Crooked Bough News Round-up

— A bold new Raw Story is here — as independent media has never been more vital

 

at 10/13/26 4:00am

If you're reading this, you've noticed something different about Raw Story today.We have a new look.A completely redesigned website went live early this morning. It's cleaner and easier to navigate, and it's built to put our journalism front and center.But the most important changes at Raw Story aren't the ones you can see on your screen.They're happening in our newsroom.At a time when news organizations across the country are cutting staff, eliminating reporting positions, and scaling back coverage, Raw Story is doing something different.We're investing in more journalism.And we're able to do it because of you.For 22 years, Raw Story has operated as an independent news organization, without a billionaire owner or a corporate board dictating our editorial priorities. We've built an audience of approximately 7 million monthly users and a community of 30,000 paying subscribers who believe independent journalism is worth supporting.That support is allowing us to expand our investigative reporting at a moment when accountability journalism has never been more important.As editor-in-chief, one of the most rewarding parts of my job is working with the journalists who dig beneath the headlines, follow the money, examine public records, and ask questions that powerful people do not want answered.Our investigative team now includes Kathleen Culliton, Alexandria Jacobson, and Jordan Green, with Matt Laslo providing reporting from Capitol Hill.These journalists are doing the kind of work that takes time, persistence, and resources. They pursue stories beyond the daily news cycle, scrutinize the people and institutions that shape our lives, and work to uncover information the public deserves to know.It's the kind of reporting that can't always be measured by how many clicks a headline generates.And it's exactly the kind of journalism we believe is worth investing in.Putting our original reporting front and centerOne of the changes I'm most excited about is something you'll notice right at the top of our new homepage.We've introduced a dedicated Top Story section designed to showcase Raw Story's most important exclusive reporting, with a particular emphasis on the investigative work our team produces.For years, Raw Story has been known for delivering breaking political news and keeping readers informed about the stories shaping Washington and the country. That coverage remains an essential part of what we do.But we're also producing original investigations and exclusive reporting that deserve to stand out from the constant churn of the news cycle.Our new Top Story section gives that work a prominent home.When our reporters uncover something significant, we want readers to see it. We want those stories to have the visibility they deserve, whether they're exposing wrongdoing, revealing previously unreported information, or providing deeper accountability reporting on the people in power.And as we continue investing in investigative reporting, you'll see more of that work featured prominently on Raw Story.Built for this momentOur new website launches just three weeks before the midterm elections.That timing matters.The decisions being made in Washington, in statehouses, and behind closed doors will have consequences long after Election Day. Voters deserve journalism that goes beyond political talking points, campaign spin, and the outrage of the moment.They deserve reporting that asks difficult questions, checks the facts, and holds public officials accountable, regardless of party.That has always been Raw Story's mission.Our redesigned website is intended to make that journalism easier to find, read, and share. It gives our reporting a stronger home and creates a foundation for the ways we want to serve readers in the years ahead.You'll notice a cleaner design, improved navigation, and a better reading experience across devices.But a better website means little without meaningful journalism to fill it.That's why I'm especially proud that this launch is accompanied by an investment in our reporting team.Journalism worth supportingAcross the news industry, the financial pressures are real.Advertising markets are unpredictable. Technology platforms have changed how audiences discover news. Newsrooms are being asked to do more with fewer resources.Raw Story faces many of those same challenges.But we've made a deliberate choice about our future.We believe the best way forward is to build a stronger relationship with the people who value our journalism and to reinvest that support in the reporting that matters.That doesn't mean every story will be easy to produce, every investigation will deliver a dramatic revelation, or every day will bring a blockbuster headline.Good journalism takes work. Sometimes it takes weeks or months of research, interviews, document requests, fact-checking, and difficult editorial decisions before a story is ready to publish.As the editor responsible for our investigative team, I see that work firsthand.And I want our reporters to have the time, support, and editorial independence to do it well.This is just the beginningToday's launch isn't a finish line.It's the beginning of the next chapter for Raw Story.We'll continue strengthening our investigative reporting, expanding our coverage of the people and institutions shaping American politics, and finding better ways to bring that journalism to readers.We'll also keep listening to you.A website redesign is a significant change, especially for readers who visit us every day. We hope you'll explore the new site, discover stories you might have missed, and tell us what you think.And while the design may be different, our commitment remains the same.We will follow the facts. We will ask tough questions. We will hold powerful people accountable. And we will continue pursuing stories that deserve to be told.None of this happens without the readers who believe in what we do.To our subscribers and supporters: thank you for making these investments possible.To our longtime readers: thank you for making Raw Story part of your daily routine.And to anyone visiting for the first time: welcome.We've built a new home for Raw Story. Now we're going to fill it with journalism that matters.

