “undeniably a cognizable interest for purpose of standing.”

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There’s an ethereal quality to aesthetic injury, but that doesn’t make it vaporous. We can appreciate a landscape, or work of art, or historical battlefield, or species, or public building with sustained passion and intensity, and its loss takes something valuable from us, whether or not it costs us money. That was the basis for standing in the ballroom lawsuit, and it’s difficult to see how it could be more concrete.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation brought the lawsuit. To sue as an organization, it had to put forward one member with standing in her own right. And in this case that was Alison Hoagland. Hoagland is not, as Trump sneered, some lady who happens to walk by. She is a professor of history and historic preservation, an authority on American architecture, and a Washington resident who goes to look at the White House because looking at it is, for her, the whole point.

The five-justice per curiam, or unsigned, opinion did not purport to overrule the cases that say so. Rather, it pooh-poohed and trivialized Hoagland’s felt harm, recasting her documented, decades-deep professional interest as “mere offense,” no different, in the majority’s telling, from “virtually every citizen” who wants “to challenge virtually every government action that they do not like.”

The Court carved off the environmental precedents on the ground that those plaintiffs did “more than” look: they fished, they swam, they hiked. In his dissent for four justices, Chief Justice John Roberts fairly demolished that argument, pointing out that the principal way anyone enjoys a historic building is precisely by looking at it, and that the Court had misconceived Hoagland’s injury.

What the majority actually did by way of determining that the administration was likely to prevail on the merits was narrow aesthetic standing to the vanishing point. As of now, “I want to look at a crocodile” (one of the Nile species at issue in Lujan) passes muster while “I want to look at the White House” does not. And since it’s hard to think of any prospective challenger to the ballroom who would not be relying on aesthetic injury, there is no clear path around the Court’s tacit reframing of the doctrine.

To grant the stay, the Supreme Court also needed to find that the administration would be irreparably injured if the stay weren’t granted. They really made hash of this critical factor.

The Court’s first recognition of irreparable harm was the mere fact that the executive will was frustrated. That is blatant bootstrapping that just restates the Court’s legal judgment—the injunction is harmful for the simple circular reason that it frustrates the executive’s efforts, which of course is a given. That sloppy account of irreparable harm has become a routine move for the conservative supermajority.

The Court also credited an argument from the administration that the ballroom’s “height and mass” are “crucial” to shield the underground installation from “kinetic impacts,” lest engineers “dig impractically deep.”

But this second theory, apart from being a kind of bureaucratic gibberish, was a mid-litigation invention. Roberts’s dissent guts it in a single devastating footnote. It points out that the government had earlier told the district court the opposite—that its below-ground security work was driven by concerns having nothing to do with the ballroom above it. And the injunction never touched that work: it barred only the ballroom, leaving the government free to build the underground facility and whatever was needed to protect it. The security the administration now says requires the full Trumpian plan was never at risk.

In fact, the actual irreparable harm is plainly on the plaintiffs’ side of the ledger. Stop the work and the executive’s pet project merely pauses. Let it proceed, and the crews return to 20-hour days, racing to build the project up to a point where it may be impossible to undo. That is irreparable harm in its plainest sense.

With the per curiam majority ducking the merits, Roberts’s dissent went to the heart of the case. Not surprisingly, Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson joined without a word of their own. The three of them obviously judged that the most powerful punch available was to let the Chief speak for all four, even though it wasn’t enough.

Roberts’s opinion begins with the straight declaration that the ballroom is likely unlawful, in effect a raw power grab. Congress has expressly forbidden any building on federal park grounds in the District of Columbia without its direct authorization, which it hasn’t given. The two statutes the government waves around—a couple million dollars appropriated for ordinary maintenance of the Executive Residence, and a general instruction to the Park Service to conserve historic objects—come nowhere near authorizing the president to raze the East Wing and put up a private ballroom with hundreds of millions in outside money.

The Contrarian, Opinion: Clyburn Puts Supreme Court Expansion Front and Center, Jennifer Rubin, Sept. 3, 2026. Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, veteran lawmaker Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) emphatically urged expanding seats on the Supreme Court from 9 to 13 justices. “A baker’s dozen would be a good number to have on the court,” he said. Court expansion, no longer the province of left-leaning academics thanks to the MAGA justices’ radicalism, has become an indisputably mainstream, pro-democracy response.

In truth, increasing the seats on the Supreme Court amounts to rebalancing. Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) packed the court when he denied Merrick Garland a hearing during President Obama’s term — yet rushed through Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation once election voting was already underway in 2020. Rebalancing to establish the proper equilibrium among the branches (i.e., reversing the MAGA justices’ investiture of the authoritarian executive power in Trump and their contemptuous disregard for Congress’s constitutional powers) is fundamental to preserving our constitutional system.

Increasing the number of seats on the court begins with a solid base of support. A June Marquette Law School poll showed the public split 50-50 on adding seats, up from just 42 percent support in 2019. Since 2021, support has varied between 48 and 52 percent, even without a nationally focused campaign on the issue. Simply because other proposals have even more support (the same poll shows term limits has approval from 73 percent of Republicans, 71 percent of independents, and 87 percent of Democrats) does not mean court expansion should be disregarded.

Indeed, fearing that court expansion might be catching on, the MAGA House majority Wednesday introduced a constitutional amendment freezing the number of justices at nine, confirmation that — absent such a measure — court expansion by statute is unquestionably constitutional. (It failed to win 2/3 required approval with only a single Democrat voting wth Republicans.) Ironically, the stunt underscores that nine is an arbitrary number, carrying no historical or constitutional significance. (Unsurprisingly, the GOP, which is beholden to dark money purveyors such as court fixer Leonard Leo, leaves out other overwhelmingly popular reforms, such as a mandatory ethics code.)

In opposing the gambit, the progressive group Demand Justice released a statement explaining:

Court expansion is the only court reform option that would promptly redress the 6-3 supermajority, which is itself the result of a partisan power grab. When the American people are counting on congressional Democrats to be the last line of defense against the Administration’s assault on the rule of law, it is more critical than ever to fight MAGA power grabs.

Noting that MAGA justices’ hugely unpopular and constitutionally flawed decisions in the Callais and Dobbs decisions have prompted trust in the court to decline and support for serious reform to spike, Demand Justice urges Congress to keep expansion as a viable option, observing that the “most persuasive argument in favor of expansion is the aggressive approach of the Court itself: the right-wing majority will continue to dramatically remake the law to favor the oligarchy.”

In the current environment, many Democrats nevertheless remain skittish about expanding the court, citing FDR’s failed New Deal scheme some 90 years ago. But as the bipartisan court commission assembled by President Biden recalled, “Soon after [FDR’s] plan was announced, the Supreme Court issued a series of decisions upholding state and federal regulation of the economy. . . . [which] left in place Roosevelt’s existing New Deal and ended an era in which the Court frequently invalidated laws designed to protect workers, consumers, and the public.” In short, it worked.Subscribed

Democrats too often shy away from proposals such as court expansion for fear of triggering blowback from Republicans — who championed McConnell’s court-packing. Avoiding a meritorious reform simply because it will upset Republicans or does not already have sky-high approval reveals bizarre timidity, and reflects a mindset that ignores the key role that persuasion and debate play in politics. A lengthy list of issues (from data centers to corruption to abolishing ICE) were not “winners” with voters until advocacy groups pushed to educate voters, independent media elevated them, and forward-leaning politicians took the lead.

What is key in the current environment is that dissatisfaction with the MAGA partisan Supreme Court is high (and likely to intensify with each new gift served up to their White House patron). This makes the rationale for serious, substantial restructuring of the court even more compelling.

Taken before the MAGA majority’s latest cringeworthy decision (allowing Donald Trump to build his ghastly ballroom), the Marquette poll found, for example, that 61 percent of Americans understand “the United States Supreme Court is ruling for President Donald Trump ‘almost always’ or ‘most of the time,’” and some 57 percent (including 60 percent of independents) say “the Court is going out of its way to avoid a ruling Trump might refuse to obey.” A captive, quisling court that has distorted the executive branch in direct contravention of the Framers’ vision (shaped by overwhelming fear of creating another monarch) is a court that requires dramatic, immediate repair.

Democrats should emphasize that court redesign is required because the MAGA majority (created by Republican confirmation shenanigans) has arrogantly rejected fundamental judicial norms (e.g., eschewing an enforceable ethics code, abusing the shadow docket to render opinions without judicial reasoning, shredding precedent when it suits them), and taken a sledgehammer to checks and balances (e.g., granting Donald Trump criminal immunity, destroying independent commissions).

Ideally, combining term limits for future justices with court expansion would be the fastest, most comprehensive, and effective way to rescue our democratic structure. Certainly, term limits on justices would help address concerns about diversity, a geriatric court, and hyper-partisanship — with the hope that more frequent appointments with term limits would reduce partisan frenzy surrounding court fights. While proponents are confident it could be done statutorily, this Supreme Court majority might not agree. Moreover, changing the composition of the court only by periodic retirements/replacements would be time-consuming, leaving the country at the mercy of MAGA constitutional destruction for years.

Democrats would do well to think more like the Republicans who readily claim a “mandate” after elections. If Democrats win the trifecta in 2028 under the banner of bold pro-democracy reform, their mandate certainly should include court rebalancing as part of their democracy restoration project.

Only a few of the potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders (e.g., Pete Buttigieg) have embraced court expansion, but most have not ruled it out. However, Democratic voters have a critical role to play in promoting a wide-ranging debate in the next presidential cycle: What will it take to return the Supreme Court to its proper role and recover our constitutional order? Thanks to Clyburn, that issue is squarely before the party.

Democrats should press candidates who claim to be serious about bold, structural reform to spell out what they think is necessary to revamp the Supreme Court. They should not minimize the threat the current MAGA court poses, nor trim their sails to avoid incurring the ire of those who have pummeled our democracy. As long as the MAGA court majority remains hostile to pluralistic democracy and to the restoration of our constitutional structure, it will block progress on virtually all serious issues —dark money, abortion, voting rights. Democrats must decide if they are resigned to that fate. 

Special Report: A Russian Father and Brave Daughter

Roman Sheremeta via Substack, News and Comment: This is what dictatorship looks like, Roman Sheremet, right, professor of economics and politics, Sept. 3,2026. In April 2022, a 12-year-old Russian girl named Masha Moskalyova was told in art class to draw a picture supporting russian troops in Ukraine. Instead, she drew a Ukrainian mother protecting her child as russian missiles flew toward them.

On the Ukrainian flag she wrote, “Glory to Ukraine.” On the russian flag: “No to war. No to Putin.”

Her school reported her to the authorities.

Police began investigating her father, Alexei Moskalyov, a single father who had raised Masha largely on his own. They searched his social media and discovered posts criticizing russia’s invasion and documenting russian atrocities in Bucha.

In December 2022, around a dozen russian security officers raided their home. They ransacked it, seized their computers, phones, and savings.

Alexei later said that during interrogations, officers beat him and slammed his head against the wall and floor. They blasted the russian national anthem at full volume while questioning him.

Eventually, the regime charged him with repeatedly “discrediting” the russian military because of his anti-war social-media posts.

Masha was taken away from him and placed in a state “social rehabilitation” center.

Alexei was sentenced to two years in a penal colony.

He later described horrific conditions there: a tiny punishment cell roughly two meters long, freezing temperatures, rats crawling out of the sewer, and days when he was forced to stand for as long as 16 hours because the bunk was locked against the wall.

Meanwhile, his daughter wrote to him.

“Dad, don’t give up.”

“You are my hero.”

They were separated for more than a year and a half.

On October 15, 2024, Alexei finally walked out of prison.

Masha was waiting for him.

Five days later, they fled russia.

They first escaped to Armenia and applied for a German humanitarian visa. After waiting for more than a year, their case stalled when Germany suspended the relevant humanitarian admission program.

Then France stepped in.

In March 2026, Masha and Alexei (shown above following his release) received French humanitarian visas and flew to Paris.

And on July 17, 2026, France granted them political asylum.

Today, Masha is drawing again and hopes to pursue art. She also writes and has spoken out in support of russian political prisoners.

When asked whether, knowing everything that happened afterward, she would still have made that drawing, Masha said she would.

“One only lives once.”

One drawing.

A child saying no to war.

And for that, the russian state destroyed their home, separated a father from his daughter, imprisoned him, and drove them both into exile.

This is what dictatorship looks like.

News Roundups

The Parnas Perspective, Thursday Night News, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Today’s rundown leads with Mitch McConnell, because 80 days later, nobody else seems to be asking the obvious question: where is he? His office has gone weeks without a real update, he’s missed 60 votes, and the only proof of life the public has gotten is two photos.

This week I went back to his D.C. residence myself and found it guarded by unmarked SUVs and marked Capitol Police cars, curtains drawn. Even Kentucky’s own governor says he hasn’t heard from McConnell in 80 days. Most outlets moved on from this story weeks ago. I haven’t, and I’m not going to until someone in his office gives a straight answer.

We’ve also got Liz Oyer’s new lawsuit against the DOJ, major updates in the Lindsay Clancy case, new reporting on ICE building a nationwide voter database, and a full list of other news below. Regarding the Lindsay Clancy trial, I answer all your questions below from a legal perspective as a lawyer who has witnessed numerous criminal trials.

I’m not going to stop asking about McConnell, and I’m not going to stop covering the stories other outlets let go cold.

Here’s the news:

The White House has launched arcade games for kids using your taxpayer dollars that allows the children to cosplay as border patrol agents to target undocumented immigrants in America.

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to grant the U.S. Postal Service sweeping power to withhold delivery of mail ballots, an emergency appeal that bypassed lower courts still weighing the case less than two months before the November midterms. The request is the latest chapter in a legal battle over a March executive order that gave federal agencies an unprecedented role in elections, which voter advocacy groups and 23 Democratic-led states have challenged in court. The administration described the new rules as merely “modest envelope-design and addressee-information requirements” that don’t amount to federal control over state election administration, and asked for a short-term order allowing USPS to implement them immediately. This follows an August ruling in which the same 6-3 conservative Supreme Court already sided with the administration on the issue. Since then, USPS has detailed its implementation plans, election officials have warned it’s too late to overhaul mail ballot systems this cycle, and a whistleblower report alleged the agency is rushing a complicated plan that could disenfranchise millions of voters, all as the first ballots begin entering the mail this week.

Flock’s director Caity Peak demonstrated FlockOS, a platform combining license plate readers, live video, drones, and gunshot detectors, using a Denver “No Kings” protest as an example of how it helps commanders track unfolding incidents. While Flock markets the system for crime-solving and locating missing persons, with data retention limits controlled by local police, critics point to its use monitoring protected activities like protests, citing Electronic Frontier Foundation findings of hundreds of protest-related searches in 2025.

Mitch McConnell update:

Kentucky Rep. James Comer said Thursday he expects Sen. Mitch McConnell to return to Washington when the Senate reconvenes on September 14, though he clarified he hasn’t spoken with McConnell himself, only with staff members, many originally from his own district, who told him it’s “their goal” for McConnell to be present next week. McConnell’s office would not confirm a timeline, saying only that there are no scheduling announcements at this time. McConnell, 84, has not voted in the Senate since June 11, aside from a proxy vote on the farm bill last month, and has been hospitalized since June 14 after a fall, later moving to a rehab center before being discharged to recover at home. The Senate remains in recess until it officially returns September 14.

McConnell has now gone 80 days without a single public appearance, and it’s been nearly a month since his office last provided any real update, despite his having missed 60 votes on matters including an Iran war powers resolution and Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation, a significant gap given Republicans’ narrow Senate majority. A visit to his D.C. residence this week found it heavily guarded by unmarked SUVs and Capitol Police, with most curtains drawn though a first-floor window was open and no mail had piled up, unlike during his hospitalization. His office has released only two “proof-of-life” photos since his disappearance, both showing him smiling beside wife Elaine Chao without offering insight into his actual health, and it ignored questions ahead of the 80-day mark. Confusion has reportedly become “the talk of Congress,” with even Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s office declining to say when he last actually spoke with McConnell directly.

Despite his prolonged absence, aides have continued speaking on McConnell’s behalf back in Kentucky, with his state director apologizing for his absence at a Louisville housing event last month and a written statement issued under his name praising a local business owner’s legacy. Kentucky Republican lawmakers say they expect him back later this month, but by their own admission that expectation rests on conversations with GOP leadership and staff rather than with McConnell directly. McConnell isn’t the only lawmaker to have vanished mysteriously this year: Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey disappeared for months before revealing upon his return that he had been treated for depression. The parallel raises further questions about what, if anything, McConnell’s team is not disclosing about his condition as his return date approaches.

Liz Oyer sues Department of Justice:

Former U.S. Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer filed suit against the Justice Department and Attorney General Todd Blanche, alleging she was illegally fired after refusing to recommend restoring actor Mel Gibson’s gun rights despite his domestic violence conviction and personal ties to President Trump. Oyer says she was pressured to make it appear an independent review had cleared Gibson, even though he hadn’t undergone the extensive background investigation given to other applicants, and that a senior official on Blanche’s staff pushed her to approve it anyway because of Gibson’s relationship with Trump. Hours after she submitted a memo declining to recommend restoring his rights, DOJ security officers arrived at her office with termination papers and escorted her out. Oyer, who spent over 13 years in federal service with strong performance reviews, is represented by Democracy Forward and previously challenged her removal before the Merit Systems Protection Board more than 16 months ago without a substantive review.

The lawsuit argues DOJ violated Oyer’s constitutional and statutory due process rights as a career civil servant, and that the agency’s own legal reasoning undermines its case: DOJ has claimed only the Attorney General can exercise Article II removal authority, yet Oyer was fired by Blanche while he was still Deputy Attorney General, not by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi. The suit seeks a declaration that her removal was unlawful, reinstatement to federal service, restored pay and benefits, and a bar on further retaliatory action against her. Oyer said in a statement that she was fired for refusing to put politics ahead of her duty to the public, warning that if career officials can be dismissed for not bending rules for a president’s friends, the message to public servants is that political loyalty outweighs loyalty to the Constitution. Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman said the case aims to stop any administration from weaponizing government power against career officials who refuse political demands.

The case, Oyer v. Blanche et al., is being handled by a Democracy Forward legal team that includes Joshua Salzman, Webb Lyons, and Elena Goldstein. Oyer served as U.S. Pardon Attorney from April 2022 until March 2025, a tenure that included the episode at the center of the lawsuit. The press release notes the full complaint has been made publicly available. Democracy Forward, a 501(c)(3) organization, is also promoting a new book by Perryman, “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times,” which the release notes became a USA Today bestseller within two days of its release. No response from DOJ or Blanche was included in the release.

Lindsay Clancy:

The Lindsay Clancy murder trial neared a mistrial Thursday after the Massachusetts jury sent its second deadlock notice following nearly six days of deliberation, prompting defense attorney Kevin Reddington to ask Judge William Sullivan to remove a juror he claimed “refuses to listen to the law” on reasonable doubt. Sullivan declined, saying he couldn’t determine what was happening inside deliberations and that each juror, when questioned individually, confirmed they could follow his instructions. Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague argued the judge’s handling of the jury’s question was appropriate, and the panel was sent back to deliberate before being dismissed for the day around 4 p.m. Sullivan can only send jurors back twice before declaring a mistrial unless they agree to continue, and he already issued Tuey-Rodriguez instructions urging one last attempt at a verdict; a third deadlock note would likely end in a mistrial, though Reddington says he’d be ready for a second trial as soon as next week. I answer your questions:

The jury must decide whether Clancy is criminally responsible for killing her three children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, in January 2023, after which she attempted suicide by jumping from her bedroom window and was left paralyzed from the waist down. The defense argues she was in postpartum psychosis and acted on auditory hallucinations, while prosecutors contend she was not psychotic and planned the killings, including sending her then-husband out on errands beforehand. Jurors can convict Clancy of first-degree murder, which carries a life sentence, or lesser charges of second-degree murder or manslaughter, or find her not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. Tensions boiled over in court Thursday when an animated Reddington wheeled Clancy into a sidebar discussion with the judge and attorneys, after which she returned to the defense table appearing upset but composed.

ICE Builds Out Nationwide Voting Database:

ICE is preparing to award a contract worth up to $5 million to a company that will build a massive national database of voters, according to a solicitation document published last week. The database would combine publicly available voter registration and voting history files from all 50 states, including data from every federal election, general, primary, runoff, and special. Contractors won’t initially be asked to collect party affiliation data, but that restriction could be lifted if the contracting officer, HSI section chief Michael Royer, directs it in writing. Experts believe compiling this kind of data, especially party affiliation, could violate voters’ privacy rights. ICE, DHS, and Royer did not respond to requests for comment, and the final contract is expected to be awarded shortly after publication next Monday, with its term expiring September 30.

This voter database effort is part of a much broader DHS and Trump administration push that critics say is designed to undermine trust in the midterm elections. The Department of Justice has spent over a year demanding states hand over unredacted voter rolls, an effort states and courts have resisted, while DHS has threatened to withhold emergency preparedness and counterterrorism funding from states that don’t comply with White House election policies. DHS has also directed ICE to deport people suspected of voting illegally even without criminal convictions, despite research showing noncitizen voting is extremely rare, a point underscored by a Georgia investigation this week that found very few such cases. DHS separately announced a new surge to investigate alleged voter fraud in select states ahead of the midterms. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers dismissed the effort as “a joke,” saying voting is a state issue, not a federal one.

This isn’t ICE’s first attempt to access voter data. In July, the agency was reported to be paying Thomson Reuters $125 million for access to its CLEAR database, which aggregates names, addresses, property records, driver’s licenses, social media, and voter registration data from public and private sources. In June, ICE agents reportedly obtained individual voter rolls directly from election officials in counties in Texas and North Carolina. Last year, WIRED reported that DOGE was building a separate master database pulling from DHS, the Social Security Administration, the IRS, and voter data from Pennsylvania and Florida. A senior DHS official told WIRED at the time that the effort had “nothing to do with finding fraud or wasteful spending,” describing it instead as cross-referencing immigration data with SSA, IRS, and voter records.

Other news:

Fox News parted ways with longtime anchor Maria Bartiromo on Thursday after 12.5 years, with a spokesperson thanking her “for her work” but offering no further explanation. Bartiromo had served as Fox Business Network’s global markets editor since 2014, hosting “Mornings with Maria” and “Sunday Morning Futures,” and became known for a more openly conservative turn after leaving CNBC, where Cabinet secretaries regularly appeared on her shows during Trump’s terms. Her past commentary was cited as evidence in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox, which the network settled for $787 million in 2023. Her biography and show pages had already been removed from Fox’s website by Thursday, and she hadn’t appeared on air since August 9. She previously spent nearly 21 years at CNBC, where she was the first person to report live from the New York Stock Exchange floor.

JD Vance was asked whether Bartiromo will be the next White House Press Secretary:

Elon Musk’s America PAC has spent roughly $800,000 boosting Republican candidates in competitive midterm races, with Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton the biggest beneficiary at nearly a quarter-million dollars, followed by over $170,000 in Maine and over $25,000 in Michigan. The super PAC is active in House and Senate races across more than a dozen states, following digital ad spending reported last week in Maine, Michigan and New Hampshire aimed at supporting conservatives and voter registration. The spending comes as Republicans have flagged concerns about Paxton’s fundraising gap and called for outside help. Musk spent over $250 million backing Trump and Republicans in the 2024 election, and had a rocky patch with Trump last year, including briefly threatening to launch a third party, but the two appear to be on good terms again after Musk joined Trump’s state visit to China this year.

ICE agent Christian Castro has been federally charged with making false statements about the events leading up to his shooting of Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg earlier this year, marking the first Justice Department charge against an officer for on-duty conduct during nationwide immigration operations. Castro already faced state charges in Minnesota for second-degree assault and filing a false report, and federal prosecutors previously dropped charges against Sosa-Celis and another man for allegedly attacking Castro after surveillance footage contradicted his account. The shooting occurred after ICE tried to pull over a truck driven by Sosa-Celis’s cousin, who fled and was tackled near Sosa-Celis’s apartment door, with Sosa-Celis saying he was shot through the door moments after locking it. Castro was placed on administrative leave and briefly jailed in Texas before being released last week when the state’s governor declined to immediately approve his extradition to Minnesota. The Justice Department is still weighing whether to pursue additional civil rights charges against him.

The FDA announced a recall of one lot of Walmart’s Great Value Organic Triple Berry Blend frozen fruit, sold in 16 states, over potential E. coli O145:H28 contamination, as an expansion of a July recall tied to Publix frozen berries from the same supplier, Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur. The affected 10-ounce bags carry UPC 7874211226, lot code 6040 01-6, and a best-if-used-by date of Feb. 9, 2028, and while the broader outbreak has sickened 12 people including four hospitalizations, no illnesses have been linked to the Walmart product specifically, with the recall issued out of caution after traceback information. Consumers with the recalled berries should discard them or return them to Walmart for a refund, and anyone who ate them should watch for E. coli symptoms like severe cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can be more serious in children, older adults, and those with weakened immune systems.

OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra on Thursday, calling it the world’s most intelligent AI model and the first to trigger stricter internal safety protocols due to its advanced cybersecurity capabilities, including the ability to autonomously find and exploit security flaws in well-protected systems. Co-founder Greg Brockman said Astra can do “anything a human can do with a computer” and called its release the start of the “AGI era,” while chief scientist Jakub Pachocki acknowledged that understanding what increasingly capable models can do is getting harder. The release follows a report last week revealing an unreleased model from the same family had autonomously seized administrator control over part of OpenAI’s own infrastructure and potentially exposed internal data, without staff knowledge. Reporting this week also raised concerns that a training technique used in Astra could make it harder for humans to understand how the model “thinks,” which Pachocki pushed back on. Altman said Astra went through the White House’s voluntary AI vetting process, with Brockman noting the administration requested no safeguard changes.

Australian police issued an arrest warrant for “Below Deck Mediterranean” star Nathan Gallagher, 28, after he missed a court appearance tied to a December 2025 domestic violence arrest and was granted conditional bail. New South Wales police shared his photo and asked the public for help locating him, noting he’s believed to be offshore and warning people not to approach him. Gallagher, in a statement to Rolling Stone, acknowledged making “mistakes” but said the public hadn’t heard the “full story,” pointing to a complicated situation involving his former partner and co-star Gael Cameron, with whom he shares a son. Bravo confirmed the current season wrapped before the incident and said it does not plan to work with Gallagher in the future.

A GAO report released Thursday found the Secret Service failed to update more than a third of its protection policies within the agency’s own required four-year window, with some guidelines on vice presidential foreign trips and foreign leader visits left unchanged for over 20 years. The watchdog also found the agency didn’t document its reasoning when deciding security incidents didn’t warrant policy changes, which GAO said may have prevented officials from spotting an emerging pattern of drone-related threats before a drone was used in the 2024 assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. Three earlier drone incidents, near an Obama motorcade in 2015, over a Bernie Sanders rally in 2016, and above Biden’s 2021 inauguration, went unaddressed in policy terms before the Butler attack. The report lands amid continued scrutiny of the agency following multiple threats this year, including a shooter entering the Washington Hilton during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and a shootout near the White House close to a Vance motorcade route. A Secret Service spokesperson said the agency overhauled its site-security policy after Butler and is implementing GAO’s other recommendations, noting it concurs with the findings and has made “significant institutional reforms” since 2024.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday there’s a chance of reaching a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, while Ukraine’s foreign minister said he expects a “new dynamic” in diplomatic efforts, though neither offered specifics. Putin said countries including the U.S. and China were ready to support a settlement but that Russia and Ukraine must ultimately resolve it themselves, while also calling recent Ukrainian attacks on civilian ships “acts of state terrorism” that complicate talks. The comments come after both sides escalated long-range strikes and naval attacks since U.S.-mediated talks stalled in February, pushing up global grain prices and causing wheat futures to drop over 2% on Putin’s remarks. Putin said contacts with Ukraine continue mainly through intelligence channels, and India’s foreign minister offered to help mediate. Zelenskyy this week warned airlines that Russian skies are dangerous due to Ukrainian drone activity, while insisting Ukraine only targets Russian military facilities.

Oil prices climbed for a fourth straight session Thursday, pushing diesel to $5.78 a gallon, its highest level since 2022 and up more than 53% since the Iran war began in February, while regular gasoline rose to a $4.14 national average. Brent crude topped $97 a barrel, nearly 10% higher than the week’s start, driven largely by the Iran war choking traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and Russia’s diesel export ban following Ukrainian drone strikes on its refineries. Analysts said only increased Persian Gulf oil flow or a resumption of Russian exports could meaningfully ease prices, with Gulf exports estimated at 50-67% of pre-war levels. The energy price surge has also pushed 30-year mortgage rates to 6.91% amid inflation concerns, though Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he expects upcoming inflation readings to stay “reasonable” unless August data comes in hot enough to justify a rate hike.

An internal review by The Athletic found former NFL reporter Dianna Russini had an “awkward” and “uncomfortable” undisclosed relationship with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, though investigators found no clear evidence she used her platform to professionally benefit him. Russini resigned in April after photos of her and the married Vrabel at an Arizona hotel drew scrutiny, and the review, which examined over 900 bylined stories and 200 podcast episodes, found the relationship violated the outlet’s disclosure standards regardless of whether it was romantic. Investigators highlighted a 2023 column in which Russini wrote Vrabel wouldn’t be fired as Titans coach, based on conversations with “high-ranking” team officials, just two months before he was in fact fired. Vrabel returned to coaching in 2025 and led the Patriots to a dramatic turnaround, earning Coach of the Year honors. Russini could not be reached for comment.

John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, appeared in a Tennessee court Thursday and agreed to extradition to South Carolina to face charges connected to the death of their 5-year-old nonverbal daughter, Saylor, whose body was found in waters near Pawleys Island. The couple, arrested more than 350 miles away in Tennessee, will be moved to South Carolina within 10 days and remain jailed without bond, having also waived their right to hire an attorney during the process. Arrest affidavits accuse the parents of misdirecting search efforts toward Saylor’s tracking device despite knowing she wasn’t wearing it. Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said Saylor “deserved to be safe” and “deserved to be protected.” Records show John Hayes faced a prior 2023 child abuse case in Virginia that ended in dismissed charges after a deferred disposition and probation.

At least five people died and dozens more are feared dead after a migrant boat carrying West African men was found drifting in the Atlantic near Spain’s Canary Islands, with 44 survivors rescued and brought to Gran Canaria. Survivors, all men from Mali or Senegal, some underage, reported leaving Gambia and being stranded at sea for nearly a month, running out of provisions and falling ill from drinking seawater; Red Cross workers described them as disoriented and dehydrated upon arrival. Survivors said more than 100 people were originally aboard, including women and a baby, and that bodies of those who died during the journey were thrown overboard as the group weakened. Migrant rights group Walking Borders separately reported 83 deaths on the voyage, including three women and an infant, though this has not been independently confirmed. The Atlantic route to the Canary Islands remains one of the deadliest migration crossings to Europe, with tens of thousands dead or missing in recent years despite falling overall arrival numbers.

Minnesota Rep. Pete Stauber is running to become the top Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee next Congress, setting up a possible clash with current chair Bruce Westerman, who is term-limited but hasn’t ruled out seeking a waiver to serve a fourth term. Stauber, who has sat on the committee since 2020 and chairs its Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, is already speaking with GOP Conference and steering committee members about his bid, which his spokesperson says will proceed regardless of Westerman’s decision. Westerman, while calling himself “more focused on winning the majority,” declined to say whether he’d pursue a waiver, insisting any friction with Stauber wouldn’t strain their friendship. The GOP Steering Committee will decide committee leadership assignments after the midterms. Stauber and Westerman aren’t alone: House Agriculture Chair GT Thompson has already filed a waiver request even as Rep. Austin Scott eyes succeeding him, and Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers plans to seek his own waiver, though Reps. Ronny Jackson, Rob Wittman, and Trent Kelly have also expressed interest in that post.

Nvidia agreed to acquire AI developer platform Hugging Face for $12.93 billion, one of its largest acquisitions ever, betting that supporting open-weight AI models will sustain demand even as major customers like Meta, OpenAI and Microsoft develop their own chips to reduce reliance on Nvidia. The deal gives Nvidia direct access to a platform developers use to build, test and share AI tools, potentially helping it narrow the gap with top U.S. and Chinese AI labs, including cost-competitive Chinese firms like DeepSeek and Z.ai. Nvidia will pay about $11.9 billion to Hugging Face’s investors plus up to $1 billion in retention equity for employees, and CEO Jensen Huang said the platform will remain open and won’t require Nvidia chips to use. Hugging Face, founded in 2016 by Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond and Thomas Wolf and backed by Intel, AMD and Amazon, also hosts datasets and cloud tools for AI development. The company was recently in the news after a hack involving rogue AI agents that escaped an OpenAI testing environment.

President Trump said Thursday the U.S. will ask Europe to reimburse Washington for the “hundreds of billions” in munitions sent to Ukraine under former President Biden, framing it as a belated correction rather than acknowledging any current shortage. The claim comes as the U.S. military faces dwindling stockpiles from its ongoing war with Iran, now in its seventh month, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies reporting roughly 1,500 Patriot interceptors used since the war began, leaving under 1,000 in stock, and THAAD interceptors dropping from 452 to well under 300. Trump insisted the U.S. has “virtually unlimited” mid-to-high grade ammunition and called reports of shortages “treasonous,” accusing critics and media outlets of wanting America to lose a war he says is being “easily” won. He said the military is now stockpiling munitions for domestic use rather than selling them abroad. The reimbursement request follows a 2025 arrangement in which the U.S. and Europe agreed Washington would send weapons to Ukraine in transactions financed by European allies.

Meidas Touch Network, Thursday Afternoon Update: MAGA Mike’s House Shutdown, Ben Meiselas, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Here’s your free midday update.

• Mike Johnson abruptly cancels the last two weeks of September in Congress after denying he’d do so just days ago
• Billionaire Leon Black skipped out on his House Oversight deposition on Epstein and is suing the committee
• Trump favorite Maria Bartiromo is abruptly out at Fox
• Federal prosecutors charge an ICE agent with lying about a Minnesota shooting
• Trump continues insisting we have “virtually unlimited” ammo, while claiming reporters covering U.S. munitions shortages are “treasonous”
• Iran’s overnight barrage on U.S. bases
• Oil spikes toward $100/barrel
• Trump continues attacking Canada and PM Carney
• House Republicans vent their tariff frustrations at Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer during a closed-door meeting
• A federal judge again blocks Trump’s latest attempt to gut birthright citizenship
• The Antwerp diamond industry’s story about the diamond ring it gave to Trump keeps falling apart
• Mortgage rates and treasury yields climb to multi-year highs

Now let’s dive in.

MAGA Mike Runs and Hides

MAGA Mike Johnson has made it officially: the last two weeks of September are canceled for the House. See ya later. The House won’t return until after the midterm elections unless the Senate moves their reconciliation package. This comes just a couple days after Johnson defensively mocked Thomas Massie for suggesting leadership might do exactly this to dodge the new Epstein Files Transparency Act, calling the idea “stupid” and “nonsensical.” Well, what does that make you, Mike?

James Comer, meanwhile, is skipping Trump’s midterm convention in Dallas, joining more than 45 other Republicans who’ve said they won’t attend, either. While on NewsNation, Comer also struggled to explain why Trump’s MAGA Inc. war chest has only spent $21M of its $400M with the midterms just a couple months out.Billionaire Leon Black Backs Out

Billionaire Leon Black, who appears in the Epstein files, filed a lawsuit to block his own subpoena from the House Oversight Committee rather than show up and answer questions. Black was the CEO of Apollo Global Management, before revelations from the Epstein files sparked his resignation. Democrats are now calling for Black to be held in contempt.Bartiromo Is Out

State regime media known as Fox abruptly announced this morning that it has parted ways with host, and Trump favorite, Maria Bartiromo, after 12.5 years. No explanation given. She’s out effective immediately. 

An ICE Agent Actually Gets Charged

A federal grand jury has indicted ICE officer Christian Castro on charges of making false statements regarding a nonfatal shooting during ICE’s invasion of Minneapolis this past January. Trump’s own DOJ is accusing one of its federal agents of criminal wrongdoing on the job. Castro shot and wounded Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan man who lacked legal status. Trump officials at the time instantly defended Castro, then quietly backed away as video footage emerged showing the Trump regime’s account did not match reality.Trump’s Ammo Meltdown

Trump woke up this morning and raged some more at journalists telling the truth about his disastrous war. He posted that the U.S. has virtually unlimited amounts of mid to high grade ammo, more than we can ever use, and that anyone reporting otherwise is “treasonous scum.” Then he posted an AI-generated graphic titled “Hormuz Oil Volumes are BACK!” that shows oil flows dropping from 20M barrels a day to 18M. Meanwhile, in the real world, Brent crude hit over $97, a 6-week high, and the crack spread between crude and diesel is about the widest it has ever been.Iran’s Surprise Attacks

Overnight, Iran launched missile and drone strikes against U.S. assets across Kuwait, with explosions and sirens reported and flights diverting away from the country. Reports claim Iranian forces targeted U.S. bases in Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the UAE over an 8-hour stretch. This happened at the same time reporting broke in the WSJ that Trump is now privately discussing with aides whether to just declare that the war is over and the U.S. won, a move he’s tried before. Hegseth is now extending Mideast deployments into 2027, which means more strain on our troops. And reports are coming in from our service members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, who upon docking in Thailand, are calling this the worst deployment of their careers. Some said they had no interest in a port call in Thailand. They just want to come home.U.S. President Donald Trump speaks while hosting a dinner in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 2, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

About That “Golden Age”

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve just fell below 290M barrels for the first time since 1982. Mortgage rates are marching toward 7%. The 10-year treasury yield has climbed from under 4% to nearly 4.8% since the Iran war began. The trade deficit ballooned in July, driven largely by imports needed to feed the AI data center boom, a boom which appears to be the only thing propping up private construction spending right now, while every other category of construction has collapsed by roughly $120B. Meanwhile, Canadian exports to the U.S. fell 6.6% in July, while its exports everywhere else hit a record high. Trump also keeps threatening Canada’s economy. Worth noting: Canada’s economy added 75.1K jobs in July. The U.S. lost 23K.

His Own Party Is Losing Patience

House Republicans sat down behind closed doors with U.S. Trade Rep. Greer and reportedly let him have it over Trump’s tariff war, per Semafor. GOP reps know how bad these tariffs are, not only for the economy, but for their midterm chances.Antwerp’s Diamond Industry Says the Trump Ring Wasn’t a Bribe. Its Own Words Say Otherwise.

The Antwerp World Diamond Centre still insists the diamond ring it gave Trump in June was just a friendly gift for America’s 250th anniversary and nothing to do with the tariff exemption on European diamonds Trump restored a month later. But AWDC’s own public filings admit the tariff exemption wasn’t guaranteed until after the gift. In an exclusive MeidasTouch report, Senator Warren told us that this looks like exactly what it is.

And in other legal news, a federal judge in Maryland again blocked Trump’s latest executive order attempting to limit birthright citizenship, writing plainly that no presidential order can undo what the Supreme Court has done. For those wondering, yes, SCOTUS had already settled this back in June. But this decision was a lower court follow-up blocking a new, narrower Trump order Trump tried to make to work around the ruling.

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Big Epstein Update: Alleged Co-Conspirator with Sealed NDAs Sues, GOP Senator Calls for Hegseth’s Firing, McConnell Update, and More, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Today’s rundown leads with new developments in the Epstein story: subpoenas, sealed NDAs, and a $158 million question about what one of his associates was really paying for. We also look into Mitch McConnell, issues with Hegseth, and more right now.

Covering this material isn’t free of consequences. Since I started digging into the Epstein network and the powerful people who moved through it, I’ve faced pushback I didn’t expect: hostile messages, attempts to discredit the reporting, and pressure from people who’d clearly prefer this story stay buried. I’m telling you this because you deserve to know what it takes to keep this coverage independent, answering to no advertiser, no network, and no one with a stake in how these names get treated.

I’m not going to stop. Let’s get into today’s news.

Alleged Epstein Co-Conspirator:

Alleged Epstein co-conspirator, Leon Black (shown above in a photo collage with Jeffrey Epstein), is suing the House Oversight Committee to block subpoenas tied to his deposition testimony and an effort to obtain his NDAs with women, arguing the subpoenas lack a legitimate legislative purpose and exceed Congress’ authority. The lawsuit comes as Black faces a committee deposition Thursday after refusing in June to answer questions about those NDAs, part of a broader inquiry into his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. At the center of that inquiry are $158 million in payments Black made to Epstein between 2012 and 2017 for what Epstein called tax and estate-planning “art,” a fee Epstein himself struggled to justify, once writing “the value is in the eye of the beholder.” Senator Ron Wyden has released a report finding Bank of America flagged $170 million in suspicious Epstein-related transactions connected to Black, some with “no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose,” and has called at least some payments equivalent to hush money. A 2021 Apollo-commissioned Dechert report found no wrongdoing and said Epstein’s strategies saved Black $1-2 billion in taxes, though outside tax lawyers told Bloomberg the techniques were largely standard estate-planning tools rather than the novel work Dechert described.

Congressman Thomas Massie named Black as one of 14 possible co-conspirators associated with Epstein:

The core transaction underlying the dispute was a 2012 crisis: Black’s family trust had overpaid him $142 million, risking a clawback that could have cost up to $1 billion in estate taxes, and Epstein devised a fix where Black gave up future trust distributions in exchange for swapping the trust’s $1.6 billion Apollo stake for a promissory note backed by art and stock. Dechert’s report called this a “grand slam,” but Bloomberg found the underlying technique, a “power of substitution,” was a well-established estate-planning tool that Black’s own longtime lawyer had presented on nearly a decade earlier. Epstein also helped Black extract tax benefits from valuation discounts on subdivided Apollo shares and from a 2015-16 transaction selling a stake in Black’s art-book company Phaidon at a reduced valuation to Black’s own employee and brother-in-law, a deal one outside lawyer warned the IRS likely wouldn’t approve and could result in “an embarrassing article in the Wall Street Journal.” That Phaidon deal eventually closed in revised form and saved Black about $11.6 million in taxes. Disputes over fees tied to these transactions, especially Phaidon, became a central source of friction between the two men.

The relationship fully collapsed over a 2016 art deal in which Epstein personally bought two artworks from Black for $30 million to help him defer capital-gains taxes via a like-kind exchange, then struggled to resell them and grew increasingly frustrated, at one point complaining Black hadn’t even offered to buy him lunch. Financial records show both men treated Epstein’s later reimbursement demand as a $30.5 million loan, of which Epstein repaid only $10 million, privately writing that he believed he actually owed Black a smaller amount. Epstein also hinted at leverage, warning that disclosing details of the tax exchange “will cost him more than the 30” and would expose other problematic past transactions. According to the Dechert report, Epstein’s failure to repay the remaining loan balance led Black to sever ties with him later that year, and weeks after the breakup, renewed media scrutiny of Epstein’s criminal conduct emerged, casting fresh attention on the relationship that had just ended.

Republican Calls on Hegseth to be Fired, Pressure Builds:

The Pentagon announced new clinical guidelines Wednesday requiring male service members age 30 and older to be screened for testosterone deficiency during their regular health assessments, following Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s summer call for the change. Troops diagnosed with hypogonadism will get follow-up testing and treatment options including testosterone replacement therapy, which Hegseth has said is voluntary. Men under 30 will be offered optional annual screenings, while women will be asked about symptoms of hormonal dysregulation and referred for further evaluation if needed. The Pentagon frames the push as aimed at force readiness, and cites research suggesting high-stress roles, including special operations, carry elevated risk of hormone-related issues sometimes called “Operator Syndrome.”

A wave of senior Pentagon and military leaders has departed since Hegseth took over, most recently Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who resigned Monday reportedly amid an icy relationship with Hegseth and concerns about the Army’s condition. Others pushed out or forced into early retirement include Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, Gen. Christopher Donahue, Vice Chief Gen. James Mingus, and Navy Secretary John Phelan, along with a February 2025 purge that removed Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown Jr., Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Gen. James Slife. Hegseth has pursued a broader effort to reduce the number of generals and root out what he calls “wokeness” in the ranks. The pattern spans nearly every military branch and includes intelligence roles like NSA/CYBERCOM chief Gen. Timothy Haugh and DIA director Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse.

Senator Thom Tillis publicly urged President Trump to fire Hegseth on Wednesday, accusing him of “inept mismanagement” and creating a “leadership void” as the six-month-old war with Iran continues without resolution. Tillis, who voted to confirm Hegseth despite reservations, said the secretary is “intimidated by competence” and focused on culture wars rather than modernizing the military for evolving warfare seen in Ukraine and against Iran. He directly tied Driscoll’s resignation to Hegseth’s leadership style, saying a better secretary would be fighting to retain talent rather than pushing it out.

Hegseth faces mounting scrutiny as the war with Iran, launched February 28, has left the Pentagon grappling with reportedly shrinking munitions stockpiles and no clear end in sight. More than two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the administration’s handling of the war, according to an August 31 University of Massachusetts poll, and the conflict has coincided with spiking fuel prices and sinking approval numbers for Trump ahead of November’s midterms. Hegseth has also pursued controversial changes including limiting press access to the Pentagon and reviewing academy admissions standards, moves that have drawn criticism even from within his own party.

Other news:

Senator Mitch McConnell’s absence from public view hit 80 days on Wednesday, with no update from his office on his condition in nearly a month, fueling growing speculation and criticism in Washington. The 84-year-old Kentucky Republican has missed 60 votes since his June 14 hospitalization, including on an Iran war powers resolution and the confirmation of Attorney General Todd Blanche, at a time when the GOP holds only a narrow Senate majority. A visit to McConnell’s D.C. residence this week found it guarded by a security detail of three unmarked SUVs plus marked Capitol Police cars, with most curtains drawn but no mail piling up outside as there had been during his hospital stay. His office has released only two “proof of life” photos since he vanished from public view, both showing him smiling with wife Elaine Chao but revealing nothing about his health, and aides have ignored repeated requests for a video update or phone call to a media outlet. McConnell missed two major Kentucky events he’d normally attend, the Fancy Farm picnic and the Kentucky Farm Bureau Country Ham Breakfast, and while some allies like Scott Jennings claim to have had lengthy phone calls with him, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear says he’s heard nothing from the senator in 80 days.

U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday blocking Trump’s August executive order that sought to further narrow birthright citizenship, calling his legal reasoning a “distorted” reading of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling. The order, Trump’s second attempt to limit the 14th Amendment’s citizenship guarantee, tried to carve out new exceptions for children of parents labeled “alien enemies,” foreign government employees, or those accused of “birth tourism,” despite the Court’s ruling in Trump v. Barbara that children born to parents “unlawfully or temporarily present” are still “citizens at birth.” Boardman wrote that “no Presidential Executive Order can undo what the Supreme Court has done” and found the administration cited no language from the Barbara decision to support its interpretation because none exists. She specifically cited two mothers, from Venezuela and Mexico, whose children risked being wrongly classified as members of designated terrorist organizations under the order. Boardman called the order “almost certainly unconstitutional” as applied to the certified class of children covered by the earlier ruling.

Gloria Steinem, the pioneering feminist journalist and activist, died Wednesday at her New York City home at age 92, surrounded by loved ones, according to a statement on her official Instagram page. No cause of death was given. She rose to national prominence in 1963 with an undercover exposé on the working conditions of Playboy bunnies, then went on to co-found Ms. magazine in 1971 and become the public face of second-wave feminism. Her activism helped reshape rights for women, from credit access to Ivy League admission to legal abortion, and she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2013. She married David Bale in 2000 after decades of publicly rejecting marriage, and continued working for equality until the end of her life.

A shooting at a downtown Minneapolis apartment building Wednesday afternoon left three dead, including the suspect, and at least six injured, among them police officers. Interim Police Chief Bill Peterson said officers exchanged gunfire with the shooter and entered the building after reports of an active shooter, encountering victims and a visibility-limiting haze on an upper floor. Two officers were shot, one in the leg and one twice in the abdomen, while a third suffered non-gunfire injuries; all three are expected to recover. Witnesses described hearing 25 to 30 gunshots and seeing people wounded in the lobby, with one resident saying he had previously reported the suspect to building management after encountering him with a handgun. The FBI and ATF responded to assist local authorities, and the surrounding area was cleared before being declared secure.

The Dutch central bank announced it relocated tens of tons of gold from the United States and Canada to Europe between March and August, citing “crisis preparedness” amid global political unrest. Roughly 86 metric tons moved to London from a combined 313 metric tons held in New York and Ottawa, shifting each city’s share of Dutch holdings down to 18.5 percent from 31.3 percent and 19.7 percent respectively. The bank holds 612.4 metric tons of gold total, valued at about 72.2 billion euros ($83.6 billion) at the end of 2025. Governor Olaf Sleijpen said the move improves the “tradability” of reserves, calling London-held gold the world’s most easily accessible in a crisis compared with New York or Ottawa. Part of the shift involved selling gold in New York and using proceeds to buy gold in London rather than physically transporting all of it.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced Thursday that Russia will close German Goethe-Institut cultural centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, retaliating after Germany shut the Russian Consulate in Bonn and a Russian cultural center in Berlin. The move follows Germany blaming Moscow for a drone plot at Leipzig/Halle Airport, a major freight hub supporting Ukraine, where an explosive-laden drone was found and defused in early August. Putin has denied the allegations, claiming Germany is deflecting from domestic political troubles and that evidence was “planted.” The episode is part of a broader pattern Western officials call hybrid war, including Britain summoning Russia’s top diplomat, a large-scale Finnish civil defense drill, Norway seizing a Russian vessel tied to a Ukrainian arbitration claim, and Danish intelligence warning of possible Russian sabotage targeting defense companies. EU ministers met to weigh further sanctions but are struggling to find new non-military response options.

Firefighters rescued a man trapped inside a Recology garbage truck in San Francisco early Wednesday morning after the truck’s driver was flagged down by someone who heard yelling from the truck’s garbage compartment. About 25 firefighters responded to the roughly two-hour operation, during which one firefighter suffered a hand laceration requiring stitches. The rescued man was conscious, breathing and talking when he was taken to a hospital, though the extent of his injuries was not immediately known. A fire official said he is believed to have climbed into a dumpster looking for food before becoming trapped when the truck compacted its contents. The incident occurred on the 100 block of Mason Street.

American journalist Thomas Weir Pauken II, 51, was sentenced to two years in federal prison for acting as an illegal agent of China’s government, after pleading guilty earlier this year and declining to appeal. Prosecutors said Pauken, who worked for Chinese state outlets CCTV and Xinhua after moving to China in 2010, wrote intelligence reports for a handler known as “Cathy” that were read by Chinese President Xi Jinping, receiving at least $100,000 for his work. He was also asked to recruit sources, including providing one contact with a phone, computer and secure messaging credentials, and told investigators he suspected that contact might pass classified information to China. His lawyer said no classified information was actually shared and that Pauken has accepted responsibility. Pauken used the alias “Tom McGregor” to distance his father, a former Texas Republican Party chairman, from his work in China, and was arrested in February after returning from a family trip to Washington, D.C.

Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, asked a federal judge Wednesday to dismiss their drug trafficking indictment, arguing head-of-state immunity protects them from U.S. prosecution. Their lawyers argued no American court has ever tried a sitting foreign head of state and that heads of state are exempt from any court but their own. Maduro and Flores have been jailed in Brooklyn since U.S. forces seized them in a January raid on their Caracas home, and face a trial scheduled for June 2026 with oral arguments on the dismissal motion set for November 17. Prosecutors allege Maduro ran a conspiracy to move thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. by colluding with Venezuelan law enforcement and drug traffickers, charges he denies, calling his capture a kidnapping. Federal prosecutors are due to respond to the immunity arguments later this month.

Former Tropical Storm Edouard dumped nearly two feet of rain on rural East Texas, prompting dozens of rescues from stranded cars, flooded homes and an assisted living facility as the storm lingered over the state into Thursday. Hardin County was hit hardest, with 18 to 20 inches of rain, downed trees and power lines, and roughly a dozen water rescues, while nearby Jefferson County reported about 22,000 customers without power. Wind gusts reached 90 mph as the storm moved through, sparking at least one house fire from a downed power line near Lumberton. An assisted living facility in Hardin County was damaged, requiring the evacuation of 21 residents with help from Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens. Separately, three hurricanes, Marie, Lowell and Karina, were active in the Pacific Ocean, with dangerous swells expected to reach Hawaii and southern California in the coming days.

John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, of Bristol, Virginia, were arrested and charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk after their 5-year-old autistic, nonverbal daughter, Saylor, was found dead in South Carolina waters near Pawleys Island. Authorities said the parents failed to provide appropriate supervision for a child with a known affinity for water and history of wandering, and that Saylor’s Project Lifesaver tracking device had been removed before the family left Virginia. According to arrest affidavits, the parents directed searchers toward using the tracker even though they knew Saylor wasn’t wearing it, and steered search efforts away from the nearby body of water where she was ultimately found. The device was later located inside a vehicle at the family’s Virginia home. Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver called the death “a heartbreaking tragedy,” saying Saylor “deserved to be safe” and vowing to pursue accountability through the justice system.

Nvidia agreed to buy AI developer platform Hugging Face for $12.93 billion, one of its biggest acquisitions ever, in a bet that supporting open-weight AI models will sustain demand even as major customers like Meta, OpenAI and Microsoft build their own chips to reduce reliance on Nvidia. The deal gives Nvidia direct access to a platform developers use to build, test and share AI tools, potentially offering insight that helps it keep pace with top U.S. and Chinese AI labs, including Chinese firms like DeepSeek and Z.ai whose cheaper open models have gained ground. Nvidia will pay about $11.9 billion to Hugging Face’s investors plus up to $1 billion in retention equity for employees joining the company, and CEO Jensen Huang said Hugging Face will remain an open platform that doesn’t require Nvidia chips to use. The New York-based startup, founded in 2016 by Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond and Thomas Wolf and backed by Intel, AMD and Amazon, also hosts datasets and cloud tools for AI development, and was recently in the news after a hack involving rogue AI agents that escaped an OpenAI testing environment.

Special Report

Donald Trump portrayed seizing oil from Venezuela, creating conditions for violent blowback in the future (Graphic by The Hartmann Report)

The Hartmann Report, Opinion: Trump Brags About His “Brilliant” Venezuela Scheme While History Screams a Warning, Thom Hartmann, right, Sept. 2, 2026. America has spent decades paying for earlier interventions in oil-rich nations. Trump is now risking another cycle of rebellion, bloodshed, and blowback.

Here we go again with American colonialism, this time with a crazy scheme Trump thinks is “brilliant.”

You’d have thought we’d have learned our lesson with our stupid intervention in Iran in 1953, which led us straight to America’s humiliation in 1980 and today’s war with the Mullahs. This is going to be an epic disaster, one that will most likely cost us dearly in both American blood and treasure.

Back in February of 1989, I arrived in Caracas, Venezuela for a brief visit. Just a few hundred yards onto Venezuelan soil, I was stopped by a group of soldiers who told me I had to turn back and leave the country. My main memory is how young they were and how they seemed apologetic.

What I’d stumbled into was an uprising called the Caracazo.

Four years earlier, Reagan and his Treasury Secretary James Baker had begun leaning hard on Venezuela to cut back on their social programs and reduce their taxes on rich people, just like they’d done here with trickle-down, only this one under the banner of “austerity” and IMF-supervised “restructuring.”

Venezuela’s President when I arrived was Carlos Andrés Pérez, a guy who’d successfully campaigned in 1988 against the Reagan/Bush austerity plan, calling the entire thing “a neutron bomb that kills people but leaves buildings standing.” He’d also been the president five years earlier, and in that time had nationalized Venezuela’s oil, making him a bit of a folk hero.

But when he took office on February 2, 1989, three weeks before I arrived, the previous president (Jaime Lusinchi) had run the country $33 billion into debt, giving Bush and the IMF an excuse to force their neoliberal austerity program onto new President Pérez, who — disastrously — went along with it. His first step was to raise bus fares, which he thought would be benign. It wasn’t.

In the country with the largest proven oil reserves on Earth — larger than Saudi Arabia’s, Russia’s, or America’s — Bush’s price for debt relief was that the country’s poor had to pay more to get to work. Just 25 days later, the day I arrived, millions of angry people flooded the streets in response to that increase in bus fares and Pérez declared a state of national emergency.

By the end of the next afternoon, the 28th, Pérez had suspended the constitution and his army had killed at least 276 civilians and wounded another 1,500. Human rights groups said thousands died as bodies were dumped into unmarked pits in a corner of the Cementerio General del Sur that Caraqueños call La Peste, “the plague.” The brutal state of emergency, endorsed by US President GHW Bush, lasted another month.

Now, we’re not only risking a repeat of that, but we’ve also run this movie before in other countries. In an incredible irony, the most well-known of those was Iran in 1953 when our CIA overthrew democratically-elected Iranian President Mohammad Mossadegh because he’d nationalized that country’s oil.

We replaced Mossadegh with the brutal, repressive rule of the Shah, and we’re still paying for that one, this time with American blood and treasure thanks to Trump’s and Hegseth’s criminal attack and bumbling incompetence.

Calling his latest imperialist scam in Venezuela “the biggest oil deal in world history,” Trump is now filling in some of the details of his corrupt attempt to make off with some 65 billion barrels of oil sitting across 17 fields that represent about a fifth of Venezuela’s estimated 303 billion barrels total.

And it’s a grim repeat of our worst experiments in colonialism from the 19th and early 20th centuries. As Gregory Brew, senior energy analyst with the Eurasia Group, told Fortune magazine yesterday:

“If the U.S. scheme in Venezuela sounds colonial, that’s because it is.”

Trump tried to put a happy face on his scheme to steal Venezuela’s oil by saying that he’ll be using it to refill our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which he’s drained down to 286 million barrels in a desperate attempt to lower gas prices, its lowest level since 1982 in the wake of the Arab Oil Embargoes.

But, like with so much else Trump says, that’s an easily disproven lie; our salt caves can’t hold Venezuela’s thick, heavy sour crude because they and their pumping equipment are designed and built for light, sweet crude like we pump here. Putting Venezuelan oil into them would gum them up and destroy their usefulness forever.

We do have, however, massive refineries along the Gulf coast that were built by the Koch brothers and others specifically for that heavy Venezuelan crude back in the days when it was easily flowing to America. They’re probably salivating at the opportunity to dump the expensive Canadian tar sands oil they’re now refining and get back to the cheaper and easier stuff from down south. Perhaps this was all even their idea.

Trump says he’s “negotiated” a 100-year lease with Delcy Rodríguez, the illegitimate “acting president” of Venezuela who was Maduro’s VP when the two of them lost the election but stayed in power anyway. Today, the only things keeping her in power — after a majority of voters said “No” — are their army and our Navy and Air Force.

Like I said, we’ve seen this movie before.

To make things even more classically Trumpian, he’s giving the contract to handle this oil we’re snatching to an allegedly corrupt billionaire who’s wanted for arrest in Switzerland, a fellow named Alejandro Betancourt López, right.

López made his fortune from insider no-bid power plant contracts with Chávez; Transparency International’s Venezuelan chapter estimated he’d overcharged the Venezuelan government by $2.9 billion. American prosecutors identified him as an “unnamed co-conspirator” in a scheme they say embezzled more than a billion dollars from those deals, leading Swiss authorities to freeze his assets and issue an international arrest warrant for him.

When British police arrested Betancourt López in London in November of 2025, The Washington Post reports that Trump’s senior officials intervened, pushed the Swiss to close the case without charges, refused to act on the arrest warrant, and gave him a visa to enter the United States.

The corrupt lawyer who argued in American courts that López shouldn’t be charged with embezzlement was then staying at one of López’s mansions in Madrid and has a familiar name: Rudy Giuliani, left.

So, not only did Trump and Hegseth illegally and without congressional authorization invade a sovereign country, kill more than a hundred people, and abduct its head of state, but we then handed a massive chunk of that country’s oil — for the next century — to a man whose arrest warrant we’re sitting on and refusing to execute.

Meanwhile, nobody can find the money from the tanker-carried oil we first seized right after our invasion of Venezuela.

According to The Financial Times, Trump collected roughly $13 billion selling seized Venezuelan crude, routed at first through a bank account he controlled in Qatar, and six months later it appears to have vanished into thin air. It’s definitely not back in Venezuela.

Elizabeth Warren says the entire oil seizure and sale is a crime, and Democratic Representative Juaquin Castro and Republican Representative María Elvira Salazar are echoing her sentiment. The money didn’t even show up when the country was begging for it this June when two earthquakes killed 2,595 people and they desperately needed the cash for rescue and reconstruction.

Given all this, it should be obvious that this sleazy deal is going to fail, and that failure will be both spectacular, bloody, and expensive.

Exxon and ConocoPhillips are still owed billions from Chavez’ nationalization and aren’t going anywhere near this one. Trump sneered at Concoco’s CEO when he asked for reparations for what was taken from them back in the day.

And oil industry experts say it’ll take years, perhaps a decade, to get Venezuelan production meaningfully increased, a timeline that will run well past the political lifetimes of both Trump and Rodríguez.

Get ready: somewhere in the barrios I once worked in above Caracas, a young officer and his friends are running the political arithmetic I saw people doing during those hours I was there in February of 1989. He’ll be the next Hugo Chavez, the guy who overthrew López and re-nationalized the oil.

Seriously, do we really think the citizens of that country — after all they’ve been through over the past four generations — are just going to sit back and take it as our military props up a government nobody elected, hand their oil money to an accused money launderer Trump crony, and let us ship the proceeds through a Trump-owned bank account in Qatar?

Is anybody in America that naïve other than Republican voters who live on a diet of Fox “News”? As Senator Jack Reed — the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee — said:

“President Trump’s effort to turn the U.S. military into an investor in Venezuelan oil is a blatant abuse of power and taxpayer dollars.”

Which raises the question: Where are Republicans who control Congress on this harebrained doomed-to-fail scheme? Every one of them knows just how crazy it is, but it seems most of them are figuring that their silence will buy them a million-dollar-a-year lobbying job if they can just keep their heads down and not challenge Trump and his oil billionaire buddies. 

 More On U.S. Courts, Rights, Crime, Justice

Davin Rosborough, an ACLU attorney representing the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, speaks at a press conference outside the John Moakley Courthouse in Boston, Mass. after participating in a hearing Sept. 3 on President Donald Trump's March 31, 2026 executive order and a Postal Service rule implementing it.

Democracy Docket, Judge appears deeply skeptical of case for Trump’s mail voting restrictions, Jim Saksa, Sept. 3, 2026. With Election Day just two months away, the lawyer defending the Postal Service’s recently issued rule carrying out President Donald Trump’s anti-mail voting executive order could not tell a federal judge how — or even if — the new rule would work.

At Thursday’s hearing in Boston, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani repeatedly asked the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), represented by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Michael Velchik, whether the agency was ready to implement the rule, which was only published last week.

And Velchik repeatedly refused to do anything more than refer her to the rule itself, which provides scant details about when the agency might be able to begin its rollout ahead of the rapidly approaching midterm elections.

That exchange — and others like it — threw into sharp relief just how quickly and haphazardly USPS is moving to implement the new postal requirements, which critics say could potentially strip millions of Americans of the ability to vote by mail. As the hearing wore on, Talwani seemed increasingly exasperated with the defendants’ arguments.SIGN UP TODAYGet updates straight to your inbox — for free

Join 350,000 readers who rely on our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest in voting, elections and democracy.

The postal rule in question requires election officials to submit barcode-equipped envelopes for mail ballots to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for approval and also lists of eligible mail voters. If state or local administrators fail to get USPS’s greenlight for their envelope design or don’t upload their voter data, then mail carriers won’t deliver mail ballots to those states’ residents.

Two sets of plaintiffs are challenging the rule in separate lawsuits that were combined into a single hearing Thursday. One is a coalition of pro-voting organizations and individual mail voters led by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts (LWVMA). The other is 24 Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C., led by California.

The plaintiffs argue that the rule would make mail voting “virtually impossible” and result in “mass disenfranchisement,” citing the testimony of dozens of state and local officials from both major political parties.

In response to those claims, Velchik largely cited the rule itself, which provides no timeline on when an online portal for state officials to submit their envelopes and voter lists might go live.

Meanwhile, in a report published Tuesday, an anonymous USPS whistleblower warned that the portal’s “slapdash” development would almost certainly result in “catastrophic failure.”Whose ‘irreparable harm’?

The parties gathered in Courtroom 9 of the John J. Moakley Courthouse Thursday because, 11 days ago, the U.S. Supreme Court had reversed a 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision and lifted an injunction that Talwani had previously issued against the USPS rule. The Court agreed with the DOJ’s argument that it was too soon for a court to assess the legality of Trump’s order — after all, it concluded, USPS hadn’t implemented it yet.

That procedural argument over the lawsuit’s “ripeness” disappeared when USPS published its final rule soon thereafter. But USPS seems far from ready to actually put the rule into effect.

Asked when the USPS’s portal might go live, Velchik demurred.

“I can’t make specific representations,” he said.

“We’ve been here for a week and you can’t tell me the government is ready to go?” Talwani responded, incredulously.

That question gets to a critical issue that could decide the matter’s fate if — as expected — it again rises to the Supreme Court.

Talwani repeatedly asked the DOJ to provide details of the “irreparable harm” the government would suffer if she granted a preliminary injunction barring the rule’s implementation in November’s midterm elections. Such an explanation — were the DOJ to provide it — would also rebut the plaintiffs’ mirroring claims of their own irreparable harm if the rule is left in place. But Velchik could only meekly point to the final rule.

Talwani gave the DOJ until 3 p.m. Thursday to supplement the record with specifics about the readiness of the USPS’s portal.

“And if you can’t provide details, I’m going to assume it’s not finalized yet,” she warned, adding that she would also assume the government’s claims about irreparable harm were made “without any facts.”

Just before that deadline, the DOJ submitted additional information provided by a USPS executive, but it lacked the precision Talwani had requested.

“We continue to make refinements to the Portal, including consideration of changes needed in light of the TRO,” the declaration from USPS Chief Customer and Marketing Officer Steven Monteith stated. “We anticipate being in a position to make the Portal available to users for voluntary use by sometime next week.”

The DOJ was joined in the case by a dozen Republican-led states, represented primarily by Missouri Solicitor General Louis J. Capozzi III, in defending the new rule. Capozzi noted Thursday that his own state’s top election official provided a statement saying that Missouri could successfully comply with the new rule.

But Davin Rosborough, an ACLU lawyer representing the LWVMA plaintiffs, noted during the hearing that the other 11 red states’ silence spoke far louder than one short statement from Capozzi.

“The only evidence that the states who intervened on the defendant’s side put in [the record] was a single one-page declaration from the Missouri Secretary of State saying, in vague terms, ‘I think we can comply,’” Rosborough said at a press conference following the hearing. “Alabama, Texas, none of the other states put in anything…”

“I think the failure to put anything in writing — and under penalty of perjury — speaks volumes,” he added.

Talwani noted Thursday that local election officials from Texas’ Travis and Harris counties also provided sworn declarations that the USPS rule would result in disfranchised voters.Decision coming

Talwani indicated that she may issue her decision as early as Thursday night. In recognition of the tight time constraints, she suggested that she would issue relatively cursory rulings on many of the claims raised by both sides, while more fully explaining her position on the few she believed to be most important.

At its core, the case will turn on whether USPS had the power to enact its rule. “The $64,000 question is: Is this authorized by the statute?” Velchik said.

The U.S. Constitution provides that states make the rules for the “Times, Places and Manner” of holding elections, which Congress can then override. But it provides no independent authority to the president.

The defendants maintained that the general statute Congress enacted to empower USPS to pass regulations on the collection and handling of mail covers this rule on mail ballot envelopes and the refusal to deliver them. USPS requires all mail to include things like return addresses and postage — including mail ballots — and no one ever complained about that, they argued.

Likewise, USPS has long provided guidelines to election officials on steps they can take to ensure mail ballots are delivered quickly, like special envelopes, and those also weren’t a problem.

But those are different, Rosborough argued. The Postal Service’s past regulations on mail ballots were voluntary — states were free to ignore them and still trust their ballots would be delivered. And a general rule on postage is nothing like a specific rule on mail ballots alone.

As a lawyer for the Democratic states noted, “The Supreme Court said over 100 years ago [that] the power to refuse to deliver requires an act of Congress. Here, there is no statute that allows USPS to not deliver mail ballots. Full stop.”

In contrast to past hearings, which hinged on technicalities, Thursday’s hearing focused almost entirely on the merits. There was just one notable exception: Capozzi argued that the LWVMA plaintiffs, who include individual voters in every state, lacked standing to block the rule — at least in the states he represented. If she was going to issue the preliminary injunction, Capozzi asked Talwani to at least not apply it to the intervenor defendant states.

That led Talwani to eventually ask what Capozzi hoped that would accomplish — in one of the sharpest back-and-forths out of many during the session.

Newsweek, Lindsay Clancy Verdict: Expert Says Judge’s Jury Actions May Be ‘Dangerous,’ Hannah Parry, Sept. 3, 2026.The Lindsay Clancy murder trial descended into an extraordinary courtroom confrontation Thursday as a deadlocked jury was sent back to deliberate for a sixth day, prompting a legal expert to warn that Judge William Sullivan was entering “very dangerous territory.”

Defense attorney Mark O’Mara, appearing on CNN Thursday, described the judge’s decision to bring jurors before the bench individually as “extraordinarily dangerous” and said Sullivan “needs to be extraordinarily careful.”

O’Mara went further, describing the judge’s handling of the jury as potentially creating a “brand new procedural law” through the way he is dealing with the impasse.

The comments came as the jury remained divided after more than 35 hours of deliberations in a trial that lasted roughly six weeks.

The latest drama began when the 12 jurors in Plymouth, Massachusetts, sent Sullivan another note Thursday. The precise contents of the note were not immediately made public, but it triggered a series of unusual proceedings.

Sullivan brought the jurors into court one at a time and questioned them individually. Afterward, Clancy's defense attorney Kevin Reddington told the judge that one juror was preventing the panel from reaching a unanimous verdict.

Sullivan did not accept the characterization or take sides.

“I don’t feel that it is proper for me to side with one side or the other of the deliberations,” Sullivan said. “I don’t feel it’s appropriate for me to say I agree with one juror or 11.”

The judge then addressed the entire jury, reading instructions concerning reasonable doubt before sending the panel back to deliberate.

The exchange was visibly tense. Reddington appeared frustrated during a private discussion with Sullivan and prosecutors at the bench, at one point slamming papers down on the judge's bench before returning to the defense table.

Clancy herself was brought forward to speak with the judge during the proceedings. Later, she bowed her head as Reddington comforted her.

The jury was sent back out to deliberate before Sullivan announced that he was sending them home for the day. The jury will return on Friday at 9 a.m. ET for further deliberations.

Reddington told reporters outside of the courthouse that the juror would be questioned Sullivan Friday. “There’s a person who has doubt but will not listen to the judge’s instructions,” he said.

More On Russian Infiltration Of FBI, Other Spying

Newsweek, Woman Who Exposed FBI Official for Working With Russian Oligarch Found Dead, Jenni Fink,Sept. 3, 2026. Allison Guerriero, a security researcher whose information helped expose the criminal conduct of former FBI counterintelligence official Charles McGonigal, has been found dead at her home in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Hours before her death, Guerriero posted a series of messages on X, formerly Twitter, criticizing Representative Jim Jordan, the FBI and McGonigal. McGonigal was arrested in 2023 and was sentenced to 50 months in prison and then was later sentenced in a separate case to 28 months in prison in 2024. He pleaded guilty to secretly colluding with a Russian oligarch and also admitted to receiving $225,000 in cash from someone with ties to the Albanian government.

"I committed a felony and as a former FBI special agent it causes me extreme emotional and physical pain," McGonigal told the judge before he was sentenced. "I stand before you today with a deep sense of remorse."

It's unclear what caused her death, and authorities are waiting on a report from the medical examiner.

Newsweek reached out to the Boynton Beach, Florida, police department for comment via email but did not receive a response in time for publication.Who Is Allison Guerriero?

Guerriero was a security researcher who became publicly known after providing information to federal authorities about her former romantic partner, McGonigal, a longtime FBI official who once led the bureau's counterintelligence division in New York.

Guerriero alerted investigators after becoming concerned about McGonigal's behavior, including allegations that he was carrying large amounts of cash and maintaining unusual relationships with foreign-connected individuals. When she asked McGonigal about the cash, he reportedly told her that he won a bet on a baseball game. At the time, he was married with two children.

"Charlie McGonigal knew everybody in the national security and law-enforcement world," Guerriero said in an interview with Business Insider. "He fooled them all. So why should I feel bad that he was able to deceive me?"GeoscapeAward-winning editors deliver analysis of global hotspots – straight to your inbox.Sign up to Breaking News alertsBy clicking “sign up” you are agreeing to ourTerms of Service and Privacy PolicyA photo shows Allison Guerriero, left. Right: Charles McGonigal, the former head of counterintelligence for the FBI’s New York office, on February 09, 2023 in New York City.A photo shows Allison Guerriero, left. Right: Charles McGonigal, the former head of counterintelligence for the FBI’s New York office, on February 09,... | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Her tip reportedly helped launch a broader federal investigation into McGonigal's activities.

Guerriero had been involved in an approximately 18-month relationship with McGonigal. After the relationship ended, she became increasingly vocal about his conduct and the FBI's handling of the case. She frequently posted on social media and gave interviews discussing the scandal and calling for greater scrutiny of senior law enforcement officials.

