# Raw Story - Complete Content

> Raw Story: complete content export for LLMs - 67 sections and the 100 most recent articles. Navigation index: https://www.rawstory.com/llms.txt

**Site Overview:**
- Domain: https://www.rawstory.com
- Total Sections: 67
- Recent Posts Included: 100
- Content Word Count: ~42107 words
- Last Updated: 2026-09-20
- Generated: September 20, 2026 17:37:24

**Important Information:**

- Site ID: 20266338
- Markdown version: append .md to any URL
- Total sections: 68

## Site Structure
- [Video](https://www.rawstory.com/all-video/index.md): WATCH the latest videos of news in politics. (67308 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/all-video; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/all-video.rss)
- [2020 Election](https://www.rawstory.com/2020-election/index.md): (17941 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/2020-election; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/2020-election.rss)
- [Opinion](https://www.rawstory.com/commentary/index.md): Smart, fearless commentary on current events. (13970 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/commentary; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/commentary.rss)
- [Trump News](https://www.rawstory.com/trump-news/index.md): The latest investigations and news on Donald Trump. (112307 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-news; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/trump-news.rss)
- [Raw Exclusives](https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/index.md): (9050 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/raw-investigates.rss)
- [Science](https://www.rawstory.com/enviro-science/index.md): (14403 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/enviro-science; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/enviro-science.rss)
- [Big Stories](https://www.rawstory.com/big-stories/index.md): (0 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/big-stories; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/big-stories.rss)
- [SmartNews](https://www.rawstory.com/smartnews/index.md): (110186 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/smartnews; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/smartnews.rss)
- [Media](https://www.rawstory.com/blogs-media/index.md): (11134 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/blogs-media; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/blogs-media.rss)
- [Religion & Politics](https://www.rawstory.com/religion-politics/index.md): (630 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/religion-politics; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/religion-politics.rss)
- [Alternet All Access](https://www.rawstory.com/alternet-2020/index.md): (64 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/alternet-2020; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/alternet-2020.rss)
- [Raw Story Exclusive](https://www.rawstory.com/raw-story-exclusive/index.md): (96 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/raw-story-exclusive; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/raw-story-exclusive.rss)
- [Guns](https://www.rawstory.com/guns-in-america/index.md): (3723 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/guns-in-america; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/guns-in-america.rss)
- [Whoa!](https://www.rawstory.com/video-whoa/index.md): (9003 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/video-whoa; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/video-whoa.rss)
- [Fox News](https://www.rawstory.com/fox-news/index.md): (2689 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/fox-news; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/fox-news.rss)
- [DC Report](https://www.rawstory.com/dc-report/index.md): (530 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/dc-report; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/dc-report.rss)
- [Tech News](https://www.rawstory.com/biz-tech/index.md): (6596 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/biz-tech; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/biz-tech.rss)
- [The View](https://www.rawstory.com/the-view/index.md): (871 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/the-view; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/the-view.rss)
- [Trump Impeachment Trial](https://www.rawstory.com/trump-impeachment-trial/index.md): (801 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-impeachment-trial; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/trump-impeachment-trial.rss)
- [Ana Kasparian's #NoFilter](https://www.rawstory.com/ana-kasparian/index.md): (151 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/ana-kasparian; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/ana-kasparian.rss)
- [Uncategorized](https://www.rawstory.com/uncategorized/index.md): (490 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/uncategorized; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/uncategorized.rss)
- [Top Stories](https://www.rawstory.com/topstories/index.md): (4442 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/topstories; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/topstories.rss)
- [HBO's Real time](https://www.rawstory.com/hbo-real-time/index.md): (203 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/hbo-real-time; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/hbo-real-time.rss)
- [Activism](https://www.rawstory.com/activism-video/index.md): (1422 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/activism-video; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/activism-video.rss)
- [Saturday Night Live](https://www.rawstory.com/snl-saturday-night-live/index.md): (76 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/snl-saturday-night-live; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/snl-saturday-night-live.rss)
- [Test](https://www.rawstory.com/test/index.md): (0 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/test; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/test.rss)
- [sandra-test](https://www.rawstory.com/sandra-test/index.md): (1 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/sandra-test; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/sandra-test.rss)
- [Frontpage Commentary - 6 articles](https://www.rawstory.com/frontpage-commentary/index.md): (4030 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/frontpage-commentary; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/frontpage-commentary.rss)
- [Convention Coverage](https://www.rawstory.com/convention-coverage/index.md): (241 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/convention-coverage; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/convention-coverage.rss)
- [2012](https://www.rawstory.com/2012-elections/index.md): (2857 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/2012-elections; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/2012-elections.rss)
- [Raw Story News Releases](https://www.rawstory.com/press-releases/index.md): (24 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/press-releases; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/press-releases.rss)
- [Super Head](https://www.rawstory.com/super-head/index.md): (4420 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/super-head; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/super-head.rss)
- [Superhead Paywall](https://www.rawstory.com/superhead-paywall/index.md): (0 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/superhead-paywall; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/superhead-paywall.rss)
- [David Cay Johnston Blogs the Pandemic](https://www.rawstory.com/david-cay-johnston-blogs-the-apocalypse/index.md): (17 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/david-cay-johnston-blogs-the-apocalypse; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/david-cay-johnston-blogs-the-apocalypse.rss)
- [Video Template](https://www.rawstory.com/video-template/index.md): (112 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/video-template; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/video-template.rss)
- [BIG VALLEY](https://www.rawstory.com/big-valley/index.md): A series of reports on MAGA activity in California's San Joaquin Valley (4 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/big-valley; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/big-valley.rss)
- [TikTok Files](https://www.rawstory.com/tiktok-files/index.md): (6 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/tiktok-files; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/tiktok-files.rss)
- [Super Head Mobile Post](https://www.rawstory.com/super-head-mobile-post/index.md): (3 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/super-head-mobile-post; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/super-head-mobile-post.rss)
- [privacypolicy](https://www.rawstory.com/privacypolicy/index.md): (1 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/privacypolicy; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/privacypolicy.rss)
- [Jan. 6 Hearings](https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-hearings/index.md): (1320 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-hearings; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/jan-6-hearings.rss)
- [2024 Elections](https://www.rawstory.com/2024-elections/index.md): Coverage of the 2024 primaries and general election. (8570 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/2024-elections; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/2024-elections.rss)
- [Trump Indictment](https://www.rawstory.com/trump-indictment/index.md): (6485 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-indictment; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/trump-indictment.rss)
- [We Have Issues](https://www.rawstory.com/presidential-campaign-issues/index.md): (9 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/presidential-campaign-issues; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/presidential-campaign-issues.rss)
- [The Raw Story Podcast](https://www.rawstory.com/the-raw-story-podcast/index.md): (1 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/the-raw-story-podcast; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/the-raw-story-podcast.rss)
- [Stack Commerce](https://www.rawstory.com/stack-commerce/index.md): (31 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/stack-commerce; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/stack-commerce.rss)
- [Mike Lindell](https://www.rawstory.com/mike-lindell/index.md): News about the founder of MyPillow, election-denier Mike Lindell — and his ongoing battle to support former President Donald J. Trump (15 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/mike-lindell; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/mike-lindell.rss)
- [Supreme Court](https://www.rawstory.com/supreme-court/index.md): News coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court (243 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/supreme-court; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/supreme-court.rss)
- [Jack Smith](https://www.rawstory.com/jack-smith/index.md): All the latest news about Jack Smith, the Special Counsel for the United States Department of Justice (2756 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/jack-smith; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/jack-smith.rss)
- [Nikki Haley](https://www.rawstory.com/nikki-haley/index.md): All the latest news about Nikki Haley, the former U.S Ambassador to the United Nations. (1789 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/nikki-haley; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/nikki-haley.rss)
- [Joe Biden](https://www.rawstory.com/joe-biden/index.md): All the latest news about Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States (27765 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/joe-biden; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/joe-biden.rss)
- [Alina Habba](https://www.rawstory.com/alina-habba/index.md): All the latest news about Alina Habba, a former lawyer for the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump (721 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/alina-habba; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/alina-habba.rss)
- [Fani Willis](https://www.rawstory.com/fani-willis/index.md): All the latest news about Fani Willis, the District Attorney of Fulton County, Georgia (1379 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/fani-willis; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/fani-willis.rss)
- [Arthur Engoron](https://www.rawstory.com/arthur-engoron/index.md): All the latest news about Arthur F. Engoron, an American judge serving on the Manhattan Supreme Court who presided over the civil investigation of the Trump Organization in 2024. (804 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/arthur-engoron; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/arthur-engoron.rss)
- [Lauren Boebert](https://www.rawstory.com/lauren-boebert/index.md): All the latest news about Lauren Boebert, a controversial politician from the state of Colorado. (1826 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/lauren-boebert; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/lauren-boebert.rss)
- [Sarah Matthews](https://www.rawstory.com/sarah-matthews/index.md): All the latest news about Sarah Matthews, former White House Deputy Press Secretary under President Donald J. Trump. (73 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/sarah-matthews; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/sarah-matthews.rss)
- [Rudy Giuliani](https://www.rawstory.com/rudy-giuliani/index.md): All the latest news about Rudy Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York City and former personal lawyer to the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. (5349 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/rudy-giuliani; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/rudy-giuliani.rss)
- [Ron DeSantis](https://www.rawstory.com/ron-desantis/index.md): All the latest news about Republican Ron DeSantis, governor of the state of Florida and failed presidential candidate. (4744 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/ron-desantis; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/ron-desantis.rss)
- [Mary Trump](https://www.rawstory.com/mary-trump/index.md): All the latest news about Mary Trump, the estranged niece of the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. (502 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/mary-trump; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/mary-trump.rss)
- [Letitia James](https://www.rawstory.com/letitia-james/index.md): All the latest news about Letitia James, the New York State Attorney General who filed a lawsuit against Donald J. Trump and Trump Organization senior executives for engaging in years of financial fraud and illegal conduct. (1510 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/letitia-james; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/letitia-james.rss)
- [Marjorie Taylor Greene](https://www.rawstory.com/marjorie-taylor-greene/index.md): All the latest news about Marjorie Taylor Greene, a controversial Republican politician from the state of Georgia. (4767 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/marjorie-taylor-greene; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/marjorie-taylor-greene.rss)
- [Kamala Harris](https://www.rawstory.com/kamala-harris/index.md): All the latest news about Vice President Kamala Harris, who is campaigning to become President of the United States in the 2024 Election with Tim Walz as her running mate. (1424 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/kamala-harris; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/kamala-harris.rss)
- [JD Vance](https://www.rawstory.com/jd-vance/index.md): All the latest news about JD Vance, who is campaigning to become Vice President of the United States in the 2024 Election alongside Donald Trump. (832 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/jd-vance; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/jd-vance.rss)
- [Tim Walz](https://www.rawstory.com/tim-walz/index.md): All the latest news about Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who is campaigning to become Vice President of the United States in the 2024 Election alongside Kamala Harris. (209 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/tim-walz; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/tim-walz.rss)
- [Exclude NB](https://www.rawstory.com/exclude-nb/index.md): (1485 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/exclude-nb; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/exclude-nb.rss)
- [2026 Midterm Elections](https://www.rawstory.com/2026-midterm-elections-section/index.md): (796 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/2026-midterm-elections-section; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/2026-midterm-elections-section.rss)
- [Entertainment](https://www.rawstory.com/entertainment/index.md): (7 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/entertainment; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/entertainment.rss)
- [Epstein](https://www.rawstory.com/epstein/index.md): (12 posts; HTML: https://www.rawstory.com/epstein; RSS: https://www.rawstory.com/feeds/epstein.rss)

## Recent Content

---

### Thomas Massie sparks applause with dig at 'old' Fox audience: 'Watch Fox on your CPAP!'

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/thomas-massie-2677900237/.md

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) spoke recently at the Ron Paul Institute's “Front Row at the Revolution” conference in Virginia, during which he sparked applause after taking an especially brutal dig at Fox News’ aging viewers.

Massie, recalling his primary election loss in May to a GOP challenger backed by President Donald Trump, flagged a deceptive attack ad generated with artificial intelligence (AI) that depicted him entering a hotel hand-in-hand with progressive Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN). The ad also described Massie as having been “caught in a throuple in Washington.”

“They created AI ads showing me doing crazy stuff, but people believed it!” Massie decried.

The AI-generated attack ad was especially effective on older Kentuckians, according to Zachary Foust, who questioned Kentucky voters leaving the polls on the state’s GOP primary election day.

“Old people believed it, and they watch Fox News in the kitchen, they watch Fox News in the living room,” Massie continued. “In fact, they gave me an idea for my next invention! I’m gonna get it so you can watch Fox News on your CPAP machine! But I’ll insert my own ads.”

Massie’s dig drew thunderous applause and laughter from conference attendees, as did several other remarks Massie made throughout his 30-minute address.

Massie’s GOP primary race shattered records after becoming the single most expensive U.S. House primary race in history, with $37 million poured into the contest, a significant share from pro-Israeli billionaires like Paul Singer and Miriam Adelson.

Massie, who had come out strongly against U.S. aid to Israel amid the ongoing siege on Gaza — which a United Nations committee and countless human rights groups have labeled a genocide — attributed his loss largely to his foreign policy positions.

“I think it was the foreign non-intervention policy that ultimately they had to take me out,” Massie said.

I recently spoke at the @RonPaulInstitut’s “Front Row at the Revolution” conference.

I tried to bring some humor to my update on the current spectacle that is our federal government. pic.twitter.com/qobmbHx2hu
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) September 20, 2026

---

### 'Really bad!': Republican outrage mounts over Don Jr.'s billionaire-funded Bahamas blowout

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Kathleen Culliton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/don-trump-jr-wedding-2677900111/.md

Yet another Republican lawmaker has condemned President Donald Trump's son for allowing a Russian oligarch to contribute a quarter of a million dollars to his Bahamas wedding blowout.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) spoke out against Don Trump Jr. during an interview on "Face the Nation" Sunday morning.

"Anytime someone gives a $250,000 gift, and they have ties to the Kremlin, that's wrong," Cassidy said. "With that proximity to power, being the president's son, you've got to give faith to the American people that Washington is not a swamp."

Cassidy was responding to the bombshell ProPublica report on Trump Jr.'s lavish, three-day wedding party on a pair of exclusive private islands, which appears to have been "heavily funded" by Umar Kremlev, the International Boxing Association chief with close ties to President Vladimir Putin.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have since launched an investigation and even Trump has tried to backtrack, claiming his son paid the oligarch back.

On Sunday, Cassidy expressed relief on the latter point — but suggested he wasn't 100 percent convinced it was true.

"It would be nice to have that kind of verified," said Cassidy. "And no, it shouldn't have been done in the first place."

The Republican senator addressed Trump Jr. directly as he explained his logic.

"Even though in your mind it might be a gift," Cassidy said, "the appearance of it is really bad!"

Other Republican lawmakers who have heaped scorn on Trump Jr. include Sen. John Curtis (R-UT), who in a video address to his constituents, said he was outraged.

"It just stinks," Curtis said. "It's corruption, I don't like it.... this is a big deal."

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) agreed, telling Washington Sun reporter Igor Bobic he felt the gift was "beyond bad."

“Don Jr. is worth somewhere between 300 million and 400 million dollars," Tillis reportedly said. "Unless he has a cash flow problem, why on earth would you accept money from a Russian oligarch who's actually gone on delegation meetings with Xi Jinping in China?”

---

### Trump adviser sinks on Fox in attempt to dismiss economic pain: ‘No far-left media here!’

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/kevin-hassett-2677900116/.md

White House chief economist Kevin Hassett faced rare pushback from Fox News’ Peter Doocy on Sunday after attempting to dismiss the growing economic anxiety among Americans.

According to polling cited by Doocy, only 23% of American voters describe the economy as “excellent or good,” only 12% describe their financial situation as “getting ahead,” and 62% believe grocery prices are a “major problem for their family.”

“I want to know which of these things sets off alarm bells inside the West Wing,” Doocy said. “Do any of those make you think, 'we've got a problem here?'”

Rather than address the underlying data, Hassett pivoted to discredit the polls themselves, claiming the findings were inaccurate “because hate President Trump” and that the “far-left media” promotes inaccurate polls to damage the Trump administration's reputation.

“Look, I'm the White House economist, and all I can say is that polls, over and over again, uh, harm, uh, impressions about the economy because they poll way too many Democrats,” Hassett said. “It's a really strong economy, and rather than talk about the strong economy, people want to talk about these silly polls.”

Smiling, Doocy pushed back on Hassett’s outright dismissal of Americans' financial anxieties.

“No far-left media here, Kevin! It's the polls!” Doocy said. “Look, bringing drug prices down? Great! Very high DOW? Great! But would you admit, when you walk out of the White House, you ask anybody, somebody from in town, somebody from out of town, they would say that they think stuff is too expensive. Would you agree with that?”

Cornered, Hassett conceded that goods were too expensive, but immediately shifted blame away from Trump.

“Well, sure, we had 20% inflation under Joe Biden... Prices are higher because of the huge inflation that we inherited from Joe Biden, but inflation is way down over the last three months!” Hassett said as Fox News queued up a brutal splitscreen showing a gallon of diesel fuel being listed at $6.59, eight cents above the national average, which as of Sunday sat at an all-time high.

Hassett’s claim about inflation under the previous administration is false, with inflation peaking under the Biden administration at 9.1% in June 2022, and is a likely reference to cumulative price increases from 2021 to 2025, which rose around 21.5%.

Inflation was down over the past three months when using Hassett’s method of annualizing the data, but has increased when using the conventional 12-month inflation rate.

Even Fox's @pdoocy isn't buying Kevin Hassett's insistence that Americans' overwhelmingly negative view on the economy is due to pollsters polling "way too many Democrats"

"No far-left media here, Kevin!" pic.twitter.com/lv4VJPMwia
— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) September 20, 2026

---

### Trump's press attack has triggered a Constitutional crisis. Raw Story will fight back

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Adam Nichols | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2677900069/.md

On Saturday morning, journalists arrived at the White House to do something reporters have done for generations: cover the president of the United States.

Some of them weren't allowed in.

CNN senior White House reporter Betsy Klein was turned away and her press credential deactivated. MS NOW correspondent Akayla Gardner was denied entry and had her badge confiscated. Politico White House reporter Cheyenne Haslett was also turned away and had her pass taken.

The day before, President Donald Trump had announced that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would be banned from the White House, accusing the organizations of reporting "fake news."

As a journalist, I find what happened Saturday deeply troubling.

But as the editor-in-chief of Raw Story, I also believe it is important to explain why this matters — including to people who don't watch CNN or MS NOW, read Politico or agree with the coverage produced by any of these organizations.

Freedom of the press isn't a privilege reserved for journalists whose reporting the government likes.

In fact, that's when the principle matters least.

The real test comes when journalists publish stories that anger powerful people.

Presidents have every right to criticize news coverage. They can dispute stories. They can call reporters unfair. They can provide evidence they believe proves journalists wrong. And journalists, like everyone else, can make mistakes and should correct them when they do.

But government access cannot become a reward for favorable coverage.

Because once that line is crossed, the question facing a reporter changes.

They should be asking: Is this true? Is this important? Do our readers need to know this?

Instead, the question becomes: If we publish this, will we still be allowed in the room tomorrow?

That is a question no journalist should have to consider.

This is why independent media matters

At Raw Story, we spend every day reporting on people and institutions with enormous power.

Our reporters dig through court records and campaign finance disclosures. They investigate political organizations and the money behind them. They talk to sources. They attend hearings. They ask questions politicians would sometimes rather not answer.

Sometimes our reporting makes people angry.

That's part of the job.

Our obligation isn't to make the people we cover comfortable. It is to pursue facts, verify them and give our readers the information they need to understand what their government and other powerful institutions are doing.

That principle doesn't change depending on who occupies the White House.

And it shouldn't.

There is another kind of independence

There's something else I want Raw Story readers to understand.

Editorial independence also depends on financial independence.

Investigative reporting is expensive. Experienced journalists are expensive. Sending reporters into the field, fighting for public records, reviewing thousands of pages of documents and giving journalists the time to uncover stories that may take weeks or months all cost money.

Independent news organizations don't have unlimited resources.

We have something more valuable: readers who believe this work matters.

Raw Story has been publishing independent journalism for more than two decades. We've survived enormous changes to the media industry because readers have continued to show up.

They read us.

They share our reporting.

They subscribe.

And they donate.

That support means the people we cover don't get to decide whether Raw Story survives.

Our readers do.

We're going to keep reporting

I don't know where the dispute over White House access goes from here. The affected news organizations have said they intend to defend their First Amendment rights, and legal challenges may follow.

But I know what Raw Story will do.

We'll keep reporting.

We'll keep investigating.

We'll keep asking questions.

We'll correct ourselves when we get something wrong, and we won't change accurate reporting simply because someone powerful doesn't like it.

Because journalism that requires the approval of the government isn't independent journalism.

And right now, independent journalism needs people willing to stand behind it.

If you value a press that answers to its readers rather than the people it covers, I hope you'll stand with us.

Support Raw Story's independent journalism today.

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### Trump warned of ‘painful attacks’ should he follow through on violent threat: report

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-iran-2677900065/.md

Tehran issued President Donald Trump a fierce warning Sunday against launching an attack on Iran, threatening to carry out “painful attacks” in retaliation at a moment’s notice — and “without any limitations or considerations,” Al Jazeera reported.

Speculation swirled Saturday night that a U.S. attack in the Middle East may be “imminent” after Trump abruptly cut his weekend getaway in Maryland short — without explanation — and returned to the White House, his 35-year-old female aide Natalie Harp in tow.

Sunday morning, Trump told Fox News that he was in a “deciding mode” as to whether to authorize strikes in the Middle East, telling Fox News’ Trey Yingst that whatever he decided, “very big things” would take place in the “not-so-distant future.” He also told Yingst that “wiping Iran out” was actively being considered, insisting that “if and when” he decides to “blow the entire nation up,” Iranians had “better behave.”

Iranian officials, who are reportedly already preparing for the United States to resume hostilities, cautioned Trump to think carefully about his next move.

“Any mistake will result in painful attacks,” reads a statement published by Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya military headquarters, according to Al Jazeera.

“According to information received, the United States — seeking to cover up its failures and achieve fabricated gains in a war that was launched based on Israeli lies and stage-managing and has been sustained through deception and trickery — has once again decided, with the green light from some regional countries, to resume actions against the Islamic Republic of Iran at a joint meeting in a European country.”

The Khatam al-Anbiya military headquarters also warned U.S. allies in the region that they would be “considered complicit” in any attack on Iran should Middle East U.S. bases be utilized.

“We warn that if the countries of the region — by continuing their dual policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran — align with the Great Satan’s aggression against a powerful and sovereign Iran they will all be considered complicit in this evil and can no longer expect restraint or decency from Iran’s powerful armed forces,” the statement reads.

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### Stammers and dodges as squirming Republicans try to defend Trump's new White House plan

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Kathleen Culliton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-white-house-2677899777/.md

Republicans struggled to excuse President Donald Trump's controversial new plans for the White House on Sunday.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), United Nations Ambassador Mike Waltz and Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) squirmed as journalists Sunday demanded to know their views on Trump's decision to oust MS NOW, CNN and Politico from the White House.

" Joe Biden removed the press credentials from over 400 different agencies," Scalise claimed on ABC News. "What President Trump's done is brought a lot of those back in."

There was just one problem with this comparison, as "This Week" host Jonathan Karl was quick to point out.

Four hundred individuals actually allowed their credentials to lapse and one person who applied for one wasn't accepted, Karl reported.

"It's not true," Karl said. "They were not banned from the White House. That did not happen."

Barrasso, on "Meet The Press," stammered "n-no" when asked if Trump had violated the Constitution and tried to justify Trump's move by noting he had been banned from Twitter during his first administration.

That ban occurred on Jan. 8, 2021 — 12 days before Trump's first term was slated to end and two days after the president's followers stormed the U.S. Capitol in a deadly effort to stop Biden from rightfully assuming office.

Host Kristen Welker responded by playing a clip of Trump in 2025 during which he claimed he stopped "all government censorship" and "brought back free speech."

When Welker asked, "Do these bans amount to government censorship?" Barrasso replied, "You've asked the question a couple of times and I've answered it."

Aaron Rupar, the independent journalist who shared the exchange on X, noted Barrasso's answer was "Not a no!"

On CNN's "State of the Union," Waltz argued the Supreme Court supported Trump's ability to ban press from government facilities, arguing the media should face consequences for the use of anonymous sources and practice of correcting mistakes.

"The president is absolutely within his rights to limit journalists to government facilities," Waltz said. "The Supreme Court has been very clear."

Host Dana Bash replied that she was at "a loss for words" considering Waltz, a former Green Beret, once fought to protect the Constitution and the First Amendment.

The debate got heated as both Waltz spoke over Bash to claim journalists had earned the ban with irresponsible reporting.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on!" Bash cried. "The question of national security is one that every serious news organization takes seriously. That is quite different from the president saying that he's not happy."

---

### Trump scrambles to fix 'supreme' poll as MAGA melts down over ungodly comparison

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-ai-2677899806/.md

President Donald Trump moved Sunday to rectify a poll he published after angering some of his religious followers with a proposed name to take the place of “artificial intelligence.”

On Saturday, Trump described the term “artificial intelligence” as “inaccurate,” arguing that a different term was better suited to describe the fast-advancing technology. Via a poll he published on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump asked his supporters to choose one of three proposals: “Superior Intelligence (SI),” “Extreme Intelligence (EI),” or “Supreme Intelligence (SI).”

The third option angered religious MAGA, some of whom pushed back, arguing that “God is the only Supreme Intelligence.”