— Trump's election ambush has already been laid

 

at 10/13/26 3:30am

Something stinks.Astoria is one of my favorites on the Oregon coast, a small town of around 9,000 people with great restaurants and craft shops. Two of them, a coffee shop and ceramics studio, are owned by a small businessperson, Audrey Long, who’s mailed herself five postcards since August to test the mail. The results have been grim, particularly since Oregon is a 100% vote-by-mail state.So far, only two of the postcards have arrived, and the first one took more than a month (and Oregon doesn’t even send out ballots until this week). Across the street from one of her shops, the town’s City Hall isn’t getting its mail reliably, either. And the same is true for the tenants of a 40-unit apartment building next door, according to reporting by Oregon Public Broadcasting.Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley is looking into it, his office telling OPB’s reporter, “The timing of these issues is especially concerning.”At first, I figured this was a one-off; something weird or broken in the Astoria post office. But when I mentioned this on the air last week, my lines were flooded with calls from states across the nation saying that they’re having similar problems with the mail. The calls have continued every day since.An American listener who follows us on YouTube from Germany called to say that his ballot was mailed out on September 19th (the law requires all foreign-resident ballots to go out by then) and he’s tracking it online, but it still hasn’t arrived at his home in Mannheim.Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order limiting who could get a mail-in ballot that the Supreme Court knocked down last month. But apparently he’s still working on the Post Office, just in some different ways, many of which are being kept under wraps. But there are some clues.Raw Story’s Alexandria Jacobson reports that nearly 1,000 armed private security guards have been deployed to at least 55 postal facilities in places with lots of Democrats like Atlanta, Phoenix, Denver, and Chicago.Instead of using the Post Office’s own police force, Trump’s people have hired Prosegur, a Spanish multinational armed mercenary force that Norway’s sovereign wealth fund blacklisted in 2024 over what its ethics council called “an unacceptable risk that the company is contributing to serious human rights abuses.”The company has also been accused of intimidating union organizers across Latin America, which may be why Frank Albergo of the Postal Police Officers Association worries out loud that nobody from the Postal Service seems to be supervising them. He described the result as “private contractors in and around ballots without any federal control.”In other words, we’re already partway there: armed men who answer to a foreign contractor and Trump instead of to the public, with no transparency and no clear reason for their being there, are overseeing the buildings our ballots pass through this month.Then there’s Trump’s wannabe Schutzstaffel of armed, masked, anonymous, unaccountable thugs now equipped with electric gloves that are used for torture in other countries and who seem to delight in shooting people — including American citizens like Renee Good — in their cars. Democracy Forward just released 166 pages of internal ICE records they got with a FOIA filing, and the result is shocking.This renegade agency that seems to answer only to Trump and Stephen Miller has now collected 50.6 million voter roll records from the Justice Department.What the hell is ICE doing with our voter records? And what could their having our personal voting habits possibly have to do with controlling immigration?But it gets worse: they also got another 48.4 million “voter records” from what the documents call the “independent sources” of election denier Heather Honey, who’s now the Department of Homeland Security’s point person on “election integrity.”Before 2020, Honey was a private investigator who worked counterfeit-goods cases, with no background or experience in elections or voting machines. She’s an outspoken election denier who still claims Trump won in 2020.And she’s the source of the false claim that “Pennsylvania counted more votes than it had voters,” which Trump repeated from the stage at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021, and which so enraged the mob that then attacked the Capitol, trying to “hang Mike Pence” and ended up causing the deaths of five police officers and the hospitalization of 140 others.When The New York Times dug into those same documents, it found that Homeland Security has already opened investigations into 150 “good government” nonprofit organizations that register voters. The papers show that they’ve considered sending undercover agents into some of these nonprofits to “disrupt activities.”Trump’s toadies are also seeding the ground with stories that would justify massive intervention in the final moments or subsequent counting days of the election. In July, former plumber and current DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin claimed they’d discovered more than a quarter million noncitizens on the rolls in just four states and threatened to send state officials to jail for even the smallest infractions, if they make any mistakes during this election.Pretty quickly, that number of 250,000 non-citizens on the rolls — widely reported on right-wing media — dropped like a stone. DHS revised its count to claim that there were 185 noncitizens registered in Nevada, one of those four states; when the state investigated, they found that every single one of those 185 people was a lawful citizen.But if Republicans lose the election this fall, it’s safe to assume Trump will revive that 250,000 number, true or not; he’s never been afraid to tell “truthful hyperbole” (as he calls lying in his book).Then there are the polling places and the count itself. The Justice Department is dispatching “monitors,” and voting rights groups and local governments are in court right now challenging the administration’s plans to put armed federal agents at the polls and counting operations.This administration has also joined Russia and Belarus as being the only three countries in the world to refuse to allow in international election monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which has overseen our elections for decades. What are they hiding?And their arrogance is astonishing: when a federal judge recently told a DOJ attorney he’d require advance notice before a state released its “citizenship lists,” the answer, as Democracy Docket reported, was “If you want to enjoin us, enjoin us.”In other words, like with the East Wing/Ballroom, reflecting pool, arch, killing people in boats in the Caribbean, or bombing Iran without congressional authorization (or dozens of other examples), “We’ll do our crimes right in the open and get done what we want and you can sue us and yell about it later. We win anyway.”Like so many of his crimes that he pre-announces, Trump told the Times earlier this year that he “should have” deployed the National Guard in 2020 to seize voting machines in swing states like Georgia.— He’s falsely claimed that states are mere agents of the feds when they count votes, so the president can tell them what to do and how to do it.— He mused to House Republicans about canceling the midterms altogether, said out loud that Republicans should “take over the voting” in at least 15 places, and told NBC he’d only accept the results this fall “if the elections are honest.” We all know what that means when a Putin acolyte says it.— Asked by TIME about declaring a national emergency around the election, he refused to rule it out.We should take him seriously: he’s already tried to overthrow our legitimately elected government once before.At 2:24 on the afternoon of January 6, 2021, already aware that the Capitol had been breached and violent thugs were searching for the electoral college ballots and terrifying members of Congress, he tweeted that Mike Pence “lacked the courage to do what needed to be done.” To defy the results of the election, in other words. His mob surged and began chanting “Hang Mike Pence” as Trump gleefully watched on TV from the White House.Most concerning, that year there were still lawyers in the White House and the Justice Department who could tell him no. They’re all gone now, replaced by election deniers, neofascists, and lickspittles.Speaking of neofascists, the two guys who run his MAGA Inc. $415 million SuperPAC spent part of the past few weeks helping a Putin-aligned candidate and party win an election in the Balkans. When the right-wing winner was announced, he profusely thanked Putin for his help and future close cooperation.And it’s not like we haven’t seen Republicans steal elections before. After Jeb Bush purged some 90,000 mostly Black and Hispanic voters from the Florida rolls just before the 2000 election, his brother “won” by 537 votes. The state Supreme Court ordered a recount and, ignoring the 10th Amendment and the Constitution, five corrupt Republicans on the US Supreme Court halted the count.A year later, a consortium of news organizations finished examining the ballots and found that if every disputed ballot in the state had been counted, Al Gore would have come out ahead. As the November 12th, 2001 article in The New York Times read:“If all the ballots had been reviewed under any of seven single standards and combined with the results of an examination of overvotes, Mr. Gore would have won.”But that recount didn’t happen because a crowd of Republican congressional staffers — backed up by lawyers Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts, and Amy Coney Barrett who’d come to Florida to help out — held their “Brooks Brothers Riot,” pounding on the doors and windows of the Miami-Dade canvassing board until it shut down its hand recount.And then there’s the purging of legitimate voters — by the tens of millions every election cycle — which is where Republicans find their best result. As a Demos report notes:“Between the close of registration for the 2020 general election and the close of registration for the 2022 general election, states reported removing 19,260,000 records from their voter registration rolls. This was equal to 8.5% of the total number of voters who were registered in the United States as of the close of registration for the 2022 general election.”Additionally, as I lay out in The Hidden History of the War on Voting, 17 million voters were purged in the two years leading up to the 2018 election, fully 10 percent of America’s voting population, according to the Brennan Center.Given that the most radical purges took place among Black and youth voters in Republican-controlled Red states with large Blue cities, those 8.5 percent and 10 percent “national averages” could well be two or three times that percentage in the states where these purges were concentrated.The Brennan Center added that most of the purge activity was taking place in former Confederate Red states that — before five corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in their 2013 Shelby County decision — had to have purges double-checked and pre-cleared by the federal government:“The median purge rate over the 2016–2018 period in jurisdictions previously subject to preclearance [Red states] was 40 percent higher than the purge rate in jurisdictions that were not covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act [Blue states].”So we need to be ready for anything from slowed-down mail to bogus lists of alleged noncitizens to Spanish agents with guns overseeing our mail-in ballots.

