Thursday, September 24, 2026
The Snapshot
Thursday, September 24, 2026. Chump's failing economy is getting push back from Americans and, on the Senate floor, from Senator Patty Murray, the FBI got hacked, the GOP is considering waving the white flag in two states over US senatorial candidates, ICE has ramped back up, and much more.
[. . .]
Retiring
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis’ seat in North Carolina is also being
viewed as a likely flip in GOP circles, Politico’s reporting suggests.
The site reports that internal GOP polling shows former North Carolina
Gov. Roy Cooper with a double-digit lead over the Republican candidate,
Michael Whatley.
While
that’s just a sliver of Husted’s prolific fundraising, his opponent in
this year’s race, former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, is turning it
into a campaign cudgel. He’s run at least three different television
commercials pounding Husted for receiving more money from Wexner than
any other current member of Congress.
[. . .]
As Ben (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) notes in the video above, early this morning the court released a verdict. Erik Wemple (NEW YORK TIMES) explains:
A federal judge on Thursday said that President Trump’s order barring CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House was likely unconstitutional and ordered the administration to restore access to the three news outlets.
Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court in Washington granted a 14-day restraining order and told the White House to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the press credentials held by employees of the three outlets.
The news organizations were likely to succeed in their claim that the White House had violated their constitutional due process rights by revoking their press credentials without advance notice or an opportunity to respond, Judge Kelly wrote in the order issued in the early hours of Thursday.
He also rejected, for now, the administration’s argument that revoking the outlets’ press credentials was necessary to protect national security.
Holmes Lybrand, Brian Stelter, Katelyn Polantz, Alex Stambaugh and Haven Orecchio-Egresitz (CNN) add:
In the ruling issued early Thursday, Kelly found the revocation of reporters’ press badges was done without “constitutionally adequate due process.”
The ruling - which comes just hours before Trump is set to welcome Chinese leader Xi Jinping - means journalists should now be able to return to work at the White House complex. Some CNN staff, however, were unable to gain access to the White House early Thursday morning. CNN reporter Betsy Klein and a photojournalist were denied access to the White House grounds in the 6:00 a.m. hour. There was no reason provided for the refusal and CNN will continue to try to gain access as regular business hours start.
One CNN producer was able to enter the White House using their pass after 6:00 a.m. It was not immediately clear why the person had been able to access the building.
Looking at the economic picture in Chumpland and it's not pretty. Giulia Carbonaro (NEWSWEEK) reports:
The
number of working-age adults struggling to pay rent climbed last year
amid rising costs for housing and other essential expenses, according to
a new analysis by Urban Institute researchers, with middle-income
renters facing the biggest increase across all households.
While
lower-income households were the most likely to report challenges
paying rent last year at 27.8 percent, up from 26.4 percent in 2024, the
share of middle-income renters struggling saw a huge jump in the space
of 12 months, going from 14.3 percent in 2024 to 21.6 percent in 2025.
The
findings represent yet another blow to the American middle class, for
which many traditional life milestones reached relatively easily by
their parents—like homeownership, kids and marriage—feel increasingly
out of reach.
A July survey
from Primerica, a financial service company, found that 71 percent of
middle-income Americans believed their income could not keep up with the
cost of living, 66 percent said they had little to no wiggle room in
their budgets, and more than half had stopped saving for the future.
The
reason why middle-income households have seen such a big jump is that
costs have been increasing across the board, Kathryn Reynolds, one of
the authors, told Newsweek. “You’re seeing increases in food costs and
gas prices and utilities, and, honestly, I think people are just
starting to be squeezed,” she added.
When the rent was due in 2025, a fifth of Americans weren't able to pay on time.
According
to a new report from the Urban Institute, 20% of surveyed Americans
aged 18 to 64 said that, at some point in 2025, they couldn't pay their
full rent on time. That's the highest share of rent troubles recorded
since the Urban Institute's Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey began
asking this question in 2019, and a marked increase from 2024.
Lurking under that bleak rent outlook is another signal of a flailing middle class: In the year leading up to December 2025, middle-income
renters, who earn between 200% to 400% of the federal poverty line,
were much more likely to say they were struggling to pay rent.
About
half of rural American voters believe the economy is worse off now than
when President Donald Trump returned to office, according to a new
survey that points to economic frustration among a key group that has
backed him and other Republicans in recent elections.
The Associated Press, in partnership with KFF,
polled more than 2,000 rural registered voters and found broadly
negative views of the national and local economies, including among many
Republicans. The costs of groceries, gas and healthcare rank as top
pain points for the rural voters, who were surveyed over two weeks
starting in mid-August. A larger share than among voters overall say
they are worried about being able to afford groceries or gas.