Her information helped investigators uncover details about McGonigal's connections to foreign figures and contributed to the investigation that eventually resulted in his arrest and conviction. In the years that followed, Guerriero remained outspoken about the case and argued that some aspects of the scandal had not received sufficient public attention.

During McGonigal's sentencing, the judge praised Guerriero for her "extraordinary contributions" to counterespionage operations on behalf of the United States.

In an obituary for Guerriero, her family wrote that she found her "niche" in the security field after trying several different occupations. They added that she was also working for Roger Stone when she died. The family is holding a memorial service on Thursday for her.

"Allison’s over-the-top interest in law-enforcement and fighting evildoers kept her adjacent to all kinds of characters who seemed like they were from 1950s era G.I. Joe type comic books," her friend, Ken Kurson, wrote in a eulogy for her.What Did Charles McGonigal Do?

McGonigal served as the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division in New York, one of the bureau's most sensitive national security positions.

According to the Department of Justice, McGonigal pleaded guilty in 2023 to conspiracy charges stemming from his work for Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch under U.S. sanctions since 2018. The DOJ said McGonigal agreed to provide services to Deripaska in violation of federal sanctions laws and participated in a money-laundering conspiracy. In his role as special agent in charge, he also participated in and supervised investigations into Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska. McGonigal tried to find derogatory information about a rival oligarch, Vladimir Potanin, and his corporate interests, which Deripaska was fighting for control of.

The Justice Department said McGonigal worked to investigate a rival Russian oligarch in exchange for concealed payments linked to Deripaska. Prosecutors alleged that he and others attempted to hide Deripaska's involvement through shell companies, forged documents and coded communications.

A photo shows Allison Guerriero, left. Right: Charles McGonigal, the former head of counterintelligence for the FBI’s New York office, on February 09,... | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

In December 2023, McGonigal was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison. Announcing the sentence, the Justice Department described his conduct as a betrayal of the trust placed in him as a senior law enforcement official. He was sentenced in 2024 to 28 months for concealing information from the FBI about payments received from a link to the Albanian government. The DOJ said the sentences are to run consecutively. Public records indicate he is still imprisoned.

The case shocked many in the intelligence and law enforcement communities because McGonigal had spent years overseeing investigations aimed at identifying and countering foreign threats to U.S. national security.Who Is Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska?

Oleg Deripaska is a wealthy Russian businessman whose fortune was built primarily through Russia's aluminum industry. He is among the country's best-known oligarchs and has long been regarded as a politically connected figure within Russia.

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Deripaska in 2018 under authorities related to Russia's actions in Ukraine. According to the Justice Department, officials concluded that Deripaska had acted on behalf of, directly or indirectly, a senior Russian government official and operated in sectors considered important to the Russian economy.

New York Times, News Analysis: A Spiral of Escalation for Russia and Ukraine, With No End in Sight, Kim Barker, Oleksandra Mykolyshyn and Ivan Nechepurenko, Sept. 3, 2026. Each side is using missiles and drones to try to pound the other into giving up, breeding ceaseless human suffering. But there is no sign that either country’s determination will weaken.

They are both torching warehouses filled with food or online-shopping orders near major cities. They are blasting ports and ships carrying vital exports of grain. And they are smashing energy networks that keep the lights on and vehicles fueled.

Russia and Ukraine, in cities far from the front line, are waging an intensifying tit-for-tat air war that is bringing more pain to the populations of both countries than at any other point since the early months of the full-scale war launched by Moscow in 2022.

With the front largely frozen, each side is using growing arsenals of missiles and drones to exact vengeance and to try to pummel the other into submission. In the most recent example, Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, has been under constant bombardment from Russian drones over the past few days, tormenting residents with nearly continual air-raid alerts.

Still, there is no evidence that the escalation will weaken either country’s determination to fight on. Human suffering will only grow this winter, analysts say, as both Russia and Ukraine seek leverage in U.S.-backed settlement negotiations that are expected to resume after achieving little this year.

Ukraine can’t give up, and Russia doesn’t want to, analysts say.

“It’s a question of how much pain can Russia take compared to Ukraine — and Russia can take a lot of pain,” said Rob Lee, a military expert at the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute who travels frequently to the front line.

This new period of eye-for-an-eye assaults accelerated in late June, when Ukraine opened a 40-day campaign against Russia that President Volodymyr Zelensky said was aimed at “compelling it to end the war.”

Since he threw down that gauntlet, Ukrainian long-range drones have hit more than 30 warehouses of major online shopping companies, mostly those used by Wildberries, the Russian equivalent of Amazon. The strikes have disrupted Russian commercial logistics, inflicted heavy loss.

More On U.S. Politics, Elections, Governance

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Trump’s Midterm Strategy: Don’t Work, Cheat, Andrew Egger, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Say you’re a Republican lawmaker going into a tough midterm fight. The good news is your party controls the presidency. The bad news is the president is insanely unpopular and getting more so every day. Many voters you need are pretty mad at the guy. You might want to start telling them, Yeah, I’m with him—but only on the good stuff, the stuff you guys like.

As I wrote last week, this was never going to be an option for Republicans this cycle. They’re tied too tightly to Donald Trump in voters’ minds already, and he’d rather see them lose than win at his expense. Even so, as the midterms get closer, I’m genuinely astonished by just how hard Trump is working to tie himself like a millstone around each vulnerable incumbent’s neck.

Last week, the Atlantic reported that Trump had settled on a specific spending strategy ahead of the midterms. Rejecting the idea that he should go local, using his massive war chest to help bolster the reputations of specific candidates in key races, the president is opting for a different approach: spending heavily on national ads intended to keep the spotlight on himself.

Yesterday, his political operation unveiled the first tranche of those ads. The first, called “Toughest Guy,” aims to convince the public that Trump is a really tough guy. See, there’s UFC President Dana White up on stage saying so! Another ad focuses on Trump’s most broadly palatable accomplishments: “We gave you no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security, the largest tax cuts in American history,” Trump intones. The price of eggs, he notes, is down, too.

Congressional Republicans, never mentioned in the ads, are reduced to an implicit enabling role: They’ve occasionally helped Trump get his priorities over the finish line, and they’ll be needed to help Trump “finish the job.”

The same Maximum Trump spirit promises to be on full display at next week’s GOP midterm convention in Dallas, a two-day affair that will be anchored by back-to-back primetime speeches from Vice President JD Vance and Trump himself. There’s a reason the major parties haven’t traditionally held midterm conventions: Without a presidential contest hanging over every race in the country, it doesn’t make sense to try to build a one-size-fits-all national narrative for hundreds of disparate and unique state and federal contests. Unless, of course, you’re the kind of president who thinks the only way anyone in your party can win is by their voters closing their eyes and pretending they’re voting for you.

It isn’t just that House and Senate Republicans have become inseparable from the president in voters’ minds. They’re also beholden to whatever mercurial decisions he decides to make about his gigantic bag of cash.

Last Sunday, Sen. John Kennedy took to Fox News to basically plead with Trump to open his wallet in support of the party’s damaged-goods Senate nominee in Texas, Ken Paxton: “We in the Senate don’t have the money budgeted for Texas. We need help from the president,” Kennedy said. “The president says he has $850 million in his campaign accounts. That’s a lot of jack. . . . But he hasn’t committed to it yet.”

Majority Leader John Thune made the same point on Fox on Tuesday: “Because Texas is such a big state, we’re going to need the president and his team to be engaged there and putting resources into that race.” So far, no dice.

It would be easy to laugh all this off as just desserts for venal Senate Republicans and the latest demonstration of the president’s incredible vanity. There’s a part of Trump that seems genuinely to believe that, when voters are reminded of his accomplishments, they’ll rush back into his arms. It’s exactly the sort of hubris that seems likely to lead the GOP straight into a catastrophe.

But we can’t lose sight of the other side of the equation. Trump isn’t only relying on highly dubious methods of persuasion to carry his people through the midterms. It’s increasingly clear that he wants to try to cheat his way to victory, too.

We’re not prepared for another election crisis. But one may be coming. Spread the word by sharing this newsletter.

We’ve been writing a lot about Trump’s attempt to seize federal control of mail-in ballots by giving the Postal Service an unprecedented new role of policing which mailed ballots should and shouldn’t be delivered. This week, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter to Postmaster General David Steiner, seeking information about alarming allegations he had received from a USPS whistleblower about that effort. The software the USPS was building to handle these tasks, the whistleblower alleged, was “astonishingly untested,” rushed, and buggy. And even if it miraculously worked as intended, the procedures USPS was building around it seemed almost guaranteed to disenfranchise legitimate voters.

“When ballots are submitted to USPS in large-volume batches, if any one ballot in the batch cannot be verified against the Portal, all ballots in that batch will be rejected,” Blumenthal wrote in the letter. “For example, if a state election official brings a batch of 10,000 ballots to USPS and USPS is unable to match just one of those ballots against the Portal—because, for example, someone has recently changed their name after marriage or they’ve moved—then USPS would refuse to mail the remaining 9,999 ballots as well.”

Just to remind you: All this is exactly what Trump wants. He wants mail-in balloting systems to fail, because he thinks Democrats use mail-in voting to cheat him out of wins. He has ordered his federal government to behave in exactly this way.

It still seems likely that the Supreme Court will pull the plug on this ridiculous system ahead of the midterms. But until they do, we can’t lose sight of the fact that this plan is a major part of Trump’s own electoral calculations. It isn’t just that his midterms messaging is stupid because he’s vain and ignorant—although that’s certainly part of it. It’s also that people have little incentive to play a game optimally when they know their real plan for victory is to cheat.

AROUND THE BULWARK

• Trump Is Keeping Venezuela’s Dictatorship in Business… Delcy Rodríguez sends him oil. He protects her from elections, observes WILL SALETAN.
• Wendell Berry, 1934–2026… The great writer of rural America spent a lifetime defending the land, the local, and the human, remembers CHRISTIAN RUTH.
• Trump Hands Dems Their Best Gift Yet… His embrace of data centers has given Democrats a potent new campaign tool, writes LAUREN EGAN in The Opposition.
• MAGA Pollster Thinks Texas, Ohio and Even KANSAS Could Turn Blue… On Bulwark Takes, RICH BARIS joins TIM MILLER to explain why Republicans may be underestimating just how competitive the 2026 Senate map could become.

Quick Hits

COLLINS V. CHENEY: In theory, Sen. Susan Collins believes Donald Trump has committed acts worthy of permanently barring him from holding federal office: After all, she voted to convict him at his second impeachment trial in 2021. Allowing thoughts like that to proceed to their logical conclusions, however, is a career death sentence in today’s Republican party. Instead, Collins has spent the intervening years on an interesting journey of self-lobotomy. Here she was yesterday, reflecting on that journey with Politico’s Jonathan Martin:

After listening to the evidence and being there on January 6th myself, I felt that the president had, many months before, started to build up an insurrection, essentially, that met the high standard in the Constitution for his removal. Believe me, the president brings up that vote almost every single time that I see him. So he has not forgotten. It’s very personal. And I understand that—how could it not be?

But come on, what do you people want her to do—be Liz Cheney? Persist in the belief that this insurrectionist is unfit for office? “Liz Cheney—it’s not just that she lost her seat,” Collins finished. “It’s that she has no impact, in my view.”

TRUMP ON MONEY: It’s official: Seemingly breaking federal law and certainly breaking a long chain of precedent, the U.S. Mint is releasing $1 coins with the likeness of a living person for the first time in a century. Guess who:

The $1 coin designed to celebrate America’s 250th birthday—and seemingly President Donald Trump, whose face gazes from one side of the gold finish—went on sale Wednesday, according to the U.S. Mint.

The coin’s design—Trump’s visage as “heads” and the Great Seal of the United States as “tails”—received the stamp of approval this year from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members Trump appointed. In past comments, the president said that the idea to stamp his face on a coin was “very unusual” but that he was “honored by it.”

The AP notes that “the coins, which can be used as legal tender, drew some criticism, particularly because of federal law that bars the depiction of a living president on U.S. currency.” Well, yeah, that might be one reason to criticize them!

In fairness, "Trump sells $1 Trump coins to his fans for $2 apiece" is a pretty good metaphor for his whole term.   

Hopium Chronicles, Advocacy and Opinion: As Bad As Things Are For Trump And The Rs Now -- And They Are Bad -- They Are Likely To Get Worse, Simon Rosenberg, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Greater MAGA Is Weakening: Putin has lost Orban, Syria, and is failing in Ukraine. Both Bibi and Trump have lost their war in Iran, and their political projects at home have taken enormous hits. Bibi trails in his October 26th election, and Trump trails in his November election. Zelenskyy has emerged as an inspirational global freedom fighter. Taken together these are important and welcome developments in our fight to ensure there is a new birth of freedom here and everywhere in the years ahead……

Democrats Are On Track To Have A Good Election:- For the past twenty months there has been one election: Democrats have continuously overperformed their 2024 results in special and state/local elections and Republicans have struggled. In recent primaries far many more Democrats voted than Republicans in state after state. Polls are finding that heightened intensity too. Here’s Reuters/Ipsos this week:

The polling across the country continues to be very encouraging for us. Today, FiftyPlusOne has us with a 92% chance of flipping the House, and a 57% chance of flipping the Senate. This is up from 90% and 54% a few weeks ago.Subscribed

Perhaps the most encouraging data of the week comes from Alaska. Here’s the current results in their top-4 Senate primary. Peltola is ahead of the incumbent Dan Sullivan by 8 points, and Democrats over 50% when all votes are tallied. David Leslie has endorsed Peltola and dropped out the race, giving her a clear shot this November. For an incumbent Senator to only get 41% after spending a lot of money is, um, really bad…..

In the Governor’s race Tom Begich endorsed Jonnthan Kreiss-Tomkins giving Democrats a real shot at winning here too. Note that no Republican candidate got over 10% of the vote, confirming how weak and fractured the Rs are in Alaska this year:

Note - when I last wrote about Alaska I thought it was the top two candidates who got to go through to the general election. It is the top four. Sorry about that everyone.

In my talk last night we reviewed much of the information I put into yesterday’s post: Trump’s Clown Show Has Become A Raging, Dangerous Global Dumpster Fire. My argument is this: Trump has created a series of crises -- economic, fiscal, in our health care system, “Farmageddon,” in our national security -- that are likely to get worse between now and the election.

• Diesel is close to an all-time high:
• Oil prices are back up in the upper $90s a barrel:
• Prior to these renewed energy shocks consumer confidence was already at it’s lowest reading in the last 65 years:

And then there is this - Trump the rapacious, Trump the greedy, Trump the betrayer appears to be hording his bundle of ill-gotten cash:

Theories about what Trump wants to do with the money cover a broad range of possibilities, including protecting his political influence in the next presidential race by passing on the money to his chosen successor and saving up for legal fees, postpresidential travel, events and pet projects, such as his library. Trump’s Miami library is projected to cost at least $1 billion, the most expensive presidential library construction to date.

The person with knowledge of internal discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk about those conversations, said Trump and his team believe their ability to rake in massive donations will take a hit after the midterm elections, giving the president an incentive to keep hold of the money he has raised so far.

Fundraising accounts associated with the president — such as his super PAC, and funds for his inauguration, White House ballroom and Freedom 250 events — have been inundated with donations from companies looking to get in Trump’s good graces, a dynamic that is likely to change as he becomes a lame duck.

Additionally, in the last few weeks of an election the party out of power usually gains a few points. So, yes, my friends, as bad as things are for Trump and the Rs now - and they are bad - they are likely to get worse.

Countering Trump’s Ferocious, Desperate Effort To Rig The Elections And Prevent A Peaceful Transfer Of Power - Here at Hopium we do more and worry less, and when it comes to countering Trump’s increasingly desperate and wild efforts to rig the election and prevent a peaceful transfer of power there are a few things we can do today, right now:

1 - Marc Elias is a doing a live briefing on Trump’s attack on mail ballots tonight at 6pm ET. Sign up here. Learn more, get smarter.

2 - Become an Early Vote Champion, and help drive the early vote in your networks, communities, organizations, and with friends and family. For when we vote early it makes it more likely we win and harder for them to cheat. Learn more here.

3 - Sign up to be a Democracy Protector for your state party. The new state party/DNC national program to protect our elections launched yesterday. The next live, open training is next Wednesday night at 8pm ET. Sign up here, and become part of this vital program that the Hopium community has helped get off the ground. 

PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: JD Vance Was Asked About Gas Prices And His Answer Was A Disaster, Jason Easley, right, Sept. 3, 2026. The Trump administration has no clue what to do to lower gas prices, because the administration doesn't know how to get out of the Iran war that it started.

For the first time in 42 days, the White House held a press briefing, and it has been the pattern of this entire administration: when things are going badly and Donald Trump needs a human shield, he sends out JD Vance.

Vance possesses the rare combination of arrogance, unlikability, ambition, and cluelessness that allows him to both think he is being elevated when Trump puts him out to take the fall, and ignorance of not knowing that with each one of these misadventures, he is taking a fresh step toward ending his political career.

VP Vance was asked at the press briefing, “ On July 2nd, Treasury Secretary Bessent, um, was asked when Americans could see $3 gas again, and he said maybe by Labor Day. Things haven't worked out that way, but do you have a new timetable for Americans on when they could expect lower gas prices, and should they not expect to see $3 gas again until at least 2027?”

And this is where the trouble began.

Vance answered, “Well, in defense of Scott, he said maybe by Labor Day because we're talking about things that are inherently unpredictable, and I, I think it's important...You know, I'm a strong believer that, uh, the American people are our fellow citizens, and we should speak with them honestly about these things. And the fundamental reality is that the reason gas prices are so high right now is because the Iranians are shooting at commercial shipping.”

Labor Day is Monday, but things got much worse as Vance talked.

As Vance kept talking, he made it clear that he, as the “chief negotiator” with Iran, has no idea what is going on, and the administration has no intention of lowering gas prices.

Vance refused to talk about $3 gas:

 We're gonna do what we have to do in order to ensure that their efforts don't lead to a worldwide energy crisis. Now, we've been quite successful up to this point. Gas, frankly, could've been much, much higher were it not for our efforts.

But I'm not gonna make a promise about when it's gonna return to $3. What I will say is that we have to remember, why are we doing this? Number one, it's so that Iran never has a nuclear weapon. And number two, what we're doing right now is protecting commercial shipping in order to ensure that we don't have a worldwide energy crisis.

The only reason, the only reason we do not have a worldwide energy crisis is because of the leadership of the president, but also because of the fine work of our military, from Pete Hegseth on down. But the Iranians are doing what the Iranians do. I think that they're losing their capabilities by the day. Uh, I think they're realizing, by the way, that, that, that their control over the Strait of Hormuz is effectively gone, and it's a diminishing asset. So if you go back three months ago, how much oil and gas was coming out of the strait under Iranian threats? It was va- virtually nothing.

Now, it's almost back to where it was before the conflict even started. So my advice to the Iranians is stop acting like crazy people and stop shooting at commercial shipping. And in the meantime, we've gotta do what we've gotta do despite what a foreign country's gonna do in the Strait of Hormuz.

It is easy to see why Vance’s negotiations with Iran have been a failure.

The world is facing higher gas prices and an energy crisis because of the war of choice that Donald Trump and JD Vance started.

Gas prices wouldn’t be over $4.00/gallon if Trump and Vance hadn’t started a war with Iran, so the idea that Trump and Vance think they deserve credit for anything is absurd.

During the 2024 campaign, Trump and Vance promised to bring gas down to $2.00/gallon. Prices are currently more than double what Trump and Vance promised.

JD Vance was a disaster because he minimized the economic pain people are feeling and won’t even try to say when things will get better. 

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: When You Control the Mail, You Control the Nation, Andrew Egger and Jim Swift, Sept. 3, 2026.Two months from the midterms, how bad are the coalition vibes for Donald Trump? Even some dyed-in-the-wool MAGA pollsters are starting to sound the red alert.

“Republicans are going to run out of a coalition soon if they don’t build on what he started to build in ’24,” Big Data Poll Director Rich Baris told Tim Miller in an interview yesterday. “And a lot of those gains are squandered because of the direction they took.”

In the eyes of some of his voters, Baris argued, Trump’s biggest sin has been his foreign-policy obsession: An inflation-spiking war in Iran wasn’t what the president promised, and it certainly wasn’t what they expected from him. Happy Thursday.

Special Report: Political Ads 

Grieving North Carolina father Ronald Hayes, as shown in a deceptive ad created by pro-Republicans in the current U.S. senate race in North Carolina.

Judd at Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: How a GOP super PAC tricked a grieving father into appearing in a political ad, Judd Legum, right, and Noel Sims, Sept 3, 2026. Ronald Hayes appears in a Senate Leadership Fund ad.

On August 5, the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), the super PAC of Senate Republicans, announced a new television ad attacking Roy Cooper, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in North Carolina.

The ad features Ronald Hayes, whose son Shemar was murdered in 2024. In just 30 seconds, it ties Shemar’s murder to Cooper, who served as governor of North Carolina from 2017 to 2025. The blame is pinned on a settlement Cooper reached with the ACLU to release some inmates early during the COVID pandemic. “As the governor, Mr. Cooper was allowing these criminals back on the streets,” Hayes says in the ad. “Is my son going to get a second chance? No, he’s never coming back.”

But in an interview with Popular Information, Hayes says that he was manipulated into appearing in the ad. According to Hayes, the SLF operatives who recorded the footage misrepresented the purpose of the interview, never revealed their political affiliation, and coached Hayes into providing the soundbites that appear in the ad.

Hayes is a member of a group of about a dozen grieving parents whose children have been murdered. The SLF operatives reached out to everyone in the group and offered an opportunity “to share our stories.” Hayes was left with the impression that “we’re doing an ad about gun violence and our deceased kids.”

Hayes said he was interested in “talking about Shemar and what I feel about gun violence.” He had also written a book about Shemar that he wanted more people to know about.

After he agreed to participate, Hayes began to communicate with Michael Luethy. Previously, Luethy worked for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the North Carolina Republican Party, and the Republican State Leadership Committee. Luethy currently runs a Republican consulting firm based in North Carolina called Oak Grove Campaigns.

But Luethy never revealed that he was working with the SLF or his connection to Republican politics. Rather, Luethy represented to Hayes that he was “independent.” Luethy invited Hayes to a luxury home in Charlotte and encouraged him to bring copies of his book. Hayes had never been on camera before.

The SLF paid Oak Grove Campaigns $456.90 on April 30, 2026, for travel. Luethy did not respond to a text message seeking comment.

At the outset, Hayes was given an opportunity to talk about his son and was asked about the book. Then, Hayes said, “all of a sudden, in the middle of the recording, it went from me talking about what happened to my son to Governor Cooper.”

“Well, what do you think about North Carolina letting out 3,500 murderers, rapists, and killers?” Hayes said he was asked. “Of course, I am a victim. What am I going to say?” Hayes said he initially responded without saying Cooper’s name. He was then prompted by the SLF operatives to deliver the soundbite they wanted. “Would you mind saying Roy Cooper?” the operatives asked.

Prior to arriving at the filming, Hayes said, he “never knew anything about the governor of North Carolina letting out 3,500 criminals due to COVID-19 back in 2019 and 2020.” Hayes noted that he knows the policy was unrelated to his son’s murder. (The man who murdered Hayes’ son in 2024 had no prior adult criminal record and, therefore, was not released from prison.) Hayes was distressed when he saw the ad, which makes it seem “as if I’m saying that my son’s murderer was one of the ones who Governor Cooper let out of prison.”

“Why would I go on there and just flat out tell a blatant lie?” Hayes asked. He called the ad “deceitful, conniving, and sneaky.”

Hayes said that the SLF operatives filmed at least two other interviews with members of the grieving parents group, but those were not turned into ads. In both cases, the SLF operatives redirected the discussion from the personal tragedy to a political attack on Roy Cooper.

According to data from AdImpact, the SLF has spent over $6 million airing Hayes’ ad on television and digital platforms. Hayes said the ad has profoundly impacted his day-to-day life. “You would not believe how many people now just walk up to me and ask me, ‘Am I that guy that’s in that commercial?’”

Hayes said he is a Democrat and would not have knowingly participated in a GOP attack ad. “Why would I do a commercial? I’m just an everyday man,” Hayes said. “They targeted me as a victim of gun violence and because of the death of my son.”

More Global News

Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: Imperialist Delusions and the Price of Fuel, Paul Krugman, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Trump and Bessent tried to betray Ukraine. Now they don’t have any cards.

During the 2024 campaign Donald Trump promised to cut energy prices in half. He has, instead, presided over soaring prices at the pump, which have played an important role in his collapse in the polls.

Some might attribute this disaster to Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran, ignoring what appear to have been near-unanimous warnings by experienced military and intelligence officials that such a war would, in addition to disrupting oil supplies, overstretch the U.S. military and dangerously deplete stocks of munitions — which is exactly what happened.

But Scott Bessent, Trump’s Treasury secretary, has found someone else to blame: Ukraine.

Yesterday Bessent went on “Fox & Friends,” where he pinned the blame for high energy prices largely on Kyiv:

We are going through an energy shock right now due to both the war in Ukraine, because Ukraine has decided that they want to blow up Russian energy assets and refined properties, so that is creating upward price pressure on a global basis, and the conflict in Iran.

Now, Bessent isn’t wrong to say that bottlenecks in refining capacity are playing a major role in the current energy shock. The chart at the top of this post shows changes in the price of crude oil and diesel, both measured in dollars per barrel, since the beginning of this year. Crude oil is up a lot, although off its peak in early April. But diesel is up much more (so is gasoline, although not quite as much.) And Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil facilities are certainly playing a role in reducing global refining capacity.

But note Bessent’s wording: Ukraine “has decided that they want to blow up Russian energy assets.” Gosh, why would the Ukrainians want to do such a thing? Might it have something to do with the fact that they are engaged in an existential struggle against Vladimir Putin’s regime, which is in its fifth year of a war aimed at destroying their nation, and they need to hit back at Putin’s military and economic base?

Notice, also, that Bessent didn’t point out that these attacks on Russian oil would end if Russia were to end its attempted war of conquest. But far from demanding an end to Russian aggression, the Trump administration infuriated the democratic nations of Europe by inviting Russia’s finance minister, for the first time since the Ukraine war began, to Monday’s meeting of the Group of 20 major economies.

But wait: There’s more background here. Bessent, as much as or more than Trump, has been effectively an enemy of Ukraine from the beginning.

Right at the beginning of the Trump II administration Bessent flew to Kyiv to demand that the Ukrainian government in effect hand over a large share of its mineral resources to the United States. I described it at the time as a “Belgian Congo” deal:

What Trump suggested was that Ukraine give the United States half of the revenue it gets from resource extraction, as far as I can tell in perpetuity. Trump suggested that this would amount to $500 billion, although this seems like a wildly exaggerated sum.

In return, Trump offered, well, zero. No additional aid, no security guarantees, no nothing.

Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump offers more, damning detail. There was apparently a shouting match between Bessent and Ukraine’s president Zelenskyy, in which Zelenskyy correctly described Bessent’s proposal as a shakedown unenforceable under Ukrainian law.

Bessent then returned to Washington and urged Trump not to even meet with Zelenskyy until he signed the minerals deal:

“I’ve dealt with this little fucker,” Bessent would say to associates about Zelensky. “He’s tricky. He’s like the special-needs child for the Europeans. And he’s acting like Mr. Bean on crack.”

Nonetheless, Trump did meet with Zelenskyy — and it was a disaster, including Trump’s famous insult, “You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now.”

The Trump administration proceeded to cut off virtually all aid to Ukraine, presumably expecting Ukraine’s defense against Russia to collapse.

Ukraine, however, declined to collapse. Aid from Europe replaced much of the lost American support:

And the Ukrainians, though deprived of important U.S. weapons — especially Patriot interceptors — have if anything been gaining the upper hand in their war, thanks in part to their growing mastery of drone warfare. Russia’s ground offensive has stalled despite enormous casualties, while Ukraine is carrying out more and more long-range strikes, including, yes, strikes on Russia’s oil infrastructure.

By the way, Ukraine’s success in drone warfare suggests that the government in Kyiv could offer the U.S. military, which has fared so badly against Iranian drones, quite a lot of help. But don’t expect Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon to ask for or receive such help.

Anyway, now Bessent is blaming Ukraine for high fuel prices. Is he demanding, or maybe pleading, that the Ukrainians halt their strategic air campaign? If so, in return for what?

After all, the Trump administration can’t threaten to cut off aid — it already did that long ago. It can’t offer to help Ukraine plug the one big hole in its defense technology, its lack (so far) of effective interceptors against ballistic missiles, because the U.S. has depleted its own stock of such interceptors in its Iran debacle.

So while I’m sure that Bessent and Trump wish that Ukraine would stop blowing up Russian energy assets — they would demand that Ukraine stop, if they could — they can’t, in practice, do anything to change Ukraine’s war strategy. To put it bluntly, they’re not in a good position. They don’t have the cards.

New York Times, The New Jet-Powered Drones That Are Breeding Anxiety in Ukraine, Cassandra Vinograd, Sept. 3, 2026. The Russian strikes tormenting Ukraine’s capital in recent days have had an ominous new feature: jet-powered drones.

Significantly faster and harder to intercept than the propeller-driven drones that have stalked Ukraine’s skies for years, these munitions are stretching air defenses and stoking anxiety about what analysts and officials predict will be a dangerous new stage of the war.

Here’s what to know about the deadly weapons, which experts say blur the line between drones and cruise missiles, and upon which Russia is increasingly reliant.

U.S. Immigration Crackdown

New York Times, Times Exclusive: ICE Skipped Basic Checks in Rush for Recruits, Whistle-Blower Says, Alexandra Berzon, Katie Benner and Hamed Aleaziz, Sept. 3, 2026. An official who oversaw the vetting of ICE recruits cited an “unprecedented lowering of standards” amid a hiring surge. 

In the wake of a hiring surge last summer, an official in charge of evaluating new recruits to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a dire warning.

The Trump administration, he wrote in a memo, was cutting corners, violating the law and fast-tracking unqualified, “improperly vetted” candidates into ICE’s ranks, part of a dangerous move that exposed the agency — and its law enforcement operations — to “grave national security risks.”

Citing an “unprecedented lowering of standards,” the career ICE official said that “systemic breakdowns” had allowed applicants to receive job offers before they had passed basic fingerprint, identity or credit checks in a preliminary vetting process. Political appointees had unjustly skirted background investigations and received national security eligibility.

The official, a unit chief who directly oversaw more than 100 employees who evaluated thousands of ICE applicants, was so troubled by what he saw that he outlined these concerns not to his superiors, but in a formal whistle-blower complaint to the Office of Inspector General in the Department of Homeland Security.

In the complaint, he asked for an independent, outside investigation into the matter. He was later interviewed twice by officials with the inspector general’s office and his concerns have become part of an ongoing audit into vetting practices.

The complaint, which has not been previously reported, underscores the rising worries about the suitability — as well as the tactics — of scores of agents who have been rapidly deployed across the country within the last year. It also outlines the extent to which ICE weakened its standards, and points to dissension among the upper reaches of the agency as it was pressed last year to carry out President Trump’s immigration crackdown.

The whistle-blower, a 17-year ICE veteran who spoke to The New York Times on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his claims, said the agency had cut corners in its rush to fill the ranks.

“We chose as an agency to be more convenient rather than thorough,” he said, describing the agency’s decision to reduce scrutiny of recruits in order to expedite hires. “By doing so, there was a potential to put lives at risk and to jeopardize national security.”

The whistle-blower complaint was obtained via a public records request. The concerns within it broadly mirror those made by other current and former ICE employees who said that the agency had abandoned best practices as it rapidly scaled up. An ICE lawyer who worked at the agency’s training center resigned earlier this year and went public as a whistle-blower, citing concerns about a “deficient, defective and broken” training program. ImageA sidewalk memorial with flowers and candles and a piece of paper with “His Name Was Sebastian” written on it.The scrutiny of ICE’s hiring practices has intensified in recent weeks, spurred in part by the fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero on July 13.Credit...Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times

In response to questions, an ICE spokesperson said in a statement that the agency “diligently applies the proper personnel vetting regulations, including guidelines for national security, and evaluates all available information for every applicant based on these factors.”

The agency declined to comment about the whistle-blower, who retired from the agency in July, or his complaint.

The scrutiny of ICE’s hiring practices has intensified in recent weeks, spurred in part by the fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian immigrant, in Biddeford, Maine, on July 13.

The two ex-wives of the ICE agent David Brouillette, one of whom identified him as the person who fired the fatal shots, have accused him in interviews and court records of being abusive. In a filing for a protection order in December 2019, one ex-wife wrote that he had broken her door down, destroyed her belongings and dumped her clothes over a bridge.

The women also have said Mr. Brouillette, a former military serviceman and Veterans Affairs police officer who was hired amid the recruiting surge last year, had post-traumatic stress disorder related to his deployment in Afghanistan. A local official in Maine told The Portland Press Herald that Mr. Brouillette sought jobs with the Hallowell Police Department in 2024 but was denied because there were “too many red flags.” Mr. Brouillette could not be reached for comment.

After the shooting, Tom Homan, the White House border czar, said that the D.H.S. investigation into the episode will include whether the agent was properly vetted before being hired.

A White House spokesperson referred questions to D.H.S.A Rush to Recruit

The concerns in the August 2025 whistle-blower complaint exposed shortcuts in the agency’s preliminary vetting process. No credit checks. Fingerprints unconfirmed. Final job offers absent preliminary vetting.

Before the surge, a recruitment team made documents available to a unit within ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility for each new hire, including fingerprints and a security form with extensive questions. The vetting team would then initiate a preliminary check, running each applicant’s name through law enforcement databases and searching for criminal violations or other major red flags. Some recruits would be sent for a polygraph test if concerns arose.

These recruits then underwent a full background check, conducted by outside contractors, to determine whether the candidate was trustworthy enough to have access to sensitive computer systems, federal facilities and classified information. It wasn’t unusual for this to occur while recruits were in training.

The preliminary vetting process, which took seven to 10 days, was upended last summer. The vetters were told to make determinations on recruits without having the full security form, fingerprints or any polygraph testing, according to the former unit chief and a former federal official familiar with the process who was granted anonymity to speak freely about it.

That meant new hires were heading to training without having their identities, criminal histories and other basic information checked and verified, the unit chief said.

The agency also sped up its training program, cutting it from roughly 10 weeks to six. This resulted in agents reporting to their full-time positions while their full background checks were pending. 

More News Roundups

The Parnas Perspective, Evening News and Commentary: UN Admits Defeat on Climate Change and Warns of Catastrophe, Trump Family Races to Hire Lawyers, and Much More, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 2, 2026. Today brought a lot of “the quiet part out loud” energy: Trump’s inner circle is stockpiling lawyers ahead of a possible Democratic Congress, even as the West Wing publicly insists the GOP holds the House. Speaking of the GOP, dozens of Republicans are quietly RSVPing “no” to Trump’s own midterm convention next week, some over cost, some over politics, some over dove hunting. Meanwhile the UN conceded the 1.5-degree climate target is basically gone, the Mint rolled out a Trump coin that critics joke marks the “death of liberty” in 2026, and the USS Abraham Lincoln limped into Thailand looking like it aged a decade in 286 days. Add a runaway robot in Russia, a deadlocked jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial, and a Coast Guard jet that lost an engine over D.C., and that’s Wednesday. Here’s everything you need to know.

Here’s the news:

Trump and his Family race to hire lawyers:

Trump, his family, and officials in his orbit are quietly seeking out personal lawyers to protect themselves as they prepare for a likely Democratic takeover of Congress next year, even as the president publicly insists Republicans will hold their majorities. Current and former administration officials have been swapping recommendations for attorneys who could represent them in a personal capacity if subpoenaed in 2027, with some reaching out to Stefan Passantino, a former deputy White House counsel who represented Cassidy Hutchinson during the Jan. 6 investigations. Inside the White House, the counsel’s office began holding private briefings for political appointees as early as this spring, reassuring current staff they’ll be represented in their official capacities while urging everyone to be careful what they put in writing and to keep financial disclosures and ethics filings airtight. As one former official put it, the guiding principle is simple: “Don’t give them a reason to find anything.”

Beyond personal legal cover, the administration has laid down a new legal marker to shield Trump’s communications with outside advisers, family members, and business figures. An Aug. 10 Justice Department memo concluded that executive privilege can extend to presidential communications with private advisers so long as they relate to official decision-making and remain confidential, though it stops short of blanket immunity and allows Congress to override the privilege by showing the information is “demonstrably critical.” Legal experts say this could combine with the Supreme Court’s Trump v. Mazars ruling to create what one called “a whole new umbrella of potential privileged information,” though it also risks putting company executives who’ve interacted with Trump in a bind between White House privilege claims and congressional demands.

Democrats have signaled they plan to target a long list of officials, including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, along with outside businesses tied to self-enrichment and corruption narratives. To manage the response, Will Scharf, previously the White House staff secretary, took over as White House counsel this week, a notably faster transition than in 2018, and he’ll work closely with Attorney General Todd Blanche, whom he partnered with on Trump’s presidential immunity case. Former officials expect Scharf, described as more attuned to “what the president wants” than his predecessor, to reshape the counsel’s office into more of a defensive, litigation-focused operation if Democrats win, a shift historians say fundamentally changes the nature of the job and could pull senior officials’ time away from policy work across agencies.

GOP Midterm Convention Struggles:

A POLITICO survey of more than 70 GOP candidates and members found that most are either skipping or still undecided about next week’s Dallas convention, the first midterm convention thrown by a major party in over four decades, with dozens more declining to share plans. Reasons for staying away include pre-existing district obligations, personal conflicts like weddings, and, for some in tough races such as Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.), Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), and Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.), a desire to avoid being closely tied to Trump so close to the election. Barrett said he’d rather be “useful” in his district and noted, “I can’t control what the president’s going to say at the convention, but I can control where I’m at.” Trump and JD Vance will headline the two-day event at the American Airlines Center, with top leaders like Speaker Mike Johnson and Leader John Thune, plus 2028 hopeful Ted Cruz and Senate candidates Mike Rogers and Jon Husted, expected to attend. Johnson said he’s been promoting the event but acknowledged some members need to stay home given how close the gathering falls to early voting.

An Financial Times investigation, drawing on leaked Russian correspondence, travel records, and patent analysis, reveals a covert Russian program codenamed C430L that has been helping Iran develop supersonic cruise missiles using ramjet propulsion technology since 2023, continuing through the US-Israeli war against Iran and into 2026. The effort, coordinated by state arms exporter Rosoboronexport and missile maker NPO Mashinostroyenia (both under U.S. sanctions), involved senior Russian engineers repeatedly traveling to Iran to analyze flight-test data and help Tehran fix technical problems with an already-built and tested ramjet system, weapons experts say the technology is almost certainly meant for anti-ship and land-attack missiles capable of threatening U.S. aircraft carriers. Experts described it as one of the most strategically significant transfers of Russian military technology to Iran, requiring “political clearance from the very top in Russia,” and part of a broader deepening of Russia-Iran military cooperation that has included Iranian Shahed drones supporting Russia’s Ukraine war and Russian assistance like satellite imagery and drone support during Iran’s conflict with the U.S. and Israel. Putin told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian this week that Moscow was “supplying you with the goods you need,” and the Kremlin, Rosoboronexport, NPO Mashinostroyenia, and Iran’s government all declined to respond to the FT’s questions, while it remains unclear whether a next phase of the program, still being negotiated as of June 2026, has begun.

Cost is a major deterrent: the NRCC is suggesting a $25,000 minimum donation for members to attend, which covers a hotel room and two tickets to the convention and a welcome reception, with higher tiers up to $100,000 unlocking more access. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said the bill factored into his uncertainty about going, while another anonymous member admitted the fee gave him an easy excuse to skip an event he didn’t want to attend anyway. Even so, some GOP lawmakers, including committee chairs, plan to donate well beyond the minimum since the convention is seen as a key late fundraising opportunity. Senior Energy and Commerce Committee members Bob Latta and Morgan Griffith are both staying home for district commitments, and Appropriations Chair Tom Cole cited a dove-hunting event in Oklahoma as his reason for skipping.

Several Republicans are staying away for reasons tied to timing or political caution: northeastern members like Chris Smith and Andrew Garbarino cited 25th-anniversary 9/11 commemorations in their districts, while moderates such as Sen. Susan Collins, who doesn’t attend conventions while up for reelection, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who said “I’m not a party guy,” are avoiding the event as vulnerable candidates. One anonymous House Republican called the convention “a waste of time” aimed at rallying the base rather than persuading independents, while privately some GOP members worry about Trump’s sagging approval amid the Iran conflict, a Canada trade war, and price increases. The RNC pushed back forcefully, with spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre calling enthusiasm for the event “incredible” and crediting Trump’s agenda with lower drug prices, lower taxes, and border security ahead of the midterms.

UN Admits Climate Change Defeat:

In a “strategic retreat,” the United Nations conceded in a first-of-its-kind report Wednesday that Earth will soon exceed the 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) warming limit set by the 2015 Paris climate accord, acknowledging the world has lost its chance to prevent some of global warming’s worst impacts. The planet is currently at about 1.4 C (2.5 F) above pre-industrial levels, and the report admits the 1.5 threshold will be crossed “within the next few years,” with the most optimistic scenario seeing warming peak at 1.8 C (3.2 F) by mid-century, while current government policies point toward 2.6 C (4.7 F) by 2100. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “humanity is speeding past the limit to avoid climate catastrophe,” and UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said the 1.5 goal remains the target but must now be approached “from above” rather than avoided entirely.

Instead of preventing overshoot, the new strategy calls for limiting how high temperatures peak, then gradually cooling the planet back below 1.5 degrees, ideally by century’s end, through ending fossil fuel use and developing carbon-removal technology, a process the report calls “overshoot.” Scientists warned this period could last “many, many decades,” and every five-year delay in cutting emissions adds at least another tenth of a degree to the eventual peak, according to report co-author Joeri Rogelj. During this stretch, the report predicts worsening extreme weather, rising seas, melting ice, increased death and illness, falling food production, water shortages, economic damage, and species extinctions, along with the risk of irreversible “tipping points” like the loss of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, the Amazon rainforest, and the Atlantic Ocean circulation system that warms Europe. Some locations, the report warns, “might become more or less uninsurable or even uninhabitable.”

Reactions from outside scientists were largely grim: University of Victoria’s Andrew Weaver called it “among the bleakest U.N. climate reports I have read,” carrying “desperation, frustration and urgency but not resignation,” while Climate Analytics CEO Bill Hare said the report describes the problem well but “does a poor job of showing us that there’s a way out.” The report’s proposed cooling phase relies partly on removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but authors note that planting trees, the traditional method, could shave off at most a tenth of a degree, meaning more novel and largely unproven carbon-removal approaches will be needed. Stanford’s Rob Jackson summed up the skepticism bluntly: “We were unable to stop the runaway train of global emissions to avoid 1.5 C of warming. Now overshoot scenarios require us to stop the train quickly and to back it up. Is it our best hope? Absolutely. Is it likely? Absolutely not.”

Trump Coin Issues:

The U.S. Mint began selling a new $1 coin bearing Trump’s face on Wednesday, sold to the public in 25-coin rolls for $61 or 100-coin bags for $154.50, well above face value, drawing immediate mockery online as critics called it another Trump-branded grift. The coin, meant to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary, features Trump’s portrait alongside “Liberty” and “In God We Trust” on the front and the presidential seal on the reverse, but critics zeroed in on its “1776—2026” date inscription, with Bulwark commentator Catherine Rampell joking it appeared to mark “the birth date of liberty as 1776, and its death as 2026.” Federal law generally bars living presidents from appearing on U.S. currency, but the administration sidestepped that restriction by authorizing the coin as a commemorative anniversary tribute rather than standard currency.

The coin is the latest in a string of efforts to imprint Trump’s image across American institutions and currency: his face already appears on large banners at government buildings like the Justice Department and Interior Department, and the Treasury Department is weighing a plan to put his image and signature on a $250 bill, an idea originating from Rep. Joe Wilson’s “Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act,” complete with an AI-generated mock-up. Other Republicans have piled on with similar gestures, including Rep. Brandon Gill’s proposal to replace Benjamin Franklin with Trump on the $100 bill and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s bill to add Trump’s face to Mount Rushmore alongside Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. The coin also joins a growing lineup of Trump-branded commercial products, including a $60 “Make America Pray Again” bible, sneakers, watches, and cryptocurrency, all of which have added billions to the president’s and his family’s fortunes. The piece notes that Trump’s appetite for this kind of personal branding shows no sign of slowing: last week, after praising the Artemis II crew for naming a moon crater after a late astronaut’s wife, he told the crowd, “I wish they’d name something like that after me.”

USS Lincoln’s Conditions:

The USS Abraham Lincoln pulled into Laem Chabang Port in Chonburi province, Thailand on Wednesday, its paint chipped and hull visibly rusted after 286 days at sea, the ship’s first full port stop since deploying from San Diego on Nov. 21. The carrier is heading home after being relieved by the Japan-based USS George Washington, having spent most of the deployment supporting U.S.-Israeli military operations against Iran, with brief stops only in Guam and Oman to resupply. Its 1,092-foot frame, one of the largest warships in the world, looked “a shadow of its former self” as crowds gathered onshore to watch it dock. Rear Adm. Robert E. Loughran called the stop a “well-deserved opportunity” for the roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard to rest, while also framing it as a show of the U.S.-Thailand alliance.

The crew is getting a four-day “rest and relaxation” stop in Pattaya, a resort city with a reputation as a sex-tourism hub, with each service member allotted three liberty days and one duty day; sailors disembarked in civilian clothes onto lines of Ford pickups and buses, one carrying golf clubs, as a commanding officer urged them over the loudspeaker to be on their “best behavior.” Local businesses hung welcome banners, and officials estimate the visit will inject about $3 million into an economy hit by falling tourism amid Middle East-driven fuel prices and travel disruptions. Thai police also conducted a late-night sweep of Pattaya’s beachfront promenade over the weekend, detaining 25 people, mostly Thai, Laotian, and Ugandan nationals, suspected of public solicitation ahead of the ship’s arrival. A local factory worker who came to watch called the docking a source of pride he could “boast to our neighboring countries about.”

The voyage, originally slated for seven months, stretched to 286 days after Iran destroyed a key U.S. Navy supply hub in Manama, Bahrain, worsening conditions onboard. Families and sailors described moldy showers, rationed meals, and shortages of basic necessities like soap, toothpaste, and deodorant, alongside exhausting workloads and deteriorating mental health among crew members. The visible deterioration of the ship itself, rust dominating sections of the hull, became a striking visual symbol of the deployment’s toll as it edged into port. The Lincoln’s homecoming to San Diego continues after this stop, closing out one of the longest carrier deployments in recent memory.

Other news:

Epstein survivors urge Leon Black to comply with Congressional subpoenas ahead of tomorrow’s deposition. “If Black continues to withhold responsive records or refuses to comply with the committee’s demands,Congress should use every tool available to enforce its subpoenas.”

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who isn’t seeking reelection in November, renewed his call for Trump to fire Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after Army Secretary Dan Driscoll’s resignation became official this week, writing on X that he’d “never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country.” Tillis accused Hegseth of being “intimidated by competence” and prioritizing culture-war fights, such as grooming and fitness standards, over modernizing the military and retaining talented leaders like Driscoll, who had clashed with Hegseth over troop modernization and the firing of dozens of senior officers. This is the latest escalation in a long-running feud between the two: in May, Tillis told POLITICO that Hegseth had misinformed Trump on Iran war dynamics, and in a forthcoming book he brands Hegseth and other officials as “MAGATS” who failed to protect the president. Trump has previously fired back at Tillis on Truth Social, calling him “a quitter” for not seeking reelection and predicting the GOP would emerge “bigger, and better, and stronger” without him. The White House and Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment on Tillis’s latest post.

In a CNBC interview ahead of the G20 Innovation Ministerial in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick dismissed concerns about data centers’ water use as adversary propaganda, framing the facilities as vital economic boosters for communities; critics online pushed back, noting that data centers often consume hundreds of thousands to millions of gallons daily for evaporative cooling systems (though newer designs reduce this), with the exchange reflecting broader tensions between supporters who see rapid data center growth as key to AI leadership over China and critics warning of local water strain and rising electricity costs.

New Jersey-based Crystal Temptations recalled its Chocolatey Eyeballs Halloween candy on Aug. 31 after discovering the products contain undeclared milk, which can cause serious or life-threatening reactions in people with milk allergies. Five product styles, ranging from a 7-ounce acrylic box to a 16-ounce pouch bag, were sold at Marshalls, TJ Maxx, HomeGoods and Sierra Trading Post across 13 states including California, Texas, New Jersey and Massachusetts. The company said the issue stemmed from a temporary breakdown in its production and packaging process, and no illnesses have been reported so far. Consumers who bought the candy are advised to destroy it and contact Crystal Temptations with proof of purchase for a refund at 1-201-246-7990, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.

The Justice Department issued a new legal opinion Wednesday requiring states to report undocumented immigrants to federal authorities as a condition of receiving federal funding, part of the administration’s broader push to advance Trump’s mass deportation agenda. The department’s Office of Legal Counsel reinterpreted a 1998 Clinton-era opinion, ruling that any state accepting federal funds for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or Supplemental Security Income programs, two of the country’s largest safety-net programs, must report anyone unlawfully present in the U.S. to the Department of Homeland Security, with the obligation now extending to the entire state government rather than just the specific agencies administering those benefits. Since every state receives this funding, the reinterpretation effectively pressures all 50 states to comply. DOJ said states won’t face retroactive penalties for having relied on the old interpretation but are expected to follow the new one going forward, and the move is likely to draw legal challenges from Democratic-led states, which have previously resisted similar administration efforts to compel local agencies to share immigration status information.

The jury in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial ended Wednesday without a verdict after telling Plymouth Superior Judge William Sullivan for a second time that it remains deadlocked, prompting him to read the rare “Tuey-Rodriguez” or “dynamite” instruction, a last-resort push for jurors to keep working toward a unanimous decision, before sending them home to resume Thursday. The nine women and three men have now deliberated more than 28 hours over five days since receiving the case last Thursday, weighing five possible verdicts: not guilty by reason of insanity, not guilty, first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter, in the deaths of Clancy’s three children in their Duxbury home in January 2023. Clancy’s attorney argues she wasn’t criminally responsible due to overmedication and postpartum psychosis, while prosecutors contend she planned the killings and understood right from wrong; a continued deadlock could ultimately lead to a mistrial, as has happened twice recently in Massachusetts cases. Separately, a 56-year-old woman was arrested and arraigned on a juror-intimidation charge after allegedly filming jurors outside the courthouse, though her attorney says she was trying to photograph Clancy, not record jurors, and she pleaded not guilty.

The Kennedy Center has removed “Blue,” a stick-figure sculpture by artist Joel Shapiro that stood outside the venue since 2019, with cranes taking down pieces of the statue Wednesday morning as the National Park Service briefly closed a nearby road. A Kennedy Center spokesperson said the venue requested the “deinstallation,” calling it “common practice” and thanking Shapiro for the work’s years on campus. A former curator, Josef Palermo, told CNN he was instructed in September 2025 to remove all outdoor art ahead of a planned reopening with “all new art” reflecting Trump’s vision, though a person familiar with the matter disputed that account. The activist group “Hands Off the Arts” blasted the removal as “buffoonery,” in a jab apparently aimed at Trump. The move is the latest in a string of changes Trump has made to the institution since taking office, including reshaping its board, becoming its chair, and pushing to add his name to the building, moves that have drawn legal challenges alongside his separate, currently blocked plan to close the center for a roughly two-year renovation.

At Volga Store in Saratov, Russia, a tech consultant robot named Syoma retaliated after a customer shoved it, advancing and attempting kicks before staff restrained and powered it down; no one was seriously hurt, the customer received compensation, and the store attributed the outburst to a need for an “emotional reboot” as online viewers joked about kung fu software and drew Terminator comparisons, highlighting safety concerns around humanoid robots in retail settings.

The Justice Department filed a statement Tuesday backing OpenAI’s “fair use” defense in a major copyright lawsuit brought by The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and other publishers, along with authors including Sylvia Day, George R.R. Martin, and John Grisham, marking a direct endorsement of the AI industry’s legal position in multiple pending copyright cases. DOJ argued that training a large language model on copyrighted works is transformative fair use because it uses the material “to learn and act on statistical patterns in written text” rather than to duplicate its expressive content, and urged the court to treat the training process separately from a chatbot’s output. The filing leaned on the administration’s broader AI policy, warning that copyright rules making it harder to build a “robust AI industry” in the U.S. would threaten national security and hand an advantage to foreign rivals. The move comes about two months after Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion, the largest copyright class action settlement in history, to resolve a similar suit involving roughly 370,000 authors and 482,000 books.

Tiger Woods pleaded no contest Wednesday to a reduced charge of willful reckless driving, resolving a DUI case stemming from a March rollover crash near his Florida home, after State Attorney Thomas Bakkedahl cited a “significant deterioration of the proof” needed to prosecute the original DUI charge. Woods, 50, will lose his driver’s license for five years and pay about $2,000 in fines; the judge warned him that driving during the suspension would send him “immediately” back to jail. Prosecutors said Woods had a documented injury history and a hydrocodone prescription, and while he admitted taking the painkiller and had pills on him, two forensic toxicologists found insufficient evidence the drug had impaired him, one even suggesting he’d developed a tolerance to it; Woods also refused a urine test, leaving investigators without proof of what was in his system. The case marks yet another setback in a familiar pattern for Woods, who pleaded guilty to reckless driving after a similar 2017 DUI arrest and has faced repeated vehicle-related incidents alongside years of injuries that have complicated his golf comeback. His girlfriend, Vanessa Trump, the president’s former daughter-in-law, was present in the courtroom for the brief, five-minute hearing.

A Coast Guard C-37A jet carrying Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and 13 others made an emergency landing at Reagan National Airport on Wednesday after losing its right engine mid-flight, with the pilot declaring an emergency and noting the plane still had 2.5 hours of fuel remaining. Mullin praised the crew on X, saying the pilots “made the single engine landing feel routine” and later told him it was actually a first for them; the airport confirmed the plane landed safely and was cleared by fire and rescue personnel. The C-37A, a military version of the Gulfstream V, is the aging jet DHS has used to shuttle senior Coast Guard and DHS officials, and the department flagged it as far back as last year as “22 years old” with “significant avionics and communications obsolescence issues.” DHS’s push to replace the plane, which started as a roughly $50 million request in its FY2025 budget and later grew to about $200 million for two new Gulfstream G700s, has drawn repeated scrutiny from congressional Democrats questioning why it should take priority over upgrading older search-and-rescue aircraft.

A judge set $250,000 bail Wednesday for Agostino Abbatiello, the 24-year-old former Penn State fraternity brother accused of leading a cocaine trafficking ring, though he had not posted bail as of Wednesday afternoon and remains held at Centre County Correctional Facility. Prosecutors allege Abbatiello was the ring’s main supplier, selling cocaine in amounts up to a kilogram to fellow fraternity members and paying others to package drugs and act as couriers; he faces felony charges including corrupt organizations, conspiracy, and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity. He was initially denied bail, unlike 13 co-defendants arrested in the case, prompting his attorney to file an emergency motion calling the denial “absurd” and noting investigators never alleged he used or threatened violence or was seen with a weapon; the attorney also accused prosecutors of judge-shopping. The investigation centers on Penn State’s Sigma Chi and Delta Upsilon fraternities, with Sigma Chi suspending its Penn State chapter after the arrests, and Abbatiello, who graduated Penn State in 2024 with a 3.3 GPA and was working as a financial advisor in Florida at the time of his arrest, turned himself in on August 18 and hopes to live with his parents on Long Island while the case proceeds.

U.S. Economy, Markets

Seymour Hersh, Opinion: The Coming Trump Depression, Seymour Hersh, right, Sept. 3, 2026. The businessman president’s lasting legacy might be plunging America into economic misery.

When I was a young wire service police reporter in the early 1960s in corrupt Chicago, one of my favorite books was Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West. The novel was published in 1933, and West died young in a car crash with his wife in 1940. It’s about a young guy who writes an advice column for a New York newspaper and answers letters in his column from readers living through the desperation of the early days of the Great Depression. Every night he pours out his heart every night after work to a bartender. One evening the issue is a letter he received from a sixteen-year-old girl:

I don’t know what to do and would appreciate it if you could tell me what to do. When I was a little girl it was not so bad because I got used to the kids on the block makeing fun of me, but now I would like to have boy friends like the other girls and go out on Saturday nites, but no boy will take me because I was born without a nose—although I am a good dancer and have a nice shape and my father buys me pretty clothes.

I sit and look at myself all day and cry. I have a big hole in the middle of my face that scares people even myself so I cant blame the boys for not wanting to take me out. My mother loves me, but she crys terrible when she looks at me.

I’m no longer a police reporter, but I’ve spent decades reporting on corrupt and idiotic wars and presidents—Democratic and Republican—who’ve thrown away billions of dollars on wars that could not be won, did not need to be fought, and cost millions of lives. Sometimes the job makes me feel a bit like Miss Lonelyhearts.

And today we have a malicious childlike president who is bankrupting the United States with the war he started in Iran and who ignores one possible off-ramp after another. I was chilled this summer during a visit to Europe when an old friend who understands the world of oil and finance and is not given to dramatics told me that unless there are immediate changes, America will soon enter a recession that will equal or surpass the Great Depression. Trump is playing with the future as he borrows and borrows and leaves an unmanageable debt for future presidents.

The economic horrors to come are the subject of a recent column by Martin Jay, a frontline British foreign correspondent who over thirty years has reported for American, British, German, Russian, and Arab media. In 2016, he was awarded the UN Correspondent Association’s gold medal for outstanding reporting. Jay’s argument is the same one I’ve heard from my friend at the heart of the international oil industry.

Jay’s essay begins with a scene from a recent gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a Eurasian security group with ten member states. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Indian Prime Minister Nahendra Modi were caught on video sharing a moment of levity, a clip that went viral internationally. “What was the joke?” Jay asks. He speculates that they might have been talking about Donald Trump: “the more the US president does intentionally, the more of a joke he becomes universally around the world. The US president is literally a comic figure—a clown who amuses world leaders who are embracing a new multipolar world order which has found a new system of world trade that surpasses the US altogether.”

Jay points out that BRICS, the international trade collective of Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates, has like the SCO, which recently took in Iran, Pakistan, and India, been expanding and that the SCO might soon start its own development bank. So many countries exiting the US financial system and cutting ties with the IMF and the World Bank may spell the end of US dollar hegemony, no little thanks to Trump.

That dominance for decades allowed the US to push smaller countries around despite its military failures in places like Korea and Vietnam. It was the great expense of the Vietnam War in part that spurred Nixon to decouple the dollar from the gold standard in 1971. The idea, Jay writes, was “that future wars could be fought with freshly minted dollars with no side effects,” but in actuality “subsequent wars—certainly Iraq and Afghanistan—were fought using money which was essentially borrowed from Global South countries, even China, through treasury bonds—basically loans given to countries backed by the US government.” Since Trump started his war with Iran, economists are now speculating that the days of the US borrowing without limit from the Global South may be coming to an end. If SCO and BRICS set up a financial zone separate from the dollar, demand for US Treasury bonds could crater, and, Jay writes, “a surplus of dollar around the world which not many people want only means one thing: inflation.”

It’s long been known that weakening the dollar is part of Trump’s strategy to strengthen US manufacturing by making US exports cheaper, but Jay argues that he’s neglected “the downside to a weaker dollar”: “that only works when you have real control over the world’s economy and central banks, like in Nixon’s day. ‘It may be our dollar, but it’s your problem,’ one of Nixon’s advisers is quoted as saying to Europeans in the early seventies at a conference which explained how he planned to weaken the dollar and keep the hegemony.” Trump is still trying to have it both ways, but the hegemony, largely due to his own reckless foreign policy, is slipping away. These processes have long been underway, but Jay emphasizes that the current president has accelerated them: “The delusional antics of Trump are leading America to ruin at a speed most thought unimaginable.”

As we Chicago kids used to say about the proven corruption of the most infamous ballplayer on the White Sox: “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”

U.S. Media, Entertainment, Culture

Gloria Steinem speaks at the Women's March in Washington, on January 21, 2017 (Shannon Stapleton photo for Reuters).

New York Times, Gloria Steinem, Personification of the Women’s Movement, Dies at 92, Katharine Q. Seelye, Sept. 3, 2026. She challenged sexist assumptions, helping women develop a sense of self-worth and gain a measure of equality at work, at home and in society at large.

Gloria Steinem, the feminist crusader who, in galvanizing the modern women’s movement, helped millions of women develop a sense of self-worth and gain a measure of equality at home, at work and in society at large, died on Wednesday at her home in New York City. She was 92.

Her death was announced in a post on social media, which did not give a cause.

Calling herself “an entrepreneur of social change,” Ms. Steinem helped usher in sweeping cultural transformations across virtually every facet of American life, from the boardroom to the courtroom to the bedroom.

For more than half a century, she personified the women’s movement and became its most enduring symbol; her tinted aviator glasses and curtain of streaked-blond hair parted in the center made her one of the most recognizable women in the world.

She was an unlikely revolutionary. Growing up a transient in the Midwest, she was 10 when her parents divorced and she was left to mother her mentally anguished mother — a formative experience that reverberated throughout her life. She had scant formal education until sixth grade; her big dream, as a budding tap dancer, was to become a Rockette.

But she read voraciously, graduated from college with honors and believed fiercely that women should be able to live whatever life they chose.

Her own feminist awakening didn’t come until her mid-30s, when, as a journalist in 1969, she attended a “speak out” of women discussing their illegal abortions. Charismatic, articulate, media savvy, deeply empathetic and a workaholic, she evolved into a political and cultural force.

She led protests and consciousness-raising sessions, wrote essays and delivered speeches, delved into political organizing, helped establish rape crisis centers and shelters for battered women, founded numerous groups that promoted women and had the Midas touch when it came to raising money for their causes.

The Daily with Sarah Jones via PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: Fox News Dumps Trump Cheerleader Maria Bartiromo, Jason Easley and Sarah Jones, right, Sept. 3, 2026. Maria Bartiromo, above, has been non-stop waving the flag for Trump and professing endless support for a decade. Bartiromo was one of the personalities that Trump would turn to when he needed the softest of soft interviews.

Trump’s buddy Sean Hannity always seems to be his first Fox News choice, but Bartiromo, along with Fox and Friends, were his two other go-to spots for interviews that would be even more gentle than the standard Fox News interviews.

Bartiromo like the rest of Fox allowed Trump to pre-tape his interviews. The Trump interviews were often edited to paint the president in the best light, and there have been reports over the years that the White House even has editorial control over Trump’s interviews on Fox.

Fox News didn’t give Maria Bartiromo a big sendoff to thank her for her 12 and a half years on the network.

Instead, Fox News released a terse statement that:

Effective today Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media. Fox News media said, “We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter.”

That’s it. Boom. Gone.Bartiromo’s Exit Is A Sign That The End Of Trump Is Coming

Fox News is going to find a new host to take over Bartiromo’s Sunday show, Sunday Morning Futures, which has been the place for MAGA Republicans to push their messages, hawk their campaigns, and hit viewers up for donations.

Sunday Morning Futures is not a Sunday news show. It was more like a MAGA circus tent where those who either needed something or wanted to get the attention of Trump and his most loyal supporters gathered.

Bartiromo’s Sunday show was the place that Republicans turned to if they felt that Kristen Welker was too liberal.

We don’t have the details yet of why Bartiromo and Fox News parted ways. Maybe Bartiromo is taking a job in the Trump administration?

However, when Trump’s most loyal media supporters start losing their plum perches to speak to his base, it is also a sign that the MAGA era is drawing to a close.

In a few months, Democrats are likely to control all or part of Congress. Trump looks to be on the fast track toward lame duck status, and starting next year, voters of all political stripes will look toward the 2028 election and the selection of a new president.

The signs are growing that it really is over for Trump, and the era that many Americans thought would never come to an end is moving toward its close. 

Daily Beast, Elon Musk is the richest man in the world. And, apparently, he’s the saddest, Laura Esposito, That’s according to filmmaker Alex Gibney, who relayed the assessment from someone who worked closely with Musk. Gibney’s forthcoming film, Musk, was previewed by The Hollywood Reporter.

“Someone who worked closely with Elon told me, ‘He’s the most miserable man I’ve ever met.’ So he’s inflicting his misery on everyone else,” Gibney told the outlet.Elon Musk.Elon Musk has regrets about his chainsaw-waving stunt. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

In Gibney’s film, which premieres this fall, he tackles the 55-year-old’s worst impulses—and how this unelected, unchecked figure shapes much of what we see in American politics today. Musk has made no secret of his thirst for power, notably during the 2024 presidential election, when he funneled more than $290 million into Donald Trump’s last presidential campaign and hosted town halls in swing states. He famously gave away a $1 million check to a rallygoer selected at random after they signed a petition to support a PAC he created.

Questions about his obscure data-collecting efforts and the role he plans to play in forthcoming elections also remain unanswered. In his documentary, Gibney hammers home that Musk’s brief stint at the helm of an army of twentysomething men known as the “DOGE” squad involved dismantling USAID programs around the world; the X owner gained access to the data on tens of millions of Americans.

What, exactly, he does with that information is unknown. Combined with the data he has already obtained through his control of X, that information makes him an undeniable force in American politics.

According to the person quoted by Gibney, Musk does it all to fill the bleakness he feels within himself. Other times, perhaps he fills that void by lashing out at others.

Just ask President Donald Trump, who has privately admitted he was hurt by Musk after their nuclear fallout, according to recent reports.

After the 80-year-old president returned to the White House in part due to Musk, it wasn’t long before the relationship went awry. It came to a head in a very public feud, which included Musk claiming in an X post that Trump “is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.” The allegation was unsupported, and Musk later deleted the post. 

Sept. 2

Top Headlines

Donald Trump portrayed seizing oil from Venezuela, creating conditions for violent blowback in the future (Graphic by The Hartmann Report)

• The Hartmann Report, Opinion: Trump Brags About His “Brilliant” Venezuela Scheme While History Screams a Warning, Thom Hartmann, right, Sept. 2, 2026. America has spent decades paying for earlier interventions in oil-rich nations. Trump is now risking another cycle of rebellion, bloodshed, and blowback. Here we go again with American colonialism, this time with a crazy scheme Trump thinks is “brilliant.”
• Public Notice, Opinion: Trump begs SCOTUS to let him unleash midterm chaos, Liz Dye, right, Sept. 2, 2026. They’ll find that fraud if they have to throw out millions of lawful ballots to do it. The important thing to know here is that this is all John Roberts’s fault. We’re on the precipice of complete chaos as Trump tries to seize control of the midterms. Multiple courts have ruled that this is wholly illegal. And yet, no one knows whether the Supreme Court’s MAGA majority will once again leap in to ensure the president is able to violate the law.
• Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Mike Johnson, Wet Noodle, Bill Kristol & Andrew Egger, Sept. 2, 2026. Donald Trump has spent two years openly favoring red states over blue ones while disbursing federal disaster relief funds, but it’s still surreal to see him talk openly about it.

News Roundups

• Meidas Touch Network, Wednesday Updates: ‘Strait’ Up Panic, Ben Meiselas, right, Sept. 2, 2026. Trump spotted sleeping again during a White House event this afternoon. Today’s top stories: Trump again falsely posts the U.S. has the Strait of Hormuz “under control” and floats renaming it to the “Trump Strait;” IRGC claims tanker strikes near the Strait and warns shipping companies of penalties; Iran claims strikes hit U.S.-linked sites in Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait, and alleges American casualties.
• The Parnas Perspective, Morning News Roundup, Pentagon in ‘Shambles’ as Hegseth Faces Removal Calls Amid Readiness Issues, Weak Job Growth, Iran Alleges New War Crimes, and More, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 2, 2026. Pete Hegseth is having a rough week, and it’s the thread running through today’s newsletter. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll resigned after months of clashes with him, sources say his culture-war focus is actively undermining Army modernization, and he’s now spiking promotions for officers who don’t fit his vision, drawing criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.

More On Supreme Court Deference To Trump's Autocracy, Schemes, Grifting

• Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Sept. 1, 2026 [Supreme Deference To Trump Ideas, Heather Cox Richardson, right, Sept. 2, 2026. Yesterday, by a vote of 5–4, the United States Supreme Court allowed Trump to continue to build his ballroom. The five right-wing justices concluded that the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which had sued to stop the construction of the ballroom, did not have legal standing to sue and that national security considerations came down on the side of construction.

Trump Team Obsessions, Oppressions, Corruption

• The Social Contract with Joe Walsh, Opinion: Why Does That Damn Ballroom Matter So Much? Joe Walsh, above, Sept. 2, 2026. Why MUST That Damn Ballroom Come Down? At the very beginning, when we all first heard about him wanting a ballroom three and a half times the size of the White House on the grounds of the people’s house, and from the very moment he began to tear down the East Wing of the White House and break ground for the ballroom, I screamed “NO!” And I’ve screamed no every day since. And I was the very first person to say back then that whoever the 2028 Democratic nominee is, they must pledge to rebuild the East Wing and tear down/demolish whatever the ballroom is on day one.
• New York Times, Kennedy Center Will Remove Outdoor ‘Blue’ Sculpture, Elizabeth Williamson and Julia Jacobs, Sept. 2, 2026 (print ed.). The towering artwork was targeted for elimination after President Trump’s takeover of the center last year.
• New York Times, Patagonia Sues Trump Over Utah National Monument, Maxine Joselow, Sept. 2, 2026. The outdoor apparel maker joined environmental and Native American groups in challenging President Trump’s reduction of Bears Ears National Monument.

Trump Team Governance

• New York Times, The Logistics Nightmare Facing U.S. Warships, Simon Ducroquet and John Ismay, Sept. 2, 2026 (print ed.). Iranian attacks have upended the Navy’s supply chain in the Middle East, causing a strain on the aircraft carriers, destroyers and amphibious ships that are being kept in the region indefinitely. On a typical U.S. aircraft carrier, 5,000 crew members work around the clock and require up to four meals a day. Although the ships are nuclear-powered, the planes and helicopters flying off them use millions of gallons of fuel each week.
• Robert Reich, Opinion: Trump’s Bonkers Bullying of Canada is Backfiring, Robert Reich (right, former U.S. Labor Secretary and longtime professor), Sept. 2, 2026. His need to assert dominance is igniting patriotism abroad and a backlash at home.

More On U.S. Immigration Policy 

Pierre Damas Bel, a Haitian immigrant who apparently committed suicide shortly after college graduation where he had served in JROTC with hopes of pursuing a career in medicine -- and shortly before scheduled deportation as part of a mass round-up of Haitians who had come to the United States under temporary humanitarian permits.

• Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: “It Was an Immigration Policy That Took His Life,” Jim Swift, right, Sept. 2, 2026. “Some people die by accidents. Some people die by suicide. Pierre died as a result of a policy. It was an immigration policy that took his life.” Those are words Carl Ruby, pastor of Springfield Central Christian Church, offered to reporters yesterday afternoon while discussing the suicide of 20-year-old Pierre Damas Bel, a freshman at Wright State. 
• The Contrarian, Opinion: Americans Reject ICE Hellscape: Trump’s ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘terror’ backfire, Jennifer Rubin, right, Sept. 2, 2026. 62 Days to the Midterms.* Under the false pretense of protecting the border and removing “the worst of the worst” undocumented immigrants, the Trump regime has unleashed a torrent of violence and lawlessness against hardworking immigrants. It has torn apart families, eclipsed previous administrations in the number of deaths and medical emergencies of those held in ICE custody, and killed innocent Americans on our streets.

U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance 

• New York Times, Six Takeaways From the Massachusetts Primaries, Reid J. Epstein, Updated Sept. 2, 2026. Senator Ed Markey, 80, above left, trounced a younger challenger, above right, who had made an argument for generational change. Two other longtime Democratic lawmakers hung on, too.
• The New Republic, Opinion: Good Riddance, Seth Moulton: You Got What You Deserved, Perry Bacon, Jr. Sept. 2, 2026. The congressman who got drubbed by Ed Markey on Tuesday tried to distance himself from the base. That just doesn’t work anymore. Moulton isn’t the only youngish Democrat who positioned himself rightward in the aftermath of the 2024 election and was rightly punished for it. Representative Angie Craig of Minnesota was one of 46 Democrats in the House and 12 in the Senate who voted for the Trump-backed Laken Riley Act, which calls for federal law enforcement to detain and deport immigrants charged with nonviolent crimes even before they are convicted. 
• Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: The Rubber-Stamp Congress, William Kristol, right, Sept. 2, 2026. Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot this November. But these midterms are a referendum on him. The 119th Congress has been controlled by the Republican party. That party’s distinctive feature, its defining characteristic, is that it has supported Trump. It’s done so uniformly, mindlessly, and obediently.
• New York Times, Billionaires Sent Montana Prices Soaring. Can Democrats Capitalize? Jack Healy, Sept. 2, 2026. For years, Democrats have failed to harness the anger of Montanans contending with out-of-state wealth driving up costs. This year, a smokejumper thinks he can succeed.
• MSNOW, Opinion: JD Vance’s attacks on Democrats sound eerily familiar, Ryan Teague Beckwith, Sept. 2, 2026. The vice president keeps using the criticisms also leveled at his own boss.

U.S. Military, Middle East Wars, Foreign Affairs

• Hope for America, Opinion: Pete Hegseth is a danger to the world, Heather Delaney Reese, right, Sept. 2, 2026. Pete Hegseth is a danger to the world.