— Rachel Maddow dismantles MAGA senator's cookie dealings with simple math

 

at 10/12/26 7:49pm

MS NOW's Rachel Maddow dismantled a GOP senator's excuses for stiffing a baker out of nearly $700. Recent reporting shows that Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), stiffed a local bakery, Holly's Sweet Treats in Hutchinson, of a nearly $700 bill for custom campaign cookies he ordered in 2020. That seemed like an odd thing to do for someone currently locked in a surprisingly close re-election battle who used medical debt to terrorize patients at his old OB-GYN practice, Maddow argued. "The lawyers working for him routinely ... pressured judges to issue arrest warrants," noted Maddow. "And Marshall thereby got his patients arrested for unpaid bills as low as $114," sometimes having their wages garnished — all while applying an interest rate of 18 percent APR to patients' unpaid medical bills.Marshall has tried to claim this was standard practice, Maddow said — but The Kansas City Star looked into it and found that "the 18 percent annual interest rate ... was by far the highest of the roughly 150 medical practices whose public records were reviewed." And furthermore, she noted, "the lawyer who represented Roger Marshall and many of the lawsuits he filed against his patients, [said] that it wasn't like a standard rate at all. It was Roger's choice.""Perhaps, given how famous Roger Marshall now is for being real strict about other people not paying their bills, Roger Marshall suddenly decided it was time to pay for the cookies, decided to make a big public show of him finally paying off that bill," said Maddow, noting that he took to X to proclaim he "repaid the bill from 2020, double." But Maddow took a look at the math and found that didn't quite add up."Let's see, the bill was ... $678.75," said Maddow. "Double that is $1,357.50. Roger Marshall paid $1,300." In other words, he said, "he didn't pay all these sweet treats double ... by his own account, he's still stiffing them $57.50.""That said, if they wanted to charge him, say, I don't know, picking a number out of the ether, 18 percent interest like he charged all his patients?" said Maddow. "Then Roger Marshall still owes Holly's Sweet Treats way more than that. I mean, don't hold me to the math, but by my count, if this had been six years at 18 percent interest, that would mean Roger Marshall still underpaid the bakery about by about $112, which is very close to the $114 for which he had at least one of his patients arrested." - YouTube youtu.be

— Jim Acosta alarmed as Trump's decline becomes '25th Amendment crisis' spreading across US

 

at 10/12/26 7:27pm

Veteran political journalist Jim Acosta said Monday that President Donald Trump has revealed a "25th Amendment crisis" on the country's hands as he stumps for Republicans in formerly safe districts. Acosta joined former Republican lawyer George Conway on the debut episode of his podcast, "Psycho Politics," where the two reacted to some of the comments Trump has made during his recent rallies. They played a clip of the president boasting to a crowd, "I could say the stupidest things, and you would clap." Acosta argued that comment was important for a couple of reasons. On one hand, it revealed that Trump's mental decline is "staring us in the face," and it's up to the country to decide how to respond to it. In another sense, the comment is symbolic of a "25th Amendment crisis" crisscrossing the country. "What do we do with a President of the United States who is unstable and in serious decline? It is just staring us in the face at this point," he said. "And the more he does the rallies, I think the case becomes crystal clear that we have a 25th Amendment crisis on our hands ... This is the guy who is giving Vladimir Putin the store when it comes to Ukraine."Acosta also said he felt bad for the audience who clap along with Trump as he says his wild bits during these rallies. "It's almost like they feel sorry for him. Like he's the last kid picked on the football team or something," Acosta said. Trump’s Mental Decline Is Now a National Emergency (w/ Jim Acosta) by The BulwarkRead on Substack