At the same time, about half of rural voters approve of Trump’s job performance, more than among U.S. adults overall in separate AP-NORC polling.
The
findings suggest that many rural voters have not turned on Trump but
that they also largely do not think he has delivered the economic
renaissance he promised in his campaign.
Ed
Westrick, a registered Republican and veteran, rates Trump’s job
performance as “mediocre, middle-of-the-road.” Westrick, who lives in
rural Texas, is not sure he will cast a midterm ballot, a troubling sign
for Republicans in a key state in their fight to keep control of
Congress.
Rural Americans skew Republican and
historically have been an instrumental group of voters for Trump. The
survey reveals that while rural voters seem unlikely to support
Democrats on a large scale, Trump and the Republican Party could face
challenges with them in November.
As Chump's economy continues to fail, Senator Patty Murray took to the Senate floor this week to review some of Chump's claims:
Murray: “It is everything. It is health care costs—which Trump has sent higher. It is child care—which is out of control. It is goods across the board—which are up due to Trump’s insane trade wars. It is gas—which Trump launched to new heights with his Iran war. Trump just does not get it. He has no idea what Americans are going through.”
***WATCH: Senator Murray’s full speech***
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, spoke on the
Senate floor slamming Trump for the many wildly out-of-touch statements
he’s made about the economy and working families. In addition to ticking
through ten of Trump’s most out-of-touch takes, she discussed how Trump
and Republicans’ policies are making gas, groceries, health care, and
child care more expensive for working families while pouring trillions
into illegal wars.
Senator Murray focused her discussion on Trump quotes below:
- “I love the inflation.”
- “’Groceries,’ it’s a very simple word. ‘Groceries.’ Like almost—you know, who uses the word?”
- “Affordability is a hoax…”
- “I don’t think that a beautiful baby girl needs…to have 30 dolls. I think they can have three dolls or four dolls…”
- “I always say tariffs is the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary.”
- “I found health care sort of like not of tremendous interest…”
- “We can’t take care of day care. We’re a big country. We have 50 states. We have all these other people. We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of day care.”
- “I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes.”
- “Wars can be fought ‘forever’…”
- Reporter: “I wonder what grade would you give your economy?” Trump: “A plus. A plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus.”
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:
“As President Trump himself has admitted: ‘I’m not so careful with what I say.’ And: ‘Americans’ financial situation? I don’t think about anybody.’
“No kidding—we noticed!
“And when it comes to the economy, President Trump’s statements could not be more divorced from reality—let alone the experience of everyday Americans. Yes—in a shock to no one, the billionaire who gets advice from a trillionaire is way out of touch today with everyday people.
“Trump said last year he never even knew the word affordability until recently. He said that ‘tariffs’—the taxes that he raised on working families—is his favorite word. Trump said we can’t afford child care. He said no one cares about affordable housing. He said health care is not of tremendous interest.
“Or—get a load of this—Trump said he loves inflation. And that $4 for a gallon of gas is ‘Okay.’ And then when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.
“Well, that may be true for his buddies—the billionaires and oil robber barons—but it sure isn’t true for working families!
“Of course, I know it is hard to keep track of all of Trump’s whack-a-doodle claims about the economy—especially with the constant stream of new nonsense spewing out of this President’s brain.
“So today, I want to take a trip down memory lane and discuss what I consider Trump’s craziest quotes about the economy and working families.
[INFLATION]
“It’s no secret Americans are fed up with inflation—at least all Americans except for one.
“President Trump has said: ‘I love it, the numbers were great. You know what I really love? I love the inflation.’
“Do my Republican colleagues agree? Do they love inflation? Because I will say, they have not lifted a finger to help us stop the Trump policies driving inflation through the roof.
“Republicans have not helped rein in Trump’s absurd trade wars. Republicans have not stood up against Trump’s war with Iran. They have not helped reject Trump cuts to programs that lower energy costs. They did not stop the MAGA health care hike that caused insurance premiums to skyrocket.
“I know Trump is out of touch with everyday Americans when he says he loves inflation. I know it because I hear directly from people back in Washington state about this all the time.
“But what about Republicans here in Congress? They may not be as blunt about it as Trump, but their actions—or rather, their inaction to lower prices—speaks pretty darn loudly.
[GROCERY COSTS]
“Now, if you are not a billionaire like Trump, you are probably very familiar with groceries, and the fact that costs have been going up, up, and up.