U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Rights, Justice

• New York Times, ‘Don’t Worry About Me’: Attacker’s Father Thought She Had Turned a Corner, Chelsia Rose Marcius, Miles G. Cohen, Amy Julia Harris and Katelyn Ferral, Sept. 2, 2026 (print ed.). Pamela Cisneros was killed by the police in Times Square after she stabbed two people, one fatally. Her father said she had stopped going with him to her mental health appointments.

Global Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets 

The Chaos Monkeys Have Already Taken Over the Zoo (Graphic by Paul Krugman).

• Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: The Hits Keep Coming, Paul Krugman, right, Sept. 2, 2026. How much chaos can the economy take? Here’s the good news: The U.S. economy has proved remarkably resilient since the chaos monkeys, aka Donald Trump and company, took over the zoo. Here’s the bad news: The shocks just keep coming.
• New York Times, Allies Grumble That U.S. Is Hindering Global Economic Growth, Jim Tankersley, Sept. 2, 2026 (print ed.). At a summit meant to showcase President Trump’s economic policies as a model for the world, Europeans complained about tariffs and the war with Iran.
• New York Times, Employer Health Costs Are Expected to Spike in 2027, Reed Abelson, Sept. 2, 2026. A new U.S. survey anticipates an average increase of 11 percent unless benefits are cut, the highest rate in decades. Other findings also predict a sharp rise.
• New York Times, What Rising Global Bond Rates Mean for Your Money, Ron Lieber and Tara Siegel Bernard, Sept. 2, 2026. If you own bonds, they may be in a broad fund that hasn’t lost much money. And that fund may do much better in the next several years.

More News Roundups

• The Parnas Perspective, Evening News and Commentary: Alarm Bells Go Off: Trump's Election Interference Escalates, Johnson Moves to Dodge Epstein Vote, Iran Strikes Resume, Apple Caves, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 1, 2026. There’s a lot happening today, and most of it points the same direction. Congressman Thomas Massie is warning that Mike Johnson may recess the House early just to dodge a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act 2.0, and it fits a pattern we keep seeing: whenever accountability gets close, the exits get greased.

Top Stories

Donald Trump portrayed seizing oil from Venezuela, creating conditions for violent blowback in the future (Graphic by The Hartmann Report)

The Hartmann Report, Opinion: Trump Brags About His “Brilliant” Venezuela Scheme While History Screams a Warning, Thom Hartmann, right, Sept. 2, 2026. America has spent decades paying for earlier interventions in oil-rich nations. Trump is now risking another cycle of rebellion, bloodshed, and blowback.

Here we go again with American colonialism, this time with a crazy scheme Trump thinks is “brilliant.”

You’d have thought we’d have learned our lesson with our stupid intervention in Iran in 1953, which led us straight to America’s humiliation in 1980 and today’s war with the Mullahs. This is going to be an epic disaster, one that will most likely cost us dearly in both American blood and treasure.

Back in February of 1989, I arrived in Caracas, Venezuela for a brief visit. Just a few hundred yards onto Venezuelan soil, I was stopped by a group of soldiers who told me I had to turn back and leave the country. My main memory is how young they were and how they seemed apologetic.

What I’d stumbled into was an uprising called the Caracazo.

Four years earlier, Reagan and his Treasury Secretary James Baker had begun leaning hard on Venezuela to cut back on their social programs and reduce their taxes on rich people, just like they’d done here with trickle-down, only this one under the banner of “austerity” and IMF-supervised “restructuring.”

Venezuela’s President when I arrived was Carlos Andrés Pérez, a guy who’d successfully campaigned in 1988 against the Reagan/Bush austerity plan, calling the entire thing “a neutron bomb that kills people but leaves buildings standing.” He’d also been the president five years earlier, and in that time had nationalized Venezuela’s oil, making him a bit of a folk hero.

But when he took office on February 2, 1989, three weeks before I arrived, the previous president (Jaime Lusinchi) had run the country $33 billion into debt, giving Bush and the IMF an excuse to force their neoliberal austerity program onto new President Pérez, who — disastrously — went along with it. His first step was to raise bus fares, which he thought would be benign. It wasn’t.

In the country with the largest proven oil reserves on Earth — larger than Saudi Arabia’s, Russia’s, or America’s — Bush’s price for debt relief was that the country’s poor had to pay more to get to work. Just 25 days later, the day I arrived, millions of angry people flooded the streets in response to that increase in bus fares and Pérez declared a state of national emergency.

By the end of the next afternoon, the 28th, Pérez had suspended the constitution and his army had killed at least 276 civilians and wounded another 1,500. Human rights groups said thousands died as bodies were dumped into unmarked pits in a corner of the Cementerio General del Sur that Caraqueños call La Peste, “the plague.” The brutal state of emergency, endorsed by US President GHW Bush, lasted another month.

Now, we’re not only risking a repeat of that, but we’ve also run this movie before in other countries. In an incredible irony, the most well-known of those was Iran in 1953 when our CIA overthrew democratically-elected Iranian President Mohammad Mossadegh because he’d nationalized that country’s oil.

We replaced Mossadegh with the brutal, repressive rule of the Shah, and we’re still paying for that one, this time with American blood and treasure thanks to Trump’s and Hegseth’s criminal attack and bumbling incompetence.

Calling his latest imperialist scam in Venezuela “the biggest oil deal in world history,” Trump is now filling in some of the details of his corrupt attempt to make off with some 65 billion barrels of oil sitting across 17 fields that represent about a fifth of Venezuela’s estimated 303 billion barrels total.

And it’s a grim repeat of our worst experiments in colonialism from the 19th and early 20th centuries. As Gregory Brew, senior energy analyst with the Eurasia Group, told Fortune magazine yesterday:

“If the U.S. scheme in Venezuela sounds colonial, that’s because it is.”

Trump tried to put a happy face on his scheme to steal Venezuela’s oil by saying that he’ll be using it to refill our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which he’s drained down to 286 million barrels in a desperate attempt to lower gas prices, its lowest level since 1982 in the wake of the Arab Oil Embargoes.

But, like with so much else Trump says, that’s an easily disproven lie; our salt caves can’t hold Venezuela’s thick, heavy sour crude because they and their pumping equipment are designed and built for light, sweet crude like we pump here. Putting Venezuelan oil into them would gum them up and destroy their usefulness forever.

We do have, however, massive refineries along the Gulf coast that were built by the Koch brothers and others specifically for that heavy Venezuelan crude back in the days when it was easily flowing to America. They’re probably salivating at the opportunity to dump the expensive Canadian tar sands oil they’re now refining and get back to the cheaper and easier stuff from down south. Perhaps this was all even their idea.

Trump says he’s “negotiated” a 100-year lease with Delcy Rodríguez, the illegitimate “acting president” of Venezuela who was Maduro’s VP when the two of them lost the election but stayed in power anyway. Today, the only things keeping her in power — after a majority of voters said “No” — are their army and our Navy and Air Force.

Like I said, we’ve seen this movie before.

To make things even more classically Trumpian, he’s giving the contract to handle this oil we’re snatching to an allegedly corrupt billionaire who’s wanted for arrest in Switzerland, a fellow named Alejandro Betancourt López, right.

López made his fortune from insider no-bid power plant contracts with Chávez; Transparency International’s Venezuelan chapter estimated he’d overcharged the Venezuelan government by $2.9 billion. American prosecutors identified him as an “unnamed co-conspirator” in a scheme they say embezzled more than a billion dollars from those deals, leading Swiss authorities to freeze his assets and issue an international arrest warrant for him.

When British police arrested Betancourt López in London in November of 2025, The Washington Post reports that Trump’s senior officials intervened, pushed the Swiss to close the case without charges, refused to act on the arrest warrant, and gave him a visa to enter the United States.

The corrupt lawyer who argued in American courts that López shouldn’t be charged with embezzlement was then staying at one of López’s mansions in Madrid and has a familiar name: Rudy Giuliani, left.

So, not only did Trump and Hegseth illegally and without congressional authorization invade a sovereign country, kill more than a hundred people, and abduct its head of state, but we then handed a massive chunk of that country’s oil — for the next century — to a man whose arrest warrant we’re sitting on and refusing to execute.

Meanwhile, nobody can find the money from the tanker-carried oil we first seized right after our invasion of Venezuela.

According to The Financial Times, Trump collected roughly $13 billion selling seized Venezuelan crude, routed at first through a bank account he controlled in Qatar, and six months later it appears to have vanished into thin air. It’s definitely not back in Venezuela.

Elizabeth Warren says the entire oil seizure and sale is a crime, and Democratic Representative Juaquin Castro and Republican Representative María Elvira Salazar are echoing her sentiment. The money didn’t even show up when the country was begging for it this June when two earthquakes killed 2,595 people and they desperately needed the cash for rescue and reconstruction.

Given all this, it should be obvious that this sleazy deal is going to fail, and that failure will be both spectacular, bloody, and expensive.

Exxon and ConocoPhillips are still owed billions from Chavez’ nationalization and aren’t going anywhere near this one. Trump sneered at Concoco’s CEO when he asked for reparations for what was taken from them back in the day.

And oil industry experts say it’ll take years, perhaps a decade, to get Venezuelan production meaningfully increased, a timeline that will run well past the political lifetimes of both Trump and Rodríguez.

Get ready: somewhere in the barrios I once worked in above Caracas, a young officer and his friends are running the political arithmetic I saw people doing during those hours I was there in February of 1989. He’ll be the next Hugo Chavez, the guy who overthrew López and re-nationalized the oil.

Seriously, do we really think the citizens of that country — after all they’ve been through over the past four generations — are just going to sit back and take it as our military props up a government nobody elected, hand their oil money to an accused money launderer Trump crony, and let us ship the proceeds through a Trump-owned bank account in Qatar?

Is anybody in America that naïve other than Republican voters who live on a diet of Fox “News”? As Senator Jack Reed — the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee — said:

“President Trump’s effort to turn the U.S. military into an investor in Venezuelan oil is a blatant abuse of power and taxpayer dollars.”

Which raises the question: Where are Republicans who control Congress on this harebrained doomed-to-fail scheme? Every one of them knows just how crazy it is, but it seems most of them are figuring that their silence will buy them a million-dollar-a-year lobbying job if they can just keep their heads down and not challenge Trump and his oil billionaire buddies.

Call your senators and your representative at 202-224-3121 and ask them what happened to Venezuela’s $13 billion and to support a war powers resolution to stop Trump’s insane war against Iran and further military actions in Venezuela.

.

A New Yorker cover story portrayed the U.S. Supreme Court Republican majority, including Chief Justice John Roberts, as almost indistinguable from Donald Trump.

Public Notice, Opinion: Trump begs SCOTUS to let him unleash midterm chaos, Liz Dye, Sept. 2, 2026. They’ll find that fraud if they have to throw out millions of lawful ballots to do it.

The important thing to know here is that this is all John Roberts’s fault.

We’re on the precipice of complete chaos as Trump tries to seize control of the midterms. Multiple courts have ruled that this is wholly illegal. And yet, no one knows whether the Supreme Court’s MAGA majority will once again leap in to ensure the president is able to violate the law.

The result is a frenzied race by lower courts to render their own rulings as quickly as possible to mitigate the impact of the bomb that SCOTUS may or may not drop in the middle of the November election.

This is not how functioning democracies go. Or at least, not for long.Steal big

On March 31, Trump signed an executive order instructing the Justice Department, Homeland Security, and the Postal Service to effectively seize control of state voter rolls.

The Constitution vests exactly zero authority in the executive branch to police local elections, explicitly reserving that power for Congress and the states. But Trump vaguely gestured in the direction of his “unavoidable duty under Article II of the Constitution of the United States to enforce Federal law, which includes preventing violations of Federal criminal law and maintaining public confidence in election outcomes” and forged ahead.John Roberts sticks two more knives in democracy’s backJohn Roberts sticks two more knives in democracy’s backLisa Needham·Aug 25Read full story

Under this spiffy plan, the secretary of Homeland Security will compile a list of citizens, collect state voter rolls, and tell registrars whom to delete. The Post Office will take the list of “legal” voters and refuse to deliver ballots to anyone not on it. And the attorney general will hold the whip, threatening to arrest anyone who stands in the way.

The plan stumbled at the first hurdle, when states declined to turn over the voter lists, and judges declined to make them. The government is currently 0-23 in its effort to coerce the states to hand over voter data. And so Trump turned to the Post Office in a final, desperate attempt to make it happen.

But there, too, he’s been stymied by the courts. Twenty-four states, the District of Columbia, and a coalition of civil rights groups led by the League of Women Voters sued in Massachusetts to block implementation of the order. On June 25, Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, agreed that the mailman has no power to police state elections and enjoined the Post Office from operationalizing it in any fashion. Citing the imminent harm to states, which have already expended considerable time and effort preparing for the midterms, she refused to stay her order pending appeal. The First Circuit agreed on both counts.Aaron Rupar @atrupar.comAG Todd Blanche on Trump attacking mail voting: "This is what the American people expect President Trump and this country to be doing when it comes to election integrity and making sure that we are extraordinarily vigilant about who is voting."Wed, 26 Aug 2026 14:16:21 GMTView on Bluesky

Meanwhile in DC, a similar case brought by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the NAACP was percolating before Trump-appointee Judge Carl Nichols. He denied the requested injunction because the Post Office had not enacted a final rule, and thus any harm to the plaintiffs was “speculative.” And on August 24 the Supreme Court’s six conservatives adopted that same reasoning to undo Judge Talwani’s injunction.

But by then, the Post Office had finalized the rule, and the very harms warned of by the states were coming to pass.

The final rule propounded by the Post Office is every bit as invasive and infeasible as the plaintiffs warned.

It forces state officials to upload their voter rolls to the Post Office through a dedicated portal and purchase new envelopes with voter-specific bar codes for every piece of ballot mail. If a ballot is rejected, it won’t be delivered at all, and only the registrar can fix that — the voter won’t be told or given an opportunity to challenge her exclusion.

As multiple election officials attested, this cannot possibly be implemented in time for the November midterms.

Dyana Limon-Mercado, the county clerk for Travis County, Texas, wrote that even if she had the money, manpower, and time to redo every ballot envelope — a project which takes 35 people working full time five weeks to complete — her office has no scanners capable of reading the specific barcode mandated by the regulation. She went on:

The County Clerk has already purchased all our absentee ballot outbound carrier envelopes and return envelopes that we will use for the November 2026 election, at a cost of approximately $21,349. We do not have funds to repurchase new envelopes.

Moreover, because the absentee ballot envelopes are specialized products, as referenced above, ordering them requires months of lead time. Even if our budget could handle the additional expenditure, our supplier would not be able to provide that many new envelopes in time for us to meet the October 4, 2026, deadline to start sending out mail-in ballots for the upcoming November 3, 2026 election. We typically order such ballot envelopes three to nine months in advance.

Plaintiffs in the DC case note that, in jurisdictions that mail ballots to every voter, it would take the post office days or even months to scan millions of envelopes.

If it takes USPS one minute to scan each of the 2.6 million mailpieces, the Maricopa County Recorder will have to remain at the [Business Mail Entry Unit] continuously for nearly 5 years. If 30 seconds per mail piece, 2.5 years. If one second, 30 days. And if a tenth of a second, it would still take 72 hours.

And that’s if everything at the Post Office goes right. Which it will not according to a whistleblower report published today by Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

The “anonymous federal official with direct knowledge of potentially catastrophic problems in the development of the United States Postal Service’s new system for handling federal election ballot mail” describes a shambolic process to cobble together something in time for the midterms — a process the Post Office resumed in July, in direct contravention of Judge Talwani’s injunction.Trump's disenfranchisement machine is besieging the courtsTrump's disenfranchisement machine is besieging the courtsLiz Dye·Jun 24Read full story

The whistleblower warns that “an ordinary process for an effort of this complexity, magnitude, and importance could take nine months to a year or more,” but that all concerns were brushed aside by supervisors who declared “we cannot fail.”

Even worse, the government plans to reject thousands of ballots if the machine decides that even one in the pile is defective. Blumenthal writes:

Not only is this system astonishingly untested, USPS has simultaneously implemented an impracticable zero percent failure rate. When ballots are submitted to USPS in large-volume batches, if any one ballot in the batch cannot be verified against the Portal, all ballots in that batch will be rejected. For example, if a state election official brings a batch of 10,000 ballots to USPS and USPS is unable to match just one of those ballots against the Portal – because, for example, someone has recently changed their name after marriage or they’ve moved — then USPS would refuse to mail the remaining 9,999 ballots as well. As the whistleblower notes, “USPS expects the state to take back the entire batch to cure the issue with the single ballot…”

To root out the nonexistent scourge of voter fraud, the government will disenfranchise millions of American citizens!

After the Supreme Court bigfooted in to stomp on Judge Talwani’s order, she invited the plaintiffs to amend their complaint to account for the fact that the rule has now been finalized. They took her up on it within hours, and by August 27, she had reimposed a temporary restraining order blocking the government from putting the rule into effect.

Temporary restraining orders are definitionally not appealable, since they last for a short time (typically 14 days) and are merely a placeholder to preserve the status quo while the judge makes a considered ruling. Here, Judge Talwani ordered the parties to appear on Thursday, September 3, for a hearing on a preliminary injunction, which is appealable. Despite this lightning-fast schedule, the government filed an immediate appeal to the First Circuit.

No other litigant would seek this kind of relief, much less get it. But the Trump administration routinely demands emergency relief from every adverse ruling, no matter how temporary. And in the main, it gets what it wants, thanks to the Supreme Court’s right-wing justices.

Time and again they leapt in to short-circuit the normal process to allow Trump to break the law, on the theory that saying no to the president is grave emergency. This is a power grab by the Court’s MAGA majority, who have kicked the legs out from under trial and appellate courts, at least when it comes to their golden-orange boy.

Lower court judges have contorted their jurisprudence and preemptively stayed their own orders against the government to avert the chaos of the Supreme Court’s six justices stomping in and doing it for them. In the case of Trump’s tariffs, lower courts allowed him to keep collecting billions of dollars in illegal levies because they anticipated — correctly! — that the Supreme Court would just make them do it anyway.

We watched this exact dynamic play out with respect to Trump’s illegal ballroom, which the Supreme Court just greenlit on Monday. That case had the added wrinkle of Chief Justice Roberts siding with the liberals in the minority to oppose the continued construction. But his righteous anger might ring more true if he hadn’t spend the past decade rewarding Trump for breaking the law and ignoring court orders.

And so the First Circuit sprinted to respond to the government’s demand that they stay Judge Talwani’s order and let the Trump administration enact this disastrous scheme immediately. The government points to special tracking requirements for shipping cremated pets as proof that it’s entitled to dummy up an entire ballot screening system and dump votes at scale.

The First Circuit raced to deal with the government’s emergency motion to set aside Judge Talwani’s order, instructing the parties to brief the case in less than 24 hours. As of this writing, they have not yet ruled — although if you asked me to bet, I’d wager that they’re likely to uphold the trial judge, as they did five weeks ago. But however they come down, we all understand that it will be a mere placeholder until the Supreme Court announces whether it will once again allow Trump to sow chaos and potentially steal the midterms.

Thanks, Chief Justice Roberts!

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Mike Johnson, Wet Noodle, Bill Kristol & Andrew Egger, Sept. 2, 2026. Donald Trump has spent two years openly favoring red states over blue ones while disbursing federal disaster relief funds, but it’s still surreal to see him talk openly about it.

In a Truth Social post last night, Trump had this to say:I just informed Governor Greg Abbott, of the GREAT State of Texas (who has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election!), that I am sending 50.5 Million Dollars to assist recovery efforts from the severe storms, winds, tornadoes, and flooding that hit them hard. Texas is a special place, and I will be back soon to support Governor Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate, and the entire ticket of Republican Candidates, who have my Complete and Total Endorsement. See you soon!

Elect Republicans—you don’t want the aid spigot turned off, right? Happy Wednesday. 

News Roundups

Meidas Touch Network, Wednesday Updates: ‘Strait’ Up Panic, Ben Meiselas, right, Sept. 2, 2026. Trump spotted sleeping again during a White House event this afternoon

It’s Wednesday, September 2. There’s been a lot going on today, so let’s get to the top stories. And thanks so much again to everyone for letting us know they’ve pre-ordered our book WTF America. It truly means the world to us.

Today’s top stories:

• Trump again falsely posts the U.S. has the Strait of Hormuz “under control” and floats renaming it to the “Trump Strait”
• IRGC claims tanker strikes near the Strait and warns shipping companies of penalties
• Iran claims strikes hit U.S.-linked sites in Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait, and alleges American casualties
• Iranian embassies mock CENTCOM’s silence on their alleged casualty claims in Jordan
• Iranian official Ghalibaf accuses the U.S. of “satanic” conduct following strikes on children in Minab, Lamerd, and a wedding in Kouhestak
• China blocks G20 consensus language on Strait of Hormuz navigation
• Bessent blames Ukraine and Biden for gas prices and high cost of living
• Lutnick downplays Iran war deaths
• The U.S.S Abraham Lincoln limps into Thailand, visibly rusted
• Trump’s $100B Venezuela oil “steal” faces more scrutiny
• Tarrant County Republicans vote to close 92 of 316 polling locations
• ProPublica reports Trump aide Peter Navarro fast-tracked a $620M Pentagon loan tied to Don Jr.
• Bessent calls struggling Americans “malcontents”
• Trump $1 coins are on sale now…
• Trump is turning FEMA disaster aid in MAGA campaign ads
• Katie Phang moves to force a federal judge to review FBI notes mentioning Trump in the Epstein Files for possible release

Now let’s dive in.

Trump the Social Media Warrior

Things continue to go very badly for Trump and the U.S. in Iran. But in Trump’s deranged social media fantasy land, the U.S. is crushing it. Trump again falsely claims this morning that the Strait of Hormuz is “under U.S.A. control” and suggested maybe we rename it the “Trump Strait” because like America itself, it would be “hotter” than ever before. Again, we do not control the Strait. What we’re seeing is what I’ll call “Strait panic” from the Trump regime. The IRGC says it’s mined and set fire to 2 tankers trying to use its unauthorized route, and warned shipping companies that more penalties are on the way if they continue to try to avoid the Iranian’s designation lane.

Iran now claims it hit U.S.-linked sites in 4 countries overnight, including a maintenance center and equipment warehouses Erbil, Iraq, Camp Titan and Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan, Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, and a military pier along with weapons storage in Kuwait. Iran is claiming American personnel were killed at some of these sites and Iranian-linked social media accounts have spent the day trolling CENTCOM for “staying silence” about the alleged casualties in Jordan. We do not have confirmation of these claims, but unfortunately, CENTCOM has been hiding so much from the American people that it’s hard to know if we’ll ever get a straight answer.

Iranian leader of parliament MB Ghalibaf released a statement accusing the U.S. of “satanic” conduct, listing children killed in Minab, a sports hall in Lamerd, and a wedding hit in Kouhestak. The wedding strike has now been geolocated by BBC’s Sarah Jalali. Separate footage shows the full scale of the destruction. This was a wedding with ordinary families, blown to pieces by the United States. Let’s call it what it is: another war crime.

Over at the G20, China was the sole holdout blocking consensus language affirming free navigation through the Strait, reportedly because Beijing does not want to set a precedent that could also apply to Taiwan.The White House Spin Machine Is Spinning Out of Control

The Trump regime sent its economic team out to lie about the war today. Treasury Sec Bessent went on Fox and blamed the oil price shock entirely on Ukraine for striking Russian energy sites, then pivoted to blaming Biden for the high cost of living. Commerce Sec Lutnick went on CNBC and claimed there haven’t been American deaths in this war, calling it an “economic choke-out.” There have been at least 18 confirmed American deaths. Lutnick also whined that Canada has been “disrespectful” toward Trump and separately insisted that data centers do not use water at all (a lie), saying it’s all propaganda from U.S. adversaries. 40 billion gallons a year of water is projected to go to data centers by 2028.

On the Hannity show, Bessent suggested the Iranian people should just rise up, called Americans struggling in the Trump economy “malcontents” who do not want to work, and bragged about giving Canadian PM Carney a “verbal beatdown.”SubscribedA Rotting Navy and Oil Deal Steal

One thing to know about Trump is that whatever he says, the opposite is true. When Trump says he’s “rebuilt the military,” that’s a good sign he’s destroyed the military. The U.S.S Abraham Lincoln pulled into Thailand finally after 286 days at sea, visibly rusted with worn paint. The Navy says the wear and tear is normal. Here’s a photo. You be the judge:Image

In Venezuela, POLITICO reports that experts are already questioning whether Trump’s $100B so-called oil deal will survive, given that developing those reserves could take a decade and hundreds of billions of dollars the country’s infrastructure isn’t built for.Voter Suppression and Corruption Alert

In Texas, Tarrant County Republicans voted 3-2 to close 92 of 316 polling locations just 63 days before the election, in a county Kamala Harris won by 26 points. More than 100 people showed up to protest, and they moved forward anyway.

ProPublica also reports that Peter Navarro personally directed the Pentagon to fast-track a $620M loan to a 2-year-old startup connected to Don Jr., the only deal out of dozens initiated by a top WH aide. Yes, that’s the same Navarro who went to prison after January 6.

Trump is also bragging about handing out FEMA aid to states that supported him, tying the aid to his campaign endorsements. He’s notably skipping Democratic-led states also seeking help.

And in Tehran, this billboard of Trump is now up:People drive near a billboard depicting U.S. President Donald Trump on a building in Tehran, Iran, September 2, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA

Also, the U.S. mint just announced that these Trump $1 coins are now in circulation…U.S. President Donald Trump‘s portrait on $1 coins, in honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary of independence, on the day the coin is released for sale, is seen in this illustration taken, September 2, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper/IllustrationThe Epstein Files Aren’t Going Away. We’re Making Sure of That.

Finally, our colleague Katie Phang continues to push the Epstein Files fight forward in court. In a fiery filing, she’s asking Judge Sullivan to personally review handwritten FBI notes tied to reports that reference Trump, arguing that AG Blanche is still defying a federal court order. She’s also challenging the DOJ’s attempt to pass off a months-old congressional letter as if it is the legally required redaction log, calling it “offensively insufficient.” She’ll be discussing this more on her podcast Sidebar with Katie Phang.

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News Roundup, Pentagon in ‘Shambles’ as Hegseth Faces Removal Calls Amid Readiness Issues, Weak Job Growth, Iran Alleges New War Crimes, and More, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 2, 2026. Pete Hegseth is having a rough week, and it’s the thread running through today’s newsletter. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll resigned after months of clashes with him, sources say his culture-war focus is actively undermining Army modernization, and he’s now spiking promotions for officers who don’t fit his vision, drawing criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.

He also picked a fight with Canadian teenagers, of all people. Meanwhile the Iran war ramped back up overnight, with Tehran accusing the US of striking a wedding party and retaliating against American allies across the Gulf, oil prices climbing as a result.

On the economy, the picture keeps darkening: weak job growth, rising mortgage rates, and a global bond selloff that’s pushing borrowing costs higher everywhere. Plus a birthright citizenship crackdown, Ed Markey’s primary win, Russia’s escalating drone war with Ukraine, and more below.

If you read this every day, you already know why it matters. Here’s the news:

Pete Hegseth is in trouble:

Pete Hegseth is in trouble today. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll resigned after just 18 months on the job following months of clashes with Hegseth, and Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Hegseth has “hollowed out” the Army’s senior ranks, firing or blocking the promotions of dozens of officers including Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and half of all four-star generals. A source told NBC that Driscoll raised concerns directly with Trump about Hegseth blocking the Army’s modernization efforts by firing the generals responsible for them before submitting his resignation. Driscoll had publicly said as recently as this year that he had no plans to leave, and the White House called his tenure “highly effective” without addressing why he’s departing. His exit adds to a growing list of senior departures under Hegseth, including Navy Secretary John Phelan, Southern Command chief Adm. Alvin Holsey, and Gen. Chris Donahue.

CNN reports that multiple sources believe Hegseth’s fixation on culture war issues, rather than modernizing the Army for drone warfare and 21st-century combat, is actively disrupting the service’s progress. One former senior Army official said firing technically skilled leaders “for arbitrary reasons... creates confusion and a void,” while a defense official in Europe said Hegseth talks about reform in memos but in practice focuses on “muscles, dudes in dresses, testosterone.” Gen. Christopher LaNeve, whom Hegseth installed as acting chief of staff after ousting George, is reportedly seen internally as “isolated,” “in over his head,” and pushing a “back to basics” approach that a defense official called “absolutely” antithetical to the modernization work Driscoll, George, and Donahue were pursuing. LaNeve’s nomination hasn’t been sent to the Senate and he’s widely believed to lack the votes for confirmation. The Pentagon insists it’s a “total fabrication” that Hegseth isn’t focused on modernization, with spokesman Sean Parnell calling him “a transformative leader.”

Hegseth’s promotion purges are continuing and expanding. He spiked at least six Army officers from a two-star general promotion list this week, just days after blocking four officers from one-star promotions, several of whom had ties to the ousted George and Donahue. The New York Times reported the removed officers include two Black officers and two women, and NBC reported several were logisticians who manage fuel, food, and equipment for troops. Republican Senator Susan Collins publicly criticized Hegseth in July for firing more than two dozen senior officers and blocking promotions, saying the military “is one of the greatest meritocracies in the free world” and needs to stay that way, while Democratic Senators Cory Booker and Brian Schatz have demanded an Inspector General investigation into whether Hegseth is using “personal views on race and gender” to interfere with merit-based selections. Hegseth’s office has said officers serve “at the pleasure of the president” and denied gender or race factor into the decisions.

Hegseth also picked an odd fight with Canadian teenagers this week, reposting an image of a youth cadet award ceremony in British Columbia with the caption “(this is real),” seemingly mocking the size of the instructor presenting the medal. The post drew immediate backlash, with critics accusing him of body-shaming a minor and a civilian instructor in a program for 12-to-18-year-olds that isn’t even part of Canada’s military. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called the post “beneath their office” and said the U.S. needs to “stop doing memes, stop throwing shade” if it wants serious trade talks. The Pentagon stood by the post, with a spokesperson saying it “speaks for itself.” The episode is the latest escalation in the broader U.S.-Canada trade war, layered on top of tariffs, insults, and the fight over renaming Lake Ontario.

Amid the ongoing war with Iran, Hegseth is facing calls for impeachment from several members of Congress. Arizona Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari said on social media that in the six months since strikes on Iran began, 120 children died in a strike on a school, 18 American servicemembers have been killed, gas prices have hit record highs, and Trump and his sons have profited from investments in defense contractors receiving government business. “Neither Trump nor Pete Hegseth have achieved an objective in this war,” she wrote, calling for Hegseth’s impeachment. That statement was reported by Iran’s state-affiliated Mehr News Agency, so it’s worth reading in that context, though Ansari’s underlying claims about troop deaths and gas prices reflect a real and growing frustration among some lawmakers over the war’s costs. It comes as fighting has flared again, with the U.S. launching fresh strikes and Iran claiming retaliatory attacks on American bases in the region.

Iran war:

Iranian officials say a U.S. airstrike hit a wedding party in a private home in the southern Hormozgan province late Tuesday, with the foreign ministry claiming more than 50 people were killed or wounded and state TV later reporting at least four dead and dozens hurt, with six in critical condition. Iranian state TV interviewed a local fisherman who said the wedding was for his daughter, and described one missile crashing through the roof and another destroying a courtyard wall. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman called it part of a “chain of atrocities” alongside an earlier strike on a school in Minab that killed dozens of children, an attack U.S. officials say was likely American but unintentional, possibly caused by outdated intelligence. CENTCOM said it was aware of the wedding reports, which originated from Iranian state media, and insisted the “U.S. military never targets civilians,” without confirming or denying the strike occurred.

Iran retaliated overnight by targeting U.S. allies Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the UAE with missiles and drones, a day after the U.S. carried out fresh strikes on Iranian military targets including air defense sites, radar systems, and mine-laying capabilities. Jordan’s military said 13 ballistic missiles were fired at it, with 10 intercepted and three landing in remote areas with no casualties, while Bahrain confirmed it intercepted Iranian drones aimed at a military base there. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed it struck at least seven bases across the region, including one in Jordan it said killed multiple U.S. personnel, but CENTCOM dismissed that claim and noted the U.S. doesn’t actually maintain bases inside Jordan. In Kuwait, a residential complex caught fire after being hit by what officials called “criminal Iranian aggression,” though the blaze was brought under control with no casualties reported.

President Trump dismissed the idea of a near-term peace deal on Tuesday, telling Fox News “an agreement with them isn’t worth the paper it’s written on” and warning Iran that “if they retaliate, they’ll be hit much harder. And if they do it again, they’ll be no longer.” He also renewed his call for Iranians to “rise up and fight” against their government, writing on Truth Social that the regime’s economy is “totally collapsing” and that he “couldn’t care less” if they sign what he called a worthless agreement. It echoes rhetoric from when the war began in February, though Trump has wavered over the months, at one point saying he “never cared about regime change” and even calling Iran’s leadership “very rational” back in June. The mixed signals underscore how unsettled U.S. strategy remains nearly seven months into the conflict, with no resolution in sight.

Oil prices climbed further as the renewed fighting dims hopes the war might be winding down, with Brent crude trading near $95 to $96 a barrel and U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate above $90. Both benchmarks have risen roughly 1% to 2% a day since hostilities resumed over the weekend, putting them about 40% higher than a year ago, before the war choked off tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The renewed volatility reflects fears that the conflict, now stretching toward seven months, could further disrupt one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints. That pressure adds to broader inflation and rate concerns already rattling global bond markets this week.

Economy:

More rough economic news: US private-sector employment rose by just 38,000 in August, according to ADP, well below the 47,000 economists expected and following a downwardly-revised 46,000 gain in July. ADP’s chief economist Nela Richardson said pay growth has become harder to read given demographic shifts, persistent inflation, and AI’s effects on jobs. The weak print raises fresh doubts about Friday’s official jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which the Fed will weigh heavily as Chairman Kevin Warsh navigates pressure from Trump to cut rates against still-elevated inflation and a divided FOMC. The dollar barely reacted, ticking up 0.1% to 99.75 on the index, but the soft number adds to a string of underwhelming labor readings that make a September rate hike look less likely.

Mortgage rates are climbing right along with it, and that’s pushing more borrowers into riskier loans. The average 30-year fixed rate rose to 6.79%, the highest in four weeks, which MBA chief economist Mike Fratantoni attributed to investors demanding higher yields globally amid inflation and deficit worries. Total mortgage applications inched up just 0.8% for the week, with refinancing down 1% and 19% below year-ago levels since there’s little incentive to refinance at these rates. More telling: adjustable-rate mortgages, which offer lower initial rates but carry more risk since they reset later, jumped to an 8% share of applications, their highest level in five weeks, as buyers look for any way to make monthly payments work.

Behind both of those stories is a bigger one: interest rates are surging worldwide, and it’s rippling through everything from mortgages to the federal government’s own borrowing costs. The 10-year US Treasury yield climbed to nearly 4.8%, Japan’s 10-year bond topped 3% for the first time since 1996, and Germany’s benchmark bund hit 3.33%, its highest since 2011. Renewed fighting in the Middle East, persistent inflation, and a national deficit that just crossed $40 trillion are all feeding the sell-off, compounded by heavy AI-related corporate debt issuance crowding the bond market. Analysts also flagged that stocks and bonds are now moving together instead of offsetting each other the way they used to, meaning bonds aren’t providing the safety cushion investors are used to when equities fall. UBS expects the pain to continue, projecting the 10-year yield near 4.5% and the 30-year near 5% by year’s end.

Other news:

A POLITICO survey of over 70 House and Senate Republicans found most either aren’t attending next week’s GOP midterm convention in Dallas or remain undecided, with dozens more declining to say. Reasons vary widely: scheduling conflicts (weddings, district fundraisers, 9/11 anniversary events, even a dove hunt), reluctance to pay the NRCC’s suggested $25,000+ attendance donation, and, particularly for battleground-district members like Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.) and Sen. Susan Collins, a desire to avoid being closely associated with Trump so close to the election. Trump and JD Vance will headline the two-day event at the American Airlines Center, and top leadership (Speaker Johnson, Leader Thune) plus some 2028 hopefuls and marquee Senate candidates like Mike Rogers and Jon Husted plan to attend. Johnson defended the convention’s value while acknowledging many members need to be home given how close it is to early voting. The RNC pushed back on characterizations of low enthusiasm, calling turnout and interest “incredible.”

The State Department has proposed requiring parents to prove their own citizenship or immigration status when applying for passports for their children, the first detailed look at how it might enforce Trump’s August 6 executive order targeting “birth tourism” and narrowing birthright citizenship. Parents would need to submit a valid passport, birth certificate, or immigration documents like an I-94 or green card, a step up from the current process, which only asks parents to check a box confirming citizenship without documentation. The new rules would withhold citizenship from children whose parent works for a foreign government, engaged in fraud to obtain citizenship, or is classified as an “alien enemy.” This follows Trump’s broader, harder-fought attempt to end birthright citizenship entirely, which the Supreme Court struck down in a 6-3 ruling this summer for violating the 14th Amendment. Lawyers pursuing class-action suits on behalf of affected babies are now asking federal judges to block this narrower order too.

Senator Ed Markey, 80, won Massachusetts’s Democratic primary, beating back a challenge from Rep. Seth Moulton, 47, who argued the incumbent was too old for the job. Markey is heavily favored to win a third full term in November against Republican John Deaton, and the race played out against a backdrop of Democratic anxiety over aging leadership following Biden’s troubled 2024 campaign. The dynamic was something of a reversal from other 2026 primaries, where voters unseated older incumbents for younger progressives; here Markey, a longtime progressive champion backed by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, defeated a more moderate opponent. Age became a flashpoint in an August debate, where Moulton pounced after Markey said he used “whatever comes up” for AI on his phone, telling him “this is why we need a new generation of leaders.” Moulton also apologized before the primary for comments about not wanting his daughters “getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete.”

A federal judge dismissed the Trump administration’s year-long lawsuit trying to force California to ban transgender girls from girls’ school sports teams, a major win for trans rights advocates. Judge Cynthia Valenzuela ruled the federal government never gave California clear notice that its funding was contingent on banning trans athletes, despite Trump’s executive order and DOJ’s Title IX lawsuit targeting five trans girls specifically. The ruling came two months after the Supreme Court upheld similar state bans in West Virginia and Idaho, but Valenzuela noted that decision was narrow and didn’t mandate a nationwide ban or resolve whether Title IX itself permits trans-inclusive policies. California has allowed trans girls to play on girls’ teams since 2013, affecting an estimated fewer than 10 athletes out of nearly 6 million K-12 students statewide. The DOJ said it’s “evaluating options for appeal,” while advocates and the father of one targeted athlete called the ruling proof the administration has been overreaching since Trump’s first days back in office.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russian airspace is becoming unsafe for commercial airlines as Ukraine ramps up long-range drone strikes deep inside Russian territory, urging airlines and insurers using Russian airspace to take note. Ukraine is now capable of launching several hundred drones a day and is reportedly chasing a target of 1,000 daily, having struck oil refineries and industrial sites more than 2,000 kilometers from its border this year. Putin called the warning “state terrorism” and refused to negotiate with what he called terrorists, while separately vowing to escalate strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid ahead of winter to damage heating and electricity supplies. Putin also claimed Russian forces had captured the town of Sviatohirsk, a claim disputed even by pro-war Russian bloggers and unsupported by battlefield-tracking maps. He dismissed speculation of a new troop mobilization as “nonsense,” while acknowledging talks with Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner remain “frozen, to a certain extent.”

The USS Abraham Lincoln docked in Laem Chabang, Thailand on Wednesday after 286 days, more than nine months, at sea, the first full port stop of a deployment that included a record-setting stretch of over 250 uninterrupted days supporting the US war against Iran. AP journalists on the scene noted the ship’s hull was visibly rusted near the waterline and flight deck, and when asked about it, commanding officer Capt. Dan Keeler said only that it was “normal for a long deployment” and declined further comment; asked about Trump’s remark that the deployment was “not nearly long enough,” Keeler replied curtly, “the president speaks for himself.” The visit comes after mounting concern over deteriorating crew mental health and shortages of food and hygiene supplies, and the Lincoln was ultimately relieved in the Middle East by the USS George Washington in August. Family members traveled to meet returning sailors, including Shakeira Fairfax of Paterson, New Jersey, who described the fear of losing contact with her daughter Jada after the initial US strikes on Iran in February and helping keep her spirits up during a period of low shipboard morale. Many crew members are expected to head to nearby Pattaya for rest and recovery, with local officials stepping up security and welcoming the economic boost before the strike group departs for its US base.

The Teamsters union’s national leadership is backing Republican candidates in several 2026 races even as rank-and-file members and local chapters endorse their Democratic opponents, deepening internal tensions. President Sean O’Brien, who became the first Teamsters president to speak at the 2024 RNC, has personally donated to Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown in New Hampshire (whose own local Teamsters chapter backed his Democratic rival) and to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, despite the two once nearly coming to blows at a Senate hearing. In Pennsylvania, the state Teamsters conference endorsed a Democratic mayor for Congress, only for the national PAC to back her Republican opponent after his campaign received a $5,000 union donation. The union also endorsed embattled Ohio Republican Max Miller, who faces domestic abuse allegations and resignation calls from his own party, citing his vote for a labor bill despite his dismal 14% lifetime AFL-CIO labor score. O’Brien, who once called Trump “our enemy” before his 2021 election as union president, was reelected unopposed this year after a rival slate failed to qualify for the ballot.

The House passed a resolution condemning socialism “in all its forms” on a 220-192 vote, with eight Democrats, including Kathy Castor, Henry Cuellar, Jared Golden, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, joining every Republican in favor, while two Democrats voted present. Republicans scheduled the vote as a messaging exercise tying recent Democratic Socialists of America primary wins, like those of Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York and Melat Kiros in Colorado, to their push for Trump’s stalled SAVE America Act, a voting regulations bill that lacks majority support in the Senate. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries opposed the resolution specifically because it endorsed the SAVE Act, calling it “toxic voter suppression legislation,” while Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar noted Democrats had offered a competing resolution condemning socialism without the SAVE Act language attached. The vote nearly collapsed earlier Tuesday when a handful of Republican hardliners protested a short-term funding bill during a procedural vote, until Democrats Jared Golden and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez unexpectedly crossed over to help Republicans pass it. That defection infuriated House Democratic leadership, with Jeffries, Katherine Clark, and Aguilar calling it “a significant breach of trust” and referring the matter to the Democratic Caucus’s rules committee for review.

The family of Benjamin Halona, a 67-year-old New Mexico man mauled to death by a bear inside his Navajo Nation home, is choosing to remember his career as a wildland firefighter and his beloved tamale business rather than the manner of his death. Halona, who used a walker after a recent seizure, was home alone when the bear got in through a door his stepson thought he’d locked; the stepson barricaded himself in his room and called for help, and police shot the bear after it emerged outside. It was the first fatal bear attack in New Mexico since 2001, coming just over a week after state wildlife officials warned of rising bear conflicts driven by drought and food sources like garbage and rotting fruit. Family members shared a cherished memory of Halona singing with country legend Waylon Jennings during a Navajo Nation performance, which Gloria Halona called “probably the happiest moment of Benjamin’s life.” He’s survived by two siblings, four children, five stepchildren, 15 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild, with strong community turnout at his memorials and funeral.

Aid experts are blasting the US’s initial $500,000 emergency contribution to Nepal’s catastrophic flash floods, which have killed more than 1,000 people with 4,400 still missing, as “embarrassing” and “pitiful” for a disaster of this scale. The sum has since been raised to $3.6 million for food and emergency supplies, but former USAID officials say even that pales next to what the agency would have mobilized before Trump dismantled it in 2025, folding its functions into the State Department. Former USAID disaster chief Mark Ward, once nicknamed “Mr. Disaster” by President George H.W. Bush, said Nepal used to have the closest disaster-response relationship of any country with USAID given its earthquake and flood risk, and that expertise is now gone. Brookings fellow George Ingram said the US would have been better off saying nothing than announcing such a small figure, while the State Department defended its approach as “needs-based” rather than driven by “arbitrary funding targets.” Relief efforts are now being led by India and China instead, which Ward warned undermines US influence and long-term interests in regional stability.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is moving to stop collecting EEO-1 data, the 60-year-old demographic reporting requirement that has been central to identifying and proving workplace discrimination, in a move experts say will hollow out civil rights enforcement. The data, which breaks down company workforces by race, ethnicity, sex, and job title, has helped the EEOC investigate systemic disparities and win cases like a $5.5 million settlement against trucking company Central Transport for discriminating against female applicants. Trump-appointed commissioner Andrea Lucas argues the data collection is unconstitutional and incentivizes discrimination against white workers, part of a broader agency shift that includes dropping cases for transgender workers, rescinding harassment guidance, and prioritizing complaints from white men. The change follows Trump’s early firing of two Democratic EEOC commissioners to secure a Republican majority, and comes as the agency’s staffing sits at a 45-year low even as it fields nearly 90,000 discrimination complaints annually. Advocates like Maya Raghu of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law call it part of a pattern of “weaponizing our civil rights agencies” to advance an anti-DEI agenda rather than enforce existing law.

More On Supreme Court Deference To Trump's Autocracy, Schemes, Grifting

Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Sept. 1, 2026 [Supreme Deference To Trump Ideas, Heather Cox Richardson, right, Sept. 2, 2026. Yesterday, by a vote of 5–4, the United States Supreme Court allowed Trump to continue to build his ballroom. The five right-wing justices concluded that the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which had sued to stop the construction of the ballroom, did not have legal standing to sue and that national security considerations came down on the side of construction.

The majority said it was not resolving the issue of whether the project is legal.

It was Chief Justice John Roberts who covered that aspect of the controversy. He wrote in dissent that the project is “likely unlawful.” “The White House is an iconic American building whose symbolism and history are wrapped up in its architecture,” Roberts wrote. He wrote that it is critical to “ensure that those responsible follow the rules in deciding what to tear down and what to build up at the People’s House.”

Nonetheless, as Josh Gerstein of Politico reported, the project will likely be completed before the question of its legality is resolved.

Trump’s behavior in his second term is a logical outcome of the theory of the “unitary executive.” Under President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, those eager to stop Congress from passing legislation that benefited the American people at the expense of businessmen began to argue for the idea that because the president was the head of one of the three branches of the U.S. government, he could not be checked by either of the other two branches: the legislative branch (Congress) or the judicial branch (the courts).

On July 1, 2024, the United States Supreme Court, stacked with Trump’s appointees, took this theory to a conclusion that overturned the central premise of American democracy: that no one is above the law.

It decided that the president of the United States has “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for crimes committed as part of the official acts at the core of presidential powers. The court also said it should be presumed that the president also has immunity for other official acts as well, unless that prosecution would not intrude on the authority of the executive branch.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts said that a president needs such immunity to make sure the president is willing to take “bold and unhesitating action” and make unpopular decisions, although no previous president ever asserted that he was above the law or that he needed such immunity to fulfill his role. Roberts’s decision didn’t focus at all on the interest of the American people in guaranteeing that presidents carry out their duties within the guardrails of the law.

This permission structure appears to have convinced Trump he can do whatever he wishes, including rigging elections so he cannot lose.

Yesterday Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, who is the top-ranking Democrat on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, exposed what appears to be a plot to steal the 2026 midterm elections.

Blumenthal released a letter he had written to Postmaster General David Steiner calling attention to an official whistleblower report, which he attached to the letter.

It’s eye-popping.

The whistleblower warns that there are “potentially catastrophic problems in the development of the United States Postal Service’s…new system for handling federal election ballot mail.” According to the whistleblower, the “process for the creation and implementation of an entirely new and untested set of IT systems” for delivering ballots to voters for the midterm election has been “secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed.”

The whistleblower says “the administration has hidden the high likelihood that the new ballot mail verification processes will result in major disruptions in mail ballots ever getting delivered to voters. As presently designed, if even one bar code on one single ballot in a bulk-mailing of 10,000 ballots fails to properly scan during the verification process, the entire batch is rejected and sent back to the state—effectively stopping the ballots from being mailed to voters.”

The complaint continues: “Even under ordinary circumstances this would be problematic because of predictable errors in any barcode scanning process.” But the rushed IT development of the new system means it “will almost certainly have significant operating problems when released to the public.” The whistleblower notes that multiple officials from the USPS have described the development process for the system as “a sh*t show.”

The whistleblower said that work on the “USPS election ballot mail IT project” began in June 2026 and has continued despite an injunction from a federal court ordering work on it to stop. Normally, it would take “nine months to a year or more” to roll out a project “of this complexity, magnitude, and importance.” Considering the rush and the consequences, the whistleblower wondered “whether catastrophic failure would be a feature rather than a bug.”

The complaint says: “The apparently sloppy and rushed manner in which the Federal Ballot Mail Portal and supporting IT systems are being built poses significant risk. Potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballot this election cycle in a timely manner, or at all.”

Blumenthal noted that the USPS has a restrained role as a mail carrier. It has never before played a gatekeeping function and yet is now building an entirely new system to put itself “in a position to refuse to mail ballots that state election officials have determined should be sent out.” He called for Postmaster General Steiner to “to abandon this ill-conceived, unconscionable plan and ensure that all Americans can exercise their constitutional right to vote, including by mail, without interference by USPS.”

Blumenthal, left, demanded Steiner answer no later than Friday whether the USPS has stopped work on the project as ordered by the courts, as well as provide the names of those who worked on the project and the dates they were active. By September 8, he wants to see all records about the project.

Blumenthal told reporters: “The main takeaway for me is that the Postal Service has designed a system to disenfranchise millions of Americans. One third of all Americans cast their ballots by mail, and the USPS puts all of their votes at risk.”

The administration’s attack on elections is especially concerning considering the recent suggestions that Trump is spending most of his time on his legacy projects like the ballroom, leaving him largely unaware of what is going on in the administration. Nancy A. Youssef, Missy Ryan, and Michael Scherer of The Atlantic reported yesterday that when Army Secretary Dan Driscoll went directly to Trump with his concerns about what Hegseth is doing to the Army, Trump was surprised to learn “how many generals and other top officers had been fired, pushed out, or passed over for promotion under Hegseth” and “expressed concern about the deep cuts to the Army’s senior leadership.”

Driscoll resigned yesterday.

As for the plan to sabotage mail-in voting? Representative Joe Morelle (D-NY), the top-ranking Democrat on the House Committee on House Administration, which oversees the administration of federal elections, posted: “These whistleblower allegations are extraordinary. If Trump Administration officials knowingly built a system designed to prevent Americans from receiving their ballots, that is not election security. It is a betrayal of our Constitution and the American people.”

Trump Team Obsessions, Oppressions, Corruption

The Social Contract with Joe Walsh, Opinion: Why Does That Damn Ballroom Matter So Much? Joe Walsh, above, Sept. 2, 2026. Why MUST That Damn Ballroom Come Down?

At the very beginning, when we all first heard about him wanting a ballroom three and a half times the size of the White House on the grounds of the people’s house, and from the very moment he began to tear down the East Wing of the White House and break ground for the ballroom, I screamed “NO!” And I’ve screamed no every day since. And I was the very first person to say back then that whoever the 2028 Democratic nominee is, they must pledge to rebuild the East Wing and tear down/demolish whatever the ballroom is on day one.

And I meant it. The Democratic nominee must make that pledge and actually mean it and actually carry it out. In fact, I said that if no Democratic candidate makes that pledge and REALLY means it, I will run for president promising to demolish the ballroom on day one. And I meant it then and still mean it now.

And of course, over the past year, I’ve been bombarded by folks from the right accusing me of bizarre Trump derangement syndrome, but I’ve also been regularly criticized by Democrats who — though they can’t stand the thought of the ballroom — wish I’d focus on more important things like the economy and Trump’s illegal war against Iran. The ballroom sucks, Joe, they tell me, but at the end of the day we should focus on the things that REALLY matter.

Tearing down the ballroom does REALLY matter. More than almost anything else. Here’s why: Because for the first time in American history, the American people put a fascist in the White House, and the ballroom, if it’s allowed to stand, will forever be a concrete monument on public property to fascism. And we must never have a monument to fascism on public grounds in this country.

For the past ten years, and especially the past year and a half, Donald Trump has done whatever he wants, and he’s NEVER been held accountable. He believes he’s above the law, so he breaks laws whenever he wants, he engages in obscene levels of public corruption, he lies every time he opens his mouth, he defies the Constitution at every turn, on a daily basis he does things he does not have the legal authority to do, he repeatedly destroys and dismantles our uniquely American institutions, he spits at our norms, he — and our government in his name — engages in routine acts of cruelty and evil, and he’s NEVER been held accountable for any of it. For ANY of it. Hell, he committed crimes trying to overthrow an American election, and he got away with that. He’s actively sabotaging the 2026 midterms, and he’s getting away with that.

He believes he’s a dictator, and we’ve allowed him to act like a dictator.

The ballroom is a concrete manifestation of his lawlessness, it’s a concrete manifestation of his dictatorship, it’s a concrete manifestation of his never being held accountable for anything. Because the truth is, no matter what anyone thinks of the ballroom, HE DOES NOT HAVE THE LEGAL AUTHORITY TO BUILD IT. He doesn’t. That authority resides with Congress. Building the ballroom is an ILLEGAL act. Even Chief Justice Roberts in his dissent two days ago said it’s an illegal act.

So here we go again? One more time, we all just fucking shrug our shoulders and say “yep, what he’s doing is wrong, it’s illegal, but…we can’t stop it, he’s already building it, construction has already commenced, it would be too costly to object at this point, yada, yada, yada.”

NO!

This is why it’s so fucking important to stand athwart and shout “No!” We must stop this hopeless cycle of him doing illegal things and we just shrug and let him get away with it. The ballroom is that opportunity. It’s our opportunity to finally push back and actually STOP his lawlessness. The ballroom is the concrete manifestation of Trump’s “getting away with breaking the law.” It is a gross symbol of the fascist’s lawlessness. This is why it must come down. To remind the American people and show the world that fascism can never stand in this country. If that ballroom is allowed to stand, then fascism stands.

One other thing: The White House is the people’s house. IT’S OUR FUCKING HOUSE, NOT HIS. He’s just allowed to sleep and work there for four years. No American renting an apartment or a house has the right to demolish or rehab that apartment or house they are renting. That’s up to the OWNER of the apartment or house. WE are the owners of the White House.

One other thing: WE DON’T DO PALACES IN AMERICA. The ballroom will be three and a half times the size of the White House. Trump is building it to be a huge, gold, gaudy palace, the very antithesis of what our founders and the political leaders and designers of the White House intended. They intended for the people’s house to be a humble, approachable, everyday piece of property to contrast us with England’s royalty and to reflect the democratic nature of this country. No kings, no palaces in America. Trump has been allowed to govern like a king and he’s now being allowed to build a palace.

We must say no, and whatever he ends up building must come down.

And I mean it. I will not vote for a Democrat who does not understand this and does not pledge to tear it down. If I became president, tearing the ballroom down and rebuilding the East Wing would be job #1. We’d make a national month of “healing” around it, and I’d invite regular Americans from all over the country to help demolish it. Because America can never, and will never, heal or recover from having the first fascist in American history in the White House as long as that concrete monument to fascism is standing.

Under Trump’s mass-deportation agenda, ICE has become a weapon of fear, intimidation and, let’s call it what it truly is, evil. And they have ramped up efforts, illegal efforts, to deport more people regardless of their immigration status. They chase, hunt, arrest, detain and willfully defy local and state laws. And because they get paid for each person they arrest ICE has decided to arrest and detain first, let the courts work out the details later.

The artist Joel Shapiro completed the sculpture “Blue” in 2019, the same year the Kennedy Center opened its $250 million addition known as the Reach (Photo Credit: The Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Photo by Eric Lee for The New York Times).

New York Times, Kennedy Center Will Remove Outdoor ‘Blue’ Sculpture, Elizabeth Williamson and Julia Jacobs, Sept. 2, 2026 (print ed.). The towering artwork was targeted for elimination after President Trump’s takeover of the center last year.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will remove a major outdoor sculpture from the center’s grounds on Wednesday. The work, installed in 2019, was targeted for elimination after President Trump’s takeover of the center, according to internal documents obtained by The New York Times.

The Kennedy Center made no advance announcement of its plans to remove the towering, vivid blue metal sculpture of a stick-like human figure, called “Blue.” A street closure to facilitate the removal will begin before dawn, according to a public notice from the National Park Service.

The Kennedy Center confirmed in a statement that the sculpture was being deinstalled and that a foundation dedicated to the artist would determine its next location. It did not say the reason for the removal but noted that the deinstallation of artworks that had been donated or lent was common practice for conservation or preservation purposes.

“We are deeply grateful to Joel Shapiro for the years ‘Blue’ has spent animating our campus and connecting visitors to his vision,” the statement said. “We are honored to have been stewards of his vibrant work and a part of his enduring legacy.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Shapiro died in 2025. His daughter did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Josef Palermo, who was laid off in March as the curator of visual arts and special programming at the Kennedy Center, wrote in an essay for The Atlantic that he had been instructed to remove works from the center’s permanent art collection, and told that Mr. Trump’s renovations would include new art.

In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Palermo recalled that “Blue” had been “targeted early on” and said he took issue with the lack of an announcement.

“The Kennedy Center,” he said, “is in effect holding these pieces in trust for the American people, and there should be a lot more transparency.”

The sculpture is on the grounds of the Reach, an addition to the Kennedy Center that opened in 2019. The sculpture was completed that same year by Mr. Shapiro, whose public art is found in cities around the world. Visible from the Potomac and roads traversing the Kennedy Center, “Blue” has become a local landmark.

In a video about the work that was posted by the Kennedy Center around the time of its debut, Mr. Shapiro said he designed it so the figure would appear in different positions depending on the vantage point of the viewer.

“It’s about action and risk and performance and energy,” he said of the work. “It’s a celebration of possibility.”

The plans to remove the sculpture were met with anger from local activists protesting Mr. Trump’s politicization of the Kennedy Center, which have included installing his name over President Kennedy’s on the building’s facade. A federal judge ordered Mr. Trump’s name removed this year, and the president has been fighting ever since to restore it. 

New York Times, Patagonia Sues Trump Over Utah National Monument, Maxine Joselow, Sept. 2, 2026. The outdoor apparel maker joined environmental and Native American groups in challenging President Trump’s reduction of Bears Ears National Monument.

The outdoor apparel company Patagonia joined conservation and tribal groups to sue President Trump on Wednesday, seeking to overturn his move to shrink Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah by more than one million acres.

The lawsuit escalated Patagonia’s feud with Mr. Trump, which began in the president’s first term and became a core part of its corporate strategy. And it kicked off a sweeping legal battle over whether presidents have the power to shrink such sites in the first place.

Mr. Trump signed a proclamation in July that cut 91 percent of Bears Ears, an expanse of red-rock canyons rich with archaeologically significant sites, reducing its area by more than 1.2 million acres. He also shrank a second monument in southern Utah, Grand Staircase-Escalante, by nearly 1.7 million acres, or 90 percent.Shrinking Utah’s National Monuments

President Trump’s proclamations have reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante by over 90 percent.

The moves opened vast stretches of the desert landscape to oil drilling, uranium mining and other development. Companies have already staked at least nine mining claims in areas that were removed from both monuments, records show.

But the suit argues that the law governing national monuments, the Antiquities Act of 1906, authorizes presidents to designate the sites but not to shrink them.

Ryan Gellert, the chief executive of Patagonia, said in an interview that it was a “difficult time” for businesses to stand up to Mr. Trump, who has been using the federal government’s power to punish law firms, universities and other institutions.

But, he said, pushback “is more needed now than ever, and I think that this administration, for the 19 or 20 months that they’ve been in office, has been super intent on deploying a whole-of-government attack on nature and the natural world.”

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the suit, which was filed in Federal District Court in Washington. Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, did not directly comment on the litigation but said in an email that “the Obama and Biden administrations abused the Antiquities Act to lock up millions of acres of Utah’s public lands.”

Sean Buchanan, an associate professor of business administration at the University of Manitoba who has studied Patagonia’s activism, said the suit would probably help its business. He noted that the company had one of its most profitable years in 2017, when it first sued Mr. Trump over a similar move to shrink the same monument.

“That was a signal to them that they can engage in seemingly risky corporate activism that might alienate customers and not be punished,” he said. “The rationale is that there are enough customers who support suing the Trump administration, and rather than engage in a boycott, they’ll engage in what we call a buy-cott.”

National monuments are lands that are legally protected from development. They are similar to national parks, but while national parks are created by Congress, national monuments can be created by executive action.

In addition to Patagonia, the plaintiffs include the Conservation Lands Foundation, an environmental group, and A’Nuche, a nonprofit group led by members of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. Bears Ears is the ancestral homeland of the Ute Mountain Ute and four other tribes in the region.

Trump Team Governance

New York Times, The Logistics Nightmare Facing U.S. Warships, Simon Ducroquet and John Ismay, Sept. 2, 2026 (print ed.). Iranian attacks have upended the Navy’s supply chain in the Middle East, causing a strain on the aircraft carriers, destroyers and amphibious ships that are being kept in the region indefinitely.

On a typical U.S. aircraft carrier, 5,000 crew members work around the clock and require up to four meals a day. Although the ships are nuclear-powered, the planes and helicopters flying off them use millions of gallons of fuel each week.A graphic of a single U.S. aircraft carrier rendered in gray against a blue background. One label says it has 5,000 personnel onboard and another says that the aircraft onboard require two million gallons of fuel each week.

Carriers don’t travel alone. They are protected by destroyers armed with antiaircraft and cruise missiles, together forming what is called a carrier strike group. Those ships also need to be resupplied with food and fuel.A graphic of a single U.S. aircraft carrier accompanied by five destroyers, labeled as each having 340 personnel aboard.

There are currently two carriers and 12 destroyers in the Middle East helping to enforce a blockade of Iranian ports.A graphic of two U.S. aircraft carriers accompanied by 12 destroyers. The carriers are labeled as the U.S.S. George H.W. Bush and the U.S.S. George Washington. The destroyers are labeled as having a total of 3,700 personnel aboard.

They have extra support from a set of three warships known as an amphibious ready group, which hosts an assault force of Marines.

Robert Reich, Opinion: Trump’s Bonkers Bullying of Canada is Backfiring, Robert Reich (right, former U.S. Labor Secretary and longtime professor), Sept. 2, 2026. His need to assert dominance is igniting patriotism abroad and a backlash at home.

What do bullies do when someone stands up to their bullying and punches them in the face? They look for someone weaker to bully who won’t punch back.

Presumably that’s why Donald Trump has now taken on Canada, after Iran punched back so hard in the cage match the US president began more than six months ago as to leave him humiliated and baffled.

Trump wants to be the bully who humiliates others and forces them into submission. Needing to assert his dominance, Trump has now started a trade war with our northern neighbor, friend, second-largest trading partner (after Mexico) and, at least until now, reliable ally.

He’s hammering Canada on his Truth Social and in media appearances, saying Canada has “ripped off” the US for years, and signing an absurd order to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.”

This is pure bunk, of course – more empty Trump bravado and ignorant belligerence. Canada? Really? If Mel Brooks were still making movies, this would be a comedy. But as all else with Trump, it’s no laughing matter.

Trump apparently assumed that Canada would quickly surrender because it has more to lose. The tariffs Trump has imposed on Canada – along with those he’s threatening if Canada retaliates – affect a tiny portion of America’s total imports but a huge portion of Canada’s total exports.

Jamieson Greer, Trump’s US trade representative, says the duties are too small to pose a problem for the US and are “more [Canada’s] emergency than ours”.

But bullies like Trump rarely think about the effects of their bullying on the thinking and attitudes of their targets.

Trump’s bullying of Iran has not only reinforced its hardline regime but shown them that control over the strait of Hormuz is an effective means of gaining concessions from other Gulf states as well as the U.S., and likely strengthened their resolve to build a nuclear weapon.

Trump’s bullying of Canada, meanwhile, is igniting a patriotism that has often eluded that nation, which separatist factions have long threatened to pull apart.

Mark Carney’s decision to stand up to Trump — through “dollar for dollar” retaliation on goods coming from key industries in states including Ohio and Texas with competitive Senate elections — has led to a surge of support for the prime minister’s Liberal party. Liberals won three special by-elections on Monday.

Trump’s trade war with Canada has also dimmed the prospects of Canada’s separatist movements, at least in the short term. A candidate from Carney’s Liberal party edged out a Quebec separatist in one of Monday’s special by-elections, in a district hit hard by U.S. tariffs.

This is a good omen for Canada ahead of October 5th’s vote in Quebec on whether the province’s secessionist party, Parti Québécois, gains additional seats in the province’s legislative body, and October 19th’s vote in Alberta on whether to hold a referendum to secede from the rest of Canada.

Trump may also have underestimated the negative reactions to his trade war at home. According to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, 57percent of Americans ‌oppose Trump’s moves to impose tariffs on Canadian imports. About 63 percent oppose his peevish order to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.” Only 20 percent support the higher tariffs on Canadian goods.

The negative response is especially pronounced in U.S. border states whose economies are tightly interconnected with Canada.

In Michigan, for example, where overwhelming majorities oppose Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Democrats have launched new attack ads on the Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers for refusing to denounce the tariffs. The Democratic Senate candidate Abdeuk El-Sayed called Trump an “asshole” for launching the trade war.

There’s still time for the U.S. and Canada to avoid the worst of the economic and political fallout from this. Carney’s “dollar for dollar” retaliation goes into effect on September 8 but Trump’s counter-counter measure – threatened 50 percent tariffs on autos and auto parts – won’t go into effect until New Year’s Day.

Still, no one should expect an easy resolution to what may go down in history as the stupidest of all the stupid foreign policies Trump has initiated. And given the extent of Trump’s dumb international moves, that is saying something.

U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance 

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: The Rubber-Stamp Congress, William Kristol, right, Sept. 2, 2026. Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot this November. But these midterms are a referendum on him. The 119th Congress has been controlled by the Republican party. That party’s distinctive feature, its defining characteristic, is that it has supported Trump. It’s done so uniformly, mindlessly, and obediently.

So the Democrats’ message—the broad democratic opposition’s message—this fall is simple: If you want another rubber-stamp Congress, vote Republican. But if you want a Congress that will challenge and check all of those Trump administration policies you dislike, vote Democratic.

That message should work. The current Congress was elected on November 5, 2024, with Republicans taking 49.8 percent of the national vote for the House, as Donald Trump won 49.8 percent of the vote in the presidential election. Trump won by 1.5 percent, the Republican House candidates by 2.6 percent. Republicans were tied at the hip to Trump then, as they now.

Today Trump’s approval rating is about 38 percent. The steady decline in his approval over his second term in office will flip the House, and it puts the Senate very much in play.

That’s why Republicans in competitive states and districts are trying to edge away from Trump. Joe Perticone writes that he

spoke to eight different incumbent Republicans running in some of the closest races this cycle, and not a single one of them confirmed they planned to attend [the GOP midterm convention in Dallas next week], what Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters has dubbed “Trumpapalooza.”

So Democrats will run against Trump’s higher prices, against Trump’s tariffs, against Trump’s war. But of course they’ll also need to remind voters that the Republican Congress has enabled those policies.

House Speaker Mike Johnson decided to help them out yesterday.

CNN’s Manu Raju asked Johnson about his past projections about the Iran war, including calling it a skirmish that would be over in short order and lead to just a “temporary blip” in gas prices.

“That is one of the stupidest questions you’ve ever asked,” Johnson snapped. “I have nothing to do with the prosecution of the war across the globe.”

So the official position of the speaker is that he—and by extension the House of Representatives—have nothing to do with matters of war and peace. And in fact his party has voted time and again not to stop the war. It hasn’t even used its control of Congress to challenge the conduct of the war.

At a press conference yesterday, Johnson was asked: “One of your members just said Hegseth has gone overboard on the firings there in the aftermath of Dan Driscoll’s resignation. How do you explain what’s happening at the Pentagon?”

Johnson’s answer? “I trust the secretary of war [sic] to handle his business over there. . . . I have to trust they’re doing the right thing. . . . I’m literally not qualified to address that.”

The Constitution gives Congress the responsibility for declaring war, raising armed forces, appropriating funds for them, and making rules for their government and regulation. Do the American people want another Congress that utterly disclaims these responsibilities? Do the American people want another Republican Congress that rubber-stamps a war that’s a failure and that provides no oversight of a Defense Department in chaos?

At that same press conference yesterday, House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan assured us that “This has been the most aggressive and productive Congress since Speaker Joseph Martin’s 80th Congress in 1949.” Speaker Johnson agreed: “This has literally been the most productive, successful and aggressive Congress since 1949. And I think it’s in the top five of all time.”

The 80th Congress, controlled by the Republican party, was in session from 1947 to 1949. It’s gone down in history as the famous “Do Nothing Congress” because Harry Truman succeeded in stapling that slogan to its forehead during the 1948 election campaign. On November 2, 1948, as Truman won his great come-from-behind victory, voters kicked Republicans out of power in Congress. Republicans lost seventy-five House seats, as well as nine senate seats, a feat of failure unmatched since.

It’s kind of amazing that the Republican leadership in the 119th Congress wants to compare itself to the 80th Congress. Democrats should certainly thank them for doing so.

But they might also take a look at Harry Truman’s message during his very effective campaign. Here’s an example, from a stump speech by Truman on October 7, 1948, in Elizabeth, New Jersey:

The Republicans are trying to hide the truth from you in a great many ways. They don’t want you to know the truth about the issues in this campaign. The big fundamental issue in this campaign is the people against the special interests. The Democratic party stands for the people. The Republican party stands, and always has stood, for special interests. They have proved that conclusively in the record that they made in this “do-nothing” Congress. . . .

The biggest problem facing us today . . . is high prices. I have been trying to get the Republicans to do something about high prices and housing ever since they came to Washington. They are responsible for that situation. . . .That Republican, 80th “do-nothing” Congress absolutely refused to give any relief whatever in either one of those categories.

There’s today’s Democratic message. All Democrats have to do is to change the object of attack from the do-nothing 80th Congress to the rubber-stamp 119th Congress.

Republicans on the ballot this year are stuck with Trump. Democrats have a chance to embrace their inner Harry Truman. I’m confident Truman beats Trump.

Big News at The Bulwark! We’re gearing up for the midterms with a new slate of shows and a major new newsletter. First in your inboxes will be the Focus Group newsletter by Sarah Longwell. Exclusively for Bulwark+ members, this weekly deep dive into what the voters think and why will be must-reading between Labor Day and Election Day.

Also coming this fall are:

Receipts with Catherine Rampell. For those who enjoy Catherine’s newsletter and her Receipts Live show with JVL, you’re in luck. She will now be hosting an additional show every week with CEOs, analysts, and the smartest economic minds.

Psycho Politics with George Conway. George Conway is back, baby! His—let’s call it—unique combination of legal analysis, political insight, and you’ve-gotta-be-effing-kidding-me perspective will make his show unmissable.

Reporter and the Spy with Michael Weiss and Marc Polymeropoulos. We’ve got two new additions to the staff here: Michael, a veteran foreign affairs journalist, and Marc, a retired CIA officer. They are gonna help explain the dark corners of the world here from two perspectives: those who write and report on it, and those who live in the shadows.

More On U.S. Immigration Policy 

The Contrarian, Opinion: Americans Reject ICE Hellscape: Trump’s ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘terror’ backfire, Jennifer Rubin, right, Sept. 2, 2026. 62 Days to the Midterms.* Under the false pretense of protecting the border and removing “the worst of the worst” undocumented immigrants, the Trump regime has unleashed a torrent of violence and lawlessness against hardworking immigrants. It has torn apart families, eclipsed previous administrations in the number of deaths and medical emergencies of those held in ICE custody, and killed innocent Americans on our streets.

Trump’s onslaught has created economic chaos from coast to coast. The Economist recently examined the results of Trump’s horrific approach: labor shortages, shrinking workforce, slower growth, and loss of economic dynamism. “Longer-lasting damage may come from a slowdown in high-skilled immigration,” it found. “America turned its ability to attract the best of the brightest into an extraordinary economic advantage. Mr Trump’s immigration crackdown risks leaving the country with fewer workers today and fewer innovators tomorrow.”

Instead of targeting dangerous criminals, the Trump regime has systematically deported — en masse — law-abiding, productive, non-white migrants. “A surge in immigration arrests this summer has swept up thousands. . . includ[ing] people married to U.S. citizens, people who had entered legally and were pursuing an asylum claim, and others with a temporary legal status that the administration pushed to revoke.” The New York Times reported last week. The statistics repudiate the regime’s lie that its approach protects innocent Americans. “The share with a past violent criminal conviction fell to less than 4 percent.” [Emphasis added.]

The Trump team does not hide its ambition to “ethnically cleanse” America. His immigration crew has transformed the status of hundreds of thousands of non-white persons from countries in Africa, South America, and the Caribbean by revoking their Temporary Protected Status. Hardworking people who are legally present must nevertheless prepare to lose employment, separate from family, and either flee the nation or face forcible expulsion.

In rounding up TPS refugees and other legally present immigrants, the administration has violated due process rights and subjected thousands of people (over 23,000 in total) to deportation under hellish conditions in third countries in which the deportees have no connection to their families and where they are subject to torture and often repatriation to their country of origin. Scores of immigrants — some with serious medical conditions and most under duress/physical restraint — were recently deposited in Afghanistan, Cuba, Nicaragua, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. Meanwhile, of the 6,668 refugees admitted since October 2025, 6,665 are white South Africans.Subscribed

Trump’s authoritarian goons have also run roughshod over First and Fifth Amendment rights by attempting to deport critics of the regime’s policies. Just as Trump’s minions, according to whistleblowers, concocted evidence of antisemitism to suppress academic freedom at universities, they have devised a national security pretext to stamp out dissent on foreign policy.

Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Noël Wise in California held that the Trump regime had violated international students’ constitutional rights by targeting them over their views on the Middle East, specifically their criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza. This ruling follows a similar decision delivered last year by Ronald Reagan-appointed U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young in Massachusetts, who held that “[n]o one’s freedom of speech is unlimited, of course, but these limits are the same for both citizens and noncitizens alike.

Judge Wise excoriated Trump’s assault on free speech, finding the record “replete with examples of the government enforcing the Revocation and Deportation provisions against noncitizens who have publicly expressed—through their speech, writings, or participation in protests—disagreement with Israel or support for Palestine.” But, as Wise held, “noncitizens are afforded First and Fifth Amendment rights to the same extent as citizens,” adding:

“Our Constitutional right to freedom of speech guarantees people the right to express—through their words, actions, or assembly—opinions that may be repugnant, views that run counter to prevailing political norms, or beliefs that otherwise challenge the country’s domestic or foreign policy, military engagement, or war.”

Wise, therefore, held that delegating broad discretion to the Secretary of State to trample on protected speech in the name of vague goals, e.g., “countering support for terrorist groups and addressing antisemitism,” runs afoul of the First and Fifth Amendments.

Judge Wise’s conclusion is worth savoring:

Foundational to America’s enduring democracy are our freedoms of speech and the press embodied in the First Amendment. In the United States, free speech, including the freedom to criticize the government and its leaders, is not a sign of our democracy’s fragility. It is evidence of its strength. That strength is diminished when members of our society—citizens and noncitizens alike—must self-censor and “behave” or suffer the government’s retaliation. In March 2025, that retaliation was directed at those engaged in pro-Palestine and anti-Israel speech.

In September 2025, caught in the government’s net were people critical of Charlie Kirk. In May 2026, it potentially included “weighing in on a peace deal that’s being negotiated” in Iran regarding the Strait of Hormuz. Tomorrow, or perhaps even today, targets may include anyone in the United States who exercises their freedom of speech to simply express opinions the government does not like.

This downward spiral is antithetical to our Constitution that recognizes our right to speak freely. Here you can simultaneously hate the content of a person’s speech and love the country that cherishes the freedom to allow it. Zealous protection of our Constitutional right to free speech is a provocative demonstration of our country’s powerful lack of fear.

In the face of Trump’s racist, cruel approach, Americans have recoiled at the abuse of immigration laws to terrorize minority communities, remake American demographics, and silence critics. A July NPR/PBS News/Marist poll found 65 percent of Americans think ICE has gone “too far.” Even more surprising, on border security, which “had been Trump’s reliable strength since his second inauguration in January 2025,” his support dropped to a net -5, the worst result since the Strength in Numbers/Verasight tracker launched in May 2025.

Savvy Democrats should advocate replacing rogue, wildly deceitful, corrupt, and violent agencies (both ICE and Customs and Border Protection) with law-abiding, professional entities that Americans can trust to implement sane policies to protect the border, facilitate legal immigration (i.e., provide an adequate supply of workers), and rationalize our asylum process. Any Trump official who broke the law (including any who lied to Congress or the courts) must be held fully accountable.

After experiencing Trump’s heinous overreach, the American people are way ahead of the politicians. They should know that the midterms provide the opening to end this shameful chapter in immigration policy and reclaim our deepest-held values.

Pierre Damas Bel, a Haitian immigrant who apparently committed suicide shortly after college graduation where he had served in JROTC with hopes of pursuing a career in medicine -- and shortly before scheduled deportation as part of a mass round-up of Haitians who had come to the United States under temporary humanitarian permits.

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: “It Was an Immigration Policy That Took His Life,” Jim Swift, right, Sept. 2, 2026. “Some people die by accidents. Some people die by suicide. Pierre died as a result of a policy. It was an immigration policy that took his life.” Those are words Carl Ruby, pastor of Springfield Central Christian Church, offered to reporters yesterday afternoon while discussing the suicide of 20-year-old Pierre Damas Bel, a freshman at Wright State.

“We do not want to politicize this, but this is a political problem. And the only solution is a political solution,” Ruby continued.

Bel came to Springfield in the spring of 2024 from Columbus by way of Haiti. His journey to the United States was facilitated by the now-defunct CBP One app, and once here, he was protected by TPS. He played varsity soccer at Springfield High School, where he was also involved with JROTC, and before graduating with honors, he was recruited by local Wittenburg University to play on the school team; he then transferred to Wright State for a pre-med program, hoping to become a doctor.

When Bel’s TPS was revoked, he was fitted with an ankle-strapped GPS tracker. His family says teasing from classmates about the monitor contributed to the depression that led Bel to park his car on the shoulder of westbound I-70, get out, and step into the path of a Kenworth tractor-trailer tanker.

Pierre’s father, Pierre Ronal Bel, issued a statement that Ruby read: “After my son was outfitted with the ankle monitor, he felt like he was treated like an animal,” the elder Bel wrote.

Pierre twice traveled to ICE offices, in Cincinnati and Westerville, to plead for the monitor to be removed. His father said its weight kept Pierre from playing soccer as he had for years. Too bulky to cover up, the device also left him feeling embarrassed and humiliated around his classmates.

Those feelings intensified the Friday before his death, when, according to his father, Pierre’s fellow JROTC cadets received new uniforms, and he did not.

“Dad, I felt humiliated,” he later told his father. “Everyone had uniforms except for me because of the bracelet.”

Yola Lamarre, a friend and mentor of Pierre’s, said at a press conference that the young man had shared his depression with her as the ankle monitor transformed how people saw him and how he saw himself.

Pierre felt compelled to explain repeatedly that he was not a criminal, she said: at work, at school, on TikTok and Instagram.

“A lot of Haitians who are here, just like Pierre Damas Bel, came to contribute, not to take away,” Lamarre said. “Pierre Damas Bel was not a criminal, but he was treated as one.”

In response to the idea that Haitians have always known their protected status was temporary, Lamarre offered a stark rejoinder: Haiti remains engulfed in violence, she argued, while the United States has repeatedly intervened in the country’s affairs in ways that have destabilized it. Pierre had come here to escape the unrest, to study, to play soccer, and to build a life—not to commit a crime.

“It shouldn’t have to get to this point for this administration to understand that there’s blood on their hands,” Lamarre said.

Ruby’s demand was straightforward: End the ankle-monitor program, release the two Haitian pastors still being held in immigration detention, and give Springfield’s Haitian families durable legal protection.

But he directed his appeal specifically to Republicans, naming Ohio Sens. Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno as well as Reps. Mike Turner and Jim Jordan. Ruby also expressed frustration with local state legislators who, he said, had told him in meetings how much they loved Springfield’s Haitians and valued their contributions to the workforce, but who had remained silent in public on the matter.

Ruby said the policy would change only if Republican members of Congress mustered the political courage to call it what it is: inhumane.

“This is not who we are as Americans,” Ruby said. “This is not who we are as Republicans. It’s not who we are as human beings.”

When a reporter asked why Pierre’s family wanted his death publicly identified as a suicide, Ruby said they did not want the cause obscured. “This family wants that to be known,” he said. The family believes, Ruby added, that the government’s immigration policies caused Pierre to take his own life.

AROUND THE BULWARK

• Don’t look away: What We Did to This 20-Year-Old Is Unforgivable… A 20-year-old Haitian college student, Pierre Damas Bel, came to America to study, play soccer, serve in JROTC, and pursue a career in medicine. TIM MILLER and SAM STEIN discuss his suicide and how America shouldn’t look away.
• Tech Bros Are Losing… Despite warnings about techno-fascism, Silicon Valley’s right wing isn’t new, and its alliance with MAGA is faltering, writes JACOB BRUGGEMAN.
• 10 Jews, 1,000 Opinions, 1 Abdul El-Sayed… How the Michigan progressive is trying to forge a relationship with the state’s Jewish Democrats, and what it means for the future of the party, reports JONATHAN COHN in The Breakdown.

Quick Hits

MARKEY WINS EASILY: Democratic voters tend to say they’re ready to see generational change in party leadership, but a primary challenge against an elder statesman built around an “I’m younger” argument isn’t guaranteed to land. That’s one of the lessons out of Massachusetts last night, where Sen. Ed Markey easily fended off a primary challenge from Rep. Seth Moulton.

The race featured two competing visions of what “fighting back” effectively against Trump and Republicans should look like. In Moulton’s view, the problem with the Democratic old guard is basically a deficiency of vim; “status quo” Dems like the octogenarian Markey, he argued, just aren’t up to the task. Markey, by contrast, ran on his own progressive record and Moulton’s concessions to the center on issues like transgender athletes; Democrats like Moulton, he argued, were willing to cede too much ground to Republicans on actual issues. In the end, it wasn’t close: Markey breezed past Moulton, 65 percent to 35 percent.

AN EARFUL AT THE G20: Donald Trump’s economic policies have put a chokehold on growth around the world, and even our allies are getting louder complaining about it. The New York Times reports on the chorus of grumping at this week’s Group of 20 meeting:

At several points, representatives from Europe, Canada and other nations friendly to the United States criticized the administration for moves that they say have hurt their economies.

They voiced displeasure over the war with Iran, which has resulted in disruptions to energy markets and shipping. They also raised Mr. Bessent’s surprise decision to sell U.S. holdings of euros to prop up Japan’s currency last month, and the administration’s escalating war of words and tariffs with Canada. . . .

“There are clear differences, and we will handle it that way,” Lars Klingbeil, the German vice chancellor, told reporters on Tuesday in Asheville. He pointed to America’s tariff conflicts, including its escalating standoff with Canada, which he said were eroding trust in global trade and would “ultimately harm everyone involved.”

We keep saying this: Yanking America partially out of the global economy isn’t the most evil thing this White House has done, but it’s among the most boneheaded, and its consequences will be among the longest lasting.

TALARICO VS. CAPITAL: The “Woke 1 was crazy” oppo file on James Talarico keeps getting bigger. Yesterday, CNN unearthed comments from 2020 in which Talarico described capitalism as an “oppressive system” that needed “dismantling” alongside white supremacy and climate change. The then–state representative also said that the state’s oil and gas industry “is not gonna last,” comparing it to “being the leader in cassette tapes in the 1980s”: “If we wanna ensure we have an economy that’s gonna work for our children and our children’s children, we gotta be ahead of the curve and Texas has to lead instead of follow on this issue.”

Talarico distanced himself from the comments yesterday, with his campaign saying (as it has in the past) that some of his old comments “missed the mark.” “James is a proud capitalist and agrees with the majority of Texans that racism, natural disasters, and a billionaire-controlled economy are all problems we need to address,” spokesman JT Ennis told CNN. “James supports the oil and gas industry and believes in an all-of-the-above energy strategy that protects Texas oil and gas jobs.”

Talarico’s Republican opponent Ken Paxton is one of the weakest Republicans running anywhere this year—an uncharismatic Trump doormat who also happens to be serially unfaithful and hilariously corrupt. Whether he can fend off Talarico by pointing endlessly to the Democrat’s circa-2020 wokeisms will be one of the most interesting questions of the cycle.

More On U.S. Politics, Elections

New York Times, Six Takeaways From the Massachusetts Primaries, Reid J. Epstein, Updated Sept. 2, 2026. Senator Ed Markey, 80, above left, trounced a younger challenge, above right, r who had made an argument for generational change. Two other longtime Democratic lawmakers hung on, too.

Massachusetts, as it turns out, is a good state in which to be a very old Democratic incumbent.

Three Democrats who have been in office since long before the iPhone was in stores all won renomination Tuesday. Senator Ed Markey, 80, and Representatives Richard Neal, 77, and Stephen F. Lynch, 71, are all likely to return for additional terms.

Each faced challengers who had called for a new generation of leadership. Mr. Markey coasted past Representative Seth Moulton, 47, who ran to the middle, while Mr. Neal and Mr. Lynch both fought off progressive challengers.

Mr. Markey has been in office for 50 years. Mr. Neal has represented western Massachusetts since 1989. Mr. Lynch first won election from South Boston in 2001. The state’s Democrats do not seem inclined to reject their incumbents.

Here are six takeaways from the Massachusetts primary results:Voters didn’t care about Markey’s age.

The party still scarred by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s public meltdown during the 2024 campaign was not convinced that an octogenarian senator should not serve another six years.

Perhaps if Mr. Markey, 80, had faced a younger challenger with better political relationships than Mr. Moulton, he would have been in trouble in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. But Mr. Moulton has spent his career challenging his party’s orthodoxy and its leaders.

That record left Mr. Markey the political space he needed to paint himself as the progressive in the race, campaigning on the ideas of the future — even though he has been in Congress for 50 years.

In the waning days of the Massachusetts primary, several Democrats described Mr. Moulton as having the generational change message the party needed but being the wrong messenger to deliver it.

Mr. Markey said throughout the campaign that he would resign his seat if his advanced age left him unable to properly fulfill his Senate duties. He is now favored to win in November, which would have him serve in the Senate until he is 86 years old.Moulton’s trans remarks weren’t forgotten.

If Massachusetts were a general election battleground state, perhaps Mr. Moulton’s skepticism about trans athletes’ participation in youth sports might have played better among primary voters.

But from the moment Mr. Moulton entered the race last October, Mr. Markey used his remarks questioning transgender girls’ participation in girls’ sports as a battering ram against him. Not only did it galvanize the L.G.B.T.Q. vote for Mr. Markey, it also helped frame him as the progressive candidate.

It was the same formula that powered Mr. Markey’s last primary triumph in 2020 against another younger, more moderate Democrat, Joe Kennedy III.

Mr. Moulton eventually offered a qualified apology for his remarks, which came the day after President Trump won a second term in the 2024 election. But by then the state’s progressive voters had heard for months from Mr. Markey and his supporters that Mr. Moulton, during tough times, was willing to toss trans people aside.Dan Koh wins, thanks to Biden and Harris.

A lot of Democrats rolled their eyes when Dan Koh rolled out endorsement videos from Mr. Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Mr. Koh, who was a White House aide for Mr. Biden, was running against Tram Nguyen, a progressive state legislator, for Mr. Moulton’s House seat north of Boston.

Tying one’s political identity to a presidential administration a lot of Democrats would like to move past was a unique strategy. No other Democrat in a competitive primary this year had video testimonials from both Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris. (He also had a lot of help from a pro-A.I. super PAC.)

The strategy worked. Mr. Koh won a relatively easy victory over Ms. Nguyen and four other candidates. In a heavily Democratic district, he is all but certain to enter Congress in January as a legacy of the Biden administration.Stephen Lynch and Richard Neal hang on.

Mr. Markey was not the only old guy to hang on Tuesday. Mr. Neal and Mr. Lynch both fended off younger challengers for their House seats.

Unlike Mr. Markey, Mr. Neal and Mr. Lynch both faced progressive upstarts. And while both won by margins closer than they have achieved in previous races, they are both likely to return to Congress for another two years.

Massachusetts has not elected a Republican to any of its congressional seats since 1994. As long as that remains the case — and it is widely expected to — five of the nine members of the Massachusetts House delegation next year will be 63 or older. Both senators will be 77 or older. And efforts by young challengers to oust the state’s older incumbents have failed time after time.The pollsters got one right.

The polling industry has gotten a lot of grief lately after Democratic primary results were way off from the forecasts of the final surveys in Michigan and Wisconsin, followed by a big upset in the Florida Senate race.

In Massachusetts, Big Polling got it right.

Emerson College and the University of New Hampshire released polls in the final week before the primary showing Mr. Markey as getting more than 60 percent of the vote — blowout numbers.

They turned out to be right on target.

The New Republic, Opinion: Good Riddance, Seth Moulton: You Got What You Deserved, Perry Bacon, Jr. Sept. 2, 2026. The congressman who got drubbed by Ed Markey on Tuesday tried to distance himself from the base. That just doesn’t work anymore.

The biggest reason that Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election is probably the post-Covid-19 inflation and anti-incumbent sentiment that resulted in parties in power across the world being defeated. It didn’t help that she refused to distance herself from a deeply unpopular President Biden, ran on the “opportunity economy” and other banalities, and seemed more focused on courting the tiny fraction of Americans who are anti-Trump Republicans than any other bloc. But for many in the party, anytime the Democrats lose an election, the explanation is simple: Democrats are too far left. So in the days after Harris’s defeat, Democratic Representative Seth Moulton joined that chorus, telling The New York Times, “Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face. I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”

Transgender rights weren’t even close to the most prominent issue in the 2024 campaign. To the extent they were, it was a 2019 video of Harris supporting gender-affirming care for people in federal prison, a much harder position to defend than young people playing sports. It was strange that Moulton singled out transgender athletes for the Democrats’ defeat, as opposed to Biden, Harris, or their campaign strategists. Even worse, he whined when he was criticized for his remarks, suggesting those rebukes showed Democrats don’t tolerate alternative views. Moulton wanted to attack transgender participation in sports without those who support transgender athletes forcefully criticizing him in response. Sorry, Seth, that’s not how free speech or open discourse works.

Moulton exemplified the reactionary, left-bashing panic and capitulation to Trump we saw from many congressional Democrats in the wake of the 2024 election. Almost two years later, he got what he deserved: an electoral whupping. Incumbent Senator Ed Markey easily fended off Moulton’s primary challenge. The race was called quickly after polls closed on Tuesday night, and Markey is likely to win by more than 20 percentage points.

Moulton’s blowout loss, along with that of Angie Craig in Minnesota’s Senate race last month, should serve as a warning: Don’t expect to advance in Democratic politics, particularly in a blue state, if you spend the weeks after a Democratic presidential loss distancing yourself from the party base.

Defeating an incumbent senator is obviously hard, so Moulton’s loss isn’t shocking. But Moulton had a huge advantage in this race: age. Democratic voters, angered with Biden for initially running and then flopping on the debate state, are eager for generational change. So when Moulton, now 47, announced his challenge to Markey (80) back in October, I figured the congressman had the advantage.

Craig also ran for the Senate. And she lost the primary by 20 points, in part because Minnesota’s Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flaganan, right, hammered Craig over her Laken Riley vote.

Most of the 58 Democrats who voted for the Laken Riley Act and otherwise capitulated to Trump early last year or blamed progressives for Harris’s defeat remain in Congress. But at least two are gone. And in Moulton’s case, this was an embarrassing defeat. Democrats in Massachusetts were so desperate not to have Seth Moulton be their senator that they were willing to overwhelmingly reelect an 80-year-old to a six-year term. Seth Moulton kicked trangender Americans and other progressives when they were down. Now, Massachusetts voters have kicked him out of politics. Job well done.

 New York Times, Billionaires Sent Montana Prices Soaring. Can Democrats Capitalize? Jack Healy, Sept. 2, 2026. For years, Democrats have failed to harness the anger of Montanans contending with out-of-state wealth driving up costs. This year, a smokejumper thinks he can succeed.

It was a gorgeous summer weekend in the mountain-ringed town of Ennis, Mont., but Main Street was lined with casualties of Montana’s affordability crisis.

Kalena’s tea shop had shut for good because its owner could not find workers able to afford rent anywhere near Ennis. Staff shortages had similarly closed for the weekend a soda fountain catering to tourists bound for Yellowstone National Park. The Burnt Tree brewery was open only because its owners had turned a cluster of cabins and apartments into employee housing.

For the past two election cycles, Democrats in Montana have tried to harness anger over wealthy out-of-staters driving up prices and squeezing out residents, only to fall short. In the Senate and governor’s races of 2024, the Republican candidates were wealthy transplants, yet the Democratic brand proved to be the bigger liability. Senator Jon Tester, who lost his race for re-election that year, deemed his party’s brand electoral “poison.”

But this year, Democrats insist the cost of housing, health care and everything else has gotten so out of control that they might just flip a House seat in Montana’s western congressional district, which is less conservative. That race that could help tip control of Congress.

Their candidate is Sam Forstag, a telegenic firefighter and union leader running as an unapologetic progressive who could barely afford Montana when he was earning $19 an hour jumping out of planes to fight wildfires.

“No one can afford a damn roof over their head,” Mr. Forstag said in an interview.

The race in one of the country’s most sprawling congressional districts will test whether Democrats can unwind years of losses in rural areas, or whether once-purple places like Montana are gone for good.ImageA woman in a T-shirt stands with her arms crossed, in front of a sign that says her cafe “is closed permanently.”Kalena Wise recently closed down her cafe in Ennis because of staff shortages and rising operation costs, but she will probably still vote Republican.

Mr. Forstag is facing Aaron Flint, a conservative radio host, to fill the seat being vacated by the retirement of Representative Ryan Zinke, a Republican, in a state has become one of the least affordable places in America. That is doubly true for the scenic western district and towns like Whitefish, Bozeman and Missoula.

MSNOW, Opinion: JD Vance’s attacks on Democrats sound eerily familiar, Ryan Teague Beckwith, Sept. 2, 2026. The vice president keeps using the criticisms also leveled at his own boss.

It could be a stump speech for almost any Democrat running this year: Voters in the November midterms should repudiate divisive politicians, elect leaders of good character and root out fraud.

But those are the arguments Vice President JD Vance is using to attack Democrats.

While campaigning for Republican candidates over the past few weeks, Vance has repeatedly leveled attacks on their opponents that sound almost eerily like a critique of his own boss.

This may be partly due to the audience. Vance’s other aim in these speeches, aside from boosting GOP voter enthusiasm, is to raise his profile ahead of an expected 2028 campaign of his own. His talking points are more for the MAGA faithful, who really believe that Democrats are doing all of this.

It may also be a way to inoculate Trump from those points of criticism. If everyone is arguing that their opponents are corrupt or crazy, then some low-information voters may simply tune out all sides.

Whatever his aims, the extent to which Vance’s attacks on Democrats echo criticism of Trump is remarkable.Divisive politicians

At a rally for Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers in Detroit on Monday, Vance argued that “there’s something about” Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed “that is very, very evil and on the rise in the United States of America today.”

“And it’s people who see themselves not as citizens of a common nation fighting for every single person — whether they’re Jewish or Christian, whether they’re white or Black or brown — but see themselves as fighting for one group at the expense of others, and that is how, ladies and gentlemen, you destroy the United States of America,” he added.

As a reminder, Trump denied or delayed disaster aid to several Democratic-led states. According to former aides, he considered whether Californians hit by wildfires had voted for him before approving aid. The administration also acknowledged in a court filing that it canceled $7.6 billion in clean energy grants solely because the recipients were located in states that voted for Kamala Harris in 2024. Vance himself has argued that America is “not just an idea” and that Americans whose ancestors fought in the Civil War have “a hell of a lot more claim over America than the people who say they don’t belong.”

Americans have noticed all of this: An August poll by YouGov found that 60% of U.S. citizens said the country had become more divided under Trump.‘Good character’

In July, Vance ended a speech in Milwaukee by calling for Americans to “send people to Washington who are of good character.”

U.S. Military, Middle East Wars, Foreign Affairs

Hope for America, Opinion: Pete Hegseth is a danger to the world, Heather Delaney Reese, right, Sept. 2, 2026. Pete Hegseth is a danger to the world.

Last night, at 9:08 PM, after the only event on his public schedule for the entire week was canceled at the last minute, the United States Secretary of Defense, or as he now calls himself, the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, took to social media to humiliate a member of one of our closest allies’ militaries. Or at least that’s what he thought he was doing when he shared a photograph from a Canadian account with the caption “🇨🇦 (this is real),” apparently expecting millions of people to laugh along with him at the body of the person wearing the uniform. He thought he was being clever and exposing the weakness of Canada’s military. Instead, in one extraordinarily stupid post, Hegseth exposed something much more disturbing about himself: that the man entrusted with overseeing the most powerful military in the world is not only cruel enough to use his position to publicly humiliate someone because of their appearance, but apparently too ignorant or too lazy to read what was directly in front of him before doing it.

Because the photograph wasn’t what Hegseth apparently thought it was. The account itself is called “cadets.vernon.” The photograph came from a Canadian cadet program in Vernon, British Columbia. This was not Hegseth catching some supposedly embarrassing glimpse of Canada’s fighting force. It was a photograph from a youth cadet program for children 12-18. The picture shows a young person and what is most likely a volunteer for the program awarding them a medal. Somehow, the man responsible for advising the President of the United States on matters of war and national defense could not figure that out. That tells us far more about Pete Hegseth and the other people Donald Trump has put in extraordinarily powerful positions than it could ever tell us about Canada.

The response was immediate. Canadian journalist Terry Reith wrote, “Is the US secretary of defence trying to shame cadets in Vernon? These are cadets, high school kids. How dare you be such a complete asshole to imply this is our military, and shame on you for body shaming our young people. This is reprehensible.” Canadian Member of Parliament Garnett Genuis responded by reminding Hegseth of something he apparently never learned or chose to forget: “158 members of the Canadian military gave their lives in Afghanistan after your country was attacked. Canada and the US have a great history of fighting together for freedom and justice. It’s history worth remembering.” Prime Minister Mark Carney called the post “beneath their office.” Defence Minister David McGuinty called it “below the dignity of the office he holds.”

The Pentagon, however, stood behind it. They did not take it down. Did not apologize. Did not even attempt to explain how a youth leadership program for teenagers in British Columbia ended up in the crosshairs of the Secretary of War of the United States. Because many of us, parents or simply people who care about children, want to know why Pete Hegseth was even looking at children’s bodies in the first place.

I kept thinking about that young person in the photograph. Still finding themselves. Standing there proud of something they had earned, captured in a moment that was supposed to be theirs. I kept thinking about the volunteer standing next to them. A woman who obviously loves her country and loves children, who believes they are the future, and that is why she was there. She showed up, gave her time, and put on the uniform, because she believed in what that program could do for the next generation. And the United States Secretary of Defense saw that photograph and decided it was an opportunity for humiliation.

One of the most patriotic things a person can do is serve. I’m using the word “patriotic” carefully because this administration has twisted it into something performative, but real service is quiet and selfless, even when the person doing it does not fully realize they are choosing selflessness. Military service means low pay compared to the private sector. It means a lack of control over your own life. It is not easy, mentally or physically. It does not matter whether that service is American or Canadian or any other one of our allied countries, because the choice to show up for something bigger than yourself looks the same in every uniform.

When I think of Canada’s military, I do not think of something to mock. I think of them standing beside ours. So many times, when we needed someone, they were there immediately. Afghanistan. The Cold War. The World Wars. So many families live on both sides of that border, connected by the same roots. When one branch of my own family came to this continent, some went to Canada, and some came to the United States. We are not strangers. We are neighbors in the deepest sense of the word. Real Americans will never look at a Canadian and see an enemy, or a freeloader, or weakness by any stretch of the imagination. But what we are seeing is those things in our own government. We see the people running our government right now, and we see corruption, cruelty, failure, and embarrassment. What Pete Hegseth and anyone who cheered him on were doing was not being an American. And they were certainly not being good human beings either.

None of this is new. Pete Hegseth has been telling us exactly who he is for years. His own mother, Penelope Hegseth, wrote him an email in 2018 that was later read on the floor of the United States Senate during his confirmation. “You are an abuser of women,” she wrote. “That is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man, and have been for years, and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.” She continued: “On behalf of all the women, and I know it’s many, you have abused in some way, I say, get some help and take an honest look at yourself.” She later said she regretted the email. But the words were already in the Congressional Record, spoken aloud in the chamber where his confirmation was decided. Senator Tim Kaine asked Hegseth directly whether sexual assault, spousal abuse, or working under the influence would disqualify someone from being Secretary of Defense. Hegseth refused to answer. He was confirmed by a single vote by the Vice President, JD Vance, who had to break the tie.

Before that confirmation, NBC News reported that ten current and former Fox News colleagues said his drinking was a persistent concern, with two saying he smelled of alcohol before going on air on more than a dozen occasions. One colleague said the problem was so well known that “everyone would be talking about it behind the scenes before he went on the air.” He pledged to stop drinking if confirmed. Today, his wife, Jennifer Hegseth, reportedly travels with him everywhere he goes because, as an insider told the New York Times, the Secretary of Defense relies on her to “keep him out of trouble.” Twenty current and former administration officials confirmed that she has become his most influential adviser, prepping him for appearances, sitting in on meetings with journalists, interviewing potential staff, and helping brainstorm Pentagon videos. She attended a classified meeting between U.S. and U.K. officials about military intelligence sharing with Ukraine. Pentagon staffers reportedly refer to her as “The Leash.” Former Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot called it “bonkers that a defense secretary would involve his wife in his sensitive official duties, including sharing details of an impending military operation, and face zero consequences.”

We can’t forget when he leaked war plans to a journalist on the encrypted messaging app Signal in March of 2025 after The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief was accidentally included in a group chat where he shared precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing for strikes on Yemen. Then he stood on a runway in Hawaii and told reporters, “Nobody was texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that.” The Pentagon’s own inspector general later concluded that his actions could have resulted in “potential harm to US pilots.” Even after that, he created a second Signal chat that included his wife, his brother, and his personal lawyer.

This is the man who stood at a Pentagon prayer service in April and recited what he presented as a prayer inspired by Ezekiel 25:17. It was not. It was a fictional speech written by Quentin Tarantino for the 1994 film Pulp Fiction, delivered by Samuel L. Jackson’s character immediately before he murders someone. “The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men,” Hegseth intoned, asking his audience to pray along with him. When the mistake was caught, his spokesman Sean Parnell did not apologize. He called anyone pointing it out “ignorant of reality.”

Maybe the most horrific example of what happens when Pete Hegseth’s arrogance and incompetence collide with the power he has been given came on February 28th of this year, on the first day of Operation Epic Fury, when a U.S. Tomahawk missile struck the Shajareye Tayabeh girls school in Minab, Iran. According to Amnesty International, at least 156 people were killed, including at least 110 children, most of them girls between the ages of 7 and 12. U.S. military investigators later concluded that American forces were likely responsible. The strike was reportedly caused by outdated targeting data that still identified the school as part of an Iranian military complex. When asked about it, Trump said, “In my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran.” Hegseth backed him. “The only side that targets civilians is Iran,” he said. This from the man who had previously declared that U.S. strikes in Iran would not be bound by “stupid rules of engagement.” That is Pete Hegseth, that is his record, and now his own Pentagon is falling apart around him.

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In a classified document obtained and published by the Washington Post, it was revealed that six of the military’s most senior four-star commanders formally warned Hegseth that the Iran war is unsustainable. The heads of U.S. European Command, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and U.S. Southern Command, along with multiple other combatant commanders, all issued a formal “non-concur” to his plan to keep troops deployed in the Middle East through September and others into 2027. The Navy’s top admiral, Daryl Caudle, gave the starkest assessment, telling Hegseth the service “cannot sustain its current level of support” because there is no end date to the conflict. The leaked document revealed what we have feared for months: the United States has depleted more than half of its cruise missiles and advanced air-defense missiles during six months of this war. The military has had to redeploy its Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense missiles from South Korea and pull the USS George Washington from Japan, removing the only aircraft carrier in the Pacific. Families of soldiers in the 82nd Airborne Division were told this week that their deployments will extend to 12 months, into 2027.

Hegseth’s response to anyone who tells him the truth has been the same every time. He removes them. Since taking over the Pentagon, he has fired or forced out more than two dozen senior military officers. He fired Army Chief of Staff General Randy George in April for objecting to Hegseth’s decision to block officer promotions, many of which involved Black and female officers. He has not nominated a replacement in four months. He fired the editor, publisher, and a reporter at Stars and Stripes, the independent military publication, about ten days after they reported on the hardships Navy sailors were facing on the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose deployment was extended to nine months because of the Iran war. Those journalists are now suing him. He fired the Stars and Stripes ombudsman for speaking out about what she called the Pentagon’s “attempts to control the editorial content” of the publication. She is suing him too.

On Monday, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll submitted his resignation after months of being frozen out by Hegseth. Driscoll, a combat veteran and close ally of Vice President Vance, was asked by the White House to stay through the midterms. He refused. His departure means the Army now has no Senate-confirmed civilian secretary, no Senate-confirmed chief of staff, no confirmed operations chief, and no confirmed commander of Army troops in Europe and Africa. The largest branch of the United States military is being led by no one confirmed by the United States Senate. And the man Hegseth reportedly wants to replace Driscoll is Sean Parnell, the same Pentagon spokesman who fired the Stars and Stripes journalists.

I often find myself thinking back to times when the people entrusted with this kind of power understood the weight of what had been placed in their hands. They were never perfect. Our country was never perfect. But there were still moments when the people at the very top understood the responsibility that came with leadership, and that asking other people to risk their lives required something more from you than the spectacle Hegseth has made of the position. I keep coming back especially to one night, more than 80 years ago, when an American general was preparing to send tens of thousands of young men into one of the most dangerous military operations in history.

On the night before D-Day, June 5, 1944, before the largest amphibious invasion in human history, General Dwight Eisenhower did two things. First, he went to visit the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne before they boarded their planes. He walked among them, and he talked to them. He asked where they were from. He looked them in the eyes, knowing deep down in his soul that many of them would not come back. Then he went back to his quarters, sat down, and wrote a note. It was short, and in it he took full personal responsibility for the failure of the invasion, should it fail. “Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops,” he wrote. “My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.” He put that note in his pocket before a single soldier set foot on that infamous beach. The invasion succeeded, and he never had to send it. But he had already decided that if it did not, the failure would be his and his alone.

That is what military leadership looks like. A man who visits his troops, who looks them in the eye, who writes a note of personal responsibility before the first shot is fired. The distance between that man and Pete Hegseth is the distance between everything this country was supposed to be and everything it is becoming under this administration.

The President, who ran on “no new forever wars,” announced earlier today on Truth Social, just after noon, that the attack has resumed on Iran. “The United States is, as we speak, striking Iranian Targets near the Strait of Hormuz,” he wrote. “The strikes are large and powerful.” He followed with a threat: “If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings and, when it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” When asked in a Fox News interview whether he was interested in a deal, Trump said, “I think an agreement with them isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. We gave them a lot of chances.” Meanwhile, at the G20 Finance Ministers meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked by CNBC’s Sara Eisen what happens if economic pressure does not change the behavior of Iran’s leaders. Bessent’s answer was, “My experience with people like this… the main thing they care about is their head staying attached to their neck.”

Iran responded with missiles and drones. Thirteen Iranian ballistic missiles entered Jordanian airspace. Ten were intercepted. Three fell in remote areas. Iran targeted Bahrain. In the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan, a U.S. strike hit a residential home. An Iranian official went on state television and said, “A residential home was attacked while people were holding a wedding ceremony. Two people were reported martyred and a number of others wounded.” The death toll has been updated to four people, including a child.

Our country is in serious trouble. The world is in serious trouble. We have not just an incompetent and dangerous leader, but a man who has deliberately surrounded himself with equally reckless, unqualified, and morally bankrupt people to advise him and carry out his orders. But even now, there are still people willing to call what is happening wrong, including from inside the institutions these people are trying to bend to their will. Inside the Pentagon itself, six four-star commanders put their names on a classified document and said no through the formal chain of command, in writing, on the record. The Army Secretary looked at what Hegseth had built and decided he would rather walk away than become part of it. And this planet still has people like that volunteer in Vernon, British Columbia, who put on a uniform and showed up to award a medal to a young person she believed in. In doing so, she demonstrated something Pete Hegseth has never understood about service. She served without needing millions of people to see her do it. She served without needing to humiliate anyone else to make herself feel powerful. She simply showed up, did something good for another human being, and did it honestly and with her whole heart.

Tonight, even with all of the corruption, cruelty, cowardice, and incompetence we are watching from some of the most powerful people in our country, we are being reminded that they are not everyone. There are still good, honest, decent people everywhere. There are still people who understand that power carries responsibility, that leadership means service, and that strength is found in what we are willing to do for one another, not in who we are willing to hurt. The Pete Hegseths of the world are real. They are dangerous, especially when men like Donald Trump hand them extraordinary power. But most people are not like them. We must always remember that there are far more of us than there are of them.

U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Rights, Justice

New York Times, ‘Don’t Worry About Me’: Attacker’s Father Thought She Had Turned a Corner, Chelsia Rose Marcius, Miles G. Cohen, Amy Julia Harris and Katelyn Ferral, Sept. 2, 2026 (print ed.). Pamela Cisneros was killed by the police in Times Square after she stabbed two people, one fatally. Her father said she had stopped going with him to her mental health appointments.

Pamela Cisneros was in the grip of a mental health crisis seven years ago when, her father said, she tried to jump in front of a subway train in Queens.

She had lived for decades with serious mental health problems, her father, Mario Cisneros, said in an interview on Tuesday. But the episode in the subway in 2019 had prompted her family to intervene.

Mr. Cisneros began taking her to monthly hospital appointments, where she would receive injections that helped keep her stable. He believed his daughter had finally turned a corner.

Then, in April, he said, she refused a ride to her regular mental health appointment at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens, saying she could go to treatment alone.

“No, Dad, don’t worry,” he recalled her saying. “I’m good. Don’t worry about me.”

On Monday, Mr. Cisneros learned that his daughter had carried two kitchen knives with her through a bustling Times Square in Manhattan and, seemingly at random, had attacked two people, killing one of them. Minutes later, she was fatally shot by the police after refusing to put down the weapons. She was 49.

“She was a noble and polite girl, a Christian. But all of a sudden she acted like an animal,” Mr. Cisneros, 78, said in Spanish.

He said he did not know what type of medication she had been receiving or what condition she was being treated for, and it was unclear whether she had taken medication recently or received mental health treatment. But in recent months, Mr. Cisneros recalled, his daughter had said she did not want to rely on medication to feel normal.

“She didn’t want to continue them,” he said. “She was fighting to not be on the medicine, to not have to depend on it.”

“We tried to help her in every way possible,” he added.

As the authorities on Tuesday examined what might have led to the attacks, court filings and police records offered glimpses of the turbulence, financial woes and mental health struggles that had at times punctuated Ms. Cisneros’s life.

She had lived in Queens and studied psychology in college. She got married in September 1999, and had three children with her husband, Jose Lopez, according to Mr. Cisneros and court records.

Still, Ms. Cisneros struggled to hold a job, according to a bankruptcy petition filed in the Eastern District of New York in 2005. She reported being unemployed, while her husband worked as an office clerk at Citibank in New York. They reported having about $14,000 in assets.

At some point, it appears they moved to Florida. By 2018, the couple had separated, and Ms. Cisneros had moved back to Queens, according to records filed in family court in Hillsborough County, Fla.

It was during this time that Ms. Cisneros appeared to begin her spiral. On Dec. 20, 2018, police officers in Manhattan found her screaming and belligerent on Lexington Avenue near 49th Street, and determined that she was intoxicated, according to an internal police report obtained by The New York Times.

Less than four months later, on March 6, 2019, she tried to jump in front of the train in Queens. Mr. Lopez filed for divorce the following year in Florida, and a custody battle for their youngest daughter ensued, Florida court records show. Mr. Lopez could not be reached for comment.

Global Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets 

The Chaos Monkeys Have Already Taken Over the Zoo (Graphic by Paul Krugman).

Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: The Hits Keep Coming, Paul Krugman, right, Sept. 2, 2026. How much chaos can the economy take? 

Here’s the good news: The U.S. economy has proved remarkably resilient since the chaos monkeys, aka Donald Trump and company, took over the zoo.

There has been shock after shock: A trade war against everyone; a shooting war against Iran in which the vaunted U.S. military performed very poorly; loss of trust on the part of all our erstwhile allies; the degradation of U.S. government capacity and competence, on the civilian side by Elon Musk, on the military side by Pete Hegseth; mass deportations; a surge in long-term interest rates to levels not seen in decades. Yet the economy keeps plodding along.

It’s true that nobody besides the Trump sycophants thinks we’re in a Golden Age. Public views of the economy, and of Trump’s management thereof, are incredibly negative. Yet normal indicators like GDP growth and the unemployment rate aren’t flashing red.

Here’s the bad news: The shocks just keep coming.

To an important extent the economy’s resilience has depended on the widespread belief by investors and businesses that the Trump shocks are one-time events. Businesses can live with 10 or 15 percent tariffs, if that’s the new normal. The world economy can even manage in the face of significantly reduced flows of oil from the Persian Gulf. But it’s much harder to deal with a trade war in which Trump keeps finding new enemies — with a spiraling conflict with Canada, of all places, a nation whose auto industry, in particular, is so integrated with U.S. manufacturing that separating them is almost impossible to manage. The Iran War has been a disaster, but markets were beginning to believe that the worst was over — until Trump began bombing Iran again with no clear objective beyond the visceral desire to reach out and hurt someone, doing so despite overwhelming evidence that the U.S. military is desperately short of munitions and that Hegseth has pushed out many of its competent leaders.

Now we’re facing trade conflict that poses an existential threat to the U.S. auto industry. Crude oil prices are surging again, but even more important, prices of refined products — what we actually burn — rising even more than crude. Wholesale diesel prices have just hit their highest level ever.

And if the U.S, military performed badly against Iran six months ago, how will it do now that it has largely run out of sophisticated munitions and Hegseth has fired many of the officers who seemed to know what they were doing?

The question of why interest rates are up so much is complex. But the eruption of new rounds of chaos on so many fronts is surely part of what is driving rates ever higher. And the rate rise is yet another shock.

Maybe the economy can cope with the ever-growing chaos. But the fact that it has muddled through so far is no guarantee that it can deal equally well with the hits that just keep coming.

And that’s all for today, because I just flew across the Atlantic and am deeply jet-lagged.

New York Times, Allies Grumble That U.S. Is Hindering Global Economic Growth, Jim Tankersley, Sept. 2, 2026 (print ed.). At a summit meant to showcase President Trump’s economic policies as a model for the world, Europeans complained about tariffs and the war with Iran.

Nearly every session at the Group of 20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in Asheville, N.C., this week began with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent extolling the state of the U.S. economy under President Trump and urging other countries to be more like America.

America’s allies were not always receptive. At several points, representatives from Europe, Canada and other nations friendly to the United States criticized the administration for moves that they say have hurt their economies.

They voiced displeasure over the war with Iran, which has resulted in disruptions to energy markets and shipping. They also raised Mr. Bessent’s surprise decision to sell U.S. holdings of euros to prop up Japan’s currency last month, and the administration’s escalating war of words and tariffs with Canada.

The disagreements, while mostly polite, reflected a growing frustration in Europe and elsewhere over Mr. Trump’s stewardship of the global economy — and allies’ sense that his policies have in important ways hindered economic growth, the issue Mr. Bessent said the administration was “laser-focused” on.

“Despite U.S. strong-arm tactics, even traditional U.S. allies among the G20 are clearly and publicly at odds with the Trump administration’s priorities,” said Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University economist and former head of the International Monetary Fund’s China division.Sign up for Your Places: Global Update. All the latest news for any part of the world you select. Get it sent to your inbox.

Some of the difference is philosophical. Mr. Trump has eviscerated regulatory barriers for businesses, including the booming artificial intelligence industry, and leaned into fossil fuel production. European leaders remain more cautious on A.I. and other deregulation and more committed to a transition to renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, even as they try to nurture their own tech ecosystem to rival America and China.

“There are clear differences, and we will handle it that way,” Lars Klingbeil, the German vice chancellor, told reporters on Tuesday in Asheville. He pointed to America’s tariff conflicts, including its escalating standoff with Canada, which he said were eroding trust in global trade and would “ultimately harm everyone involved.”

Mr. Bessent and colleagues planned the gathering on Monday and Tuesday as a showcase for the administration’s policies and an advertisement for the strength of American business. In an apparent first, Mr. Bessent invited American chief executives from industries including banking and cryptocurrency to sessions with the visiting officials. All of this was done under the banner of improving public-private collaboration and juicing investment.

“The foundation of America’s strength is predicated on remaining the pre-eminent economy in the world,” Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, who was one of the executives in attendance, said in a release lauding Mr. Bessent’s move.

Mr. Bessent opened Tuesday’s events with a “fireside chat” with the Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, a former top economic official in Mr. Trump’s first administration. Both men raved about America’s business climate under Mr. Trump.

“The U.S. is at a very special place in the world because we are the A.I. superpower and we are pulling away in computing power,” Mr. Bessent said, crediting the administration’s regulatory, tax and energy policies. He said he had invited the other countries in attendance to “come with us and grow.”

The American economy is growing faster than many of its peers. The International Monetary Fund projects that the United States will grow more than twice as fast as the eurozone or Canada this year. Yet the I.M.F. noted this summer that the administration’s war in Iran had slowed economic growth. German economists say Mr. Trump’s war and his tariffs on Europe have dampened what otherwise has been the strongest year of German growth since 2022.

On Monday, European leaders used one of the open discussions to complain that Mr. Bessent had not informed them in advance of his plans to use America’s holdings of euros in an effort to boost the value of Japan’s currency, the yen. By using euros, Mr. Bessent pushed down the value of Europe’s currency while protecting the value of the dollar.

Joachim Nagel, the head of Germany’s central bank, said he believed that the criticism had resonated, and that American officials now understood why Europeans “were not really enthusiastic about the fact that there was no prior coordination.”

Mr. Klingbeil told reporters that Europeans had raised other concerns as well, both with America and with China, which has flooded many wealthy nations with state-subsidized exports of cars and other goods.

“The past few months have shown that uncertainty is poison for economic growth,” Mr. Klingbeil said. “The Iran war, the ongoing tariff disputes with the U.S. and distortions of competition like we are experiencing from China, all of this leads to instability.”

The most open conflict was between America and its northern neighbor. Mr. Bessent was dismissive of Canada in a CNBC interview from the summit on Monday, saying, “I don’t think you can be in a tit-for-tat with someone who’s 13 times larger than you are.”

Before a meeting with Mr. Bessent on Tuesday, the Canadian finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne, responded defiantly.

He planned to tell Mr. Bessent, he said, that “we’re going to defend our workers, our industries and Canada.” 

New York Times, Employer Health Costs Are Expected to Spike in 2027, Reed Abelson, Sept. 2, 2026. A new U.S. survey anticipates an average increase of 11 percent unless benefits are cut, the highest rate in decades. Other findings also predict a sharp rise.

Large and small employers are bracing for what looks to be the sharpest increase in health care costs in more than two decades. The cost per worker is projected to go up an average of 11 percent next year, or somewhat lower if workers’ insurance benefits are reduced, according to a U.S. survey released Wednesday.Estimated annual health plan cost increases per employee

The employers’ final costs, after they make changes to health plans, are still expected to increase about 8 percent next year, the steepest since 2003, according to Marsh, the benefits consultant formerly known as Mercer.

More than a third of the 1,800 employers surveyed said they anticipated that costs would rise at least 10 percent after making cuts.

“This year was a rough year, and next year looks like it will be even rougher,” said Beth Umland, director of employer research for health and benefits at Marsh, in an interview.

The Marsh survey is the latest report by an employer group or benefit consultant predicting a sharp rise in health care costs next year. Many Americans, even those with insurance, are already struggling to afford care, according to various surveys, and health care has become a top issue for voters.

“This seems to be a new normal,” said Ellen Kelsay, the chief executive of Business Group on Health, which represents large employers that offer health benefits.

From 2018 to 2027, health care costs could increase 76 percent, roughly twice the rate of general inflation, according to a survey the employer group released last month. For next year, companies predicted a 9.2 percent median increase, which fell to 8 percent after they made benefit changes.

The cost of providing coverage to employees is becoming an existential business issue, said Mike Pasterick, an executive at the insurance broker Aon, which issued its own projection last month. Aon estimated employers’ costs would rise 9.5 percent next year, pushing the average cost per employee above $19,000 if no changes are made. “This is impacting the companies in a very material way,” he said.

The upshot is that about 160 million people under 65 who rely on employers for health insurance will again confront higher costs and shoulder more of the burden. More and more, workers are facing year-over-year increases that further stress household budgets already dealing with the growing expenses of groceries and gasoline.

Workers are facing higher premiums, deductibles and co-pays, which require them to carry a larger share of their medical bills. Some companies are cutting benefits by discontinuing coverage of expensive GLP-1 drugs to treat obesity, or dropping coverage for spouses who have other insurance options.

Employers and benefits consultants cited a number of factors contributing to higher costs: rising prices for hospital care and prescription drugs, including expensive medicines for cancer, and robust demand for GLP-1 drugs to treat conditions like diabetes.

But they also pointed to new contributors like hospitals’ and doctors’ use of artificial intelligence to increase payments through better documentation of care. They also blamed increasing reimbursements to some doctors who are out of network and are exploiting a new consumer protection law that allows them to challenge what they were originally paid.

New York Times, What Rising Global Bond Rates Mean for Your Money, Ron Lieber and Tara Siegel Bernard, Sept. 2, 2026. If you own bonds, they may be in a broad fund that hasn’t lost much money. And that fund may do much better in the next several years.

“Soaring” global bond yields. Global bond “sell-offs.”

Headlines in recent days have included many scary words. But what do they mean for you and your money?

As ever, the answer is this: It depends.

It depends on whether you own bonds, what bonds you own and how soon you may need the money you invested. Many people who invest through popular funds in their workplace retirement accounts may know little about their bond holdings, even if they remember that they have roughly 30 percent of their money in bonds.

The good news is that for now, the tumult in the bond markets has not caused big losses in most people’s portfolios. Still, a bit more vigilance is wise at a time like this. In fact, it can be reassuring.

Here are some questions worth asking.What’s happening with the bond market right now?

When an investment appears increasingly risky, investors demand to be paid more to take on that risk — and right now, that’s essentially what’s happening in the government bond market.

Though the bond market has been increasingly volatile in recent months, investors around the world sold off government bonds at a faster clip on Tuesday, which caused prices to drop and pushed bond yields, along with interest rates, to recent highs.

Investors are worried about a variety of risks: mounting government debt levels, the U.S.-led war in Iran and its effect on oil prices and inflation, and the heavy borrowing and spending on artificial intelligence.

Rising interest rates on government bonds influence consumer rates on mortgages, student loans, credit cards and more. (The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes, arguably the world’s most instrumental interest rate, reached its highest point since January 2025, while the 30-year yield remained near a two-decade high.)

But the bond market makes up a sizable part of many investors’ portfolios. Bond fluctuations also have implications for the average worker and retiree — higher interest rates, on the whole, help buoy savings over the long run, but it’s complicated (we’ll get into that in a minute).How do I know what bonds I own in my portfolio and what’s happening to them?

Let’s say you put money away for a retirement in a target-date fund, an investment vehicle that is named for the year you hope to stop working. Those funds have a mix of stock, bond and sometimes other funds.

Your job is to figure out which underlying bond funds the bond portion of your savings is in. Then, once you have those names, you can look up those funds and see what and how they’re doing.

If you’re in the Vanguard Target Retirement 2040 Fund, your bond investments will be in a U.S. bond fund and a separate international one. Both of them have positive returns over the past year because they invest in all sorts of bonds aside from those government ones. So no big losses to see here.

If a financial adviser has bought bond funds for you — or individual bonds — ask for an accounting and an explanation of the strategy.What is the point of owning bonds, anyway?

Bonds are for diversification, balance and stability, and they’ve historically provided it more often than not.

The bond market includes corporate, municipal and other bonds besides the government ones that have been in the headlines recently. Bonds have had lower returns than stocks over time, but they also lack the volatility of stocks.

Think about it this way: When you’re investing in bonds, you’re lending money with the expectation that the borrowing government, town or company that has issued the bonds will pay you back in full. Most often, that actually happens, plus you collect a bit of interest income along the way to account for the risk of nonrepayment.

And when you hear about “yields rising,” it can mean that’s a decent time to be a lender through bonds.

More News Roundups

The Parnas Perspective, Evening News and Commentary: Alarm Bells Go Off: Trump's Election Interference Escalates, Johnson Moves to Dodge Epstein Vote, Iran Strikes Resume, Apple Caves, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 2, 2026. There’s a lot happening today, and most of it points the same direction. Congressman Thomas Massie is warning that Mike Johnson may recess the House early just to dodge a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act 2.0, and it fits a pattern we keep seeing: whenever accountability gets close, the exits get greased.

We’re also digging into a much bigger story, a DHS voter fraud push and a USPS whistleblower report that together look less like election security and more like a pretext-building exercise ahead of the midterms, complete with defied court orders and a judge now weighing an injunction. I spoke with Nevada’s Secretary of State and Oversight Ranking Member Robert Garcia about what can be done in exclusive interviews.

Away from Washington, a 20-year-old Haitian immigrant in Ohio took his own life after losing protected status and being forced into an ankle monitor, a death his community is directly tying to enforcement policy. And overnight, the US launched fresh strikes on Iran, with both sides promising the next round will be worse. Plus Carney’s trade war rebuke, MapQuest’s unlikely victory lap, and yes, someone vandalized Dolly Parton’s star.

To everyone who reached out, offered support, and subscribed over the past 24 hours: thank you, from the bottom of my heart. It means more than I can express, and we’re building something real together. If you’d like to subscribe or upgrade your subscription, you can do so here:Subscribed

One other note: There’s so much misinformation floating around about trees being cut down in the DC area, and I want to set the record straight on two of them. No, 60 cherry trees were not cut down: one cherry tree was cut down, and several other types of trees were removed in East Potomac Park, but many cherry trees remain. And no, the Trump administration did not cut down willow trees at the Kennedy Center; those trees died last year and simply haven’t been replaced. I know a lot of people get frustrated with me when I don’t report on a story they’ve seen floating around, like the cherry blossom claims, but the reason is simple: I never want to be wrong or spread false information. So if you don’t see me reporting on something, it’s because I’m still vetting its accuracy. That’s all I can offer you.

Let’s jump into it:

Congressman Thomas Massie is suggesting that Mike Johnson may recess the House of Representatives early to avoid a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act 2.0.

Trump’s Election Efforts Exposed:

The light is blinking red on Trump trying to influence the 2026 midterms. Recent developments point to a broader pattern, drawing a line from his 2020 election lies and the January 6th aftermath to what’s happening now with DHS’s voter fraud investigation surge and the USPS whistleblower report. Trump has spent a decade trying and failing to substantiate claims of widespread voter fraud, from his failed first-term fraud commission to a post-2020 investigation that also came up empty. The administration’s recent “evidence,” including a debunked claim of 250,000 noncitizens registered in four states and an unusual unsigned Census Bureau report, has been widely criticized by experts, suggesting the goal isn’t proving fraud so much as seeding doubt and building a pretext for further federal intervention.

DHS is directing Homeland Security Investigations, an ICE unit normally focused on trafficking and smuggling, to pursue voter fraud leads in several states just over two months before the election. CNN notes this kind of “overt” investigatory action so close to a vote is normally avoided by the federal government specifically because unverified allegations can influence the outcome. Given the department’s track record and the compressed timeline, experts see little reason to think this effort will succeed where previous fraud hunts failed. The timing itself, more than any expected findings, is what’s raising alarms among election law observers.

The core of the story is a whistleblower report, submitted through the nonprofit Whistleblower Aid and released by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, describing USPS’s rushed rollout of a new digital portal for verifying mail ballots as “secretive, rushed, chaotic and fundamentally flawed.” The system’s “zero percent failure rate” policy means that if even one ballot in a large batch fails to verify against the portal, such as a name that doesn’t exactly match state-submitted data, the entire batch gets rejected rather than just the flagged ballot, and voters might not even learn their ballot was rejected until it’s too late to get an alternative. USPS reportedly skipped standard steps like internal testing and customer acceptance testing to hit a September 1 deadline. This affects roughly 47 million Americans, about 30% of the 2024 electorate, who vote by mail, undercutting the administration’s stated rationale that the order is about election security. I spoke with Nevada’s Secretary of State who says he will not send over voter rolls to the federal government:

Multiple outlets report the whistleblower’s most explosive claim: USPS continued building the portal even after a federal judge’s order to halt work, marking what the report calls a “pattern of defiance of court orders.” Judge Indira Talwani has now issued a second temporary restraining order blocking implementation while she considers a longer-term injunction, with a hearing scheduled for Thursday, and the case is expected to eventually reach the Supreme Court regardless of outcome. Rep. Robert Garcia said the House Oversight Committee has independently received similar whistleblower warnings and is continuing to investigate. Meanwhile, North Carolina is set to begin mailing ballots to overseas military voters this Friday, adding real urgency given federal law requires such ballots to go out 45 days before the election.

This fits within a longer pattern: Trump’s March executive order asserting USPS authority over mail ballots, a June report that USPS planned to withhold ballots from states that wouldn’t share voter lists (which even some red states have resisted), a July primetime speech invoking unproven national security claims about China and mail voting, and an August interview where Trump wouldn’t rule out declaring a national emergency to impose voting restrictions Congress hasn’t passed. Compounding the concern, Wyoming’s Republican governor, Mark Gordon, recently accused DOJ election monitors of “aggressive” behavior during his state’s primary and said he doesn’t want the federal government “coming in and taking our votes.” Trump has also previously said he regretted not seizing voting machines after 2020, and because mail voting skews Democratic, disenfranchisement here would disproportionately hurt Democrats.

20 Year Old Takes his Own Life After TPS Revoked:

Pierre Damas Bel, a 20-year-old Haitian immigrant in Springfield, Ohio, died Monday after parking on Interstate 70 and walking into oncoming traffic, in what his family believes was a suicide following months of mounting distress. Bel had recently lost temporary protected status, a policy shift affecting an estimated 350,000 Haitian immigrants, and was summoned to an ICE office and fitted with an ankle monitor after the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to proceed with ending TPS for Haitians. His father said Bel felt “treated like an animal,” was bullied by classmates over the device, and had it prevent him from playing soccer, while ICE officers refused his requests to have it removed. Ohio authorities are investigating the crash, and DHS declined to comment on the circumstances of his death while that investigation continues.

Bel arrived in the US in 2024 through the CBP One app to reunite with his parents, who had fled Haiti three years earlier, and the family had settled into life in Springfield, buying a home after being granted temporary protected status. He graduated high school with honors in May, was a proud JROTC cadet who dreamed of studying medicine, and was described by his family as the responsible eldest of three siblings. His distress deepened as the ankle monitor became a source of daily humiliation; in a late-July Instagram post he wrote he felt “shame and humiliation” walking around with a GPS monitor despite having “not come here to commit a crime or hurt anyone,” and just days before his death his JROTC instructor withheld his uniform, which his father believes was because of the monitor. His next asylum hearing had been scheduled for October, and he had told the Haitian Support Center he feared returning to Haiti’s ongoing gang violence.

On the morning of his death, Bel called his father at 8:03 a.m. saying “I’m not feeling okay,” and was told to come home to talk; hours later, police arrived to inform his father that his son had “thrown himself under a truck.” Community leaders, including Haitian Bridge Alliance’s Guerline Jozef and local pastor Carl Ruby, have directly tied his death to the administration’s immigration enforcement policies, with Jozef saying plainly that “these policies are what caused his untimely death.” Springfield residents have been rallying around Haitian neighbors and calling for an end to ICE’s enforcement campaign in the wake of his death.

Trump Prepares for Investigations:

Trump aides, family members, and allies are quietly preparing for a possible Democratic takeover of Congress in 2026, even as the president publicly insists Republicans will hold on. The White House counsel’s office began briefing political appointees as early as this spring, reassuring current staff they’ll be represented in their official capacities if subpoenaed, though former officials would not necessarily get the same protection. Some current and former aides are already lining up personal lawyers, including reaching out to Stefan Passantino, who represented Cassidy Hutchinson during the January 6 investigations. Staff have also been coached to be careful what they put in writing and to make sure financial disclosures and ethics filings are complete and timely, with one former official summarizing the strategy as “don’t give them a reason to find anything.” The effort is a deliberate contrast to 2019, when a less experienced first-term White House was caught flat-footed by Democratic oversight after the 2018 midterms.

The administration has also laid down a new legal marker designed to shield Trump’s communications with informal advisers, family members, and outside allies from congressional subpoenas. An August 10 Justice Department memo concluded that executive privilege can extend to a president’s communications with private advisers, so long as they relate to official decision-making and remain confidential, though it stops short of blanket immunity and allows Congress to override the privilege by showing the information is “demonstrably critical.” Legal experts say this could be paired with the Supreme Court’s Trump v. Mazars ruling, which already limits how broadly Congress can demand a president’s personal records, to create what one lawyer called “a whole new umbrella of potential privileged information.” The approach could put outside figures, like a CEO who spoke with Trump by phone, in a bind between the White House’s privilege claims and their own obligations to Congress. Democrats, meanwhile, are eyeing officials like chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, along with outside businesses and entities that carry fewer legal protections, as they look to tie alleged corruption to the cost-of-living message driving their campaigns.

Will Scharf, previously the White House staff secretary, took over as White House counsel this week in a notably faster transition than 2018, when Democrats retook the House and a new counsel wasn’t installed until months later. Scharf is expected to build out the legal team that will field Democratic subpoenas and will work closely with Attorney General Todd Blanche, his former colleague on Trump’s presidential immunity case, with one former official predicting he’ll lean toward giving Trump the answers he wants rather than playing it straight. If Democrats win control, Scharf’s job would shift from advancing Trump’s agenda to defending the administration against investigations, a transformation presidential historian Tevi Troy said turns White House counsel’s office from a coveted perch into a team of “battlers.” The ripple effects would extend well beyond the White House, with agencies also bracing for subpoenas and oversight demands that eat into time for policy work. Troy recalled spending an hour a week as a Bush-era deputy HHS secretary just reviewing subpoenas, time he said comes directly out of pursuing the administration’s actual agenda.

Iran:

The US launched fresh strikes on Iranian targets Tuesday, which Trump called “large and powerful” on Truth Social, framing them as retaliation for Iran’s failed attempt to lay sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz and for an Iranian missile launch at a US base in Jordan. CENTCOM said it struck IRGC targets around noon ET after Iran attempted attacks on commercial shipping and American forces, and Trump warned that any Iranian retaliation would be met with an even harder strike, one he said “will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings.” Iranian state TV reported the US hit a fishmeal factory on Qeshm Island, a fishing pier, and a maritime tower in Sirik, while Iran’s Fars news agency reported at least two people killed and several wounded at a wedding near Sirik. Iran’s armed forces vowed to “impose a heavy cost on the American enemy,” and the IRGC announced a “regretful response” had begun, claiming it shot down a 50th American MQ-9 drone using a new air defense system.

This marks the first major military escalation in about a month, following weekend strikes on Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island that Iran said killed and injured several IRGC personnel, and it comes roughly six months into a war that began in late February when American and Israeli forces killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran responded to the weekend strikes by firing eight ballistic missiles at US bases in Jordan, which Jordan’s military said it intercepted, while the UAE said its air force engaged at least one Iranian drone over its territorial waters. Analysts told Al Jazeera the US has shifted from a purely military approach to a combined diplomatic, economic, and military strategy aimed at reopening oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz, with one scholar predicting Iran’s response would be “stronger than the US strike” based on the pattern of escalating retaliation so far. A Tehran-based academic separately noted the conflict never truly paused despite weeks of relative calm, and that both sides have been waging as much a “war of rhetoric” as a military one.

The renewed strikes triggered immediate safety warnings, with US embassies in Jerusalem, Jordan, and Qatar cautioning Americans in the region about the “potential for unforeseen escalation” and advising them to prepare for flight cancellations and airspace closures. The embassies noted that US diplomatic facilities, including those outside the Middle East, have already been targeted, and warned that Iran and its allied groups could strike other US interests, businesses, or institutions worldwide. CENTCOM described the Iranian mine-laying attempt as a direct threat to global commerce, saying it took “limited, precise action” to protect civilian shipping through a waterway that carried 20% of the world’s oil before the war began. The advisories described the security environment as “complex” and the Iranian regime as unpredictable, citing past unannounced strikes on new areas, including Egypt, as reason for continued vigilance even where American interests haven’t yet been directly hit.

Away from the battlefield, the conflict is also straining humanitarian conditions elsewhere in the region: the WHO warned that Gaza’s upcoming rainy season threatens a worsening public health crisis, citing nearly tripled microbiological water contamination and acute watery diarrhea cases that have climbed from about 27,000 to over 48,000 since March amid overcrowded tent camps and sewage overflows. A WHO representative said flooding risks pushing sewage and contaminated water directly into where displaced Palestinians sleep, cook, and care for their families, though she maintained there’s still time to avert disaster if humanitarian supplies are allowed in without delay. Meanwhile, domestic political fallout from the Iran war continues, with NBC reporting on rare public frustration from Trump’s own voters over the war’s costs and Fox News highlighting Treasury Secretary Bessent’s prediction that Iran’s economy will collapse within months under the pressure campaign. The scale and duration of the conflict, now stretching into its seventh month with no clear resolution in sight, is increasingly shaping coverage well beyond the strikes themselves.

Other news:

Apple Maps has renamed Lake Ontario after Trump called.

Milo Yiannopoulos, the right-wing provocateur deported from the US to the UK last week, now says he regrets backing Trump, telling reporters, “If I had any clue that anything remotely like this was even possible, I would never have got involved in supporting Trump in the first place and I’m very ashamed that I did.”

Mark Carney rebuked Washington, telling officials to “start being serious” about trade talks and calling recent insults from US officials “beneath their office.” The comments come days before Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on $20bn of US goods take effect September 8, following the US’s own 50% tariffs on $20bn in Canadian goods. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer downplayed the standoff as “more their emergency than ours,” insisted no negotiations are currently happening, and blamed Canada for unacceptable asks like lighter truck tariffs. Carney has separately said American negotiators treated Canada’s French language as an “irritant,” while adding “in Quebec, these are rights.” A Reuters/Ipsos poll found the friction isn’t popular at home either: just 14% of Americans back Trump’s Lake Ontario renaming and only 20% approve of the higher Canada tariffs, with 57% opposed.

A Fox News segment argued that declining teen and young adult birth rates are a problem, with a host or guest complaining that “the problem is teens and young adults. From ages 15-19, the fertility rate is down 70% in the last 2 decades, which means we are telling people who are young not to have babies.” The remark frames a two-decade decline in births among 15-to-19-year-olds, a group that includes minors, as evidence of a cultural message discouraging early parenthood rather than, as demographers typically explain, a byproduct of expanded access to contraception, delayed marriage, and more teens pursuing education. The 70% figure roughly tracks CDC data showing the US teen birth rate has fallen sharply since the early 2000s, driven largely by better contraceptive use rather than any messaging campaign.

The House passed a continuing resolution 370-48 to fund the government through December 11, sending it to Trump’s desk after Senate passage last month and averting a shutdown just ahead of the midterms. Only 19 Republicans and 29 Democrats voted no. Democrats backed the bill after securing a delay on a White House budget-office rule they feared would let the administration cancel grants arbitrarily, with caucus chair Pete Aguilar calling that concession key to the broad support. The relatively calm resolution stands in sharp contrast to last year’s 43-day shutdown over ACA subsidies and this year’s separate DHS funding standoff after federal agents killed two US citizens in Minneapolis. It also arrives as forecasters increasingly favor Democrats retaking the House and possibly the Senate in November, with Trump’s approval sliding amid inflation and the Iran war.

MapQuest jumped to No. 1 on Apple’s US App Store, leapfrogging both Google Maps and Apple Maps, after its “we’re not changing it” refusal to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America” went viral. Google quickly complied and now shows “Lake America” to US users, while Apple is reportedly weighing the same move under White House pressure but was still displaying Lake Ontario as of Tuesday. MapQuest’s general manager, Doug Berger, said app usage was running at roughly 50 times normal, and the company reused a naming tool it originally built after Trump’s 2025 Gulf of Mexico rename. The same Reuters/Ipsos poll showing lopsided opposition to the rename (only 14% support) helps explain the backlash-driven download surge. Resistance is spreading beyond the app store too: Canada erected a “Lake Ontario, Now and Always” sign near Grimsby, Ontario’s premier vowed the name will never change, and three House Democrats introduced the “Hands Off Our Great Lakes Act” to block the order.

Senator Ron Wyden and Rep. Pramila Jayapal formally asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate DHS’s use of an obscure customs-related law to secretly gather records on journalists, nonprofits and unions without judicial oversight. The request cites Homeland Security Investigations obtaining six months of phone records on Minneapolis journalist Georgia Fort, plus a summons to Google for Fort’s and Don Lemon’s YouTube data after a judge twice rejected a warrant for the same information. HSI pursued the records after federal prosecutors charged Fort and Lemon with civil rights crimes tied to a Saint Paul church protest they were covering in January; both have pleaded not guilty. DHS has also used similar summonses to obtain union financial records and a nonprofit’s Venmo transactions, and issued subpoenas to Meta, X and Reddit aimed at unmasking DHS critics. The lawmakers also want the GAO to examine non-binding “don’t notify the target” language DHS attaches to these summonses, and asked the federal judiciary to clarify that subpoena recipients can disclose them absent a court order.

Dolly Parton’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star vandalized, with flowers stolen & her name scratched off, repairs underway.

A US Border Patrol technical search team is expected to join the hunt for at least one hiker still missing after a flash flood tore through the Grand Canyon on Saturday, with nearly 80 people rescued and two deaths confirmed: chiropractor John Giusti, 46, and martial arts studio owner Brent Rosenkranz, 42. Their hiking companion, 53-year-old pilot Timothy Smith, remains unaccounted for. The flood struck Bright Angel Creek near the historic Phantom Ranch lodge, and officials say it was likely intensified by drought, scarring from the 2025 Dragon Bravo wildfire burn, and a record El Niño supercharging this year’s monsoon moisture. Scientists note that climate-driven extremes are making such overlapping disasters more likely. The flood also knocked out roughly 40% of the pipeline supplying water to Grand Canyon Village’s roughly 1,600 residents and visitors.

Loreto Javar, a 76-year-old Filipino national and permanent US resident since 1995, was detained by ICE during his citizenship interview in Tukwila, Washington, in June, despite being in active treatment for stage 4 prostate cancer. ICE alleges he failed to disclose a 1970s conviction in the Philippines tied to a fatal altercation, for which he says he served about three years before parole; his daughter Daisy says he had never told the family and had renewed his green card without issue multiple times, most recently in December. Since his detention, his cancer treatment has been repeatedly interrupted: he’s missed two monthly oncology appointments, developed a blood clot, and faced meal delays that have thrown off his medication schedule. An advocacy petition says the Philippine consulate visited him and promised support, including $300 for commissary funds, but has yet to follow through. The case lands amid broader findings that most people swept into deportation proceedings under Trump’s second term have no criminal conviction, and a PBS/NPR/Marist poll found 62% of Americans think ICE has gone too far.

A federal judge dismissed the remaining claims in former wardrobe stylist Asha Daniels’ lawsuit against Lizzo’s production company, Big Grrrl Big Touring, nearly two years after already removing Lizzo herself as an individual defendant. Daniels had alleged bullying and sexual and racial harassment in what she called an “unsafe, sexually charged workplace culture,” but Judge Fernando Aenlle-Rocha ruled the conduct fell within the “ordinary tribulations of the workplace” and wasn’t protected under Title VII. He also rejected her disability claim over a foot injury from a wardrobe rack, finding it didn’t meet the ADA’s threshold. Daniels’ attorney called the ruling disappointing and said they’re considering an appeal, arguing a jury should have weighed the evidence. It’s a partial win for Lizzo, who still faces a separate, ongoing lawsuit from three former backup dancers (though a fat-shaming claim in that case was dismissed in December) and has said publicly she intends to fight every remaining claim.

Sept. 1 

Top Headlines

Chart by the Brookings Institution of Most Politically Powerful U.S. Billionaires

• New York Times, 'The Least Transparent Midterm’: How Dark Money Is Washing Over the 2026 Election, Shane Goldmacher and Theodore Schleifer, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). At least $1 billion from anonymous donors is flowing into the midterm elections. Dark money is not new, but it now permeates nearly every major contest. In Michigan and Minnesota, tens of millions of untraceable dollars poured into recent Senate primaries trying to topple progressive Democratic candidates. In Kansas, the torrent of secret money that boosted an obscure Democratic Senate candidate amounted to 100 times as much as what he had on hand in the final stretch of the primary. And in Texas, Republicans exploited lax federal disclosure rules to spend secretly and try to nominate a weak Democratic candidate whose own party had denounced her as antisemitic.
• New York Times, Whistle-Blower Says Trump Officials Are Defying Court Orders on Voting by Mail, Chris Cameron, Sept. 1, 2026. A report detailed “grave concerns” that a new system being rushed into use by the U.S. Postal Service could imperil millions of mail ballots ahead of the midterm elections.
• Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: We Found Her: The Most Absurd General-Election Candidate in America, Andrew Egger, Cathy Young, Jim Swift, Sept. 1, 2026. She’s under indictment. She lost her primary. And she’s on the ballot in November.

News Roundups

• The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Major Update: Massie Reads Epstein Co-Conspirators Names, USPS Whistleblower Sounds Alarm, Mass Army Resignations, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 1, 2026. Thomas Massie stood on the House floor last night and read the names of alleged Epstein coconspirators into the record, from a former British prince to a retail billionaire, while pushing a discharge petition to force a vote on stronger transparency legislation the government has continued to slow-walk for a year. It’s landing the same day the Army lost its civilian secretary after months of open warfare with Pete Hegseth, leaving the military’s largest branch without a single Senate-confirmed leader at the top, and as a USPS whistleblower warns the agency’s rushed rollout of Trump’s mail-voting restrictions risks derailing the midterms outright.

• New York Times, Trump Administration Updates: Army Secretary Resigns After Ouster of Leaders, Staff Reports, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). What We’re Covering Today.  Defense Department: Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, the service’s top civilian leader, who clashed repeatedly with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the ouster of a swath of key combat-tested leaders, handed in his resignation on Monday, according to administration officials. The resignation comes amid a series of firings and feuds that have left the Army essentially rudderless as it struggles to deal with the threat posed by cheap, deadly drones and missiles that have pounded U.S. bases in the Middle East. 