— Trump buried in mockery for ogling male senator's rear end: 'Nothing unusual about this'

 

at 10/12/26 7:02pm

President Donald Trump's rally for Ohio Sen. Jon Husted went off the rails when he made a seemingly lustful comment about the senator's body."I don't do this with men very often," Trump told the crowd. "I started examining his body because I didn't know he was a great athlete. And I looked and I watched up and down. I looked at his ass and I looked at the whole... And then I looked at his hands. Look at his hands. He's got these claws."Trump's odd reverence for Husted's butt got plenty of attention from commenters on social media."ookayyyy," wrote The Bulwark's Sam Stein."This is all perfectly normal. Nothing unusual about this at all," wrote Mississippi Press Association executive director Layne Bruce."Is he getting gayer as he gets older? Is that a thing?" wrote YouTube political commentator Benjamin Dixon."'Penthouse, I never believed that your letters were real, until recently…'" wrote comedian and editorial columnist Robert A. George."I guess i’ll be the one to do this. Does anyone have a good pic of Husted’s ass so we can judge for ourselves?" wrote former Republican operative turned Never Trump activist Tim Miller.

— Lauren Boebert smacked with embarrassing fact-check during debate: 'At one point it was'

 

at 10/12/26 6:52pm

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) received an embarrassing fact-check during a local congressional debate Monday night. Boebert faced off against Democratic challenger Eileen Laubacher in a debate ahead of the midterm election for the Colorado 4th Congressional District seat. During the event, Boebert was asked about her support for President Donald Trump's decision to attack Iran, and let slip one comment that the moderator simply couldn't ignore. "We do not have boots on the ground. I do agree that this is expensive and I hear from Republicans that they want this to come to an end," Boebert said. "What are you doing to stop it?" moderator Kyle Clark, a journalist at local news station KUSA-TV, interjected. "We are having conversations with the Department of War and with the president and his administration on a regular basis about how to come to an end," Boebert continued, before letting out her most puzzling claim of the exchange. "This was never about regime change, as my opponent thinks. This was about making sure Iran never had a nuclear weapon, and I support that and I support those efforts." Clark was quick to correct the record. "For the record, the president gave shifting rationale for the war. At one point it was regime change. At one point it was the bomb, and there were others in the mix," Clark said.

— Disgust after 'old creep' Trump dishes out backhanded compliment to MAGA darling: 'Pig'

 

at 10/12/26 6:34pm

Some political analysts were disgusted on Monday night after President Donald Trump dished out a backhanded compliment to a rising MAGA darling. Trump held a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday to stump for Republicans like Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) and gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. During his speech, he had a side conversation with former NFL coach John Gruden, who traveled with the president to the event, about Sophie Cunningham, a professional women's basketball player who has backed the Trump administration's efforts to exclude transgender women from women's sports. "A lot of men like to go and watch her. She's beautiful. You're not allowed to say that anymore... any time a politician says a woman is beautiful, that's usually the end of his career," Trump said. "You wouldn't mind her on your team, not to help you with points, but to help you with attendance. You're attendance would be way up!"Trump's comments sparked a firestorm on social media. "Trump says Sophie Cunningham sucks at basketball but he likes her because she’s hot," Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of the MeidasTouch Network, posted on X. "Ugh, he’s such an old creep," Mehdi Hasan, founder of Zeteo News, posted on X. "Oh. My. God. Even he knows she’s not actually a good player," Hemant Mehta, a "Jeopardy!" champion, posted on X. "Sort of a backhanded compliment," the political commentary account "PatriotTakes" posted on X. "Pig," Michael Salfino, fantasy sports writer for The Athletic, posted on X. Trump: A lot of men like to watch her. Sophie Cunningham is a beautiful young woman. You probably wouldn't mind her on the team not to help you with points, but to help you with attendance. https://t.co/qYkNgUpUa6— Acyn (@Acyn) October 12, 2026

— Country star wallops Kristi Noem over sloppy Texas political jab

 

at 10/12/26 6:09pm

Disgraced former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem took a jab at a Texas-born country music star for campaigning with the Democratic Senate candidate — and got decimated by a blunt one-liner.Kacey Musgraves shared a stage briefly with Texas state lawmaker and Presbyterian seminarian James Talarico, who in recent polls has largely been leading scandal-plagued state Attorney General Ken Paxton and is hoping to be the first Democrat to win statewide office in Texas in three decades. Talarico posted photos from the event to Facebook, writing, "Thank you for having me last night, Kacey Musgraves!"Noem took to X with a screenshot of the post, and replied, "I’ll take @ellalangleymsic (sic) over Kacey Musgraves any day. And if I’m choosin’ Texas, I’ll take Ken Paxton over James Talarico."Musgraves, however, had a swift clapback."I don’t think you have a dog in this fight but if you did you would have shot it," she wrote.Musgraves is referring to how Noem bragged in her own book about shooting a puppy she had deemed untrainable.In an additional bit of humiliation, multiple commenters on X noted that Ella Langley, the country star Noem had held up as better than Musgraves, appears to have untagged herself from Noem's post.Noem oversaw the beginning of mass deportation policy in President Donald Trump's second term, but was unceremoniously fired earlier this year — in part because Trump was outraged by how much taxpayer money she spent on an ad campaign promoting herself.