“If you are Trump, well then: you are saying things like: ‘It’s a very simple word, ‘groceries,’ like, almost, you know, who uses the word?’ That’s a quote. Or: ‘It’s such an old-fashioned term but a beautiful term: groceries… It sort of says a bag with different things in it.’ That is a quote.
“For most of us, the grocery trip is a weekly errand—it’s everyday life. But the way Trump talks about groceries—he may as well be from another planet.
“It’s very clear Trump has no idea what it’s like to clip coupons for discounts on milk and bread. He doesn’t know what it’s like to compare cereal boxes to see what size has the best value, or check the clearance aisle in hopes of finding a deal. And I would bet my bottom dollar he’s never in his life bought the generic brand to save a few bucks. He probably doesn’t even know they exist!
“Now, groceries may seem old-fashioned to Trump, but for everyone else—whether or not we can afford groceries is the difference between being able to put a healthy dinner on the table, scraping by on the cheapest junk, or just going hungry.
[AFFORDABILITY]
“Now, if you were wondering why President Trump doesn’t seem to care at all about rising prices—well, it may just be that a billionaire like Trump literally doesn’t understand the idea of struggling to pay for something. The word ‘affordability’ is practically a new concept for him. He doesn’t believe in it! He thinks it was made up!
“In his own words: ‘First time I heard it, was a word, you know, made up by the Democrats: affordability.’
“He said, ‘Affordability is a Democrat scam.’
“‘They made up a phony word that they used. They said, ‘affordability.’
“And he said, ‘Look, affordability is a hoax.’
“A scam, a hoax, a phony, made up word—that is what Trump thinks affordability is.
“But for families across the country, affordability is a very real problem—one that they are having to deal with every day, and one that is being made worse by this President’s own policies.
[FAMILIES STRETCHING BUDGETS]
“In case anybody thinks Trump doesn’t have any solutions on affordability, don’t forget this little pearl of wisdom from Trump: ‘I don’t think that a beautiful baby girl needs to have 30 dolls. I think they can have three dolls or four dolls… They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.’
“Seriously? I talk to moms and dads all the time who are struggling to get by. Families are already stretching their budgets and pinching their pennies. People are not struggling because they are blowing their savings on dolls. The problem is not their pencil budget. Good lord!
“It is everything. It is health care costs—which Trump has sent higher. It is child care—which is out of control. It is goods across the board—which are up due to Trump’s insane trade wars. It is gas—which Trump launched to new heights with his Iran war.
“Trump just does not get it. He has no idea what Americans are going through.
[TARIFFS]
“Trump has already told us that he views ‘groceries’ as an old-fashioned word. He has already said he thinks the word ‘affordability’ is made up. But what has he said about ‘tariffs?’ You almost have to hear it to believe it.
“Trump has said: ‘I always say tariffs is the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary.’
“Now, as a reminder—since Republicans keep trying to put their heads in the sand on this—tariffs are taxes. A Republican president is saying his favorite thing is a tax increase!
“Reagan must be spinning in his grave.
“And not only are tariffs taxes—they are taxes that hurt working families especially hard. We have seen that time after time.
“Trump’s tariffs have rocketed grocery prices through the roof. Trump’s tariffs have made baby items—strollers, car seats, toys more expensive. Trump’s tariffs have put a strain on back-to-school shopping. They’ve squeezed our local coffee shops.
“And Trump’s favorite word is crushing small businesses too! I’ve talked to local restaurants, and sporting goods stores, and farmers, and a lot more, they are all facing serious hardship because of Trump’s tariffs. They are losing customers for produce that they ship abroad. They are having to raise prices in their stores. They are having to pay employees less, let people go, or even just shut their doors entirely.
“All because Trump chose to pursue some of the biggest tax hikes in American history, while Republicans cheered him on.
[HEALTH CARE]
“Let’s not forget, Trump is also totally out of touch on health care. As Trump put it: ‘I’ve found health care sort of like…not of tremendous interest.”
“That explains why he has done absolutely nothing to lower health care costs. And worse than that—Trump and Republicans passed the largest cuts to health care in our nation’s history, and then stood by and cheered as patients faced some of the largest health care price hikes in history.
“In their Big Ugly Bill, Republicans gutted Medicaid, with changes that are—right now—kicking families off their health care coverage.
“And while Trump and Republicans are plenty interested in tax cuts for billionaires, while they will bend over backwards to help keep the private jets fueled—they didn’t lift a finger to save families from exploding [health] insurance premiums.