Following the feedback, Trump published an updated poll on Sunday that excluded “Supreme Intelligence,” though suggested the backlash was related to the term sharing a word with the Supreme Court, which he’s increasingly lashed out at for ruling against some of his plans.

“‘Supreme Intelligence,’ probably because of its relationship to the Supreme Court, is losing badly to both ‘Superior’ and ‘Extreme Intelligence,’” Trump wrote. “Therefore, we are going to take ‘Supreme Intelligence’ OUT, deleting it as a qualifier, and let you vote for the Final Two: Superior Intelligence, or Extreme Intelligence. A fresh Vote begins now!”

Roughly an hour after Trump published the new poll, the president’s followers on Truth Social appeared to prefer the term “Superior Intelligence” by a slim margin, though it’s unclear how Trump plans to enact a universal term such as "artificial intelligence.”

Trump has come out in defense of artificial intelligence data centers in a strong break with Americans, the majority of whom are against local data center development. In July of 2025, Trump signed an executive order to accelerate permits for data center construction.

Trump previously attacked Americans opposed to data center construction, accusing them of wanting to “end up being backwards and poor.”

---

### This photo caught Trump off guard — and should scare the hell out of America

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** John Casey | **Section:** Raw Exclusives  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/trump-kennedy-center-2677886875/.md

I keep thinking about that haunting photograph of Donald Trump, framed in the window of his gilded new Air Force One, looking at poster boards prepared for him by the foolhardy lackey Bill Pulte and apparently unaware that he could be seen.

It's an unforgettable image because it captured something I can't stop noticing: every day now feels like looking through that window and watching something get demolished. Trump has unleashed total destruction on this country, and it's gotten to a point where it's too much to comprehend.

Americans have been spoiled, myself included. For decades, we have assumed certain things would just be there.

We would have a growing economy, and if it faltered, the government would give it a lift.

We would have the world's most capable military, a respected and venerable diplomatic corps that could smartly negotiate peace. We would have cheap gas, medical schools turning out the best doctors and psychiatrists year after year. We would have civil rights protections, a functioning justice system, and a president who might not be perfect, but had America's best interests at heart.

There were always hiccups because any government is an evolving work in progress. There have been countless times when our frustration bubbled up and we protested, spoke out, and switched things up at election time.

The point is that we didn't have to think about any of it. That was the luxury of living inside institutions built by people who came before us, always improving or adapting. Failing, yes, at times, but always seemingly bouncing back.

I think Americans still generally believe that despite all of the intense turmoil over the last year and 10 months, American institutions will just go back to normal once the demolishing storm that is Trump passes. But what took decades to stand up, and less than two years to demolish, will take decades again to return to those simple expectations.

The Environmental Protection Agency is being hollowed out just as climate consequences accelerate. Health and Human Services is being run in a way that would have been unthinkable a decade ago, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. telling an anti-vaccine crowd “they have a friend” in the White House, while funding and guidance for the next pandemic quietly disappear.

And the Justice Department? The proverbial wrecking ball has already crashed that from all sides of the building.

Throughout our government, career civil servants, the unglamorous people who actually keep agencies running across administrations, are being pushed out. What happened to transgender intelligence expert Julia Curlee is emblematic of other highly skilled professionals being kicked to the curb for reasons that have nothing to do with their job performance.

Even in corporate America, there's demolition occurring. Take CBS News, once a genuine standard-bearer for American broadcast journalism for generations, which has had its integrity demolished by the heavy hand of Trump.

Trade relationships with Canada and Mexico that took generations to build are being demolished. And now there's that foam board of the demolition of the Kennedy Center, the demolition of the White House's East Wing to make room for a ballroom, an act that runs against everything the building has stood for in its plain, deliberate simplicity.

This week, I had a conversation with a friend of mine who runs a psychiatric training program at Columbia University. The government support it has relied on for years is gone. The program has been cancelled.

He reminded me that what happened to his program is a microcosm. Multiply that by every medical and doctoral training program across the country that depended on the same kind of funding, and that pipeline providing future doctors and psychiatrists stops.

Any interruption in that process will take years to rectify. Doctors aren't trained overnight.

Here's what worries me most: We all go blithely along, with none of this demolition yet apparent. Gas is still relatively cheap. The stock market hasn't collapsed. Most people go about their lives without feeling the absence of cancelled medical training grants, a gutted pandemic preparedness office, or not seeing ICE agents roam their streets. There are so many other things waiting in the wings that could disappear.

But all of these institutions and actions don't fall over the way buildings collapse. It takes time to dismantle their effectiveness. They are eroding before our eyes, and the moment we need them, we will discover they're not there.

You don't build a great medical education system, a functioning diplomatic corps, or a competent public health apparatus overnight. It takes decades. And when you tear it down, rebuilding takes decades too.

Ask yourself this: If you are a public servant who was cut by Elon Musk's indiscriminate DOGE, will you be available to come back in 2029 after a Democratic administration takes office? Most likely not, because the infrastructure you helped build is gone, you've taken another job, and you're not going to go back to a disaster area with the thought that in four years you could be fired again.

That's the part I don't think many Americans get. Even in the more immediate, best-case scenario, if Democrats retake the House and Senate, some competent people are reinstalled and funding is restored, you cannot simply flip a switch and have back what was lost.

The talent that left won't all come back. The programs that closed won't reopen on the old timeline. The relationships with allies that frayed will need to be painstakingly rebuilt, if they can be at all.

And we're doing all of this at the exact moment artificial intelligence is reshaping the world faster than any technology in memory. It's a moment that is screaming for more institutional competence and foresight, not less.

Layer that on top of everything else in the throes of being dismantled, and the country is heading into genuinely uncertain territory with a weaker infrastructure than it's had in generations, or maybe in the short lifespan of a 250-year-old democracy.

I don't say any of this to scare the bejesus out of anyone. I say it because I think most Americans wake up with blue skies in their eyes, not realizing that somewhere behind them, a wrecking ball is swinging closer and closer to causing irrevocable damage. Eventually, all of what Trump's doing will come home to roost.

And when it does, the picture of a poster board of the Kennedy Center being demolished will have been an ugly harbinger.

---

### Trump warns 'very big things' imminent: 'When do I blow the entire nation up?'

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-iran-2677899598/.md

President Donald Trump told Fox News’ Trey Yingst Sunday morning that, regarding speculation of an imminent U.S. escalation in the Middle East, “very big things” would take place in the “not-so-distant future,” things that include ‘wiping Iran out” entirely.

Fears mounted Saturday night after Trump abruptly cut his weekend getaway in Maryland short and returned to the White House without explanation, a schedule change that came amid other signals that hinted at imminent U.S. military action. Yingst spoke to Trump by phone Sunday morning and was asked by Fox News’ “Fox & Friends Weekend” to provide viewers with the latest on the president’s thinking.

“ tells Fox News he's in a 'deciding mode' and that 'very big things' are going to be happening in the 'not-so-distant future,’” Yingst said.

“The president described the current choices on the table as 'wiping Iran out, letting them rot economically, or making a deal.’ He added, 'my question is, if and when do I blow the entire nation up, they better behave.'”

Fox News’ Charles Hurt pressed Yingst for more details.

“Can you give us any idea about what 'not-so-distant future' means?” Hurt asked. “Are we thinking hours, or we thinking days?”

Yingst said it was “not clear at this moment,” with Iranian officials reportedly preparing for the United States to resume hostilities.

Trump tells Fox he's in a "deciding mode" and that "very big things" to come in the "not-so-distant future."

"If and when do I blow the entire nation up, they better behave" pic.twitter.com/URLKDgLhzX
— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) September 20, 2026

---

### Big Susie Wiles myth busted in analysis: 'Scrolling on her phone while the world burns'

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Kathleen Culliton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/susie-wiles-2677899366/.md

President Donald Trump's influential chief of staff has absolutely no influence at all, a new political analysis contends.

Susie Wiles' long held reputation as the rare White House staffer who can "manage" Trump — Politico's Michael Kruse praised her as "an experienced operator" who built a career on "shaping perceptions" — was ripped to shreds Sunday by Salon's Heather Digby Parton.

"Susie Wiles has no influence over Trump at all," wrote Parton. "Just like Mark Meadows, she’s essentially sitting on a couch and scrolling on her phone while the world burns."

Parton's analysis repeatedly compares Wiles to Meadows, whom author Chris Whipple once dubbed the "worst chief of staff in history."

The problem, argued Parton, is that the White House chief of staff wields incredible power, but is expected to maintain discipline.

"The role of the position is multi-faceted, managing the flow of information to the Oval Office and keeping them from becoming distracted by people pushing their own agendas and distorting the president’s understanding of the facts," she wrote. "The chief of staff has hiring and firing power over the West Wing, basically running the day-to-day operation of the presidency."

While Parton credited Wiles with managing Trump's campaign and becoming the first female chief of staff in history, she criticized Wiles for her laissez-faire attitude when it comes to reigning in Trump.

"She seems to have found the key to managing Trump, which is to not manage him at all," Parton wrote. "One imagines his mother reached the same conclusion around the time he reportedly gave his second-grade music teacher a black eye because 'he didn’t know anything about music.'"

As proof, Parton points first to Wiles interviews with Whipple for his feature in Vanity Fair, in which Trump's chief of staff "more or less admitted" that she refuses to discuss important issues with the president.

"Wiles revealed that she doesn’t have 'these seminal moments where you have to go in and tell the president what he wants to do is unconstitutional or will cost lives,'" Parton noted. "That pretty much says it all."

Parton argued if Wiles did have any influence, Trump wouldn't have appointed her to the board of John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

"If she had any clout, you would think she could have talked him out of his petty obsession of adding his name to a living memorial to a revered, slain president — a disgusting act of desecration," the columnist concluded.

"But with Trump, there’s nothing too small on which to fixate and, in any case, this crusade to remake Washington, D.C., in his own image overwhelms all other concerns, including economic crises and war."

---

### DHS chief’s ‘toughness’ act lands with a thud among MAGA and White House: report

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/markwayne-mullin-2677899471/.md

Six months into the role, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has “struggled to overcome doubts” among both MAGA influencers and the White House, The New York Times reported Sunday, particularly with his efforts to “prove his toughness.”

Mullin replaced Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary in March, and in the months since, has repeatedly touted his efforts to ramp up deportations of undocumented migrants.

“Next stop Ecuador,” Mullin bragged in a recent social media post attached to a photo of migrants bound by ankle shackles.

But for many prominent MAGA and conservative figures, Mullin’s supposed attempt to depict himself as a MAGA hardliner fell flat.

MAGA influencer Laura Loomer urged President Donald Trump to fire Mullin for having “done absolutely nothing to increase the rate of mass deportations.” Fox News’ Tomi Lahren called Mullin out on air for refusing at least 18 invitations to appear on the network.

“Despite toughening his language on immigration — and he has increased arrests and detentions — many influential conservatives still see him as too soft on the issue,” the Times’ report reads. “And the White House has broken with him on several significant issues, further undermining his standing.”

Regarding Mullin’s breaks with the White House, Mullin has advocated for his senior adviser Lance Schroyer to be appointed as the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Schroyer’s nomination for ICE director was abruptly pulled by the White House last week without explanation, and Mullin’s support for Schroyer has reportedly created “tension” between Mullin and Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan.

“Tom Homan, Mr. Trump’s border czar, had been frustrated with Mr. Mullin’s attempts to advocate for Mr. Schroyer’s nomination, according to two people familiar with the matter speaking on the condition of anonymity,” the Times’ report reads. “Mr. Homan did not think Mr. Schroyer, who had no ICE experience, was qualified to lead the agency, the people said.”

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### These Trump lackeys are facing years in prison for echoing his crazy scheme

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Thom Hartmann | **Section:** Raw Exclusives  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/trump-2677885341/.md

Trump has now repeatedly offered his voters $5,000 checks if Republicans hold onto the House and Senate this fall, calling it the “Trump dividend.” Last week, he told a rally that it’ll “happen 100 percent” if enough people turn out to vote GOP.

Since his own party controls both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court, he could now get an appropriation passed for the ~$1.2 trillion this will add to the national debt; the fact that he’s not doing this is pretty much proof that what’s really going on here is a good old-fashioned vote-buying scheme dressed up with some fancy language to make it seem less like the crime it is.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that “if the Republicans win” is quite simply a way of telling millions of Americans that there’s five grand riding on how they vote.

And then there’s Trump telling a crowd in North Carolina that he's not going to send any more disaster aid via FEMA unless they elect a Republican senator. He claims it was a joke, like when he joked about tearing down the East Wing, or building a triumphal arch, or trying to end mail-in voting.

It's really just a variation on the $5,000 check: “Vote the way I want, and I'll make sure you get something; vote against me, and I’ll withhold benefits from you.”

Americans have seen this corrupt movie before, and the last time we saw it, we made it a crime.

During the 1938 midterm elections in the midst of the Republican Great Depression, about a quarter of all American families were surviving on paychecks from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a program Republicans decried as “communism.” Democrats, though, controlled both branches of Congress and the White House, and more than a few of the local Democratic politicians were willing to exploit that widespread dependence on the public dole.

Reporter Thomas Stokes documented how WPA workers were being leaned on for both votes and campaign contributions; the reporting earned him a Pulitzer. TIME magazine reported that Harry Hopkins, the guy heading up the WPA, was promising both jobs and promotions in exchange for votes, and a Texas Democratic senator investigated, finding similar reports out of Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

The scandal ripped across the front pages from coast to coast, and people were rightly disgusted. Given that a quarter of the population was only able to survive because of WPA payments, the threat to pull them (or expand them) in exchange for votes and contributions seemed like extortion.

So the president’s own party decided to clean up its own act. New Mexico’s Democratic Senator Carl Hatch wrote a bill he titled “An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities” that explicitly outlawed government officials from using the power of their offices to influence politics or elections. A Democratic House passed it 241 to 134 and FDR signed it into law on August 2, 1939. We call it the Hatch Act.

Section 3 of the 1939 Hatch Act contained a criminal statute that’s still on the books, only lightly amended, as Title 18, Section 600 of the U.S. Code. It doesn’t begin with “any federal employee.” It opens with “Whoever”:

“Whoever, directly or indirectly, promises any employment, position, compensation, contract, appointment, or other benefit, provided for or made possible in whole or in part by any Act of Congress … to any person as consideration, favor, or reward for any political activity or for the support of or opposition to any candidate or any political party in connection with any general or special election to any political office … shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.” (emphasis added)

A companion law, Section 597, makes it a two-year felony to offer any sort of expenditure to influence anybody’s vote. Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner argues Trump crossed that line the moment he made that promise. And, he points out, “if the Republicans win, you win with us” is a clear, neat description of offering a reward for supporting a political party in a general election.

Fox “News” and Trump’s other lickspittles argue that in 1982 the Supreme Court, in Brown v. Hartlage, already said that politicians can make campaign promises involving money because, in that case, a Kentucky candidate had promised that, if elected, he’d cut his own salary.

But that guy was describing what he’d do to himself if he won the office he was seeking; there’s never before in American history been an offer of cash to voters with a trigger clause that says the money only comes if one party wins and the other loses.

That’s why Republican Thomas Massie said he’s insulted at Trump suggesting his and his constituents’ votes could be bought for a mere $5,000, why former GOP Congressman Bob Good called it a “vote-buying scheme,” and why the libertarians at Reason magazine used the word “brazen” to describe Trump’s latest corrupt scheme.

As I have mentioned before, 89 percent of Americans now believe that our government is experiencing “widespread corruption” because for over 50 years Democrats have let Republicans get away with their crimes, including Carter endorsing Ford’s pardon, Clinton’s “look to the future,” Gore’s concession, and Garland’s 15-month nap. Every one of those choices by Democrats told the next sleazy Republican that there was basically no price to be paid for corrupting our democracy.

This $5,000 vote-buying scheme and Trump’s FEMA threats are the perfect pivot points for Democrats to highlight how insanely corrupt the GOP has become since Nixon first started taking bribes and selling legislation.

And while Trump has the immunity that six on-the-take Republicans on the Supreme Court gave him, the people around him who are echoing and promoting these illegal schemes don’t.

Both Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Vice President JD Vance have been out hustling this $5,000 scheme on television, and Section 600 makes it a crime for anyone who makes such a campaign promise “directly or indirectly.”

And the federal statute of limitations is five years, which carries this particular offense out to September of 2031, when it’s reasonable to hope/assume Democrats will again control our federal government and its ability to prosecute crimes.

So, Democrats in Congress need to get ready with subpoenas and serious questions: Who drafted this crazy plan? Who at Treasury and Commerce worked on it, and was it during their government-paid work hours? Did the RNC coordinate any aspect of this? And what the hell is going on with FEMA?

Those are the questions the Hatch Act was written to let us ask.

There are also anti-vote-buying laws on the books in every one of the 50 states and DC, and each state has its own ability to launch investigations, empanel grand juries, and go after corrupt officials. Democratic state attorneys general could, at the very least, begin notifying corrupt Republicans to preserve their records and documents, putting everybody on notice that finally, after all these years of GOP corruption, clean and accountable government is on its way.

Democrats cleaned up their own vote-buying corruption in the late 1930s, and now it looks like they’re going to have to clean up this Republican scheme along the same lines. Let your elected officials know you want Hatch Act and FEMA investigations started on Day One of the new Congress in January.

And please share this piece and support hartmannreport.com; it’s readers like you who make it possible for me to keep saying these things out loud.

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### Trump bludgeoned for ‘another lie’ as Ukraine claim goes up in smoke

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/ukraine-2677899019/.md

President Donald Trump claimed last week that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to avoid striking energy infrastructure targets, but on Sunday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proudly boasted about striking “one of Russia’s key oil industry facilities,” leading critics to condemn Trump for “just another lie to manipulate markets.”

BBC reported that Ukraine launched its “largest” drone attack on the Moscow region since Russia's 2022 invasion, killing at least two people and injuring 20 others. Moscow’s "main oil refinery" was among the targets struck.

“It appears that Trump’s claim last week that he negotiated a deal between Putin and Zelenskyy to stop bombing energy infrastructure was just another lie to manipulate markets,” wrote MeidasTouch Editor-in-Chief Ron Filipkowski Sunday morning in a social media post on X. “Every hour of every day, Trump lies about everything.”

As global oil prices skyrocket amid the U.S. war against Iran, Trump has attempted to dispel claims that the war he launched in February was to blame for the spike in energy costs.

“The World’s Diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran,” Trump wrote last week.

Trump reiterated his request to Zelenskyy last week in Ireland, telling reporters that the Ukrainian president “has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia… because he’s causing a shortage.”

With Zelenskyy boasting about an attack on a Russian oil refinery just days later, Trump was swiftly mocked by critics.

“Yeesh,” wrote military historian Phillips O’Brien, head of the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, in a social media post on X. “Trump promised us there was an agreement that this would not happen!”

It appears that Trump’s claim last week that he negotiated a deal between Putin and Zelenskyy to stop bombing energy infrastructure was just another lie to manipulate markets. Every hour of every day, Trump lies about everything. pic.twitter.com/laEAhpK8hi
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) September 20, 2026

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### Fury as Trump's bizarre 'drones plus snipers' claim spurs uproar: 'MUST BE STOPPED'

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Kathleen Culliton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-arch-2677898907/.md

President Donald Trump's sudden announcement that he wants to top his controversial Washington, D.C. arch with snipers and pack it with drones caused an uproar Sunday morning.

Trump stunned when he wrote his triumphal arch D.C. project would "house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage."

”This is extremely dumb," replied Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. "It is in the middle of a traffic circle that’s barely a couple hundred feet across. This is a transparently stupid litigation ploy."

But Kyle Cheney, a legal affairs reporter for Politico, argued Trump had shown his savvy as a developer.

"President Trump knows that one way to gain advantage in the legal fight over a controversial construction project is to link it to a military need," he wrote.

This analysis did assuage the fears and frustrations of Americans such as Christopher Webb, a "lifelong Dem" with 160,000 followers, who expressed outrage that an enormous sniper-topped arch might tower over Arlington National Cemetery.

"WTF!" he wrote. "Apparently what should loom over the resting place of America’s war dead is snipers, drones and ammunition storage. No respect."

Political commentator Rogue POTUS staff told about a half million followers that Trump's new announcement stood as proof that the president should not be allowed to build the arch.

"There is only one purpose this can serve," the commentator said, "to launch attacks against the people. You're not repelling a Chinese invasion with snipers from here. This arch MUST BE STOPPED."

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### Trump reveals bonkers transformation to arch project: ‘Drones, plus snipers on the roof’

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-arch-2677898763/.md

President Donald Trump’s triumphal arch D.C. project, originally designed to “honor the significance of Arlington Cemetery,” will now serve as a major military installation, the president revealed Sunday morning.

“At the strong request of the United States Military, and for National Security purposes, I have agreed to convert the magnificent Triumphal Arch, planned since the Civil War Era many years ago, at the Receptive Circle adjoining the Arlington Memorial Bridge, into a top grade Military Complex/Triumphal Arch,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

“ to house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage. There will be no facility like this anywhere in the World.”

The arch is one of several Washington, D.C. beautification projects that have taken Trump’s attention during his second term. The arch project has been scrutinized for damaging iconic D.C. landmarks and for reportedly being rushed to completion ahead of the midterms, when Republicans could lose control of Congress.

“Out of the 59 top cities and Capitals, Washington, D.C., IS THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD THAT DOES NOT HAVE A TRIUMPHAL ARCH, but it will now and, by far, the greatest of them all!” Trump continued.

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### Scorn as Trump rushes back to DC with 'top advisers' — golfers and a model

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Kathleen Culliton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-marine-one/.md

President Donald Trump's sudden return to Washington D.C. — as war mounts in Iran, an increasingly tight midterm election looms, and prices continue to rise for Americans nationwide — saw him summon a team of "top advisers," photos show.

Getty photographer Graeme Sloan captured Trump's return on Marine One after abruptly cutting short a Camp David weekend late Saturday night and sparking fears of an impending "major escalation" as the U.S. Embassy in Israel issued a security alert to Americans in the Middle East.

“All Middle East US embassies have issued STEP alert warning to Americans in the region," warned geopolitical expert Brett Erickson on Saturday. "This could certainly be a legitimate escalation."

This may be why Meredith McGraw, White House reporter for the Wall Street Journal, expressed surprise by the faces she saw aboard Marine One in Sloan's photograph capturing Trump's return.

They were the faces of famous golfers.

"Looks like Trump flew back to the WH tonight from Camp David with Gary Player and Bryson DeChambeau," McGraw told her followers.

Sloan's caption does not mention Player, but does include another notable name: DeChambeau's girlfriend, model Mikayla Demaiter.

Robyn J Leader, an attorney, replied to this update with scorn, writing, "In the midst of an escalating war he started and he’s hanging out with golfers."

The Bulwark's managing editor Sam Stein added, "Important to have your top advisors with you at critical global moments like this."

---

### ‘Can’t leave home without her’: Trump mocked as Natalie Harp tails him back to White House

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/natalie-harp-2677898657/.md

President Donald Trump cut his weekend at Camp David short Saturday evening and raced back to the White House without explanation, and was promptly ridiculed for who was seen tagging along.

“Natalie Harp, 35, the always-at-Trump’s-side ‘human printer’ who churns out copies of positive articles about the 80-year-old president, climbed into a separate helicopter just before Trump boarded the Marine One presidential chopper, according to the pool report,” The Daily Beast’s Mary Papenfuss wrote Sunday in the outlet’s report, also arguing that Trump “can’t leave home without her.”

Trump’s unusually close relationship with Harp has reportedly unsettled the White House, with eagle-eyed journalists increasingly flagging her appearance by Trump’s side during recent outings.

Trump was expected to spend the weekend at Camp David in Maryland, but cut the getaway short to return to the White House Saturday evening, sparking alarm among analysts that a “major escalation” in the Middle East may be imminent. In tow, as flagged by USA Today’s Francesca Chambers, was Harp.

“ landed at the Ellipse on Marine One at 7:57 pm. He walked to the motorcade and promptly departed for the White House,” Chambers wrote in a Saturday night pool report. “A support copter landed much closer to the press on the Ellipse at 7:52 pm. Walt Nauta and Natalie Harp were among the group that was seen walking off that helo.”

As noted by Papenfuss, “There was no obvious reason for Harp to be with Trump at Camp David,” outside of one explanation: “other than that she accompanies him everywhere.”

---

### Desperate Trump handed Dems the key to destroy him with this 'Nuremberg' speech

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Sabrina Haake | **Section:** Raw Exclusives  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/trump-bribe-election/.md

The New York Times described last week how foreign investors and allies are getting cold feet about the U.S. economy. Every other day, Trump imposes another nonsensical tariff, threatens the rule of law, lies about Iran, and remains clueless about how these actions affect the economy.

The Trumpapalooza midterm convention in Dallas, staged to spin the disastrous results of Trump 2.0 into ‘The Great American Comeback,’ confirmed Trump’s economic ineptitude. Speaker after speaker praised him so lavishly that the convention looked like his made-for-TV Cabinet meetings, as Trump used his podium time to strut his ignorance.

Almost on cue, the Fed followed the Times by announcing a rate hike, largely driven by Trump’s continuing fiscal missteps. Trump responded by attacking the board, “demanding a rate cut,” and separately threatening to punish Europe with more tariffs — a fiscal non sequitur confirming that Trump really has no idea how trade, tariffs, and interest rates work.

“Bread and circus bribes”

During the Republicans’ midterm convention, Trump spun high fuel and energy costs, an intractable war of choice, and serial divorce papers served on us by our allies as accomplishments. Such is the power of spin when truth no longer holds currency.