— Trump lashes out at protester disrupting Ohio rally: 'They're scum!'

 

at 10/12/26 5:48pm

President Donald Trump lashed out at a protester who disrupted his rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday, calling the person a "paid protester" and "scum."Trump traveled to Ohio to stump for Republicans such as Sen. John Husted (R-OH) and Senate candidate Michelle Tafoya. Embattled GOP lawmaker Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) was also spotted at the event, and Trump traveled to the site with former NFL coach John Gruden and influencer Jake Paul. "He's a paid protester. They're all paid!" Trump said. "They get paid by the lefties in order to destroy our country. They're scum!" The crowd chanted "U.S.A" as security escorted the protester out of the building.

— Archbishop rebukes Pete Hegseth for putting troops 'in the same boat with terrorists

 

at 10/12/26 5:41pm

The head of Catholic ministry to the U.S. military is objecting to plans to broadcast the execution of Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan and is advising Catholic soldiers not to take part in it, Politico reported on Monday.Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the public execution plan last week, which triggered widespread controversy, as it would be the first military execution since the 1960s and the first public execution of any kind in the U.S. since 1936.Archbishop Timothy Broglio said in a Monday statement that any Catholic soldier picked for the firing squad should request to be excused, because the duty conflicts with church teaching. Hasan is set to be executed by firing squad on December 3 for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 people. Broglio said he joins other Catholic leaders in opposing both the death penalty and the livestream.He noted that he led the funeral for Michael Grant Cahill, the lone civilian among the dead, and acknowledged the gravity of the crime. But he questioned the broadcast.“Does exposing the public to his execution serve any purpose?” Broglio asked.Broglio also cautioned that televising the execution could damage how the world views the American military, arguing it would link troops to terrorists by showing a man in a wheelchair being killed.Broglio is not alone; even a number of Republican lawmakers have expressed disapproval of the public execution plan, including Sen. John Curtis (R-UT), and even Vice President J.D. Vance said he doesn't want to watch it. President Donald Trump, however has gotten behind the plan.

— Trump press secretary's conspiracy-laden Truth Social history unearthed in alarming report

 

at 10/12/26 5:27pm

President Donald Trump's new press secretary may be carrying a lot more baggage into the White House than initially thought, according to a new report. Katie Zacharia, who began her tenure as the Trump administration's press chief on Monday, has echoed a number of conspiracy theories, ranging from elites running pedophilic cults to the debunked Pizzagate theory on Trump's Truth Social platform, according to a review of her social media history conducted by CNN's KFile. She also supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine, arguing that Russian President Vladimir Putin was fighting a "network of elites." Zacharia has also scrubbed some of her previous posts where she was critical of the administration's immigration policies and warned they could lead to a midterm "bloodbath," according to the report. The report alarmed some political analysts, who shared their reactions on social media. "How is this not a bigger story?" Medhi Hasan, founder of Zeteo News, posted on X. "Well, she'll fit right in,"Jon Favreau, host of "Pod Save America," posted on X. "In other words, a typical Trump insider," Amy Siskind, an author and activist, posted on X.

— MS NOW supercut shows enraged voters ready to abandon Trump: 'They got us all caged up'

 

at 10/12/26 4:52pm

MS NOW's Alicia Menendez offered a brutal supercut of Latino voters in Texas, gearing up to punish President Donald Trump at the ballot box.The showcase came during a discussion with Victor Martinez, owner of LA MEGA 101.7, about similar levels of discontent unfolding in Pennsylvania."Here in the Lehigh Valley, it's 'the economy, stupid,' right?" said Martinez. The key takeaway, he said, is that "people are upset" because "Gas prices are around $4.50 here ... electric bill has doubled, grocery prices have doubled." Trump got Latinos on his side two years ago because they thought he'd fight inflation, Martinez said, and yet "things have gotten worse.""You know, it is not just in Pennsylvania that Latino voters are saying this," said Menendez. "I was in Texas a few weeks ago. I got to speak with a bunch of Latino voters. Notably, these are Democratic voters, but this is what they had to say about what is motivating them.""I think people are seeing through the BS, and I think people are waking up to see maybe we really can make a change. Maybe it really will happen," said one Texas voter named Bea.Another Texas voter, Daniel, said, "Gas prices are really high. Tension in the Middle East ... people are just getting mad at each other. It's just not a good time right now."Yet another, Felipe, said of the Trump administration, "They're trying to annihilate us ... they got us all caged up."But it's not just Democratic voters feeling this way, said Menendez."I spoke to one Spanish-language couple who voted for Donald Trump multiple times. They told me it was sort of a combination of ICE activity in the area and broken promises that was bringing them back to Democrats," said Menendez. Another Trump voter "wasn't willing to speak to me on camera, but for him, it really was the economy. He was like, I can't afford to fill up a tank of gas and retire. I can't make ends meet." - YouTube youtu.be

— Disbelief after Trump utters 'exceptionally stupid' claim about enforcing his 'ceasefire'