“They stood by as tax credits for working families expired, and people saw their monthly premiums double, triple, or even worse. We know millions of people lost their coverage because of Trump and Republicans.
“And don’t forget—Trump put tariffs on pharmaceuticals, of all things!
“Now maybe a billionaire like Trump doesn’t find health care interesting because Trump has never had to. He’s never had to ration his prescription and hope it would be okay, he’s never had to delay a needed check-up until the next paycheck. He’s never debated whether to go get urgent care or not because he was worried about the bill, or wondered how on earth he could afford a lifesaving cancer treatment.
“But that is the reality millions of patients face every day, and they deserve leaders in Washington who are interested in the challenges they face, and focused on solutions so that everyone can get the care they need without worrying about the cost.
[CHILD CARE]
“Now, M. President, I of course have to talk about child care. I got into politics fighting for child care, and it’s something I push hard on every day.
“So I was floored when I heard Trump say: ‘The United States can’t take care of day care. That has to be up to a state. We can’t take care of day care. It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things.’
“Talk about out of touch—this is exactly backwards. We have a child care crisis in this country. It is holding our country back!
“A billionaire like Trump may not understand—but working parents are the backbone of our economy. And if mom and dad can’t find child care, then mom and dad can’t go to work.
“That is a big problem—for parents who are trying to make ends meet, and small businesses who are trying to find workers.
“Trump says we can’t afford child care? The truth is—we cannot afford to ignore child care.
[HOUSING]
“One of the most outrageous things Trump has said about the economy was something he actually said behind closed doors. According to Punchbowl News, earlier this year, Trump told Republican leaders: ‘No one gives a ‘BLEEP’ about housing.’
“How ridiculous. We have an enormous housing shortage in this country—especially when it comes to affordable housing.
“The rising costs from Trump’s tariffs and the Iran war have made it harder for people to make rent. And because Trump has done so much damage to the economy—federal interest rates are on the rise, meaning mortgage rates are going higher and higher, and millions of families are watching as Trump pulls the rug out from under them—putting their dream of owning a home farther and farther out of reach.
“But Trump doesn’t care. And worse than that—Trump sees high housing costs as a good thing. He literally said: ‘I don’t wanna drive housing prices down, I wanna drive housing prices up.’
“Spoken like a true slum-lord.
[TRUMP’S WAR]
“And let’s not forget that while Trump doesn’t know words like ‘affordability’ and ‘groceries,’ while he loves ‘inflation’ and ‘tariffs,’ and while he doesn’t care about health care, or housing, and doesn’t think we need money for child care, there is one issue Trump is ready to throw trillions of dollars at—war.
“He started a pointless war with Iran—with no plan, and no concern for how it would explode gas prices. Even now, he is saying $4 gas is okay.
“He doubled down recently, saying: ‘You have a higher gas—it’s a very inexpensive price to pay for what we’ve done. Remember that. It’s a little more. Frankly, even if it was a lot more.’
“Meanwhile, he has put forward a completely war-bloated budget calling for $1.5 trillion for war spending. That’s trillion, with T—we are talking twelve zeroes here.
“And I know what you’re thinking—it’s the same thing most Americans are thinking—we cannot afford another ‘forever’ war. We have investments right here we need to be making—child care, health care, energy, roads, housing, and more.
“But Trump—who once promised ‘no more forever wars’—has actually done a complete one-eighty. Not only did he launch a new war—he wrote online about his belief that ‘wars can be fought forever and very successfully.’
“So to recap: Trump thinks wars can be fought forever, but we can’t afford child care at all. He wants to spend trillions on bombs and weapons, but doesn’t care about housing and health care.
“It simply does not get more wrong or out of touch than that.
[TRUMP OUT-OF-TOUCH WITH AMERICANS]
“There are so many insane things Trump has said about the economy. But a lot of it comes down to one basic fact: he is in complete denial. Maybe it’s because he has let AI videos melt his brain. Maybe it is because he is hopelessly an out-of-touch billionaire. Maybe it’s just because he is exactly what he has always been—a liar.
“They say the first step is admitting you have a problem. When it comes to the economy, Trump cannot even do that.
“Despite the painful inflation, despite the sluggish job growth, despite the red flashing lights—like rising bond rates, and slowing GDP growth, and plummeting consumer confidence—despite all of that: when Trump was asked to give himself a grade on the economy, he gave himself an: ‘A plus… A plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus.’ That was a quote.
“A Plus? That’s more like: BS.
“Maybe the high prices and chaos are working great for corrupt billionaires like Trump. After all, he has made more stock trades as President than all of congress combined, he’s raking in billions through crypto scams, and his family is cashing in through highly conflicted foreign business deals.