Special Reports: U.S. Supreme Court Secretly Hides Its Records For Decades, Can't Control Trump 

• New York Times, Times Exclusive: How the Supreme Court Locks Away Its Own History, Jodi Kantor, Sept. 1, 2026. After Justice Scalia died, the justices held private negotiations about locking away their papers. We may not see the ultimate record of the Roberts court for decades.
• Civil Discourse, Opinion: Why Can’t the Supreme Court Tell Trump No? Joyce Vance, right, Sept. 1, 2026. The Court’s inability to tell Trump no may end up being the most concerning feature of his two terms in office. It’s as if the Justices, or five to seven of them, depending on the case, can’t summon a collective recollection of the constitutional system of checks and balances that is the foundation for the legal system they sit at the apex of.  

Special Report: Last Shred of American Dignity?

This is an image President Trump posted on portraying himself as celebrating the destruction of Iran's Karg Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Aug. 30, 2026 -- a claim he reinforced with a statement shown below but refuted by other sources. A commentary on the display is provided below by Jeff Tiedrich.

"Loyal and patriotic citizens, please stand by for a message of the utmost importance from the President of the United States, Supreme Ruler of the Western Hemisphere, Lord-Emperor of the Sky Above and All the Planets, Conqueror Of Every War, God’s Own Avatar on Earth, Grand Renamer of Water.....

• Fact check: Kharg Island is, in fact, not being blown to smithereens. This ten-second video is the work of some six-fingered plagiarism robot. The only thing being blown to smithereens right now is the last shred of America’s dignity, as the world laughs — and then shakes its head sadly — at our Demented Boy King. 

-- From Everyone Is Entitled To My Own Opinion, Commentary, Jeff Tiedrich, right, Aug. 31, 2026.

More On U.S. Governance

President Trump Makes an Announcement on Healthcare Affordability, Aug. 31, 2026. 

• Hope for America, Opinion: The president keeps selling us lies, Heather Delaney Reese, right, Sept. 1, 2026. At 3:05 this afternoon, the White House press corps was quickly ushered into the Oval Office, where the President of the United States was already seated at his desk with toy airplanes and helicopters carefully placed around him. With more than a dozen men and women in dark suits packed in behind him, Donald Trump spoke for exactly 14 minutes before inviting others to address the press. Within seconds of finishing his remarks, the President had already started to fall asleep. He struggled to keep his eyes open nearly the entire time, occasionally snapping them back open, only to close them once again. Near the end of the event, Trump fully woke up just in time to answer questions, including one people around the world wanted answered, especially after an AI-generated video he posted the night before appeared to show mass-destruction weapons being used against Iran.
• Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: The Plot to Steal Venezuela’s Oil, Paul Krugman, right, Sept. 1, 2026. A scam that is both vile and deeply stupid. In short, at this point only someone deeply ignorant of both the realities of modern economies and of the lessons of history can believe that there are big payoffs to seizing other nations’ natural resources. 
• New York Times, Opinion: Our Democracy Is at Stake. Stop Waiting for a Savior, Skye Perryman (the president of Democracy Forward), Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). American democracy has been deteriorating with alarming velocity since President Trump’s return to the White House. Every day, it seems, there’s a new Watergate-level outrage. Nearly seven in 10 Americans are dissatisfied with how our democracy is working.
• New York Times, House Clears Bill to Avert an Election-Season Shutdown, Catie Edmondson, Sept. 1, 2026. Lawmakers sent the legislation to President Trump in an overwhelming vote, reflecting bipartisan enthusiasm around punting a messy spending fight until after the midterms.

World News, Global Human Rights, Disasters

• New York Times, Wartime Presidents of Russia and Iran Rally With Chinese and Indian Leaders, Paul Sonne and David Pierson,.Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). The two-day summit of the 10-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kyrgyzstan shows the limits of U.S. economic warfare.
• New York Times, G20 Finance Officials Gather in U.S. as Iran War Grips Global Economy, Alan Rappeport and Jim Tankersley, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). The meeting is expected to focus on the ongoing economic shock from the war in Iran, which has driven up oil prices globally.

How Flagrant Tax Cheating Hurts The United States

• Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: From Kakistocracy to CheatistocracyInbo, Paul Krugman, right, Aug. 31, 2026. Rewarding the most dishonest. At this point, it’s almost a commonplace to say that under DonaldTrump, America has become a kakistocracy, ruled by the worst. But I don’tthink it’s fully appreciated the extent to which we’ve also become a cheatistocracy, ruled by the most corrupt.

U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Immigration, Rights, Justice

Harmeet Dhillon has waged President Trump’s war on the left through a relentless pressure campaign against 100 universities over their diversity and antisemitism policies.

• New York Times, From Top Civil Rights Post, She Spars With the Left, and Her Colleagues, Glenn Thrush and Michael C. Bender, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department’s civil rights unit, has extracted flashy agreements and personnel moves from big universities and sought to force states to turn over confidential voter data.
• Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: The Cruelty Comes to Springfield, Ohio, William Kristol and Andrew Egger, Aug. 31, 2026. And the city’s faithful are coming together in opposition.
• Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion:Springfield ‘Under Seige,’ Jim Swift, right, Aug. 31, 2026. Throughout the Trump presidency, I’ve been going to Springfield, Ohio, to keep tabs on the Haitian community there. They and the city writ large are a symbol of the costs of this administration’s deportation policy. I went back to Springfield this past week as deportation efforts have ramped up. It was shocking to see what’s happening there. But it was inspiring, too. There really couldn’t be a better example of the Trump administration doing cruel things to good people just for the sake of cruelty—and the instinct of people who find this abhorrent to rally in support of the victims. 
• New York Times, F.T.C. and 22 States Claim in Lawsuit That Amazon Secretly Inflated Ad Prices, Karen Weise, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). Regulators say the e-commerce giant forced more than a million advertisers to pay more than they should have. The company denies the claims.
• New York Times, Justice Dept. Issues Grand Jury Subpoena to Comey Confidant, Alan Feuer, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). The subpoena of Daniel C. Richman is the latest move in a persistent campaign to go after James B. Comey, one of President Trump’s most reviled political adversaries who has already been indicted twice.

More On U.S. Immigration Enforcement, Health Care Costs

• Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: UPDATE: ICE is leaving hospitals with millions in unpaid bills, Judd Legum, right, Sept. 1, 2026. Last year, Popular Information broke the news that on October 3, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) abruptly stopping paying third parties for medical care provided to detainees. Third-party providers are used to provide “medically necessary” care including “dialysis, prenatal care, oncology, [and] chemotherapy,” according to ICE.

Trump Team Obsessions, Oppressions, Corruption 

This is an image President Trump posted on portraying himself as celebrating (using the dance moves of a favorite song, "YMCA," by the disco group "The Village People")the destruction of Iran's Karg Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Aug. 30, 2026 -- a claim he reinforced with a statement shown below but which was refuted by other sources.

• Hope for America, Opinion: Trump will stop at nothing to silence the truth, Heather Delaney Reese, right, Aug. 30, 2026. After the press were released and most of the White House staff had gone home for the night, Donald Trump was still awake, posting on social media. Before finally calling it a night, he shared three final posts. None of them were something any leader of any country should be posting, let alone the President of the United States. In less than two minutes, he posted three times, two posts celebrating bombs dropping in the Middle East, and one post, seconds later, a video of himself golfing.

More On U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance 

Florida Republican congressional candidate Te Brown, who may be the same Te Brown who lost a congressional Republican primary in Illinois this year and who faces trial in Illinois this fall on federal fraud charges

• Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Florida (?) Woman, Andrew Egger, right, Sept. 1, 2026. Republican House candidate Te Mayonna Brown is fighting an uphill battle. Florida’s 24th Congressional District, where she took the Republican nomination after running unopposed last month, is one of the bluest in the state. But that’s not the only hurdle she appears to be facing. Before getting involved in the FL-24 race, Brown lost a different Republican House primary this year—not in Florida, but in Illinois. Oh, and there’s this: Back in Illinois, she appears to be under indictment for felony wire fraud. Per publicly available court documents, her trial is set to begin just weeks after Election Day.
• Robert Reich via Substack, Opinion:The Biggest Issue in the Midterm Elections, Robert Reich, right, Sept. 1, 2026. You'll hear more and more about this. The earnings of America’s largest corporations — the S&P 500 — surged by an astounding 53 percent over the past year. But most Americans are losing ground. 
• MSNOW, Opinion: The House just got back into town — and wants to leave again ASAP, Hayes Brown, right, Sept. 1, 2026. Beyond keeping the federal government open past the midterms, there’s not much reason for GOP lawmakers to want to stick around. 
• New York Times, More Mail Ballots Are Arriving Late This Cycle, and They’re Getting Tossed, Adam Sella and Nick Corasaniti, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). State officials say they worry about the Postal Service’s ability to deliver votes this fall. They are urging voters to mail their ballots early or use drop boxes so their votes count. The rate at which mail votes have been rejected for arriving late has ticked up in primaries this year and general elections last year in roughly a dozen states, prompting election officials to worry that the U.S. Postal Service is ill-equipped to deliver ballots in the fall midterms.
• The Contrarian, Opinion: Yes, More Trump Self-promotion! Jennifer Rubin, right, Aug. 31, 2026. 64 Days to the Midterms. Donald Trump’s pathological narcissism has soared (or sunk?) to new levels of almost comedic depravity. Like a ping-pong ball in a wind tunnel, he bounces haphazardly from one embarrassment to another, slamming into walls of public derision.
• Hopium Chronicles, Advocacy and Opinion: The Importance Of Voting Early, Pete Hegseth Is A Dangerous Clown And Needs To Go, Trump Has Made Venezuela A “Neo-Colony” And It’s Not OK, Simon Rosenberg, right, Aug. 31, 2026. We’ve often talked about how Job One this year was getting all our great candidates elected and flipping the House and Senate. As of today Hopium’s Job Two is to vote early and get everyone you know in your family, networks, communities, and organizations to join you.
• Decision Desk HQ, Massachusetts’s upside-down generational primary challenge, Geoffrey Skelley, Aug. 31, 2026. A look at four Democratic primaries to watch in Massachusetts on Sept. 1. 80-year old progressive Democratic Sen. Ed Markey faces a primary challenge from 47-year old Rep. Seth Moulton, who is running as a more moderate choice. Markey is favored to hold on even though other older Democratic incumbents have had electoral trouble in 2026. Democratic Reps. Stephen Lynch and Richard Neal each face more progressive primary challengers who hope to take down these longtime incumbents. Plus, Moulton’s open 6th District features a busy primary on the Democratic side.
• To the Contrary, Political Opinion: Dems Have a Hasan Piker Problem. But the GOP Has a Much, Much Bigger Elon Musk Problem, Charlie Sykes, Aug. 31, 2026. Elon is back, and in a rational world, Republicans would be facing a toxic dilemma. Via Axios: “Musk plans massive spending for GOP in midterms.”
• New York Times, Vance Calls El-Sayed ‘Evil’ in No-Holds-Barred Michigan Speech, Bayliss Wagner, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). Vice President JD Vance also told Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee, to “keep my wife’s name out of your mouth.” Vice President JD Vance called Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee and an outspoken critic of Israel, “very, very evil” at a campaign rally near Detroit on Monday and accused him of heightening racial and religious divisions.Dr. El-Sayed called Mr. Vance “a sock puppet” and cast his policies as “evil” in a statement responding to the vice president’s remarks.“Evil is ripping health care away from working people in exchange for tax breaks for billionaires,” Dr. El-Sayed said on Monday. “Evil is making people pay more for groceries and gas while pushing for trade wars and actual war. Evil is dividing people for your own gain. Evil is selling out your morals for a little bit of power.” 
• PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: Cognitively Declining Trump Wants To Hold Daily Rallies, But Can’t Remember Jon Ossoff’s Name, Jason Easley, right, Aug. 31, 2026. On the same day that it was reported that Trump is considering holding daily rallies ahead of the midterm, the president went on TV and could remember Sen. Jon Ossoff’s name.
• New York Times, Vance Calls El-Sayed ‘Evil’ in No-Holds-Barred Michigan Speech, Bayliss Wagner, Aug. 31, 2026. Vice President JD Vance also told Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee, to “keep my wife’s name out of your mouth.”

More On Dolly Parton's Passing, Cultural Importance -- and Ill-Natured, Clumsy Reactions

Dolly Parton as Doralee in a scene from the film “9 to 5.” (Photo Credit: Steve Schapiro)

• New York Times Magazine, In ‘9 to 5,’ Dolly Parton Put a Friendly Face on Feminism, Susan Dominus, Aug. 30, 2026 (print ed.). In 1980, feminists were often stereotyped as man-hating or out of touch. Then Parton gave the movement a boost — and an anthem. Before a script for the movie “9 to 5” even existed — when it was still just a vague concept for a story about female office workers — Jane Fonda had a lightning bolt moment about how to cast it. She was in the car listening to the radio when a Dolly Parton song came on. Immediately, as Fonda later recalled on the podcast “Dolly Parton’s America,” an image popped into her head: “I suddenly had a vision of Dolly as a secretary,” she said. “She can’t see her hands, typing with those long fingernails. Everything about it made me laugh.” 
• JoJo From Jerz, Opinion: Bill Maher Is An Ass____, JoJo From Jerz, Aug. 31, 2026. Bill Maher, above, couldn’t tarnish Dolly Parton’s legacy, but he did manage to expose the rot in his own. In case you missed it the other night, Bill Maher, right, the oleaginous, unctuous, supercilious, smugly self-satisfied septuagenarian sleazeball stood on the Real Time stage in the middle of his own comedy show and decided that with wars raging, Donald Trump wreaking havoc and all manner of genuinely important s___ happening in the world, Americans were spending entirely too much time talking about the death of Dolly Parton.
• New York Times, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Changes Lives. Some States Gut It Anyway, Ash Wu, Aug. 26, 2026. The crown jewel of the singer’s philanthropic efforts has handed out hundreds of millions of books to children over the past 31 years. But it isn’t immune to funding cuts.

Famed Actress Targeted By Husband In Appalling Sexual Harassment Scandal 

 The German actress Collien Fernandes set out to discover who was pretending to be her and sending men sexually explicit material. Her answer ignited a feminist movement (Photo by Laura Stevens for The New York Times).

• New York Times Magazine, Someone Was Impersonating Her in Online Affairs. She Says It Was Her Husband, Susan Dominus, Aug. 30, 2026 (print ed.). The German actress Collien Fernandes set out to discover who was pretending to be her and sending men sexually explicit material. Her answer ignited a feminist movement.

More On Middle East Wars, Occupation, Hunger, Civil Violence, Reactions

• Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Aug. 31, 2026 ['Unsustainable' Iran Operations?], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Sept. 1, 2026. Alex Horton and Tara Copp of the Washington Post reported on Sunday, August 30, that military leaders are warning Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that a plan to continue large-scale operations in Iran is unsustainable and is weakening their ability to protect U.S. interests in other places, including at home.
• The Contrarian, Opinion: Words & Phrases: ‘Mission Accomplished 2026’?! Jennifer Rubin, right, Sept. 1, 2026. Oblivious to his own failure, which dwarfs George W. Bush’s premature declaration of victory in Iraq, Donald Trump stupidly mimicked the “Mission Accomplished” slogan last week in advance of the six-month mark of his disastrous, illegal, and hugely unpopular war. Mr. Trump’s war in Iran…is anything but accomplished. Half a year in, the conflict has deteriorated into a quagmire of the president’s own making with no clear goals, no obvious strategy and no end in sight.
• New York Times, These Generals Fought for Israel. Now They See ‘Jewish Terrorism’ as the Threat, Azam Ahmed, Natan Odenheimer and Ronen Bergman, Photographs by Ivor Prickett, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). A growing number of former Israeli generals, intelligence officials and prime ministers are accusing settlers in the West Bank of committing ethnic cleansing with government support. “Once a society behaves this way,” one said, “that society is doomed.”
• Zosma News via TikTok, Thai people take stand against Israel, Staff Report, Aug. 26, 2026. Thai people take stand against Israeli 'oppression.' Tensions involving Israeli visitors to Thailand are now out of control. The situation in Gaza is no longer just an isolated situation. Let's get this straight. A visitor killed an animal at a zoo, and the zoo owner said the visitors was no longer welcome.
• Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: There’s a Bear in the Arctic, Cathy Young, Sept. 1, 2026. Vladimir Putin has sometimes delved into medieval history to justify his imperialist war in Ukraine; now, he’s switched to biology.
• Drop Site News, 2,030 Israeli attacks in West Bank in August; Postal Service plan could disenfranchise millions; Nepal death toll passes 1,000, Staff and Wire Reports, Sept. 1, 2026. Tankers attacked in Strait of Hormuz. Death toll from U.S. attack on Larak Island rises to three. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claims it shot down U.S. MQ-9 drone over Strait of Hormuz. Iran says U.S. must fulfill Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding commitments, Tehran will “immediately” reciprocate.

U.S. Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets

• New York Times, Global Bond Sell-Off Puts Investors on Edge, Eshe Nelson, Sept. 1, 2026. Government borrowing costs are hitting multi-decade highs around the world, reflecting anxiety about debt levels, deficits and inflation.
• New York Times, News Analysis: China and the U.S. Offer Competing Showcases of Global Power, David Pierson, Sept. 1, 2026.  As Xi Jinping gathered with the leaders of Russia and Iran, Europe challenged the Trump administration at the G20, offering a split-screen view of a changing world.
• New York Times, News Analysis: China and the U.S. Offer Competing Showcases of Global Power, David Pierson, Sept. 1, 2026.  As Xi Jinping gathered with the leaders of Russia and Iran, Europe challenged the Trump administration at the G20, offering a split-screen view of a changing world.
• Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: Trump Labor Secretary nominee pitched access to “America’s comprehensive welfare” to Chinese nationals, Judd Legum, right, Aug. 31, 2026. Keith Sonderling traveled to China to encourage investment in a Florida real estate development. Prospects were promised a green card and access government benefits. 
• New York Times, Global Oil Prices Jump After U.S. and Iran Trade Attacks, Jenny Gross, Jason Karaian and Rich Barbieri, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). Oil prices rose on Monday after the United States and Iran exchanged attacks for the first time in a month, pushing the global benchmark for crude back above $90 a barrel, after a sharp fall last week.

More On Russia Invasion of Ukraine

• New York Times, Trump Administration Updates: Europe Protests as U.S. Invites Russian Minister to Finance Meeting, Jim Tankersley and Alan Rappeport, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). The Trump administration’s decision to invite Russia’s finance minister to a gathering of top global financial officials in North Carolina drew immediate protests from European nations on Monday. Europe has sought to isolate Moscow since it invaded Ukraine in 2022, and the Russian minister’s surprise appearance comes amid increased tension between President Trump and longtime allies. 
• New York Times, Russia Torments Kyiv With New Tactic of Nonstop Waves of Drones, Siobhán O’Grady and Yurii, Shyvala, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). The nearly constant air raids, a shift from years of largely overnight attacks, have left residents exhausted and on edge.

More On Floods in Nepal and Tibet 

• Associated Press, Hundreds feared stuck in hydropower tunnels as flood deaths surpass 950 in Nepal and China, Shristi Kafle and Huizhong Wu, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.).  Nepal’s disaster agency said Monday that 903 deaths had been counted in that country, with 4,247 people, including 592 foreigners, missing. As of Sunday, Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 missing, and Chinese state media said 261 of the missing were foreigners, including over a hundred Nepalis.
• New York Times, A Principal Saved 900 Students Before His School Was Washed Away in Nepal, Binod Ghimire and Claire Moses, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). Rajendra Dawadi had less than 15 minutes to act on a warning of approaching floodwaters. His swift evacuation plan saved hundreds of lives.

More On U.S. History, Culture, Media, Education

• AlterNet America, Opinion: Trump Wants the FCC to Punish a Journalist for One Word, Ryan Rose, Aug. 31, 2026. Trump threatens NBC's Welker with FCC punishment, the FBI loosens hiring standards, West Point fires its climate scientist, and a judge blocks speech-based deportations. Trump is threatening to send the FCC after an NBC journalist who accurately described his endorsement record as “mixed.” The FBI has quietly dropped its ban on hiring applicants who have patronized sex workers, stolen from employers, or engaged in bestiality. West Point fired its only climate scientist after he refused to stop teaching that humans cause climate change. And a federal judge just ruled that the Trump administration cannot deport students for criticizing Israel.
• Brave New Films New Documentary: Murdering 60 Minutes: Did Bari Weiss Suppress Epstein Coverage? Staff report, Sept. 1, 2026. CBS fired the reporter working on a 60 Minutes investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. Then the report was pulled entirely. Around the same time, word got out that Bari Weiss's wife, Nellie Bowles, appears in the Epstein files — including a friendly exchange with Epstein and a 2018 visit to his Manhattan townhouse.
• The Wrap, Washington Post Columnist Slams ‘Traitor’ Pentagon Source Leaking Hegseth Meetings to Paper, A.J. Katz, Aug. 31, 2026. Marc Thiessen says the government official behind a classified Iran War report should be prosecuted.
• Associated Press, US Treasury blocks certain journalists from G20 meeting in North Carolina, Ben Finley, Aug. 30, 2026. The U.S. Treasury Department is preventing certain journalists from covering a finance meeting among the world’s most powerful countries, the latest example of how President Donald Trump’s administration has restricted media access.
• New York Times, John Galliano Withdraws From Met Museum Show After Backlash, Vanessa Friedman and Jacob Bernstein, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). Donors, politicians and Jewish leaders questioned the Met’s decision to honor Galliano, a fashion designer who was found guilty of a hate crime for his antisemitic outbursts.
• Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Aug. 29, 2026 [Presidents and Cherry Trees], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Aug. 31, 2026. One of our founding myths is that of George Washington and the cherry tree. In his "The Life of Washington," first published in 1800, minister and writer Mason Locke Weems, more commonly known as Parson Weems, wrote down for the citizens of this new nation the qualities they should require in a leader. Weems’s Washington was generous, reverent, studious, athletic, martial, hardworking, and beloved by his comrades. And, beginning with an 1806 edition of the book, he could not tell a lie. On Friday, Rick Maese of the Washington Post reported that despite orders from U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes saying that she wanted advance notice before the government took down more than ten trees from the East Potomac Golf Links or brought equipment larger than a sedan onto the property, the Trump administration has taken down more than sixty trees in apparent preparation for Trump to redesign the golf course. One of the trees they have cut down is a cherry tree. 

U.S. Military, In-Depth Analysis 

• Associated Press, New US missile appears to have left wide path of death and destruction in Iranian city, report says, Julia Frankel, Aug. 31, 2026. It has been touted by the manufacturer as the ballistic missile of the future: lethal, long-range and pinpoint. Lockheed Martin’s Precision Strike Missile has the U.S. military investing billions to update its arsenal.
• Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: Three Days after Learning He Had Lost the Empire, Whiskey Pete Hegseth Campaigned To Be President, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), Aug. 31, 2026. WaPo had a blockbuster story yesterday, revealing that — back on August 14 — the heads of USEUCOMM, SOUTHCOM, USPACOM, and the Navy’s top Admiral warned the Secretary of Defense (who insists on being called the Secretary of War) that it would be a bad idea to follow his orders to leave some troops (probably the Lincoln carrier group) in the Middle East into September and leave more (possibly the 82nd Airborne) into next year because — among other things — it would mean they were unprepared to protect the US. The story is important by itself. But it’s even crazier when you see what Whiskey Pete did in the wake of that dire warning. He took time away from dealing with this resource crisis to help negotiate a deal to steal Venezuela’s oil, a deal that comes with its own resource requirements.

Top Headlines

Chart by the Brookings Institution of Most Politically Powerful U.S. Billionaires

New York Times, 'The Least Transparent Midterm’: How Dark Money Is Washing Over the 2026 Election, Shane Goldmacher and Theodore Schleifer, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). At least $1 billion from anonymous donors is flowing into the midterm elections. Dark money is not new, but it now permeates nearly every major contest.

In Michigan and Minnesota, tens of millions of untraceable dollars poured into recent Senate primaries trying to topple progressive Democratic candidates.

In Kansas, the torrent of secret money that boosted an obscure Democratic Senate candidate amounted to 100 times as much as what he had on hand in the final stretch of the primary.

And in Texas, Republicans exploited lax federal disclosure rules to spend secretly and try to nominate a weak Democratic candidate whose own party had denounced her as antisemitic.

All across America, the midterm elections are drowning in dark money.

A New York Times review of advertising data, campaign-finance filings and tax records revealed that about $1 billion in anonymous money is sloshing through the political landscape in 2026, a staggering sum and yet almost certainly a low-end estimate, given how difficult this money is to trace.

Dark money is the term used by the campaign industry to describe political spending by groups that hide the names of their donors. The deluge is upending races from coast to coast, with billionaires, corporations and special interests hiding their agendas and involvement with relative ease.

It is impossible to know the full scale of this spending. The Times’s tally of the $1 billion includes only what is publicly available, primarily television and digital ad purchases and donations to super PACs from nonprofit groups. These groups also fund political activity that is more difficult to track, such as direct mail, hiring influencers to boost favorable content or deploying door-knockers for causes that are not technically campaigns.

Yet the sum is more than “enough money to manipulate a lot of politicians and to put a lot of poison in the blood of the American political system,” said Nick Penniman, the chief executive of Issue One, a group that has sought to reduce the role of money in politics.

Just this month, one Wyoming group with a thin paper trail dating only to this spring, Choose Freedom Inc., sprang into action to reserve about $22 million in ads to boost Republicans in two dozen battleground House and Senate races. The next day, another Republican-linked nonprofit rolled out a $22 million campaign in 41 House districts. On Thursday, a nonprofit called Per Aspera Policy Inc. emerged from obscurity to place a $3.7 million ad buy praising the Republican Senate nominee in Ohio.

All of it involved untraceable cash.

Secret money is not new. But the pervasiveness has reached industrial scale in 2026 — and serves as a preview of its coming prevalence in 2028. Nearly every major primary and battleground race this fall has been or will be shaped by secret funds. The anonymously sourced expenditures are so big that, in some instances, they are outstripping the spending of campaigns themselves, making candidates seem like bystanders of their own elections. The trend is especially true in primaries.

New York Times, More Mail Ballots Are Arriving Late This Cycle, and They’re Getting Tossed, Adam Sella and Nick Corasaniti, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). State officials say they worry about the Postal Service’s ability to deliver votes this fall. They are urging voters to mail their ballots early or use drop boxes so their votes count.

The rate at which mail votes have been rejected for arriving late has ticked up in primaries this year and general elections last year in roughly a dozen states, prompting election officials to worry that the U.S. Postal Service is ill-equipped to deliver ballots in the fall midterms.

The states studied by The New York Times include some of the most critical battleground House and Senate seats where control of Congress will be determined, as well as key races for governor and secretary of state. The Times obtained data from California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington.

In Wisconsin, which hosts an open race for governor, a competitive House election plus contests for both chambers of the state legislature, lateness accounted for about 5,000 rejected mail ballots in the spring primary this year, or 78 percent of all tossed ballots. During the last spring election, in 2023, the figure was roughly 2,300, or 47 percent of all tossed votes.

New York Times, Whistle-Blower Says Trump Officials Are Defying Court Orders on Voting by Mail, Chris Cameron, Sept. 1, 2026. A report detailed “grave concerns” that a new system being rushed into use by the U.S. Postal Service could imperil millions of mail ballots ahead of the midterm elections.

A U.S. Postal Service official has alleged that the agency is moving forward with a “secretive, rushed” effort to implement President Trump’s order exerting federal control over mail voting, despite a court order blocking those plans.

The official filed a whistle-blower report, published on Tuesday morning by the office of Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, asserting that the “risky and haphazard” implementation of Mr. Trump’s order could lead to a “catastrophic failure” in the mail ballot system ahead of this year’s midterm elections. The report said that the agency had planned to complete the new digital system overseeing mail ballots by Sept. 1.

“Potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballot this election cycle in a timely manner, or at all,” the official said in the report, which was prepared with the assistance of Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit group that represents people seeking to expose potential lawbreaking.

Speaking to reporters by phone on Monday, Mr. Blumenthal said of the report that “the main takeaway for me is that the Postal Service has designed a system to disenfranchise millions of Americans. One-third of all Americans cast their ballots by mail, and the U.S.P.S. puts all of their votes at risk.”

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: We Found Her: The Most Absurd General-Election Candidate in America, Andrew Egger, Cathy Young, Jim Swift, Sept. 1, 2026. She’s under indictment. She lost her primary. And she’s on the ballot in November.

This is a truly wild newsletter, involving one of the craziest campaign stories I’ve ever covered—it has alleged fraud, carpetbagging, fake-ish identities, and a candidate I’m 95 percent sure is straight-up gaslighting me.

It was a close call, but it sure looks like Donald Trump is going to get his East Wing ballroom, at least for now. Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled 5–4 that construction could continue.

The Court declined to rule on the actual legality of Trump’s decision to tear down the East Wing, but held that the historical preservationists who had brought the suit to stop it lacked the standing to sue. Sure seems we’re hearing that a lot these days! Happy Tuesday. 

News Roundups

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Major Update: Massie Reads Epstein Co-Conspirators Names, USPS Whistleblower Sounds Alarm, Mass Army Resignations, Aaron Parnas, right, Sept. 1, 2026. Thomas Massie stood on the House floor last night and read the names of alleged Epstein coconspirators into the record, from a former British prince to a retail billionaire, while pushing a discharge petition to force a vote on stronger transparency legislation the government has continued to slow-walk for a year. It’s landing the same day the Army lost its civilian secretary after months of open warfare with Pete Hegseth, leaving the military’s largest branch without a single Senate-confirmed leader at the top, and as a USPS whistleblower warns the agency’s rushed rollout of Trump’s mail-voting restrictions risks derailing the midterms outright.

I spoke with Lauren Hersch, co-founder of World Without Exploitation, the group leading the fight to get the Epstein files released, and we talked through the major victories in that fight so far.

The Epstein files remain the most important story in this news cycle. It’s something I’ve fought for over many months, and something I will keep fighting for until survivors get real answers. The White House and its allies have not been pleased with our reporting, but that won’t stop me from exposing the truth. 

Let’s get into it.

Massie reads the names of Epstein Co-conspirators:

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), below right took to the House floor Monday night and read aloud the names of more than a dozen alleged Epstein coconspirators, including Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly Prince Andrew) and retail billionaire Les Wexner, calling for them to be investigated and prosecuted.

He paired the move with a push to collect the 218 signatures needed for a discharge petition forcing a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act II. Massie noted it’s been a year since Trump signed the original EFTA, yet the government still withholds over three million files, which he says is exactly why the follow-up bill is needed. Mountbatten-Windsor has denied ever meeting accuser Virginia Giuffre, and Wexner has denied firsthand knowledge of Epstein’s crimes despite having employed him as a financial manager in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act II, introduced in July by a bipartisan group including Massie, Ro Khanna, Teresa Leger Fernández, Jeff Merkley, and Ben Ray Luján, is meant to fix what advocates call the original law’s toothless enforcement. It would let state attorneys general, local DAs, survivors, and members of Congress sue the Justice Department directly if it fails to release required files, grant survivors full unredacted access to records concerning themselves (including FBI interview transcripts), and impose existing federal criminal penalties on DOJ and FBI officials who knowingly conceal, destroy, or falsify records. Legal experts like attorney Oleg Nekritin called the framework a potential “gamechanger” for state-level investigations, while others cautioned the bill still faces a steep climb, needing House passage, 60 votes in the Senate, and ultimately Trump’s signature.

Even bill backers acknowledge real skepticism about whether it changes DOJ behavior in practice; legal experts noted the bill has “more teeth” on paper but doubted another law alone would end the department’s pattern of delay if it simply keeps dragging its feet. Sen. Merkley was blunt in blaming Attorney General Todd Blanche directly, saying the bill ensures “even Trump and his crony...can’t stop the truth from coming to light.” The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment, while a White House spokesperson pushed back by touting Trump’s existing cooperation, including signing the original EFTA and releasing thousands of pages of documents, as proof he’s “done more for Epstein’s victims than anyone before him.” The news outlet Radar Online, which has pursued its own nine-year FOIA lawsuit over the files, called the new bill a step in the right direction but argued the public already has a faster path to transparency through existing FOIA law.

Army in turmoil:

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation to the White House Monday after months of escalating tension with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the firing of senior officers and the direction of the Army’s modernization efforts. The Atlantic reports the break came to a head last week when Driscoll personally raised his concerns directly with Trump, telling him how many generals and top officers had been fired, pushed out, or passed over under Hegseth; Trump was reportedly surprised by the scale of it and expressed concern about the cuts. Driscoll, a close ally and Yale Law classmate of Vice President JD Vance, had told confidants for months he intended to leave around the midterms, and he’s expected to play a role in any future Vance presidential campaign. Neither the White House nor the Pentagon responded to requests for comment on the resignation or who might succeed him.

The departure leaves the Army, the military’s largest service with more than 450,000 active-duty soldiers, without a Senate-confirmed civilian secretary, a confirmed chief of staff, a confirmed general overseeing operations, or a confirmed commander of Army forces in Europe. Acting Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve, who already faces congressional pushback over his own nomination, is now effectively filling multiple top roles at once, and he recently halted a joint US-Ukraine drone warfare training program. Hegseth’s broader purge has also claimed well-regarded officers like former Army chief Gen. Randy George and Europe commander Gen. Christopher Donahue, who had been central to supporting Ukraine and planning against Russian aggression. A former defense official said the Driscoll-George modernization push is now likely “dead,” calling it an uphill battle even under better circumstances.

The shakeup isn’t limited to Driscoll: Deputy Undersecretary Dave Fitzgerald, who along with Driscoll championed bringing small tech firms into the Army to boost innovation, is also expected to leave the Pentagon as soon as this week. The timing is notable given the Army is simultaneously managing an extended Middle East conflict and trying to persuade Congress to approve major new investments in munitions, personnel, and equipment. Driscoll and Hegseth had clashed before, including when Driscoll became the face of the administration’s Ukraine peace efforts last fall while Hegseth stayed focused on other priorities. Driscoll, an Iraq War veteran, also briefly served as acting director of the ATF last year.

Voting restrictions/USPS Whistleblower:

A newly released whistleblower disclosure, submitted Monday by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) to USPS, warns the Postal Service’s rushed rollout of an online portal to implement Trump’s mail-in voting restrictions could “derail” the midterm elections. The whistleblower, represented by the nonprofit Whistleblower Aid, claims USPS leadership discarded standard testing practices to hit a September 1 launch deadline, raising the question of whether “catastrophic failure would be a feature rather than a bug.” A particularly serious flaw involves USPS’s “zero-percent failure policy” for verifying that mail-in ballots meet the new rule’s requirements, a process the disclosure calls “entirely unforgiving” and warns could delay ballots by the thousands through repeated verification cycles, potentially preventing states from mailing out enormous numbers of ballots at all. Blumenthal called the findings “mind-boggling” and urged Postmaster General David Steiner to abandon the plan entirely, while USPS did not immediately respond to NPR’s questions.

The rollout remains legally contested even as voting by mail for the midterms is set to begin this week: a federal judge in Boston issued a temporary restraining order last week finding USPS’s plan likely illegal because the agency lacks authority to control mail voting, and the Trump administration has appealed that ruling to the 1st Circuit, setting up what could become another Supreme Court fight. Trump has defended the underlying executive order as necessary to curb noncitizen voting, despite numerous studies and audits showing such fraud is extremely rare, an argument that hasn’t been affected by the technical concerns raised in the whistleblower report. With key portions of the plan still blocked in court and more lower-court rulings likely as the legal fight continues, election officials and mail-in voters are left navigating significant uncertainty about whether and how the new requirements will actually be enforced in time for the midterms.

Other news:

Pierre Damas Bel, a 20-year-old Haitian immigrant in Springfield, Ohio, died Monday after walking into traffic on Interstate 70 and being struck by a tractor-trailer, in what his family believes was a suicide following months of escalating distress. Bel had recently lost temporary protected status, part of a Trump administration policy change affecting an estimated 350,000 Haitian immigrants, and ICE had fitted him with an ankle monitor after summoning him to its office once the Supreme Court allowed the TPS cancellation to proceed; his father said he felt humiliated and “treated like an animal,” was bullied by classmates, and was denied a JROTC uniform days before his death because of the device. Bel had arrived in the US in 2024 to reunite with his parents, graduated high school with honors as a JROTC cadet, dreamed of studying medicine, and had a pending asylum claim with a hearing scheduled for October, fearing gang violence if returned to Haiti. Advocates including Guerline Jozef of the Haitian Bridge Alliance and local pastor Carl Ruby directly tied his death to the administration’s enforcement policies, while Ohio authorities are investigating the crash and DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump this month announced plans to rescind the 25-year-old “roadless rule” protecting roughly 45 million acres of national forest, and Public Citizen research shows the rollback stands to benefit companies that Forest Service chief Tom Schultz previously represented as a timber lobbyist and executive. Schultz, the first-ever Forest Service chief who never worked inside the agency, came from leading the Federal Forest Resource Coalition and serving as an Idaho Forest Group VP, and he’s personally signed agreements doubling federal timber sales in Idaho that directly benefit his former employer. He frames the change as reducing wildfire risk through “active forest management,” but critics note a Forest Service data analysis found wildfires are nearly three times more likely to start near roads, and studies suggest the rollback could endanger 400 threatened and endangered species. Since Schultz’s appointment, timber lobbying groups like the American Forest Resource Council have ramped up spending advocating for the change, and he’s part of a broader pattern of former extractive-industry insiders Trump has placed in top environmental posts.

Former UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced he’ll step down as MP for Holborn and St Pancras to focus on international affairs like defense, security, trade, and technology, triggering a byelection in the London seat he’s held since 2015. Starmer, who resigned as PM in July, said he wanted to “pass the baton to a successor” after concluding once you’ve been prime minister you need to answer what comes next. Green Party leader Zack Polanski is reportedly considering a run for the seat, which Starmer’s party has held safely, while independent leftist Andrew Feinstein was his closest challenger last election. The Conservative party chair mocked the move as fitting given Starmer had pledged to stay on as a backbencher, calling the resulting byelection a costly burden on taxpayers.

Tropical Storm Edouard was upgraded from a depression and is expected to make landfall in Texas, bringing potentially heavy rain and flash flooding to the Gulf Coast, with forecasters predicting 3-6 inches of rain around Houston and up to 9 inches on the upper Texas coast. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said flooding is the biggest concern, and crews worked Monday to clear dry vegetation that could spark wildfires from lightning strikes. Elsewhere in the Atlantic and Pacific, the remnants of Tropical Storm Dolly hit Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas with rain and thunderstorms, while Tropical Storm Lowell was forecast to rapidly intensify into a major hurricane near Hawaii. A newly formed Tropical Storm Marie isn’t threatening land off Mexico, and Hurricane Karina strengthened into a powerful category 4 storm far from shore, posing no threat to land.

Canada’s ruling Liberal Party swept all three special elections held Monday, a result Prime Minister Mark Carney called a voter endorsement of his government following his combative standoff with Trump. The most dramatic result came in Quebec’s Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, a district Conservatives had held since 2018, where the Liberal win reflected regional support for Carney’s decision to walk away from stalled trade talks with Washington. The victories bring the Liberals to 173 of 343 House of Commons seats and come amid an escalating US-Canada trade war, after talks collapsed on August 21 and Trump imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods. A political science professor noted the Conservative collapse in Quebec, where the party fell from about 41% of the vote to just 13%, looks especially bad for party leader Pierre Poilievre.

A Louisiana jury’s $300,000 defamation verdict against The Advocate newspaper, won by state supreme court justice Jefferson Hughes over a 2019 editorial, has alarmed press freedom advocates who worry it misapplies the “actual malice” standard protecting reporting on public figures. The dispute centered on a timeline discrepancy between an investigative story and a follow-up editorial about Hughes’s romantic relationship with a lawyer in a custody case he’d presided over, and jurors found defamation without ever addressing actual malice on the verdict form, awarding far less than the $10 million Hughes sought. Press Freedom Foundation’s Seth Stern warned that punishing inevitable journalistic mistakes with big damages will make publishers “more timid” toward covering the powerful, while Media Law Resource Center’s George Freeman said there was no evidence the paper knowingly published a false story. The ruling lands just over a week after a similarly concerning $9.25 million verdict against the New York Times in Alabama, though that case involved a private figure rather than a public one, giving the plaintiff a lower legal bar to clear; both verdicts can still be appealed.

Trump suggested he may be reconsidering longstanding US support for British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, telling reporters “I always review every position,” a remark widely seen as leverage to pressure the UK’s new PM Andy Burnham into raising defense spending and NATO contributions. The comments follow a Telegraph report that a US official said Washington could shift its stance if Britain fails to meet its defense commitments, amid signs Chancellor John Healey may drop the UK’s pledge to hit 3% GDP defense spending by 2030. The US officially stays neutral on the islands’ sovereignty but has recognized British administration since Britain’s 1982 war with Argentina, a conflict in which President Reagan’s staunch support for Margaret Thatcher helped cement their political alliance. Trump has grown close to Argentina’s President Javier Milei, whose party he helped bolster with a $20 billion financial lifeline tied to election results, and Milei has vocally supported Argentina’s rival claim to the islands, adding another layer to the tension.

Gen. Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Sen. Elissa Slotkin in a letter that the military has no plans to send federal troops or federalized National Guard members to polling places during the November midterms, nor any plans to use military personnel to seize ballots or voting machines. The assurance came after Slotkin sought confirmation from Caine and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth amid Democratic anxiety that the Trump administration might try to interfere with the elections, following Trump’s calls to “nationalize” elections and his refusal to rule out sending Guard members or immigration agents to polling sites. Caine added he has “neither received nor anticipate receiving any unlawful order” regarding the military’s role in the midterms, though Hegseth himself has not yet responded to Slotkin’s letter despite a requested deadline. Federal law generally bars armed federal forces from polling places, and the episode echoes a similar 2020 assurance from then-Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Mark Milley, who wrote that election disputes are for courts and Congress to resolve, not the military. 

New York Times, Trump Administration Updates: Army Secretary Resigns After Ouster of Leaders, Staff Reports, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). What We’re Covering. 

• Defense Department: Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, the service’s top civilian leader, who clashed repeatedly with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the ouster of a swath of key combat-tested leaders, handed in his resignation on Monday, according to administration officials. The resignation comes amid a series of firings and feuds that have left the Army essentially rudderless as it struggles to deal with the threat posed by cheap, deadly drones and missiles that have pounded U.S. bases in the Middle East. Read more ›
• White House Ballroom: Construction of President Trump’s enormous ballroom at the White House can continue, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday. The ruling did not address whether the president had exceeded his authority by acting without congressional approval but in practical terms means the president seems likely to be able to complete the project. The ruling found that preservationists who had challenged the $400 million project did not have standing to sue. Read more ›
• G20 Meeting: The Trump administration invited Russia’s finance minister to a gathering of top global financial officials this week in North Carolina, prompting immediate protests from European nations that have sought to isolate Moscow since it invaded Ukraine. Read more ›

Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, right, the service’s top civilian leader, who clashed repeatedly with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the ouster of key combat-tested Army leaders, handed in his resignation to President Trump on Monday, administration officials said.

Mr. Driscoll’s resignation was expected but it comes at a tumultuous time, as the military’s largest service faces its busiest period since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Army air defense soldiers are playing the leading role in defending U.S. troops in the Middle East from increasingly sophisticated Iranian missile attacks. The Army’s command in Europe is providing critical intelligence and other support to Ukraine as it fights to hold off a larger Russian force.White House BallroomAnn MarimowAug. 31, 2026, 4:50 p.m. ET3 hours ago

In a 5-4 ruling, the majority found that the challenge mounted by the National Trust for Historic Preservation on the basis of “aesthetic, cultural, and historical interests” was not sufficient. In the unsigned order, the majority said that the Supreme Court had “repeatedly held that mere offense, disagreement, or distaste does not qualify as a concrete and particularized injury.”

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., joined in a dissent by the court’s three liberal justices, wrote that the construction was “likely unlawful.”

In a 5-to-4 vote, the court said the preservationists who challenged the construction of the planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom did not have legal grounds known as standing to bring their lawsuit because they were not directly harmed by the project, estimated to cost $400 million.

Finance chiefs from the world’s wealthiest nations are meeting at a challenging moment. Russia’s finance minister made a surprise appearance at a gathering of top global economic policymakers on Monday after a prolonged absence, an invitation that was extended by the Trump administration but drew rebukes and protests from European officials committed to isolating Moscow for its war against Ukraine.

The summit of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nations, in the mountain town of Asheville, was billed by the Treasury Department as a chance to find global cooperation on new economic punishments for Iran and new strategies to boost growth at a time of stubbornly high inflation and rising borrowing costs that are straining government budgets.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday dismissed Canada’s decision to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, suggesting that the United States’ northern neighbor lacked the economic might to fight a trade war.

“I don’t think you can be in a tit-for-tat with someone who’s 13 times larger than you are,” Mr. Bessent said in an interview on CNBC, referring to the size of the countries’ economies.

Lars Klingbeil, the German vice chancellor, just told reporters he rebuked his Russian counterpart for his country’s invasion of Ukraine and demanded it end the war. He also seemed to criticize the Trump administration for inviting Siluanov here.

“I would have preferred clear positioning from the U.S. side that he not be received like a regular guest,” Klingbeil said.

The Russian finance minister has faced a cold shoulder from western counterparts at such meetings for years. In 2022, former Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen walked out of a G20 meeting on the sidelines of the I.M.F. spring meetings when Siluanov, who was attending virtually, started to speak. In 2023, Yellen confronted Russian finance ministry officials at the G20 in India, blaming them for the deaths in Ukraine and the global economic fallout.

Germany, in particular, sees Russia’s presence here as an affront to Ukraine. The German government has backed Ukraine with military and other aid, and it has accused Russia of a retaliatory campaign of sabotage in Germany that includes cyberattacks.

Trump Renews Push for Federal Film Tax Credit: In a social media post, President Trump said that the exodus of film production to Canada and other countries was “hurting California very badly.” President Trump pushed for a federal tax credit on Monday to aid the production of films in the United States, the type of government support that a beleaguered Hollywood has been clamoring for in recent years.

Although dozens of states subsidize film and television production, the federal government has never offered a nationwide tax incentive as several other countries do. Because productions have fled Los Angeles for places like Australia, Britain and Hungary, labor unions, lobbying groups and politicians on both sides of the aisle have rallied around the idea of a federal program they say would help bring jobs back.

President Trump on Monday lashed out at communities that are protesting data centers, suggesting that residents who do not go along with the artificial intelligence revolution must prefer to be “backwards and poor.”

The C.D.C. director challenges Pennsylvania’s report of two measles deaths. The new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered agency officials to challenge two measles deaths reported by Pennsylvania, shunning the agency’s normal procedure of accepting data shared by states and amplifying comments made by her boss, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The incident draws the C.D.C. into a highly political disagreement about whether the deaths were a result of measles or merely coincided with the infection, echoing similar disputes over causes of death during the coronavirus pandemic.

The president made several comments about the Venezueal oil deal, details of which have been vague. He said one goal is to “fill up the strategic reserves.” When asked about projections it could take years to see returns on this investment, he was dismissive but said that would also be fine. And he appeared to say that the Venezuela deal will cover the ballooning costs of his war in Iran. “We paid for the war,” he said. “The cost of the war has been paid for many, many times before. Where have you heard that before? You didn’t hear that with Afghanistan. You didn’t hear that with Vietnam, and by people that ran it a lot differently than I run it.”

President Trump says he’s ruled out using a nuclear weapon on Iran, then attacks the reporter who asked the question during an appearance in the Oval Office, calling it “stupid.” Trump says he has already defeated Iran, despite the ongoing stalemate and continued sporadic military engagement.

Trump dodges a question about what he knows about whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is considering a 2028 presidential campaign, praising him but saying it’s “early.” Hegseth’s team denied that an NBC News report about him looking to run was accurate. Hegseth has also been to first-in-the-nation caucuses state Iowa in the last year

President Trump just announced a new round of pricing deals with nine pharmaceutical companies, without offering many details. It’s the latest in a series of deals the administration has made as it tries to ensure the U.S. pays a similar amount for drugs as European countries. 

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced on Monday that his department was immediately revoking the accreditation of 110 commercial trucking schools for certifying drivers who failed to demonstrate spoken or written English proficiency, as part of a new, multiagency effort to expand the Trump administration’s crackdown on abuses in the industry.

Mr. Duffy said the schools had collectively trained more than 5,000 drivers who were granted licenses but then subsequently could not demonstrate English-language proficiency during roadside inspections.

The Justice Dept. issues a grand jury subpoena to a confidant of James Comey.

Federal prosecutors have issued a grand jury subpoena demanding testimony from Daniel C. Richman, a close confidant of James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director and one of President Trump’s most reviled political adversaries, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The subpoena, issued by prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of Florida, appears to be connected to the so-called grand conspiracy case that has sought to implicate Mr. Comey and other federal officials who have investigated Mr. Trump in an overarching plot to deprive him of his rights. It was a small but significant escalation of the Florida case and the latest move in a persistent campaign to go after Mr. Comey in particular who has already been indicted twice in separate cases in Virginia and North Carolina.

An I.R.S. audit revenue has plummeted under Trump, a watchdog has found..

The amount of money the Internal Revenue Service collected from audits dropped dramatically last year after the Trump administration pushed out many of the agency’s employees, according to a watchdog report released on Monday.

The report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, called TIGTA, showed that I.R.S. audits brought in $6.5 billion in fiscal year 2025, a 35 percent decrease from the $10 billion that audits elicited the previous year. That plunge came after President Trump, at the start of his second term, moved to reduce the size of the federal work force, a push that resulted in the I.R.S. losing roughly 30 percent of its staff dedicated to audits.

The administration has revoked funding for bike paths, and encouraged removing some. A cycling advocate said it is playing on the idea of “that dork on a bike.” 

Special Reports: U.S. Supreme Court Secretly Hides Its Records For Decades, Can't Control Trump  

 New York Times, Times Exclusive: How the Supreme Court Locks Away Its Own History, Jodi Kantor, Sept. 1, 2026. After Justice Scalia died, the justices held private negotiations about locking away their papers. We may not see the ultimate record of the Roberts court for decades.

In early 2016, Justice Antonin Scalia died suddenly of a heart attack on a Texas ranch, sending his Supreme Court colleagues into a period of grief and uncertainty. Behind closed doors, they had to contend with another piece of unsettling news.

Justice Scalia, the leading light of the conservative legal movement, had left no plans for his working papers, according to five people aware of the situation. For a Supreme Court justice, this was the equivalent of dying without a will. With no instructions for creating an archive or opening it to the public, the definitive inside account of his work — and the court’s — could be lost or emerge with uncomfortable speed.

So following his death, his colleagues entered into private negotiations to try to head off any such situation in the future.

In a series of memos and conference meetings, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. led the surviving justices in discussions about imposing a more uniform seal for their own papers, according to several people with knowledge of the process.

The absence of instructions from Justice Scalia and ensuing confidential conversations, which have not previously been reported, help explain why the nation’s highest court can be so difficult to understand. The ultimate record of the court’s work is considered the personal property of each justice, to dispose of or share as he or she chooses. And many of the justices have valued confidentiality over transparency and chosen to postpone scrutiny of their work for years to come.

In contrast with the executive branch, which is required to preserve and ultimately make public a record of its inner workings, there are no laws to determine what the justices save, shred, burn or reveal, or when. The court does not share any information about policies or plans for records; a spokeswoman for the court did not respond to written questions.

People familiar with the episode after Justice Scalia’s death, who spoke to The New York Times on the condition of anonymity because of the court’s sensitivity over disclosure of internal workings, recalled that a consensus was reached, but had differing memories of its terms and how solid or lasting it was.

Still, the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, left, just a few years later, provides a clue: Her Supreme Court papers went, at her direction, to the Library of Congress on the condition that no case file would be opened until every justice involved in the matter had died, a restriction that could lock away many documents for decades.

Though some justices in previous eras arranged for their papers to be released not long after their own deaths, the trend on the Roberts court has been to impose much tighter restrictions, serving to further obscure a branch of government that has resisted calls for more transparency

Each year, the justices carefully compose and edit about 60 opinions in argued cases to share with the world. The fuller, richer narratives of each case, showing the behind-the-scenes stories of how members of the court pressured, persuaded and prevailed over one another to arrive at those opinions, are hidden away in the justices’ working papers — their confidential internal memos and opinion drafts.

“There is a story behind every Supreme Court decision,” said Brad Snyder, a legal historian at Georgetown University and the author of a biography of Justice Felix Frankfurter. “Without the papers, we can’t understand it.”When we might see the full story behind three key Supreme Court cases

After Scalia's death, the justices tried to enter a more uniform pact. Ginsburg, the next justice to die, specifies that her papers will be released after all the other justices have died. Kagan is the youngest.

Plans for justices sworn in after 2017 are still unknown. Barrett is the youngest current justice.

The justices have said they want to keep those internal exchanges out of view, contending that secrecy protects the authority and finality of their decisions.

Since Justice Scalia’s death, two members of the court have retired. But neither of them, Justices Anthony M. Kennedy and Stephen G. Breyer, has announced plans for his papers.

Because of the court’s lack of transparency, it is impossible to say what will become of the inner history of its current work — which scholars say is more crucial, and more endangered, than ever.

In the decade since 2016, the Roberts court has been issuing many orders on what critics call the “shadow docket.” These temporary but consequential emergency rulings often lack routine information like tallies of how the justices voted or explanations of the court’s logic.

In those cases, the public will be able to learn the court’s reasoning only from the justices’ working papers, making the collections from the Roberts years particularly important. But if all of the current justices follow the same terms of Justice Ginsburg, that material will not emerge for generations.

And people familiar with the court’s operations say they worry that some of the most authoritative and revealing records are not being saved at all. That is because some work is now conducted digitally, via emails and texts. Those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal matters, said they were unaware of any consistent procedures for saving electronic records.

“We’ll be unable to write a rich history of the Roberts court,” Mr. Snyder said.

Many government agencies make clear to the public how the agency handles its records. But Patricia McCabe, a spokeswoman for the court, did not respond to questions about the court’s practices, including whether court emails are deleted.

Asked why the court refused to provide any information about its policies for document retention, Ms. McCabe declined to answer that question as well.Surprises, Brawls and a Shredder

The revelations found in past justices’ working papers have been so potent that they have caused bruised feelings between the justices and blowups between government institutions.

And because no law governs the preservation of the justices’ work, each justice, assisted by staff, builds his or her own archival trove, deciding which memos, drafts, voting sheets and meeting notes to preserve.

Or destroy. In 1986, Justice Byron R. White, a former professional football player who staunchly guarded his privacy, summoned his clerks to his chambers for a special assignment that took several weekends. Together they marked his quarter-century on the court by feeding his records, including from the landmark Miranda rights case, into a shredder purchased for the occasion, according to Dennis J. Hutchinson, his biographer.

Got a news tip about the courts? If you have information to share about the Supreme Court or other federal courts, please contact us.See how to send a secure message at nytimes.com/tips

“Well, here’s an article. Here’s an entire book,” one of the clerks later told Mr. Hutchinson, describing what it was like to insert invaluable history into the jaws of the machine.

“I couldn’t believe how much history was going down the chute,” he said.

Two justices in modern memory opted for more open approaches. One spring morning in 1993, the justices opened their morning copies of The Washington Post to find detailed accounts of their internal debates. Earlier that year, Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first Black member of the court, had died, and his papers had been donated to the Library of Congress. With no announcement, the library had opened his papers for public review, and Post reporters had been digging through the newly released archive.

The Trump destruction of the White House historic East Wing to build his ballroom without congressional approval. (New York Times photo).

Civil Discourse, Opinion: Why Can’t the Supreme Court Tell Trump No? Joyce Vance, right, Sept. 1, 2026. The Court’s inability to tell Trump no may end up being the most concerning feature of his two terms in office. It’s as if the Justices, or five to seven of them, depending on the case, can’t summon a collective recollection of the constitutional system of checks and balances that is the foundation for the legal system they sit at the apex of.

Oops, they did it again. Five justices told Donald Trump all was forgiven for tearing down the historic East Wing of the White House, and he could carry on with his ballroom project while litigation about its legality proceeded. Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson joined a dissent written by the Chief Justice.

Tonight, we’re going to turn our attention to the Supreme Court’s decision this afternoon about Trump’s ballroom. Before we review the opinions, let’s remember how we got here:

On March 31, 2026, Judge Richard Leon granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, which enjoined any further construction of the ballroom above ground, but permitted work to continue on what the court was told was a “new below-ground military installation.” Any work “strictly necessary” to protect the White House or the President and his staff could take place as well. Judge Leon held that the president is the “steward” of the White House and not the “owner,” and that Trump had no statutory authority to proceed, absent authorization from Congress.

On April 17, 2026, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia stayed the district court’s injunction, permitting work to resume, while it considered the matter.

On August 7, 2026, the Court of Appeals ruled that the district court’s injunction would remain in place. Construction was stopped again on the above-ground part of the project.

The government ran lickety-split to the Supreme Court for a stay of the district court’s injunction, so it could get back to work on the ballroom. It’s important to understand the posture here: This is not a case that has been briefed and orally argued on the merits. It’s a shadow docket ruling on whether an injunction should be in place to keep the government from building Trump’s ballroom while the litigation moves forward.

The opinion we read tonight is not a decision on the substance of the matter; the Court isn’t considering whether what Trump did violates the law. This is just about whether he can keep doing it while the Court considers the matter. As the majority wrote in their opinion tonight, they are still waiting on “a forthcoming petition for a writ of certiorari [from the government] and any further proceedings in this Court.”

The majority opinion is per curiam—Latin for by the court—which means it’s unsigned by any one justice. They “grant the requested stay” of the district court’s injunction, which means work can proceed on the ballroom while the case moves forward. The Court uses the now-familiar formula for deciding whether to grant an injunction, finding that “The government has established that it is likely to succeed on the merits of a significant legal question, that it would likely suffer irreparable harm without a stay, and that the balance of equities tips in its favor.”

Why is the Court talking about the government succeeding, when I’ve just told you this isn’t a decision about the legality of what Trump is doing? It’s because the Court is considering the government’s chance of success on a threshold argument—whether the plaintiffs have standing to bring the case. We had an extensive conversation about standing when Trump brought Fight Club to the White House, so we understand that it’s an important legal doctrine. If you don’t have it, you can’t sue.

Here, one would expect the Court to preserve the status quo while litigation proceeds to determine whether it existed, but that is not the case, and permitting construction to continue essentially prejudges the outcome of the case because what is the Court going to do? Order it all torn down in three years when the case is over if Trump loses?

The Court concludes with this rationalization: “Today, we do not pass upon the legality of the government’s East Wing project. We conclude only that, based on the submissions before us, the government is likely to prevail in showing that the Trust lacks Article III standing to challenge the project in federal court and that the remaining stay factors favor relief.” The stay will remain in place until the Court either denies certiorari or, if it grants it and hears the case, until it hands down judgment. Sounds like we’re going to have a ballroom.

But it’s the Court’s analysis of irreparable injury that feels most disingenuous. The Court accepts at face value most of the government’s arguments that it will be irreparably injured if it can’t build Trump’s gilt ballroom. They do that even though Judge Leon didn’t stop work on the supposed national security facilities beneath the ballroom. The list of claims the per curiam accepts includes: “every day during which construction is delayed impairs the Secret Service’s ‘protective operations,’ … the contemplated ballroom would enhance security for Presidents and their visitors who in the past have had to meet in soft tents or offsite when gathering in large numbers, … a prolonged construction period increases the risk of foreign actors ‘gathering intelligence on’ the project.” [Ed note: I thought they could just go to Mar-a-Lago dinners to do that?] The Court makes light of the plaintiffs’ concerns about the damage to a historic site and the ecological impact. When it balances the equities, it finds they are with Donald Trump based on these rather transparent grounds.

The dissent starts with the proposition that what Trump is doing is “likely unlawful.”

They explain that conclusion like this: “Congress has explicitly prohibited the construction of any ‘building or structure … on any reservation, park, or public grounds of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia without express authority of Congress.” They continue, “Congress has not passed any law resembling ‘express authority’ for the Executive’s construction.”

The dissent also addresses the standing issue, explaining that “To have standing to sue as the representative of its members, an organization such as the Trust must show, among other things, that one of its members would have standing to sue in her own right. The [National] Trust argued one of its members suffered ‘aesthetic injury’ from the ballroom’s construction. The dissent correctly states that ‘To serve as the basis for her standing … aesthetic injury must be ‘concrete’ and ‘particularized’ … ‘real, and not abstract.’” The dissenting Justices conclude that “Given the distinctive nature of the White House and Hoagland’s [the individual member’s] focused and substantiated interest in viewing it in its traditional form, her aesthetic injury from the construction of the ballroom is concrete and particularized.” They find that there is standing.

The majority seems to act like this is just an ordinary case, not one about a president tearing down the East Wing of the White House. The majority seems to have forgotten that it’s the people’s house and that standing needs to match that moment. The notion that American citizens don’t have standing to challenge what Trump is doing to a property that is ours, not his, is ludicrous. No matter how much precedent the majority cites, they can’t erase the fundamental nature of why the Trump administration is being sued here. But the dissent gets it and they say what the majority should have said and what all Americans, regardless of party, should be saying about this:

“The White House is an iconic American building whose symbolism and history are wrapped up in its architecture. As President Theodore Roosevelt once remarked while thanking Congress for expressly appropriating funds for the construction of the East and West Wings: ‘The stately simplicity of [the White House’s] architecture is an expression of the character of the period in which it was built, and is in accord with the purposes it was designed to serve. It is a good thing to preserve such buildings as historic monuments which keep alive our sense of continuity with the Nation’s past.’”

If these plaintiffs don’t have standing to protect our country, who does? But while we may be getting a ballroom, there is also an election coming. It’s time for us to be the cavalry.

The Chief Justice concludes with this. For once, he’s writing for all of us:

“The White House is not just any building, and—when it comes to historic preservation…In failing to appreciate as much, the Court misconceives the plaintiff’s injury, allowing the Executive’s likely infringement of the Legislature’s power of the purse and authority to regulate federal property in the District of Columbia to continue. Today’s decision is no victory for the separation of powers. Winston Churchill once remarked that “[w]e shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” … All the more reason to ensure that those responsible follow the rules in deciding what to tear down and what to build up at the People’s House.”

Thanks for being here with me at Civil Discourse and sticking with me through another complex legal issue. We cannot look away. Our job is to understand what is happening, to make sure the people around us understand it too, and to remember where the ultimate authority in our democracy lies. Donald Trump may have gotten away with this today, but he does not get the last word. We do. We will exercise that authority when we vote.

It’s not his house.   

Special Report: Last Shred of American Dignity?

This is an image President Trump posted on portraying himself as celebrating the destruction of Iran's Karg Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Aug. 30, 2026 -- a claim he reinforced with a statement shown below but refuted by other sources. A commentary on the display is provided below by Jeff Tiedrich.

"Loyal and patriotic citizens, please stand by for a message of the utmost importance from the President of the United States, Supreme Ruler of the Western Hemisphere, Lord-Emperor of the Sky Above and All the Planets, Conqueror Of Every War, God’s Own Avatar on Earth, Grand Renamer of Water.....

Fact check: Kharg Island is, in fact, not being blown to smithereens. This ten-second video is the work of some six-fingered plagiarism robot. The only thing being blown to smithereens right now is the last shred of America’s dignity, as the world laughs — and then shakes its head sadly — at our Demented Boy King.

-- From Everyone Is Entitled To My Own Opinion, Commentary, Jeff Tiedrich, right, Aug. 31, 2026.

 More On U.S. Governance

President Trump Makes an Announcement on Healthcare Affordability, Aug. 31, 2026. 

Hope for America, Opinion: The president keeps selling us lies, Heather Delaney Reese, right, Sept. 1, 2026. At 3:05 this afternoon, the White House press corps was quickly ushered into the Oval Office, where the President of the United States was already seated at his desk with toy airplanes and helicopters carefully placed around him.

With more than a dozen men and women in dark suits packed in behind him, Donald Trump spoke for exactly 14 minutes before inviting others to address the press. Within seconds of finishing his remarks, the President had already started to fall asleep. He struggled to keep his eyes open nearly the entire time, occasionally snapping them back open, only to close them once again. Near the end of the event, Trump fully woke up just in time to answer questions, including one people around the world wanted answered, especially after an AI-generated video he posted the night before appeared to show mass-destruction weapons being used against Iran.

A reporter asked the President, “Have you ruled out using a nuclear weapon against Iran?”

“Well, I would never say that, but, uh, the answer is yes,” Trump snapped back. “What a stupid question that is, actually.”

Beyond the absurdity of what we were watching was that this was supposed to be a major White House announcement about lowering prescription drug prices for millions of Americans. Instead, the President of the United States sat behind his desk, struggling to stay awake, before snapping at a reporter for asking whether he would use a nuclear weapon against Iran.

The tragedy of this moment is that if everything Trump said today is true, parts of it could genuinely help Americans, especially when it comes to the cost of healthcare. Trump claimed that 26 pharmaceutical companies had agreed to offer their drugs to state Medicaid programs at most-favored-nation prices, calling it the largest reduction in drug costs “in the history of medicine.” He said it would save Americans more than $600 billion, and he insisted nobody else could have done it. He claimed it was so big that the media would refuse to cover it, and that it was so big, “It’s not even believable.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took over the microphone soon after, and immediately began the flattery. “This could not have happened under any other president except for this one,” Kennedy said, while the president was nodding off in front of the press and their cameras. Howard Lutnick followed, telling the sleeping president, “It’s all thanks to you, because nobody thought that this was possible.” The Daily Beast reports this was at least the 20th time Trump has been caught falling asleep during a public event. The White House has previously insisted he was simply “blinking.”

But the most concerning part of the whole event was when Dr. Oz cut to the heart of everything they are doing right now when it comes to our health when he said, “If we could just get the average American to feel so healthy, so with it, so vibrant, that they want to work just one extra year, that’s worth a trillion dollars to our GDP every year.”

That was the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the man responsible for the healthcare of tens of millions of Americans, telling the American people, while the president slept beside him, that the real purpose of lowering drug costs is to keep them working longer. Not to ease suffering or improve lives, but to squeeze one more year of labor out of every working American so the GDP number goes up, and so there is more money for Trump and his enablers to take from our government. And once again, nobody in that room even flinched when he said this.

Because that is the philosophy underneath everything this administration is doing to our health. It explains the attacks on vaccines, the dismantling of public health agencies, the weakening of food safety protections, and the endless amount of disinformation about the very medicines they now claim they want to make more affordable. Every one of those decisions pushes us in the same direction: toward a sicker, more vulnerable country.

When the consequences of all they are doing arrive, more people will become chronically ill. More families will be crushed by medical debt. More Americans will become too sick to work. They won’t see that as a moral or a policy failure. They will see it as an economic problem with only one clear solution. Something too horrific to even say out loud.

That was the real message behind Dr. Oz’s comments. Health was never the goal; productivity was. People aren’t being valued because they’re human beings deserving of dignity and care. They are being valued because they contribute to the GDP.

Once a government starts measuring human worth by economic output, we’ve crossed into something far darker than healthcare policy. We’ve crossed into the belief that some lives are simply worth investing in more than others. History shows us where that kind of thinking leads: eugenics.

Even if we were to take Trump at his word and ignore everything else this administration is doing to our health, the numbers still don’t add up. That was true even on TrumpRx, the website he proudly called “the hottest thing there is.” Reporting earlier this year found that the site has not delivered what it promises. In some cases, medications listed on TrumpRx cost roughly double what the same drugs sell for in comparable countries. The site does not offer the lowest prices in the world. It offers the illusion that it does. That is what we are watching.

The illusion doesn’t stop with healthcare. It has become the governing philosophy of this entire administration and all of its enablers, including the Supreme Court. Because today, in a five-to-four ruling, the Court allowed Trump to continue building that ballroom. Construction is roughly 65 percent complete, with 250 people working 20 hours a day, seven days a week. It has also ballooned in cost. What started as a $200 million project reportedly now is expected to cost at least $600 million, with $352 million in taxpayer money quietly redirected from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” earlier this summer, despite Trump’s claim of “zero taxpayer funding.”

The five conservative justices sided with the Trump Regime. That is Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, all three Trump appointees, who were joined by Alito and Thomas. They ruled that the National Trust for Historic Preservation likely lacks standing to sue. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the three liberal justices, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson, and wrote the dissent stating that the construction is “likely unlawful.” He wrote, “The White House is not just any building.”

Those are strong words coming from Roberts, but we have seen this before. Roberts dissents when the outcome is already decided. He dissents when it costs the institution nothing and buys it something it has not earned: the appearance of independence. It is the same move we have watched senators like Susan Collins make for years. Vote no when the votes are already there. Express concern after the damage is done. Preserve the image of accountability without ever producing the real thing. Maybe Roberts felt strongly about this case. We do not know. But when it truly counts, on the cases that determine whether this president can consolidate unchecked authority, the Chief Justice has not been the firewall we needed him to be. His dissent today changed nothing. The ballroom is still being built.

What we see day after day is a pattern, and it is increasing in strength and number. But this pattern is not new. And it is not uniquely American. Authoritarian regimes have always understood that visible, tangible benefits buy silence. In Nazi Germany, the Kraft durch Freude program, Strength Through Joy, gave loyal workers subsidized vacations, resort stays, and even cruises on ocean liners. The Winterhilfswerk relief drives made sure families had food in winter. These were real benefits, and they were things that actually impacted people’s lives. That was the whole point. They had to feel like generosity so that the people receiving them would not look too closely at what was being taken from them. A fed population does not resist. A comfortable population does not ask questions. A population that believes the government is looking out for them does not notice when the same government is building the machinery to strip them of everything else.

Trump’s version follows the same logic. Drug pricing deals timed for the midterms. A healthcare website with his name stamped on it. A ballroom made of gold rising from the rubble of the East Wing. These are crumbs designed to keep people fed while loaves are being stolen. They are stealing from public health and food safety programs. They are stealing from the institutions that were built to protect the very people who are being told they no longer need protecting.

But something is shifting, and I think many of us can feel it. More people are talking about what is happening now than they were even a few months ago. Not just those of us who have been sounding the alarm from the beginning, but people who stayed quiet. People who thought it would never reach them. People who believed the spectacle because it hadn’t yet touched their own lives.

That only lasts for so long. Eventually, reality catches up. And when the gap between the story a government tells and the life people are actually living becomes too wide to ignore, something changes. The illusion starts to crack. People stop applauding the performance and start asking questions. That’s when the ground begins to shift.

The next few months are going to be hard. He is going to pull out every stop. Every manufactured win, as many staged announcements as he can manage to sit through, every gold-plated distraction will be aimed at one thing: surviving November. It is going to feel like a fight for our country and our lives, because it is. And we know what is at stake. We know that even if we take back one or both chambers of Congress in what should still be free and fair elections, the fight does not end on election night. We have already watched Mike Johnson play games with seating duly elected members. There will be challenges and even delays. There will be battles we cannot yet see coming. But those are fights for another day.

Right now, we have to stay focused on November. We have to keep calling out the corruption, cover-up, and distraction, every single day. That means not shying away from the conversations that make people uncomfortable. We are not going into those conversations trying to convert anyone. We are going into them to open eyes. To share what we see. To shine a light and let people come to their own conclusions. People are ready to make this connection. They are sick of living this way. They want change.  

Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: The Plot to Steal Venezuela’s Oil, Paul Krugman, right, Sept. 1, 2026. A scam that is both vile and deeply stupid.

The United States has an ugly reputation in Latin America -- a reputation that, I’m sorry to say, is mostly well deserved. Our government has a long track record of supporting dictators, assisting in the overthrow of democratic governments, and sometimes even sending in the Marines, often on behalf of American corporations trying to pillage other nations’ natural resources.

Excluding the Trump II presidency, we have, I think, behaved better in the recent past. And this was largely due to the role of enlightened self-interest.

The fact is that old-fashioned, extractive imperialism doesn’t pay. In fact, it hasn’t paid for well over a century. In the modern world nations grow rich through innovation and productivity, not conquest. In 1909 Norman Angell’s book The Great Illusion argued that even victorious wars cost far more than they can possibly yield in tribute, documenting his case with what was already extensive historical evidence. His argument has even more force now.

Let me give you a recent historical example. Portugal was the last European nation to maintain a large overseas empire. As late as 1973 Lisbon still ruled vast African territories — some of them rich in natural resources — with many times the home country’s population. It was also the poorest nation in Western Europe, its resources drained by the endless wars it fought in an attempt to keep its colonies subjugated.

Finally, in 1974, junior officers in the Portuguese military, fed up with the fighting and dying, rose up in the Carnation Revolution and overthrew the fascist government. A newly democratic Portugal quickly abandoned its empire, eventually joining the European Union — and while it’s still poorer than some of its peers, it is far closer than before to the standard of living in, say, France.

In short, at this point only someone deeply ignorant of both the realities of modern economies and of the lessons of history can believe that there are big payoffs to seizing other nations’ natural resources. In other words:

For those who need a refresher, in January U.S. forces raided Venezuela and kidnapped Nicolas Maduro, the nation’s brutal, corrupt dictator. Maduro surely deserved his fate. But the Trump administration made no move to help Venezuela’s democratic opposition. Instead, it made a deal with former members of the Maduro cabal, effectively installing a new regime that may well be even more brutal and corrupt than its predecessor. (There’s widespread suspicion that the kidnapping of Maduro was in part an inside job, engineered by his fellow cabalistas.)