 

at 10/12/26 4:41pm

President Donald Trump astounded analysts on Monday after he uttered what some described as an "exceptionally stupid" claim about Russia's war against Ukraine. Trump was asked about his recently announced energy "ceasefire" between Russia and Ukraine while speaking with reporters outside the White House. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Russia carried out a barrage of attacks against the country's energy infrastructure after Trump announced the ceasefire. "How will make Putin abide by the ceasefire?" the reporter shouted. "Well, I think that's happening is that [Putin] wants to make a deal, and we have to get Zelenskyy to want to make a deal," Trump replied. Trump has repeatedly blamed Ukraine for prolonging the war and blamed the country for the rising cost of diesel fuel in the U.S. because of its attacks on Russian oil refineries. The president's comments also seem to contradict recent history. In a recent call with Trump, Putin vowed to continue the war and rejected the idea of holding peace talks, The Kyiv Post reported. Trump's comments caused a firestorm on social media. "You have to be exceptionally stupid to believe this," Pradheep Shanker, a National Review contributor, posted on X. "How delusional and sinister," Laura Rozen, a foreign policy reporter, posted on X. "If only Trump defended Americans as hard as he defends Russia," Joni Askola, a Finnish geopolitical analyst, posted on X. "Based on what? Because Putin told you that in one of your long, loving phone calls?" Garry Kasparov, founder of Renew Democracy, posted on X. "Zelenskyy keeps agreeing to deals, Putin keeps rejecting them and increasing Russian attacks on civilians. Putin could end the war in an instant. He doesn’t want to."

— Trump's FCC chair orders investigation into 'hit job' on Don Jr.: report

 

at 10/12/26 4:18pm

President Donald Trump’s top broadcast regulator ordered an investigation, CNN reported, after a Republican senator called an ABC News story about venture capitalist Donald Trump Jr. a “hit job.”Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr directed his agency to open the probe after receiving the senator’s letter, an FCC source told CNN media reporter Brian Stelter, who posted the news on X on Monday.Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) posted that letter on Saturday, urging Carr to open a formal investigation into the network over its since-corrected report on investments tied to the president’s sons.“I’m calling for an investigation into ABC’s political hit job on Anduril [and] the Trump family,” Moreno wrote alongside the letter.ABC’s original story, published Oct. 7 under the headline “Trump sons’ investments have won billions in Pentagon contracts since his election,” said defense companies backed by the president’s sons had won more than $6 billion in government contracts.Moreno’s letter singled out the story’s claim that 1789 Capital, a venture firm where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner, “claimed a major stake” in defense contractor Anduril Industries from “a $2.5 billion investment.”“That was a lie,” Moreno wrote.ABC deleted the original story the night it was published, after 1789 Capital spokesperson Alexa Henning pressed for a retraction and warned that the firm’s lawyers would get involved, the media newsletter Status reported.Two days later, on Friday, the network republished a revised version under a new headline with an editor’s note acknowledging “errors in the description of certain company investments, government contracts and event chronologies.”Moreno wrote that the real investment was about $50 million, and ABC’s corrected story matches that smaller figure. According to the revised version, 1789 Capital put $50 million into a $2.5 billion funding round, a “relatively small stake” in a company valued at more than $60 billion.A 1789 Capital spokesperson also told ABC that Donald Trump Jr. is not on the three-person committee that makes the fund’s investment decisions.ABC declined to explain the deletion to Status. Several reporters, citing sources, said the story had been “published prematurely,” but Henning said ABC senior coordinating producer Justin Fishel defended the reporting before pulling it.“That narrative of incomplete reporting didn’t match up with the defense the editor gave me,” Henning told Status.“ABC News operates under broadcast licenses issued by the FCC. Those licenses are a privilege, not a right,” Moreno argued in his letter to Carr.The new probe adds to a string of actions Carr’s agency has taken against ABC, including a warning last year after late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s remarks about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Scripps News reported.“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said on a conservative podcast at the time.In April, the FCC ordered all eight ABC-owned stations to seek license renewal years before their licenses expire, a rare move, The Associated Press noted.Disney, ABC’s parent company, is suing to stop the review, calling it part of a campaign against outlets critical of the president, while the FCC says it stems from a probe into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs, according to The Wall Street Journal.“What is it that made this so different that you needed to call for an early license renewal?” U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan asked a Justice Department lawyer at a hearing in the case last week, according to The Washington Post’s editorial board.

— Trump administration busted airing ads after judge ordered them to stop: filing

 

at 10/12/26 4:11pm

Lawyers challenging the administration’s government-paid Trump advertising campaign say the ads kept running on national television after a federal judge ordered them stopped, according to a letter filed Monday in Manhattan federal court.The letter, in Common Cause v. Department of Homeland Security, tells U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon that a temporary restraining order took effect immediately at 6:46 p.m. Sunday. Despite that, plaintiffs cite AdImpact data showing nearly 400 spots airing on programs that began at 7 p.m. Eastern that night.The ad “Final Battle” ran in 193 spots during CBS’s “60 Minutes,” according to the data, and the ad “Maduro” ran in 198 spots during ABC’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” The Washington Post separately reported Monday afternoon that two ads kept airing into the early hours of Monday, including on “ABC World News Tonight.”The ads didn’t stop Monday either, plaintiffs say. As of 2:45 p.m. Eastern, “Maduro” had aired in 20 spots and “Final Battle” in 11. A third ad, “The Country He Loves,” which hadn’t run since October 6, aired once.Plaintiffs noted that this came a day after the government insisted its ad buy was no longer in effect. They emailed the government’s lawyers about the developments at 3:32 p.m.The group isn’t asking the court for contempt sanctions at this stage. It’s requesting a status conference to determine whether the government is complying. The court had ordered the government to file a declaration on its compliance by 6:46 p.m. Monday, and plaintiffs said they didn’t yet know what it would say.The campaign has drawn scrutiny since the New York Times reported that Trump directed his budget director to find $20 million from Customs and Border Protection to pay for the ads, which carry the tag “Paid for by the U.S. government.” The White House has called them public service announcements.The government hadn’t responded to the letter in the filing itself.