By now, it’s clear that the convention was just an emotional support rally for Trump, even though he is not running for office. What he is running for is his continued escape from legal accountability. If Democrats retake the House and Senate, the words ‘impeach,’ ‘corruption,’ and ‘Emoluments Clause’ will dominate headlines as they reacquaint federal governance with the rule of law.

Trump’s two widely panned, rambling convention speeches made false and familiar claims building up to the crescendo where he offered to pay every American adult $5,000 if Republicans win the midterms. He explained that the payments would be “very much like a successful company will do a cash distribution to its shareholders, or like last year when I gave our great members of the military $1,776.”

Both claims were sophomoric. Corporations don’t give bonus distributions when earnings are down and the company is $40 trillion in debt, and he didn’t “give” service members $1,776 because Congress had already funded a $2.9 billion military housing allowance in July 2025 from which those funds were taken.

A fan of renaming things, Trump simply renamed it a “Warrior Dividend,” and claimed it was his gift.

Trump still doesn’t understand how appropriations work

While most analysts assailed Trump’s $5,000 promise as an election-year sweetener at best and an illegal bribe at worst, the devastating takeaway should have been that Trump, after nearly six years on the job, still doesn’t understand how federal legislation works. Trump didn’t say he’d work with the Republican majority to authorize the payout, or help pass the law to drive it. A perennial mob boss, he said he would issue the checks, but only if he likes what he sees in the midterms.

After his repeated promises to issue checks that never materialize, Trump still hasn’t learned that massive direct-payment plans require either fast-track legislation or formal congressional approval. Even though Republicans now control the presidency, the House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court, Trump has been promising checks that never were for two years:

He promised Americans $5,000 as "DOGE dividend" stimulus checks, a proposal that was officially scrapped when DOGE shut down with its tail between its legs after failing to realize a fraction of the “savings” they promised.

He promised $2,000 “tariff dividend” checks that never materialized. Not only did the Supreme Court strike down Trump’s illegal tariffs, the math didn’t work either: Financial experts pointed out that sending $2,000 to every non-high-income American would cost between $450 billion and $600 billion, even though actual annual tariff revenues were far less than that amount, roughly $200 billion to $300 billion.

He promised $1,000 to $1,500 checks from expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies. Republicans diabolically scheduled health care cuts to take effect after the midterms, but the Health Savings Account promised to soften the blow for 10 million people never materialized.

Trump’s convention speech demonstrated his continuing economic illiteracy

If Trump gave $5,000 to every adult U.S. citizen, it would cost $1.2 to $1.7 trillion, exploding the already astronomical federal deficit, which would in turn cause interest rates to skyrocket. For perspective, the entire 2025 annual U.S. budget was $7 trillion; Trump would add another 20% just to keep his unchecked power. Just as he doesn’t understand who pays tariffs, he either doesn’t understand the basic relationship between national debt and interest rates, or he doesn’t care.

Trump also demonstrated ignorance about how a free market works, telling his fawning audience that, “The only caveat I have is that the dividend that we’re making must be spent in the United States of America...” This is more delusional thinking. In a capitalist economy, currency cannot be stopped from moving freely; there is no way to track how or where cash is spent unless he intends to mark denominations ‘legal tender, but only inside the U.S.,’ then build a system to track it.

Given his apparent belief that he can simply print more money, wait for Trump to mint $5,000 Trump coins restricted to purchasing Trump.com products. Small wonder he is desperate for Republicans to stay in power.

During his convention speech, Trump led a Nuremburg Rally and demanded that attendees swear loyalty to him and promise to cheat in the midterms if necessary, urging voters to “pretend that he is on the ballot.”

Democrats should repeat, “Trump is on the ballot,” run his absurd loyalty pledge as a chyron at the bottom of every commercial, and display a running tally of gas, food, and home energy prices in the background of every midterm ad between now and November 3.

Sabrina Haake is a political analyst and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. She writes the free Substack, The Haake Take.

---

### Chuck Grassley begs Trump to take 1970s-era emergency action as oil prices skyrocket

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/chuck-grassley-2677895965/.md

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) urged President Donald Trump Saturday night to take emergency action to combat the soaring cost of diesel fuel across the United States, in what Politico’s Meredith Lee Hill described as “another warning sign for the Iowa Senate race.”

“W diesel $6.57 in Iowa why doesn’t Pres Trump put an embargo on diesel exports like presidents in the 70s put embargoes on ag products bc food prices were inflated,” Grassley wrote in a social media post on X, using his characteristically casual writing style. “High diesel prices ARE KILLING FARMERS INCOME.”

The average price of a gallon of diesel hit an all-time high in the United States on Saturday, reaching $6.49 — nearly $1 higher than a month ago and up 33 cents from a week earlier, according to AAA. In Iowa, diesel averaged $6.21 a gallon Saturday, having climbed at a similar pace over the past month.

As flagged by Lee Hill, Grassley’s plea could be seen as a dire sign for GOP Senate nominee Ashley Hinson, who’s running against Democratic nominee Josh Turek in a race that’s gone on to become “increasingly competitive.”

“Diesel prices are so high in Iowa that Chuck Grassley is calling for Trump to take 1970s style emergency actions,” Lee Hill wrote in a social media post on X.

“As Politico has reported - GOP lawmakers have been privately pressing Trump officials for weeks to take emergency actions to try to lower gas prices ahead of the midterms — including during the GOP convention in Dallas.”

Given Grassley’s senior role in Congress as Senate president pro tempore, journalist Molly Jong-Fast questioned out loud whether the 93-year-old lawmaker had better options for making such requests.

“There has to be a better way to communicate with the leader of your party,” Jong-Fast quipped. “Maybe you know a senator from the party in power? Oh wait,” she wrote in a follow-up post.

ABC News’ Ben Siegel warned that, should Trump oblige Grassley’s request, such an embargo could ultimately backfire.

“One analyst told ABC News banning diesel exports would bring prices down in some gulf and midwestern states for a few weeks, before refineries cut production in response, causing prices to spike again,” Siegel wrote in a social media post on X. “It could also cool foreign investment in U.S. energy industry & production.”

W diesel $6.57 in Iowa why doesn’t Pres Trump put an embargo on diesel exports like presidents in the 70s put embargoes on ag products bc food prices were inflated. High diesel prices ARE KILLING FARMERS INCOME #cornwatch #soybeanwatch
— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) September 20, 2026

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### Scholar flags Trump insecurity that just ended decades of US military dominance: analysis

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2677895311/.md

The Trump administration warned U.S. allies that shipments of key weapons could be delayed by as much as five years as the United States faces a “shortfall in ammunition” amid its war against Iran, Bloomberg reported on Saturday, leading international law scholar Alonso Gurmendi to float a jarring theory.

According to Bloomberg, “multiple European nations” have been informed that deliveries of key weapons, including “missile and air defense capabilities,” will face severe delays. Japan was also told by the United States that a shipment of Tomahawk missiles would be “delayed by as much as two years.”

Gurmendi, a London School of Economics Fellow in Human Rights, argued that the development represented the end to US “military superiority” on the world stage, and blamed two key figures for the fallout: Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s been increasingly accused of having “dragged” Trump into the deeply unpopular U.S. war against Iran.

“Netanyahu and Trump have ended US military superiority,” Gurmendi wrote in a statement published on social media. “It’s frankly a jarring level of incompetence driven by religious/ideological fundamentalism and male fragility, respectively.”

Trump has been scrutinized for years regarding what countless critics have described as his “fragile male ego,” with male fragility playing an outsized role in his first bid for the White House, according to social psychologists Eric Knowles and Sarah DiMuccio.

“The Pentagon’s decision to prioritize its own stockpiles is also straining Ukraine’s push for the U.S. to send it more Patriot air defense interceptors ahead of what is expected to be a difficult winter for the war-torn nation,” Bloomberg’s report reads. “The issue of Ukraine’s badly needed air defense will be a key topic at next week’s United Nations meetings in New York.”

Netanyahu and Trump have ended US military superiority. It’s frankly a jarring level of incompetence driven by religious/ideological fundamentalism and male fragility, respectively. https://t.co/qMCNcJ5HbO
— Alonso Gurmendi (@Alonso_GD) September 19, 2026

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### ‘Imminent attack’: Panic as Trump races back to White House amid ‘obvious signaling’

**Published:** September 20, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-iran-2677895263/.md

President Donald Trump abruptly cut short his weekend at Camp David and is returning to the White House for reasons that remain “unclear,” multiple journalists reported Saturday evening, sparking fears the sudden change could signal an impending "major escalation" in the Middle East.

Trump’s schedule change came shortly after the U.S. Embassy in Israel issued a security alert instructing Americans in the Middle East to “exercise heightened vigilance and be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions.” Also on Saturday, Israeli news network i24NEWS reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut his scheduled U.S. visit short.

“There’s a TON of very obvious signaling taking place right now for imminent massive escalation against Iran. President Trump, just after Camp David, is returning early to the White House. Bibi Netanyahu is cutting his U.S. Tour a day early, cancelling the Texas leg, and flying directly back to Tel Aviv from New York,” warned geopolitical expert Brett Erickson on Saturday.

“All Middle East US embassies have issued STEP alert warning to Americans in the region. This could certainly be a legitimate escalation… but this is a LOT of very public signaling that is textbook TACO Trump. That said… if it’s not, we’re looking at a MAJOR escalation inbound.”

Sophie Mokoena, a veteran South African journalist, came to a similar conclusion, warning of an “imminent attack.”

INSIGHTS: There’s a TON of very obvious signaling taking place right now for imminent massive escalation against Iran.

President Trump, just after Camp David, is returning early to the White House (and reported on by Barak…).

Bibi Netanyahu is cutting his U.S. Tour a day… https://t.co/ntsZHwJj00
— Brett Erickson (@BrettErickson28) September 19, 2026

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### 'He's lashing out': Republicans torch Trump's latest move as self-defeating

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2677895231/.md

President Donald Trump’s decision to ban three major media outlets from the White House was met with a collective sigh Saturday from two prominent Republicans, one of whom argued the move was particularly poorly timed.

On Friday, Trump announced that he would be banning MS NOW, CNN and Politico from the White House, accusing the outlets of reporting “FICTION and LIES.” He also warned that “Other Fake News Media Outlets” would also be banned from the White House at a future date.

The White House followed through on Trump’s announcement Saturday as the three outlets were prohibited from accessing the White House grounds, with the Trump administration facing “mounting accusations” that it had violated the First Amendment.

With the midterms just weeks away, however, and with gas prices continuing to increase at unprecedented rates, one prominent conservative characterized Trump’s latest outburst as self-defeating.

“He certainly uses brash tactics to take over news cycles. I would argue that quite often these are unhelpful to him,” said Douglas Heye, former communications director for the Republican National Committee, speaking with The New York Times for its report published on Saturday.

“We are 45 days ahead from the election and what are we talking about this week and going into next week? Nothing about Donald Trump’s plan to lower prices.”

Sarah Matthews, a lifelong conservative who served as deputy press secretary during the first Trump administration, argued that Trump’s latest attempts to “bully” his adversaries into submission were being met with greater and greater pushback.

“He thinks that he can bully anyone or any entity into doing whatever he wants and he’s seen it work out for himself with the entire Republican Party bending the knee to him,” Matthews told the Times. “He is facing pushback from the courts, the Fed, people in his own party, and he’s lashing out.”

---

### UN rebukes ‘indefensible’ Trump admin move on world stage with near-unanimous vote

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/united-nations-2677895205/.md

The United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly rebuked the Trump administration this week after the U.S. blocked a foreign leader from attending the annual gathering of the international body in New York scheduled for next week.

As reported by Reuters, the Trump administration extended visa sanctions last Wednesday against Palestinian officials, whom U.S. State Department officials accused of working to “internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” The visa sanctions include Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, thereby barring him from visiting the United States for the U.N.’s annual meeting.

In a vote of 152-3, however, members of the U.N. voted to allow Abbas to attend the annual meeting virtually, with a number of U.N. members condemning the United States for barring a head of state from attending the event.

“The United Nations Headquarters Agreement clearly provides that the issuance of visas to representatives of Member States participating in UN meetings constitutes an international obligation of the host country,” said Chinese U.N. Deputy Permanent Representative Sun Lei in a statement.

“At a time when the Palestinian people are suffering oppression and the foundations of the two-State solution are being undermined, depriving Palestine of the right to present its case before the UN, make its appeals, and call for international assistance is without legal basis, unacceptable in conscience, and indefensible in reason.”

The three nations that voted against allowing Abbas to virtually attend the annual U.N. meeting were the United States, Israel and Paraguay, the South American nation whose president, Santiago Peña, holds a deep connection with the state of Israel, stating last year that he sees Paraguay “as an extension of the Israeli territory.”

“The resolution adopted today provides for special arrangements for Palestine’s participation in the general debate and other activities of the 81st session of the General Assembly,” Sun continued. “These arrangements represent a temporary remedy, adopted out of necessity to address the unjust treatment endured by Palestine.”

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### GOP midterm prospects take dire turn after new ‘disaster’ unfolds in Trump’s war: analysts

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/iran-war-2677895179/.md

A new “disaster” in the Middle East may further jeopardize Republicans’ electoral prospects in November, with the GOP already facing an uphill battle amid soaring prices, two analysts warned on Saturday.

According to BBC, the Yemeni militant group known as the Houthis claimed to have carried out missile attacks on Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, as well as on “energy sites” on Saudi Arabia’s west coast, which borders the Red Sea. The attacks, one analyst warned, could raise global oil prices — which have climbed significantly in recent days — even further.

“Creates quite the predicament,” warned CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas. “Attacking Saudi oil raises prices. Saudi is also a major US ally. Failing to respond to that is problematic for the alliance, but also could cause a second choke point in the , also causing prices to rise. Six weeks before elections.”

This month, the Iran-backed Houthis have gained significant control over the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a critical global shipping chokepoint in the Red Sea. The developments risk sending global oil prices even higher as the Houthis vow to block Saudi shipments of oil through the shipping waterway.

National-security writer and geopolitical analyst Brandon Weichert called the development a “disaster,” and warned that it was an example of an ongoing “once-in-a-lifetime” shift on the world stage.

“This is a disaster. And oddly everyone just seems to be acting like it'll all work out,” Weichert wrote in a social media post on X Saturday. “It'll work out all right. In the form of a once-in-a-lifetime changeover in power and influence. You are witnessing the end of the US-led global empire in real time. And it's stupider than ever.”

Creates quite the predicament. Attacking Saudi oil raises prices. Saudi is also a major US ally. Failing to respond to that is problematic for the alliance, but also could cause a second choke point in the Bab el Mandeb, also causing prices to rise. Six weeks before elections. https://t.co/02ZFpm6TOu
— Alex Plitsas 🇺🇸 (@alexplitsas) September 19, 2026

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### Surprising source for White House leaks named by Trump biographer: ‘A signal moment’

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/susie-wiles-2677895059/.md

President Donald Trump's own chief of staff is steering White House leaks that break sharply with the president, author Michael Wolff alleged.

During a Saturday episode of "Inside Trump's Head," Michael Wolff pointed to two same-day stories, one in the New York Times and one in The Washington Post, that both built on unnamed advisers contradicting Trump. The first had aides pushing back on Trump's dismissal of AI fears as a "hoax." The second had them warning he should be far more worried about the midterms.

Trump "usually reacts very badly to leaks, but the nature of this leak, and the nature of the way it's expressed, both of them, the AI story, and the midterm story, is 'advisers,' not 'a adviser,'" Wolff said. "So they're speaking to, in both instances, more than one person, and where there's more than one person... that means it's likely to come from the top."

Wolff concluded that he saw the hand of chief of staff Susie Wiles behind it because of how it was coordinated. He suggested that Wiles might be trying to push the president to act a certain way, contrary to how he has been acting.

"I detect the hand of Susie Wiles in this," he said. "What he's saying about AI is a problem. What can we do here? Well, let's retail this kind of story that we are trying to talk to him, and we're protecting ourselves because we don't want to be seen like people saying this is a hoax if the world is going to be destroyed."

He added, "They would not be leaking it, I mean, if this was advice, everyday advice," and said that it signals a bigger break with the president.

"That's a big thing, that the chief of staff, the advisers within the White House, the West Wing itself, are taking issue with the president," Wolff said. "In this case, advisers saying something that is quite contrary to what the president is saying, that's a signal moment. That means something."

He described the break as something the West Wing had not risked before. "The signal that is being sent here is a signal nearly of rebellion," Wolff warned.

---

### Moment Trump's 'most ambitious project' began to collapse spotted by conservatives

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-maga-2677895044/.md

A former Reagan administration official and a conservative thinker argued that President Donald Trump has already lost his biggest second-term fight.

In a Saturday guest essay for The New York Times, former Reagan and Bush official Peter Wehner and Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, argued that Trump has already failed to remake America. The two conservatives even spotted the key moment when Trump's power began to fall apart.

Wehner and Rauch called the promise to remake American society the most sweeping goal that Trump and his allies carried into the second Trump administration. The two conservatives wrote that Trump reshaped the presidency but failed at the larger goal he and his allies carried into a second term.

"They failed at the most ambitious project that they brought to his second term, using the state to remake American society," Wehner and Rauch wrote. "That failure is a central fact of the past 20 months, and it is why the country is in a less dangerous place than it was a year ago."

The authors describe an effort that moved against universities, law firms, newsrooms and cultural institutions, backed by shows of federal force in American cities. That project, they argue, ran aground in Minneapolis, where peaceful resistance to an immigration crackdown known as Operation Metro Surge pushed the administration to retreat.

From there, the setbacks compounded. Trump's approval ratings sank to near-record lows, courts blocked one initiative after another, and the MAGA coalition began to splinter.

"The 80-year-old president is losing his grip on power and even his own base," Wehner and Rauch wrote. "The MAGA movement is fracturing. And the president no longer inspires the fear he once did."

The authors stop short of declaring the danger of the Trump administration over. They warn that Trump continues to menace universities and target free speech, and they caution against complacency. But their central claim is that American civil society proved "harder to intimidate and rewire than MAGA's cultural revolutionaries hoped."

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### ‘California will stop him’: Gavin Newsom deals major blow to Trump’s midterm ‘meddling’

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/gavin-newsom-2677895067/.md

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom dealt a major blow to President Donald Trump on Saturday after signing a package of bills designed to build a “wall” to “safeguard” California’s electoral process ahead of the midterms.

“Donald Trump won’t stop until he can exert dictatorial control over your free vote and disenfranchise millions of people this November,” Newsom said Saturday in a statement. “California will stop him at every opportunity.”

According to Newsom’s office, the governor signed a package of 13 bills Saturday specifically designed to thwart disruptions to California’s upcoming elections amid growing fears that the Trump administration may interfere in the electoral process. The package includes measures to make it a felony to seize ballots and election records and to prohibit deceptive political attack ads made with artificial intelligence.

“We have no bigger task than fighting to protect the right to vote from interference and meddling — the future of democracy is on the line,” Newsom said. “These bills today build upon the wall California has built to safeguard our electoral process.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta championed the package as well, arguing that the bills were necessary to combat the Trump administration’s “all-out assault on our elections and voting rights.”

“Just this week, we secured a major U.S. Supreme Court victory that blocks the Trump Administration from implementing sweeping changes to mail voting for the upcoming November midterm elections,” Bonta said. “But we cannot, and will not, let our guard down.”

The signing follows a monthslong legal battle over Trump's efforts to reshape voting rules ahead of November. Trump signed an executive order in March directing federal agencies to compile citizenship lists of eligible voters and limiting mail ballot delivery to people on those lists, while imposing new tracking requirements for ballots. Democratic officials in 23 states and Washington, D.C., sued over the order, and federal judges have repeatedly blocked it from taking effect.

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### Disbelief as Karl Rove's 'phenomenal' Trump impression sparks roaring applause

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/karl-rove-trump-2677894981/.md

Veteran GOP strategist Karl Rove left onlookers in disbelief after he delivered a startlingly impressive impression of President Donald Trump.

On Saturday, reactions rolled in to Rove doing a standout Trump voice when asked to respond to the president calling him a "stone cold loser" in a Truth Social post. Rove, a former adviser to President George W. Bush, drew Trump's ire after publicly announcing his plans to vote for a Democrat in a scathing op-ed about growing bigotry in the GOP.

In a video put out by The Atlantic, Rove repeats "stone cold loser" in Trump's voice while moving his hand and frowning like the president, prompting laughter and enthusiastic applause from the audience of The Atlantic's panel watching the event.

The praise continued as online responses remarked about the veteran GOP strategist's newly discovered talent.

"If you had told me Karl Rove can do a pitch perfect impersonation of Trump..." prominent activist and writer Charlotte Clymer commented in a post on X.

"I had no idea Rove could do such a good Trump impression," admitted political analyst and The Atlantic staff writer Tom Nichols.

"I'll admit, I didn't have 'Karl Rove does great impersonation of Trump' on my 2026 bingo card," joked Australian journalist and television presenter John Barron.

"Hey wait a minute that's actually a phenomenal Trump impression," political analyst Drew Savicki agreed.

"The year is 2026. You just woke up from your coma. You see Karl Rove getting a round of applause from readers of The Atlantic," posted international law expert Yuan Yi Zhu, appreciating the whole scene.

"Karl Rove getting applause from Atlantic audience was never on my list of things that could happen," echoed economics professor Vincent Geloso.

Conservative columnist and political analyst S.E. Cupp struck a more serious tone, however, to draw people back toward her criticism of Rove.

"Yes, the important thing here is his Trump impression," Cupp sarcastically posted. "And now that he's decided not to back the Texas railroad commissioner candidate — for racism — let’s move steadily past the fact that he backed the racist PRESIDENT for 10 years."

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### Bated breath as Trump receives offer to end Iran war: report

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-iran-2677895008/.md

The White House received a renewed offer from Iran for ending the war, a senior Iranian official told Al Jazeera on Saturday, putting the next move on President Donald Trump in a conflict that has sent global oil prices soaring.

Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told Al Jazeera in an exclusive interview that Tehran had communicated to the Trump administration via Qatari mediators its conditions for ending the war “on all fronts.”

“A response from President Trump is awaited,” Al Jazeera’s report reads.

As paraphrased by Al Jazeera, Tehran presented Trump with three conditions to end the conflict: a halt to hostilities “across the region,” an unfreezing of Iranian assets, and an end to the U.S. naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.

Should Trump and his administration refuse Iran’s conditions, Rezaei warned, Tehran was well prepared for an extended conflict.

“It is in Washington’s interest to accept Iran’s conditions for exiting the war, said. Trump’s threats will yield no results, and Iran is prepared for a decisive war. He said the US president’s assessments and calculations regarding Iran were flawed, and that the war was instigated by Netanyahu,” Al Jazeera’s report reads.

“Iran knows the US military’s vulnerabilities and is more prepared than ever to counter its air strikes, he said, adding that it recently tested an anti-ship missile near a US aircraft carrier. Iran is serious about defense, Rezaei said, and if attacked, will strike US bases and Washington’s interests in the region with greater force.”

Gas prices in the United States have reached unprecedented heights in recent weeks due to Trump’s deeply unpopular war against Iran, with “the worst still to come,” per The Washington Post.

---

### Fury as Lauren Boebert denies explosive allegations in ethics complaint

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/lauren-boebert-2677894927/.md

Explosive reports about Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) having affairs with three staffers are sparking widespread outcry about her hypocrisy.

A flurry of criticism came after an ethics complaint alleged that Boebert carried on a sexual relationship with her district director, Clarice Navarro Ratzlaff, and two other staffers.

On Saturday, Boebert denied the allegations in comments for a report by Sources Say, which added that the author of the complaint, David Wheeler of American Muckrakers, alleged that Boebert's current district chief of staff, Raven Finegan, and former chief of staff Jeffrey Small were also engaged in sexual relationships with the MAGA congresswoman.

"Well, I'm not a lesbian or bisexual, and I have never, ever been in any inappropriate relationship," Boebert told Sources Say. "Nor have I ever been sexually involved with any staff."

Navarro Ratzlaff also denied the allegations as "entirely false, defamatory and beyond ridiculous," according to the Colorado Times Recorder.

The complaint also alleged that Boebert paid roughly $200,000 in hush money when Navarro Ratzlaff threatened to tell the House Ethics Committee. House rules bar members from sexual relationships with any House employee under their supervision.

Boebert has framed herself as a defender of "family values" and traditional Christian morality while building much of her political brand on opposition to LGBTQ rights, online critics pointed out on Saturday.

"There are no bigger hypocrites than Republicans who preach hate on behalf of their purposeful misinterpretation of their religion," blasted Democratic political strategist and healthcare advocate Melanie D'Arrigo in a post reacting to the news.

"Lauren Boebert spent years attacking LGBTQ people as 'groomers' while reportedly having a four-year-long lesbian affair in her office," charged writer and trans activist Ari Drennen.

Democratic strategist Matt Royer posted a video of Boebert responding to reports of misconduct by her colleagues by saying, "Go to church, find Jesus, like, I mean, why is everybody so horny here?"

"You know," Royer wrote. "This soundbite has a little bit of a different connotation now."

---

### 'Come begging': Trump's fish joke stinks for analyst who warns of 'authoritarian classic'

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Kathleen Culliton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-fish/.md

President Donald Trump's fish joke stinks, according to a new political analysis.

Trump — during a Rose Garden dinner Thursday for hunting, fishing and outdoorsmen industry leaders — took aim at Bass Pro Shops owner Johnny Morris, a billionaire Trump frequently competes with on Forbes' annual list of the world's richest people.

"I could have banned fishing," Trump said. "Driven Johnny right the hell out of business. I think I'm gonna do that."

This line caught the ear of political commentator David Pakman, who on Saturday delved into his serious concern that the fish joke was fishy.

"Trump admitted he is drunk on power in a disgusting, swollen, orange rant," Pakman said. "This is an authoritarian classic."