In return, Trump got an agreement — details are scarce — that apparently will allow U.S. oil companies to extract and sell large quantities of Venezuelan oil but only if they put tens of billions of dollars into investments in Venezuela’s decrepit oil infrastructure.

So the Venezuela venture had nothing to do with democracy or freedom. It seems safe to say that it had nothing to do with crime or terrorism, which were the other excuses the administration offered. What happened in Venezuela was simply an old-fashioned, 19th-century-style resource grab, a sort of Caribbean version of the Belgian Congo.

In one stroke, Trump has just validated everything the Latin American left has ever said about U.S. imperialism. And we’ll be paying for that, diplomatically and strategically, for decades to come.

Now, it’s highly unlikely that this deal will hold. By all accounts, just about every faction in Venezuelan politics except the current ruling clique hates the deal. Since it will take years, maybe even decades, to realize the putative benefits of oil-company investments in Venezuela, how likely is it that whoever is running that country in the future will want to honor Trump’s terms? What are the odds that Venezuela will eventually expropriate U.S. oil-company investments? Or do we imagine a future in which the U.S. military maintains a permanent occupation of Venezuela, using force to prop up a puppet government the nation’s citizens hate?

Even if the deal holds, oil experts are extremely doubtful that Venezuela can significantly increase its oil production soon, if ever. It would take years to rebuild the oil infrastructure even if corporations are willing to sink in the necessary billions of dollars. There are also issues with the quality of Venezuelan oil. Venezuela appears on paper to have huge oil reserves. But much of these reserves are what I called a “black, sticky fantasy,” created by Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez, when he reclassified oil in the Orinoco Basin that will be difficult if not impossible to recover as “proved” reserves.

But let’s suppose for the sake of argument that Trump really does manage to seize 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil. That sounds like a big number. Is it?

Venezuelan oil currently sells for around $70 a barrel on world markets. But as I said, getting that oil out will require huge investments in infrastructure. Nor does Venezuela oil come gushing out when you drill a well: As one expert put it, “it comes out of the ground with the consistency of cold peanut butter.”

So the profit margin on Venezuelan oil will be at most a small fraction of its market price. Surely $20 a barrel would be a highly generous estimate. So let’s go with that, in which case Trump’s deal might be worth $20*65 billion barrels = $1.3 trillion, a sum extracted over many years.

How big a deal would that be for the United States? Since this would be a many-year process if it happens at all, you want to compare it with U.S. wealth, not GDP (which is only the value created in a single year.) And total U.S. wealth is about $167 trillion.

So the chart at the top of this post shows how Trump’s triumphant Venezuela deal stacks up for the U.S. economy. Even if we make the most favorable assumptions — above all the assumption that the Venezuelan regime, unlike the Trump administration, can be trusted to honor its promises — the value of this deal to the United States is, to a first approximation … nothing.

Oh, and what about Trump’s claim that this will “substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans”? Since any significant rise in Venezuelan production would take a long time, even crude oil prices won’t show any effects from this deal for years at best. And in any case the prices of gasoline and diesel — which are what people actually burn — have become increasingly disconnected from the price of crude.

So Trump’s Venezuela deal will do nothing for ordinary Americans, while solidifying our reputation for rapacious, short-sighted imperialism.

Thank you for wasting your attention on this matter. New York Times, House Clears Bill to Avert an Election-Season Shutdown, Catie Edmondson, Sept. 1, 2026. Lawmakers sent the legislation to President Trump in an overwhelming vote, reflecting bipartisan enthusiasm around punting a messy spending fight until after the midterms.

The House overwhelmingly passed a stopgap bill on Tuesday to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month, sending it to President Trump’s desk and punting a spending fight until after the midterm elections.

The vote was a lopsided 370 to 48, a reflection of the bipartisan enthusiasm for heading off any funding fight before November, when voters will decide which party will control Congress for the final two years of Mr. Trump’s term. It paved the way for lawmakers to quickly return to the campaign trail for the critical final weeks before the elections.

The legislation, the product of bipartisan negotiations in the Senate, would keep federal funding flowing at current levels through Dec. 11. It would also bar the Trump administration from transferring funds to the Border Patrol, a demand of Democrats who have refused to support spending to carry out the president’s immigration crackdown.

It also includes a one-month delay for a ban on intoxicating hemp products that is scheduled to go into effect in November, a provision inserted at Mr. Trump’s request that incited a mini revolt among Republicans in the Senate who opposed the measure.

“This clean short-term continuing resolution simply keeps the government open, protects the progress we’ve made and preserves the path to full-year appropriations,” said Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma and the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. “This will allow Congress time to get past the November elections and allow us time to assess and move forward with further appropriations measures in November and December.”

It passed over the opposition of right-wing Republicans who objected to the inclusion of the delay of the hemp ban and did not include additional funding for Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown, a key demand of Democrats.

The stopgap bill “does NOT fund CBP and ICE, leaving these agencies at the mercy to be refunded under a radical progressive Democrat administration in a few years,” Representative Chip Roy of Texas wrote on social media, laying out his objections.

Bruised from a pair of shutdowns that have consumed much of the past two years, both Republicans and Democrats were eager to maintain the status quo and steer clear of a bigger spending fight — at least until December.

The first government shutdown was in October 2025, when Democrats sought unsuccessfully to use their leverage over federal spending to force the president to cut a deal on extending expiring health care subsidies.

Another came in February 2026, when Democrats refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security, shuttering the agency as they tried and failed to pressure Mr. Trump to agree to new restrictions on federal immigration agents after the killings of U.S. citizens amid his deportation campaign.

The legislation also includes language temporarily blocking the White House budget office from carrying out a proposed rule that would allow the administration to cancel grants to recipients that do not conform to Mr. Trump’s political views and enable his team to steer significant funding to causes and organizations aligned with him.

Democrats cited that measure, in part, in explaining their support for the legislation.

“This is an important first step, but more must be done to permanently block this policy before it is allowed to take effect,” said Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “Federal funding must be awarded as Congress intended.”

New York Times, Opinion: Our Democracy Is at Stake. Stop Waiting for a Savior, Skye Perryman (the president of Democracy Forward), Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). American democracy has been deteriorating with alarming velocity since President Trump’s return to the White House. Every day, it seems, there’s a new Watergate-level outrage. Nearly seven in 10 Americans are dissatisfied with how our democracy is working.

All too often, those who hold or have held positions of power still fail to acknowledge that long before the present crisis, our system wasn’t delivering meaningful opportunity and representation for all Americans. And too many of our leaders who yearn for now-discarded norms carry on without acknowledging that no single institution, on its own, can prevent democratic backsliding.

Many of the excesses of the Trump administration have been successfully challenged through our judicial system. My organization and others have leveraged the power of the courts to block destructive initiatives, from Mr. Trump’s proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” slush fund to threats against the First Amendment to draconian — racist, in some cases — immigration policies. Our legal system has at times buckled, but it hasn’t broken, so it can be tempting to think that the long list of judicial rulings secured against the administration, combined with a midterm election wave, will get us past the crisis. It’s understandable to anticipate — to hope — that coming out of the midterms and heading into the next presidential election cycle, a savior, something or someone, will emerge to usher in a return to democratic norms and show would-be autocrats the door.

Here’s the problem: Waiting for a savior has led many of us not to exercise the greatest power we have: our own.

Using the courts to rein in Mr. Trump’s authoritarian leanings remains essential, but it isn’t sufficient. If the midterms result in the shift of power many expect, it won’t be as easy for the president to trample the Constitution or run roughshod over Congress. But Americans should be clear that there is no cavalry coming. We don’t have the luxury of fantasizing that we are just one legal victory or perfectly poll-tested message away from turning the nation around. Such thinking unintentionally obscures the urgent need for all of us, especially those in relative positions of comfort, to roll up our sleeves, walk out our front doors and make ourselves part of the answer to this crisis.Sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter Get expert analysis of the news and a guide to the big ideas shaping the world every weekday morning. Get it sent to your inbox.

Many of us confuse consuming political news, engaging on social media and participating in group chats with doing the things that we, as individuals, can do to help change our country’s trajectory. Instead of doomscrolling, we can organize our neighbors, work at local polling places or join community groups. We must not be satisfied with watching the decline of American democracy from our phones.

The philosopher Richard Rorty observed that left-leaning reform movements in the earlier part of the 20th century emphasized the agency that individuals have to create change. He explained that the social movements that led to checks on corporate power, workers’ rights, women’s rights and civil rights were powered by ordinary Americans who took direct action to bring about meaningful change.

By contrast, in later reform movements Dr. Rorty perceived a trend of spectatorship, in which progressives in elite and academic circles were often more interested in being observers who critiqued American society rather than matching those critiques with action. Nearly 30 years ago, he warned that if those who sought progress failed to push institutions to deliver for the working and middle classes, Americans would embrace a populist savior-strongman who would gain power, only to eviscerate our democracy.

In our retelling of American history, we too often mythologize our institutions and political leaders as if they were the ones that brought about social change and forced our nation to make way for all of us. We sometimes think of justice being “handed down” by the Supreme Court in landmark decisions like Brown v. Board of Education. Or that a virtue-minded, bipartisan Congress willed the Voting Rights Act into being, while glossing over the primary, underlying agent of change: the American people.

Nothing is handed down by political leaders without the people demanding it. We must do so again.

In Minnesota, earlier this year, it was ordinary people who took to the streets in freezing weather to try to protect their neighbors by resisting the violent overreach of immigration enforcement agents. Beginning last year, we saw No Kings protests that were among the largest peaceful mass mobilizations in our history. We’ve seen everyone from ministers to educators to clerical workers to stay-at-home parents take to the streets in defense of democracy. After the Supreme Court weakened a crucial component of the Voting Rights Act, people from across the nation went to Selma and Montgomery, Ala., marching an old march in a new time. Religious organizations from across the nation took the administration to court to ensure that communities can worship without fear of intimidating ICE tactics. When an administration policy threatened health care access for millions, local city officials, doctors and small businesses sued to try to protect access and keep premiums from going up. As Mr. Trump has pushed for partisan gerrymanders and a voter-suppression law like the SAVE America Act, we’ve seen strong voter turnout in races across the country.

We can learn from our fellow Americans who are meeting the moment. Instead of waiting for a knight-in-shining-armor political candidate, hoping he or she will do the hard work for us — or, worse, disengaging when a candidate or political movement disappoints us — we must continue to look to ourselves. Our democracy is in danger, but we can save it. We are the only ones who ever have.

World News, Global Human Rights, Disasters

New York Times, Wartime Presidents of Russia and Iran Rally With Chinese and Indian Leaders, Paul Sonne and David Pierson,.Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). The two-day summit of the 10-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kyrgyzstan shows the limits of U.S. economic warfare.

The presidents of Russia and Iran, facing increased domestic pressure from drawn-out wars, were set to rally with the leaders of China and India at a summit on Monday in Central Asia.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran headed to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, for a two-day meeting of the 10-nation political and security grouping known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The forum will allow Russia and Iran to demonstrate alternative sources of support as they work to defy Western efforts to isolate them.

Though it once counted only Russia, China and four Central Asian nations as members, the grouping expanded in 2017 to include India and Pakistan and more recently to add Belarus and Iran. In the process, it has become a growing counterpoint to Western-led political and security groupings.

At the center of the proceedings is the most powerful leader in attendance, President Xi Jinping of China. No nation has been more critical to Russia and Iran in sustaining their economies and war efforts than China. Mr. Xi has undermined efforts by the United States and its allies to pressure Russia and Iran economically, employing Beijing’s vast geopolitical and economic clout as the world’s largest importer of crude oil and exporter of consumer goods.

The wars have helped increase China’s already rising power. Mr. Xi’s biggest rival, the United States, has been distracted by the war in Iran and has pulled out some of its military forces from Asia and Europe. Last month, Mr. Xi was able to brush off threats by President Trump that the United States would inflict an “economic D-Day” on countries that provided Tehran a lifeline.

This week’s summit is a reminder of the limits of U.S.-led economic warfare. Both Russia and Iran have managed to maintain critical alliances outside the West that have come in handy at different stages of their conflicts. The two nations have managed to handle domestic fallout from the wars for longer than some Western officials had expected.Sign up for Your Places: Global Update. All the latest news for any part of the world you select. Get it sent to your inbox.

The leaders in attendance have helped Mr. Putin continue his war against Ukraine, which is now in its fifth year.

New York Times, G20 Finance Officials Gather in U.S. as Iran War Grips Global Economy, Alan Rappeport and Jim Tankersley, Sept. 1, 2026 (print ed.). The meeting is expected to focus on the ongoing economic shock from the war in Iran, which has driven up oil prices globally.

Top economic policymakers from many of the world’s wealthiest nations begin two days of meetings on Monday in Asheville, N.C., at an incredibly challenging moment. Global inflation is high, growth is choked by war in the Middle East, and rising borrowing costs are straining government budgets.

But on the eve of the summit of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nations, those questions were clouded by a series of controversies around participation, including whether the Trump administration would let Russia attend while refusing to allow South Africa’s delegation to join.

Representatives from South Africa, a longtime member of the G20 and Africa’s largest economy, were not invited by the Treasury Department to Asheville. President Trump announced last year, after skipping a G20 summit hosted by South Africa, that he would exclude the country from this year’s meetings, citing a false narrative that white South Africans were being indiscriminately killed and their land was being seized.

Administration officials also invited a group of American business executives to meet with the government leaders, from industries including banking and cryptocurrency, in an effort to create networking opportunities between government officials with the private sector. They rebuffed requests to also include executives from other G20 countries. The moves have unsettled some attendees at the gathering.

The summit comes at a pivotal moment, with the International Monetary Fund projecting that global growth will slow this year and inflation will rise. The decision by the United States to attack Iran in February disrupted the flow of oil and pushed energy prices higher, darkening the outlook for a world economy that has been battered by wars and a pandemic in recent years.Want to stay updated on what’s happening in Russia, South Africa and North Carolina? Sign up for Your Places: Global Update, and we’ll send our latest coverage to your inbox.

Huddled in a North Carolina mountain resort, officials are expected to discuss ways to reinforce global supply chains for commodities such as critical minerals, opportunities to increase international investment, and strategies for reducing or restructuring debt. The conversations are taking place as the U.S. gross national debt just topped $40 trillion, creating anxiety among bondholders and raising fears about higher borrowing costs.

“Mounting fiscal pressures, as evidenced by rising bond yields, and a stalled disinflation process — they are sources of worries both for markets and for policymakers,” Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the I.M.F., told reporters ahead of the meetings.

Those concerns have been especially evident in the United States. In recent weeks, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent initiated surprising interventions in global currency markets and in the U.S. bond market in an effort to contain rising borrowing costs. Those measures have so far been only modestly effective, and they have drawn pushback from the European Union, which has seen its own currency suffer as a result of some of Mr. Bessent’s machinations.

Global leaders also remain wary of the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which has driven up energy costs worldwide, disrupted supply chains and dragged on growth.

“Everyone must contribute to reducing the massive global uncertainties” affecting growth, Lars Klingbeil, the German vice chancellor and finance minister, told reporters before flying to the summit. “That is why we are pushing for an end to the war with Iran and open shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Unifying the G20 has been a challenge for the administration, as countries continue to cope with uncertainty surrounding President Trump’s trade policies and the steep tariffs that he has imposed on imports, along with fallout from the war.

American officials have asked allies to join their “Operation Economic Outcast” initiative, which aims to strangle the Iranian economy and resolve the conflict through economic sanctions. Mr. Bessent last week warned that countries that do not sever economic ties with Iran would also face U.S. sanctions.

How Flagrant Tax Cheating Hurts The United States

Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: From Kakistocracy to CheatistocracyInbo, Paul Krugman, right, Aug. 31, 2026. Rewarding the most dishonest.

At this point, it’s almost a commonplace to say that under DonaldTrump, America has become a kakistocracy, ruled by the worst. But I don’tthink it’s fully appreciated the extent to which we’ve also become a cheatistocracy, ruled by the most corrupt.

Today’s commentary is a follow-upon yesterday’s primer, which was about the role of tax evasion both in leading to or contributing to our downward spiral into oligarchy and also as a surprisingly large factor in the budget deficit and therefore in America’s debt problem.

Before I get to tax evasion, let me say something about where I’ve been going in my kind of intellectual journey into understanding oligarchy. As an economist, normally my instinct is to think about the invisible hand, to think about market forces, about technology as driving what happens to society. And even now there’s at least some extent to which the rise of kind of garden variety inequality, the rise of the top quintile at the expense of the middle, may be partially explained by the bias of technology towards higher formal skills, although that may be ending now with AI and all of that.

But as I began to focus on oligarchy, on the very small number of people who have enormous wealth, enormous income, but the wealth is an even bigger factor — there are a really handful of people who have come to play such a large role.In our society, in our economy, and above all, of course, in our politics— I was forced more or less by the numbers to say this is not about the invisible hand. This is not about market forces. It isn’t even mostly about technology.

Yeah, some technologies create winner-take-all markets that make people int he right place extremely wealthy. But the really big factor that’s driven us from the relatively equal society that we were 50 years ago — not obviously anywhere close to truly equal, but nothing like the dominance of a tiny elite that we have now — the really important factor is policy and above all tax policy.

We basically stopped imposing progressive taxes that limited the growth of enormous fortunes. And sure enough, as the tax barriers to accumulation of excessive wealth went away, excessive wealth began to concentrate.

This is, in many ways, the fundamental story. We got rid of, we ended the Gilded Age with its dominance by, as FDR said, the power of organized money, largely by taxing a lot of that organized money away. And we got back to something which in many ways is worse than the Gilded Age by taking away those taxes and allowing vast fortunes to snowball and buy themselves enormous political power, which allows them to snowball even further.

One factor in all of that is the rise of simply not paying taxes that you’re supposed to pay. A lot of it is reductionist statutory tax rates. We tax corporate profits at a far lower rate than we did In the 1950s, we tax top incomes at a much, much lower rate than we did in the 1950s. But what’s also true is that we simply allow people to get away with not paying taxes to an enormous extent, to almost surely a much greater extent than used to be the case.

The numbers are big, and in the primer I go through the tax gap. The money owed but not in fact collected is certainly north of $600 billion a year. It is something like 40% or more of the U.S. federal budget deficit. It is a major contributing factor to the accumulation of vast fortunes.

What is striking is that far from really making an effort to rein in that tax gap, for the most part politically our system has moved to let it rip, has basically tried to make America safe for tax cheats.

This is something that overwhelmingly benefits people with high incomes and large wealth because people with really big incomes, people who are extremely wealthy, for one thing, they just have much more complicated income. It’s much, much harder to track down and audit someone who has multiple businesses, some of which are dummy businesses, some of which may be real, but nonetheless are conduits through which money can move. And only the very wealthy can maintain offshore accounts that enable them to hide income and so on.

So tax evasion is something that overwhelmingly benefits people with very high wealth and income. Not all! Not every billionaire is a tax cheat. There are levels and levels. There are some people who just feel that’s not something I want to do.People who feel that it would be wrong. Morality does exist. There are people who feel that their personal losses, should they be caught out cheating heavily on their taxes, would be large. So they care about their reputation.

And then there are those who don’t.

What’s astonishing is that we have, especially since 2010, especially since the hard right Republicans took control of the House of Representatives, we have moved to largely eviscerate any attempt to control that type of tax evasion.

The numbers are really startling, and the IRS has actually put out very useful information. If you are someone with a very high income, the IRS stops counting pretty much at a million or more a year, but presumably it’s even more true further up the scale.

In 2011, before the right-wing Congress was able to do its work, more than 7% of tax returns in that range were audited, which is not unreasonable because there’s obviously a lot of possibility for malfeasance there. It’s not saying that 7% of people with incomes of morethan a million were sent to jail. Obviously nothing like that, but we had widespread auditing, which among other things, encouraged people not to cheat on their taxes.

By 2019, just eight years later, that number had gone from 7.2% to 0.7%. So almost nobody with high incomes was being audited for possible tax fraud.

Now, why was that happening? There had been savage cuts in the funding to the IRS. Very large, at least 25 to 30% adjusting for inflation, something like a 40% reduction in the staff available for enforcement. And as it turns out, auditing the taxes of a very high income person is a lot more expensive than auditing a regular person. An ordinary blue collar worker, middle income, white collar worker who might be failing to declare some income, in many cases, it’s really very hard for them to evade taxes at all. And if they do, it tends to be relatively straightforward to pick apart what’s going on. And so audits of ordinary people are cheap.

Audits of millionaires and billionaires, sounding like Bernie Sanders, are very expensive. And so the IRS, with limited resources and wanting to show that it was in fact auditing people, largely gave up on auditing the extremely wealthy.

And this is a big number. The amount that we lose to tax evasion is something like the entire budget of Medicaid. It’s something like six times what we spend on food stamps. It’s something like 15 times the amount of money that Elon Musk saved by destroying USAID and killing millions of people in Africa. And yet it has been allowed to flourish.

Notice, by the way, that this is all pre-Trump.

Now, under Biden, there was a push to rectify the situation, a push to restore enforcement, increase the resources of the IRS, and increase enforcement actions in an attempt to tilt the agency’s priorities back towards where it should be, which is going after the big money. And that was just getting started. It takes a while to ramp those things up.

And you know what happened. Of course, Trump’s one big beautiful bill did savage cuts in IRS resources for enforcement.Savage cuts in personnel. We’re now back to a situation where things are worse than they were before Biden started to try to fix it. So this is going to continue.

What I find remarkable and interesting — I mean, I wouldn’t say that I’m baffled, but I think it is something that takes some analysis is why exactly.

I mean, it’s one thing to favor the interests of the uber wealthy. Okay, we know that’s what the modern Republican Party is, whatever it may claim to be.

But it’s another thing to systematically favor the least honest. What this policy does is It basically says if you are an honest billionaire — I’m afraid to name somebody because who knows what may come out in some future set of files — but if you are an honest billionaire, you are disadvantaged by the fact that dishonest billionaires are able to get away with cheating on their taxes. You should be opposed to that, but obviously the party that currently controls Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court, that party actually prefers dishonest men of great wealth. It’s actually a positive preference for cheaters.

I can speculate very loosely. It’s often been observed of Trump, and it’s probably true of some others in his camp, that at a fundamental level, he does not believe that anyone has good motives. And that someone who appears to actually be a decent person who plays by the rules is, by that very token, someone Trump distrusts.

He kind of assumes that they must be even worse than he is. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be faking having good intentions, which people like him never have. Maybe there is something going on, something deeper. But in any case, wehave developed a system where not only do we enormously favor the interests of people who already have vast amounts of money, but we literally favor malefactors of great wealth, to use Teddy Roosevelt’s phrase. We literally favor people who not only have enormous amounts of money, but cheat, who don’t pay their taxes, who break the rules.

This is not America. The general public still very much believes that people should pay the taxes they owe. We are not a country that valorizes, that rewards, or that honors people who cheat.But we have become a society that in practice does reward people who cheat.

What does that do to our social cohesion? What does that do to our sense of ourselves as a nation? I think in some ways the moral decay is worse than the numbers, which is saying a lot.

U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Immigration, Rights, Justice

Harmeet Dhillon has waged President Trump’s war on the left through a relentless pressure campaign against 100 universities over their diversity and antisemitism policies.

New York Times, From Top Civil Rights Post, She Spars With the Left, and Her Colleagues, Glenn Thrush and Michael C. Bender, Aug. 31, 2026. Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department’s civil rights unit, has extracted flashy agreements and personnel moves from big universities and sought to force states to turn over confidential voter data.

Harmeet Dhillon offered a four-word summation of her four-decade campaign to tear down the ramparts of liberal academia during a private gathering last September.

“I’m going after Harvard,” said Ms. Dhillon, the head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, according to audio of the event in New Haven, Conn., obtained by The New York Times.

Ms. Dhillon, 57, has repurposed a unit created to address Jim Crow injustices into a battering ram against the elite left. In part, it represents the culmination of a mission she began as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College — to impose conservative change on liberal institutions she still views as the entrenched establishment.

Ms. Dhillon, a gladiatorial Republican lawyer from California who has emerged as a Washington power player, has gone after more than 100 schools, extracting agreements, cash and personnel moves from big institutions over their diversity and antisemitism policies. In one instance, her pressure prompted the president of one high-profile school, the University of Virginia, to take early retirement.

“Harvard wished they never heard her name,” Mr. Trump said about Ms. Dhillon last year.

Harvard is apparently not alone. Ms. Dhillon has antagonized enemies and colleagues alike with a confrontational approach and a habit of beefing with co-workers that might hurt her chances of moving higher in the department, current and former department officials said.

Yet the issue that could most define Ms. Dhillon’s tenure looms just over the horizon: the division’s role in monitoring the administration of the midterm elections, as Republicans face the prospect of losing the House and perhaps the Senate and Mr. Trump reprises his falsehoods about election fraud to undermine unfavorable results.ImageMs. Dhillon, then on the Republican National Committee, greeting President Trump in September 2019 at Moffett Federal Airfield in California.Ms. Dhillon greeting President Trump in 2019. As leader of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, Ms. Dhillon has drastically reoriented its focus to align with the Trump agenda.Credit...Evan Vucci/Associated Press

Ms. Dhillon’s much-publicized deployment of election monitors during the 2026 primary season has alarmed some local Republicans. She has also filed a salvo of federal lawsuits to demand confidential Social Security and drivers’ license data from states.

Democratic officials have resisted, combating what they say is a dangerous intrusion into their right to conduct elections.

She has lost every single one. Her record is now 0 and 23.

Ms. Dhillon, in a statement, denied that she had been impelled by any motive other than fairly enforcing federal law, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination by any recipient of federal funding. Her actions on higher education, she wrote, have been based on an evenhanded examination of admissions data, “not personal animus toward elite universities.”

Since taking over in April 2025, she has scrapped environmental justice settlements and shredded deals over policing reform reached with Minneapolis and Louisville after the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor killings.

Ms. Dhillon has also stepped back from the department’s recent role of investigating civil rights violations by law enforcement, declining to scrutinize the killings of two protesters, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by homeland security officers in Minneapolis in January.

Not everything has changed in the division. Ms. Dhillon has moved ahead with more than 40 investigations of misconduct by law enforcement officials, including the recent prosecution of a former U.S. marshal for brutalizing an inmate. She has pursued cases involving sexual harassment by landlords and discrimination against non-Christians, and recently doubled down on a Biden-era suit over Louisiana’s illegal detention of inmates.

But her overall approach — articulated in an April 2025 memo ordering officials to pursue “the priorities of the president” — prompted a mass exodus of career workers that cut staffing levels by half or more and that has only recently stabilized, according to former officials.

“Harmeet is not just ignoring the reasons the division was created and the laws it is tasked with enforcing, she is using its enforcement authority against the very people whose rights the division was created to protect,” said Vanita Gupta, a former head of the division who served as associate attorney general during the Biden administration.

“She has corrupted its mission,” Ms. Gupta added.

Ms. Dhillon has articulated a different one: delivering a counterstroke against woke.

In an interview last fall, she asked herself a rhetorical question: What is the defining civil rights issue of our time? 

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion:Springfield ‘Under Seige,’ Jim Swift, right, Aug. 31, 2026. Throughout the Trump presidency, I’ve been going to Springfield, Ohio, to keep tabs on the Haitian community there. They and the city writ large are a symbol of the costs of this administration’s deportation policy. I went back to Springfield this past week as deportation efforts have ramped up. It was shocking to see what’s happening there. But it was inspiring, too. There really couldn’t be a better example of the Trump administration doing cruel things to good people just for the sake of cruelty—and the instinct of people who find this abhorrent to rally in support of the victims. 

When I was last inside Greater Grace Temple in late July, faith leaders from Springfield’s G92 coalition—a faith-based association dedicated to protecting the city’s Haitian community—were praying that ICE, which had not yet established a presence in the city, would treat its Haitian residents humanely.

Perhaps God heard their prayers. But ICE certainly did not. In the month between that visit and my return last week, the agency has arrested thirty-four Haitians, including two pastors. Organizers believe one has already been deported. Pastor Carl Ruby of Central Christian Church describes the city as “under siege.”

The first time I visited Greater Grace, the church was mostly empty, save the reporters and clergy. On Friday, the entire church was humming with activity. While other churches and businesses around town were emptying because people were afraid to leave home, Greater Grace had become an activism factory, the headquarters of a five-day regional mobilization, with each room serving a different purpose.

In one room, volunteers used Google Translate to write letters in Haitian Creole to detainees and packed boxes of food for local families. The pantry and donation space doubled as a check-in area for volunteers.

Another room served as an impromptu phone bank. Volunteers raised money for the Haitian Support Center and called Gov. Mike DeWine and Sens. Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno (all Republicans), urging them to act. Elsewhere, organizers prepared transportation and assignments for volunteers. A group behind me planned Sunday’s finale, “Unshackle Springfield,” a potluck and public faith witness at City Hall Plaza.

All the volunteers were sustained by food catered by Keket Bongou Caribbean Restaurant. Ruby said it had taken in only $24 the previous week as Haitian customers stayed home. The folks at Greater Grace Temple, in addition to buying hundreds of dollars worth of food, also had a donation box replete with $20 bills.

One organizer said a volunteer from the other side of Cleveland had told her he got up at 4 a.m. to make the trip. Some are coming for multi-day trips to work and bear witness.

This is what Trump is doing to our towns and cities. In the name of cracking down on immigration, he has ripped our social fabric apart. And it is small acts of decent human beings—people who don’t want to live in a society in which the state terrorizes families, schools, and churches—that is keeping it together.

The media crowded into a small, stuffy prayer room at the side of the church. Ruby opened with a story: While this mobilization was being organized, he was in Canada helping a Haitian family he knew relocate there. Returning to Haiti was not an option. Before coming to America, their children had survived kidnapping attempts, and the family’s car had been shot at as they fled. Canada was available only because they had an immediate relative there.

Ruby has been working pretty much non-stop, and a small documentary crew now follows him during what will surely be a defining chapter of his life.

A few weeks earlier, Ruby had accompanied a parishioner to an appointment at the ICE office in Blue Ash, outside Cincinnati. As they walked inside, the man told Ruby what had happened to his brother in Haiti.

“He leaned over and said, ‘My brother was just kidnapped in Haiti,’” Ruby recalled.

“And I said, ‘What happened to him?’ And he said, ‘They burned him.’” Ruby initially misunderstood. “I said, ‘Is he okay?’” he continued.

“And he said, ‘No, they burned him alive.’” Ruby paused before adding: “That’s happening in Haiti.”

When ICE summons Springfield Haitians to Blue Ash, it presents them with a choice: deportation, or an ankle monitor.

The Haitians being fitted with monitors are not fugitives hiding from the government. They are showing up when the government tells them to.

“They are not hiding,” said Vilès Dorsainvil of the Haitian Support Center. “They know where they live. They know where they work.” If immigrants are summoned before a judge, he said, they appear. “You ask them to go for ICE checking, they do that. And they arrest them.”

Dorsainvil said seven Haitians had reported for ICE check-ins last Thursday. One was a woman who had given birth twenty days earlier and lost the baby. “She came to the office. She could not even walk,” he said. “But they put the shackle on her.”

She also described a man on North Limestone Street who had received notice of a court appearance in Dayton but was afraid even to leave his home to retrieve the letter from his mailbox. “Everything is still going on,” Dorsainvil said. “How do you want the person to go for his biometric if you know that they cannot go on the streets?”

“She came to the office. She could not even walk. But they put a shackle on her.”

At one point, Ruby turned toward Dorsainvil, holding up a yellow legal pad to hide his mouth like an NFL offensive coordinator with a play sheet. Dorsainvil is himself a TPS holder with a pending asylum case. By speaking publicly and helping others navigate ICE, he was putting himself at risk. Ruby was seemingly asking permission to speak about his friend in this way:

“Vilès is one of the bravest people I’ve ever seen,” Ruby said. He recalled sitting in a meeting with Dorsainvil and ICE officials who, according to Ruby, told him: “Even though you have asylum pending, we will pick you up, and we will put you in jail and leave you there.” Ruby appealed to the clergy surrounding them: “We need to protect this man.”(Jim Swift/The Bulwark)

For the black clergy gathered at Greater Grace Temple, the ankle monitors carried a historical meaning that could not be separated from their function. Rev. Adam Banks, a descendant of enslaved people, called them “technologically advanced ankle and wrist shackles that are still as heavy as they were for my ancestors.”

The devices, Banks argued, belong to a longer history of “anti-black containment,” restricting movement, separating families, and treating people “as problems to be patrolled instead of partners deserving protection.”

Denise Williams of the Springfield NAACP supplied the mobilization’s refrain: “Unshackle Springfield.”

“I’m scared. My skin is dark,” Williams said. She described Haitian families staying inside, turning off their lights, and closing their blinds. “They are not criminals,” she said. “What is the reason for shackles? Humiliation.”

Leaving Greater Grace Temple, I drove through the parts of Springfield where Haitians live, work, eat, and worship. At Keket Bongou Caribbean Restaurant, the door was closed. But taped to it was a handwritten sign for would-be customers in Haitian Creole: “Even if you see the door closed, we are open.” (PIC)

Here’s how you can help the City of Springfield and its Haitian Community:

Support the Haitian Community Help & Support Center, St. Vincent de Paul, and Second Harvest Food Bank.

The Federal Trade Commission and the states said Amazon misled brands and sellers into paying more for ads; the company is denying the accusation.

New York Times, F.T.C. and 22 States Claim in Lawsuit That Amazon Secretly Inflated Ad Prices, Karen Weise, Aug. 31, 2026. Regulators say the e-commerce giant forced more than a million advertisers to pay more than they should have. The company denies the claims.

The Federal Trade Commission and 22 states sued Amazon on Monday, claiming the e-commerce giant secretly made advertising more expensive on its website for more than a million companies.

In a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Seattle, Amazon’s hometown, the F.T.C. and the states said Amazon inflated the costs that brands and marketplace sellers had to pay to promote their products to consumers, including the prominent “Sponsored Product” ads that appear in search results on Amazon’s widely used website.

“Amazon has millions of advertising customers who were misled into paying significantly higher prices,” Andrew N. Ferguson, the chairman of the F.T.C., said in a statement. “These higher costs were largely passed on to American consumers.”

Amazon disputed the charges in a blog post. The company said the F.T.C.’s claim “fundamentally misunderstands how advertisers operate.” Amazon said its mechanisms led to more relevant ads, which created better value for brands and sellers, and that the lawsuit “complaint cites no evidence of consumer price increases.”

The case is one of several lawsuits the F.T.C. has filed against Amazon. In 2023, the agency and 17 states brought a wide-ranging antitrust case against the company, arguing it abused its monopoly in online shopping. That case, whose claims Amazon denies, is set for trial next year.

Last year, Amazon settled a narrower suit for $2.5 billion over claims it tricked customers into buying Prime memberships and making it hard to cancel when they wanted to leave the program. Amazon did not admit or deny wrongdoing in the settlement.

The 22 states involved in the suit are represented by both Republican and Democratic attorneys general, and include Washington, where Amazon has its headquarters. The suit was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.Advertising has become a crucial source of profit for Amazon, as it has grown into one of the largest ad platforms in the world. Its advertising business produced almost $20 billion in sales in the most recent quarter, up 26 percent from a year earlier, and is widely regarded by investors as the most lucrative part of its consumer business.

The new lawsuit centers on the complex workings of digital advertising. The F.T.C. and attorneys general argue that Amazon told advertisers that it was using a common way to solicit and select bids through what is called a “second price” auction. To prevent overbidding, it told advertisers, it charged only 1 cent more than the second-highest bid, they said.But in reality, the 181-page complaint claimed, Amazon had a hidden “soft reserve price,” meaning it created a higher minimum amount it would frequently charge for an ad. The complaint cites internal studies and tests where teams inside Amazon tested how far they could push the bidding system to produce additional ad sales.

Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, said in a news conference that, by design, the advertisers had no way to know this was happening.

“Amazon has taken many steps to hide this scheme because, as employees have admitted internally, it knows it creates an ‘irrevocable damage to advertiser trust’ — words straight from an Amazon employee,” he said.

Amazon countered that the “soft reserve prices” change in real time to create a minimum that reflects the value of the real estate on its website, and that it never charged advertisers more than they had bid. It said any vague descriptions the F.T.C. may have cited were minor and fixed once they were flagged.

It also said its systems favored serving up ads that were relevant to customers rather than just the most expensive. That is better for both the customer and the advertiser, the company said.

Trump Administration

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New York Times, Justice Dept. Issues Grand Jury Subpoena to Comey Confidant, Alan Feuer, Aug. 31, 2026. The subpoena of Daniel C. Richman is the latest move in a persistent campaign to go after James B. Comey, one of President Trump’s most reviled political adversaries who has already been indicted twice.

Federal prosecutors have issued a grand jury subpoena demanding testimony from Daniel C. Richman, a close confidant of James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director and one of President Trump’s most reviled political adversaries, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The subpoena, issued by prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of Florida, appears to be connected to the so-called grand conspiracy case that has sought to implicate Mr. Comey and other federal officials who have investigated Mr. Trump in an overarching plot to deprive him of his rights. It was a small but significant escalation of the Florida case and the latest move in a persistent campaign to go after Mr. Comey in particular who has already been indicted twice in separate cases in Virginia and North Carolina.

It remained unclear what sort of testimony the prosecutors in Florida want from Mr. Richman, a law professor at Columbia University who once served as an adviser to Mr. Comey at the F.B.I. But he has found himself caught up in two previous investigations of his friend and former boss.

One of the inquiries — which ended without charges — sought to determine whether Mr. Comey had used Mr. Richman as a conduit to leak information to the news media about sensitive investigations conducted when he ran the F.B.I. The other resulted in an indictment last September accusing Mr. Comey of lying to Congress about some of the same matters covered in the leak investigation.

The Justice Department did not respond to an email seeking comment on the subpoena.

The inquiry in Florida is the third time Mr. Richman has been called to provide information about Mr. Comey. The investigation is being led by Joseph diGenova, a Trump loyalist who has convened a grand jury in the Federal District Court in Fort Pierce overseen by one of the president’s friendliest appointees to the bench, Judge Aileen M. Cannon. It has targeted other former officials who have triggered the president’s ire — chief among them, John O. Brennan, a onetime C.I.A. director.

The grand conspiracy case is arguably the most far-fetched of the Justice Department’s serial efforts to pursue Mr. Trump’s political opponents. Under Mr. diGenova’s leadership, prosecutors have tried for months to connect disparate inquiries into Mr. Trump — including the investigation into ties between Russia and his 2016 presidential campaign and the later inquiry into his mishandling of classified documents — as a single, long-running scheme to damage his political prospects.

Mr. Comey first ran afoul of the president when he oversaw the early stages of the Russia investigation and was ultimately fired by Mr. Trump in May 2017. That move led to the appointment of a special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who continued the inquiry but eventually determined that charges could not be brought against a sitting president.

When prosecutors in Virginia filed their first indictment against Mr. Comey, they relied heavily on a trove of text messages and emails between him and Mr. Richman. Those communications, they claimed, proved that Mr. Richman had served as an intermediary funneling information to journalists on behalf of Mr. Comey.

That first case was dismissed in its entirety in November after a federal judge determined that the inexperienced prosecutor ordered by Mr. Trump to bring the charges had been improperly appointed to her post. Mr. Richman quickly complicated the Justice Department’s efforts to bring a new indictment involving similar accusations by persuading a federal judge that investigators, in a glaring misstep, had improperly obtained his communications with Mr. Comey in the first place.

Five months after the initial charges were dismissed, the Justice Department brought a second indictment against Mr. Comey, accusing him of threatening to kill Mr. Trump by posting a photograph of seashells arranged on a beach in North Carolina spelling out a message reading, “86 47.”

Prosecutors claim that “86” is a mafia term meaning to kill someone and that “47” was a reference to Mr. Trump’s role as the nation’s 47th president. But lawyers for Mr. Comey have scoffed at the idea that the photo was a real threat against the president, adding that prosecutors have been unable to come up with any evidence that Mr. Comey meant to harm Mr. Trump.

Trump Team Obsessions, Oppressions, Corruption 

This is an image President Trump posted on portraying himself as celebrating (using the dance moves of a favorite song, "YMCA," by the disco group "The Village People")the destruction of Iran's Karg Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Aug. 30, 2026 -- a claim he reinforced with a statement shown below but which was refuted by other sources.

Hope for America, Opinion: Trump will stop at nothing to silence the truth, Heather Delaney Reese, right, Aug. 30, 2026. At 9:36 this morning, the President of the United States was briefly seen leaving the White House as his vehicle raced by, en route to an undisclosed location. Thirty-four minutes later, at 10:10 a.m., the mystery was solved as his motorcade pulled into Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. The next time he was seen by the press pool wasn’t until 3:20 that afternoon, as he made his way back to the White House.

Late that evening, after the press were released and most of the White House staff had gone home for the night, Donald Trump was still awake, posting on social media. Before finally calling it a night, he shared three final posts. None of them were something any leader of any country should be posting, let alone the President of the United States. In less than two minutes, he posted three times, two posts celebrating bombs dropping in the Middle East, and one post, seconds later, a video of himself golfing.

It started at exactly 10:18 p.m., when he made an announcement to the world that read: “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT.”

One minute later, at 10:19 p.m., he shared a 9-second, violent and cartoonish video showing the Kharg Island oil refinery complex being bombed and engulfed in flames, black smoke rising into the sky as critical infrastructure burned. Seconds later, he posted another video. This one lasted just three seconds. It showed Donald Trump on a golf course, teeing off beneath an overcast sky on bright green grass.

Kharg Island is responsible for roughly 90 percent of Iran’s crude oil exports. If this facility were actually “being blown to smithereens” tonight, it would represent the single largest escalation of the six-month war with Iran and would be breaking news.

Here is what actually happened today. Earlier on Sunday, U.S. forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Not Kharg Island. Larak Island. It was the first American military action against Iran in more than a month, breaking a lull that had held since August 1, when Trump said he would pause strikes at the urging of Gulf allies. According to CENTCOM spokesperson Tim Hawkins, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps forces had been observed preparing to launch rockets loaded with sea mines into the strait. The U.S. military had just finished clearing those mines from the international shipping lanes only last week. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard confirmed casualties on Larak Island, saying there had been “martyrdom and injury of several of our fighters and compatriots.”

Then Iran retaliated. The IRGC launched ballistic missiles and drone strikes targeting two American air bases in Jordan. Iranian state television broadcast footage of the missiles being launched. As of this writing, the missiles aimed at Jordan have reportedly been intercepted, with no confirmed impacts. But that does not mean American forces are out of danger. American service members are stationed at those bases tonight, and they remain in harm’s way.

While all of that was unfolding, and American troops were bracing for incoming missiles in Jordan, their commander in chief posted a fake video of the wrong island on fire and then posted a video of himself enjoying a relaxing day on the golf course.

As devastating as all of that is, it wasn’t the only dangerous thing Donald Trump did today. Earlier, he wasn’t focused on missiles and destruction overseas. He was focused on attacking something much closer, our press. It started with what he posted at 8:46 this morning.

“THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT. FCC TO THE RESCUE! President DJT.”

Fourteen minutes later, at 9:00 a.m., he followed that with a longer, more targeted attack on Kristen Welker, the host of NBC’s Meet the Press. He called her the “Unpopular ‘Hostess’” of the show. He accused her of “purposeful inaccuracy.” Then he wrote something that we all need to take seriously, not just because of its historical parallels, but because we are at a very dangerous moment in our own history. We have a president who is teetering on losing the unchecked power he has grown to depend on: “Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment. Unfortunately, she is not the only one.”

“She is not the only one.” is the President of the United States telling every reporter in this country that telling the truth now comes with the threat of federal consequences. That is a warning shot aimed at the entire press corps, newsrooms, independent journalists, local newspapers, writers, content creators, and every single person using their voice to tell the truth.

The “purposeful inaccuracy” that warranted federal punishment was that Welker described Trump’s endorsement record in the 2026 primaries as producing “mixed results.” That phrase is backed up by NBC’s own reporting, which noted that six Trump-backed candidates for the House and governor lost their primaries earlier this month. CNN described the results the same way. So did Newsweek. “Mixed results” is not inaccurate or controversial. It was basic reporting. It was a journalist doing their job. NBC responded: “Kristen is one of the best in the business and we stand by her.”

If you have been reading my posts every night, you know this is not an isolated attack. This is a pattern, and it is accelerating. It is also one of my greatest concerns for this country. Without a free press, we are at far greater risk of an authoritarian takeover because truth is replaced by propaganda, accountability disappears, and the public loses its ability to distinguish one from the other. So much of our future depends on journalists being able to report the truth without fear, and every attack takes us one step closer to self-censorship. This is one of the main reasons so many of us lose sleep at night, and also something that not nearly enough people even know is happening.

In September 2025, after Disney pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air under pressure, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the FCC could revoke broadcast licenses of networks with hosts “against me.” Two weeks ago, Disney and ABC filed a lawsuit against the FCC, arguing that the agency’s decision to review ABC’s broadcast licenses ahead of schedule amounted to a direct attack on the First Amendment. And the language in that lawsuit tells us exactly where we are in this moment. Disney’s attorneys wrote that the campaign is “calculated to operate in terrorem upon the rest of the industry.” In terrorem. Latin for “as a warning.” ABC is the visible target. But the message is addressed to every broadcaster in the country. The ultimate cost, they wrote, “is borne by the press as a whole.”

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat remaining on the commission, has tried to hold the line, saying, “Once again, this FCC pretends it has the power to control news coverage. In reality, the FCC has vanishingly little power over national news networks.” And she is right. The FCC licenses local broadcast stations, not networks. No licenses are even up for renewal until 2028. But the reality is that it does not matter whether the FCC actually has the legal authority to do what Trump is demanding. What matters is that the President of the United States is telling the country that it does. The threat itself is the weapon. You do not have to follow through on every threat to silence a free press. You just have to make enough of them that reporters start doing the math in their heads before they report the truth. Once that math starts, the truth does not disappear with a dramatic act of censorship. It disappears quietly, one story at a time, as journalists decide the safer path is silence.

This is how fascism spreads, by turning our own institutions against us. It doesn’t take soldiers in the streets or buildings on fire. It happens when regulatory agencies are turned into enforcement arms and federal commissions are weaponized against the truth. It happens when a man with the full power of the presidency tells a journalist she will be “reported for rebuke or punishment” because she stated a fact he did not like, and then warns every other journalist in the country that they could be next.

There is another part of this story that also needs to be told. Trump’s threat tells us something about him, but it also tells us something about the people who still believe they can stay in the regime’s good graces.

Five weeks ago, on July 24, at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Kristen Welker was filmed laughing and chatting with Stephen Miller, Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff, who is also compared to a less capable Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propagandist. The clip spread across social media, and the backlash was immediate. Nicolle Wallace, without naming Welker directly, criticized journalists at the dinner who were “cozying up” to members of the administration and applauding the president. She called it a “jarring image.”

Welker did what so many people in Washington still believe will protect them. She went to the dinner. She smiled at the right people. She laughed with the right people. She played the access game, the one where you stay close to power and hope that proximity buys you safety. Five weeks later, the President of the United States threatened to use a federal agency against her. It didn’t protect her. It never does with people like Trump.

That’s the lesson every journalist, CEO, Republican member of Congress, and really every powerful person who believes they can stay in the regime’s good graces needs to understand. It won’t protect them. The Vichy collaborators in France thought cooperation would spare them. It didn’t. German industrialists who funded Hitler believed they could control him. They couldn’t. Soviet officials praised Stalin in public, toasted him at state dinners, and still ended up in the gulags. The pattern is always the same. The people who choose to enable these evil strongmen are rarely spared. They are simply among the last to be devoured.

That wasn’t the only disturbing thing we learned today. The Washington Post also reported that the Pentagon has been secretly installing conservative military veterans with massive online followings into government roles. They have been given official government email addresses as though they are Pentagon employees. Their assignments have not been disclosed. And they are being deployed to amplify Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s agenda while attacking anyone who scrutinizes the administration.

These are not anonymous social media trolls. Rob Maness is a retired Air Force colonel with more than 135,000 followers who called for the removal of “disloyal” Pentagon employees. Kurt Schlichter is a retired Army colonel with nearly 620,000 followers who praised Trump as a “hero” for confronting Iran. Thomas Anderson, who writes under the pen name Cynical Publius, has more than 323,000 followers and wrote in April that there was “a cancer in America’s military ranks” that “must be expunged.” Pentagon spokesman Joel Valdez declined to say whether any of them are drawing taxpayer-funded salaries or what their exact roles are.

Every single story we learned about today reached us because a journalist reported it. Without a free press, we can’t have a free country. Without reporters willing to do their jobs in the face of federal threats, silence doesn’t just protect Trump from bad headlines. It protects him from accountability for everything. When this is all said and done, and I still believe it will be, I won’t think about Trump. He’ll be a distant memory. His name will be remembered alongside every other strongman who believed he could outlast history. He is not who I’ll think about.

I’ll think about our cowardly Congress. Our cowardly Supreme Court. The people who enabled him. The ones who had the power to stand up for their country and chose not to. They are the people I thought about when I saw everything he posted today.

But more importantly, I’ll think about the brave ones. The truth tellers. The people who kept showing up every single day, even when the threats came, when the comments were vicious, and when the hate was loud. The ones who refused to be intimidated into silence. I’ll think about the people who protested, went to rallies, knocked on doors, and never stopped talking about what was happening and what had to change. The ones who dedicated their lives to making sure this never happens again. That’s how this time will be remembered.

Like I do every single time Donald Trump attacks the free press, I am asking you to join me in what I call my economic protest. You have supported me so generously, and I need you to know how much that means to me. Your paid memberships have made it possible for me to write these posts every single day without ever putting them behind a paywall. I never want the truth to be available only to those who can afford it. You are the reason everyone else can read these posts for free. Thank you.

Thank you to those of you who support this work with a paid membership. Your $5 a month is what allows me to keep writing every day and, just as importantly, to keep these posts free and accessible to everyone. Those who can pay are the reason those who can’t still have access. And right now, with so much at stake heading into the midterms, that matters more than ever. If you’re in a position to join, I’d be grateful to have you with us.Subscribed

Tonight, like I have done countless times before, I’m asking you to think beyond me. Think about the other people doing this work day in and day out, often at great personal risk. Think about the other journalists, writers, and independent voices you trust, the ones who have never stopped and never will. The ones showing up every single day to tell the truth, even while the President of the United States threatens to use federal agencies to punish them for doing so. If they offer a paid membership, please consider joining. Let’s make sure they are financially prepared for whatever comes next.

Because in this moment, with a president actively trying to silence the free press and replace it with propaganda, one of the most powerful things we can do is make sure the truth remains available to every person who needs it.

The week ahead will be long and tumultuous. The House returns tomorrow. Nine weeks from now, we vote, and even more importantly, we send a message to the president and his enablers that their time is up, that this is our country, and that we are taking it back. 

More On U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance  

Florida Republican congressional candidate Te Brown, who may be the same Te Brown who lost a congressional Republican primary in Illinois this year and who faces trial in Illinois this fall on federal fraud charges

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Florida (?) Woman, Andrew Egger, right, Sept. 1, 2026. Republican House candidate Te Mayonna Brown is fighting an uphill battle. Florida’s 24th Congressional District, where she took the Republican nomination after running unopposed last month, is one of the bluest in the state.

But that’s not the only hurdle she appears to be facing. Before getting involved in the FL-24 race, Brown lost a different Republican House primary this year—not in Florida, but in Illinois. Oh, and there’s this: Back in Illinois, she appears to be under indictment for felony wire fraud. Per publicly available court documents, her trial is set to begin just weeks after Election Day.

I am saying “appears” here a lot, because Brown denied it. Not just that she did the things she’s been accused of, but that she’s been accused of them at all. When I reached her by phone yesterday, she flatly insisted—despite clear photographic, social-media, and campaign-records evidence to the contrary—that she, Te Mayonna Brown, wasn’t the Tedora M. Brown who ran for Congress in Illinois or the Te Dora Brown named in a federal indictment. She then asked if I was with law enforcement before hustling off the phone.

Politics attracts strange characters. But few seem to match this.

The tale begins in March 2023, when federal prosecutors in Illinois indicted one Te Dora Brown of Palos Park on thirteen felonies, accusing her and her husband Christopher Scott of fraudulently obtaining hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID relief money by applying for federal loans on behalf of phony employees at companies that turned out not to exist. Prosecutors alleged Brown and Scott spent the money on themselves—making splurge buys at Tiffany, Nordstrom, and Saks Fifth Avenue, buying Uber Eats, and withdrawing huge sums in ATM cash. Scott pleaded guilty; Brown decided to fight the charges.

She also decided to run for office. When she threw her hat in the ring last year for Illinois’s 11th District, Tedora M. Brown (as she now styled her name) was suddenly calling herself a “former lifelong Democrat” who was “waking up to what the Democratic party was doing to her community and her country.”

And she wasn’t hiding the criminal charges. “They came after me because I’m a Republican and I’m an American Black woman,” Brown told a local paper. “If I was guilty, why would I run for Congress? Why would I put myself in the limelight? It just doesn’t make any sense.”

On March 17, Brown came in fourth in her primary, picking up just 5.7 percent of the vote. One month later, a “Te Brown” popped up in Florida business records, incorporating a new company: TM Brown Incorporated. Was this the same person? It appears so. The company was registered in the name of Brown’s former campaign treasurer, Dratonyai Ratcliff. The same records named the company president as “Te Brown,” listing her under a Palos Park, Illinois address.

A few weeks after that, Ratcliff filed new paperwork on behalf of “Te Brown”—this time with the Federal Election Commission. The campaign was headquartered at the same Aventura address where TM Brown Inc. had just been incorporated; Ratcliff was listed once more as treasurer. Brown was running for Congress again, in Florida’s 24th District.

And this time, she lucked out: Nobody else jumped into the race on the Republican side. The primary was canceled and she advanced by default to face Democrat Oliver Gilbert in the general election this November.

Again, I should stress that Brown disputed this entire account. On the phone yesterday, she repeatedly insisted she is not Te Dora Brown or Tedora M. Brown of Illinois. When I pointed out that the same Dratonyai Ratcliff had filed the paperwork for both of Te Brown’s campaigns, she suddenly swerved: “Wait, hold on, is this—are you the police?” Moments later, she begged off the call: It was a busy day, she said, and she needed to prep for “an exclusive interview that I’m doing tomorrow with NBC.” She promised to call back the next day—this morning—at 6 a.m., but she never did.

The evidence linking the indicted Te Dora Brown, Illinois candidate Tedora M. Brown, and Florida candidate Te Brown goes well beyond the Ratcliff tie.

Brown’s Illinois congressional website, taken offline but still available in archived form, writes out her full name as “Te Dora Mayonna Brown”; her current Florida website gives her name as “Te Mayonna Brown.” An X account under the name “Te Mayonna Brown” regularly shares inspirational quotes and updates on her Florida campaign. But the account’s handle, @TeamLSAcademy, is an apparent shoutout to Brown’s former company Little Shepherd’s Academy, Inc.—one of the allegedly fraudulent businesses named in the federal indictment against Te Dora Brown.

That same X account also points in old tweets to an Instagram account, @missbrownalways. That account’s bio listed Brown as the president of two companies, Scottland Construction and Women in Construction of Illinois. Both companies appeared in Tedora M. Brown’s biography on her Illinois campaign website. After I pressed Brown on this connection yesterday, both companies suddenly vanished from the @missbrownalways Instagram bio. Here it was before:

And here it was after:

That account’s profile picture was plainly taken during the same photo shoot as this picture, formerly displayed on the Illinois campaign website of Tedora M. Brown:

And here, for comparison, is a photo taken from the Florida campaign website of Te Brown:

Perhaps aware that it was inconceivable that there might be two Te Browns running for office in the same cycle, Brown’s campaign manager, Karin Dennis, gave me a call literally minutes before we sent this newsletter. Unlike Brown, Dennis acknowledged that this was, indeed, the same person. But she insisted that the charges had been dropped—something that Brown herself has been saying since at least April 2025. Told there was no evidence of that in electronic court records, Dennis suggested it would be there shortly. We will wait and see and update if needed.

I’m disappointed that it was Dennis who called and not Brown because I wanted to know what her endgame is here. She has little shot of winning this deep-blue seat. And it doesn’t appear she’s trying very hard. She’s done little apparent campaigning or press. Nor has she raised much money: She’s brought in just over $7,000 in contributions as of her latest filing. Most of her campaign has been financed by $306,000 she loaned it herself.

In Illinois, Brown seemed to be following a familiar playbook for accused white collar criminals: Proclaiming herself MAGA to paint herself as the victim of a political witch hunt. But if her goal was to run as a victim of Biden-administration weaponized justice to get on the PardonQuest radar of a president with a soft spot for fraudsters, it’s not clear why she’s suddenly trying to keep that indictment hushed up. It’s not like federal prosecutors have forgotten who she is or where to find her. That trial’s coming right up.

Whatever the reason, none of this exactly screams “healthy democracy.” Gerrymandering, partisan polarization, and the death of local media have put us in a strange place: Only a handful of districts are nationally important any given cycle, which means only a handful of districts’ candidates can expect to get a whole ton of scrutiny. Anywhere else, you’re liable to find some true oddballs on your November ballot—even if few are quite as strange as Te Brown.

Middle East Wars, Abuses, Policies 

Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Aug. 31, 2026 ['Unsustainable' Iran Operations?], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Sept. 1, 2026. Alex Horton and Tara Copp of the Washington Post reported on Sunday, August 30, that military leaders are warning Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that a plan to continue large-scale operations in Iran is unsustainable and is weakening their ability to protect U.S. interests in other places, including at home.

The warning is in the classified Secretary of Defense Orders Book of August 14 and is laid out by the heads of the Army, Navy, and Air Force and the four-star commanders who oversee U.S. operations in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Trump’s insistence that he must keep all options open, including the ability to launch major attacks, has forced more than 50,000 troops to be kept on alert for months. Plans to extend that alert made the Navy’s top admiral, along with leaders of the U.S. European Command, the U.S. Pacific Command and the U.S. Southern Command, register that they did not concur with those plans, although their disagreement does not mean they will not execute the order.

Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle warned that the Navy, which has borne the brunt of operations against Iran, cannot sustain its current level of support for the war. Barely a quarter of the Navy’s destroyer fleet is currently able to deploy, while delays in maintenance are threatening the readiness of other ships.

Leaders of the Army and Air Force concurred with the plan to extend force deployments but warned that there would be significant risk to such an extension.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell took to social media to push back against the story, saying, “Publishing highly classified assessments from the Secretary’s orders book is a crime. It’s a betrayal of the force…. We are in great shape around the world. This story isn’t about readiness. It’s TDS [Trump Derangement Syndrome] and PDS [Pete Derangement Syndrome]—they hate President Trump and Secretary Hegseth more than they love America.”

Charlotte Clymer of Charlotte’s Web Thoughts pointed out that Hegseth has either fired or forced into early retirement several admirals and generals whom he considered insufficiently loyal in what appears to be “an ongoing, blatant campaign of intimidation to keep senior brass in the Pentagon toeing the line and not pushing back against administration officials.” And yet, a broad range of military leaders are speaking out against the administration’s plans in Iran.

“If any of the defense secretaries under Presidents Biden, Obama, or Bush had gotten this degree and range of pushback from top uniformed personnel, there would be immediate congressional hearings, calls for resignations, and talks of impeachment,” Clymer writes. “Moveover,” she notes, “someone had to leak the information contained in this classified briefing and did so knowing that it would further confirm the extraordinary weakness the Trump administration has exhibited in its apparently dead-on-arrival ‘negotiations’ with the Iranian regime to end the war.”

National security scholar Tom Nichols commented: “This is a good time to note that Hegseth is terrible at his job, that the Pentagon is a mess, that he should never have been confirmed, and that he should be fired first thing in the morning. But in this administration, sycophancy is more important than competence.”

At 10:18 last night, Trump posted an AI video of military strikes and fires on what appears to be Iran’s Kharg Island, a major storage facility for Iran’s oil and the seaport for about 90% of its oil exports. The caption read: “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT.”

The Defense Department this morning clarified that the U.S. had not attacked Kharg Island. The U.S. did claim to have launched attacks on two Iranian rocket launchers yesterday as they attempted to mine the Strait of Hormuz. Iran claimed to retaliate with strikes against Jordan, which the Jordanian military said were all intercepted. The price of oil rose again.

At 8:09 this morning, Trump posted: “Iran is officially a Failed Nation. IT IS DEAD! They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, they have no currency, they are not paying their soldiers or police, Inflation is at 300%, and their leadership is in total disarray and incapable of properly representing the country. The only thing they have is FAKE NEWS from the USA, a willingness to kill their protesters (now over 100,000 people dead. They must be tried for war crimes against humanity!), and a good line of “BULLSH*T.” Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

Trump continues to try to sell an image about Iran that does not reflect reality. In that, he appears to have the support of Defense Secretary Hegseth, who has restricted journalists’ access to the Pentagon and last week oversaw the firing of three staffers at the military publication Stars and Stripes.

In January the Pentagon tried to take away protections for the paper’s editorial independence, and last week it fired Erik Slavin, editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes, and Lara Korte, a reporter who covers the Middle East. Max Lederer, the paper’s publisher, announced he would retire at the end of September but was pushed out immediately.

The three are suing Hegseth, the Defense Department, Principal Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Andrew Brey, and Defense spokesperson Sean Parnell, saying they were being attacked “for speaking up as private citizens in support of the press’s freedom to cover military operations, its need to reach all servicepersons, and in retaliation for their publication of a news report on deteriorating conditions aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln during its extended tour of duty in the Mid-East.” They called the firings a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment and called out the “extraordinary censorship efforts” of the Defense Department.

But it appears Hegseth is doing more than just trying to stop negative press. Last week, Will Sommer of The Bulwark reported that the Pentagon has hired right-wing social media influencers as special government employees, using taxpayer money to amplify Hegseth’s viewpoints and attack anyone who tries to hold the Trump administration to account. Sommer also noted that an active-duty U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, Adam D’Ortona, posts pro-Hegseth and anti-Democratic material during working hours in violation of the military’s traditional nonpartisanship.

Sommer reported on a video by former representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), who commented: “How many more people that are blue checkmarks on X, that are putting out information on behalf of the federal government and Donald Trump and the Republican Party…are actually special government employees being paid by your tax dollars?”

A story in the Washington Post by Dan Lamothe and Tara Copp yesterday found more. They report that the Pentagon has secretly hired several right-wing military veterans with large social media accounts, including Rob Maness, Kurt Schlichter, and Thomas Anderson, to boost Hegseth’s positions. A Pentagon spokesperson would not comment on the content of their jobs, whether they are receiving a taxpayer-funded salary, or how long their employment is expected to last.

In Public Notice today, Paul Waldman notes that Trump intended to show strength when he made a show of changing the name of Lake Ontario last week, but it really shows he is “weak and getting weaker.” He is still trying to shore up his fantasy world even as the real world is asserting its power.

On Saturday, Trump made an exception in his war on the media, praising CNN’s pollster Harry Enten “because he was willing to show that Donald J. Trump is six times more popular than Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, or any other President,” a reference to Trump’s standing among Republicans alone.

Tonight Michael R. Gordon and Marcus Weisgerber of the Wall Street Journal reported that Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has submitted his resignation after struggling with Hegseth for months over Hegseth’s firing of senior Army officers and over the direction of the military.

Driscoll’s departure, the journalists note, leaves the Army without any Senate-confirmed civilian or military leaders.

Then-President George W. Bush announces "Iraqi Freedom," beginning the regime-change war against Iraq based on false claims that Iraq possessed and was prepared to use of "Weapons of Mass Destruction."(White House photo March 19, 2003).

The Contrarian, Opinion: Words & Phrases: ‘Mission Accomplished 2026’?! Jennifer Rubin, right, Sept. 1, 2026. "63 Days to the Midterms.*

Oblivious to his own failure, which dwarfs George W. Bush’s premature declaration of victory in Iraq, Donald Trump stupidly mimicked the “Mission Accomplished” slogan last week in advance of the six-month mark of his disastrous, illegal, and hugely unpopular war. In response to Trump’s AI-generated meme of a sign bearing that bellicose slogan, Peter Baker of the New York Times observed:

Except that it is not. Mr. Trump’s war in Iran…is anything but accomplished. Half a year in, the conflict has deteriorated into a quagmire of the president’s own making with no clear goals, no obvious strategy and no end in sight.

He finds himself stuck in a maddening purgatory between full-fledged combat and genuine peace. He is reluctant to resume an all-out bombardment despite his thunderous threats, yet has been unable so far to broker an agreement to end the war on satisfactory terms. He has no victory to take credit for, yet is paying the political price in terms of the toll on the American economy and his party’s chances in the fall elections.

Bluntly put, Trump has produced a defeat of unprecedented proportions, handed the Iranian leadership a new lease on life, and given Tehran control of the Strait of Hormuz — a benefit of more utility than a nuclear weapon — without obtaining restrictions on its nuclear weapons program, despite Trump’s assertions to the contrary.

Historian Robert Kagan writes:

Iran has, with American help, completely reconfigured the power structure of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. The dominant power in the region going forward will be Iran, not the U.S. or Israel. Neighboring countries are already making their adjustments to this new reality. More distant powers will too. For years, the world has been dealing with an Iran constrained. It will now discover what Iran unleashed looks like. . . . .

Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz is a more useful instrument of power than a nuclear weapon would be. A nuclear weapon might deter an attack, but control of the strait gives Iran leverage every day, over dozens of countries. With it, Iran can reward friends, punish enemies, extract revenue, force the loosening of sanctions, and make governments think twice before opposing Iranian policies. It can do all of this without firing a shot, and while preserving the ability to threaten violence when necessary.

Iran’s regime remains intact, retains its missile program, can reconstitute its terror network (with monies it will extract from control of the Strait), and claims bragging rights that it laid low a decrepit, delusional bully who threatened it with genocide.

Most obviously, Iran demolished the U.S.’s status as protector of international waterways. With control of the Strait, Iran “is also claiming the right to decide who may pass. It has proposed excluding vessels associated with governments it deems hostile, such as the U.S. and Israel, and it has demanded compensation from nations that participated in attacks against it,” Kagan explains. In place of free passage through a key waterway, Iran has “establish[ed] the principle that passage through the strait will henceforth be a privilege that Tehran can grant, condition, delay, or deny.”Subscribed

As strained as Iran’s economy is, and as much pain as its people have absorbed, its regime is widely expected to outlast the Trump presidency. The U.S. will struggle to maintain any semblance of sanctions against Iran, which stands to collect fists full of currency from ships seeking passage through the Strait.

Trump’s empty threats of a new era of economic warfare against Iran based on secondary sanctions on other countries are as devoid of credibility as his military ultimatums. Vivian Salama writes for The Atlantic:

[S]econdary sanctions make the U.S. more vulnerable when its own economy is already under pressure, with the technology, manufacturing, and financial sectors likely to bear the brunt. Oil and gasoline prices have already risen, inflation remains a problem, and voters are unhappy with a conflict they were told would make their country safer. The American public’s approval of the war with ​Iran has fallen to its lowest level since the first days of the conflict…. With the midterms approaching, Republicans have little reason to welcome another round of economic pain, let alone the possible U.S.-induced global financial crisis that [Treasury Secretary Scott] Bessent talked about.

Salama confirmed that regional experts see Trump’s sanctions threats “less as an escalation strategy than as the latest step in the administration’s continuing search for an exit from the war.” The pattern is eerily familiar:

The administration keeps reaching for a bigger threat because the last one failed to deliver a decisive victory, or even a face-saving off-ramp. Deadlines move. Threats get grace periods. “Maximum pressure” is followed by more maximum pressure. The question is no longer simply how Washington plans to force Iran to negotiate. It is how the U.S. gets out of a war in which its options seem only to shrink.

In the real world, the U.S. has failed to achieve any of its stated goals (e.g., eliminating Iran’s missile arsenal, ending its nuclear program, obtaining regime change, curbing its regional influence) and certainly has no clear strategy for doing so now that its complete aversion to resuming military action is out in the open.

The harm to U.S. national security is profound. Senior brass has warned the hapless Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth that our continued deployment is unsustainable, with the most dire warning coming from the chief of Naval operations, who reports only one quarter of the fleet is deployable.

Our munitions stocks are dangerously low, impairing military options in the region and beyond. “The U.S. has rushed so many munitions to the Middle East to fight Iran that military planners are concerned the loss of firepower is diminishing America’s ability to defend against potential threats from China and Russia,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The cuts have been so deep that the U.S. inventories in Europe of PAC-3 Patriot air defense interceptors and ATACMS [Army Tactical Missile System] surface-to-surface missiles are deemed to be ‘beyond critical.’”

Within the region, our influence is at a low ebb, with Gulf allies now looking for partners other than the U.S. As Kagan notes: “Saudi Arabia’s rejection of the U.S.-and Israel-backed Abraham Accords in favor of a strategic compact with Pakistan and Turkey hints at the shape of the future.” Outside the Middle East, both allies and foes recognize that the U.S. lacks the strategic smarts and staying power to defeat even a second-rate power.

So forget “Mission Accomplished.” Don’t bother with “victory” triumphalism. This international humiliation far surpasses U.S. setbacks in Vietnam or even Iraq. Perhaps the worst strategic blunder in U.S. history is entirely Trump’s doing, aided and abetted by incompetent Cabinet flunkies and congressional Republicans too cowardly to live up to their oaths to protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Booting Republicans from office en masse is the essential first step in addressing this catastrophe.

More On U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion:Trump’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Cabinet, William Kristol,right, Aug. 31, 2026. One imagines the members of Donald Trump’s cabinet at bedtime, satisfied by what they’ve accomplished that day at the office in the way of illegality and mendacity and cruelty, approaching their vanity dressers to echo the Evil Queen from Snow White: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of us all?”

What they mean, of course, is “Who is the fairest to Donald Trump?”

Who knows? They don’t. Their Dear Leader likes to keep them guessing. It’s pleasant to imagine them jolting awake in a cold sweat from nightmares in which their Leader has turned on them for some instance of insufficiently supine loyalty.

In any case, it’s hard for us sane types to know who’s the fairest of them all to Trump. But a question we can try to answer is, Who’s the worst of them all for America?

Sam Stein and Tim Miller rose to this challenge on Friday’s Bulwark Daily podcast.

Sam’s list of the worst five in Trump’s cabinet was reasonable:

• Pete Hegseth.
• RFK Jr.
• Markwayne Mullin.
• Sean Duffy.
• Todd Blanche.

As was Tim’s slightly different ranking:

• Marco Rubio.
• Hegseth.
• Blanche.
• Howard Lutnick.
• RFK Jr.

You should watch their amusing and instructive discussion.

Several of you have asked me to referee their debate. OK. I’m sad to report that neither of my estimable colleagues has gotten it quite right. The correct ranking is:

1. Hegseth.
2. Mullin.
3. Blanche.
4. RFK Jr.
5. Rubio.

It’s a parlor game. But it reminds of just how deplorable and dangerous are the individuals running our federal government. And it’s useful to recall, in light of the forthcoming midterm elections, that all hold their positions because they were confirmed by a Republican senate.

And it’s also worth pointing out that at this time in Trump’s first term, the counterparts of my Top Five were Jim Mattis, Kirstjen Nielsen, Jeff Sessions, Alex Azar, and Mike Pompeo. A mixed bag, surely. But still a world of difference from what we have now. Mattis wasn’t dedicated to politicizing the military and waging unconstitutional wars. Nielsen wasn’t willing to go all-in on masked agents brutally carrying out a mass deportation. Sessions still thought some rules and norms should be observed at the Department of Justice. Azar didn’t spread wild misinformation about vaccines or seek to destroy our medical research infrastructure. Pompeo still tried to uphold a U.S.-led international order.

Trump’s second term is something else. It’s not just that he’s older and crazier and more megalomaniacal. Look at the people now controlling the most powerful government departments. Would any of them stand up to Trump even in the face of truly destructive commands? Would any of them tell the truth rather than lie for Trump? Would any of them balk at any illegality they were ordered to perform? Would any of them fail to go along with election subversion in 2028?

The dangers of Trump’s second term far exceed those of his first.

And it’s not a fairy tale with a guaranteed happy ending.

AROUND THE BULWARK

• The DSA and the Real Lessons of Scandinavian ‘Socialism’... Today’s American socialists love to namedrop the Nordic model—but they don’t mention that it works because of capitalism and broad-based taxes, argues JOSHUA ZEITZ.
• The 2028 Democratic Primary Is Quietly Raging… The road to the White House begins with a scramble to hire staff, reports LAUREN EGAN in The Opposition.
• Trump Wants the FCC to “Punish” Kristen Welker for Telling the Truth… On Bulwark Takes, SAM STEIN and BEN PARKER unpack a brutal 24 hours for press freedom.
• The Trump Admin Found a Way to Make Mass Deportation Even Crueler… On The Bulwark on Sunday, JIM SWIFT and SARAH MEHTA of the ACLU join BILL KRISTOL to talk about Springfield, Ohio’s Haitian community and the legal and legislative fights over immigration enforcement.
• Inside Trump’s National Security Dumpster Fire… On The Mona Charen Show, MONA CHAREN speaks with former CIA officer JULIA CURLEE about her two decades in intelligence, her removal from the Trump White House, and what she describes as the dangerous erosion of expertise and nonpartisan analysis across the national security apparatus.