“However, Trump’s rigged economy is not working for working families.
“But here’s the thing—we live in a democracy. And at the end of the day, Trump’s final grade on the economy won’t come from himself. The American people—the ones who are paying the prices of Trump’s tariffs, the ones who are paying the price of his war with Iran, the moms and dads who are struggling to find child care, the patients struggling to afford health care, the families struggling to pay rent—they are the ones who will pass final judgement later on this year on Trump’s economy.
“I have no doubt that in the meantime Trump will continue making out of touch statements and bizarre AI videos.
“But here’s a reminder to all of my colleagues who are afraid to stand up to this President: even if Trump has lost touch with reality, he is still going to have to face all of that this fall.”
###
The tides have turned and they've turned against Chump. How bad is it? Erkki Forster (DAILY BEAST) reports:
Republicans
are considering surrendering a pair of Senate races in states that
President Donald Trump won in 2024, a new report alleges.
GOP operatives are considering pulling spending on Senate races in Georgia and North Carolina, insiders tell Politico, in what is the latest proof that Republican odds of maintaining control of the upper chamber are falling fast.
Rumblings
of a southern surrender come as GOP operatives fear that spending money
to prop up those candidates could leave them vulnerable in once-safe
seats that have become competitive elsewhere in the country, Politico
reports, citing “well-placed party sources.”
If
true, GOP spending against Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff—who flipped the seat
in 2021 and is now a top 2028 presidential contender—would dry up,
surely dooming his scandal-plagued MAGA opponent, Rep. Mike Collins.
Ossoff led Collins by 7 points in a survey conducted this month by Republican pollster Trafalgar Group.
Maybe if Chump would campaign for Whatley, he'd be doing better. Oh. Wait. "Trump
has thrown his full weight behind Whatley, traveling to North Carolina
for a rally earlier this month." So that's what doomed Whatley. Andrew Prokop (VOX) notes the move on the part of GOP candidates to put distance between themselves and Chump:
With
the midterms just under six weeks away, more Republican candidates are
coming to the belated realization that, if they want to save their
seats, they could perhaps use some distance from the very unpopular
president whose approval is reaching new lows.
Now,
after a decade in which President Donald Trump has demanded — and
increasingly received — near-total loyalty from his parties’ candidates
and congressional delegation, and used his bully pulpit to launch harsh
personal attacks on Republicans who don’t provide it, such distancing
attempts remain cautious and limited.
But they
are growing more common. And this isn’t just in the toughest blue
territory — even Republicans in states or districts Trump won
overwhelmingly are now rushing to emphasize how they don’t agree with
the president on some of his most controversial and unpopular agenda
items.
“It’s only natural that candidates
would seek to create distance from Trump, especially on issues — like
the Iran war — that are unpopular,” GOP strategist Douglas Heye told me.
“That doesn’t guarantee success, and can be a hard needle to thread,
but it’s the natural play.”
North
Carolina’s closely watched U.S. Senate race has entered a consequential
stage after a Republican political group canceled $6.5 million in
October advertising reservations intended to support Michael Whatley.
The September 21 decision comes as Republican strategists privately
express concern about the contest against former Democratic Gov. Roy
Cooper.
[. . .]
The
canceled reservations belong to Old North Action, a Republican super
PAC. According to advertising tracker AdImpact, the organization removed
$6.5 million in planned October advertising while retaining
approximately $14.5 million in reservations through Election Day.
Semafor first reported the spending adjustment on September 21.
And one more on North Carolina, Natalie Allison and Dan Merica (WASHINGTON POST) report:
Republican
officials, who opened the midterm season with high hopes they would
keep the Senate, are growing increasingly anxious about a state that
voted for Donald Trump three times and has not elected a Democrat to the
Senate in nearly two decades.
They’re
privately conceding the party appears set to lose North Carolina’s
Senate seat unless Trump’s poor approval ratings — and the high prices
that caused them — improve dramatically in the coming weeks.
The
state is one of nine battlegrounds that will likely determine control
of the Senate, where Republicans now hold a 53-47 advantage. Six of the
battlegrounds, including North Carolina, are currently in Republican
hands.
Adam Wollner (NBC NEWS) notes
Republicans in Congress Ashley Hinson, Zach Nunn and Mariannette
Miller-Meeks have distanced themselves from Chump on the war and:
Several
hours later yesterday, former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee
in Michigan’s Senate race, released a video on social media saying that
“the war with Iran needs to end and end quickly.”