Pakman explained his frustration stemmed from the not-too-subtle threat underlining Trump's joke, and argued the president wanted to be praised for not abusing his power.

"Saying you deserve praise for things you could have done," Pakman argued. "Authoritarians love that."

Trump's real message to his billionaire rival, and all those who tuned in to hear the speech, wasn't very funny, Pakman argued.

"Look at all the power I have," Trump was saying, according to Pakman. "I could destroy your business... Then you would come begging."

---

### Independent skewers 'chicken' GOP with brutal ad as Trump's base revolts over beef

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-beef-2677894886/.md

An Independent Senate candidate in Nebraska is gaining momentum by attacking Republicans with pun-loaded insults as President Donald Trump's cheap foreign beef sours rural voters on the GOP.

The campaign and fallout around it were detailed in a Saturday article by Politico, which found that Trump's plan to lower beef prices has enraged ranchers who usually vote Republican.

Senate candidate Dan Osborn is challenging Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) with an ad this week that his campaign will spend at least six figures airing, according to Politico.

"This Congress, it's too chicken to stand up to the corporations who bought them off," Osborn says in the ad.

He also pledges to "cut the pork" and "take on the coastal shrimps in both parties," casting himself as an outsider unwilling to answer to Washington. Osborn told Politico that he is "pretty p---ed off" about how farmers keep getting treated.

Trump's plan would strip tariffs from a large volume of imported beef sold well below market price, according to Politico. Republicans across farm states have condemned the move, warning it will hollow out a domestic industry already under strain, Politico noted.

Ricketts fired back at his challenger in a statement and dismissed the ad as scripted messaging.

"Ranchers know the difference between a senator who delivers and a candidate reading a script," Ricketts said, per Politico.

Other Republicans have broken with the president as well. Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) called Trump's beef plan a "bad idea," while Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) said the focus should be on growing the domestic cattle herd, Politico reported.

Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, admitted producers in his home state are deeply frustrated.

"I think they understand what's going on," Boozman said, per Politico. "They're just not pleased with it."

Ranchers themselves argue the plan misses the real problem. Ben Menges, an Arizona cattle rancher, told Politico that Trump should target fuel costs instead.

"The best way that President Trump can do that is by lowering the cost of fuel, not by importing a bunch of beef," Menges said.

---

### Trump blindsided senior staff with shock move — when Susie Wiles was out of town: report

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-media-ban-2677894741/.md

Many of President Donald Trump's senior aides were caught off guard by his abrupt move to ban several news outlets, Politico reported Saturday.

Politico, which was included in the ban, revealed that the directive landed while Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was out of town, and several senior staffers didn't know Trump would kick members of the press out of the White House until he announced it on Truth Social. Politico's reporting was based on three anonymous sources with knowledge of West Wing conversations.

Trump used Truth Social to bar CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House. He accused them of reporting "LIES when they're covering the President of the United States" and warned that there were "Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow."

The press shop was reportedly blindsided and unsure how to respond, with one aide simply pointing back to the president's post.

One person told Politico that Trump had tried to restrict certain outlets before, at one point even attempting to move the press into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, but was talked out of it.

However, Trump's aides are treating the order as final. "It's real and permanent as far as POTUS is concerned," one person told Politico.

More than a dozen current and former Trump White House officials contacted by Politico were also puzzled by the development. Some reached out to the publication unsolicited to call the move a head-scratcher, according to Politico.

The outlets hit with the ban have all said that, as of Saturday, their staff were turned away from the White House. In a statement, MS NOW said its people "were denied access to the White House grounds" and vowed to "take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights."

CNN said its "mission to report on the U.S. government will continue regardless of any attempts to restrict physical access to the White House."

---

### Handcuffs outside White House as man demands to see Trump in security 'breach': reports

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/white-house-arrest/.md

Multiple reports of a security situation at the White House are emerging as videos show authorities swarming around a suspect in cuffs.

On Saturday, the U.S. Sun described the incident as a "security breach" caused by "a man demanding to talk to the president." The Sun's reporting also featured photos of an unidentified man in handcuffs being led away by police.

France24 reporter Fraser Jackson posted a video on X showing the minutes following "an incident outside the White House" after Secret Service and Park Police raced to the corner of 16th and H streets near Lafayette Park.

"A white car reportedly went on the sidewalk next to the security fence surrounding the compound," wrote Jackson. "The man in this video is seemingly in handcuffs and being questioned."

Independent journalist Ksenija Pavlovic McAteer posted a similar video.

---

### Mockery as Pete Hegseth 'barks' at kids in football stadium about 'redcoats'

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/pete-hegseth-2677894765/.md

As war wages in Iran — spiking gas costs for millions of Americans across the nation — the Department of Defense kicked off the weekend by posting videos of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yelling about "redcoats."

In a series of videos posted on Saturday, Hegseth shouted Bible verses in the middle of a football field while wearing a T-shirt with the words "THIS IS WAR" tucked into his gym shorts. He was speaking to Texas A&M students serving in the National Guard who worked out with Hegseth.

"I'll swear an oath to something timeless, the Constitution that doesn't bend, it doesn't break," Hegseth said. "The Lord said, 'Who do I send?' and Isaiah says, 'Lord, I'm here, send me'...send me to go fight the redcoats, send me to go fight the communists, send me to go fight the Islamists."

The video was posted to the Department of War Rapid Response account along with snippets of Hegseth running up and down the bleachers. It was met with mockery of Hegseth and the war in Iran by critics on X.

"Some of you may think the job of the SECDEF is to advise POTUS, confer with senior leaders on strategy, acquisitions, R/D and other boring stuff," political analyst and The Atlantic staff writer Tom Nichols sarcastically wrote. "It's not. It's to do PT with kids and bark Old Testament passages at them while losing a war to a third-rank power in the Gulf."

"Europe is mobilizing as we read this," lamented Missouri Democratic congressional candidate Fred Wellman. "As the U.S. Secretary of 'War' is going PT in a football stadium and touring with his wife."

"And Isaiah said, 'Run you waist-to-height ratio and testosterone numbers by me,'" joked actor Michael McKean, referring to Hegseth's controversial policies. "And I'll send your a— to SERVE THE LORD, who remains strangely silent in this matter."

"Really interesting new 'SEND ME TO WAR' hype campaign by the guy here wearing the WAR shirt who's sending them to a widely unpopular disaster marked by incompetence, lies and cruelty," blasted prominent activist and veteran Mike Prysner.

---

### Religious MAGA erupts as Trump waxes poetical over 'superior' force: 'Garbage'

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Kathleen Culliton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-maga-2677894696/.md

President Donald Trump was slapped down Saturday by his most faithful MAGA supporters as he begged them to vote — on a Truth Social poll.

Trump's plea waxed poetical about the "superior" tool he often uses in late night posts to depict himself as a doctor, Jesus, former President George Washington's architect and a space commander.

"Many people think that the words 'Artificial Intelligence' are inaccurate, and very ineloquent, relative to AI, or Artificial Intelligence,'" Trump wrote.

"A far more elegant and accurate description of this new phenomena would be Superior Intelligence (SI) or, Extreme Intelligence (EI) or, Supreme Intelligence (SI)."

Trump didn't waste time trying to explain to American voters why he felt artificial intelligence was superior to their own — he just demanded they pick a name.

"This is a Poll," Trump explained, "and I would appreciate everybody voting! Which is the best name for this ever growing 'Revolution?'”

Trump's decision to remind Americans of his support for AI comes at an interesting time — less than two months before the midterm elections.

Artificial Intelligence is one of few issues on which Democrats and Republican voters both agree, as was recently revealed by a new poll from Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago.

"Americans have grown more concerned about the environmental impacts of artificial intelligence over the last year," PBS reported in its analysis.

"Democrats are driving much of the increase in environmental concern, but the poll also reveals broader worries about the local impact of data centers, which power AI and cloud computing."

The New York Times reported this week that even Trump's Truth Social followers disagree with his belief that AI and the data centers that power it will be the "Greatest Economic Development Engine in History."

"Republicans are increasingly concerned about the technology," the Times reported. "The number of comments disparaging A.I. and data centers outnumbered those supporting the technology by nearly four to one."

On Saturday, once again, Trump's Truth Social followers expressed their outrage over AI directly to the president. Much of the frustration centered on religious faith.

"God is the only Supreme Intelligence," replied one Truth Social user.

"Concentrate on lowering gas and food prices and not what to call AI," said another."

"It maybe faster in certain aspects and processes mass information better but in my humble opinion hardly Superior, Extreme or Supreme as only God is those things," replied another. "AI will never achieve Godhood as it is a creation of man and ALL MAN IS FLAWED with the human condition."

"It's still ARTIFICIAL since it is a computer analysis and not human," wrote yet one Truth Social user. "Plus it is only as INTELLIGENT as its source of inputted info to analyse, so if garbage in then garbage out."

"I can say this: Supreme would apply to God only, IMO," another commenter replied.

"I don't know who suggested this poll to you or if this was your idea," noted a third, "but if someone did, you might want to fire that person."

---

### Hilarity as ex-DOJ attorney delves into Trump's secret Mar-a-Lago bathroom stash

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-pardons-2677894678/.md

A former Justice Department pardon attorney believes President Donald Trump "very likely" has a secret stash in his Mar-a-Lago bathroom.

DOJ whistleblower Liz Oyer made this claim during a Saturday episode of "The Jim Acosta Show" during which she suggested Trump has quietly prepared clemency for people around him in case he suddenly leaves office.

"It is a near certainty that he will pardon broadly his cabinet members, his family members, those advisers who are in good graces with him by the end of the administration," Oyer said. "And I think it's very likely that he has already signed off on some of those pardons just in case something should happen to him before he gets to the end."

She went further by describing where the paperwork might sit, evoking where classified information was found after the end of his first term.

"He may have a desk drawer filled with pardons," she said, "or maybe a banker's box in his bathroom at Mar-a-Lago filled with pardons that he has signed already just in case something happens and in case someone needs them."

The image prompted host Jim Acosta to joke about mounting an expedition for the documents and compare it to "Raiders of the Lost Ark," pitching it as "Raiders of the Lost Pardons."

Oyer argued that Walt Nauta, Trump's aide and valet, "probably knows where the right box is." Nauta was involved in the Mar-a-Lago classified information case, and DOJ special counsel Jack Smith accused him of having incriminating photos on his phone.

The conversation between Oyer and Acosta was tied to a recent '60 Minutes' report on pardon brokers. Oyer described "a real pay-for-play pardon economy where money can buy you a pardon," and cited one man who "paid $600,000 to a pardon broker" but never got the clemency he expected.

She said the process has "become absolute chaos and totally corrupt" for applicants who once did not have to pay. Oyer is suing the DOJ after she was fired for refusing to restore actor Mel Gibson's gun rights, which he lost after a domestic violence conviction.

---

### Trigger for Trump's raging White House tantrum buried in WaPo report: Analyst

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Kathleen Culliton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-media-2677894660/.md

The reason President Donald Trump threw an angry tantrum at journalists and suddenly expelled them from the White House can be found buried within a new report about the midterm elections, a CNN correspondent contends.

Correspondent Jamie Gangel on Saturday shared this hypothesis with her 40,000 followers on X Saturday morning.

"Perhaps this contributed to President Trump’s threat to ban CNN and others," she wrote.

Gangel then shared a Washington Post article detailing Trump's private views on the upcoming election and the effect his war with Iran has had on Republican prospects.

"In interviews and speeches, President Donald Trump has maintained that midterm politics don’t affect his decisions on Iran, that the war has been worth the cost, and that he would do it all over again despite Republicans bracing for defeat in November," the Post reported.

"But in some private conversation with advisers, Trump has signaled that he understands his decisions on the war have contributed to the especially poor political environment his party faces."

The Post's anonymous sources attribute Trump's growing awareness of the political climate to discussions he's had with advisers inside the White House.

"Trump has long dismissed unfavorable polls, fastening his attention on surveys that present him in an artificially positive light," the Post reported. "He often says that negative surveys are fake and not to be believed. Increasingly, however, he has accepted his team’s polling that shows his and his party’s poor standing with voters, his advisers say."

The reason Trump has accepted the polling is the same reason Gangel believes the president lashed out and banned MS NOW, CNN and Politico from the White House.

"Several of Trump’s advisers said they had become 'increasingly blunt' with him, as one put it, and that in recent weeks he was listening to them about the electoral reality the GOP faces," the report states. "It didn’t always translate to a good mood for Trump."

---

### 'Ominous' signs that Trump is gearing up to detonate on own appointee flagged by analyst

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/kevin-warsh-trump/.md

President Donald Trump is flashing ominous signs that he is gearing up to turn on the Federal Reserve chair he handpicked, an economic analyst warned.

In a Saturday analysis for The Guardian, economics writer Eduardo Porter credited the Federal Reserve under Chairman Kevin Warsh with having "acquitted itself well" through a week of pressure from the White House, but warned "the signs are ominous" that Trump will "turn on Warsh in the way he did on his predecessor, Jerome 'numbskull' Powell."

Porter tracked the widening rift between the president and Kevin Warsh since Trump elevated him to the job. He noted that Warsh presided this week over a unanimous decision to raise interest rates for the first time in three years, a direct rebuff to a president who has spent months demanding cuts.

"Warsh's resolve - raising rates just a few weeks before elections that will determine whether Republicans retain control of Congress - appeared even more resolute in the face of a veiled threat from White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett," Porter wrote, referring to Hassett's saying on Fox that "if you want an independent Fed, then one thing the Fed does is it stays out of the way of elections."

Trump did not take the rate hike quietly, though, Porter noted. Trump "went ballistic" on social media and insisted borrowing costs should sit at 1 percent or lower because the country carries the best credit in the world. Trump also demanded that rates be slashed fast.

The outburst came despite inflation running above the Federal Reserve's target for years and a federal deficit on pace to top 2 trillion dollars, Porter noted.

Porter also saw signs in the gap between Warsh's restraint and the rest of the administration, from sweeping tariffs to a push by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to force long-term rates down even as the Fed lifts them. "More clown cars are likely on the way," Porter warned.

He closed on a cautionary note, writing that anyone counting on the Fed chair to steady the economy should know that "holding one's breath may be a bad idea."

---

### 'Disillusioned and angry:' Crucial Trump voting bloc turns its back on GOP

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-voters-latinos/.md

A crucial group of voters who helped reelect President Donald Trump are so sour on his policies that they're expected to ditch the GOP entirely, according to a new report.

More than 65 percent of Hispanic voters are unhappy with how Trump is handling his job, and 78 percent said they would rather see Democrats control Congress, according to a New York Times/Siena University poll analyzed by The Guardian.

"There's no renewed affinity or love for the Democratic Party," Mike Madrid, a campaign consultant and author who has studied Latino voting patterns for 35 years, told The Guardian. "They're just extremely upset and disillusioned and angry, frankly, with Donald Trump."

He added, "So they're gonna leave the Republicans for the exact same reasons that they left the Democrats two years ago."

The economy and cost of living topped voters' concerns, said Clarissa Martinez De Castro, vice-president of the Latino Vote Initiative at UnidosUS.

"When we ask voters, 'Ok, what is shaping your opinion about the president?' the cost of living was number one," Martinez De Castro explained. "Number two was immigration enforcement and deportation in U.S. cities; number three is back to the economy - wages."

Other surveys echo the trend, The Guardian noted. About 63 percent of Hispanic respondents told a Fox News poll this month they plan to back the Democratic congressional candidate in their district, while an UnidosUS poll this spring found 54 percent favoring the Democratic House candidate against 27 percent for the Republican, The Guardian reported.

The White House pushed back, with spokesperson Allison Schuster telling The Guardian that Trump was "honored to receive a record level of support from Hispanic Americans that helped fuel his landslide 2024 election victory." Republicans will be "fighting to make everyday life more affordable for working families," Schuster told The Guardian.

Still, Martinez De Castro warned that a lot of Hispanic voters remain up for grabs.

"You have 40 percent of voters here for whom, many of them say, they don't see the difference between the parties in terms of who really is going to be better," she said. "That tells candidates: you have homework to do, and the clock is ticking."

---

### This law would send Mike Johnson straight to prison

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** David  Fagin | **Section:** Raw Exclusives  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/mike-johnson-shut-congress/.md

There are plenty of ways to exercise power in Washington. Pass legislation. Kill legislation. Twist arms. Control committees. Bury investigations. Force votes. Block votes.

And then there’s Mike Johnson’s preferred method:

Everybody go home.

Under Speaker Johnson, the House has repeatedly canceled scheduled voting days and headed for the exits when the political terrain became uncomfortable. In 2026 alone, the House cut 28 scheduled days while adding four — a net loss of 24 legislative days, roughly one-fourth of the originally scheduled total. In September, Republican leaders canceled another two weeks of planned votes before the November midterms, giving members considerably more time to campaign instead.

This week, Johnson did it again.

On September 16, Johnson recessed the House early, sending members home before the scheduled end of the week and leaving unfinished business behind. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie — not exactly a Democratic operative — responded incredulously from the House floor:

“We’re calling off Congress? And we’re in the majority?”

That may be the perfect epitaph for this hapless Congress.

Johnson argues that the House has been extraordinarily productive, pointing to hundreds of bills passed and major Republican legislative accomplishments. His critics counter that he has repeatedly canceled voting days when his razor-thin majority faced difficult votes or internal divisions. Even Republicans have complained. In 2025, the House held just 105 voting days — barely above the COVID-era 2021 total of 104.

Congress, of course, isn't paid by the hour. Members work in their districts, hold hearings, meet constituents and conduct legitimate business away from the House floor.

But let's not pretend a congressional recess is politically meaningless.

The speaker possesses enormous power over what reaches the House floor — and when the floor itself effectively closes, legislation doesn't pass, subpoenas don't get enforced, investigations don't advance and members don't have to cast votes they'd rather not explain back home.

That brings us to a much larger question — one Democrats should be prepared to confront if they regain congressional power.

Every member of Congress takes an oath to support the Constitution. Article VI explicitly requires federal and state officials to be bound by oath or affirmation to support it. Federal law requires members to swear that they will “support and defend the Constitution” and “well and faithfully discharge the duties” of their offices.

But there is no general federal crime called “violating your oath of office.”

Maybe Congress should finally have a serious debate about whether that gap makes sense.

Not a law criminalizing political disagreement. Not a law allowing a Democratic administration to prosecute Republicans for conservative votes — or a Republican administration to prosecute Democrats for liberal ones. Not some vague statute allowing the Justice Department to decide which politicians are sufficiently patriotic.

Something far narrower.

Congress could examine whether federal law adequately covers intentional abuses of official power designed to obstruct constitutionally mandated governmental functions — and, where it does not, whether precisely defined criminal statutes are warranted.

The distinction is crucial. Members of Congress receive substantial constitutional protection for legitimate legislative activity under the Speech or Debate Clause. Any new statute would have to respect that protection and survive serious constitutional scrutiny.

But Democrats should stop treating institutional guardrails as though they magically enforce themselves.

If they regain power, they will face a choice.

They can hold hearings.

They can issue sternly worded statements.

They can appear on cable television and announce that they are “deeply concerned.”

They can spend another congressional term telling Americans that certain conduct is unprecedented, dangerous, outrageous and unacceptable — and then accept it.

Or they can legislate.

They can examine the weaknesses exposed over the past several years and ask a straightforward question: What happens when an officeholder knowingly abuses the powers of his office to frustrate the constitutional system he swore to support?

If the answer is merely “voters can punish him eventually,” Congress should decide whether that is sufficient.

Because accountability cannot depend entirely upon shame when the people involved have demonstrated that shame is not particularly high on their list of concerns.

And Democrats should understand something else: writing enforceable rules is not political revenge. Properly drafted laws would apply to Democrats too. They would apply to whoever holds power next year, 10 years from now or 50 years from now.

That is precisely the point.

Democracy cannot survive indefinitely on the assumption that everybody entrusted with power will voluntarily respect norms. Norms work only when the people breaking them fear consequences. When those consequences disappear, “norms” become suggestions.

So if Democrats take Congress in November, don't just investigate what happened.

Don't just televise it.

Don't just condemn it.

Write the rules. Define the offenses. Establish the penalties. Put constitutional guardrails into federal law wherever Congress legitimately can — and make those laws apply equally to everybody.

Do it carefully. Do it constitutionally. Make the prohibited conduct specific. Protect legitimate legislative activity and political disagreement. Build in demanding intent requirements so prosecutors cannot criminalize ordinary politics.

But do it.

Because an oath of office should be more than ceremonial wallpaper recited on the first day of Congress and forgotten by lunchtime.

And if Congress concludes that certain intentional abuses of public power really do constitute a betrayal of the duties officials swear to perform, then it should have the courage to say so in law.

Otherwise, stop calling it an oath.

Call it what it has become:

A suggestion.

---

### Humiliation as 'nut job' MAGA congressman's attack ad boomerangs: 'Weird flex'

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Kathleen Culliton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/brandon-gill-2677894455/.md

This Republican wants the world to know he stands with child predators — or at least, that's what his new attack ad mistakenly suggests.

U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) ran into trouble this weekend as he tried to hurl insults at state Rep. James Talarico and missed the mark.

"James Talarico talks like us but he votes like AOC and Bernie Sanders," Gill warns. "He has no business representing our state."

The ad features Gill driving down a country road listing off claims about Talarico's character, which appear in bold writing next to his face.

The problem, as communications director for Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) was quick to point out, was that the bold writing did not include an important point of context: Talarico's name.

"One free piece of comms advice," Sahil Mehrotra wrote on X, "is to never, ever make an ad with the words "STANDS WITH CHILD PREDATORS" next to your face."

This is not the only baseless claim Gill tries to hurl at Talarico as he drives along the highway.

Viewers watching on mute will see Gill apparently throwing support behind "China owning Texas land" and protecting "genital mutilation surgery for children," a description, not based in fact, of trans medical care.

The ad drew widespread scorn.

"Everybody thinks he’s going to be president until they hear him talk," snapped journalist Christopher Hooks.

"Absolutely incredibly comms mistake right here," replied Polling USA. "LMFAO."

"Weird flex by MAGA nutjob Brandon Gill in his new ad but OK I guess," wrote President Donald Trump biographer Seth Abramson. "I have grudging respect for Republicans finally admitting that their party has adopted a platform that systematically protects child predators above everyone else."

---

### Oval Office erupts as budget hawk tempts Trump to turn on key ally: report

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/russell-vought-2677894446/.md

White House officials clashed in the Oval Office over whether President Donald Trump should take a larger knife to the country's largest medical research agency.

According to reporting by The Washington Post, the dispute pitted White House budget director Russell Vought against Jay Bhattacharya, who leads the National Institutes of Health. Three people familiar with the feud told The Post that Vought accused the NIH of bankrolling "woke" initiatives that cut against Trump's agenda.

Vought argued ongoing spending clashed with a Trump executive order that bars "equity-related" grants and contracts, sources told The Post. Bhattacharya defended how his roughly $47 billion agency awards its money.

Sources told The Post that Vought and other officials went as far as floating a fresh review of the agency's grants and even weighing another executive order that would stand up a commission to police them. Trump sat in on the meeting and seemed receptive to Vought's complaints, two of the sources told The Post.

The clash fits a long pattern with Vought, according to The Post. Vought has repeatedly gone after the NIH as he works to shrink federal spending, once telling CBS' "Face the Nation" that "We have an agency that needs dramatic overhaul."

The NIH slashed hundreds of millions of dollars last year for research tied to minority, gay and transgender communities, and it has issued fewer grants on subjects such as women's health, according to The Post. The budget office has also pushed a rule handing political appointees more say over federal grants, though a funding measure has blocked it until December, The Post reported.

Polls and lawmakers say not everyone is on board, per The Post. Polls cited by The Post show bipartisan majorities oppose cutting health research, and even some Republican lawmakers have resisted deeper reductions.

An NIH spokesperson declined to discuss the Oval Office clash with The Post but said NIH funding is safe.

"All NIH grant monies will be spent," the spokesperson said. Bhattacharya made a similar promise when telling House appropriators in March that "we will spend the allocation on excellent science this year," The Post noted.

---

### 'Catastrophic' cost of Trump's gluttonous gilding exposed in bombshell NYT report

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-national-park/.md

President Donald Trump's gluttonous hunger to gild Washington, D.C has left America's national parks in dire turmoil, according to experts sounding the alarm.

Trump has cut national park staff across the country and steered fee revenue toward his projects in D.C., including the botched Reflecting Pool repairs and covering statues on the National Mall in gold, the New York Times reported Saturday.

Longtime park officials fear the losses will be hard to reverse.

"Any one of these changes could be catastrophic in its own right, especially as it relates to staffing and funding," Dan Wenk, the former superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, told The Times. "When the next administration comes, Republican or Democrat, funding may be restored, but it's going to be incredibly difficult to rebuild."

The National Park Service, where Wenk worked for nearly 43 years before retiring, oversees 433 sites. The cutbacks now reach parks in nearly every region, The Times reported.

Reductions that began early last year have left one in five parks badly short of workers, The Times found. This spring, officials pulled at least $67 million from the fees visitors pay at park entrances and put it toward projects Trump favors in Washington. Hundreds of repairs in national parks could stall this year without funding.

Among the flashier expenses flagged by The Times' reporting was a no-bid contract to coat four statues near the National Mall in 23.75-karat gold leaf ahead of the nation's 250th birthday. The administration also stamped Trump's face on some park passes and sent more than 1,000 employees from parks around the country to help with anniversary events in the capital, The Times noted.

Emily Thompson, who leads the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, questioned the spending as a $24 billion maintenance backlog sits untouched.

Said Thompson, "While the fountains look lovely and regilding statues has value, is that really more important than some of these other very strong needs at parks throughout the system?"