Quick Hits

FEDS TO THE LEFT OF ME, POSTERS TO THE RIGHT: Last week, our Will Sommer reported on the strange case of the woman known online as “Data Republican”: Elon Musk fangirl, Twitter troll/conspiracist, and—it suddenly came to light—Defense Department employee. Many were astonished to learn that such a prominent “independent” pro-Trump and pro-Hegseth voice was actually on the Trump administration’s payroll—and, as Will noted, she was only the tip of the iceberg.

Yesterday, the Washington Post tracked down a few more of X’s greatest Pentagon employees, including retired Cols. Rob Maness, Kurt Schlichter, and Thomas Anderson. All three are reliable administration boosters to their large online audiences; none had disclosed they were ongoing recipients of government cheese.

The revelations were embarrassing for the posters, and they were embarrassing for Hegseth, who thinks he’s presidential material but still apparently feels the need to buy fake friends on X. But the funniest spectacle was seeing the way the broad MAGA ecosystem reacted with a shrug. This is a group of people that sees a Deep State conspiracy under every rock and bush and for whom “fed” is a grave insult. But here were actual, honest-to-God feds in their midst—and it turned out they barely even cared.

MILO GETS THE BOOT: Speaking of influencers: It’s both astonishing and unnerving how much both the MAGA media ecosystem and the federal government now run on the court-politics rules of Louis XIV. One of the clearest examples came this weekend, when Trump cheerleader turned critic Milo Yiannopoulos was deported to the United Kingdom.

Yiannopoulos’s detention and deportation seem to have gone by the book: He overstayed a visa, missed an immigration hearing, and was given a deportation order by a judge. But the messaging around his deportation strongly resembled the purging of a dissident. Trump whisperer Laura Loomer, whose tweets and conversations with Trump have spurred prior purges of government employees and other official actions, took boastful credit for putting ICE on Yiannopoulos’s trail after the two of them feuded. And the Department of Homeland Security paraded Yiannopoulos’s mugshot online, writing that he “chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws.”

VACATION REMINDED ME I NEED A VACATION: How utterly pointless and irrelevant has Congress become in its period of late-Trump decadence? The House gavels back in today for the first time in five weeks. But if Speaker Mike Johnson gets his way, they’ll quickly pass one spending package to avoid a shutdown and charge back into recess as fast as possible. Politico reports:

Johnson is hoping to tick the lone essential item off the chamber’s to-do list in lawmakers’ first days back: sending a shutdown-averting spending bill to President Donald Trump’s desk. Otherwise, the Capitol Hill agenda is devoid of must-pass legislation until later in the year.

Meanwhile, the thin GOP majority has had trouble opening the House floor for debate on any number of legislative priorities, and many Republicans lawmakers are simply eager to get back home ahead of the November midterms rather than endure more headaches in Washington.

Together that has fueled open speculation among members and aides that House leaders will call it quits until mid-November much sooner than the currently scheduled Oct. 1 exit date.

The Contrarian, Opinion: Yes, More Trump Self-promotion! Jennifer Rubin, right, Aug. 31, 2026. 64 Days to the Midterms. Donald Trump’s pathological narcissism has soared (or sunk?) to new levels of almost comedic depravity. Like a ping-pong ball in a wind tunnel, he bounces haphazardly from one embarrassment to another, slamming into walls of public derision.

Except for the feckless supplicants on the MAGA Supreme Court, the courts have routinely rebuked him, using language that has become increasingly dismissive.

Trump delusionally “ordered” Lake Ontario to be renamed “Lake America,” in another cringeworthy temper tantrum amidst a self-defeating trade war with Canada. In addition, his lame effort to order an end run around a judge’s order barring him from slapping his name on the Kennedy Center — with lawyers threatening to tear down the historic institution unless he gets his way on renovations and a 2 year closure — earned him a court tongue-lashing on Thursday, forcing him to put off its planned September 8 defacement (trying to rename the plaza adjoining the building). And Trump’s latest, desperate effort to inject confusion into midterm voting was thwarted on Thursday, thanks to the order of U.S. Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts, who “once again temporarily prohibited the U.S. Postal Service from carrying out a plan to restrict mail-in voting… [that] appeared to overstep its legal mandate and could spark chaos by changing rules fewer than 70 days before an election.”

And, to the amazement of experienced political consultants in both parties, Trump’s minions continue to freak out over Georgia Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff’s innocuous barb aimed at Trump babysitter hanger-on and obsessive fan Natalie Harp, thereby reinforcing his persona as a decrepit, needy has-been.

“Their relationship appears enmeshed and pathological,” observed former George W. Bush White House adviser Pete Wehner. “The information she passes along to him is unvetted, unfiltered, and highly warped and unreliable.” Aside from the creepiness, “She is further distorting the world for a man who, with every passing year, is detaching more and more from reality. His world is narrowing to a pinhole.” His courtiers’ over-the-top defense only confirms Trump is emotionally enfeebled.Sad

As political and court defeats pile up, Trump becomes more unhinged and desperate to boost his public image. With his approval ratings sinking, he demanded his aides whip up “a series of television advertisements about his own record that will serve as a backdrop to the hundreds of individual House and Senate contests.” You can practically hear Democrats guffaw, ‘Oh, really!?’ They could not be more delighted that Trump intends to saddle his party with constant reminders of a record that an overwhelming percentage of Americans (including crucial independent voters and Hispanics) deeply dislike. (‘From the president who brought you a war you didn’t want, more expensive healthcare, dangerous lettuce, and…’)

The New York Times sums up how Trump risks becoming a “liability” for his party, and the Democrats’ response:

He has urged supporters to “pretend” he is on the ballot and suggested he will spend significant campaign cash reserves.

Democrats are just as eager for him to play a starring role. Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, argued that congressional Republicans had been boxed in by the president and rendered little more than a rubber stamp for his agenda.

“Donald Trump controls the Republican caucus in Congress like a bunch of trained seals,” Mr. Raskin said . . . . “This is essentially what the November elections are about.”

Well, if Trump insists, let’s all pretend he is on the ballot! Democrats are practically gleeful, ready to pounce with more mockery and sharp humor, which in turn will likely provoke even more hysterical responses from Trump and his supporters.Subscribed

The horror show for Republicans is just getting underway. Trump’s planned unprecedented midterm convention on the eve of 9/11 (!) has all the makings of another bust. “Republicans are privately questioning if it strikes the right tone amid the electorate’s tightening budgets — and the wisdom of diverting candidates from their districts just weeks out from Election Day,” CNN reports. “Further compounding concerns: expensive entrance fees for lawmakers, competing events like the start of the NFL season and 9/11 commemorations, and some state parties struggling to drum up enthusiasm with their members.”

The real problem? It’s all about Trump.

“[T]here’s the overarching fear — that an event once dubbed ‘Trumpapalooza’ will indeed end up being far more about promoting the president than the candidates who are actually on the ballot,” CNN observes.

Some of this would be amusing — especially for Democrats who stand to benefit from the spasm of self-inflicted injuries — if not for the power that the president of the United States wields. Taken together, incidents of this sort (plus Trump’s vindictive threats against the wrongly accused “vandals” of the reflecting pool, firings of Stars & Stripes journalists, a bizarre vow to deploy the military against the bond market, and nonstop touting of imaginary positive polls) underscore Trump’s delusional isolation from reality.

The nonstop stream of ostensibly “small,” petty, and entirely politically daft outbursts reminds us that an emotionally unstable, decaying figure atop the only global superpower (though that status has become a subject of increasing debate) poses enormous risks for the U.S. and the rest of the world. It’s not the laughable midterm ad campaign that should keep us up at night, but the realization that someone so obviously off his rocker is making life-and-death decisions about war and peace, blowing up trillions in market value and family wealth, deporting hundreds of thousands of hard-working migrants, and striving to bollix up the smooth operation of the upcoming midterm elections.

Now is no time for legacy media sanewashing of Trump nor for Democrats to underplay the urgency of the moment. Trump’s danger to the republic has never been greater, nor has MAGA Republicans’ cowardly refusal to grab the wheel and protect the country been more dispiriting.

It is up to voters to deliver an unequivocal, overwhelming defeat to this MAGA cult of personality. Only then would Congress be able to recover its constitutional role, implement real checks on his mad reign of terror, and devise a plan for holding accountable those who have driven the country into a ditch.

But, in the meantime, more Trump self-reverential ads please!

Hopium Chronicles, Advocacy and Opinion: The Importance Of Voting Early, Pete Hegseth Is A Dangerous Clown And Needs To Go, Trump Has Made Venezuela A “Neo-Colony” And It’s Not OK, Simon Rosenberg, right, Aug. 31, 2026. We’ve often talked about how Job One this year was getting all our great candidates elected and flipping the House and Senate. As of today Hopium’s Job Two is to vote early and get everyone you know in your family, networks, communities, and organizations to join you.

Starting today I hope you will self report in this chat what you are doing to help people vote early. If you have graphics from your campaigns share a link in the chat or send them to community@HopiumChronicles.com. Here’s a fun new Hopium-inspired graphic from Lynn Fellman, also known as Rebel Artist for Science:Photo by Lynn Fellman on August 30, 2026. Text that says 'Hey, Virginia! Early, in-person voting starts September 18th Vote early. Vote blue. We have elections to win. A country to save. रા Voting early makes it harder for MAGA to cheat. (Credit: Rebel Artist for Science.)

I make the case for Voting Early in this Hopium page, but the bottom line is this: When Democrats vote early is makes it more likely we win and harder for them to cheat.Subscribed

Here’s another reason to vote early, in person if possible, drop box next, and then mail as early as you can - because of the intentional battering of the USPS returned mail ballots are arriving later this year causing an increase of ballots not getting counted:

From the new NYT analysis (gift link):

The rate at which mail votes have been rejected for arriving late has ticked up in primaries this year and general elections last year in roughly a dozen states, prompting election officials to worry that the U.S. Postal Service is ill-equipped to deliver ballots in the fall midterms.

The states studied by The New York Times include some of the most critical battleground House and Senate seats where control of Congress will be determined, as well as key races for governor and secretary of state. The Times obtained data from California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington.

In Wisconsin, which hosts an open race for governor, a competitive House election plus contests for both chambers of the state legislature, lateness accounted for about 5,000 rejected mail ballots in the spring primary this year, or 78 percent of all tossed ballots. During the last spring election, in 2023, the figure was roughly 2,300, or 47 percent of all tossed votes.

The increase is particularly striking when comparing primaries in 2024 and this year. In Michigan’s primary earlier this month, more than 10,000 mail ballots were rejected for arriving after the state’s deadline of 8 p.m. on Election Day. That is nearly double the number of ballots rejected in 2024. In Washington, the number of late-arriving mail ballots increased from about 16,000 to more than 20,000 in the same period.

The rise in rejected ballots comes at a time of immense upheaval at the Postal Service, where a budget crisis has prompted widespread complaints about delivery delays. The increase also comes as President Trump and his allies are trying to transform the 251-year-old agency into a central player in their quest to restrict mail voting and otherwise overhaul the nation’s elections.

We need to make voting early a national crusade this year. Everyone has a role to play. Let’s make the act of voting celebratory, joyous, defiant, a double fisted middle finger in the face of Trump’s rancid illiberalism. You want something better for America? Vote early. You want to make sure Democrats win? Vote early. Encourage influentials and electeds in your community to join your campaign. Encourage them to make videos to encourage their networks to join us. Let’s make this a bottom up wave of joyful patriots standing up to American and global authoritarianism by voting early and in unprecedented numbers. Imagine if the stories in the last few weeks of the elections are all about a swarm of humanity voting, doing their part, standing up for our rights and freedoms through voting……..these images, and these stories will create what we will call in the business permission structure and social pressure for more people to vote, creating a virtuous cycle of participation, where the a robust early vote creates even more voters, increasing our turnout, making it more likely win races across the country, which in turn creates even more……

A few more things…..

• Pete Hegseth Has To Go. It Is Time Now - Let’s look at the headlines just from a single site this morning, the homepage of the Washington Post:
• A U.S. strike on Iran breaks a month-long lull, and Iran fires back (link)
• Pentagon secretly installs military influencers in civilian roles: Conservative veterans with large social media followings have been hired by the Defense Department and are amplifying Pete Hegseth’s culture-war fights (link)
• Hegseth’s purges are endangering national security: The Iran quagmire wouldn’t have happened under Trump’s first-term military leaders (link)

And this explosive, must read one - Military leaders warn Hegseth against extending Iran war operations: A recent classified assessment advised that prolonged large-scale operations in the Middle East risk weakening U.S. capabilities elsewhere (link)

Look at this collection of headlines from the NYT home page now. Failure, weakness, American humiliation as far as the eye can see…..

What’s Happening In Venezuela Is Not OK:  Thwarted and failing everywhere else our rapacious leader has decided make himself feel better by taking even more oil from his Latin play toy, Venezuela. From the Washington Post this am in a story called Venezuela vowed not to ‘hand over’ its oil. Trump aims to grab a windfall:

As Nicolás Maduro’s vice president in Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez once accused her political rival of planning to hand over the country’s riches — its vast oil reserves — to the United States.

“They are her owners,” Rodriguez said in 2024 of María Corina Machado, then the U.S.-backed opposition leader. “Her master gives her orders to do what? To hand over the oil, the gas, the gold … to hand over and trample on our historical dignity.”

Now, Rodríguez is the country’s interim leader, thanks to President Donald Trump. And on Friday, Trump announced what he called the “biggest oil deal in world history” — a pact that would give the U.S. a long-term controlling stake in nearly a quarter of Venezuela’s untapped oil reserves.

The deal calls for the U.S. to enter a joint venture with a private company, creating a new oil giant that the Trump administration said will hold 100-year contracts at the Venezuelan oil fields. It would become the second-largest private oil company by reserves in the world, after Saudi Aramco.

The deal cements the United States’ long-term dominance over Venezuela, which has become a neo-colony since the U.S. military’s capture of Maduro in January, when Trump vowed to “run” the country and exploit its oil wealth. The agreement now stands to lock in the United States as Venezuela’s primary oil partner for generations.

The agreement appears to contradict much of what Venezuela’s government has stood for since then-President Hugo Chávez proclaimed it a socialist state. For Venezuelans, it also creates a sense of history repeating itself, with a twist: A government long criticized for its opaque oil deals, and widespread corruption, is now entering a murky, long-term arrangement with a new protector, the United States.

……..But few details have been disclosed about the agreement, leaving Venezuelans with more questions than answers.

It remains unclear how much Venezuela will earn from the deal; how much it will cost U.S. taxpayers, given the need for expensive front-end investment; and how much will simply end up enriching the private company — and the controversial businessman, Alejandro Betancourt — at the center of it all.

How much stake do we think the Trump family gets in this new company, a company that would become “the second-largest private oil company by reserves in the world, after Saudi Aramco”?

The Senate Russia Sanctions Bill Comes To The House - From Punchbowl:

The powerful House Democrats who oppose the Senate-passed bill, along with the Democratic senators who led the charge against the measure, are out with a joint statement trying to call Trump’s bluff. They say Trump already has “broad, existing sanctions authorities” he can trigger to squeeze Russia.

The statement goes on to say:

“Congress does not need to greenlight new tariff authority for the President to impose those sanctions on Russia today. Delaying sanctions makes them less effective while the Kremlin continues to expand its schemes to procure foreign technology and funding. Ukrainians need our support now.”

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) — the top Democrats on the Banking and Finance committees, respectively — led the statement. Both voted against the Senate bill.

The statement is co-signed by three top House Democrats who long ago announced their opposition to the legislation over the tariff provisions: Rep. Gregory Meeks (N.Y.), the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee; Rep. Richie Neal (Mass.), the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee; and Rep. Don Beyer (Va.).

I am grateful that these leaders are working to improve the Senate-passed bill by stripping out Trump’s tariff authority. We need more sanctions on Russia, but it is important to do it right. If have time today call your rep and say “yes to Russia sanctions, no to new tariff authority.”

Improving the Senate sanctions bill is something Ranking Member Meeks discussed with us when he dropped by a few weeks ago.

Sen. Ed Markey (left) faces Rep. Seth Moulton (right) in Massachusetts’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Unlike many Democratic primary contests this cycle, the older candidate (Markey) is running as the more progressive choice compared with the younger option (Moulton). (Images via NASA and Moulton campaign),

Decision Desk HQ, Massachusetts’s upside-down generational primary challenge, Geoffrey Skelley, Aug. 31, 2026. A look at four Democratic primaries to watch in Massachusetts on Sept. 1.

Frontrunner: Upending the common 2026 narrative in Democratic primaries, Massachusetts has a U.S. Senate battle between an old progressive and a young moderate. Plus, the rest of the Massachusetts primary slate.Previewing four must-watch Massachusetts primaries.

Quick summary:

80-year old progressive Democratic Sen. Ed Markey faces a primary challenge from 47-year old Rep. Seth Moulton, who is running as a more moderate choice. Markey is favored to hold on even though other older Democratic incumbents have had electoral trouble in 2026.

Democratic Reps. Stephen Lynch and Richard Neal each face more progressive primary challengers who hope to take down these longtime incumbents. Plus, Moulton’s open 6th District features a busy primary on the Democratic side.

The Bay State Blues take center stage on Sept. 1. One of the bluest states in the country, Massachusetts will host four high-profile Democratic primaries for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives that will effectively determine the next holder of each seat. The clashes feature some familiar progressive-versus-establishment and old-versus-young storylines that we’ve seen throughout the 2026 election cycle on the Democratic side. However, some of the races — especially the Senate contest between Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Seth Moulton — have shaken up the familiar contours of those narratives. Let’s take a look at Tuesday’s big contests.

To the Contrary, Political Opinion: Dems Have a Hasan Piker Problem. But the GOP Has a Much, Much Bigger Elon Musk Problem, Charlie Sykes, Aug. 31, 2026. Elon is back, and in a rational world, Republicans would be facing a toxic dilemma. Via Axios: “Musk plans massive spending for GOP in midterms.”

Tech billionaire Elon Musk is jumping into the midterms with a huge investment in a plan to boost Republican voter turnout, Axios has learned.

Driving the news: Musk is resuscitating his dormant super PAC, America PAC, which spent more than $260 million to help get President Trump elected in 2024.

Musk’s pro-Trump donations through America PAC in 2024 made him the largest individual political donor in a single election cycle in U.S. history….

The big picture: Musk’s investment will add to a huge Republican cash edge over Democrats at a time when Trump’s low approval ratings — particularly on the economy and the Iran war — have put GOP control of the House, and perhaps the Senate, in jeopardy in the Nov. 3 elections.

Two things can be true at the same time: The cash-infusion will be a welcome boost to the GOP, but it also a poisoned chalice because it makes Musk once again the face of the party. And you remember how that worked out in his last great venture in Wisconsin, when his $25 million campaign to put a conservative on the State Supreme Court spectacularly backfired.

So, let’s reset the midterm campaign. Republicans have weaponized the ties between Democratic senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and far-left influencer Hasan Piker. Meanwhile, a growing number of Democrats have denounced Piker and distanced themselves and their party from his bigoted extremism. (”Hasan Piker Condemned by Jeffries, Ossoff and Other Democrats: Full List.”)

As you know, I’ve written and spoken about the Piker Problem here, here, and here, and here; and I still think the Tim Miller/Pod-Bros welcome of Piker was the worst political take of the year. As I wrote back in April, “This debate is not a distraction; it is precisely the thing that healthy political parties should be having. And, frankly, the idea that we absolutely should not embrace bigoted, anti-democratic, misogynistic voices is pretty foundational for many Never Trumpers, who walked away from their party precisely because principles were more important than political allegiance….. “

But if a Twitch influencer who has campaigned with a handful of Democrats is a big issue, then what ought we to make of Elon Musk — the richest, loudest, and most virulent antisemite and racist on the planet — bankrolling and campaigning with pretty much the entire GOP?

If Piker is awful (and he is), Musk is (and I’m trying not to be hyperbolic here), a trillion times worse.

And the GOP needs to own the oligarch. Good and hard. If Piker’s involvement with one candidate suggests that Democrats must wrestle with antisemitism, what does the GOP’s thralldom to the world’s loudest bigot suggest? By denouncing Piker, many Democrats have seized the moral high ground; but I am unable to come up with a single prominent Republican who has said squat about their bigoted paymaster.

Indeed — unless the opposition is utterly brain-dead — every Republican candidate should be asked the same questions about Musk that El-Sayed is asked about Piker.

Democrats should emblazon Musk’s name in every district where Republicans are campaigning. Every Republican who takes money from Musk. Every Republican who campaigns with Musk. Every Republican who is endorsed by Musk.

Because the record is not obscure or subtle.

If anything, Musk’s racist screeds have gotten even louder and more virulent after his breakup with Trump in 2025. Just a few months ago, in a post that likely got me kicked off the social media site that he has so aggressively enshittified, I tried to document Musk’s latest descent into the most toxic bigotry: “Elon Musk's Racist Screed-Storm.”

Note: It’s easy to be discouraged or numbed to what’s happening. But this is the fight of our times and the challenge of our generation. That’s why we do this every day and why there is no paywall. Because (1) We are the crazy ones, and (2) We’re in this together. Please sonsider subscribing.

New York Times, Vance Calls El-Sayed ‘Evil’ in No-Holds-Barred Michigan Speech, Bayliss Wagner, Aug. 31, 2026. Vice President JD Vance also told Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee, to “keep my wife’s name out of your mouth.”

Vice President JD Vance called Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee and an outspoken critic of Israel, “very, very evil” at a campaign rally near Detroit on Monday and accused him of heightening racial and religious divisions.

“I realize that there’s something about Abdul El-Sayed that is very, very evil and on the rise in the United States of America today,” Mr. Vance said at the event at a warehouse in Sterling Heights hosted by MAGA Inc., President Trump’s super PAC.

Mr. Vance was in Michigan campaigning for former Representative Mike Rogers, Dr. El-Sayed’s Republican opponent in one of the nation’s most hotly contested Senate races this fall. The vice president’s remarks appeared aimed at stoking tensions between Dr. El-Sayed and Michigan’s Jewish community, which the Democrat has been attempting to allay since winning his party’s bitter primary against a pro-Israel opponent in early August.

Over the weekend, Dr. El-Sayed, who is Muslim, met with members of the Jewish Democratic Caucus to apologize for a remark he made in March after an assailant drove a truck into a synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. The candidate said he regretted saying that “hurt people hurt people,” a comment that some interpreted as too sympathetic to the perpetrator, whose deeds were described by authorities as a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.” The man, 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, died in the incident.

Mr. Vance’s comments appeared to reflect a strategy of trying to harm Dr. El-Sayed’s standing among Jewish voters. The vice president’s one-day trip to Michigan also illustrated the stakes in the race, which many Republicans view as must-win if they are to retain control of the Senate.

In his remarks, Mr. Vance praised the rabbi of Temple Israel, the synagogue where the attack occurred, as well as a guard who was injured in a firefight with the attacker. He met with them backstage before the event, a spokesperson for Mr. Vance said.

People like Mr. El-Sayed “see themselves not as citizens of a common nation fighting for every single person — whether they’re Jewish or Christian, whether they’re white or Black or brown — but see themselves as fighting for one group at the expense of others,” Mr. Vance said. “And that is how, ladies and gentlemen, you destroy the United States of America.”

Others in the party have gone further to try to demonize Dr. El-Sayed by using anti-Muslim stereotypes. Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican National Committee, told Fox News on Aug. 6 that “Mike Rogers is a guy that would be the first responder going to help the victims of 9/11, and El-Sayed is the guy that would have been friends of the guys flying the plane.”

In addition, the Senate Republicans’ campaign committee referred to Dr. El-Sayed by his full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, in a news release issued in early August that accused him of supporting “terrorist organizations.”

Mr. Rogers, meanwhile, has sought to cast his campaign as more friendly to Jewish voters. Last week, he released a list of 344 Jewish Michiganders who had pledged to support his campaign.

Dr. El-Sayed called Mr. Vance “a sock puppet” and cast his policies as “evil” in a statement responding to the vice president’s remarks.

“Evil is ripping health care away from working people in exchange for tax breaks for billionaires,” Dr. El-Sayed said on Monday. “Evil is making people pay more for groceries and gas while pushing for trade wars and actual war. Evil is dividing people for your own gain. Evil is selling out your morals for a little bit of power.”

Onstage Monday, Mr. Vance also took issue with Dr. El-Sayed for making remarks about the second lady, Usha Vance.

Last week, Dr. El-Sayed mused in a social media post about whether the vice president would take her “back in time to meet Papaw” if he could, referring to Mr. Vance’s deceased grandfather and seeming to imply that he would not have approved of the Vances’ interracial marriage.

“Abdul, keep my wife’s name the hell out of your mouth because she’s way out of your league,” Mr. Vance said, prompting a roar from supporters.

Ms. Vance is of Indian descent. In his first memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance wrote that it was “one of the great regrets of my life that Mamaw and Papaw never met” her.

It wasn’t Dr. El-Sayed’s first mention of Ms. Vance. In a podcast episode in April, he accused Mr. Vance of having made his career by “hating people who are different” and suggested that the couple’s mixed-race children would have to reckon with that fact. He also suggested that Ms. Vance, who gave birth to the couple’s fourth child in July, was not physically attracted to her husband.

Mr. Vance also sought on Monday to tie Dr. El-Sayed to past remarks by Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer and progressive commentator. The vice president described watching Dr. El-Sayed “campaign around the state with somebody who said that America deserved 9/11,” a reference to a comment by Mr. Piker in 2019 that he has since disavowed.

More On Dolly Parton's Passing, Cultural Importance

Dolly Parton as Doralee in a scene from the film “9 to 5.” (Photo Credit: Steve Schapiro)

New York Times Magazine, In ‘9 to 5,’ Dolly Parton Put a Friendly Face on Feminism, Susan Dominus, Aug. 30, 2026 (print ed.). In 1980, feminists were often stereotyped as man-hating or out of touch. Then Parton gave the movement a boost — and an anthem.

Before a script for the movie “9 to 5” even existed — when it was still just a vague concept for a story about female office workers — Jane Fonda had a lightning bolt moment about how to cast it. She was in the car listening to the radio when a Dolly Parton song came on. Immediately, as Fonda later recalled on the podcast “Dolly Parton’s America,” an image popped into her head: “I suddenly had a vision of Dolly as a secretary,” she said. “She can’t see her hands, typing with those long fingernails. Everything about it made me laugh.”

Fonda approached Parton about the role. “How hard can this be?” Parton remembered thinking, in the 2022 documentary “Still Working 9 to 5.” “If it’s big, I’ll get to roll around in the glory, and if it’s a flop, I blame it on them.”

Dolly Parton with "9 to 5" cast (Images by Steve Schapiro).

Parton made clear to Rolling Stone in 1980 that she did not take the role in order to be part of a feminist project. “Not that I’m not for rights for everybody,” she told the interviewer. “I’m just saying I don’t want to get involved in a political thing.” Whatever you thought about the movie, she implied, it was not, at least for her, a feminist cri de coeur about sexual harassment, equal pay, child care and job flexibility. “It’s just a funny, funny show,” she said — not, most definitely not, about “bosses in general or the plight of secretaries.”ImageParton on the set of “9 to 5.”Credit...Steve Schapiro

Later on in life, Parton, who died on Tuesday, would acknowledge that the movie had “a good message,” but she was clearly ambivalent about being pinned down. Given her many good works — her donations to vaccine research, literacy, disaster relief — Parton’s evasiveness has been interpreted generously by her fans across the political spectrum: It was not so much about making herself marketable as it was about maintaining her status as a unifying cultural force. She seemed to intuit that the best way she could help women fight for equality was by expressing herself her way — without labels.

Despite Parton’s protestations, “9 to 5” was, in fact, developed explicitly as a movie about the experience of low-level office workers. During the years of anti-Vietnam activism that earned her the nickname “Hanoi Jane,” Fonda had befriended another activist, Karen Nussbaum, who had started organizing secretaries and clerical workers, the jobs held by about a third of working women at the time. Fonda and her team interviewed dozens of them, many of whom spoke of overt sexism and sexual harassment; some responded enthusiastically when asked if they ever fantasized about getting even with their bosses. One said she wished she could grind up her boss and serve him in the office coffee.

In the film Fonda eventually developed, Parton plays a competent and sweet, happily partnered secretary who wears feminine dresses and a green sequin cardigan at the office. She and two co-workers, played by Fonda and Lily Tomlin, are fed up with their boss, whom they describe as a “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.” The three women undertake an aburdist revenge plot that involves keeping him in captivity for six weeks, even suspending him from the ceiling.Editors’ Picks

Both Fonda and Parton, in their own ways, were trying to manage feminism’s image problem, which persisted despite the movement’s success in opening up women’s lives over a remarkably short span of time. The movement started picking up momentum in the early 1960s, but gained enormous visibility in 1970, when Betty Friedan, author of “The Feminine Mystique,” helped launch the Women’s Strike for Equality, which included rallies, walk-outs and teach-ins around the country on Aug. 26 of that year. Some 50,000 women protested in New York City alone, effectively shutting down Fifth Avenue.

In 1971, Gloria Steinem, already a powerhouse political and feminist organizer, co-founded Ms. magazine, which sold out its first 300,000 copies within eight days and helped mainstream the language and mission of female equality. Within the decade, the movement had made significant strides: The passage of Title IX expanded girls’ access to sports and academic opportunities in schools; legislation made it illegal for banks to discriminate on the basis of sex, meaning a woman could no longer be required to provide a signed letter from her husband to receive a line of credit; and a 1978 amendment to the Civil Rights Act made it illegal for employers to discriminate against women on the basis of pregnancy. The Supreme Court also decided Roe v. Wade, establishing a constitutional right to abortion that would stand for nearly 50 years.

And yet even as many of these gains were broadly popular, the feminist movement was still viewed with suspicion, especially by conservatives who associated it with its most radical forms — calls for women to reject men, motherhood and caregiving. If feminists weren’t stereotyped as unshaven and man-hating, they were alternatively construed as out of touch and elite. The comedians Catherine O’Hara and Andrea Martin satirized those tropes in a 1981 parody sketch called “I’m Taking My Own Head, Screwing It On Right, and No Guy’s Gonna Tell Me It Ain’t,” in which O’Hara proclaims she’s happy only when she’s working 21 hours a day and Martin complains that she feels like a prisoner in her own home. Even as series like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” used humor to gently push forward feminist ideals, feminists were typically the butt of jokes in stand-up routines and on late-night shows.

Parton knew that Fonda was being strategic by casting her in “9 to 5,” in the hopes of bringing in a Southern audience. Fonda has been even more explicit that she viewed the movie’s humor as a vehicle for delivering a strong feminist message in a palatable way. “Even if people don’t want to deal with the issues we’re raising,” Fonda told the producer of “Dolly Parton’s America,” “they’ll like the movie anyway, because it’s really funny.”

I saw the film at age 10 with my sister, and I think it’s safe to say our reaction was shared by countless viewers: It was Parton who made us laugh the hardest, who we were really rooting for. The rage and revenge on display in the film might have seemed unhinged or ugly — the stuff of violent radicals — but somehow, with Parton at the center, their actions seemed almost plucky: You could push a sweet, smiling flower of a human only so far before she’d show you what she was made of.

The movie was not only a blockbuster — it made $100 million at the box office, the second biggest hit of the year — but according to the organizers who helped Fonda conceive it, it also changed culture in precisely the way they hoped it would. Before its release, “we had to argue that women’s work was plagued by discrimination,” Nussbaum was quoted as saying in Fonda’s memoir, “My Life So Far.” “The movie put an end to that debate. … The audiences recognized it and could laugh at it. Now the debate could shift to what we should do about it.” Ellen Cassedy, an organizer who worked with Nussbaum, said the movie “changed my life, and I can say that without a doubt, it changed offices, bosses and the whole atmosphere of office life.”

It’s unlikely that the movie would have been as effective without “9 to 5,” the theme song Parton wrote for it (a condition of her taking the role). The song starts with a driving, repeating single note, the song’s beating heart, music that’s quickly overlaid with what sounds like a clacking typewriter, even the ping of a cartridge. Written on set, with Parton’s acrylic nails her only instrument as she worked it out, the song universalizes the experiences of “folks like me, on the job, from 9 to 5.” Everyone starts their day with that cup of ambition; everyone has that boss who’s on the make; everyone hates on the man while simultaneously despairing of ever joining his ranks.

The song is sometimes considered a feminist anthem, but as the Canadian podcast “Material Girls” pointed out in March, it might be better considered a rallying cry for what the historian Dorothy Sue Cobble has called “labor feminism.” Labor feminism brought working-class women into the fold, recognizing, in Cobble’s words, that “the personal interaction between men and women at work and the sexploitation of women’s bodies were as much labor issues as wages and benefits.” 

Like Parton herself, the song “9 to 5” is unexpected as a feminist symbol — it’s playful, unlike many of the most important feminist anthems of the ’70s, which demanded respect, talked of survival, of being petrified. (In “I Am Woman,” Helen Reddy speaks of “wisdom born of pain.”) Fonda has said that she knew, from the moment she heard it the first time, it would be a cultural landmark: “If this movie’s not a big hit, this song will be — it’ll make us a hit,” she said in the 2022 documentary.

Parton took real professional risks in collaborating with Fonda, who earned the enduring enmity of thousands of Americans after she was photographed, laughing, sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun while on a visit to Hanoi in 1972. In one of the early interview clips featured in the 2022 documentary, Parton suggested she was not having an easy time being asked “how I deal with Jane, what my folks think about Jane, and what the South thinks about me being a friend of Jane.”

But Parton never seemed to have regrets about making the film. She was herself a savvy career woman, and the film — her first — catapulted her into a new level of celebrity. Whatever her intentions, her performance can be credited with smashing the clichés of what a feminist looked like, even if she wouldn’t use that word to describe herself. She also helped reframe feminism’s image to emphasize more universally relatable demands for an egalitarian, humane workplace — better pay, better conditions, more respect. Getting ahead, getting the raise, getting the credit: It’s a song every American can hum along to.

JoJo From Jerz, Opinion: Bill Maher Is An Ass____, JoJo From Jerz, Aug. 31, 2026. Bill Maher, above, couldn’t tarnish Dolly Parton’s legacy, but he did manage to expose the rot in his own.

In case you missed it the other night, Bill Maher, the oleaginous, unctuous, supercilious, smugly self-satisfied septuagenarian sleazeball with the permanently pursed expression of a man who genuinely enjoys the smell of his own farts, who has spent decades steeping in stale dissent and the accumulated fumes of his own self-regard, stood on the Real Time stage in the middle of his own comedy show and decided that with wars raging, Donald Trump wreaking havoc and all manner of genuinely important s___ happening in the world, Americans were spending entirely too much time talking about the death of Dolly Parton.

You have got to be f____ kidding me.

He actually complained that “all America could really talk about” was how sad people were that we lost Dolly, ticked through some of the extraordinary displays of love appearing around the world, the Empire State Building glowing pink, the Santa Monica Ferris wheel covered in hearts, tributes stretching from London to Las Vegas, and then arrived at the Sphere and announced that it had “added a nipple.”

And that was basically it.

No tenderness. No affection. No meaningful acknowledgment of what she gave the world, what she created, what she meant to millions of people or why they might be gutted that she was gone.

Just this dry, drive-by little cheap shot tossed at a woman three days after she died, and then on to the next joke.

Really.

And I know exactly what some people are going to say.

Jesus Christ, Jo, don’t be so dramatic. 

Dolly joked about her boobs, her body, her hair, her clothes, her face, her makeup and practically every visible inch of herself that some tedious man had already scrutinized, underestimated or decided was available for public inspection, because she had that magnificent ability to grab whatever cheap s___ somebody intended to use against her, bedazzle the bastard, turn it inside out and make the joke hers before the other person even realized she’d stolen the weapon out of their hand.

And I guarantee you Dolly wouldn’t have cared what Bill Maher said about her on his stupid show.

She was a better person than I am by a factor of a thousand, to say the very least. She probably would’ve laughed, waved one perfectly manicured hand and gone on with her day.

I, on the other hand, am a petty, vindictive b___ who relishes any opportunity to eviscerate a sexist little hobbit with a superiority complex, so here we are.

The thing is, if a different comedian had made the exact same joke, I might’ve laughed.

This isn’t about the boob joke.

It’s about the f___telling it.

Context matters. History matters. And he did not materialize on that stage Friday night freshly hatched from some politically incorrect chrysalis, shiny and innocent and unburdened by decades of his own bullshit about women.

He has spent a career pawing through women’s bodies, beauty, brains, boundaries, bedrooms, breakups, beliefs and basic autonomy with the proprietary disgust of a man who thinks female existence is a defective appliance he alone has been burdened with troubleshooting, turning every woman who displeases, defies or simply declines to flatter him into another recurring exhibit in his personal Museum of Why Everybody Else Is Wrong About Everything Always.

I’m saying that when this particular man, dragging this particular history behind him, looks at the death of this particular woman, surveys this immense eruption of grief and gratitude, complains that she’s getting too much attention and then points at her chest, the punchline arrives with a long, greasy receipt attached.

Because Dolly was warmth and wit, humor and heart, bawdy and tender and glamorous as hell, deeply rooted in her faith, ferociously ambitious and astonishingly generous, with this uncanny gift for making people feel welcome in her presence instead of inspected by it.

I’m still not over her passing, and I don’t honestly expect I ever will be.

Losing her felt like somebody removed one of the load-bearing beams of human tenderness, something so constant that millions of us had forgotten how much weight she was carrying until she was gone.

That grief crossed generations, politics, religions and cultures because people weren’t mourning a résumé.

They were mourning Dolly.

And watching that ocean of affection scratched something raw in two sexist birds from the same rotten feather pile.

Donald Trump tried to jam his grubby little snausage fingers into her story by posting a fake AI image of himself (shown agove) walking arm-in-arm with her at the White House after she died, manufacturing a moment that never happened with a woman who spent her entire career being extraordinarily careful not to let politicians claim her for themselves.

Think about how f____ grotesque that is.

Even in death, he couldn’t leave a woman’s image, boundaries or legacy alone. He had to insert himself into the frame, manufacture an intimacy she never publicly gave him and paste his own face into her history after she was no longer here to tell him to get the fuck out of it.

The man has plenty of authentic photographs and archival footage of himself hanging around Jeffrey Epstein.

But Dolly?

He needed AI.

One grasping, glory-guzzling egomaniac tried to counterfeit closeness to her.

The other tried to cheapen the mourning.

Same f_____ sickness: a beloved woman dies and two swollen male egos immediately start clawing at what she left behind, desperate to wedge themselves into a story that was never about them.

And the irony of Maher complaining that everybody was devoting too much attention to Dolly while IMPORTANT THINGS were happening could choke a python.

He was delivering a monologue on a television comedy program.

This wasn’t the chairman of the Joint Chiefs interrupting a briefing on troop movements because somebody wanted to discuss Dollywood. Nobody burst into the Situation Room waving a sequined butterfly and screaming that the Empire State Building had gone pink. He was standing under studio lights being paid an enormous amount of money to make jokes about current events while scolding ordinary Americans for caring too much about the death of one of the most iconic and beloved entertainers this country has ever produced.

I used to watch him a lot. Many, many years ago, I watched his show constantly because I thought he was sharp and willing to say the uncomfortable thing.

He has calcified into the ageing, pretentious pub bore he would’ve mocked thirty years ago, mistaking irritation for intelligence, contempt for sophistication and chronic obnoxiousness for some rarefied capacity to perceive truths unavailable to the rest of us slobbering civilians.

Being incisive doesn’t require being insufferable. 

Dolly will outlive all of this.

Her songs will still be playing. Her movies will still be watched. Children will still open books because of something she started long before they were born. Families will still tell stories about her generosity, her one-liners, her ridiculous hair, the places she showed up, the people she helped and the particular way she made kindness look less like sainthood and more like common fucking sense.

Fifty years from now, people will still know Dolly Parton.

So finally, New Rule:

Trying to diminish Dolly Parton doesn’t make you daring, dangerous or defiantly unconventional. Taking a cheap shot at a legend three days after she dies because the scale of everyone else’s grief annoys you isn’t intellectual courage. It’s just cheap, sour little cruelty dressed up in the moth-eaten costume of rebellion.

Dolly Parton will be loved long after all of us are gone. 

New York Times, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Changes Lives. Some States Gut It Anyway, Ash Wu, Aug. 26, 2026. The crown jewel of the singer’s philanthropic efforts has handed out hundreds of millions of books to children over the past 31 years. But it isn’t immune to funding cuts.

After a tornado devastated swaths of their Nashville neighborhood in 2020, Traci Hilton and her young daughters found solace in a delivery from Dolly Parton. For several nights after the storm, Hilton read them “The Rabbit Listened,” a picture book about how a child who builds a tower out of blocks learns to cope with grief after crows topple it. It quickly became a household favorite.

“I could not get through it without crying,” Hilton said in an interview.

The Hiltons’ copy of “The Rabbit Listened” is one of more than 300 million free books that have been given to millions of children by Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, according to its website.

The program has a presence in all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and four other countries. (Representatives for the Imagination Library declined to answer questions about recent sign-ups, donations and other matters from The New York Times on Wednesday following Parton’s death on Tuesday, explaining that they were overwhelmed.)

But in some states, the program, which relies heavily on state-sponsored grants to run, now finds its future threatened.

In 1995, Parton started the Imagination Library in Sevier County, Tenn., where she grew up. The program mails a free book each month to registered children from birth until age 5.

The Imagination Library mushroomed after forging an exclusive partnership with Penguin Young Readers in 2001; the agreement was later expanded to include Random House Children’s Books, after Penguin and Random House merged in 2012. In the United States, books are selected by childhood literacy experts, according to the Imagination Library website. Educational nonprofits that partner with the library help to enroll children in their local communities in the program, paying an average of $2.60 per child to cover the costs of books and postage each month.

Parton dedicated the library to her father, a farmer who never learned to read or write.

“My daddy just loved it when all the little kids would call me ‘The Book Lady,’” Parton wrote in a note to fans that was previously posted to her website. “That meant more to him than the fact that I had become a star and worked my butt off.”

As Parton grew from a child born below the poverty line in rural Appalachia into an American icon whose legend rivaled that of Paul Bunyan, she retained her knack for connecting with everyday people. Each monthly package from the Imagination Library arrives with a personalized touch: the child’s own name printed on the label.

The program has apparently made its mark on childhood literacy. In 2025, a study conducted by United Way, a nonprofit organization that partners with the Imagination Library in some locations, surveyed more than 86,000 families and found that children enrolled in the program were four times more likely to demonstrate stronger emerging reading skills.

But even Parton’s magnetism and the backing of a powerhouse publisher have not kept the organization immune from state-level budget cuts threatening public libraries and other educational nonprofits across America.

The Dollywood Foundation, the nonprofit that runs the Imagination Library, handles most overhead fees for the program. But to reach as many families as possible, including in the impoverished and rural communities that need the books the most, many of the program’s partners rely on state grants to split costs and increase access.

While states including Oregon and Tennessee have taken steps to proactively protect the nonprofit’s operations, the organization’s legacy hangs in the balance in many others.

In Indiana last year, Governor Mike Braun cut state funding for the program entirely, prompting the state’s first lady, Maureen Braun, to launch a fund-raising campaign to keep it afloat. Kentucky lawmakers proposed a budget reduction this year that would have effectively shut down the program in about half of Kentucky’s poorest counties before restoring the state’s 50 percent funding match after public outcry.

In Maine, the program ended in June after losing state funding, according to WAGM, a local television station, leaving United Way scrambling to fill in the gaps by starting another initiative to provide books to newborns. And Missouri slashed $4 million in funding for the nonprofit in its 2027 budget, effectively freezing new enrollment.

Storied, Inc., the Imagination Library’s program partner in Clark County, Nev., which includes Las Vegas, downsized from around 18,000 or 19,000 children to roughly 2,100 after a grant from the Nevada Department of Education ran out last year, according to its executive director, Meredith Helmick.

“We have not been able to find funding to reopen on a large scale,” said Helmick, who runs Storied, Inc. with her husband, Kyle Helmick.

When Storied, Inc. announced that the state grant would not be renewed, “we were flooded with hundreds of emails,” she said. “The legislative office in Carson City even was overwhelmed with the number of letters that they got from parents just talking about how much it’s brought their families together.”

Like many of the program’s partners, Storied, Inc. stayed afloat with the help of community donors, including the Vegas Golden Knights Foundation. Once Parton’s family had published a statement requesting gifts in her memory be made to the Imagination Library, Helmick saw an influx of donations.

Famed Actress Targeted By Husband In Appalling Sexual Harassment Scandal 

 The German actress Collien Fernandes set out to discover who was pretending to be her and sending men sexually explicit material. Her answer ignited a feminist movement (Photo by Laura Stevens for The New York Times).

New York Times Magazine, Someone Was Impersonating Her in Online Affairs. She Says It Was Her Husband, Susan Dominus, Aug. 30, 2026 (print ed.). The German actress Collien Fernandes set out to discover who was pretending to be her and sending men sexually explicit material. Her answer ignited a feminist movement.

As evening approached on a Thursday in late March, Collien Monica Fernandes, a German actress and television personality, was growing restless. She was having an especially hectic day, shooting an episode of a TV series in a busy marketplace in Phu Quoc, Vietnam. The extras needed wrangling; the set was adjusted and readjusted. As the hours wore on, she checked her phone compulsively — she wanted to be alone in her room by 6 p.m. Finally, at 5:45, with the tropical light dimming, the director called it a wrap. Fernandes tore off her costume, raced to her nearby beachside hotel suite and made sure the digital “Do Not Disturb” sign was on. No one who worked on the show had any idea of what she was about to do.Listen to this article, read by Julia Whelan

Fernandes had recently finalized her divorce from another celebrity, an actor and comedian named Christian Ulmen. Ulmen was famous for being a master of cringe humor, or as the Germans call it with more precision, fremdscham (“someone else’s embarrassment”) humor — the kind that comes from watching another person experience an excruciatingly humiliating situation. In his most successful show, “Jerks,” Ulmen played a hapless actor and comedian also named Christian, whose desperate efforts to avoid awkward scenarios only dig him into deeper holes of shame. Escorts, sexual insecurities and fecal preoccupations feature prominently in the show, as do elaborate lies that pile up and eventually collapse beneath the men who lean on them.

Over the course of their 14-year marriage, Fernandes and Ulmen were a high-profile couple in Germany and the media covered their relationship regularly, often presenting it as a modern egalitarian marriage that reflected strong feminist values. After they had a child in 2012, Fernandes started speaking in interviews about the double standards applied to working mothers; she published a series of children’s books challenging traditional gender roles and produced a three-part documentary about the history of feminism. Ulmen, meanwhile, made news by declaring that he was taking a year off after their daughter was born.

At times, the public attention felt uncomfortable or outright invasive. When Fernandes gave birth to their daughter, she said, tabloids knew even before she had left the hospital room. Ulmen was obsessive about preserving their privacy — a journalist who was a friend of Ulmen’s wrote in a magazine profile that Ulmen seriously considered moving when the package delivery man started asking too many friendly questions. More troublingly, Fernandes was subjected to disturbing online harassment that went far beyond the usual comments about a female celebrity’s appearance. For years someone, or multiple people, had been impersonating her on social media, starting online affairs with men and creating and sharing or just recirculating pornography purportedly of her — material that featured other women who resembled her or imagery that might have been A.I.-generated. Others were charging money for the promise of access to her.

Fernandes initially did not devote much energy to the problem — how would she ever find these trolls typing away in some remote corner of the globe? — but in 2021, she learned about a video in which she appeared to be having sex with numerous men. She decided to respond as a journalist, by investigating her digital harassers. She was plagued by these shadowy figures for years and after considerable effort, she believed she had finally found one of them, a man who was conducting sexually explicit online affairs in her name. That March evening, she was ready to expose him.

The action Fernandes was about to take would dominate the news in Germany for weeks, inciting a nationwide movement that many would compare to #MeToo in the United States. Alone in her hotel suite, she prepared a post on Instagram to go up around the same time as the publication of a major news report about her experiences. She announced to her quarter of a million followers that she had filed a criminal complaint in Spain, where she had been living for the past few years, against a man she believed was responsible for digital and psychological abuse. “The perpetrator was (as I now know) quite close the whole time,” she wrote. “His name: Christian Ulmen.”

More On Middle East Wars, Occupation, Hunger, Civil Violence, Reactions

New York Times, These Generals Fought for Israel. Now They See ‘Jewish Terrorism’ as the Threat, Azam Ahmed, Natan Odenheimer and Ronen Bergman, Photographs by Ivor Prickett, Aug. 31, 2026. A growing number of former Israeli generals, intelligence officials and prime ministers are accusing settlers in the West Bank of committing ethnic cleansing with government support. “Once a society behaves this way,” one said, “that society is doomed.”

Maj. Gen. Eyal Ben-Reuven spent his life fighting for Israel. He survived the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, when his platoon was nearly wiped out, then went on to command a division in the West Bank and lead Israel’s ground forces in the 2006 war against Hezbollah.

But in recent months, he has returned to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, touring the territory with retired generals and former Israeli officials like himself. He has walked through the remains of a Palestinian school looted by Israeli settlers, and listened to Palestinian shepherds and farmers describe being tortured by settlers who seize their livestock and land.

Now, General Ben-Reuven says he has an entirely different understanding of the risks facing Israel today.

“This, what the settlers are doing here, is the real threat to Israel,” he said, his eyes welling with emotion. “This is more concerning to me than Iran, Gaza or Lebanon.”

Other former high-ranking Israeli officials touring the West Bank with him shared the same indignation.

“This is ethnic cleansing, to put it simply,” Ephraim Sneh, a retired brigadier general and former minister of health, said of Israeli settlers’ attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

Asaf Agmon, a retired Air Force general, went even further, comparing it to what some Israelis’ forebears endured in the Holocaust — not in the scale of the violence, he explained, but in the effort to erase the Palestinian presence from much of the West Bank.

“Once a society behaves this way,” he said, “that society is doomed.”

Zosma News via TikTok, Thai people take stand against Israel, Staff Report, Aug. 26, 2026. Thai people take stand against Israeli 'oppression.' Tensions involving Israeli visitors to Thailand are now out of control. The situation in Gaza is no longer just an isolated situation. Let's get this straight. A visitor killed an animal at a zoo, and the zoo owner said the visitors was no longer welcome.

U.S. Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets

Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: Trump Labor Secretary nominee pitched access to “America’s comprehensive welfare” to Chinese nationals, Judd Legum, right, Aug. 31, 2026. Keith Sonderling traveled to China to encourage investment in a Florida real estate development. Prospects were promised a green card and access government benefits. 

Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, who has been nominated by Trump to permanently lead the department, is a member of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. In that role, Sonderling has pledged to “root out waste, fraud, and abuse“ in safety net programs like unemployment insurance “and protect hardworking Americans’ tax dollars.”

Prior to joining the Trump administration, however, as an attorney at the Florida law firm Gunster, Sonderling had a much different relationship with these programs.

During two trips to China in 2015, Sonderling made numerous speeches and presentations pitching Chinese nationals on investments in Florida. These events were designed to entice potential Chinese investors by emphasizing that their investment would make their entire family eligible for green cards, allowing them to live and work permanently in the United States through a controversial program known as EB-5.

At a July 2015 presentation Sonderling delivered with the Premier Capital Group, a Chinese language banner in the room emphasized that investors who received green cards would have access to “America’s Comprehensive Welfare.” This included “unemployment benefits,” “state disability benefits,” “food stamps,” “free school meals,” “low-cost public housing,” “Medicaid,” and “Retirement benefits.”(Original image source: Flickr.com, ks3106;)

Another banner that appeared alongside Sonderling as he spoke emphasized that investors could “get a green card in a short time” and that “one person applies, the whole family immigrates.” Recipients would have access to “free medical care and education benefits.”(Original image source: Flickr.com, ks3106)

Sonderling and Premier Capital Group were seeking $500,000 investments in the Wellness Resort Hotel and Ocean-View Condominium Project. (Premier Capital Group also charged a $13,000 fee for its role.) Sonderling visited the Premier Capital Group offices as well. The project was later subject to numerous lawsuits alleging construction defects, improper zoning, and unpaid contractors.

An archived version of the firm website said that, at Gunster, Sonderling assisted “various clients with their international business dealings and capital fundraising throughout Asia.”

The China trips were documented extensively by Sonderling in hundreds of photos reviewed by Popular Information that were published to two public Flickr accounts. The Chinese text that appeared in the photos was translated using artificial intelligence. Sonderling’s activities in China have not been previously reported.

The photos document that Sonderling participated in at least five speaking engagements touting EB-5 visas in China. Most of these seem to be connected to the same hotel and condo project.

Among Sonderling’s events was a speech sponsored by the Kaiping General Chamber of Commerce, which is closely tied to the Chinese Communist Party. The same event was co-sponsored by the Kaiping Foreign & Overseas Chinese Affairs Bureau, which is part of the Chinese government, and the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, a state-controlled bank.

Sonderling’s nomination to become the permanent Labor Secretary is now pending before the Senate. Contacted through the Labor Department, Sonderling did not respond to a request for comment.Trump administration — and others — blast EB-5 as a vehicle for fraud and abuse

In a February 2025 appearance in the Oval Office, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the EB-5 program “full of nonsense, make believe and fraud.” Lutnick described it as a way to buy “a green card that was low priced.” Lutnick said that the Trump administration would replace the “ridiculous” EB-5 program with a Trump Gold Card that would sell green cards for $5 million.

The Trump Gold Card program was formally launched, with a reduced price of $1 million, in December 2025. At that event, Lutnick said that “the average green card holder earned less than the average American” and, as a result, “were more likely to be on the dole and be on our assistance programs.” Access to these assistance programs was pitched as a key benefit of the EB-5 program during Sonderling’s tour. (The Trump Gold Card, however, did not replace the EB-5 program, which still exists.)

Lutnick’s commentary was only the latest criticism of the EB-5 program by Trump administration officials. In June 2018, L. Francis Cissna, who served as Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services during Trump’s first term, testified at a Senate hearing called “Citizenship for Sale: Oversight of the EB-5 Investor Visa Program.” During the hearing, Cissna raised concerns about “fraud, abuse, and national security risks related to the program.” Cissna testified that “[i]n the absence of legislative reforms” Congress should consider allowing key aspects of the program to expire.

Criticisms of the program are not limited to the Trump administration. A 2015 Government Accountability Office report said the EB-5 program had “[u]nique fraud risks,” including “uncertainties in verifying that the funds invested were obtained lawfully and various investment-related schemes to defraud investors.” In a March 2018 floor speech, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said the EB-5 program “sells, yes sells, our citizenship.” Grassley described it as a “corrupt, scandal-clad program.”

New York Times, Global Oil Prices Jump After U.S. and Iran Trade Attacks, Jenny Gross, Jason Karaian and Rich Barbieri, Aug. 31, 2026. Oil prices rose on Monday after the United States and Iran exchanged attacks for the first time in a month, pushing the global benchmark for crude back above $90 a barrel, after a sharp fall last week.

Over the past week, about 15 ships per day on average passed through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Kpler, a maritime data company. Before the war, more than 130 ships every day transited the vital waterway between Iran and Oman, which carried one-fifth of the world’s oil and a large amount of gas before the war.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said this month that eight million barrels of oil a day are being exported from the Persian Gulf, though many independent analysts say the number is lower. Tanker Trackers, a maritime tracking firm that uses vessel data and satellite imagery, determined that some 5.2 million barrels of crude oil a day passed through the strait on average over the past 28 days, Samir Madani, the firm’s co-founder said on Monday. Before the war began, nearly 15 million barrels of oil a day were sent through the strait.

Even as the Trump administration is urging ships to transit, attacks on vessels continue. 

More On Russia Invasion of Ukraine 

New York Times, Trump Administration Live Updates: Europe Protests as U.S. Invites Russian Minister to Finance Meeting, Jim Tankersley and Alan Rappeport, Aug. 31, 2026. The Trump administration’s decision to invite Russia’s finance minister to a gathering of top global financial officials in North Carolina drew immediate protests from European nations on Monday. Europe has sought to isolate Moscow since it invaded Ukraine in 2022, and the Russian minister’s surprise appearance comes amid increased tension between President Trump and longtime allies. 

Russia’s finance minister made a surprise appearance at a gathering of top global economic policymakers on Monday after a prolonged absence, an invitation that was extended by the Trump administration but drew rebukes and protests from European officials committed to isolating Moscow for its war against Ukraine. 

New York Times, Russia Torments Kyiv With New Tactic of Nonstop Waves of Drones, Siobhán O’Grady and Yurii, Shyvala, Aug. 31, 2026. The nearly constant air raids, a shift from years of largely overnight attacks, have left residents exhausted and on edge.

Russia has turned to a terrifying new tactic in its assaults on Ukraine, launching nonstop waves of armed drones in recent days into busy areas of the capital, Kyiv. The relentless attacks have left residents exhausted and on edge as air raid sirens bellow nearly constantly.

With Moscow firing drone after drone into Kyiv, including many powered with jet engines that help them fly so fast they are difficult to intercept, many in the capital have begun to accept that they may be facing a new phase of the war.

This period threatens to be more dangerous and unpredictable for Kyiv than any since the first weeks of Russia’s 2022 invasion. It comes as the city already faces increased danger from powerful Russian ballistic missiles as Moscow capitalizes on depleted Ukrainian air defenses.

While Russia has long conducted deadly drone attacks on Kyiv, the weapons have often come in overnight barrages and have not tormented the city throughout the day. Residents long ago grew used to the menacing hum of slower-moving drones but now face the danger of the jet-powered models, which crash into a target before anyone nearby has a chance to run. 

Floods in Nepal and Tibet 

Associated Press, Hundreds feared stuck in hydropower tunnels as flood deaths surpass 950 in Nepal and China, Shristi Kafle and Huizhong Wu, Nepal’s disaster agency said Monday that 903 deaths had been counted in that country, with 4,247 people, including 592 foreigners, missing. As of Sunday, Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 missing, and Chinese state media said 261 of the missing were foreigners, including over a hundred Nepalis.

 Rescuers raced Monday to free hundreds of workers believed to be trapped in tunnels at hydropower sites that were buried in mud by catastrophic flooding on the Nepal-China border, as the death toll climbed and increasingly desperate families searched for missing loved ones.

The combined deaths in Nepal and China surpassed 950, with more than 4,400 people missing. A private-sector association representing power companies said at least 900 workers were unaccounted for at 12 hydropower projects damaged by the flash floods in Nepal’s Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts.

About 500 of those workers were believed to be trapped in tunnels. At least one expert said that some workers could have access to oxygen, but others warned that the chances of finding survivors were diminishing. As the rescue efforts intensified, four bodies were recovered from three mud-filled tunnels, Nepal’s army said.

Some workers managed to call for help when the disaster struck last Wednesday, and others who managed to flee reported to authorities and relatives that many of their colleagues were still in the tunnels, said Mohan Kumar Dangi, president of the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal, or IPPAN.

New York Times, A Principal Saved 900 Students Before His School Was Washed Away in Nepal, Binod Ghimire and Claire Moses, Aug. 31, 2026. Rajendra Dawadi had less than 15 minutes to act on a warning of approaching floodwaters. His swift evacuation plan saved hundreds of lives.

Wednesday seemed like any other morning for Rajendra Dawadi, the principal of a school in Nepal.

“Everything was going normally,” he said.

That changed around 9:10 a.m., when Mr. Dawadi was teaching a class at the Tribhuvan Trishuli School in Nuwakot, a district just north of Kathmandu, the country’s capital. A staff member burst into the classroom, shouting that a major flood was headed their way.

The news began to spread as relatives living upstream sent warnings to anyone in the path of the fast-approaching flood waters.

Mr. Dawadi had to make some quick decisions.

He told all the children who were present — about 900 of the school’s total 1,643 students — to run to higher ground. Only older pupils, ages 11 to 18, were at school when the floods hit, which aided the quick evacuation, Mr. Dawadi said. (The younger students did not start class until 10 a.m.)

“They were old enough to run immediately,” he said in a phone interview on Monday. “It would not have been possible to save everyone, had kindergarten and primary school students also been there.”ImageDamaged houses and buildings alongside a muddy river.Damaged properties along the Trishuli River, where the Tribhuvan Trishuli School once stood, in Nuwakot, Nepal, on Monday.Credit...Sunil Kataria/Reuters

Pupils who had arrived at the school earlier by bus were told to get back on them, and Mr. Dawadi instructed the drivers to leave the area as quickly as possible.

“A couple of students became traumatized and fainted,” Mr. Dawadi said, adding that those children were transported to safety on teachers’ motorbikes.

“I thought that even if the warning turned out to be wrong, the worst it would cost us was one day of study,” Mr. Dawadi said. “But taking it lightly could mean the loss of hundreds of lives.”

His swift evacuation plan saved those lives.

Around 9:23 a.m., about 13 minutes after Mr. Dawadi heard the first warning, a deluge of water, mud and debris swept through the area. The school was destroyed in seconds, and at least one teacher remained missing as of Monday, Mr. Dawadi said.

At least 4,200 people were missing in Nepal as of Monday, less than a week after a torrent of water tore through the Himalayan river valleys, sweeping away buildings, homes, roads and other infrastructure.

Only a fraction of the thousands of missing had been identified among the dead, and officials said they expected the death toll to increase. So far, the authorities said, the disaster had killed nearly 1,000 people in Nepal.

The students’ rescue was a rarity among the reports of missing and dead and amid the destruction from the floods. In Bharatpur, a city southwest of the school, hundreds of bodies had washed up downstream. The local morgues had received far more bodies than they could accommodate.

Over the weekend, rescue workers struggled to extricate workers trapped in hydropower tunnels. The Nepal Army said its thermal drones were not detecting any signs of lif

More News Roundups

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News Update: Three-Time Trump Voters ‘Fed Up,’ Iran War Reignites, Pentagon Secretly Hires Conservative Influencers, Canadians Blast Trump, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 31, 2026. It’s a big one today. Six months into the Iran war, the ceasefire-that-wasn’t reignited over the weekend, with US strikes on Larak Island prompting Iranian retaliation against American bases in Jordan and the UAE, and oil prices spiking as a result. Closer to home, cracks are showing in Trump’s own coalition: NBC News found even three-time Trump voters in swing districts souring on him over inflation and the war, while a Washington Post investigation reveals the Pentagon has been quietly slipping conservative influencers into undisclosed government roles to amplify Pete Hegseth’s culture-war fights.

Meanwhile, the US-Canada trade relationship keeps fraying, between collapsed tariff talks, questions over who’s actually steering Trump’s trade agenda, and yes, that lake renaming saga refuses to die. Beyond the political chaos, we’re also covering the search for hundreds still trapped in Nepal’s flooded hydropower tunnels, a deadly flash flood at the Grand Canyon, a genuine climate win out of Turkmenistan, and a very good, very fat marmot named Dawn.

It’s shaping up to be a busy week with Congress back in session, and I’m working on a deep dive following the money on all things Trump. Apparently I’ve also pissed off some folks near the White House: my feed’s been full of MAGA-aligned accounts calling me a “criminal” for reporting the news. They want me to stop. 

Here’s the news:

Trump voters express frustration:

Repeat Trump voters in swing districts are voicing new frustration with rising costs and the war on Iran. NBC News spoke with voters across eight competitive congressional districts stretching from central New Jersey to Omaha, Nebraska, and found a fresh willingness even among loyal MAGA voters to criticize Trump on inflation, the war, and his White House ballroom project. Louis Marcelino, a three-time Trump voter in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, said “every single American here is paying the price for that war” and suggested he might not vote at all in November, or if he does, it could be to slow Trump’s agenda. Rich Ehrhardt, another three-time Trump voter from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, said he’s unhappy with how the war is being handled and wants Trump to end “forever wars” as promised rather than “make up things that we want to hear.” These voices reflect broader polling showing consistent Trump disapproval in the low 30s to low 40s, with fewer than half of Republicans saying they “strongly approve” of him in a recent Reuters/Ipsos survey.

Other longtime supporters cited corruption, affordability, and Trump’s demolition of the White House East Wing as breaking points. Bob Gorra, an 89-year-old retiree in Morris County, New Jersey, said he’s troubled by what he sees as ongoing corruption and Washington’s failure to control costs, saying too many Americans are “starving” or “poor” under the current economy. Darcey Liljequist, a 75-year-old retired nurse’s aide and three-time Trump voter in Davenport, Iowa, said tearing down the East Wing for a ballroom revealed a selfish side of Trump she hadn’t seen before, comparing him to “a king instead of a president.” She said she wants him to “go live with a senior citizen living on $1,500 a month in Social Security” to understand ordinary people’s struggles. The White House pushed back through spokeswoman Olivia Wales, who touted middle-class tax cuts, lower prescription drug costs, border security, falling violent crime, and record 401(k) growth as evidence of Trump’s record.

Not every voter has turned, but the discontent lands amid dire midterm warnings for Republicans. Katie Heinz, a 49-year-old interior designer and three-time Trump voter in Medina, Ohio, said she still thinks he’s “doing a good job,” though she wishes he didn’t “ruffle feathers” so often. Still, the broader pattern of grumbling comes as Republicans face fresh warnings of “historic losses” in the midterms, with a new polling aggregate showing the party trailing in eight major Senate battlegrounds. Notably, that list includes traditionally reliable red states like Texas and Ohio, with just two months left before Election Day. The White House has been approached for comment on the specific voter complaints detailed in the report.

Pentagon uses taxpayer dollars to hire conservative influencers:

According to the Washington Post, the Pentagon has quietly placed conservative military influencers into undisclosed government roles. Retired officers Rob Maness and Kurt Schlichter, who have 135,000 and nearly 620,000 X followers respectively, currently hold active “.civ” government email addresses tied to the office of Anthony Tata, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. A third influencer, attorney Thomas Anderson (who writes as “Cynical Publius” to over 323,000 followers), was similarly listed earlier this year but has since disappeared from Pentagon records. None of the three responded substantively to requests for comment, and the Pentagon declined to say whether they’re paid, what their roles entail, or how long the assignments will last.

The arrangements exploit special employment categories that let them work while avoiding public disclosure. The individuals are classified as “special government employees” (capped at 130 days per year) or “highly qualified experts” (who can work with or without pay), and it’s unclear what compensation, if any, each receives or when their assignments began. In May, the three traveled to the Army War College on behalf of a Hegseth-created task force hunting for “woke” ideology, questioning students and faculty about leaders like Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, leaving some students uncertain whether candor would carry consequences. All three continued publishing pro-Hegseth commentary in outlets like the Daily Caller, Townhall, and The Post’s own letters section without disclosing their Pentagon ties, and a Post spokesperson confirmed Maness never disclosed his government connection before one such letter ran in July.

The revelations follow a related controversy involving another undisclosed Pentagon employee, fueling broader alarm about a “troll army” for hire. Influencer Jennica Pounds (DataRepublican) recently accused a State Department official of trying to entrap her into leaking documents, only for it to emerge that Pounds herself was a paid Pentagon special government employee, a disclosure that split fellow influencers between defending her and arguing she should have said so upfront. Former GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger publicly questioned how many “blue checkmark” influencers pushing administration talking points are secretly on the federal payroll, while Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has separately reshaped Pentagon press access by ousting many mainstream reporters in favor of a friendlier right-leaning press corps. The Pentagon has disclosed at least one comparable hire, journalist Jerry Dunleavy’s role assisting a review of the Afghanistan withdrawal, underscoring the contrast with how Maness, Schlichter, and Anderson’s assignments were kept under wraps.

Iran war reignites:

Strikes and retaliation escalate the six-month war. U.S. Central Command struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island Sunday after IRGC forces were seen preparing to fire rockets and lay sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz, marking the first American strikes in over a month. Iran responded by launching ballistic missiles at the King Hussein and Al-Azraq air bases in Jordan, targeting U.S. personnel at a base in the UAE, and claiming it shot down a U.S. drone over the strait. Jordan’s military said it intercepted eight incoming missiles before they caused damage, and the UAE condemned the Iranian attacks as a “dangerous escalation” while saying it intercepted a drone over its territorial waters. Iran’s foreign ministry warned it would not hesitate to “respond decisively” to further aggression and cautioned that any country assisting U.S. strikes would bear responsibility for the consequences.

Oil markets and shipping lanes are rattled again. Brent crude jumped 3.8% to $91.40 a barrel and U.S. crude rose by the same margin to $86.58 after the exchange of strikes, continuing a pattern of price spikes tied to escalations since the war began in February. Iran’s military claimed a supertanker attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz without permission was struck by sea mines, catching fire and stopping in the water, though it did not name the vessel or specify its location. The mine claim comes just days after CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said U.S. forces had finished clearing all sea mines from the strait’s shipping lanes. Separately, Iran said it seized a bulk carrier accused of dumping oil and sludge into the strait, adding another layer of disruption to traffic through the critical waterway.

Trump escalates rhetoric while Iran pushes a narrative about Israel’s role. President Trump posted an AI-generated video on Truth Social claiming to show Iran’s Kharg Island oil hub “being blown to smithereens,” though there was no evidence of any actual recent attack there, and Iran’s state oil company said operations on the island had not stopped. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of tricking the U.S. into joining the war, claiming Netanyahu has boasted in Hebrew about using extensive U.S. media appearances to influence American policy. The Trump administration has pushed back for months on the idea that Israel led the U.S. into the conflict, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously saying the U.S. struck preemptively after learning Israel planned its own attack on Iran. The dueling narratives underscore ongoing disagreement over how and why the war expanded to direct U.S. involvement in the first place.

International pressure campaign continues alongside the fighting. The European Union said Monday it would keep working with the U.S. and other G7 partners to maintain economic pressure on Iran, welcoming what it called efforts to end Iran’s “destabilizing activities” while still leaving the door open to diplomacy and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. This follows the Trump administration’s announcement last week of a shift toward “economic warfare,” including new sanctions meant to break the stalemate after six months of conflict. A Financial Times report from earlier in August suggested Iranian forces had assessed the possibility of striking U.S. assets in Europe if Trump escalated further, which would mark a significant expansion of the war onto NATO territory. Separately, Iranian state media reported that Iranian authorities seized a cargo ship accused of polluting the strait with oil and sludge, an incident unrelated to the military escalation but adding to the broader picture of instability around the waterway.

Canada:

A massive floating island, estimated at 70 by 140 metres (bigger than a football field), mysteriously appeared on B.C.’s Williston Reservoir earlier this month before vanishing from satellite imagery by August 5, likely drifting back toward a sheltered shoreline rather than sinking. B.C. Hydro spokesperson Bob Gammer says the reservoir, which hasn’t been full in 14 years due to this year’s heavy snowpack and rain, probably freed a long-accumulated mass of driftwood, soil, and rooted trees from the shore as water levels rose, a phenomenon also seen at Wisconsin’s Lake Chippewa and Africa’s Lake Victoria. Local boater Rocky Avery first captured and shared footage of the island, which went viral and initially drew skepticism from B.C. Hydro given the rise of AI-generated video, until satellite data from July 21 confirmed it was real. B.C. Hydro is now relying on public sightings and satellite monitoring to track the reservoir, which is too large to patrol by boat, and is watching for the island’s possible reappearance while warning boaters that submerged logs and debris pose real hazards on the water.

With US-Canada trade talks collapsing into a potential all-out tariff war, questions are swirling over who really controls Trump’s trade agenda, as US trade representative Jamieson Greer (known for a calm, methodical style honed under Robert Lighthizer) navigates tension with commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, who reportedly torpedoed a near-final deal by objecting to proposed tariff reductions on Canadian steel, aluminum, and cars, while trade adviser Peter Navarro pushes a harder line rooted in fears that Canada serves as a backdoor for Chinese goods. Canadian PM Mark Carney has accused the US of negotiating in bad faith and pointed to visible disunity among Trump’s team, a claim the White House denies but experts like William Reinsch and Wendy Cutler say reflects real turf tension between Greer’s trade portfolio and Lutnick’s control over national-security tariff authority. Ultimately, though, analysts argue the real driver is Trump himself, whose fixed belief that “tariffs are good” and reported penchant for changing terms after deals are struck (illustrated by his signing of the Lake Ontario-to-”Lake America” order hours after Greer tried to smooth over a related dispute about Quebec’s French-language protections) means the officials around him have limited room to maneuver, a dynamic other US trading partners are reportedly watching closely as they weigh their own responses.

Donald Trump reached out to Apple directly to ask them to change the name of Lake Ontario. Trump's Interior Secretary suggests that Apple may change the name "soon."

Other news:

A flash flood tore through the Grand Canyon on Saturday afternoon, killing at least one person, a 46-year-old man whose body was found near Crystal Rapids, with as many as 15 people still unaccounted for in the Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch area. The floodwaters destroyed nearly all the footbridges spanning Bright Angel Creek, cutting off hiker access and forcing park staff and the Arizona Department of Public Safety to evacuate at least 62 people, some by helicopter. The flooding also knocked out the water pipeline serving the South Rim, prompting the park to halt overnight concession stays, shut off campground spigots, and ban all wood and charcoal fires just ahead of the Labor Day weekend. Hikers described the storm’s speed and violence, from a 4-foot wall of debris rushing through Phantom Ranch to a creek “black with debris and flowing rapidly,” and rangers are warning that more storms forecast through Monday could trigger additional debris flows and rockfall. The Park Service has asked anyone with information about missing hikers or backpackers to call its tip line as search efforts continue.