And
today, another Michigan Republican, gubernatorial candidate John James,
said during a news conference that “we need to end this war quickly,” according to The Detroit News. Like Hinson, James, a congressman, has repeatedly voted against the resolutions in the House directing Trump to halt the war.
These
pivots come amid deepening voter frustration with the war and the state
of the economy. According to the new national NBC News poll, 55% of
registered voters said they believe Trump’s policies have hurt the
economy, and 62% said the military action in Iran has not been worth it.
Moreover,
57% of voters said supporting the Iran war would make them less likely
to vote for a candidate, compared with 24% who said it would make them
more likely.
As the midterms near, Republicans
are breaking with Trump on more than just the Iran war. As we noted last
week, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., released an ad criticizing the
president’s deportation agenda.
Elsewhere in Florida, Republican candidate for governor Byron Donalds removed most references to Trump on his campaign website. And Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, called for an investigation into the business dealings of Donald Trump Jr.
(as well as Hunter Biden) following the revelation that a Russian
oligarch paid for the president’s son’s post-wedding festivities in the
Caribbean.
Sam Stevenson (NEWSWEEK) provides a list of Congressional Republicans putting some distance between themselves and Chump. Stef W. Kight (VOX) notes the trend of GOP candidates putting distance between Chump and themselves:
Just
on Tuesday: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) railed on the Senate floor at
Trump's decision to host Chinese President Xi Jinping this week for a
state dinner.
Wicker urged Trump to "keep in
mind that his guest is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who
seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is
aimed directly" at the U.S.
Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) called
for the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena Donald Trump Jr.
over his foreign business dealings and the hundreds of thousands of
dollars he allegedly received from a Russian oligarch for his wedding.
"If
your family's involved in the [presidency], then you ought to be very
transparent," Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), a close Trump ally, told Axios
last week when asked about the reporting on Trump Jr.'s wedding.
Chump's
not the only one running off voters from the Republicans. There's also
his dead friend, pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Julie Carr Smuth and Alexandra Olson (AP) report:
Billionaire
Les Wexner has long been a magnet for political campaigns seeking
contributions — especially in his native Ohio, where the retail tycoon
directed a generous portion of his giving to candidates from both
parties. Then came the Epstein files.
Jeffrey
Epstein, the late convicted sex offender, was Wexner's former financial
adviser. That relationship and Wexner's history of political donations
has figured prominently in Ohio's U.S. Senate race, which could end up
as the most expensive in the country this year.
Wexner,
who has disavowed his prior association with Epstein, contributed about
$116,000 to support Republican Sen. Jon Husted from 2001 to 2025,
mostly during the two decades he spent in state politics before being
appointed to fill Vice President JD Vance’s seat last year.
And Chump has lost young voters. Rich Baris (REAL CLEAR POLITICS) writes:
Everything
Republicans thought they knew about younger voters who backed them less
than two years ago is wrong. Conservative pundits and consultants have
had an almost bipolar misunderstanding of these now-disaffected
Americans.
When President Donald Trump made his
historic political comeback in 2024, a slew of right-wing commentators
repeated each other’s claims that “Zoomers” were just “more
conservative” than previous cohorts. That was news to us, given BIG DATA
POLL was met with fierce skepticism leading up to that election,
explicitly because we led the industry in identifying trends indicating
the president was making significant gains with younger, nonwhite
voters.
Some of these very same consultants
argued that our trends showed little more than a “polling mirage,” the
result of higher sampling errors for subgroups. Their slowness in coming
to the realization that these trends were in fact very real has only
been rivaled by more recent attempts to reconcile that rightward shift
in 2024 with events that have transpired since.
Turning to immigration, Sunday, ICE shot another person. Earlier this year, they shot and killed Renee Nicole Good. Her mother spoke on Tuesday. Fernando Cervantes Jr. (USA TODAY) reports:
Renee Nicole Good’s mother,
Donna Ganger, said on Tuesday, Sept. 22, that she voted for President
Donald Trump and believed that federal immigration officers would
“protect” Americans.
“But no one can protect
against others who are determined to disregard our country’s
constitutional rules and values,” Ganger said during a public forum
hosted by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, and Rep. Robert
Garcia, D-California.
Good was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in January during immigration enforcement efforts in Minneapolis. Her death sparked nationwide protests.
Ganger,
who identified herself as a registered Republican, said it was torture
that "as a mom and as a family, we could not protect" Good.
“I
voted for President Trump under the impression that these agents were
here to protect the citizens of the United States, innocents like our
family and the others here, against terrorists, certainly not to accuse
those of us here of being terrorists and take precious lives,” Ganger
said.