— 'Beware': Expert flags 'hallmark' sign of huge energy shock in key midterm states

 

at 10/12/26 3:45pm

Patrick De Haan, an oil industry expert who runs Gas Buddy, had an ominous message for people in the Midwest: prepare to pay more at the pump — just before the election begins."We've got the hallmark of a refinery issue in the Great Lakes — looking to discover what's cooking, but for now, wholesale gasoline up nearly 15c/gal while diesel up nearly 27c/gal," wrote De Haan on X."Beware in IL, WI, OH, IN, MI," he warned.Many of these states are key battlegrounds in the November midterm elections. For example, Democrats are fighting to keep control of the governor's mansion in Wisconsin, and have competitive Senate and governor races in both Michigan and Ohio. Even Indiana, a typically solid Republican state, has a potentially close contest in the secretary of state race.Voter anger around the country this year has been inflamed by high gas prices, which have been exacerbated by President Donald Trump's open-ended war in Iran and the ensuing closure of the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping traffic.The situation has gotten so bad that even several Republicans who have backed the war are now begging their donors for gas money in fundraising pitches.

— GOP operative predicts Hegseth's 'terrible idea' will force Trump to backpedal once more

 

at 10/12/26 3:36pm

A GOP operative predicted on Monday that President Donald Trump is likely to back down from defending Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's latest "terrible idea."Last week, Hegseth announced that the U.S. planned to execute Nidal Hasan, who shot and killed 13 service members in Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 and wounded more than 30 others, by firing squad and livestream the execution. Trump told reporters at the White House that he would "make a decision" about the execution, but "absolutely" supported the idea of livestreaming it. Marc Short, the former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, slammed the idea on CNN's "The Arena." "Look, I think it's a stupid idea. It's terrible. It even violates the current U.S. Code of military justice," Short said. "Taking it a step further ... it would certainly help recruitment for our enemies. Perhaps it would also help with potential lone wolves who say, 'Hey, if I get to have a public execution,' it would only encourage that sort of activity. I would imagine that the president ultimately doesn't go through with this, but it's a terrible idea." "The reality is that ... if we were actually swift in our justice, he would have been executed long before now," Short continued. "But I believe he's now in a wheelchair. So the optics, even seeing that, is something I think doesn't accomplish what even Pete Hegseth thought he might be accomplishing by this. I think it's an awful idea. I would imagine that the president ends up backtracking on this."

— MAGA operative's Talarico denial explodes in his face as tape of confession surfaces

 

at 10/12/26 3:21pm

A former Trump campaign staffer's claim that Senate nominee James Talarico (D-TX) was in an Ohio psychiatric hospital unraveled as audio surfaced of the MAGA operative contradicting his own denials about conservative outlets declining the story over legal concerns.Rhein Amacher, who says he worked on President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, placed the calls to the hospital, the Texas outlet Current Revolt reported Sunday.Current Revolt later reported that Amacher had said during an X Space, a live audio chat, that news outlets passed on the story over legal concerns. Amacher adamantly denied the account Sunday night, and Current Revolt answered with a recording of his remarks.Talarico had been off the campaign trail for nine days with what his campaign called the flu, Rolling Stone reported.“The ‘flu’ thing was a BIG FAT LIE,” right-wing influencer Nick Sortor wrote on X Sunday.Sortor first posted a 47-second clip of a call to the Lindner Center of Hope, a psychiatric hospital in Mason, Ohio, saying an employee confirmed Talarico had been a patient, according to Current Revolt.Sortor told the outlet he did not place the call himself. Amacher admitted later that he posed as a cousin named “Tim.” He said he gave a made-up patient code, “2244.”Current Revolt obtained the full call, which ran nearly seven minutes. Sortor’s clip came from its final seconds, Rolling Stone reported.“I do not find anyone with that name for the last four days that’s been discharged, and they’re not here in the building,” the staffer told Amacher.“Looks like he was just discharged this evening,” the staffer said 10 seconds later.Amacher said “this evening” meant Saturday, Oct. 10, according to Current Revolt. Talarico met voters at the Austin City Limits festival on Oct. 9 and attended a concert in Dallas the next night, Rolling Stone reported.“Representative James Talarico has never received treatment from Lindner Center of Hope,” the hospital said on X Sunday evening.“This is a lie designed to promote a pathetic conspiracy theory. Last week James Talarico was home in Austin, Texas, recovering from the flu,” Talarico campaign spokesperson JT Ennis fired back on X.“I’ve never even been to Ohio,” Talarico posted.Earlier Sunday evening, Amacher had discussed the story on an X Space hosted by Tom Slocum Jr., a former Republican candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas, Current Revolt said.“Never said this,” Amacher insisted late Sunday in reply to Current Revolt’s account.“Actually, you did, you absolute lying hack,” Current Revolt’s Tony Ortiz shot back moments later, posting audio from the X Space.Slocum, a staunch Republican who opposes Talarico, expressed doubt about the hospital phone call during his interview with Amacher on Sunday.“Did that not give you pause, or any cause for concern, when all these outlets are telling you that ‘we have to go run this through our legal,’ but the influencers are not telling you that?” Slocum asked.“Well, I mean, that’s normal. The influencers are not held to the same journalistic standards as people like yourself in the news industry. We’re not held to that same standard,” Amacher replied.“But even like Sara Gonzales … her legal team just said, ‘Hey. Hold off,’” he added, referring to the Blaze TV host.Media reporter Justin Baragona confirmed on X that Slocum "admitted that the Daily Mail and The Blaze passed on his story because they needed to get it cleared legally, so he instead relied on a MAGA influencer to tweet it out.”