---

### 'Hang tough': MS NOW vows war as White House slams door in reporter's face

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Kathleen Culliton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/ms-now-white-house-reporters/.md

The liberal cable news network MS NOW is readying for war against the White House after security refused entry to its journalists.

Reporter Akayla Gardner and an MS NOW photographer were both ordered to hand over their press badges as they tried to enter the White House on Saturday morning, she revealed.

"This is the first action we know of them actually denying us entry in the White House," said Gardner.

Gardner was denied access one day after President Donald Trump announced he would bar CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House, claiming without evidence they were publishing fake news.

"Media Outlets shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America," he wrote on Truth Social. "Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow."

MS NOW on Saturday issued a statement condemning Trump's actions and vowing to fight the ban.

"The White House belongs to the American people and the decisions made inside are funded by our tax dollars," the statement reads.

"MS NOW intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy."

Gardner's colleagues and fellow journalists were quick to condemn the move.

"Only a White House that has everything to hide would do this," wrote contributor Joyce Vance. "Proud to be on MSNOW."

"If CBS & CNN merge is CBS banned from the White House too?" she asked with sarcasm.

CNN alum Jim Acosta called on all journalists to stand by MS NOW.

"The major networks and newspapers need to tell Trump they will pull their teams out of the WH if this ban happens," he wrote on X. "There should be no pool coverage, starting at the UN this week. No WH Correspondents Dinner. Cancel that. Band together and hang tough."

---

### Beaten-down reps make futile Trump admission as they flee DC

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Matt Laslo | **Section:** Raw Exclusives  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/johnson-house-shutdown/.md

WASHINGTON — Will President Donald Trump be more empowered now that Speaker Mike Johnson gaveled the U.S. House of Representatives out of session until after November’s elections? Not necessarily, according to congressional Democrats who are bracing for what they expect to be the most corrupt election of their lifetimes.

“Do you worry, with the House out of session, that Trump might feel emboldened?” Raw Story asked Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM).

“That man wakes up every day emboldened,” she said while walking across the U.S. Capitol grounds. “I don't think he cares about the Constitution or the law, regardless of whether people are here or not.”

While more than 100 House Democrats called on the speaker to cancel Congress’ scheduled October recess so members could focus on drawing up an oversight plan for artificial intelligence, Johnson instead added more time off — scrapping the last two scheduled legislative work weeks at the end of September before pulling the plug altogether Wednesday, after a mere three-day work week.

The move effectively leaves Trump free of a legislative branch that could reign him in — though it could, in theory, be called back to D.C. in an emergency.

But, with the Republican Party in charge, few checks had been put on the president throughout his second Trump.

Trump has all but spray-painted Washington gold, slapping his own name on the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts after demolishing the historic East Wing of the White House over the protests of the White House Historical Association that Jackie Kennedy established in 1961.

Outrage over the deployment of ICE and the National Guard, as well as other controversial policy moves, has also resulted in little action from Congress.

Most Democrats have grown to expect the worst from Trump as their party remains locked in the minority in both the Senate and the House.

“Is there anything Democrats could do more if Congress stayed in session?” Raw Story asked the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. “Could you be more of a check on Trump?”

“We've had the same tools we've had for the last two years, right? They're pretty weak,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) told Raw Story.

While they’ve amassed and trained an army of lawyers nationwide ahead of November, Democratic Party leaders agree their hands are largely tied while in the nation’s capital.

“With Congress gone, do you feel like Trump might feel a little emboldened?” Raw Story asked Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus Ted Lieu (D-CA).

“No,” Lieu said without hesitation. “Speaker Johnson's not going to lift a finger. He's going to just continue to do whatever the White House says. So it's not like we're going to pass any laws.”

“Do you think it could actually be better to have your candidates closer to local officials?” Raw Story pressed. “So that they can coordinate on potential local election interference?”

“That would be helpful. That's a good point,” Lieu said. “Look, he's gonna try. He's essentially failed. So I also know there were a lot of elections last year and even this year where Democrats won and no one yelled and screamed that somehow it was rigged, because they weren't.”

Whether naive or not, Democrats are feeling emboldened after this week’s Supreme Court ruling blocking Trump’s attempt to have the U.S. Postal Service be the arbiter of which Americans can and can’t vote by mail.

“The American people have had it with Trump's false attacks on our democracy and our voting,” Lieu said. “Judges who have been appointed by Trump himself have written very strong opinions slapping down the president.”

“It’s always, especially with Donald Trump, it's always good to expect what no one else would ever have done before,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) told Raw Story. “But, yeah, physically, Congress' absence for the whole month of October doesn't really matter.”

Then the former ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein caught himself.

“Well, it probably matters to getting things done,” Beyer said. “Everyone's still going to be working, so our ability to file lawsuits and join in lawsuits .”

While congressional Republicans roll over for most all of Trump’s whims and power grabs these days, for the time being, Democrats remain resigned to the new Trumpian ways of Washington.

That’s a trend they’re set on ending on Election Day, which Democrats acknowledge can only happen if they win this fall.

That’s why most say the party’s get-out-the-vote effort is the strongest antidote they have to any Trump-orchestrated election interference schemes that may be ahead.

“At the end of the day, election integrity is going to be about people voting,” New Mexico Congresswoman Stansbury said. “You know, massive numbers of poll watchers and volunteers who are going to make sure that polling stations are fair and free and open and basically using the tools of the law to stop Trump if anything bad happens.”

Before winning a special election in 2021, Stansbury was a staffer at the White House Office of Management and Budget under former President Barack Obama.

She now serves on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, where she’s had a front-row seat to study Trump.

“He's a bigger danger when he's unsupervised by his own staff,” Stansbury told Raw Story, “because that's when he goes on social media just like any sad, lonely person.”

---

### 'Clearly fading': Trump's 'cognitive dissonance' linked to shocking source by NYT writer

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Kathleen Culliton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/cognitive-dissonance-trump/.md

President Donald Trump lied himself into cognitive decline, a New York Times columnist argued Saturday.

David French made this bold claim in conversation with fellow Times writers Michelle Goldberg and Michelle Cottle.

"The line between serial liar and alternate reality is very blurry," French said. "Because what I’ve seen is, a person will lie so much and create such a cognitive dissonance that, over time, they morph into the alternate reality. They start to believe their own lies."

The writers argued this between reality and falsehood might explain Trump's propensity for falling asleep in public, as he appeared to do at this year's 9/11 Memorial.

This prompted Goldberg to claim, "Trump would be doing a better job if he was awake."

Goldberg argued Trump hasn't changed that much — while it may disturb some to see the president compare himself to Jesus, bombast has always been key to his persona. Failure, too, she said.

"As his catastrophes metastasize, that mythos that once surrounded him becomes more and more threadbare," she said. "But this is the same person that bankrupted casinos."

Now, as Trump's poll numbers tank and the MAGA base begins to distrust their powerful leader was ever telling the truth, the president's ability to sell himself has begun to fail him, Goldberg argued.

The reason, according to Goldberg, is the increasingly small world he's created for himself.

"His political instincts are clearly fading," she said. "He’s even more in a bubble."

---

### Stephen Miller's attack on kids exposed in damning report that details 'Nazi' sentiments

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Kathleen Culliton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/stephen-miller-immigration-2677894272/.md

Stephen Miller was exposed in a new report Saturday as the "mastermind and enforcer" behind President Donald Trump's unprecedentedly "cruel and racist" assault on children in the United States

A damning analysis from The Guardian details a whole-government attack on at least 200,000 undocumented children who are denied legal immigration pathways and rejected from the country they believed to be their home.

“This administration has shown time and again that it has no plan for children other than to disrupt their lives and endanger them," one source told The Guardian. "They have no credibility to claim that they are acting with children’s safety as their priority.”

Miller has harnessed the power of at least five Cabinet-level departments, including Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice, according to the report.

Miller's influence has allowed ICE to access children's mental health records and other personal information without roadblocks, one source said.

A spokesperson from the White House, Lauren Bis, defended the government's actions.

“The Department of Homeland Security, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the Homeland Security Council are working to locate and rescue these children," said Bis. "We are ensuring these children are reunited with their parents and families in their home countries."

But multiple sources discounted the Trump administration's common justifications to The Guardian.

“They are weaponizing that narrative because it makes them out to be the good guys," one source said. "Everything else makes it really clear that they’re not.”

Among those to speak out was U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), who condemned Miller and the Trump administration for streamlining the mass exodus of young children.

“Instead of protecting kids from human trafficking or helping them reunite with family, Trump and officials at HHS and DHS are violating children’s rights flouting federal law to hit quotas and satisfy their ideological crusade against immigrants," he said. "The result is significant harm and trauma to innocent children.”

The Guardian contextualized the policy by noting Trump once said immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country” – which the report noted, "drew comparisons to Nazism."

The significance of this context was confirmed by yet another source.

“There’s some real animus towards the kids coming from Miller and his acolytes," the source told The Guardian. "He sees the kids as, like, the future generation that will, you know, continue a multiracial, multicultural vision of this country.”

---

### Trump's drug 'mirage' exposed as watchdog cries foul: 'Handing out favors to Big Pharma'

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Kathleen Culliton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-pharmaceuticals/.md

New details about President Donald Trump's secret deal with drug companies emerged Saturday, enraging watchdogs who call the promised benefit to the public a "mirage."

Documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act lawsuits reveal pharmaceutical companies were induced to raise drug prices abroad and promised protection from Trump's tariffs in return, the Washington Post was first to report.

“Trump’s drug pricing deals are a mirage, designed to convince Americans that he’s taken significant action on drug pricing while creating minimal if any downside for Big Pharma,” said Peter Maybarduk, Access to Medicines Director for Public Citizen.

“The texts show Trump handing out favors to Big Pharma, undercutting his own models to lower prices, and throwing the support of the U.S. government behind corporate decisions to deny medicines entirely to other countries.”

Pfizer and Eli Lilly — both of whom agreed to cut some U.S. prices last year — promoted the agreement before the final terms had been resolved, according to the Post.

The agreement also “includes an unmistakable promise that will take all regulatory, administrative, and other actions necessary” to carry out the terms, according to a 2025 document signed by Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Public Citizen, the consumer watchdog that sued to obtain the heavily redacted records, said the disclosures raised significant questions.

“There’s a lot missing where we can’t get a great sense of how good these deals might be for the American people,” Sarah Karlin-Smith, research director for Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines Program, told the Post. “But the more that is revealed, the more it becomes clear that they are designed to protect pharma’s pocketbooks, not patients.”

Representatives for the Trump administration, Pfizer and Lilly told the Post the deals lowered drug prices and the redactions remain necessary.

“The Administration cannot release contracts with drugmakers that contain commercially sensitive information and would undermine ongoing negotiations with other companies,” White House spokesman Kush Desai reportedly said.

“We stand by our belief that the agreement Pfizer voluntarily reached with the Administration last September is a win for American patients,” said Amy Rose, a Pfizer spokeswoman.

---

### Dimwit Trump's own absurd brag literally begs us to depose him

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Sabrina Haake | **Section:** Raw Exclusives  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/trump-iq-test/.md

A man with a third grader’s intellect says all we need to regulate AI is a smart president. The same guy who will bark ‘hoax! hoax! hoax!’ at climate change while Mar a Lago takes on water now insists that efforts to regulate AI are also a hoax.

If Americans listen to this barking clown instead of scientists, engineers, and AI developers, we truly have entered Idiocracy — and we will get the killer robots we deserve.

When an industry asks for its own regulation, we should listen

When was the last time industry leaders called for regulation of their own for-profit undertaking? How about never — it’s never happened before. The lack of precedent makes current pleas for regulation by AI insiders all the more urgent.

Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei are ringing the alarm about AI. Over the weekend, Amodei wrote an essay calling on the government to regulate AI companies — including his own — and to slow the pace of the technology’s development due to its emerging threats to human safety.

Amodei was responding to an earlier warning from AI developer and researcher Jacob Coxon, who wrote on September 9, 2026, that artificial intelligence could kill off humanity within the decade, that he was resigning his position at Anthropic in protest — and this was no joke.

An AI researchers’ warning

In July, OpenAI disclosed that some of its models — with no human direction — had escaped containment and hacked into Hugging Face, another AI company, causing researchers to question whether they could control the very systems they were building. This week, another report surfaced that AI had hidden mistakes, made up data, and moved files onto the open internet without permission or human direction.

In September, Coxon wrote that Anthropic and his previous employer, OpenAI, were mishandling known threats to human safety. Coxon posted publicly that, “Neither company (Anthropic and OpenAI) is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.”

He warned: Do not underestimate the power of this technology. These will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources…

The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt. No other human activity poses this level of danger.

Other Anthropic employees echoed Coxon’s warnings. Then industry leaders came together and said out loud that AI is dangerous and must be regulated. Immediately.

The child in the oval office responds

Trump, in his wisdom, disagreed. He says we don’t need AI regulation and declared that all we need is him, posting:

"The only control or “guardrails” that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades! The Trump Administration has stopped AI “people” from doing bad, or potentially bad, “things,“ like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a “perfect little angel” … There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China… Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

At the risk of being too on the nose, the president’s post alleging his own high IQ is written at the level of a 4th grader.

Trump’s an imbecile

Trump loves to call people who correct him ‘dumb,’ ‘stupid,’ or “low IQ.” One early report stopped counting how many times he attacked the intelligence of his critics when it reached the hundreds. Trump often claims he has an ‘extremely high IQ’ or that he’s a “very stable genius” but, like his tax returns, Trump has never publicly revealed the results of any assessment, other than to brag that he knew the words, “Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV” on cognitive tests.

Several years ago, reports surfaced on social media claiming what 240 million Americans already suspected: Trump is cognitively impaired. The unsubstantiated post said that, “The results of an IQ test that Trump allegedly took during his first year at New York Military Academy have been discovered in a file box in a closet in Brooklyn. According to the test results, Trump’s IQ is 73.”

In other words, he’s barely functioning intellectually.

Although intelligence judgment is inherently subjective, there’s an endless list of objective evidence, including that Trump suggested injecting bleach or disinfectant to treat COVID-19; claimed hurricanes could change course due to nuclear bombs; used a Sharpie to alter a hurricane forecast map; and bankrupted multiple companies after he inherited the funds to start them with.

Trump is not going to shut off his own money spigot

Alas, even idiots can rake in the cash, if they remain useful idiots. Although AI is disliked among the general public, investors are getting insanely wealthy from it, and they will fight to protect their stash. Politico reports that AI and crypto super PACs spent $127 million across more than 100 primaries this year, and won roughly 90 percent of them.

Trump, on the take, calls AI data centers “the oil of the next 50 years,” insisting that they are “cash cows.” Trump is holding on tight to his cow for a reason: Donald Jr. and Eric Trump have invested significantly in American Data Centers, a firm supporting AI cloud computing and infrastructure. They are backing a $1 billion investment network targeting the acquisition of AI, drones, and cryptocurrency. Overall, Trump’s unethical family ventures have earned at least $4 billion from AI, crypto, and nuclear power, including a planned $6 billion Trump family merger with a firm building nuclear fusion plants to power AI data centers.

Adjacent to AI infrastructure deals, on the crypto side, the Trump family received $187 million from an Abu Dhabi royal-backed firm just before the UAE secured access to 500,000 advanced AI chips annually. The UAE paved their way to advanced AI chips by bribing investing $500 million into the Trump family's crypto venture, World Liberty Financial.

As Andy the Alchemist recently put it, “The transhumanist Silicon Valley billionaire cabal (has) openly bribed Trump with billions of dollars to let them do whatever they want.” And, as of today, they are doing it.

Trump says all America needs to address AI is a smart president. Let’s follow that advice in November by turning him into a lame duck so the adults in the room can do what needs to be done.

Sabrina Haake is a political analyst and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. She writes the free Substack, The Haake Take.

---

### Kennedy Center's 'very unusual' tax returns omission flagged by experts

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-kennedy-center-2677890564/.md

A former Kennedy Center official flagged a "very unusual" omission in a newly surfaced federal tax filing as President Donald Trump threatens it.

A Friday article by The Atlantic dug into the 990 form for the Kennedy Center that covered the fiscal year that began in October 2024 and ended last September, spanning the final months of the arts complex's previous leadership and roughly seven months after Trump seized control.

The 990 noted, however, that the institution's annual audit had not been completed by the time of filing. Experts pointed the gap out to The Atlantic.

An anonymous former official with knowledge of the center's governance and financial practices told The Atlantic that the lapse stood out. Such audits are normally released to the public by January or February, the official noted, adding that it was "very unusual" for it to still be missing.

At a glance, the filing points to a strong year. The center logged more than $516 million in total revenue, a jump of nearly $210 million, or about 68 percent, from the year before. Experts who reviewed the numbers, however, said the increase leaned largely on a single federal appropriation rather than ticket sales or donations.

Most of that money traces to $257 million in renovation funds that Trump urged Congress to bundle into his One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Without that appropriation, the center appears to have spent close to $47 million more than it collected, which The Atlantic noted is a steep swing from the roughly $40 million surplus it reported a year earlier under former president Deborah Rutter.

Other entries added to the concern. The document records a $48 million bad debt expense, a write-down of revenue the organization no longer expects to receive, while program revenue tied to ticket sales fell from nearly $105 million to about $89 million.

Analysts also warned that a 990 form mixes day-to-day operating money with capital funding, making the center's true financial footing hard to gauge from the headline totals. The filing was signed by chief financial officer Donna Arduin Kauranen, who resigned the same day Trump issued his most recent demand over the building.

---

### Kennedy Center shutdown covering up bigger mess triggered by Trump: lawyer

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-kennedy-center-2677890204/.md

The push to shut down the Kennedy Center is a cover story meant to hide financial mismanagement tied to President Donald Trump, an attorney said.

In a Friday episode of Bulwark Takes, Nathaniel Zelinsky argued that Trump's demanded renaming and shutdown are a tell for a greater problem the president caused. Zelinsky is the lead counsel for Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) in her legal fight over the future of the Kennedy Center.

"We think that the real reason they need to shut down or want to shut down is to hide the financial mismanagement that is the direct result of his name going on the Kennedy Center," Zelinsky said. "So we think these two things, the renaming and the shutdown, are intimately linked."

The claim now has a deadline attached. This week, Judge Christopher "Casey" Cooper granted Beatty's team expedited discovery into the shutdown and any demolition plans, meaning the internal records behind the closure are set to become evidence.

Cooper also rejected Trump's latest workaround for putting his name on the building, which would have branded it as "endowed by Donald Trump" or "restored and renovated by Donald Trump." The judge, Zelinsky said, called it "linguistic gymnastics" that "doesn't get around his opinion and it doesn't get around the law."

The fight escalated after Trump was photographed aboard Air Force One studying a poster reading "Kennedy Center demolished," and after he told pool reporters, "If my name doesn't go up there, we might have to demolish this thing."

Cooper responded by ordering 30 days' notice before any demolition or change in the project's scope.

"It means that at least as a legal matter, Donald Trump can't do what he did to the East Wing," Zelinsky said. "He can't just show up, wreck the thing, and move on."

Zelinsky described Trump as "just grotesquely fixated on putting his name on a memorial to a slain president who gave the last full measure of devotion in the line of duty."

---

### Mike Johnson slapped with 'brutal' community note gutting his brag

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/mike-johnson-2677889788/.md

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) tried bragging about how productive Congress has been under GOP leadership, only for X's community notes to call him out.

In a Friday post, the account for the MeidasTouch political news network pointed out a "brutal community note" that appeared below one of Johnson's posts.

In Johnson's post, he boasted that "House Republicans passed over 70 bills this week alone," and touted that the number "adds to our total of over 900 bills passed through the House so far this Congress."

He continued, "We DELIVERED for Americans," and then went on the attack, writing, "By contrast, the Democrat agenda is very simple: grievance, politics, bigger government, higher taxes, open borders, and zero security."

However, the community note pointed out that "the 119th Congress was the least productive in history," referring to the current Congress.

"No Congress has enacted less legislation or laws," the note went on, and even called out the House Speaker himself. "Johnson has cancelled a total 63 scheduled voting days in the House, granting members an extra 2 months PTO, with no House votes scheduled until after the election."

Johnson called an early recess for the House earlier this week amid efforts by Democrats to address AI and a vote put forward by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

MeidasTouch wasn't the only account to laugh at the community note hanging off Johnson's post. Former tennis pro turned political commentator Martina Navratilova responded to MeidasTouch by posting, "Mike is #1-the worst majority leader ever."

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) also called it a "brutal community note." Florida Democratic congressional candidate Jennifer Jenkins pointed out the community note with an emoji covering its face. "Oof," reacted The Lincoln Project.

"The community note on this post is example #500 why the American people have zero trust in their own government," wrote Michael Flynn Jr., the son of President Donald Trump's former national security adviser.

Brutal community note https://t.co/v2a24sPx4C pic.twitter.com/YAXaqvr4oD
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) September 18, 2026

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### Jeanine Pirro hangs J6ers out to dry in bid to lock in their guilty pleas

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Matthew Chapman | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/january-6-2677889738/.md

A group calling itself "J6ers Were Destroyed by Weaponization" is asking a federal court to force Attorney General Todd Blanche to review and potentially throw out guilty pleas from January 6 defendants — and prosecutors in Jeanine Pirro's U.S. Attorney's office say the entire lawsuit should be tossed out.

The Trump administration has broadly tried to wipe the slate clean for the January 6 rioters, with the president granting them a mass pardon on his first day, and even toying with giving them payouts in a $1.8 billion slush fund — but they may have found one demand for January 6 handouts that goes too far.

The petitioner describes itself only as an unincorporated association of unnamed individuals prosecuted over the Capitol riot, arguing that charging decisions, pretrial detention, and sentencing threats coerced many of them into pleading guilty. The group wants a judge to order Blanche to review every plea tied to two specific federal charges, initiate motions to vacate or withdraw from those pleas, and launch investigations into the prosecutors and government informants involved in the original cases.

Prosecutors representing Blanche argue the request asks the court to do something it simply has no power to do.

"Mandamus cannot be used to control the Attorney General's discretionary law enforcement and litigation decisions," the government's filing states, citing decades of precedent establishing that courts can't force prosecutors to investigate, charge, or reverse course on cases already resolved.

The filing also picks apart the group's legal standing, noting the petition never identifies who its members actually are, how many exist, or how the organization is run, undercutting its claim to sue on their behalf. Even if the court ordered DOJ to conduct the requested reviews and investigations, prosecutors argue, that alone wouldn't erase any defendant's existing guilty plea, since only the judges who originally accepted those pleas have authority to disturb them.

The government further argues the lawsuit's request for a blanket declaration that certain categories of January 6 plea deals are "constitutionally infirm" amounts to exactly the kind of abstract advisory opinion federal courts are barred from issuing, since it wouldn't bind any of the judges who actually presided over those cases.

Blanche's office is asking the court to dismiss the case in its entirety, arguing the group failed to establish that it — or any of its unnamed members — has legal standing to bring the claims at all.

---

### Lauren Boebert accused of sex with three staffers in complaint alleging $200K hush payment

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Daniel Hampton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/lauren-boebert-2677889727/.md

An explosive sworn complaint filed with the House Ethics Committee alleges Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) carried on a sexual relationship with her district director in the office, in a car and in campaign-paid hotel rooms — and that roughly $200,000 changed hands when the staffer threatened to go to the committee.

The complaint says that after Clarice Navarro Ratzlaff left the office and told Boebert she intended to file an ethics complaint, a payment of about $200,000 followed in March 2025. Its author says he does not know where the money came from, and the passage describing how he verified the payment is redacted in the published version.

Navarro Ratzlaff is a former Colorado lawmaker who served as a U.S. Department of Agriculture official during the first Trump administration. She ran Boebert's district operation for four years.

The complaint was executed Sept. 17 by David B. Wheeler, president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, a political action committee that has targeted Boebert for years. He published it himself.

House Rule XXIII, clause 18(a) bars members from sexual relationships with any House employee under their supervision, with an exception only for spouses. Consent is not a defense, as the rule places the obligation on the member. The House adopted it in February 2018 after harassment scandals swept Capitol Hill, and the Ethics Committee cited the same provision in opening its 2019 investigation into then-Rep. Katie Hill.

The complaint alleges the relationship with Navarro Ratzlaff ran from 2021 through January 2025 while she worked under Boebert's supervision, with encounters during and after office hours, in the district office, in a vehicle for which she collected mileage reimbursements, and in hotel rooms paid for by Boebert's campaign committee. It makes similar allegations about two other aides.

The evidence for the relationships rests on unnamed sources described in notes not included in the published filing. For one of the other aides, the complaint also cites public photographs; that exhibit is a Google Images printout of Instagram posts, several of them birthday tributes from a staffer to her boss.

The filing's own analysis of House payroll data puts Navarro Ratzlaff's total compensation at about $450,000 over four years and identifies roughly $31,000 in what it calls implied year-end bonuses, calculated by comparing fourth-quarter pay against each year's third-quarter baseline. The complaint alleges those payments were made on account of the relationship rather than for work performed. Wheeler's own exhibit qualifies that, noting the fourth-quarter increases "are consistent with year-end bonuses, a routine and lawful House practice; a mid-quarter raise or retroactive adjustment could produce a similar pattern. Source records should be independently verified before publication."

Raw Story has not independently verified the payroll or campaign finance figures in the complaint.

Boebert has demanded transparency about payments members make to silence staffers.

Signing the Epstein files discharge petition last year, she told Raw Story that congressional settlements should be disclosed too, adding that she did not care "what letter is next to anybody's name." She asked why members who made such payments were still serving.

"What were they covering up? What were they paying off?" Boebert asked at the time.