Democratic
Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Robert Garcia of
California led Tuesday’s forum. Among the other participants were the
families of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Ruben Ray Martinez, as well as
Stella Carlson, who recorded the fatal shooting of VA ICU nurse Alex
Pretti, who was also gunned down by a federal immigration officer in
Minneapolis.
Good was fatally shot by ICE agent
Jonathan Ross on Jan. 7 during a protest of the Trump administration’s
immigration crackdown in Minnesota dubbed “Operation Metro Surge.”
The
mother of three was in her car when Ross fired three shots into her
vehicle, striking her in the forearm, breast, and the left temple.
Good’s death was ruled a homicide by the Hennepin County Medical
Examiner.
The administration claimed that Good
had attempted to run over ICE officers with her vehicle, with top
officials, including Vice President JD Vance and former Homeland
Security Secretary Kristi Noem, labeling her as a “domestic terrorist”
in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
Andrea Castillo (LOS ANGELES TIMES) notes of the hearing:
Lorenzo
Salgado Araujo’s wife used to spend her evenings cooking a big meal for
her husband and waiting for him to return home from his job as a
homebuilder. Now, his son told members of Congress, Salgado Araujo’s
wife spends those evenings visiting her husband’s grave at the cemetery.
In
a packed Senate hearing room, a rapt audience of dozens listened to the
sons of Salgado Araujo, the mothers of Ruben Ray Martinez and Renee
Good, as well as the woman who video recorded the death of Alex Pretti
and the lawyer for the family of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero.
Salgado
Araujo, Martinez, Good, Pretti and Durán Guerrero were shot and killed
by federal agents since the start of the Trump administration’s
crackdown on immigrants. Some were U.S. citizens; others were
immigrants.
“We still have so many questions,”
said Lorenzo Salgado, one of Salgado Araujo’s sons. “What are the names
of the ICE agents who killed our dad? Why do they get to be protected
behind anonymity, while my brother and I stand before cameras, showing
our faces, proudly saying our first and last name?”
ICE is becoming very active again and is back to terrorizing people. Alice Gibbs (NEWSWEEK) compiles a list of the 11 people known to have been shot by ICE so far this year. Yesterday on MS NOW's MORNING JOE, Mika Brzezinski observed, "There's
one just simply unbearable throughline here. Lethal force, competing
accounts, incomplete information and devastated families -- also
terrorized communities. A country can enforce its laws, we've learned
this, and still insist on the Rule of Law. It can protect its borders
and still demand that the government meet the highest standard when an
agent draws a weapon and pulls the trigger. That is not what's happening
in America right now." Rachel Maddow (MS NOW) noted
on her program Monday, "Also on Sunday, this time in Evanston,
Illinois, Donald Trump’s ICE agents badly beat a U.S. citizen and then
drove away, leaving him lying in the street, bloody and injured and
writhing in pain. Somebody then called the Evanston police, who showed
up and called an ambulance for the man. He was taken to the hospital
with injuries to his head and neck and teeth."
Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) left a U.S. citizen from Evanston, Ill.,
injured on the ground after he was detained in an incident of mistaken
identity on Sunday, according to local police.
[. . .]
The
Evanston Police Department said in a statement that at around 9:49
a.m., the department received a call about two men having an argument
and someone saying that a person was being taken into custody. Officers
were dispatched to the 1700 block of Howard Street.
ABC
7 Chicago spoke with Miguel Olivares, who said he was on his break at
El Pueblito Mexican Grill on Howard Street when he saw vehicles outside
the restaurant and a confrontation taking place.
"It looked like police vehicles until I started hearing, 'I'm a U.S. citizen. I'm a U.S. citizen,'" Olivares told the outlet.
Olivares
said he recorded the incident on his phone, adding that the federal
officers "were being rough with [the man]; they had him pinned against
the floor, and it looked like one of the agents hit him in the face."
He told NBC 5 Chicago that because it appeared the men really hurt the man, "we had to call 911."
Mr. Garton said the agent’s conduct was unacceptable. “Let’s say it was a fugitive and they got the wrong guy,” he said. “If you tackle the wrong guy, you don’t leave him on the ground bleeding and drive off. It’s like fleeing the scene of a crime.”
Sanctuary Evanston, a community organization that assists immigrants, condemned the federal agents’ actions and called for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office to also investigate the incident.
“People are horrified to see this happening on the streets of Evanston or any other U.S. city,” said Nathan Ryan, a spokesman for the organization. “It’s been a continuation of the violence we’ve seen and it reinforces that it’s not about safety, it’s about violence. It’s about the federal government sabotaging the safety of our cities.”