— Trump DOJ's 'very unusual' moves in raid of Dem lawmaker's home baffle expert

 

at 10/12/26 3:10pm

A CNN legal expert flagged what she described as "very unusual" signs in the Trump Department of Justice's raid of a Democratic lawmaker's home Monday. Federal agents searched the Washington, D.C. residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) as part of a criminal investigation, although the scope of that probe is unclear, the AP reported. MAGA figures like podcaster Katie Miller, who is married to White House aide Stephen Miller, celebrated the raid while Omar forcefully rebuked it as a symbol of Trump's ongoing "campaign of political intimidation" against her in a post on X later that day. Katelyn Polantz, CNN crime and justice correspondent, flagged a couple of details about the raid that made it "very unusual," even in an ongoing criminal matter. "What's atypical here is that this is a sitting member of Congress who is running for reelection," she told CNN's Kasie Hunt on "The Arena." "She's on the ballot as a Democrat in Minnesota, running again for her congressional seat this November. We're only a couple of weeks away from that."Omar has been a frequent target of Trump's attacks. He has accused her of marrying a relative in a citizenship scheme, although no evidence has been presented in court to support that claim. The raid's timing also seemed suspect because of the upcoming midterm elections, Polantz noted. "It is very unusual to see the Justice Department take such an obvious investigative step at this time, so close to an election," she said. "There had always been a long-standing DOJ policy that they shouldn't be taking steps like that within 60 days; though, all it needs to overcome that is the sign-off from Justice Department leadership. As we know, they have gotten [it]. Sources have told us that."

— Trump scrambles to defend MAGA senator who sent cops after medical patients: 'Bum rap!'

 

at 10/12/26 2:49pm

President Donald Trump put out a frantic Truth Social endorsement of embattled Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) on Monday, dismissing the accusations against him that he victimized lower-income patients with medical debt while practicing as a gynecologist."Senator Roger Marshall is working incredibly hard for the Great State of Kansas, which I love and WON BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024," wrote Trump. "Roger is one of my favorite Senators — He is absolutely GREAT, a wonderful person, given a 'bum rap' because he was mandated by Law to request money owed from patients. If he didn’t make these requests, he would be breaking the Law, and subject to criminal liability and arrest. A judge ordering a patient’s arrest for not showing up to court many, many times is not Roger Marshall’s fault — IT IS THE LAW, and his Crooked Opponent is using that against him."Marshall initiated legal action against around 700 patients who failed to pay medical bills at his practice, and had dozens of them arrested for not appearing in court over the suits. He charged 18 percent interest on unpaid bills, which a Kansas City Star report found was among the highest of any doctor in the state.Trump is factually wrong, as there is no law mandating doctors collect unpaid medical debt, and many hospitals and clinics write off debts that cannot be repaid in certain circumstances."Roger is running against a Radical Left Dumocrat named Adam Hamilton, a Trump Deranged Phony who pretends to be a 'Moderate,' but he’s not!" Trump continued in the post, adding that Hamilton supports "High Taxes, Open Borders, No Consequences for Violent Criminals, Men in Women’s Sports, the Transgender Mutilization of your Children, among other CRAZY ideas, and says that the Great People of Kansas need to repent for eating beef (much like James TalaFREAKo, a Vegan who is running for the United States Senate in Texas)."Trump also repeated an already-debunked claim that Hamilton, as a church pastor, covered for a child predator.After an extensive series of additional claims and grievances, Trump teased that he will be "having a Kansas Style Rally, in Roger’s Honor, very soon. See you there!"

— 'May be a landmine': Analyst spots one issue that could crush Dems post-midterms

 

at 10/12/26 2:39pm

A political analyst spotted one issue that could crush the Democrats if they retake control of Congress after the midterms. Some Democrats have stated publicly that they plan to impeach President Donald Trump, and possibly other cabinet members, on the first day that they retake power in the House of Representatives. That prospect becomes much riskier for Trump if Democrats also retake control of the Senate, which political forecasters see as unlikely. Scott MacFarlane of MeidasTouch Network pointed out on MS NOW on Monday that the Democrats' impeachment plans may also include Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Articles of impeachment have already been filed against Hegseth in the House for the department's boat strikes, Hegseth's handling of classified information, and other offenses. However, MacFarlane cautioned that Democrats' pursuit of someone like Hegseth, whom some political analysts see as low-hanging fruit for impeachment, could be a costly gamble. "They are emphatically stating that they would move to impeach Pete Hegseth if they get the majority. They don't say that about the president," MacFarlane said. "That may be a landmine politically. They don't view Hegseth as a landmine politically."MacFarlane said he spoke with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who said: "This is a conversation the caucus needs to have."MacFarlane: Democrats are emphatically stating they would move to impeach Pete Hegseth if they get the majority. They don’t say that about the president. That may be a landmine politically. They don’t view Pete Hegseth as a landmine politically.[image or embed]— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) October 12, 2026 at 12:38 PM

As of 10/13/26 4:33am. Last new 10/13/26 4:33am.