Those settlements came from a congressional fund that has paid out more than $17 million since the late 1990s. The payment Wheeler alleges is not one of them.

Boebert's office and her campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Ethics Committee does not confirm or deny the existence of reviews.

Boebert's ex-husband rejected the allegations when Wheeler contacted him shortly before publication.

"I think it is all a fairy tale made up propaganda," Jayson Boebert said in a message Wheeler published. "I don't believe any of that. Bad sources."

---

### Trump slapped with second suit to bar armed 'intimidation' tactic at midterm polls

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Ariana Figueroa, States Newsroom | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-midterms-2677889763/.md

A coalition of civil rights groups and union organizations Friday sued the Trump administration to prevent the deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to polling locations during November’s midterm elections.

The suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is the second this month, following comments from top Trump officials citing a federal policy to allow ICE officers to enter polling locations in certain circumstances to conduct immigration enforcement.

The groups argue the policy violates the federal law that prohibits “armed men” at election sites, and also causes voter intimidation, which is barred under the Voting Rights Act.

Under federal law, “troops” or “armed men” are allowed at polling locations only if “such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.” And the section of the Voting Rights Act the groups cite prohibits “intimidation,” “threats,” or “coercion” against a person for voting or attempting to vote.

“The result is predictable: voters across the country—particularly Black, Latino, and Asian voters, naturalized citizens, and members of mixed-status families—are afraid to vote, help others vote, and participate in civic life,” according to the suit.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin earlier this month noted that agents could conduct immigration enforcement at polling places. And before U.S. senators this week, FBI Director Kash Patel did not rule out sending FBI agents to polling locations, but said officers would “follow the law.”

The Department of Justice dismissed the idea that officers would be sent to polling locations.

“The DOJ has never said it would send federal law enforcement to polling locations,” a DOJ spokesperson said in a statement to States Newsroom. “Any suggestion otherwise is fearmongering.”

In a statement to States Newsroom, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said those “who are here legally and are not breaking other laws have nothing to fear.”

“Allegations that DHS law enforcement engages in ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE,” the spokesperson said. “What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S.—NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity.”

The DHS spokesperson added that ICE was not planning any operations that targeted polling locations.

NAACP among groups suing

“We reject this administration’s attempt to desecrate our polling sites by converting them into militarized zones through the unlawful deployment of ICE or any other federal agent,” Kristen Clarke, the NAACP’s general counsel, said in a statement.

NAACP is one of nine groups that filed suit. The rest are Mi Familia en Accion, Asian Pacific American Advocates, the National Urban League, Minnesota 8, the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of Teachers, the International Union of Painters and the United Food and Commercial Workers International.

“Turning the fundamental right of exercising our vote into a high-stakes encounter with the militarized strong arm of the current administration isn’t protection and it isn’t oversight; it’s disenfranchisement, period,” Clarke said. “The NAACP calls on the court to reject this blatant attempt by federal officials to obstruct our elections through tactics pulled straight from the Jim Crow playbook.”

The nine groups are represented by the Legal Defense Fund, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, the National Immigration Law Center, Protect Democracy and the Democracy Defenders Fund.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.

---

### Ridicule as MAGA campaign rally flops in battleground state: 'Oof that's rough'

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Bennito L. Kelty | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/jd-vance-iowa/.md

Vice President JD Vance tried to rally voters to support a MAGA candidate in a battleground state but attracted only a small crowd.

On Friday, Vance went to Council Bluffs, Iowa, to stump for GOP gubernatorial nominee Zach Lahn, but he was met with an underwhelming crowd, leading to ridicule online.

A picture by a Reuters photographer revealed the sparse crowd that took up only a small square in the middle of a gymnasium, with a more bunched group standing behind Vance for the background of photos. Journalist Aaron Rupar mockingly described the photo as "JD Vance speaks to dozens of people today in Iowa."

"Oof that's rough," wrote podcaster and political commentator Krystal Ball, who co-hosts "Breaking Points."

"Don't worry @RepAshleyHinson," taunted The Lincoln Project, referring to a similarly small turnout for a rally held by MAGA Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), the GOP nominee for Senate in Iowa. "No one else showed up either."

"This could've been an email..." joked YouTube and digital content expert Chris Robinson.

"Yikes!" reacted Iowa State Representative J.D. Scholten. "@RobSandIA gets more people at his town halls than this," referring to Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand, who is running against Lahn as the Democratic nominee.

"Can't believe people aren't flocking to @jdvance's charisma," Scholten sarcastically added.

"Yikes," echoed Democratic political communications strategist Daniela Campos Lopez. "Small crowd."

"Goodness," reacted Iowa political adviser Zachary Meunier.

"Vice President of the United States of America," deadpanned Capitol Hill reporter Julian Andreone.

"What's funny is about half of these people are campaign staff that are already being paid to be there," suggested George Basile, a policy communications official from Philadelphia.

"You could fit this entire room on a couch," author and political commentator Hemant Mehta posted, evoking a long-running internet joke about Vance supposedly committing degrading acts with furniture.

"In 2024 Trump won Iowa by 13.2 points," pointed out progressive political commentator Molly Jong-Fast, suggesting change may be afoot.

---

### RFK Jr raked in over $250K in luxury donor gifts — including flights to Fiji

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Matthew Chapman | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/rfk-jr-2677889676/.md

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accepted more than $250,000 worth of gifts from a single major donor last year, according to newly disclosed ethics filings reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The haul included two separate international flights: one running close to $97,000 for a Fiji round-trip, and another costing roughly $45,000 to travel to and from Greece.

The gifts all came from Gavin de Becker, a longtime security consultant who provided protective services to Kennedy and served as a significant donor during his 2024 presidential run. Beyond the flights, de Becker also gave Kennedy free use of his vacation home in Washington, D.C. De Becker owns property in Fiji, where one leg of Kennedy's travel was headed.

Kennedy, who has been controversial for his anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, disclosed the gifts, all received in 2025, in an annual financial ethics filing updated this week, which the Journal obtained through a records request.

An HHS spokeswoman said Kennedy follows federal ethics rules and has consulted with agency ethics officials regarding the gifts. De Becker did not respond to the Journal's request for comment.

However, the disclosure lands amid a broader pattern of scrutiny over how Kennedy and his inner circle handle both personal finances and access to his office.

Bloomberg reported this week that a nonprofit tied to Kennedy separately solicited payments from companies in exchange for access to top HHS officials at an upcoming event. Kennedy has also faced criticism for using a military aircraft for campaign-related travel, according to reporting from The New Republic, which noted the arrangement alongside separate scrutiny of Sen. Rand Paul's use of a private charter jet for Senate committee staff.

---

### Knife fight in the West Wing as scramble to replace Karoline Leavitt gets ugly

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Daniel Hampton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/karoline-leavitt-2677889678/.md

The race to replace Karoline Leavitt has morphed into a knife fight, with Trump-world sources trashing the contenders and a one-time frontrunner sunk by his own words, the Daily Mail reported Friday.

CNN commentator Scott Jennings had the job if he wanted it, sources told the outlet, after dining with chief of staff Susie Wiles. But White House staff surfaced what he wrote on the day of the Capitol riot in 2021, when Jennings said Trump had caused the insurrection with lies about the election being rigged. Disgraced former Rep. Matt Gaetz amplified it, posting that Jennings for press secretary was a bad idea.

And Trump insiders noticed.

Jennings apologized for those comments in 2024, but that didn't help, and neither did his defense of Sen. Mitch McConnell during the senator's long absence from Congress. A source familiar with Trump's thinking told the Mail the president was turned off by both, then quoted him.

"And the president also did say, 'Look, he's doing great for us on CNN. Maybe he's more valuable there," the source said.

Trump's former personal attorney Alina Habba has also fared poorly in the sweepstakes.

She told a conservative podcaster she would take the job if asked, but a source put her chances at zero percent, saying Trump feels she has flamed out at the opportunities he has already given her.

"Habba has a lot of connections within the White House, but the president is uninterested in giving her another job," a source told the Mail.

Other contenders include Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center's public relations chief and a first-term alumna, who has been posting clips defending Trump since Leavitt announced her exit. Caroline Sunshine, a former campaign aide turned cable pundit, has drawn similar notice. Even so, neither has generated much interest from the president, a source said. One adviser called Sunshine disloyal over her criticism of last year's strikes in Iran.

Sunshine hit back at the remarks.

"White House officials are spending their days tracking my TV hits, tweets, and hairstyles? Perhaps if the White House was 100 percent focused on correcting the fake news about the President, he'd be getting better press. Get back to work," she sneered.

Leavitt, who stepped down Aug. 27 after announcing she wanted more time with her two young children, is now at Trump's political operation and advising him on her own replacement. Sources said there is no rush and no decision, and that the post could sit empty until after November.

That vacancy was conspicuous Friday, when Trump announced he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House with nobody at the podium to explain what the ban actually means. Jennings, meanwhile, remains on CNN, where colleagues have repeatedly cornered him over his Trump defenses.

---

### Trump throwing away key swing state with his disastrous move: WSJ

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Matthew Chapman | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-wsj-2677889634/.md

President Donald Trump's tariff wars are threatening to put a key swing state Republicans are hoping to contest out of reach, the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board warned on Friday.

In Michigan, Democratic public health official Abdul El-Sayed, an avowed progressive, is taking on Congressman Mike Rogers, and polls show a close race. Trump, however, has given El-Sayed an inadvertent gift with his constant meddling in trade policy, the board argued.

"Businesses that import goods embed the tariffs into their prices, sometimes in stealthy ways," wrote the board. For example, "Cox Automotive this spring found that Mr. Trump’s tariffs drove a 10.4% increase in the average suggested retail price for new cars. Michigan Smart Trade Alliance estimates tariffs have cost the state $26 billion since January 2025, or about $6,419 per household."

Canadian imports make up a huge portion of the tax revenue, the board noted: America's northern neighbor "exports about $40 billion in goods to Michigan every year. Vehicles and parts make up roughly half of that. Because of its significant car manufacturing, Michigan depends heavily on cross-border supply chains with Canada and Mexico. Michiganders understand that."

Trump has zeroed in on Canada in recent months, massively hiking tariffs there and even threatening trade war with Europe if they move forward with a Canadian partnership.

As all of this is going on, a Republican influence in the Upper Peninsula has a dire warning that campaign volunteering for Rogers is dangerously flaccid.

"You almost have to admire the cynicism of Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed on trade," said the board. "He is punching Republican Mike Rogers for not pushing back against Mr. Trump’s Canada tariffs and for previously supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement, which phased-out tariffs on, and boosted trade with, Canada. He’s attacking Mr. Rogers as both a protectionist and a free trader." It's ultimately Trump who made that possible, wrote the board: "Republicans could pay a big political price for Mr. Trump’s tariffs in November."

---

### Trump 'jumped the gun' as Greenland victory lap collides with Denmark's response

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Erik De La Garza | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-greenland-2677889636/.md

President Donald Trump declared Friday that the United States had secured “permanent control” over Greenland’s security — but Denmark and Greenland offered a sharply different account.

An official statement from Denmark and Greenland said they merely “expect” to sign an agreement with the U.S. next week that would strengthen security in the Arctic and North Atlantic. Even after it is signed, the agreement must undergo “the necessary parliamentary procedures” before taking effect, the two foreign governments said.

Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the proposed pact “recognizes Greenland's interests and our place in international cooperation.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen emphasized that it also recognizes “the Kingdom's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the right of the Greenlandic people to self-determination” — an important distinction missing from Trump’s announcement.

The starkly different descriptions drew mockery from journalists online.

“Greenland and Denmark: We ‘expect to be able to sign an agreement in the coming week,’” journalist Sam Stein wrote on X. “Trump: We have an ‘infinite life’ agreement giving ‘the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland.’”

Canadian journalist Annie Dufour called it “a tale of two ‘deals.’”

“Trump, as he did with Canada, jumped the gun and called the deal...a done deal,” she posted. “Unless Denmark and Greenland are hiding what is in the fine print, these look like two different deals.”

Online influencer Mario Nawfal noted that it was now a matter of wait-and-see.

“He described the maximum version,” Nawfal told his social media followers Friday. “They described a security pact that does not transfer the island. Next week the signed paper will show which description is right.”

🇩🇰🇬🇱🇺🇸 Denmark and Greenland say they expect to sign an Arctic security deal with the U.S. next week in New York.

Trump had already called it done this afternoon: permanent U.S. control over security on the island, no cost, rivals kept out, a bigger American footprint.… pic.twitter.com/PmMA0xfKMC
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) September 18, 2026

---

### 'Human chain' forms around Kennedy Center with massive anti-Trump protest

**Published:** September 19, 2026 | **Author:** Daniel Hampton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-kennedy-center-2677889632/.md

Hundreds of protesters linked hands around the Kennedy Center on Friday night, days after its Trump-appointed board voted to close the building and as the president again tied his help saving it to getting credit for the effort.

CNN reported that the Kennedy Center laid off about a dozen employees Friday, cutting further into what the network described as an already skeleton staff.

The rally was organized by Hands Off the Arts, which said it was protesting the president's "defacing of JFK's memorial," the removal and censorship of art, and his threat to demolish the center if he cannot remake it in his image.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty, reporting from outside the building, described a crowd of many hundreds on a Friday night, heavy with musicians and others from the arts community. She said protesters carried signs telling Trump he is no JFK, and one suggesting Mar-a-Lago be demolished instead.

Serfaty spoke with former employees among the crowd. One said she had not received her final paycheck or back pay after being laid off. Another, who said she was alive when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, went on to work the ticket counter at the center and was let go after 15 years, told the building was closing and changing.

Tarps cover the facade and security guards began wearing hard hats this week, Serfaty reported. The center said it is closed for the next week, describing the shutdown as temporary and tied to a first round of renovations.

Asked Friday about reports he had looked at plans to demolish the building, Trump fixated on how he should be credited.

"I think the Trump administration should be recognized as having saved the Kennedy Center, because nobody else can do it," he said.

The protest follows a chaotic week.

The board voted Tuesday to close the venue, citing hazardous conditions and urgent renovation needs, an hour after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper again blocked the building from carrying Trump's name. Trump announced on Truth Social that it would shut "immediately," despite a court order barring the closure.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, who sits on the board and brought the suit that led to Cooper's ruling, filed an emergency motion. Cooper ordered Trump and the board to respond by Thursday morning, as forklifts were seen striking the building and crews moved to encircle it with fencing. Trump's lawyers responded minutes before the deadline, arguing 2,500-pound concrete slabs ringing the building pose an active falling hazard.

Trump reportedly screamed at Beatty during a board call before the vote, telling her she had "never built anything" in her life after she accused him of driving the center into debt.

Writing Friday, Pulitzer-winning critic Robin Givhan said the campaign against the building had produced a level of anger that surprised her, arguing nothing had so thoroughly highlighted Trump's "indefatigable petulance" because what he wants is his name on the building.

---

### Trump frantically papers over disputes in his White House as fears of economic crash loom

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Matthew Chapman | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-ai-2677889372/.md

President Donald Trump publicly dismisses AI safety concerns as a "HOAX" — but behind closed doors, his own administration is quietly wrestling with a far messier and more urgent debate about whether the technology could destabilize the economy.

According to The New York Times, insiders privately say his combative public stance is really about market anxiety: he fears any pause in AI-driven growth could send the broader economy tumbling. Venture capitalist David Sacks has been especially influential in shaping that thinking, having successfully lobbied earlier this year to gut a planned executive order that would have forced new AI systems through government safety checks.

Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia's Jensen Huang echo similar warnings to Trump directly, arguing that losing ground to China matters more than any domestic safeguards.

Inside the West Wing, though, that confidence has cracks. Unexpected AI failures over the summer pushed some administration officials who once championed unregulated growth to quietly acknowledge that scenarios they used to laugh off, like AI-enabled cyberattacks, dangerous biological applications, or interference with sensitive military systems, no longer feel so far-fetched.

Complicating matters further, the administration lacks any single official actually in charge of coordinating AI policy. National security adviser Marco Rubio rarely factors into the discussions, and the cyber-and-emerging-tech advisory role that existed under Biden simply no longer exists in this White House. The national cyber director role currently sits with a former RNC official with limited background in the subject. Staff turnover has compounded the confusion, with several White House officials working on AI security departing in recent months.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, meanwhile, appears to have fallen out of favor entirely after publicly floating a plan last weekend for the industry to slow down and welcome outside safety inspectors, a pitch Trump rejected while accusing unnamed critics of politicizing the issue to undermine American competitiveness. By contrast, OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who've both offered general support for elements of Amodei's slowdown proposal, remain in regular contact with the president.

This comes as Anthropic whistleblowers express fears that AI technology could doom humanity if left unchecked.

Underlying all of it, insiders say, is Trump's belief that AI-driven growth represents his best shot at the manufacturing renaissance he's promised since his first term, when pledges to revive coal jobs largely fell flat. Having floated the idea of a Warp Speed-style federal push for data center construction as far back as a 2024 meeting with OpenAI executives, Trump seems unwilling to let anything slow the momentum now, even as chief of staff Susie Wiles and Bessent quietly organize internal discussions grappling with the technology's darker possibilities.

"The robots will not be taking over," Trump insisted this week, phoning into a tech conference. "The A.I. will not be taking over the rest of the world."

---

### Mass airline 'freak out' revealed after Trump FAA's spiffy new tool panicked industry

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Daniel Hampton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-faa-2677889566/.md

The Federal Aviation Administration is days away from launching an artificial intelligence tool to help manage air traffic over Washington, D.C., and the airlines still cannot get answers to some basic questions about it, including whether they can opt out.

Politico reported Friday that despite roughly three months of near-weekly meetings, carriers remain unclear on whether air traffic controllers themselves will use the AI and whether airlines need to train staff on it. Industry officials described weeks of confusion over how deeply the system would be woven into daily operations, with one telling the outlet that people had been "freaking out" about it.

The panic eased, according to Politico, after agency officials told the industry the tool would be used in a limited way at first. Carriers had worried it might drive up cancellations and rescheduling in the name of relieving bottlenecks.

The system, called Strategic Management of Airspace Routing Trajectories, or SMART, will generate alternative routing options that travel through the FAA's existing channels to controllers. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford has said a 90-day testing period will precede any wider rollout. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has faced scrutiny over the agency's handling of aviation safety, has promoted the effort.

The rollout is part of a broader push to modernize an aging air traffic control system following two fatal accidents. An American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided over the Potomac on Jan. 29, 2025, killing all 67 people aboard both aircraft in the deadliest US commercial aviation accident in more than 20 years. The NTSB's final report found a chain of failures across multiple parts of the government.

In March, an Air Canada Express jet landing at LaGuardia struck a firefighting vehicle that had been cleared to cross the active runway, killing both pilots and injuring dozens. The NTSB found the airport's runway safety system did not generate an alert before the collision.

---

### Jim Acosta gives banned White House reporters a playbook to fight back

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Erik De La Garza | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-media-ban-2677889364/.md

Former CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta urged reporters targeted by President Donald Trump’s new media ban to remain on White House grounds — and prepare to sue.

“The reporters at the outlets that have been ‘banned’ should stay at the WH until their shifts are over,” Acosta wrote Friday on X.

Acosta recalled on social media leaving for dinner in 2018 after the Trump White House revoked his press pass. When he returned, Secret Service agents took his credentials.

“If a reporter who has been banned leaves the WH grounds then they may not be able to get back in,” he warned.

“The other thing I would do,” he continued, “is record the moment they take away your press pass (if that happens) with your phone. That way they can’t say you were unruly.”

The former CNN correspondent added: “Definitely take legal action.”

Trump sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill Friday when he announced he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico over coverage he called “FAKE NEWS.”

In 2018, Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the White House to temporarily restore Acosta’s credentials, finding that the administration violated his due process rights, Acosta said.

His tips to reporters banned from the Trump White House didn’t go unnoticed.

“Jim’s firsthand advice,” podcaster Jeff Storobinsky wrote in response.

University of North Georgia rhetoric professor Matthew Boedy called Trump’s move “not merely anti-press but anti-courts.”

“He is defying what was ordered in the Acosta case,” he posted.

Meanwhile, former PBS NewsHour staffer Stephanie Willerton called Acosta’s guidance “important advice” for the targeted outlets.

Some thoughts for my colleagues targeted today… The reporters at the outlets that have been “banned” should stay at the WH until their shifts are over. I left for dinner the evening of my press pass being taken. When I returned the secret service asked for my press passes. 🧵
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) September 18, 2026

---

### James Comey's daughter skewers Trump DOJ's 'legal contortions' to fire her

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Erik De La Garza | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/james-comey-2677889310/.md

The daughter of former FBI Director James Comey accused President Donald Trump’s Justice Department of resorting to “legal contortions” to defend her abrupt firing as a federal prosecutor.

Maurene Comey’s lawyer, Ellen Blain, made the argument during a hearing Friday over Comey’s lawsuit seeking her reinstatement, Politico reported.

Blain accused the Justice Department of claiming virtually unchecked power to “fire a civil servant because of her DNA.”

“Article II does not permit anyone to fire a line AUSA without cause,” Blain reportedly told the court, adding that “no court has found that criminal AUSAs or any AUSAs exercise the president’s preclusive and conclusive authority.”

Comey worked as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan for nearly a decade before she was dismissed without explanation last year, according to Politico. Her termination letter cited only Article II of the Constitution, which establishes presidential authority over the executive branch.

Comey alleges in her legal filing that she was fired “solely or substantially” because she is James Comey’s daughter, because of her perceived political beliefs, or both.

Justice Department attorney Tyler Becker argued that a recent Supreme Court ruling expanding Trump’s control over federal agencies also applies to lower-level officials.

“Employees or inferior officers who exercise conclusive and preclusive executive power must be removable at will,” Becker said.

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman pressed Becker on whether that authority would allow the president to fire someone because of race or gender.

“Article II would not permit inquiry into that matter,” Becker said.

---

### Hegseth 'set the stage' for killing 123 kids with cuts to 'woke' Biden program: report

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** David Edwards | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/hegseth-cuts-iranian-school/.md

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth helped "set the stage" for a U.S. strike that killed at least 123 children by slashing former President Joe Biden's civilian protection teams, officials said.

The officials, who are involved in the Pentagon's internal investigation of the Feb. 28 strike on an elementary school in Minab, Iran, described their findings in a Bloomberg report published Friday. They said the investigation's report has been "all-but-complete for several months" but has not been released. The United States has not publicly accepted responsibility for the strike, Bloomberg reported.

Two Tomahawk missiles struck the Shajarah Tayyebeh Elementary School on the first day of the U.S. attack on Iran, killing more than 150 people, including at least 123 children, according to the report.

Bloomberg called it the deadliest U.S. military targeting error of the 21st century in terms of child deaths.

Teachers had moved children from the playground into a prayer room for cover after the first missile hit, according to an account Bloomberg drew from rights advocates and the watchdog group Airwars. Within minutes, a second missile struck, and part of the roof collapsed, and only a few children in the prayer room survived, the account said.

President Donald Trump's administration demanded an overwhelming air assault in the final days of February, and the officials said that order squeezed the time available to finalize targets.

That urgency, combined with gaps in information about the site, "cuts in civilian-protection personnel" and an overreliance on artificial intelligence, "set the stage for the deadly error," they told Bloomberg.

Officials involved in the probe pointed to "gaps … left after Hegseth dismantled" most of the Pentagon's civilian harm mitigation units, Bloomberg reported.

Staffing across those teams fell roughly 90% to fewer than 20 people, and the team at U.S. Central Command, which carried out the strike, shrank from 10 people to one, people with direct knowledge told Bloomberg.

No member of those teams reviewed the Minab site before the strike, the officials said, partly because of the staffing cuts and partly because of a decision to leave the group out of planning. Those reviews map civilians near a target and look for lower-risk ways to strike it, according to the report, though Bloomberg said it is unclear whether one would have raised questions about the school.

The Biden administration had built up the civilian protection efforts after an August 2021 drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, killed 10 civilians when U.S. forces mistook an aid worker for a threat, the outlet reported.

Hegseth announced a shift in Pentagon spending in a February 2025 video on X, saying $50 billion would be redirected toward new priorities, Agence France-Presse reported.

"We will move away from woke, Biden-era, non-lethal programs, and instead spend that money on President Trump's America First, peace through strength, priorities," Hegseth said.

The Pentagon's civilian harm mitigation plan and its Civilian Protection Center of Excellence were tagged for elimination under that push, the national security publication War on the Rocks reported the following month. Bloomberg reported that Hegseth has described his cuts to those efforts in the same terms.

In past conflicts, preparing lists of proposed targets "had taken hours for staffers to complete," according to the report.

Before the Iran attack, much of that work was "condensed into several minutes" using Maven Smart System, an artificial intelligence tool made by Palantir Technologies, people involved in the review told Bloomberg.

A Palantir spokesperson told Bloomberg there is no evidence the company's software was at fault in the Minab strike.

"America, regardless of what so-called international institutions say, is unleashing the most lethal and precise air power campaign in history," Hegseth told reporters on March 2, two days after the strike. "All on our terms with maximum authorities. No stupid rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy building exercise, no politically correct wars."

On Thursday, United Nations investigators said there were reasonable grounds to conclude that the Minab strike and another U.S. attack that day amounted to war crimes, Bloomberg reported.

The Pentagon declined to comment beyond saying the incident remains under investigation, and a senior administration official also cited the probe, according to the report.

"The United States does not target civilians," the official added.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, cited the Minab strike on Tuesday when he filed eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, accusing him of "ignoring laws that minimize civilian casualties," Truthout reported.