Sunday,
ICE shot Wilber Rafael Garces Perez in Austin, Texas. He has a bullet
n his back from the shooting and doctors believe it is too close to the
spine to be removed. Katey Psencik, Eva Ruth Moravec and Dante Motley (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN) report on ICE's effort to push back against assertions made by Garces Perez's attorney Kay Lincoln-Goldfinch:
DHS
also disputed Garcés Pérez's account of his medical care and detention.
Through a translator Monday, Garcés Pérez said he remained in
significant pain and that doctors told him the bullet was too close to
his spine to safely remove. DHS responded that he "has been given some
of the best medical care he's ever received in his life," is receiving
pain medication and that ICE did not advise doctors to leave the bullet
in place.
Lincoln-Goldfinch disputed that
account Tuesday, saying Garcés Pérez was not given pain medication when
he was released from the hospital Sunday night. She said he was taken to
a processing center before arriving at the South Texas ICE Processing
Center in Pearsall around 4 a.m. Monday.
About
12 hours later, Garcés Pérez was hospitalized again and received a
morphine drip, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. He was transferred back to the
Pearsall facility around midnight Tuesday and was being given Tylenol
and ibuprofen, she said.
"The claim that
Wilber's getting some of the best medical care in his life is patently
absurd," Lincoln-Goldfinch said. "He has a bullet lodged in his body.
His clavicle is broken. He is being transferred from detention centers
to hospitals and back, while he is chained, handcuffed with a belt chain
and his ankles tied together."
Meanwhile Todd Blanche and Ka$h Patel have a problem Raphael Satter and AJ Vicens (REUTERS) report:
FBI
data allegedly stolen by the hacking group ShinyHunters carries
granular detail about scores of bureau officials’ job assignments,
including sensitive work against Chinese spies, Russian intelligence,
drug cartels, and more, Reuters has found.
The
5,000-line spreadsheet – said by the hackers to represent only a small
piece of their claimed two- to three-terabyte trove – includes names,
addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, social security numbers,
and emergency contact details for what they claimed were thousands of
FBI employees. It also includes details of assignments to specific field
offices and, in some cases, to units engaged in high-stakes
intelligence, security, or counterespionage work.
How embarrassing for Blanche and Patel, the FBI hacked. They're supposed to be preventing those crimes taking place on others but they got hacked themselves.
Kash
Patel is facing a major security breach at the FBI after hackers
claimed to have stolen personal data on every employee and job applicant
at the bureau.
ShinyHunters, a notorious
hacking gang, said it obtained FBI agents' names, home addresses, phone
numbers and dates of birth, and even details on their spouses.
The
gang also defaced the FBI's jobs website on Tuesday, writing: 'This
site has been seized by ShinyHunters.' The message mocked the seizure
notices the bureau plasters on criminal sites it takes down.
They
then trolled Donald Trump, ending the message with the president's
trademark Truth Social sign-off: 'Thank you for your attention to this
matter.'
One of the hackers issued a menacing threat to the Trump administration in an interview with 404 Media, which first reported the alleged breach.
'What
we plan to do is not something I'd call extortion, maybe coercion,' the
hacker said of their plans, adding that it was 'not financially
motivated.'
Now back to Chump's roll dog, the late Jeffrey Epstein. Joe Palazzolo and Khadeeja Safdar (WALL STREET JOURNAL) report:
Federal
authorities have opened a probe into Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn,
Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime lawyer and accountant who are now his estate
executors, according to people familiar with the matter.
Federal
prosecutors in Manhattan in recent months have been scheduling
interviews with potential witnesses and have requested documents about
their dealings with Indyke, Epstein’s lawyer, and Kahn, his accountant,
the people said. The documents include emails and financial records.
The
two men have previously said they didn’t know Epstein was engaged in
sex trafficking and denied being complicit in or knowingly facilitating
any crimes. They said none of the women ever reported to them they were
being sexually abused. A lawyer for Kahn referred to the prior
statement, and a lawyer for Indyke didn’t respond.
The Journal published an investigation
last year reporting that the two men were officers of Epstein entities
that obscured transactions, arranged cash for Epstein, made payments to
women and facilitated Epstein’s immigration schemes. In statements, the
two men denied wrongdoing.
Neither man was
questioned about their work for Epstein in 2019 and 2020 when federal
prosecutors in Manhattan were investigating Epstein and Maxwell on
sex-trafficking charges, the Journal reported.
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