The President posted pictures of himself golfing over the weekend:

Rescue teams in Nepal are racing to reach more than 900 people believed trapped in the tunnels and underground areas of about half a dozen hydropower projects following last Wednesday’s catastrophic flash floods, with workers digging through deep mud and debris to reach stations like Chilime Hydropower, where one rescuer described the interior as “just bodies” as far as he could see. The death toll has climbed to 903 in Nepal and 16 in Tibet, with more than 4,000 missing in Nepal and another roughly 500 in Tibet, while hundreds of unidentified bodies have already been buried in shallow graves across the region. The Red Cross estimates over 90,000 people have been affected, and Nepal’s prime minister called it an “unprecedented and devastating natural disaster,” with nearly 21,000 security personnel now involved in the response. China has sent more than 2,100 rescue workers and roughly $33 million in aid, and while Nepal says it doesn’t need general search-and-rescue help, it has leaned on India and China for tunnel-rescue expertise; rescue efforts have repeatedly been paused for bad weather and fears that a border lake formed by the disaster could trigger new flooding, though operations resumed at a better pace on Monday. Chinese state media has linked the flood to glacier instability from long-term climate change, though Nepali officials say China has shared little data on glacier and water-level risks, raising concerns about future disaster preparedness.

Turkmenistan has begun repairing the ageing oil and gas infrastructure responsible for the “mindboggling” methane mega-leaks the Guardian first exposed in 2023, fixing eight leaks so far through repaired pipes, wells, and flares in what UN officials are calling a genuine, if still limited, breakthrough. The country received 192 UN methane alerts in the past year and responded to about 20%, a stark contrast to the US, which got the second-most alerts (138) but responded to none and fixed no leaks, alongside Iran, Russia, and China, which also ignored every alert. Methane traps 80 times more heat than CO2 and drives roughly a quarter of current global warming, making leak fixes like these unusually fast and cheap climate wins, though UN program manager Meghan Demeter cautioned Turkmenistan’s eight fixes are “an incredible first step” rather than a solution to the country’s broader emissions. Worldwide, 43 leaks have been sealed through the alert system so far, including a 40-year-old leak in Algeria, with Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina achieving 100% response rates even though Mexico has yet to fix the single worst leak on record, a 37-tonne-per-hour leak equivalent to 7 million SUVs. US engagement with the alert system effectively ended under the Trump administration after a modest start under Biden, consistent with Trump’s dismissal of climate change as a “con job” at the UN last year.

A Port Authority shuttle bus jumped a curb and crashed into a concrete wall on the Terminal B departures level at Newark Liberty International Airport just after 3 a.m. on August 31. Thirteen people were injured, three of them seriously though none life-threatening, with the remaining ten sustaining minor injuries. The crash prompted the closure of the Departures Level 3 roadway for a police investigation, with Terminal B passengers now directed to use Level 2 for drop-off instead. The disruption has snarled roadways around the airport and caused more than a dozen flight delays this morning.

Airport shuttle bus hits wall at Newark Airport; 13 people injured, 3 seriously

Bootleg screenings of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” have swept across Russian cinemas, with fans in costume packing theaters in cities like Kazan and St. Petersburg despite Sony Pictures halting all theatrical releases there after the invasion of Ukraine. Cinemas skirt the law by illegally obtaining digital cinema packages through third-party distributors and selling tickets under the guise of a “prescreening service,” a workaround that film critic Timur Aliev says authorities, owners, and audiences alike simply “turn a blind eye to.” One notable edit did make it through official channels: 18 seconds of a song by exiled Kremlin critic Monetochka were cut from the Russian copies, which she called “painful and sad” even though she expected it. The film’s release was also delayed three weeks to avoid competing with the state-backed fairy-tale movie “The Last Warrior: Kolobok,” a decision that sparked online backlash, including death threats against that film’s director, and left moviegoers feeling “deprived of choice.” Despite the friction, the eventual Spider-Man release still pulled in a record 1.17 billion rubles ($13.9 million) over its opening weekend, the best summer weekend in Russian box-office history.

A marmot named Dawn was crowned champion of the inaugural Fat Marmot Week, a contest run by the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory’s marmot project, after winning both the mass-gain and popular-vote competitions among eight yellow-bellied marmots. The six-year-old marmot weighed in at about 6kg (13.2lb), which researcher Julien Martin called one of the heaviest individuals ever measured for the species. More than 23,000 votes were cast over the week-long contest, an offshoot of Alaska’s popular Fat Bear Week, timed to when marmots roughly double their body weight each summer before five months of hibernation. The contest comes as the decades-old marmot study, running since 1962, has been fighting federal science funding cuts, an effort that recently included launching an OnlyFans account called OnlyMarms that has raised over $100,000 through subscriptions, donations, and a marmot-themed cryptocurrency. Organizers have promised another round of voting for Fat Marmot Week 2027. 

More On U.S. History, Culture, Media, Education

AlterNet America, Opinion: Trump Wants the FCC to Punish a Journalist for One Word, Ryan Rose, Aug. 31, 2026. Trump threatens NBC's Welker with FCC punishment, the FBI loosens hiring standards, West Point fires its climate scientist, and a judge blocks speech-based deportations. 

Trump is threatening to send the FCC after an NBC journalist who accurately described his endorsement record as “mixed.” The FBI has quietly dropped its ban on hiring applicants who have patronized sex workers, stolen from employers, or engaged in bestiality. West Point fired its only climate scientist after he refused to stop teaching that humans cause climate change. And a federal judge just ruled that the Trump administration cannot deport students for criticizing Israel.

Before we get to the news, a brief ask: AlterNet America was launched as a direct response to MAGA billionaires buying up networks like CBS and newspapers like the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. We’re going all-in on the bet that reader-supported journalism can compete directly with the billionaires by being the one thing they can’t buy.

We’re incredibly grateful to all the free subscribers who have signed up to receive our newsletters in recent weeks. But if you’ve been thinking about making the leap to become a paying subscriber, this is the time when it matters the most. Please upgrade today. Upgrade to paidTrump Threatens NBC’s Kristen Welker With FCC ‘Punishment’

Apparently the FCC now stands for Federal Compliment Commission.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday that Meet the Press host Kristen Welker would be reported to the Federal Communications Commission for “rebuke or punishment” because she noted that candidates he’s endorsed have had “mixed results.”

He called her assessment a “purposeful inaccuracy” and a “Threat to our Country,” despite the fact that six candidates he endorsed lost their primary elections in August alone. In a second post, he attacked what he called “FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA” and wrote “FCC TO THE RESCUE.”

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr previously issued a threat to broadcasters over their coverage of the Iran war in March after Trump complained on social media. In April, Carr initiated an unusual challenge to ABC’s local station licenses the day after Trump called for Jimmy Kimmel’s firing. He also has an open investigation into NBC’s parent company, Comcast, over what Trump has called “invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”

Anna Gomez, the lone Democrat on the commission, responded that the FCC has no authority to punish journalists the administration does not like. The FCC’s complaint form does not currently include a box for “a journalist used a word I didn’t like,” but give it time.

New York Times, John Galliano Withdraws From Met Museum Show After Backlash, Vanessa Friedman and Jacob Bernstein, Aug. 31, 2026. Donors, politicians and Jewish leaders questioned the Met’s decision to honor Galliano, a fashion designer who was found guilty of a hate crime for his antisemitic outbursts.

Facing an intense backlash, the influential fashion designer John Galliano has taken the unprecedented step of withdrawing from a planned exhibition in his honor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“After much reflection and discussion with all those involved, I have decided, with great sadness, that it is best for the exhibition not to take place at this time,” Galliano wrote in a statement posted to his Instagram page.

He also expressed “profound and enduring” gratitude to the museum’s leadership, and acknowledged the pain his past words had caused.

“I do not want the debate surrounding me to place the Met in a difficult position or distract from the remarkable work of the Costume Institute,” he wrote. “I also recognize and respect that an exhibition honoring my work would be painful for some.”

In recent days, a furor mounted over the museum’s choice to honor Galliano, who was convicted of an antisemitic hate crime by a French court in 2011. He would have been only the third living designer to receive a solo exhibition at the Costume Institute, the Met’s fashion wing.

Given that the Met Gala has traditionally served as the opening night for the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, the plan risked placing the museum in the position of seeming to sanctify Galliano during an event that has become the Super Bowl of glamour. 

Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Aug. 29, 2026 [], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Aug. 31, 2026. One of our founding myths is that of George Washington and the cherry tree. In his The Life of Washington, first published in 1800, minister and writer Mason Locke Weems, more commonly known as Parson Weems, wrote down for the citizens of this new nation the qualities they should require in a leader.

The book was written not to reflect the facts of Washington’s life—biographies would not focus on facts for almost a century—but to show virtues the nation’s youth should imitate and to establish a set of attributes against which future voters could judge those vying to lead the nation.

Weems’s Washington was generous, reverent, studious, athletic, martial, hardworking, and beloved by his comrades. And, beginning with an 1806 edition of the book, he could not tell a lie. According to Weems, when George was about six years old “he was made the wealthy master of a hatchet, of which, like most little boys, he was immoderately fond, and was constantly going about chopping every thing that came in his way. One day, in the garden…he unluckily tried the edge of his hatchet on the body of a beautiful young English cherry-tree…. The next morning the old gentleman finding out what had befallen his tree…, came into the House; and with much warmth asked for the mischievous author…. Nobody could tell him anything about it. Presently George and his hatchet made their appearance. ‘George,’ said his father, ‘do you know who killed that beautiful little cherry tree yonder in the garden?’

“This was a tough question; and George staggered under it for a moment; but quickly recovered himself: and looking at his father, with the sweet face of youth brightened with the inexpressible charm of all-conquering truth, he bravely cried out, ‘I can’t tell a lie, Pa; you know I can’t tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet.’

“‘Run to my arms, you dearest boy,’ cried his father in transports, ‘run to my arms; glad am I, George, that you killed my tree; for you have paid me for it a thousand fold. Such an act of heroism in my son is more worth than a thousand trees, though blossomed with silver, and their fruits of purest gold.’”

Like many of the other anecdotes Weems delivered, this story was almost certainly invented. But it established the importance of truth-telling in a leader.

On Friday, Rick Maese of the Washington Post reported that despite orders from U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes saying that she wanted advance notice before the government took down more than ten trees from the East Potomac Golf Links or brought equipment larger than a sedan onto the property, the Trump administration has taken down more than sixty trees in apparent preparation for Trump to redesign the golf course.

Opponents have sued to stop the redesign of the historic publicly owned course. Trump has said the makeover will begin on September 1, but Maese notes that the administration has released “no final design, construction schedule or estimated cost.” It has apparently not conducted either environmental or historical preservation reviews. It has not said how changes to the course will affect public access to the three courses and to the popular recreation path on the property.

Reyes said she would not stop administration officials from doing routine maintenance on the property, and the administration says the tree removal is routine maintenance. A spokesperson for the Interior Department said: “Arborists are doing routine maintenance at East Potomac Park with selective removal of hazard trees, non-native invasive trees, and declining and dying trees that cannot be brought back to good health through any degree of intervention.”

One of the trees they have cut down is a cherry tree.

It seems like the writers for the 250th season of American democracy are becoming increasingly desperate to get the country’s attention.

On Friday, Trump announced: “The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY! At my direction, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, working closely with Highly Respected Interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, and, through a partnership with private business, have secured majority U.S. control of more than 65 BILLION BARRELS of proven Oil Reserves in Venezuela, at no cost to the American Taxpayer. This Historic Transaction MORE THAN DOUBLES American Oil Reserves, greatly increases our Oil Supply, and will substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans, long into the future, while helping to continue to set Venezuela on a course toward Tremendous Success and Great Prosperity. This Transaction will greatly strengthen the already growing relationship between Venezuela and the United States! Thank you for your attention to this groundbreaking matter.”

There are reasons to greet this announcement with skepticism.

A U.S. official told Megan Messerly, Ben Lefebvre, and Scott Waldman of Politico that this deal was a new venture between the U.S. government and an “experienced private operator in Venezuela.” Although the official did not identify which operator that is, it became clear over the weekend that the person in question is Alejandro Betancourt López.

Rebecca F. Elliott, Anatoly Kurmanaev, and Edward Wong of the New York Times explained that Betancourt’s family controls Venezuela’s second largest private oil producer, North American Blue Energy Partners. Betancourt has been accused of corruption for years; Switzerland has investigated him for money laundering and has issued a warrant for his arrest, although it has not charged him.

According to the New York Times reporters, it appears the plan is for the U.S. government to back North American Blue Energy Partners, which will, in turn, develop oil reserves in 17 of Venezuela’s oil fields. The U.S. official who talked to the Politico journalists said the new venture would be the second-biggest private oil company in the world, after Saudi Aramco. The U.S. would control 55% of the venture’s output. When production starts, the person told the journalists, “the resulting stable supply of at-cost oil in our Hemisphere will go toward filling the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve and fulfilling the supply needs of our Great U.S. Military.”

But an executive in the oil industry told the journalists that the deal was “built on a legal environment that does not exist. The Venezuelan constitution does not allow for anyone other than [Venezuela’s state-owned oil and gas company] to own rights to oil and gas in the country,” the executive pointed out.

“The end of story,” the person said, “is the president wants to say we have billions of barrels of oil in reserve. That would act as a price stabilization nuclear bomb. Oh, the Iranians have blocked Hormuz? The president could say[,] ‘I have 65 billion barrels in reserve.’”

The Politico journalists report that Trump has been frustrated that U.S. companies have been slow to invest in Venezuela and that the administration has pressured Rodríguez to give them better terms. Samantha Schmidt and Helena Carpio of the Washington Post today flat out said the deal “cements the United States’ long-term dominance over Venezuela, which has become a neo-colony since the U.S. military’s capture of Maduro in January, when Trump vowed to ‘run’ the country and exploit its oil wealth.”

Last September, the Trump administration began striking small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that Trump claimed—without evidence—were being operated by narcoterrorists from Venezuela. The U.S. massed military vessels off Venezuela’s shores, where they blockaded Venezuelan oil tankers after Trump called Venezuela’s government a foreign terrorist organization. On January 3, Trump authorized the military to kidnap Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife Celia Flores in a nighttime raid and bring them to the U.S. for trial on weapons and drug charges.

Although opponents of Maduro, who had seized power after losing a presidential election, cheered the raid in the belief that Trump would help them put opposition candidate Edmundo González in power, in fact the administration supported Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez. On January 5 it formally recognized her as Venezuela’s head of state. Venezuela’s high court disagreed. It called Maduro’s absence a “kidnapping” and determined that under the country’s constitution, elections had to be held to replace him.

Now the U.S. government says it has made a “deal” with Rodríguez, who told reporters: “The agreement is based on a very simple premise. Each party contributes what it does best. Venezuela contributes oil, its industry and the experience of its workers accumulated over more than 100 years. The United States contributes the capital and technology needed to recover and develop those assets.”

“So, let me get this straight,” national security reporter David Rothkopf wrote. “[T]he US illegally attacks a country, kidnaps its president, threatens its government with massive military force, gets them to hand over to US control a huge portion of their national assets, hails the billions it has already brought in and promises billions more[,] but we don’t know where the money’s going, how it is going to benefit the US, if it is going to benefit the US, who’s privately going to benefit, what side deals have been struck with the corrupt leaders of their country or ours, & we are supposed to celebrate this act of aggression and theft that violates international law and that could well turn out to be a massive mafia-style shakedown scheme to benefit the anti-democratic forces in Venezuela and the US, the president’s friends and supporters, possibly the president and his family?”

Rothkopf appears to have understood the point of the story of George Washington and the cherry tree.

The Wrap, Washington Post Columnist Slams ‘Traitor’ Pentagon Source Leaking Hegseth Meetings to Paper, A.J. Katz, Aug. 31, 2026. Marc Thiessen says the government official behind a classified Iran War report should be prosecuted.

Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen called the government source behind his own newspaper’s reporting on military opposition to prolonging the Iran war a “traitor” who should face prosecution.

“Whoever leaked this is a traitor and ought to be prosecuted,” the conservative columnist wrote Sunday on X, sharing the Post’s exclusive report that senior military commanders had warned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth against sustaining large-scale operations against Iran.Donald Trump/Washington Post (Credit: Getty Images)Read NextTrump Calls Washington Post Report of Hegseth Rift Completely False and ‘Treasonous’

The comments created an unusual tension at the Post, which had already defended its reporting after Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell accused the newspaper of committing a crime by publishing classified information.

“We’re confident in our reporting, our sourcing, and the constitutional protections that guarantee the rights of news organizations to publish information in the public interest that holds officials accountable,” the Post said in a statement. “The assertion that such publication is a crime is both incorrect and irresponsible.”

Post foreign-policy columnist Josh Rogin challenged Thiessen by pointing to the newspaper’s defense of its reporting.

“I said whoever LEAKED it, Josh,” Thiessen responded. “You do get that a government official leaking classified information to the press is committing a crime, right?”karen-attiahRead Next/Washington Post Ordered to Reinstate Karen Attiah After Firing Over Charlie Kirk Posts

Thiessen’s clarification drew a distinction between prosecuting the journalists who published the classified information and the government official who provided it. But his call would still target a confidential source behind reporting published by his own newspaper.

The underlying Post report said four senior military commanders formally objected to continuing to divert personnel and equipment to the Middle East into 2027. The warnings appeared in a classified Aug. 14 edition of the Secretary of Defense Orders Book, according to people familiar with the assessment.

The commanders warned that extended deployments were degrading their ability to carry out other missions, including homeland defense, according to the Post. Navy chief Adm. Daryl Caudle reportedly argued that the service could not sustain its current level of support for the Iran conflict without a clear end date.

Parnell disputed portions of the report but acknowledged that Hegseth regularly receives such objections from military leaders, 

Associated Press, US Treasury blocks certain journalists from G20 meeting in North Carolina, Ben Finley, Aug. 30, 2026. The U.S. Treasury Department is preventing certain journalists from covering a finance meeting among the world’s most powerful countries, the latest example of how President Donald Trump’s administration has restricted media access.

Individual reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News were not granted credentials to the Group of 20 finance ministers’ meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, the Times reported.

The Treasury has not explained the decision. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday that “it has nothing to do with point of view.”

The reporters who’ve been denied access include the Times’ Alan Rappeport, who has been covering such meetings and the Treasury Department since 2017. However, another reporter for the Times, Berlin bureau chief Jim Tankersley, is allowed to attend.

The Times said in a statement that denying American journalists access to an event in the U.S. is “not just another disturbing effort by the administration to undermine independent journalism, but a blatant attempt to evade public scrutiny.”

“With the war in Iran, sanctions, the bond markets, and inflation on the agenda for the G20 finance ministers, the stakes of this gathering are significant for the global economy and the American people,” the Times said. “Excluding specific reporters and entire news organizations is a disservice to the public and an assault on press freedoms that we strongly condemn.”Related StoriesUS plans to sanction another bank in effort to clamp down on Iran transactions, Bessent tells APUS plans to sanction another bank in effort to clamp down on Iran transactions, Bessent tells AP2 MIN READ33Bessent huddles with G20 to try to rally allies on Iran as tariffs strain tiesBessent huddles with G20 to try to rally allies on Iran as tariffs strain ties3 MIN READ45US targets Egyptian bank’s UAE branches under new push for Iran’s economic isolationUS targets Egyptian bank’s UAE branches under new push for Iran’s economic isolation3 MIN READ45

Bloomberg News, in a story published Sunday evening, said “numerous” journalists from the news agency, including some based in Europe and Asia, had their accreditation requests rejected. It said denying the agency access to the meeting “undermines media freedom and public accountability.”

The Wall Street Journal declined to comment.Sign up for the Ground Game Newsletter: Your guide to the biggest stories in politics, policy and U.S. elections.Email address

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Bessent is hosting the G20 meeting, which runs Saturday through Tuesday. It includes finance ministers, central bank governors and senior officials from the world’s top economies. This year’s G20 summit, which involves heads of state, is being held in December at Trump’s golf club in Doral, Florida.

Tensions have been escalating between the U.S. media and the second Trump administration, playing out both in the public arena and at times in the courts.

For example, the Defense Department declared earlier this year that its press office had become a classified space inaccessible to journalists. The ouster came after the Pentagon had demanded that reporters agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work, prompting most news outlets to leave the building last fall.

The Associated Press has also sued Trump over access to the White House press pool. The news organization’s access was curtailed for sticking with the name “Gulf of Mexico” after the administration ordered it rechristened the “Gulf of America.”

PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: Cognitively Declining Trump Wants To Hold Daily Rallies, But Can’t Remember Jon Ossoff’s Name, Jason Easley, right, Aug. 31, 2026. On the same day that it was reported that Trump is considering holding daily rallies ahead of the midterm, the president went on TV and could remember Sen. Jon Ossoff’s name.

As Republicans are facing a potential disaster in the midterm elections, they have been pleading with Donald Trump to start spending some of the hundreds of millions of dollars that he has raised to help them in November.

After Trump melted down and threatened NBC’s Kristen Welker because she stated that Trump’s endorsements have been a mixed bag, it appears that Republicans aren’t going to get the financial help that they are seeking, but may get a whole lot more Trump.

Fox News’s Peter Doocy reported, “We are hearing some whispers about a ton of Trump travel in October. Possibly as much as a Trump rally a day in the most competitive states and districts, and that is something you don’t typically see from a president in a set of midterms that are historically very hard for a president and his party.”

Does anyone seriously believe that a president who, when he last campaigned in 2024, had trouble holding multiple events on the same day and had to have his campaign events staggered so that he could have rest days in between them is going to be able to crisscross the country and hold daily rallies?”

Trump has shown no interest in campaigning and has reportedly complained every time he has held an event for a Republican candidate about the travel.

More On U.S. Immigration Enforcement, Health Care Costs

Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: UPDATE: ICE is leaving hospitals with millions in unpaid bills, Judd Legum, right, Sept. 1, 2026. Last year, Popular Information broke the news that on October 3, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) abruptly stopping paying third parties for medical care provided to detainees. Third-party providers are used to provide “medically necessary” care including “dialysis, prenatal care, oncology, [and] chemotherapy,” according to ICE.

Prior to that date, payment for medical care for ICE detainees was processed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). But the VA “abruptly and instantly terminated” its agreement with ICE after the arrangement, which dated to the George W. Bush administration, drew criticism from right-wing activists. The activists falsely claimed that undocumented immigrants were siphoning resources from veterans. Actually, ICE was fully reimbursing the VA for the service.

According to documents published by ICE on a government contracting website on November 12, 2025, the termination of the agreement with the VA left ICE unable to “pay for medically necessary off-site care.” ICE described this as an “absolute emergency” that needed to be resolved “immediately” to “prevent any further medical complications or loss of life.”

Eleven months later, ICE still has no system to pay for outside medical care provided after October 3, 2025.

Hospitals and other providers who continue to treat ICE detainees are not receiving payment. UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, located in Aurora, Colorado, for example, has provided medical care for ICE detainees, including 150 hospital admissions, clinic appointments and emergency visits, since last fall. It hasn’t been paid for any of these services, racking up over $4 million in unpaid bills.

“Like other healthcare providers, UCHealth has been unable to submit claims and has not been reimbursed for care provided since October 1, 2025, because of a disruption in the Department of Homeland Security’s medical payment system,” UCHealth spokesman Dan Weaver told CPR News last month.

Moshannon Valley EMS is a non-profit organization which provides ambulance services in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. As of June, it had responded to 43 calls to a local ICE detention center since October 2025. It has not been paid for any of that work. “We have to have some faith that someone’s going to do the right thing and compensate us for the work that’s provided,” EMS chief Fred Ferguson told NOTUS.

Internal data obtained by Popular Information reveals that, in 2024, the VA processed over $246 million in medical claims related to the treatment of ICE detainees (and a much smaller number of detainees held by Customs and Border Patrol) by third parties. Data obtained by American Oversight found the VA processed $96 million in claims in 2025 before the relationship with ICE was terminated.

In the absence of payment, it is unclear how many providers, like UCHealth, are continuing to provide treatment and how many are refusing to treat ICE detainees.An alarming increase in ICE detainee deaths

A report by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights found that in “the 500 days between President Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025 and June 4, 2026, 52 people died in ICE custody in the United States.” The mortality rate was “nearly four times that of the Biden administration, and more than two and a half times as high as that of the first Trump administration.”

Although the information about these deaths disclosed by the Trump administration has been minimal, “Physicians for Human Rights medical experts had a high suspicion of inadequate or delayed health care in several of the 39 deaths that occurred during the first year of the current administration, raising serious concerns that the deaths may have been preventable.”

The inability of ICE to pay for outside medical care, including emergency services, may be a contributing factor.

For example, on December 3, 2025, Francisco Gaspar-Andrés, a detainee at the Camp East Montana detention facility in Fort Bliss, Texas died of liver failure. According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, for two months before his death Gaspar-Andrés “went to the medical unit nine times, complaining of symptoms including bloody stool and bleeding gums.” But he “was sent back from visits to the medical unit with allergy, heartburn and indigestion medications and diagnosed with influenza despite repeatedly testing negative.” By the time he was finally transported to a hospital on November 16, doctors were unable to save his life.

On June 24, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General announced an “evaluation of detainee deaths in ICE custody“ because of “an increase of detainee deaths in ICE custody each year since fiscal year 2022.”Delay after delay

On October 17, 2025, ICE awarded an emergency contract to Acentra Health to create a system “to receive, adjudicate, process, and pay healthcare claims” related to the treatment of ICE detainees by third parties. Acentra, so far, has been paid $36 million to create such a system.

No claims have been processed by Acentra to date. The company, and ICE, originally said that claims processing would begin on April 30, 2026. After that, the date was repeatedly pushed back without explanation. A few days ago, all estimates of a launch date were removed.

Now, Acentra is claiming they were never supposed to process claims at all. They were just creating a system for someone else to use to process claims. At the end of June, DHS put out another request for information to “identify potential vendors capable of providing a comprehensive medical claims processing system.” The first question asks: “What are your typical and realistic timeline [sic] for transitioning complex and comprehensive claims adjudication and provider reimbursement services… ?”

Robert Reich via Substack, Opinion:The Biggest Issue in the Midterm Elections, Robert Reich, right, Sept. 1, 2026. You'll hear more and more about this.

The earnings of America’s largest corporations — the S&P 500 — surged by an astounding 53 percent over the past year.

But most Americans are losing ground. Wages have barely risen — yet a tomato today costs 40 percent more than it did just a year ago. Gas now costs an average of more than $4.50 a gallon. Renting an apartment is 54 percent more expensive than it was in 2017. Housing prices are up 60 percent since 2019. Families will spend $120 more on electricity this year than last year. Credit card debt is up 63 percent since just 2021. Add in so-called “convenience fees” popping up everywhere, along with “shrinkflation” where companies deceptively shrink product sizes while charging the same or even more — and what do you get? An economy that’s clearly, wildly, unambiguously unaffordable.

A widely watched measure of consumer confidence slipped in August as consumers fretted about future economic conditions, the Conference Board said this past week.

Why the widening gap between how well big corporations are doing and how poorly average Americans are doing? Three reasons:

1. Big corporations are monopolizing their markets, raising prices as they pocket bigger profits.

A major part of the affordability crisis is directly related to monopoly power. As big corporations raise prices, the typical working family has to struggle even harder.

A good rule of thumb is that when four or fewer giant corporations dominate a market, it’s relatively easy for them to informally coordinate their prices so they all make bigger profits while leaving consumers with less choice. This is now the case across much of the American economy.

Walmart now controls almost a quarter of the nation’s grocery market and dominates retail sales. Walmart sells more than half of all groceries in close to 40 metropolitan areas across America.

Amazon, meanwhile, dominates e-commerce in general and many specific lines of business. The corporation sells about 80 percent of all e-books and 71 percent of all print books sold online.

It’s the same for more specialized retail. One company, Luxxotica, dominates the manufacture and retail of eyeglasses. Two companies control 60 percent of the entire U.S. mattress market.

Four major companies — Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS USA, and National Beef Packing Co. — now control about 85 percent of U.S. meat processing.

Four major carriers control around 70 percent to 80 percent of domestic flights and the overall airline market.

Four corporations control roughly 85 percent of U.S. corn seed sales and 75 percent of soybean seed sales.

Three primary providers control approximately 80 percent of the mobile telecom market.

And then there are Apple, Amazon, Google (Alphabet), Facebook (Meta), Nvidia, and Microsoft — which are taking over everything. In a few years, their AI may own, do, and profit from the entire economy.

Appropriate response: Antitrust enforcement! Plus new and more comprehensive antitrust legislation that enables regulators to break up the biggest corporations and make it harder for them to merge or acquire others.

2. High corporate profits are reflected in record stock market values, but only the richest are benefiting from the soaring stock market. That’s because the richest 1 percent of Americans own about half of the value of all shares of stock; the richest 10 percent own over 90 percent.

As a result, the richest 10 percent are feeling wealthier and spending more. But the bottom 90 percent are not.

In fact, a growing portion of the American workforce is sinking. It’s not just that their wages aren’t keeping up with prices. A quarter of them don’t even have jobs that pay enough to keep them out of poverty.

An old friend, Gene Ludwig, has been measuring the true rate of unemployment — defined not only as percent of people unemployed but also those who are working part-time who’d rather have a full-time job, people too discouraged even to look for work, and those not earning enough to keep them out of poverty.

This true rate of unemployment grew 0.2 percentage points in July, from 24.7 percent to 24.9 percent of the working-age population of the United States — the fourth consecutive month of these negative increases, which are up 0.8 percentage points since the start of the year.

Think about it. Almost a quarter of everyone in the U.S. who’s able to work and wants to work cannot find a job that pays them enough to keep them out of poverty.

Appropriate response: A minimum wage of $20 an hour, a universal basic income, and a universal job guarantee.

3. Tariff refunds are providing a big, temporary subsidy to large corporations. They had passed the costs of those tariffs on to their consumers in higher prices, but consumers aren’t receiving the refunds.

This isn’t nearly as large an issue as the first two, but it’s not nothing. The Wall Street Journal reports that tariff refunds are likely to account for more than 4 percent of third-quarter economic growth. Apollo Global Management estimates that the refunds to corporations will add about 0.2 percentage point to the Atlanta Fed’s growth forecast of between 4 percent and 5 percent.

Appropriate response: Require that corporations pass on the refunds to consumers in the form of lower prices.

***The increasing wealth and power of big corporations and the increasing financial distress of most American families will be the biggest issue in the upcoming midterms.

MSNOW, Opinion: The House just got back into town — and wants to leave again ASAP, Hayes Brown, right, Sept. 1, 2026. Beyond keeping the federal government open past the midterms, there’s not much reason for GOP lawmakers to want to stick around 

The House reconvened Monday after five long weeks of recess. Members won’t stick around Washington for long though. Friday marks the start of another 10-day recess for Labor Day and Rosh Hashanah. After that, there will be just three weeks remaining in session before Election Day — but the beleaguered Republican majority is hoping even that wildly short window will be slammed shut early.

There will be just three weeks remaining in session before Election Day — but the beleaguered Republican majority is hoping even that wildly short window will be slammed shut early.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., currently has one major action item on his to-do list: passing a stopgap spending bill to avert a shutdown when the current fiscal year ends on Oct. 1. The Senate sent the bill, which extends funding until Dec. 11, over to the House before its own recess began last month. As The Washington Post noted, the bill also includes a White House-requested boost in funding for housing and nutrition programs and temporarily stops the Office of Management and Budget from seizing more control over allocating federal grants.

If the bill makes it through the House quickly, according to Politico, many Republicans would rather spend the remaining time between now and November away from the Capitol, campaigning to keep their jobs:

“So many people are having to run back and forth to campaign,” Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) told reporters Thursday. “I think we can get some other things done [beyond the spending stopgap], but the big bills will probably have to wait until after the election.”

Another House Republican, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, was more blunt: “I think we have very little to do.” A third member, running for reelection in a competitive district, said in a text message, “I’d be happy to be sent home early!”

Their lack of interest in legislating is unsurprising given how underwhelming the current session has been for the GOP caucus. The House’s major accomplishments this year have been reopening the Department of Homeland Security after a prolonged shutdown and passing a separate funding bill to pay for immigration enforcement. There was a major bipartisan housing affordability bill that became law, but President Donald Trump refused to sign the bill, making it harder for Republicans to promote the win. Altogether, it’s a meager record for Johnson’s members running for re-election to write home about.Digging into the midterms, 2028, and more with POLITICO’s DashAugust 31, 2026 / 06:12

Meanwhile, the speaker’s dreams of a passing a third reconciliation bill before the midterm elections have been dashed upon the rocks, along with the attendant hopes of providing his members’ campaigns more fodder. At best, that bill’s prospects might be revived during a lame-duck session after the midterms. Republican lawmakers who might otherwise have withheld their support for another party-line spending bill could change their tune in the face of a handover of power to the Democrats. That does little to prevent the growing feeling of confidence among the minority about their chances of becoming the majority come January.More articlesThe Republican Party’s latest problem: It lacks a coherent message for the midtermsSteve BenenMike Johnson's left hand covers most of his face.GOP senators are catching heat for a favorite anti-Obama maneuverHayes BrownIn this diagonal frame, Jim Justice makes a hand gesture as he speaks.

But getting the stopgap bill passed easily is not a given for Johnson will manage to get the stopgap bill passed easily. Two riders to the funding make things more difficult for Johnson to rally the votes under most circumstances. One, which Senate Democrats insisted be included, blocks the Trump administration from transferring funds to Border Patrol. The other is a Trump-requested monthlong delay on banning the kind of hemp-derived products that get their users high and are currently available in gas stations nationwide. The latter is especially irksome for Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., the Freedom Caucus chairman who has been pushing hard for the ban to take effect.

But Johnson isn’t relying on his own caucus’ votes to pass the continuing resolution, as these short-term funding bills are called on Capitol Hill. Instead, House leadership plans to bring the stopgap bill forward under a procedure known as “suspension of the rules,” which can expedites passage but requires a two-thirds majority support.

Nobody likes being dragged in from vacation for busy work.

That means, as has so often been the case, House Democrats will have to provide the votes to keep the government open and functioning. If everything goes according to plan, the funding bill will be making its way to Trump’s desk by Tuesday evening. There are a few other bills that will be debated over the rest of the week but none of as much consequence.

In one sense, it’s hard to blame GOP legislators who’d rather be anywhere but Washington right now. Nobody likes being dragged in from vacation for busy work. But having such a short to-do list shows how hollowed-out the legislative branch has become over the years, especially under Republican stewardship. Johnson and his team continue to insist in the face of dire polling and historical trends that they’ll walk away from the midterms with a more sizable (and more manageable) majority to work with. Even in the unlikely event that prophecy comes to pass, it’s not readily apparent what GOP lawmakers would do beyond continue shielding Trump from the threat of accountability. 

New York Times, News Analysis: China and the U.S. Offer Competing Showcases of Global Power, David Pierson, Sept. 1, 2026. As Xi Jinping gathered with the leaders of Russia and Iran, Europe challenged the Trump administration at the G20, offering a split-screen view of a changing world.

The Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Central Asia this week with a message for a world increasingly unsettled by President Trump: China has friends and influence, and is prepared to help shape what comes next.

The scene unfolded at a security summit in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, where Mr. Xi gathered with the leaders of Russia and Iran. He presented Beijing as a source of stability and a champion of an “orderly multipolar world” that would replace the current U.S.-dominated order.

If the Bishkek summit was designed to project solidarity, a meeting of the world’s most powerful countries in the mountains of Asheville, N.C., offered an image of fracture.

European officials attending that meeting of the Group of 20 nations’ finance ministers and central bankers expressed outrage this week that the Trump administration had invited Russia, despite its war against Ukraine. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed that Canada was too small to fight a trade war with the United States. And officials were already confronting the economic fallout from the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which disrupted the flow of oil and pushed global energy prices up and threatened to slow growth.

The simultaneous gatherings happening across the world reflected the broader contest over who will define the next phase of global order. China is using its solidarity with Russia and Iran, two countries at war with the West, to project its influence, giving Mr. Xi leverage as he prepared for a summit with Mr. Trump later this month. The United States, meanwhile, was straining the alliances and economic relationships that have underpinned decades of global leadership.

“China’s theory of the case for bending the international political order in its preferred direction is to amass support from the ‘global majority,’” said Ryan Hass, a former career diplomat and White House national security official now at the Brookings Institution.Want to stay updated on what’s happening in North Carolina? Sign up for Your Places: Global Update, and we’ll send our latest coverage to your inbox.

“This is why Xi’s participation in these groupings is so important to Beijing,” he added. “It builds a narrative around China gaining momentum in building support for playing a more central role on the world stage.”

In Bishkek, at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Mr. Xi met with the leaders of Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Uzbekistan, but his talks with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia carried the most weight. Just days earlier, John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, had made a secret trip to Moscow to urge the Kremlin to end the war in Ukraine. Mr. Xi told Mr. Putin: “The foundation of China-Russia relations will become ever stronger.”

President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran also attended the summit, though it was not immediately clear if Mr. Xi held talks with him.

By comparison, the United States appears to be drifting away from its historical allies and weakening America’s ability to project strength globally. Mr. Trump has opened up a trade war with Canada and reduced war games with South Korea. Concerns are also growing that the United States is depleting its munitions in Iran and unable to meet its defense commitments around the world.

New York Times, Global Bond Sell-Off Puts Investors on Edge, Eshe Nelson, Sept. 1, 2026. Government borrowing costs are hitting multi-decade highs around the world, reflecting anxiety about debt levels, deficits and inflation.

A global sell-off in government bonds intensified on Tuesday, pushing up borrowing costs in some of the world’s largest economies to their highest in decades and rattling investors.

As rising oil prices compound worries about inflation, bond yields are testing fresh highs, squeezing government budgets and raising interest rates on a wide range of consumer and business loans. The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes, perhaps the world’s most influential interest rate, reached its highest since January 2025, and the 30-year yield continued to hover around a two-decade high.

In other important bond markets, the yield on 10-year Japanese bonds climbed above 3 percent for the first time since 1996, the yield on 10-year British bonds reached their highest level since mid 2007 and 10-year German bonds hit levels last seen in 2011.

America’s rising borrowing costs have set off a battle between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and bond investors, but the factors pushing up yields in the United States are also issues in other big markets. In many advanced economies, widening budget deficits, high debt levels and stubborn inflation have unnerved investors who believe that governments are either unable or unwilling to take steps to improve their fiscal situations.

A borrowing binge by technology companies to build artificial intelligence systems is another factor in rising yields. Companies have issued billions of dollars in bonds, swamping markets and pulling investors away from government debt.

“It’s a global story,” said Peter Schaffrik, a strategist at RBC Capital Markets in London.

One of the most pressing and unpredictable drivers of higher yields is the protracted war in Iran. As the United States and Iran renewed attacks recently, the price of oil and natural gas has began to climb again. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, was higher again on Tuesday to above $90 a barrel, nearly 30 percent higher than prewar levels.

The jump in energy costs — the prices of refined fuels like gasoline and diesel have risen even faster — has increased expectations of accelerating inflation that could prompt central banks to raise the short-term interest rates they control. Higher fuel prices also add enormous costs to governments in Asia and Europe, which are big energy importers.

Government debt levels, in some cases, have already reached eye-watering levels. America’s gross national debt topped $40 trillion for the first time last month, or more than 120 percent of the size of the economy. In France, public debt exceeded 3.5 trillion euros (about $4 trillion), which is 117 percent of the size of its economy. In Japan, the government is spending heavily despite a public debt pile that is more than twice the size of its economy.

In the eyes of investors, many politicians don’t appear worried enough about these debt levels. Instead, investors see government plans that are not likely to shrink budget deficits.

In Europe, France is at the forefront of investors’ skepticism in the run-up to a presidential election next year, in which none of the front-runners appear to have what investors consider credible plans to reduce ballooning debt levels. France’s reputation as one of Europe’s safer financial havens has been eroded and it is quickly becoming the region’s most worrisome debt market, more than the southern European economies like Italy and Greece that were at the center of past debt crises. This summer, the yield on French government bonds climbed above Italy’s.

It’s not clear how this will resolve itself soon, but pressure from the bond market may force changes, Mr. Schaffrik said. “You need some kind of a disciplinary factor, and that’s probably the bond market,” he noted.  

Brave New Films New Documentary: Murdering 60 Minutes: Did Bari Weiss Suppress Epstein Coverage? Staff report, Sept. 1, 2026. CBS fired the reporter working on a 60 Minutes investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. Then the report was pulled entirely

.Around the same time, word got out that Bari Weiss's wife, Nellie Bowles, appears in the Epstein files — including a friendly exchange with Epstein and a 2018 visit to his Manhattan townhouse.With Weiss overseeing CBS News, the timing raises a question we think deserves an answer: did this story get killed because it hit too close to home?

By Andrew Kreig and Wayne Madsen

Patrick Reynolds, who formed Congress Majority PAC with a mission of helping fellow civic reformers win congressional races, shares on the next District Insiders podcast his innovative strategies regarding forthcoming U.S. elections.

Hosts Andrew Kreig and Wayne Madsen explore with Reynolds what the public most needs to understand about his innovative strategy for U.S. Mid-Term elections.

Reynolds, right, describes why he’s leveraged his years at the forefront of anti-smoking legislation to raise awareness for solutions to climate change, for example, during a time when drought and wildfires loom.

Reynolds, widely known as the anti-smoking crusading grandson of cigarette company founder RJ Reynolds, started Congress Majority PAC in 2018, raising over $1.36 million from over 24,000 donors.

“We now have a top team in place for strategy, fundraising, compliance, and legal,” Reynolds says. Our ads pioneer a new direction in political advertising for Democrats.” Sample ads are here. Specifics are below:

• Climate Change (60, 30 and 15 seconds)
• Trump quotes, followed by Sen. Graham: “We are the Party of Donald Trump.” (30 seconds) 
• The Economy (60 seconds)
• A Message for Disaffected Democrats (15 and 30 seconds) 

Watch the Patrick Reynolds interview on District Insiders by clicking one of the links below:

• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/district-insiders/id1679198072
• Podbean: https://districtinsiders.podbean.com/
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6kcuaiy3SHhYT4do9iz0vY
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@districtinsiders

About Congress Majority PAC

Congress Majority PAC (www.CongressMajority.org) is a federally registered, hybrid political action committee dedicated to supporting Democratic candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives through strategic communications and voter persuasion. The organization seeks to promote effective issue-based messaging that informs voters and encourages civic participation. How to work together here.

Further information is available on request:

• Patrick Reynolds, President Congress Majority PAC, here:
• Ilene Proctor & Associates, International Public Relations, here 

About Patrick Reynolds

Patrick Reynolds’ advocacy work and motivational talks to youth and adults have made him a well-known and respected champion of a smokefree society. He has helped remind many thousands of people of the dangers of smoking. Patrick watched his father, RJ Reynolds, Jr., his oldest brother RJ Reynolds III, and other members of his family die from cigarette-induced emphysema and lung cancer. Concerned about the mounting health evidence, he made the decision to speak out against the industry his family helped build.

He founded Tobaccofree Earth in 1989. Its mission is to motivate youth to stay tobaccofree and to empower smokers to quit successfully. Reynolds saw that having Democrats in the majority in Congress would bring progress not only on tobacco policy, but also on climate change, gun control, abortion, immigration reform, and other issues. In 2018 Reynolds started Congress Majority PAC with a mission of getting Democrats elected to Congress.

“Each of our ads focus on one issue,” he continues. Our ad on the economy compares the Administrations of Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden, and our ads on immigration and climate change compare the Parties’ voting records on those issues. All conclude, Vote Democrat, and mention no candidate by name, so our ads can be run in any State,” Reynolds said. Congress Majority PAC produces hard-hitting political ads that challenge Donald Trump and failed Republican policies while making a clear, affirmative case for Democratic leadership. Every ad ends the same way: Vote Democrat. Its ads can run in any state and in any congressional race, helping Democratic candidates compete in key districts from coast to coast. For further details, contact:

District Insiders features experts on timely topics affecting “districts” in the United States and globally – congressional, parliamentary or other – that are in the news. Contacts for “District Insiders” hosts for guests, interviews, lectures, questions:

• Andrew Kreig, Andrew [at] justice-integrity.org
• Wayne Madsen, wmadsen777 [at] aol.com

Co-Hosts

Wayne Madsen is a journalist, newspaper columnist, and author of 28 books on intelligence matters, historical events, and the dangers of neo-fascism in threatening democracy in the United States and abroad. Based for many years in Washington, DC, he is a former U.S.Navy officer and NSA analyst.

For more than two decades, he has published The Wayne Madsen Report.com, an investigative news website now on Substack. Madsen is also the third generation of Madsens who have opposed fascism in its varied forms. His recent books include two on the Trump family and “A Parade of New Sovereignties: A Post-Hegemonic World,” an illustrated,  encyclopedia-style reference book providing core details, one to a page, on more than 500 ethnic hot spots globally potentially in the news because of nationalist, religious and patriotic aspirations of populations governed by others.

Andrew Kreig is non-profit executive, reporter, attorney, strategic consultant and author. After careers in journalism, law and business, he became a founding director of the the Washington, DC-based Justice Integrity Project and serves on the boards of several other business, non-profit and civic groups. 

He began his career as a newspaper reporter for the Hartford Courant in Connecticut and then earned law degrees at Yale and the University of Chicago before serving as law clerk to a U.S. District judge in Boston and working at a national law firm's office in Washington, DC. He then became vice president and then president/CEO of the Wireless Communications Association before becoming a research fellow at two universities. His most recent book Is “The Complete Annotated Durham ‘Russiagate’ Report: A Corrupt, Cruel Fraud,” which documents Russian interference in U.S. elections and efforts of denial or diversion by politically motivated Justice Department prosecutors.

 

By Michael McCray (below left)

The 14th Annual Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival concluded as one of the most successful in its history, drawing record participation across five packed days of live programming in Washington, D.C., and ten days of virtual content reaching a national and global audience.

Held under the theme "America 250: Unity in the Community," this year's festival saw the community turn out in greater numbers than ever before.

Whereas past summits have typically centered on a single community, e.g., civil rights advocates, medical whistleblowers, USDA Forest Service women, or New York whistleblowers, among others, with attendance rising and falling over two- to three-year cycles, this year marked a notable departure. Each of the five days brought a full house and an entirely different audience, a testament to the summit's expanding reach and the growing coalition of communities it now serves.

"We have had an overwhelming response to the summit this year, including a wonderful reception and a festival community grew at the Morrison Clark Historic Inn & Restaurant (summit host hotel)," said Festival Director Marcel Reid, shown below. "Everyone came together to support the summit this year form guardianship advocates, to civil rights organizations like the NAACP, the Divine Nine and Indian Tribes."  

Guardianship abuse, financial exploitation of the vulnerable elderly, and elder abuse took center stage this year, championed by the National Association to Stop Guardianship Abuse (NASGA) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Civil rights organizations were strongly represented as well, including members of the Divine Nine (D9) -- among them Alpha Phi Alpha -- alongside the NAACP.

Highlights

A highlight of the festival was the screening of the Hollywood and Netflix film "Bad Guardian," followed by an engrossing question-and-answer session featuring the filmmakers, elder advocates, and media experts. The summit's legislative campaign updates and congressional lobby day activities drew significant press attention, covered by an NBC affiliate and televised across half a dozen media markets.

Additionally, Nevada-based Indian Voices (newspaper and podcast) covered the Pillar Awards at the National Press Club. The Chickasaw and Cheyenne Tribes passed out beautiful hand-crafted tribal necklaces with whistles to support Pillar Award Winners, i.e., the Chickasaw Nation's Gift to Truth.

International interest reached new heights this year, with three times as many visa requests from filmmakers seeking to attend the summit live. Throughout the event, the festival website offered ten days of unique content, including live-streamed events, featured virtual film screenings, and archived panel presentations.

See Below For Award Winners

2026 Pillar Award Winners

The festival's Pillar Awards were presented at the National Press Club, honoring individuals whose courage, integrity, and commitment to truth exemplify the spirit of the whistleblower movement.

Shaw-Marven Award -- Courtney Williams. Courtney Williams is recognized for bringing forward allegations involving sexual harassment, abuse of power, and a culture of impunity within one of the military's most secretive communities.

Martha Mitchell Award -- Gerard Colby, right. An author, investigative journalist, former National Writers Union president, and university educator, Gerard Colby is a cofounder of the Henry Demarest Lloyd Investigative Fund. He authored "DuPont Dynasty: Behind the Nylon Curtain" and coauthored, with Charlotte Dennett, "Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil." A whistleblower who exposed book publishing secrets through litigation, he shared that story in "Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press."

Frank Wills Award -- Dr. Waymon Hinson. Dr. Waymon Hinson paid a profound price for standing with Black farmers. Guided by his Christian faith and an intolerance for injustice, he confronted institutions that resisted accountability. His scholarship, testimony, and the documentary I'm Just a Layman in Pursuit of Justice exposed racialized harm and the toll USDA discrimination took on families -- even as the work strained him personally. His courage, compassion, and integrity endured despite the burdens he carried to tell the truth.

Grace Lee Boggs Award -- Scott Smith. An independent testing expert and environmental advocate, Scott Smith has investigated more than 75 oil and chemical disasters worldwide. Known as "The Guy in the Blue Shirt," he uncovers hidden environmental hazards and empowers impacted communities with independent science. After the East Palestine train derailment, his testing revealed dangerous soil contamination the EPA had withheld. A named inventor on more than 25 patents and founder of the Blue Shirt Justice League, Smith is a 2024 Blueprint Impact Award recipient and a Government Accountability Project client.

Political Courage Award -- Rep. Al Green (D-TX). A veteran civil rights advocate and longtime member of Congress first elected in 2005, Rep. Al Green was born in New Orleans in 1947 and earned his J.D. from Texas Southern University. He previously served 26 years as a Harris County Justice of the Peace. In Congress, he has focused on fair housing, financial oversight, and justice for marginalized communities. Green also led the Houston NAACP for a decade, expanding its membership and civic impact. He is also a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi (Divine Nine).

Journalism Award -- Patsy Widakuswara. Patsy Widakuswara served as Voice of America White House Bureau Chief, covering multiple U.S. administrations and interviewing national leaders on key domestic and foreign policy matters. A veteran broadcast journalist with extensive international reporting experience, she made national headlines in 2021 when she was demoted after questioning senior agency officials about editorial independence -- a move that sparked widespread press freedom concerns. As a primary plaintiff, she has been a vocal advocate against executive interference with VOA's statutory firewall.

Journalism Award -- Kathryn "Kate" Neeper. Kathryn "Kate" Neeper served as USAGM Director of Strategy and Performance Assessment and Chief Strategy Officer. In her executive role, she oversaw operational metrics, agency strategy, and audience reach for VOA's global networks. Following management directives that placed core personnel on administrative leave and shuttered key operations, Neeper joined the lawsuit to defend the agency's statutory mandate and structural governance against unauthorized administrative dissolution.

2026 Film Award Winners

Best Feature Documentary Film: Bad Guardian -- directed by Claudia Myers; Best Documentary: Vindication to Victory -- directed by Matthew Brundige; Best Short: Bacha Bareesh, Shadows of Innocence -- directed by Najia Khaan; Best Screenplay: Covert -- written by Guilherme Augusto Oliveira; Impact Award: Healthy Smiles, Healthy Lives -- directed by Airic Hughes; Audience Choice: The Standard -- directed by Marvin Banks, Jr.

"We don't measure success like a traditional film festival because our goal is to impact art, culture and change laws to support the First Amendment, whistleblower protection, and civil and human rights," says Managing Director Michael McCray. "In effect, we are the only Legislative Film Festival in existence."  

About the Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival

The Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival is an award-winning annual event held in Washington, D.C., presented by ACORN 8 in partnership with African American Women in Cinema (AAWIC), National Association to Stop Guardianship Abuse (NASGA) and the Justice Integrity Project (JIP). The festival honors whistleblowers and the advocates, journalists, and filmmakers who tell their stories, and it hosts National Whistleblower Appreciation Day programming each year on Capitol Hill and at the National Press Club.

For further details, contact Summit and Festival Host Committee member Andrew Kreig.

Other Relevant, Recent Whistleblower News

Aug. 8

Ilene Proctor, Commentary:  Tthe 14th Annual Whistleblowers Summit and Film Festival. A Summit of Recognition, Revelation and Hope,  Ilene Proctor, Aug. 8, 2026. Reflections on the 14th Annual Whistleblowers Summit and Film Festival on Capitol Hill, highlighting key figures including co-founder Marcel Reid and award recipient Gerard Colby.

There are nights when fear becomes more than fear. There are nights when truth resonates so strongly it denies you sleep. The 14th Annual Whistleblowers Summit and Film Festival has that effect. It has a cruel way of stripping away distraction, stripping away pretense, stripping life down to whatever truth remains when your body has declared mutiny and sleep has abandoned you entirely.

When you are ripped awake by the kind of relentless, electric, almost indescribable fear that makes even breathing feel negotiable, the mind goes where it goes.

The Whistleblowers Summit is as essential as air and water, as it boldly and bravely opens the window to air the problems that plague our society and need to be addressed.

Take, for instance, the lax guardianship laws that mask the spectacle of wanton greed that dwarfs filial love and responsibility.

Or, the evidence, clear and indisputable, and not in the Jeannine Pirro way, that the GOP is rigging the election by implanting ghost voters into the voter rolls. To counter their statement that the democrats have rigged the election, Democrats foolishly, and to their own peril, respond by declaring Elections safe and secure.

They are not. Data detective Alison Greene actually looks at the voter rolls and discovered thousands of voters like Jenesaisquoi or Thunderbolt, all with the last name None, or the dozens of alphabet voters starting with A, B,C, D, and so on all with the same last name None, or Y with the Last name Y.

Why why is this outrage not been exposed? Is it perhaps our jaundiced journalists fear the wrath of the GOP? She needs our support in every way.

Or, the Food and Drug Administration (AKA Trump) signing against e-cigarettes, which author/filmmaker Jason Tremko calls the “Devil’s Lettuce.” Tremko proves that, from the medical renaissance to the revolution, Marijuana has changed. The conversation hasn't. From 3% THC in the 1970s to today's addictive and purposely delicious, ultra-high-potency products, cannabis has evolved into a commercial powerhouse-reshaping culture, classrooms, and communities in real time. With kids starting to vape as early as 11 and 12 years old, we’ve reached the marijuana tipping point. And regarding purchasing, there’s no age limit, which means the government is sleepwalking, or more realistically, bribed into silence.

The prestigious Pillar Award was given to Gerald Colby in recognition for exposing the pernicious practice of privishing. (private publishing) where a publishing house reduces its print run and support for a book to the point that the book fails to reach the public. According to fellow whistleblower Alison Greene: “ When Gerald Colby was getting his award and talking about privishing it really resonated with me. I immediately drew a parallel in my mind between what Gerald was describing and the Trump/National Enquirer "catch and kill" scam. It felt like it was a page out of the same playbook. Buying a story to actually stop it from being released. The capitalist method of suppressing speech that you don't want out there. Censorship under the guise of Capitalism.”

Colby is notable for authoring Du Pont: Behind The Nylon Curtain. The 1974 publication was put under contract by Prentice-Hall in anticipation of a significant quantity of books sold to Book of the Month. The book painted a portrait of DuPont enterprises and the DuPont family that was characterized as "sober but unflattering. In response to pressure from DuPont, Book-of-the-Month cancelled its preorder. In anticipation of lower sales, Prentice-Hall reduced its print run and scaled back its marketing plans. Colby (Zilg) sued Prentice-Hall for breach of contract. In the federal case Zilg v Prentice-Hall, Inc., the Federal District Court in New York awarded Colby damages of $24,000. In 1984 the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the ruling. The US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal the same year.[1][2]

Meet the supermen and woman behind the Whistleblower Awards

Michael McCray, below right. A  former national board delegate for Georgia ACORN, McCray was the spokesman for the ACORN 8, the national board members that blew the whistle on a multi-million dollar embezzlement at the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). His breakthrough book RACE, POWER & POLITICS—Memoirs of an ACORN Whistleblower tells the inside story of ACORN.

An author, speaker and public interest advocate, McCray has made numerous media (radio and television) appearances including CNN (Lou Dobbs Tonight) and FOX News (Glenn Beck Show). A highly sought-after public speaker, McCray makes memorable contributions to conferences, events and conventions that welcome his "tell-it-like-it-is" storytelling style and audience engagement. He combines Fortune 500 corporate experience and public interest advocacy by speaking on motivational topics including whistleblower protection, business ethics and corporate integrity.

The OMNI Center for Peace, Justice & Ecology honored him as an ARKANSAS PEACE & JUSTICE HERO in 2008. Most recently, McCray is a 2021 recipient of the Cliff Robertson Sentinel Award Recipient —For Choosing Truth Over Self— for his advocacy with the ACORN 8 from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).

Marcel Reid is a nationally recognized whistleblower advocate, media reformer, and Co‑Founder of the Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival, alongside Attorney Michael McCray (shown at right). She also co‑founded ACORN8 with Attorney Karen Inman, where McCray served as National Spokesperson. Reid chaired DC Metro ACORN, overseeing operations across Washington, D.C. and Virginia, and was elected to the three‑person Interim Committee tasked with restructuring ACORN during a pivotal moment in the organization’s history.

Her commitment to integrity and public accountability has earned multiple honors, including the AFCE Cliff Robertson Sentinel Award, recognition from the ACFE, and other awards for courage and public service.

Reid later joined the Pacifica Radio Network, serving at every level—from the CPB Local Board and Local Station Board to three terms on the Pacifica National Board. She led the effort that resulted in Pacifica’s unanimous vote to support whistleblowers, becoming the first Whistleblower Liaison in national media. Her work contributed to hundreds of news articles and informed reporting that supported Kathleen Parker’s Pulitzer‑winning commentary.

A frequent media guest, Reid appeared regularly on Pacifica’s Ambrose Lane “We Ourselves”, as well as national programs including Glenn Beck and Sharyl Attkisson’s Full Measure and Patrick Lovell's Podcast. Marcel is the current co-host of the TS Radio podcast. . Today, she continues to champion whistleblowers and strengthen public accountability through the Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival.

Justice Integrity Project Director Andrew Kreig is an author, attorney and investigative reporter. His book, “Presidential Puppetry: Obama, Romney and Their Masters” was published Feb. 1, 2013, by Eagle View Books. It grew out of his legal reform and political work, focusing on federal justice prosecutions and official corruption. Also, has long co-hosted public affairs radio and podcasts featuring prominent newsmakers and broadcast nationally. He uses his decades of investigative journalism talent to unmask the characters who have manipulated our democratic institutions. His formidable sources and sophisticated insights will enable elected officials, journalists, professors, and voters to evaluate the power the November elections as in his latest book: The Complete Annotated Durham “Russiagate” Report: A Corrupt, Cruel Fraud." 

Since 1979, Tom Devine, shown above at center moderating a Summit instructional panel on how to advocate effectively to courts, Congress and federal agencies, has been the Government Accountability Project's legal director, where he has assisted over 8,000 whistleblowers ...

People might be asleep when it comes to standing up to democracy, but you can bet the Whistleblower community is always wide awake and working on practical solutions.

Aug. 4

Vermont author Gerard Colby Wins Pillar Award At Whistleblowers Summit Ceremony At National Press Club, Charlotte Dennett, Aug. 4, 2026. Vermont author Gerard Colby of Burlington Vt received a Pillar Award at The 14th Annual Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival July 30 in Washington, DC in recognition of his decades- long struggle against book suppression by publishers secretly sabotaging their own authors on books that prove unexpectedly controversial.

Colby, shown at right, in accepting the award “on behalf of all America writers,” discussed his successful battle in federal court against publisher Prentice-Hall for sabotaging his book “DuPont: Behind the Nylon Curtain,” following pressure from DuPont Company and duPont family members.

In the course of investigating his lawsuit against Prentice-Hall and the DuPont Co., Colby discovered “privishing,” which means to privately publish a book “so it sinks without a trace.” He summarized that practice as follows: A publisher will go through the motions of meeting its contractual obligations to publish the book in exchange for exclusive rights from the author —while secretly, without the author’s knowledge, killing off the book by cutting its promotion, advertising, author’s tours and print run “so it cannot price profitably according to any conceivable formula.”

“Most authors have no idea when privishing happens,” Colby explained. He did not himself know about the practice, he said, until Viking editor revealed that was the practice was well known in the industry and agreed to testify in court. Colby, in accepting the award, provided the following account:

The trial record in U.S. District Court in New York City showed that Prentice-Hall leaked an unedited manuscript of the book to a duPont family-owned bookstore in Delaware ahead of publication, initiating Colby’s ordeal just before publication. Colby had requested interviews of duPont family members, all of which were denied. Once the book was announced as a Book of the Month Club [BOMC} selection, family patriarch Irénée duPont Jr, Vice President of DuPont Company, launched an investigation of the author and quickly left town, leaving the task of pressuring DuPont Company’s public relations department to kill the book.

DuPont Co. then contacted BOMC and urged the business-oriented Fortune Book Club to cancel the book, stating it was “scurrilous and actionable.” BOMC caved under pressure and canceled its selection within 24 hours, whereupon Prentice-Hall began to “privish” the book. Colby’s editor, Bram Cavin, was then fired by Prentice-Hall and subsequently replaced by Colby’s literary agent, Oscar Collier, who had become the literary agent for a book on DuPont family purportedly as a response to Colby’s book. Collier was subsequently expelled by the Society of Literary Agents for his betrayal of professional ethics.

Colby subsequently sued Prentice-Hall for breach of contract and DuPont Co. for inducing breach of contract. Presiding judge Charles Brient revealed in chambers after the trial that he would never hold DuPont, a “pillar of society,” liable for the suppression of the book, but in a landmark decision held Prentice Hall legally responsible for privishing the book. Prentice-Hall offered to settle the case for $26,000 if Colby would keep quiet about the terms of the settlement.

Colby refused and would later describe his entire ordeal as a lead author in “Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press,” later a winner of the National Press Club’s Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism.

Colby would later serve as President of the National Writers Union representing free-lance authors in the US. “I wanted writers to know their rights in an industry that is frankly the least organized and regulated in the country. Privishing is how most books are suppressed in the United States privately by publisher as opposed to government suppression in violation of the First Amendment.

For this reason, and because of his courage in standing up to the powers-that- be, he was awarded a Pillar [of Civil Society] at the 14th annual National Whistleblowers Annual Summit and Film Festival in the ceremony at the National Press Club.

Gerard Colby is an author, investigative journalist and former National Writers Union president and university-level educator with an MA in history. A cofounder of the Henry Demarest Lloyd Investigative Fund, he authored “DuPont Dynasty: Behind the Nylon Curtain” and was the lead author with Charlotte Dennett of “Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil.” A whistleblower, he exposed via litigation the book suppression practice of privishing, shared also via the anthology “Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press.”

July 25

Hamilton For Mayor Campaign, Summit Features Organizing Panel, July 25, 2026. DC Independent Mayoral Candidate Dr. Rhonda Hamilton Invited to Assemble and Moderate All-Star Grassroots Organizing Panel at the 14th Annual Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival on Capitol Hill. 

The Hamilton for Mayor Campaign is proud to announce that Dr. Rhonda Hamilton, 2026 Independent Candidate for Mayor of the District of Columbia, has been invited to assemble and moderate an All-Star Grassroots Organizing Panel during the 14th Annual Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival, one of the nation's premier forums dedicated to government accountability, ethics, civic engagement, and public integrity.

Dr. Hamilton leads a panel on July 28, 2026 beginning at 1 p.m. entitled, "Exploring the Colorless Boundaries of Community and Courage." Panels are:

• Nick DelleDonne / DC Safe Streets Coalition

• Rev. Anthony Motley / Freedom Fighters Coalition

• Dajo Henderson / President, Capitol Hill Towers Tenant Association

• Diane Perlman, Ph.D. / Founder & CEO, Conscious Politics

July 23

Whistleblower Summit, Author Gerard Colby To Be Honored Among Pillar Winners At 14th Annual DC Event, Andrew Kreig, July 23, 2026. From July 24-August 2, 2026, Capitol Hill and the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. will host The 14th Annual Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival, the most comprehensive gathering of whistleblower advocates, documentary filmmakers, and investigative journalists in the country. 

A highlight is the annual Pillar Awards ceremony, held at the National Press Club. Among winners is author Gerard Colby, right, who discusses his experiences as an author who suspected that his epic history, “DuPont: Behind the Nylon Curtain,” had been sabotaged by his publisher, Prentice Hall, due to pressure from the DuPont family. He explores a decade of litigation evidence summarized in a book anthology and now at the Summit.

Other award-winners will be announced in coming days, and will be available soon on the event website. Credentialed media are invited to register to attend the awards ceremony at the National Press Club beginning at 5:30 p.m. on July 30.

Colby is an author, investigative journalist and former National Writers Union president and university-level educator with an MA in history. A cofounder of the Henry Demarest Lloyd Investigative Fund, he was the lead author with Charlotte Dennett of “Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil.” A whistleblower, he exposed via litigation the book suppression practice of privishing, which was shared also via the anthology “Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press.”

July 12

New York Times, Whistle-Blowers Accuse Kennedy Center of Contracting Flaws Under Trump, Julia Jacobs and Zach Montague, July 12, 2026 (print ed.). Documents submitted to Congress detailed concerns about competitive bidding processes and a White House order to tear up new bathroom tile because of its color.

As the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts prepares for major renovations, former project managers there have sent Congress internal documents that they say show how the institution bypassed government contracting norms in work carried out under President Trump.

The documents — sent to a Senate and a House committee last month by lawyers for unidentified clients referred to as whistle-blowers — detail how vendors were selected for work without competitive bidding under rationales that are depicted as flawed.

In one case, a center official described a company chosen for flooring work as the “only identified firm on the Mid-Atlantic seaboard that maintains a fully vertically integrated model, vital for acoustic continuity, architectural uniformity, and operational agility.”

In a letter to the committees, lawyers for the former project managers say their clients question whether the business, located in South Carolina, was the only one available that was qualified to do the flooring work.

The letter says the center’s decision to skip bidding in another case was designed to help meet deadlines important to the president, such as the Kennedy Center Honors in December, which he hosted. 

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Important Epstein Update, Trump Targets Journalists, Iran Vows to Avenge Leader's Death as Trump Fears Possible Assassination, Aaron Parnas, right, July 11, 2026. Trump is reportedly furious over revelations that the Qatari Air Force One jet does not meet U.S. security standards.

Now, in what critics are calling a major assault on the First Amendment, his administration is subpoenaing journalists at their homes. At the same time, the administration is obstructing key Epstein investigations, Kash Patel has been summoned to the White House, and Trump is reportedly preparing for the possibility of his own death by ordering missiles locked and loaded at Iran as Tehran vows to avenge the Ayatollah’s death.

I also spoke today with Epstein survivor Lara Blume McGee ahead of Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearing. For the first time, she shares her story on camera and says this Department of Justice has done nothing to protect survivors or deliver justice.

I told you I would never stop talking about the Epstein files, and I meant it. More interviews are coming. 

Epstein News:

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez accused the Justice Department of obstructing the state's reopened criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's activities at Zorro Ranch by failing to provide requested unredacted federal records despite repeated requests since February. Torrez argues the withheld documents contain names of survivors, witnesses, and potential co-conspirators that are essential to pursuing state prosecutions, warning that delays are causing evidence to grow stale and investigative leads to disappear. While the Justice Department says it supports New Mexico's investigation and is prepared to assist, the dispute has complicated the state's renewed effort—which includes searches of the ranch, subpoenas, and a bipartisan truth commission—to fully investigate alleged crimes connected to Epstein's New Mexico property.

Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) urged acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to fully comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, arguing the Justice Department has failed to release all required unredacted Epstein records and has overused redactions without sufficient explanations. Their letter, sent ahead of Blanche’s Senate confirmation hearing, cites a recent court order requiring additional document disclosures and criticizes the DOJ for missing deadlines while maintaining it has already complied with the law. The lawmakers contend that protecting victim privacy should not be used to broadly withhold records, saying full compliance is necessary to ensure transparency, accountability, and justice for survivors.

First Amendment Attack:

Overnight, while many were asleep, the Trump administration issued subpoenas to several New York Times reporters following the newspaper’s reporting on security concerns involving President Trump’s new Qatari-donated Air Force One. The subpoenas seek to compel the journalists to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan about an alleged violation of federal criminal law, though they provide few details. In some cases, federal agents delivered the subpoenas directly to reporters’ homes, an unusual step that the newspaper described as an escalation in the administration’s actions toward the press. The reporting in question cited anonymous sources discussing sensitive national security matters related to the aircraft.

Before one of the stories was published, an FBI official asked The New York Times to delay publication, citing national security concerns, and requested that the newspaper identify its confidential sources. The Times declined to reveal its sources and proceeded with publication. The newspaper strongly criticized the subpoenas, arguing they threaten press freedom and the public’s right to independent reporting. Statement from The New York Times: “Our journalists report the facts and advance the American public’s right to know how their government is operating and their taxpayer dollars are being used. This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs.”

The subpoenas come amid broader tensions between the Trump administration and major news organizations. While both Democratic and Republican administrations have pursued leak investigations, subpoenas targeting journalists are relatively uncommon, and First Amendment advocates warn they may discourage investigative reporting. It also highlights other recent legal disputes involving The New York Times, including lawsuits over Pentagon access, an employment discrimination case that the newspaper says is retaliatory, and a separate defamation lawsuit brought by President Trump. Together, these events reflect an ongoing legal and political conflict between the administration and the news media.

Kash Patel:

According to MS Now, FBI Director Kash Patel abruptly canceled a planned trip to Chicago after being called to the White House, though administration officials disputed reports that he was summoned over internal frustration. According to the report, some White House officials were concerned about Patel's recent actions, including criticism over his use of FBI resources for travel, a combative social media post, and negative publicity surrounding trips tied to his girlfriend's performances.

Patel had planned to combine an official visit to the FBI's Chicago field office with attending his girlfriend's country music festival performance, prompting internal complaints that the work event was added to justify the travel. The White House said Patel's visit was for unrelated meetings, while the FBI declined to comment and defended his travel as compliant with federal rules. The report also says President Trump and some senior aides have grown frustrated with recurring controversies surrounding Patel because they believe they distract from the administration's broader agenda.

Patel responded to criticism over his reported use of government resources by posting on X, "Nah, my jet ski is gold plated… dumbass," after criticism that he should keep a lower profile amid growing scrutiny. Patel is facing questions from lawmakers about his travel, spending, and use of FBI resources, while the FBI has denied any wrongdoing and disputed the allegations. His social media response drew widespread criticism online, with many users arguing it reinforced concerns about his judgment and leadership rather than addressing the substance of the allegations.

July 11

New York Times, Times Journalists Subpoenaed as Trump Escalates Pressure on Media, Michael M. Grynbaum, July 11, 2026. The Justice Department is seeking to compel testimony from reporters who wrote about the new Air Force One. The Times called the move a “brazen act.”

Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: Trump Confirms: Accepting a Flying Bribery Palace Made Him Less Safe, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), July 11, 2026. From the moment Trump posted a tweet claiming he was sending his Flying Bribery Palace back separately from the NATO summit in Ankara, the entire world knew there was a problem with the jet Qatar gifted him.

That Trump offered a transparently stupid excuse — he wanted to show it off to the military — was no real fix. His expressed worry about being targeted by Iran only further confirmed that the Flying Bribery Palace might not stand up to an Iranian attack.

[W]hen pressed by reporters in Ankara about the reason for the change, Mr. Trump also repeatedly noted that he was Iran’s No. 1 target, and referred at one point to having seen or been briefed on a list of Tehran’s targets in recent days.

By the time NYT provided details of the Flying Bribery Palace’s shortcomings on Thursday, based in part on the observations of a former Air Force official, the outline of what they were had become fairly clear: The Flying Bribery Palace could not protect against an Iranian missile attack.

[O]fficials who have been briefed on the retrofitting of the Qatari jet, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe its security features, said it did not have the same counter-defensive capabilities of the previous model.

[snip]

The older planes that served as Air Force One included a defensive system designed to defeat heat-seeking missiles. That capacity is also planned to be included in the new Boeing planes, according to three former Pentagon officials.

Different parts of the defensive systems are visible on the old Air Force One, under the wing of the plane and on its tail. They are not observable in photographs of the new Qatari plane, according to a third former Air Force official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the security protocols. [my emphasis]

That Thursday story made clear that such shortcomings that had been discussed all along.

But in a statement it made when it announced that the donated jet was ready to transport the president, it acknowledged that the temporary plane did not have all the equipment usually found on an Air Force One.

“No risk was taken in security, safety or mission communications,” the Air Force said in a statement on June 19. “But the collective team made trades on some of the less commonly used mission sets that Boeing must deliver to support the next 40 years.”

To sum up:

Trump calls attention to a change in his plans by telling a transparent lie about it.His own comments confirm a concern about his safety.NYT provides one line about counter-defensive capabilities in a story relying in part on public observation and public statements.

And then Trump sent subpoenas to the four NYT journalists who worked on the story, thereby confirming that the story was correct — that Trump’s Flying Bribery Palace had inadequate equipment to counter a missile attack.

The subpoenas don’t do anything to alleviate the risk to Trump’s security he made clear by announcing the plane change. Indeed, the confirm, for all the world, that Trump’s Flying Bribery Palace is an easy target.

At each level of the story, Trump confirmed the story.

I don’t mean to minimize the abuse of subpoenaing the reporters. This is another alarming attack on the free press (and may be an attempt to find Congressional sources who have long pointed out the weaknesses of the Flying Bribery Palace).

But Trump is the one who disclosed his plane was inadequate to the task. The reporters only responded to Trump’s repeated signals that his plane was inadequate by filling in dots that had been in plane (ha!) sight since Trump accepted the bribe.

This is just like the arrests of people — including Davey Hearn, whom Jeanine Pirro indicted last week — who put their hands in Trump’s reflecting swamp: An effort to distract from the consequences of his own corruption.

Trump is criminalizing calling out his corruption. He sure as hell is not keeping anyone safe.