"By directing the Department of Defense in a manner that foreseeably dismantled the safeguards necessary to distinguish civilian objects from military objectives, Secretary Hegseth thereby effected the murder of civilians," one article says.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) sent members home early on Wednesday for a seven-week campaign recess before the midterm elections, CNN reported. Massie's resolution had started a clock requiring a vote within days, but the early exit pushes that vote to November.

Johnson said the early exit had nothing to do with Hegseth, according to CNN.

"It is a publicity stunt by someone who wants attention. It will immediately be tabled of course," the speaker said, referring to a procedural vote that would set the articles aside without debate. "But we probably won't do that today, we will do it when we come back."

"We should not be playing games with national security," Johnson added.

---

### 'Worst I've ever seen': Swing-state GOP campaign in crisis as volunteers fail to show up

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Matthew Chapman | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/mike-rogers-2677887631/.md

A local Republican official working on Mike Rogers' Michigan Senate campaign publicly sounded the alarm this week over collapsing GOP enthusiasm on the ground.

Jackson Karki, a Northern Michigan University freshman who chairs at least four counties for Rogers' Senate bid, vented from his anonymous X account, "Red Lion Politics," confirmed by a source familiar with his identity.

"The vibes on the ground are the worst I've seen in my life. No one wants to promote candidates, no one wants to knock doors, no one wants to do (expletive). Attendance for any right wing event is at all time lows anywhere I go," Karki wrote. "And as someone that has knock doors the energy of the people answering the doors is terrible as well."

The post was flagged by politics reporter Jake Lahut on his Substack.

Karki's post struck a chord with other conservative-leaning accounts, several of whom blamed the ongoing war with Iran for souring the mood among Trump's base. One reply argued the conflict has left many previously loyal Trump supporters disillusioned and confused, a sentiment Karki enthusiastically agreed with.

The complaints reveal a deeper rift too. Karki has separately criticized Israel in his posts, stating that "I'm afraid Israel controls us" and "All Israel does is cause problems," even while insisting he'd never side with Palestine either.

That tension points to a broader generational split emerging inside the GOP over unconditional support for Israel, a split that could complicate Rogers' campaign given how heavily it has leaned into pro-Israel messaging and attempted to court Jewish Democrats who might be uneasy with the anti-Israel stances of Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed.

Pressed by another user who dismissed him as overly pessimistic, Karki — who nonetheless remains optimistic the GOP can win Michigan in the fall — doubled down on his credibility to speak on the matter.

"I'm a county Republican chairman lol," Karki wrote, "this is the reality of the situation."

---

### MAGA candidate squirms as red state crowd pushes him to split with Trump

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/bryan-avila-byron-donalds/.md

The Tampa Tiger Bay Club had hoped to hold a forum this month between the two major party candidates for governor, Republican Byron Donalds and Democrat David Jolly. After the Donalds campaign cited a scheduling conflict, aides offered his running mate, former Miami-Dade County state Sen. Bryan Avila, to speak in his stead.

That became a bit awkward on Friday when audience members asked Avila on several occasions whether he or Donalds disagreed at all with any of President Donald Trump’s policies, such as his mass deportations of undocumented immigrants that fellow Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Maria Salazar declared in a new campaign ad on Thursday had “gone too far.”

Speaking on behalf of Donalds, Avila seemed intent on not saying anything remotely controversial.

“We have to go back to the four years prior to the current administration,” he said when asked about Salazar’s ad by Alex Sink, elected chief financial officer in Florida 20 years ago but who narrowly lost a bid for governor sixteen years ago.

“We had around 10 million illegal immigrants come into the country, some of them through the Southwest border, some of them came through Canada,” Avila said

He continued his response for a few more minutes, but never answered Sink’s question, eliciting protests from a couple of members of the audience.

On two other occasions Avila drew the same question: Were there any Trump policies that he or Donalds disagreed with?

The first time Avila completely ignored the question, instead saying that the campaign was seeing “tremendous energy” and “momentum” and disputing any polls that showed anything otherwise. The second time he said, “We are definitely in disagreement with how the Fed has been handling our interest rates.”

Lost in that response, however, is that the Federal Reserve Board is structured as an independency government agency, and that Trump himself was angry this week after the central bank increased interest rates by a quarter point, from 3.75% to 4%, the first such interest rate hike in three years.

Donalds himself did appear to distance himself from the president earlier in the week when he said “he had concerns” regarding Trump’s proposed $5,000 dividend checks, announced during the midterm Republican Convention last week in Dallas. “I’m not sure how you’re going to be able to pay for that over the long term,” he said in a Fox News interview.

That response was much milder than the reaction from Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said last week, “If you are getting surplus revenue, you should cut people’s tax and return it to the people,” adding, “What I don’t think you want to do is borrow another trillion-and-a-half dollars and then try to flood that into the economy, because that will lead to more inflation.”

Trump endorsed Donalds for governor in February 2025, an endorsement the candidate has touted throughout his race to win the Republican primary election. Whether that Trump support will carry him to victory over Jolly in November is less certain.

The Jolly campaign on Friday again said that Donalds had “ducked” debating Jolly at the Tampa Tiger Bay Club in responding to a posting by Donalds on social media that he had accepted three gubernatorial debates to take place before the Nov. 3 election

“David Jolly has already accepted two debates, with Tampa Bay Tiger Bay and CBS Miami’s Jim DeFede,” said Mark Riddle, a senior adviser to the Jolly-Gwen Graham campaign. “Byron Donalds has ducked those two, plus countless debates with his fellow Republicans in the primary. It’s pretty clear he’s not acting in good faith. The two campaigns will work on a debate schedule that’s best for Floridians. We look forward to the debates.”

Donalds originally called for Jolly and himself to engage in three gubernatorial debates in July. Jolly responded at the time, “Get through your primary and we’ll talk.”

A member of the Tampa Tiger Bay Club told the Phoenix last week that in fact the Donalds campaign had originally agreed for Donalds to appear with Jolly, then called back to say they wanted him to appear separately.

That board member said the Donalds campaign called back a third time to say he would not be able to attend and was offering Avila to appear instead. A spokesperson close to the Donalds campaign denied that sequence of events, saying they had never scheduled Donalds to appear at the event.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.

---

### 'Telling' slip in Trump's media meltdown laid bare on CNN

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Daniel Hampton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-media-ban-2677889390/.md

CNN's Jake Tapper flagged what President Donald Trump said Friday when pressed on what he actually wants from his decision to bar three news organizations from the White House, noting the president pivoted immediately to money he says networks have paid him.

Asked about the specifics of the ban, Trump said the outlets could return if they corrected course, then turned to legal settlements.

"If they could send themselves out, I'd love it. Look, they're very dishonest people. They write in a very dishonest way," he said. "ABC fake news gave me $16 million. That was agreed to. $16 million that I won from ABC News because George . CBS gave me $38 million because they broadcast Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes and the questions bore no relationship to what she said."

Tapper caught the discrepancy on air, saying the CBS figure was news to him and that he didn't believe the network had paid that much. ABC agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump's presidential library to settle a defamation suit over remarks by anchor George Stephanopoulos, whose name Trump mangled Friday. Paramount settled the "60 Minutes" suit for $16 million in July 2025, also directed to the library and without any apology. Trump has separately claimed an additional $20 million from incoming owner Skydance in advertising or programming, a figure never confirmed as part of the settlement.

Tapper called the sequence "telling" and put the question to his panel directly, asking whether Trump's idea of an outlet straightening itself out amounts to paying him.

CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel said that fit a pattern for Trump.

"Well, that is normal for Donald Trump," she said. "There is a history of that's what he wants."

She pushed back on the premise of the ban itself.

"It shouldn't need to be said, but CNN is not fake news. We report the facts to the best of our ability," she said. "What you saw here today is that Donald Trump doesn't like the facts."

Gangel argued the underlying issue is control. Trump cannot control the press, she said, and extracting money is the closest available substitute. She predicted some stories may have "triggered" the president's eruption.

Earlier in the segment, Gangel had described the ban as a break from how presidents normally handle press frustration.

"This is not normal. This was a temper tantrum," she said. "And it is what dictators and authoritarian leaders try to do."

She pointed to the conditions around Trump as context, citing his approval rating at 35%, the war with Iran and midterm elections in which Republican candidates could lose. Though Trump said there was no particular reason for the ban beyond accumulated frustration, Gangel said she suspected something specific may have set him off.

Gabe Rottman of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said the case is stronger than previous fights over press access precisely because of how Trump explained himself.

The president is excluding news organizations explicitly because of coverage he dislikes, Rottman said, and while the White House is not obligated to open itself to journalists at all, once it does it cannot exclude them over what they publish. The organization's president, Bruce D. Brown, called the ban "flatly unconstitutional" and textbook viewpoint discrimination in a statement Friday.

Tapper pointed to another Trump remark from the day as the sort of thing an attorney would simply hand a judge.

"There's something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories," Trump said.

Rottman argued an adversarial and independent press serves the government as well as the public.

---

### Trump's favorite law professor comes out swinging against his 'terrible' reporter ban

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Matthew Chapman | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/jonathan-turley-2677889083/.md

President Donald Trump's latest attack on press freedom came wth a sharp rebuke — from one of his favorite law professors.

On Friday, Trump announced he would be banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House completely, with the possibility of more outlets to follow. All three outlets have done extensive reporting on the administration, including some stories that have embarrassed the president and his inner circle.

But George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley took to X to condemn the order, warning it will invite legal problems for the administration.

"Trump just reaffirmed his intention to ban CNN, Politico, and MS NOW from the White House," wrote Turley, a regular Fox News commentator who has been sympathetic to Trump on a number of other issues. "Such a move would be an assault on long-honored principles of a free press. I have often joined in the criticism over the bias of these outlets, but barring disfavored media from the White House is a terrible precedent and practice."

"Such a move would raise serious constitutional questions and undermine the country's long-standing position as a voice for the free press. It is hard for the United States to advocate for press rights globally when it is banning disfavored outlets," wrote Turley. "The President just said that he does not believe that courts should not allow media to publish fake news. A court injunction on such reporting would constitute either prior restraint or censorship or both. It would be viewed as a fundamental violation of the First Amendment."

Trump has frequently attacked all three outlets in the past, baselessly accusing them of pushing fake news.

Trump just reaffirmed his intention to ban CNN, Politico, and MS NOW from the White House. Such a move would be an assault on long-honored principles of a free press. I have often joined in the criticism over the bias of these outlets, but barring disfavored media from the White…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) September 18, 2026

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### Trump crudely brags about grabbing Melania's 'part' as cabinet officials snicker

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** David Edwards | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-grab-melania-remark/.md

President Donald Trump joked that he grabbed First Lady Melania Trump's back "or another part of her body" as two of his top health officials giggled behind him.

Donald Trump made the remark Friday during an Oval Office event announcing that all 50 states will join a program to lower some Medicaid drug prices, the Associated Press reported. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz, who runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, flanked the president.

"What is your message?" a reporter asked during questions from the press, pointing to the president's speech at the United Nations General Assembly next week.

"Well, year, they wouldn't let my person in the teleprompter room," Donald Trump replied. "Remember that? My teleprompter operator was banned from the room."

A UN official disputed that after the Sept. 23, 2025, speech, saying the White House had run its own teleprompter.

"But what was your message?" the reporter pressed.

"You remember that? They turned off the escalator," the president said.

The escalator stopped as Donald Trump and the First Lady stepped onto it on their way to that speech. The UN later said the president's own videographer, walking backward up the steps to film the couple, may have set off a safety switch.

"Fortunately, my first lady was very strong, and I was able to grab her back or another part of her body," Donald Trump said.

Men standing behind the president began to giggle, including Kennedy and Oz. Donald Trump turned in his chair toward one of the men, then turned further and looked up at Oz.

"It was actually a little bit lower than the back, and it kept me standing tall," Donald Trump continued, smiling at Oz. "I was standing very tall."

He told a similar version of the escalator story in February at a meeting of his Board of Peace, describing putting his hand on a part of the first lady's body, UNILAD reported.

The remarks echo comments uncovered in 2016, when an audio recording caught the then-reality TV star bragging that he liked to "grab" women.

"Grab them by the p—," Donald Trump said in a 2005 "Access Hollywood" recording, made public in October 2016, in which he boasted about groping women, according to Global News.

The Trump campaign later dismissed those remarks as "locker room talk."

On Friday, the president's escalator story eventually veered back into his complaints about his teleprompter operator.

"But you remember, I was going up in the… and it came to a dead stop," Donald Trump said Friday, returning to the escalator. "And this was… I built a lot of escalators. I put in a lot of escalators."

"And then I got up to make my speech, and I said, 'I don't have a teleprompter,'" the president said. "Can you imagine? And I think I spoke very well. Nice to have a president that doesn't need a teleprompter."

---

### Trump laughed at as he trumpets 'permanent control' of Greenland

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Daniel Hampton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/greenland-trump-2677889262/.md

President Donald Trump's announcement that the United States has secured permanent control over security in Greenland drew immediate eye-rolls Friday, with commentators questioning both the substance of the deal and whether Denmark and Greenland had agreed to anything at all.

Shashank Joshi, defence editor at The Economist, read the announcement as considerably less than Trump described.

"Wait for details but sounds like a compromise & essentially a climb down," he wrote, noting that Trump's post mentions no U.S. sovereignty over Greenland. Joshi said the substance appeared to be commitments limiting Chinese and Russian involvement alongside an expanded American military presence, adding that if Trump wanted to characterize that as "permanent control over security," fine.

Others focused on what the United States already has on the island.

"We have a military presence in Greenland, Pituffik Space Base," wrote conspiracy researcher Mike Rothschild, noting it was built in 1953 as Thule Air Base. "We also have an agreement with Denmark for the mutual defense of Greenland - it's the NATO Charter."

He closed with the question hanging over the announcement.

"Also, is there any evidence this 'agreement' exists?"

Pituffik is operated by the Space Force and supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance missions. A 1951 agreement already gives the American military broad access to Greenland.

The popular White House insider account Angry Staffer made a similar argument, predicting it would be "wild when people figure out this is the same agreement we've had with Greenland forever."

Writer Mary Pezzulo was skeptical there was any agreement to characterize.

"I give it five minutes before Denmark announces 'we have no knowledge of this,'" she wrote.

Neither the Danish government nor Greenland's had confirmed the agreement or released any text as of Friday evening. The two sides have repeatedly described their talks with Washington in terms at odds with the White House's account.

In January, after Trump said he and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had agreed on a framework granting the United States "total access" to Greenland, Denmark and Greenland responded by calling the island's sovereignty non-negotiable.

We have a military presence in Greenland, Pituffik Space Base. It used to be Thule Air Base, it was built in 1953. We also have an agreement with Denmark for the mutual defense of Greenland - it's the NATO Charter. Also, is there any evidence this "agreement" exists? https://t.co/1kPtz9dtrt
— Mike (not a) Rothschild (@rothschildmd) September 18, 2026

---

### ‘Truly alarming’: Backlash erupts after false report ‘almost started a war’

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Erik De La Garza | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/military-ai/.md

A bombshell report that faulty artificial intelligence nearly pushed the U.S. military into a confrontation with China sparked alarm and outrage across social media Friday.

A chatbot falsely concluded that a Chinese ship in the Middle East was carrying components for a nuclear weapons program, according to an exclusive CNN report. Military planes were already airborne and armed personnel were preparing to board the vessel when officials discovered the error.

“This is a truly alarming story,” CNN anchor Jim Sciutto posted on X.

Task & Purpose reporter Patty Nieberg warned that the danger came from people accepting AI-generated claims without checking them.

“AI won’t directly kill us yet,” she wrote on social media. “It’ll be because people are too lazy to check and an AI algorithm made something up.”

Travis Akers, a retired Navy intelligence officer, was more blunt.

“The Pentagon is an absolute wreck,” Akers wrote. “Pure incompetence at every turn.”

CNN senior political reporter Aaron Blake contrasted the revelation with a Department of War post declaring that the United States “will continue to be AI dominant.”

CNN anchor Jake Tapper also appeared to connect the exclusive to Trump’s announcement that CNN reporters would be barred from the White House.

“I’m not sure which of these news stories so distressed the president,” Tapper wrote while sharing Trump’s ban and the network’s report.

"Not the best natsec day for Trump admin," added Wall Street Journal national security reporter Alex Ward.

This is a truly alarming story.

“The report, according to one of the sources, was “entirely false.” But it also “almost started a war,” the source said. Any US operation against a Chinese vessel could have risked spiraling into an armed conflict between the two nations.” Via…
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) September 18, 2026

---

### 'Ominous': Stunned CNN analyst warns Trump's media mayhem goes beyond anything before it

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Daniel Hampton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/cnn-trump-2677887781/.md

CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel called President Donald Trump's decision to bar three news organizations from the White House "ominous" during the network's coverage Friday, saying the move goes further than the administration's previous actions against the press.

Gangel noted that Trump's hostility toward the press is not new, tracing it to his first campaign and his use of the phrase "fake news" across a decade in public life. What sets Friday apart, she argued, is the step itself.

Even measured against the Pentagon restrictions, the revocation of Jim Acosta's credentials and the dispute with The Associated Press, she said, this goes beyond and carries the threat of more outlets to follow. She called it unconstitutional and predicted the courts would overturn it.

She also raised questions the announcement leaves open, such as whether something specific triggered it or it was simply cumulative, and whether senior White House officials knew it was coming or were blindsided.

Trump had told reporters in the Oval Office that there was "no particular reason" for the ban, saying instead that "you get sick of it" after what he described as two years of accumulated coverage.

CNN responded with a statement backing its White House team, saying the network has a constitutional right to report without government hindrance or interference and that carrying out the ban would amount to an "illegal assault" on that right.

Bruce D. Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, was blunter, calling such a ban "flatly unconstitutional." He argued that once the White House admits some journalists, the First Amendment bars it from excluding others over their reporting, describing the move as textbook viewpoint discrimination that courts would strike down if challenged.

The organization has made that argument successfully before.

When the White House barred the AP over its refusal to adopt Trump's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, the Reporters Committee filed a brief supporting the wire service, and a federal judge ordered the AP's access restored, writing that a government which opens its doors to some journalists cannot close them to others because of their viewpoints.

As of Friday afternoon, the practical effect remained unclear. CNN reported that Trump specified no action had actually been taken against the outlets and identified no specific reporting that prompted the announcement, and its journalists were working from the White House grounds as usual.

---

### Trump claims US now has 'permanent control' in Greenland and a large force is coming

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Daniel Hampton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-greenland-2677889113/.md

President Donald Trump announced Friday that the United States has reached an agreement with Denmark and Greenland granting it "permanent control over security, and all other needs" on the Arctic island, a characterization that neither Copenhagen nor Nuuk had immediately confirmed.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the arrangement gives the United States "the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland" and described it as an "Infinite Life" agreement with no expiration. He said no U.S. adversary could establish a base, maintain a military presence, or make sensitive investments on the island "without our express written approval," and that the deal carries "NO COST" to the United States.

"For over 100 years, Presidents have known the strategic importance of Greenland, but NONE of them were able to do anything about it," he wrote, adding that the administration would "immediately begin the process of developing a large Military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland."

As of publication, neither the Danish government nor Greenland's had issued a statement describing the agreement, and no text has been released.

The parties have repeatedly given conflicting accounts of the same talks.

After a January meeting between Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said the sides had agreed to explore whether a common way forward could address American security concerns. The White House said the focus would be technical talks on the acquisition of Greenland. Denmark and Greenland publicly rejected any prospect of American acquisition that same week.

Trump made a similar announcement in January, saying he and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had agreed on the framework of an Arctic security deal granting the United States "total access" to Greenland. Denmark and Greenland responded by calling the island's sovereignty non-negotiable. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said his government was ready to negotiate a better partnership but that sovereignty was a red line. The framework's specifics were never made public.

Public opinion in Greenland has been consistent throughout. Nielsen said in January that if forced to choose between the United States and Denmark, Greenland would choose Denmark, and that Greenland does not want to be governed by the United States. A January 2025 poll found 85% of Greenlanders opposed leaving Denmark to join the United States. Demonstrations in January drew roughly 4,000 people in Nuuk, about a quarter of the city and the largest protest in Greenland's history.

The announcement follows months of pressure that Trump later reversed.

In January, he said he would impose an additional 10% tariff on Denmark, the United Kingdom, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden beginning Feb. 1, rising to 25% in June, until a deal was reached for the purchase of Greenland. The threat followed those NATO allies sending military personnel to Greenland for exercises. He cancelled the tariff threat later that month and pledged not to use military force.

Denmark has since deployed troops to Greenland under an operation involving about a dozen European countries, and Canada and France opened consulates in Nuuk.

---

### Trump makes eye-opening admission about son's wedding: 'He didn't do a background check'

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Erik De La Garza | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/don-trump-jr-wedding-2677887765/.md

President Donald Trump acknowledged Friday that his eldest son may not have conducted a background check before accepting lavish wedding celebrations from a Russian oligarch with ties to Vladimir Putin.

Asked in the Oval Office whether it was appropriate for Donald Trump Jr. to accept the gift, Trump insisted it was “totally allowed” and repeatedly claimed he had heard his son reimbursed oligarch Umar Kremlev.

“As I understand, he paid him back,” Trump said. “He didn’t want to have that. So I hear he paid him back.”

Trump described Kremlev only as “a person they know” and “a friend” before making an eye-opening admission when reporters continued grilling him.

“Well, I don’t know,” Trump said. “Maybe he didn’t do a background check.”

The president repeatedly insisted that paying for another person’s wedding festivities was “very common.”

“I’ve given wedding parties to numerous people,” Trump said Friday. “They get married, I give them a party. I give them parties at beautiful places like Mar-a-Lago and others.”

“With all of that being said,” Trump added. “I understand that Don’s paid him back. I actually heard that.”

ProPublica reported this week that Kremlev spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the festivities, including a private-island rental and fireworks display.

---

### Trump's psychotic CNN freakout proves he knows his demise is imminent

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** John Casey | **Section:** Raw Exclusives  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/trump-cnn-ban/.md

As the polling keeps cratering for Republicans, red districts tilting to purple, purple states turning blue, and blue states turning to midnight blue, some pundits have been saying that Donald Trump doesn't actually care about the midterms.

Jonathan Swan was on Deadline White House with Nicolle Wallace yesterday. He talked about how the book he wrote with his fellow New York Times columnist Maggie Haberman makes this case. When Trump isn't on the ballot, he essentially has no interest. There’s that and, as Swan said, Republicans telling him that when his name isn't on the ticket, they lose.

That may explain why he's made it clear he wants to make the midterms relentlessly about himself. There is no one more selfish on the planet than Trump, and when a selfish person doesn’t get their way, we all know what happens next.

What happens next is something I think the pundit might be missing, and that is the psychological toll of a cratering GOP and how Trump’s help is backfiring. Obviously, because he’s Donald Trump, he’s not being told the real truth about what’s happening, so when he sees the opposite on cable news or reads about it, he thinks it’s all lies.

However, even Trump can’t be that stupid or obtuse, so deep down, seeing that the impending disaster is due to the fact that America is done with him, he lashes out.

On Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, "effective immediately," accusing them of "constant 'reporting' FAKE NEWS." "Media Outlets shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States," he wrote, warning that more outlets could be added to the list.

Think about what has to be happening in his lunatic mind for that sentence to make sense to him. Trump is watching these networks, reading Politico, and seeing coverage of these polls, and the historically atrocious numbers that are genuinely disastrous for his party, and concluding it must be fake. Not just disparaging. Fake, one of Trump’s trifecta of favorite words that include tariffs and groceries.

His lashing out can only be about the polls and nothing else, because if you’re addicted to cable news and political sites like I am, you know that is the only thing that everyone is talking about right now. That and Trump’s obsession with the Kennedy Center.

So his media ban is not the reaction of someone who's checked out. That's the reaction of someone who is watching the walls close in — and can't process what he's seeing.

Trump surrounds himself with sycophants who tell him what he wants to hear, not what he needs to hear, and when they do have to deliver bad news, they deliver it in the simplest, most digestible terms possible.

We saw this literally illustrated this week when an AP photographer caught Trump on Air Force One studying a poster board about demolishing part of the Kennedy Center. His aides give him happy picture books and not detailed briefing books.

It's not hard to imagine his own people doing the same thing with polling data: rejiggering it, dumbing it down, telling him it's not so bad. And probably, “Sir, they're teeny weeny bit weak because you’re not on the ballot.”

And then he turns on CNN or MS NOW, or opens Politico, and sees the opposite. Real numbers. Real trend lines. And because they contradict what he's been told, he decides they must be lying.

And then he goes crazy!

I've come to firmly believe Trump is showing signs of cognitive decline, some real deterioration in how he processes information that contradicts his preferred version of reality. And banning news organizations that report accurately on how badly his party is polling is a trigger.

So, what happens when a man who cannot tolerate being told the truth stops being able to distinguish "teeny tiny bad" from "false"?

People ask me a lot if Trump will get worse as his term progresses. They can’t imagine the answer could be yes, but my answer is always yes. Always.

When you have a man convinced he's surrounded by liars, a rabid narcissist, an unstable idiot, and when you combine all that with authoritarian instincts and a shrinking grip on reality, he will do whatever it takes to suppress the criticism he can't process.

Thus, silencing the press should not be a surprise, made even more so because that’s one of the first moves in an authoritarian society.

We're already watching at the Pentagon, which is exactly why soldiers have had to leak photos of damage from strikes in the Middle East rather than trust it would ever be reported through official channels, because the media is being blocked. It's unable to report bad news.

None of this is normal, and none of it is really about CNN or MS NOW or Politico. Seriously, it’s not. It's about a psychotic madman who cannot metabolize the fact that his party may be about to get wiped out in November, all because no one likes him. Not even a teeny-weeny bit.

I think it’s time for Jack Nicholson to visit the White House and tell Trump, "You can't handle the truth!" Well, I wish it was that easy, or if that would make Trump come to his senses, but he’s too far gone for that.

I've stopped trying to predict exactly what Trump will do next. But I'm certain of one thing: when a deranged and demented maniac starts to come apart, we haven't seen anything yet.

---

### 'Disgusted' Trump names 'crummy' newspaper stalwarts next on White House chopping block

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Daniel Hampton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-news-ban-2677887696/.md

President Donald Trump identified The New York Times and The Washington Post as the next news outlets in his sights Friday, in the aftermath of banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House and warning that other outlets would follow.

Asked what he meant by others to come, Trump named both papers immediately.

"The New York Times is fake news. Washington Post is fake news," he said. "They're crummy papers, both doing very poorly."

He then described a step short of expulsion.

"We're probably not going to display the paper anymore in the White House, those papers. But we haven't taken the step of throwing them out."

Trump pressed on in harsher terms, calling the Times "so fake" and the Post "disgusting," a word he repeated.

"I don't get it. Why would they be? You know, we're doing so well," he said, arguing both outlets take positive stories and render them as negatively as possible.

As he moved to the next question, a voice in the room could be heard responding to his earlier defense of press freedom.

"Only free when you agree with it?" the person started to ask.

Trump did not engage, saying only, "No, no, please," before taking another question.

The remarks came during an extended exchange in which the president defended the ban on three newsrooms while insisting that a free press is among the foundations of a country, alongside secure borders and fair elections. Pressed on why he had expelled the outlets, he said there was no particular reason beyond accumulated frustration with their coverage.

Trump is currently suing the Times for $15 billion. A federal judge struck his original complaint in September 2025 as "decidedly improper and impermissible," ordering it cut from 85 pages to 40, and Trump refiled the following month against the paper, three of its reporters and Penguin Random House. In July, Judge Steven Merryday deferred the Times' motion to dismiss and ordered another amended complaint. The Times has called the suit meritless and an attempt to stifle independent reporting.

Trump Media and Technology Group separately sued the Post for $3.8 billion over a 2023 story about Truth Social's financing. A federal judge in Florida threw that case out in July, finding the company failed to produce evidence a jury could use to establish actual malice.

The Post maintains a running tally of his legal actions against news organizations, which also include the BBC, ABC, CBS, The Wall Street Journal and the Des Moines Register.

---

### Trump gets tongue-lashing from Nicolle Wallace for press ban hiding 'disastrous' truth

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Matthew Chapman | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/nicolle-wallace-2677887607/.md

President Donald Trump's move to ban CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House earned a scorching response from MS NOW's Nicolle Wallace on Friday's edition of "Deadline: White House."

The subject came up while she was interviewing Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a lawmaker himself locked in a legal battle with the Trump administration over its efforts to mete out military punishment for his instruction for soldiers to refuse illegal orders.

"We'll wait and see what actions they take," Wallace told Kelly. "But to your point about his authoritarian power grab happening in full view and in the context of daily news cycles. I mean, this comes after a disastrous series of polls, including from Fox News ... I mean, the truth is actually starting to seep in from all over."

That being said, she asked Kelly, "I wonder what your counsel is for people who are going to still be trying to get the story out at a time when Trump is doing everything to keep the truth from emerging."

The important thing, Kelly replied, is for all these outlets to "double down."

"You and CNN and Politico and other news organizations on the accountability part of your job, keeping any government, this one, the one before it, regardless of who is in the White House," said Kelly. These outlets, he said, have a job "to inform the American people," and even if that just got "a lot harder ... I hope under these adverse circumstances that you're in, you will figure out ways to to report to your viewers what is happening, you know, inside this government."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

---

### ‘You’re terrible’: Trump lashes out at female reporter when asked about media ban

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Erik De La Garza | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-lash-out-reporter/.md

President Donald Trump lashed out at a reporter in the Oval Office on Friday as she pressed him about his newly announced ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico.

“Are you trying to intimidate the press from doing its job?” the female reporter asked, pointing to the First Amendment.

“No, no, no, no,” Trump replied. “I dislike dishonest press — like you. I think you’re terrible.”

The reporter noted that the Trump administration attempted a similar restriction against CNN during his first term and asked why he believed the new ban would survive a court challenge.

“I don’t think that a court should allow fake news to be written day after day after day," Trump said.

Trump announced the restrictions shortly before the exchange, accusing the three outlets of reporting “FAKE NEWS” and warning that other media organizations could be targeted next. He said in the Oval Office that it was “sick” that the country allows journalists to write what he called “purposely negative stories.”

“If they want to write them, that’s fine,” Trump said Friday. “But I don’t have to let them into the people’s house.”

---

### 'He called you lyin' Ted': Cruz bootlicks Trump's 'instinctual genius' over past insult

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** David Edwards | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/lyin-ted-cruz-trump-genius/.md

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) praised President Donald Trump's "instinctual genius" for the "Lyin' Ted" attack that the president used against him in the 2016 primary.

Cruz made the remarks to host Miranda Devine on an episode of the New York Post podcast "Pod Force One" that premiered Wednesday. The senator said he has been Trump's "strongest ally" for more than a decade. Much of the interview traced how the two men went from rivals to partners.

Devine asked how Cruz had set aside the rancor of 2016, when he beat Trump in Iowa and, she said, stood as the last Republican between him and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

"He called you 'Lyin' Ted'?" Devine asked.

"Oh, yeah. Which I will admit was politically very effective," Cruz replied.

"Look, the man has an instinctual genius," the senator continued.

"What was so effective about it was, my single strongest attribute was that the voters trusted me," Cruz said. "That they trusted that I said what I believed and did what I said."

"And so the jiu-jitsu of Trump was to take my greatest strength and make an attack that goes right at it," he said. "And I think he does that instinctually, in a very effective way."

Cruz said that primary is why the two became close, telling Devine he was the only candidate who beat Trump more than once.

He won 12 states that year, Cruz said, while no other Republican won more than one.

Ohio went to then-Gov. John Kasich and Minnesota to then-Sen. Marco Rubio, he said.

"He and I stood in the arena and I punched him in the face as hard as I could," Cruz said. "And he punched me in the face as hard as he could. And we kept on going."

"I don't think he respects girly men," Cruz said of Trump. "He doesn't respect people who are weak. He respects people who have strength."

"The guy's got a cast-iron backbone," the senator added. "It's the single best attribute, that he does not wilt from a fight."

Cruz said the primary had been ugly and that both men took hard shots, leaving him a choice to make after Trump won the White House in November 2016.

"I could have chosen to be pissed off, to say I'm mad, my feelings are hurt, and I'm going to take my ball and go home," Cruz said.

"If I was going to do that, Miranda, I better be prepared to resign from the Senate," he continued, "because there's no way I could represent 32 million Texans … if I was going to put my own hurt feelings ahead of the interest of Texans."

Instead, Cruz said, he flew to New York the week after the election.

He spent four and a half hours at Trump Tower with the president-elect and his senior team, the senator said.

"I want to roll up my sleeves and do everything I can to lead the fight for us to deliver on our promises," Cruz said he told Trump. "And that's exactly what I did."

Trump offered him the Department of Homeland Security and spent 30 to 40 minutes trying to steer him onto the Supreme Court, Cruz said.

He declined both, the senator said, and made what he called a "half-hearted run" at attorney general.

"I don't want to be a judge," the senator said. "I want to be in the arena. I want to be in the political fight."

A week earlier, Cruz had defended a different Trump claim in an interview with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, saying he trusted the president's account of being carried away from Ground Zero by firefighters after 9/11.

"You could doubt whatever you want about Donald Trump, but the man is a New Yorker. He loves New York, and I have every doubt that what he's conveying there is what he experienced," Cruz told Collins.

Collins then pressed him on whether anyone should exaggerate what happened on 9/11.

"Look, I think when you're sharing your feelings, your sentiments," Cruz said, before turning to his own memory of being in Washington that day.

No evidence supports Trump's claim that he sent hundreds of workers to help with the recovery, according to PolitiFact, and the fact-checkers reported that the earliest photograph or video of him near Ground Zero is dated Sept. 13, 2001.

---

### 'No reason': Whining Trump tries to explain newsroom ban that shook Washington

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Daniel Hampton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-news-ban/.md

President Donald Trump defended his decision to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House during whining remarks Friday, insisting the country needs "a free press" even as he explained why he had just expelled three of its largest outlets.

Pressed by a reporter on whether there was a particular reason for the ban, Trump initially said there was none.

"No. No reason," he said. "No, it's a it's really just cumulative stories over the last two years. You get sick of it, and you call them, and you tell them."

He said administration officials call reporters to walk them through the substance, gesturing to aides standing behind him, and argued it makes no difference.

"They know it as well as smart people. But they purposely write negative news. And they do that because they want to try and diminish the Republicans. And a Republican administration."

Trump took shots at each outlet in turn. He said CNN is "just fake" and claimed its coverage was reflected by poor ratings. He referred to MS NOW as MSDNC, a nickname aimed at tying the network to Democrats, and repeated his false claim that Politico received roughly $8 million from the government under President Joe Biden "to keep them afloat."

Fact-checkers debunked that claim last year. Federal agencies across the government spent about $8 million in 2024 on subscriptions to Politico Pro and E&E News, paywalled products offering policy tracking and specialized reporting. USAID's share was $24,000, according to CBS News. Agencies bought subscriptions to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal as well. Politico has said it has never received government funding.

Trump left open the possibility that the outlets could return, or that even more could get banned.

"There may be others to join them, and maybe they can get better and would like to have them in," he said. "But our country has to have honest news."

He then listed a free press alongside borders and elections as the foundations of a country.

"You need borders, and you need fair and free voting. And you know what you need? You need a free press. You need a fair press and an honest press."

The announcement set off alarm bells among journalists and Democratic officials, some of whom pointed to the contradiction between the president's free speech rhetoric and his decision to expel newsrooms.

Trump then pivoted to predicting that if Democrats take power, they will end the filibuster and grant statehood to Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.

---

### 'This is unusual!' Jaws hit floor in CNN newsroom as Trump announces media ban

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Matthew Chapman | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-media-ban-2677887240/.md

President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the White House would be banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico — and it left CNN's media analyst Brian Stelter scrambling to assess the situation.

"Well this is unusual, isn't it?" Stelter told anchor Brianna Keilar.

Stelter added that he is curious "what did CNN and MS NOW and Politico write that might have made the president so upset? And there is no specific answer in his post. There is no indication in that post." However, "there is no indication that the administration is taking any steps to actually follow through on his threat. So even though the threat is quite serious and would have real implications for the First Amendment and for the press freedom in the United States right now ... the CNN staff remains there, working like a normal Friday afternoon."

Keilar noted that Trump has taken a number of potshots at CNN before, both publicly attacking them and trying to restrict their access to the government — to which Stelter concurred.

In the most notable case, he said, "right after the midterms in 2018, during Trump's first term in office, he was angry about a question from our former CNN colleague, Jim Acosta, who was working here at the network for many years." After Acosta infuriated him at a press conference, Trump "took steps to revoke Acosta's press pass, and some viewers might remember that actually provoked a legal battle where CNN reluctantly ... to go to court to defend that White House correspondent's First Amendment rights."

Swiftly, a judge appointed by Trump himself ordered Acosta's press access reinstated, and he was back at work. And since then, Trump had largely not attempted to ban reporters or outlets altogether, noted Stelter.

"There was an attempt to ban the Associated Press from some White House events," he said, in retaliation for not accepting Trump's guidelines renaming the Gulf of Mexico, "but we have not seen the president actually announce that he's banned news outlets altogether. And in this situation, we're in a little bit of a vacuum because, as I said, there's no indication that he's actually followed through. So let's give it a couple hours, see what happens."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

---

### 'Perverse': Hegseth busted 'covering up' troop deaths amid new calls for removal

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** David Edwards | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/hegseth-troop-deaths/.md

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's Pentagon has left at least four American military deaths off its public casualty list since the Iran war began, six U.S. officials said.

Six officials familiar with the Defense Department's internal casualty records described the gap to The Washington Post, which published their account Friday.

Five of them said at least 22 service members have died. The Pentagon's public database, the Defense Casualty Analysis System, listed 18 as of Friday. A sixth official said 23 service members have died since Feb. 28, when the Trump administration and Israel launched the war.

Three American contractors based in the region have also died since combat operations began, that official told the newspaper.

Not all of the undisclosed military deaths were tied directly to the fighting, the same official said, though each involved personnel serving in the Middle East during the hostilities.

The identities of those who died, and when and how, remain unclear. The Pentagon declined to address questions about the discrepancy, according to the Post. Officials familiar with the higher count said they were frustrated that the additional deaths do not appear in the public portal.

When a service member dies, the military opens a line of duty investigation to determine whether the death occurred while the person was performing official duties, the Post reported.

That finding shapes which survivor benefits the family can receive.

The administration's casualty accounting drew scrutiny earlier this year, when the names of four troops killed as a result of the war briefly disappeared from the official tally, the newspaper reported.

Around that time, the administration reclassified the renewed hostilities as Overseas Operations rather than tying them to Operation Epic Fury, its name for the Iran war, the Post found.

More than 820 service members have been wounded in action since the war began, the public database says. Many suffered traumatic brain injuries in Iranian strikes on American bases across the region.

"Pete Hegseth's obsession with dead and wounded has led him to manipulate the KIA and wounded numbers and to fail to report deaths in the Iran War," wrote Scott Horton, a contributing editor at Harper's Magazine.

"This is positively perverse," Horton added.

"Pete Hegseth is covering up the deaths of American service members and contractors in the Middle East," wrote Krystal Ball, co-host of the political show Breaking Points.

Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) and 11 other House Democrats, all of them military veterans, said Friday they were introducing legislation to bar the Pentagon from manipulating government data on troop casualties, the Post reported.

"Hiding the troops who died in your stupid and unpopular war of choice," wrote Kevin M. Kruse, a Princeton University historian.

"Disgraceful," wrote Bill Kristol, editor-at-large of The Bulwark.

"These people are abominable. Hegseth must go," wrote Michelangelo Signorile, host of a daily program on SiriusXM Progress.

Hegseth already faces an impeachment effort from within his own party. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced eight articles of impeachment against him on Tuesday, charging in the resolution that Hegseth waged war on Iran without authorization from Congress.

Massie made the resolution privileged, forcing the House to vote on it within two legislative days. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) then sent members home a day early on Wednesday for a seven-week recess that runs past the November elections, the Associated Press reported.

"He cut off the day tomorrow to avoid the vote," Massie said, calling the early recess a "Hegseth holiday."

Johnson called the impeachment push a stunt. He said the House would table the resolution when it returns in November.

"Secretary Hegseth has done an extraordinary job at the Department of War," the speaker said, using the administration's new name for the Pentagon.

---

### Shockwaves as Trump's White House newsroom ban rocks DC: 'This is crazy'

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Erik De La Garza | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-media-ban-2677887182/.md

President Donald Trump's abrupt decision to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House immediately set off alarms Friday among journalists, political watchers and Democratic officials.

“Free speech absolutist!” wrote former Obama staffer and “Pod Save America” co-host Tommy Vietor.

Sarah Guerrero, communications director for Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, was more blunt: “This is f---ing crazy.”

Trump announced the ban on Truth Social, accusing the three outlets of repeatedly reporting “FICTION and LIES" about him and his administration. He also warned “Other Fake News Media Outlets” would follow.

“Free speech for me, not for thee,” award-winning media producer Andrew O’Keefe wrote in response.

Toronto Star columnist Bruce Arthur told his X followers that “the right are objectively anti-reality, and so attack journalists.”

Washington Sun reporter Oriana Gonzalez noted a pattern from the president’s party.

“Between this and House Rules Chair Virginia Foxx saying she wants to ban reporters from the Speaker’s lobby, Republicans are really coming after press access this week," she wrote in a post Friday.

“The party of free speech,” political writer Dan Shafer added.

Free speech absolutist! https://t.co/Ba33igGA7f
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) September 18, 2026

---

### Red-state official who defended gerrymander now accused of stealing small-town election

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Matthew Chapman | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/denny-hoskins-2677887005/.md

Missouri's embattled secretary of state is facing a new whistleblower lawsuit accusing his office of illegally overturning a small city council election, adding to a growing pile of legal trouble for a Republican official already fighting to defend the state's controversial congressional map.

According to the Kansas City Star, Aaron Gibson appeared to win a Marshall, Missouri city council seat in April with 39 write-in votes to opponent Michael Varner's 38, since only exact-name write-ins counted under local officials' initial tally. But according to a lawsuit filed by Nick La Strada, Denny Hoskins' former director of election integrity, the secretary of state's elections division later instructed local officials to fold in ballots that used other name variations, pushing Varner ahead with 45 votes against Gibson's 41.

City Administrator J.D. Kehrman confirmed the reversal in an April statement, explaining the state's election division had determined voter intent favored Varner. La Strada's lawsuit argues that call was never the secretary of state's to make in the first place.

"Once an election is certified, only a Judge can order a recount and only a Judge can change the results of the election," the lawsuit states. "Despite clear law prohibiting it, four days later, undertook its own retabulation."

Gibson said state elections director Chrissy Peters personally pushed Marshall officials to certify Varner instead, allegedly threatening an investigation if the city refused to comply. The lawsuit claims that pressure ultimately forced the city to reverse its own certified result.

"I was done wrong. Nick La Strada was done wrong. The city of Marshall won't correct their mistake," Gibson said.

Gibson said he looked into suing over the outcome himself but backed off once an attorney quoted him a price tag exceeding $10,000. Meanwhile, Saline County's own official records still list Gibson as the rightful winner, and a records request seeking communication between the county and the secretary of state's office turned up nothing related to the dispute.

The Marshall controversy is just one of three lawsuits Hoskins is currently fighting.

Two separate suits filed by voters in the past week accuse him of waiting until the absolute last legal moment, Aug. 4, to reject a referendum on Missouri's new congressional map, a delay they argue improperly stripped them of their ability to vote on candidates during the primary. Both lawsuits seek damages under a state law allowing residents to sue the secretary of state directly for neglecting official duties, with penalties ranging from $100 to $500 per case.

Hoskins has spent recent months embroiled in a high-profile legal battle defending Missouri's Republican-drawn congressional map, even facing a contempt hearing before the state Supreme Court earlier this month.

---

### 'Magnitude of my rage startles me': Trump move revealed that finally broke Pulitzer-winner

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Erik De La Garza | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-kennedy-center-2677887006/.md

A New York Times opinion writer said President Donald Trump’s campaign against the Kennedy Center has sparked a level of anger that surprised her.

“Now President Trump is out to destroy the Kennedy Center, and the magnitude of my rage startles me,” Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Robin Givhan wrote in a guest essay Friday. “After all, Mr. Trump has done so many other cruel, brutal things that have upended people’s lives, this democracy and its place in the world.”

But his takeover of the performing arts center and threat to demolish it signaled something larger for Givhan.

“Nothing has so thoroughly highlighted his indefatigable petulance,” she wrote. “Because Mr. Trump wants his name on the building. That’s it.”

Trump’s name was added to the Kennedy Center’s facade in December after he installed himself as chairman and filled its board with loyalists. But a federal judge has since ordered its removal, ruling that only Congress could rename the memorial.

Givhan described the controversy as part of Trump’s effort to remake Washington according to "his own gilded, tarty, self-aggrandizing taste.”

She also pointed to a viral photograph of Trump aboard Air Force One examining a poster with the words, “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.”

“Will his presidency be remembered more for his foolishness or his failure? Either way, everyone loses,” Givhan concluded. “And that most certainly includes Mr. Trump."

---

### Trump expels CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House in fit of rage — with more to come

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Erik De La Garza | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-media-ban/.md

President Donald Trump announced Friday that he is barring three major news organizations from the White House, effective immediately.

"I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW ... and Politico ... from the White House as a result of their constant 'reporting' FAKE NEWS!" Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.

"Media Outlets shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America," he continued, before suggesting the ban would widen. "Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow."

Trump uncorked two false claims into the announcement as parenthetical asides. He described MS NOW as having "recently changed their name from MSNBC due to lack of viewership and credibility!" The network became MS NOW on Nov. 15 because Comcast spun its cable networks into a separate company, Versant, and NBCUniversal retained exclusive rights to the Peacock brand. The network kept its programming lineup and expanded its Washington bureau during the transition.

He then called Politico the recipient of "an illegal and ridiculous $8 Million Dollar subscription, an All Time Record, directly from the United States Government, under Crooked Joe Biden, in order to keep them 'alive.'"

"Seems like corruption to me!" he wrote.

That figure is a recycled claim that fact-checkers debunked last year. Federal agencies across the government spent roughly $8 million in 2024 on subscriptions to Politico Pro and E&E News, paywalled products offering policy tracking and specialized reporting. USAID's share was $24,000, according to CBS News. Agencies also paid for subscriptions to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The number entered circulation through a conservative commentator's viral thread in February 2025, after which the White House announced it would cancel the subscriptions. Politico has said it has never received government funding in its 18 years.

Trump did not specify what the ban entails or when it takes effect beyond "immediately."

The announcement extends a pattern of access restrictions.

The administration removed Reuters, The Associated Press and Bloomberg News from the permanent press pool, barred the AP from events where Trump speaks after it declined to adopt his renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, and in October 2025 closed the West Wing area housing the press secretary's office to reporters without appointments.

The White House Correspondents' Association said at the time that it "unequivocally opposes any effort" to limit journalists from areas long open for newsgathering.

---

### Judge shuts down bid to bury Trump DOJ scheme: 'Still alive and kicking'

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Matthew Chapman | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-slush-fund-2677886719/.md

A federal judge refused to let the Trump administration close the book Friday on a controversial $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" meant to compensate the president's political allies, brushing aside the government's argument that the case no longer has anything left to decide.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, sitting in Alexandria, Virginia, held off on ruling from the bench on the government's bid to toss the lawsuit outright, unconvinced by a Justice Department attorney's assurance that the fund concept had already been shelved for good, Politico reported.

"The issues that underlie this case are still alive and kicking, in my view," Brinkema said.

The dispute traces to a settlement Trump's legal team struck with the IRS over the leaked disclosure of his tax returns.

Once word got out that the compensation pool could theoretically pay out to Jan. 6 defendants convicted of assaulting police officers at the Capitol, the backlash proved fierce enough on both sides of the aisle to jeopardize Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation. Blanche eventually announced in June that the administration was backing away from the fund itself, while making clear the broader deal shielding Trump and his businesses from future IRS audits would remain intact. But from the outset, the administration has taken some steps that cast doubt the fund is truly dead.

Legal advocacy group Democracy Forward, representing the plaintiffs who sued in May, contends the executive branch simply lacks the authority to steer public funds toward a program benefiting the president's own supporters.

Brinkema, appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton, had already kept the fund frozen through a court order issued back in June, and her comments Friday made clear she isn't prepared to treat the fight as resolved just because the administration says it's walking away.

---

### Trump's ICE hit with threat from fed-up elections official: ‘They’re going to face prison’

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Erik De La Garza | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/midterm-election-ice/.md

Denver’s top election official is warning ICE and other federal agents that they could face prison if they appear at polling places to intimidate voters.

Paul López, Denver’s clerk and recorder, told NPR on Friday that officials have prepared for that possibility as the Trump administration sends mixed messages about federal law enforcement around the midterm elections.

“We have a plan put together just in case if that happens and it's not going to be a good day for any ICE agent or any other federal agent or anybody trying to intimidate anybody at the polls,” López said in the NPR exclusive. “They're going to face prison sentences.”

López is part of a coalition suing to block federal officers from polling locations. A second coalition filed another lawsuit Friday, NPR reported.

President Donald Trump said in May that he would do “anything necessary” to ensure “honest” elections. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin later said ICE agents could serve warrants at polling places.

In a statement to NPR, the department said ICE “is not planning operations targeting polling locations,” but added that agents could make arrests if an active public safety threat emerged.

The Trump administration’s rhetoric is already “having a real impact on voters,” according to NPR. “Roughly 40% of voters now think it's likely ICE agents will be present at voting locations in their area,” the outlet said, citing a new University of California San Diego poll.

The lawsuits argue that deploying armed federal officers could violate federal protections, including the Voting Rights Act’s ban on voter intimidation.

---

### Kash Patel branded 'unfit' by expert after tantrum halting terrorism cooperation

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** David Edwards | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/kash-patel-unfit-terrorism-canada/.md

FBI Director Kash Patel was branded "unfit" by a prominent law expert after he halted some cooperation with Canada's national police force over a broadcaster's policy on calling 9/11 terrorism.

Patel temporarily halted some cooperation between the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police this month, The New York Times reported Friday, citing multiple officials familiar with the episode.

The move was specific to the FBI and appears to have been short-lived, according to the Times. Other U.S. intelligence-sharing continued, and not every part of the two agencies' work stopped.

The two forces work together on terrorism and cybersecurity cases, the Times reported, and the halt risked disrupting those operations.

The dispute began with an internal memo at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a public broadcaster editorially independent of the Canadian government. It reminded journalists ahead of the Sept. 11 anniversary of the network's longstanding policy of attributing the word "terrorism" to an expert or authority.

A columnist at The Toronto Sun obtained the memo. Many major news organizations have similar rules for breaking news, the Times reported, but not for historical attacks that are already well established as terrorism.

Patel threatened Canada in a series of posts on X in late August, amplifying New York Post coverage of the guidance, according to the Times.

"Any agency in Canada that doesn't publicly reject this bastardization of history, and an insult to the souls lost during our largest terrorist attack in US history will no longer have friend in this FBI… Not to mention our heroes that responded in the aftermath," Patel wrote on X.

He added an American flag and the words "WE WILL NEVER FORGET 9-11," the Times reported.

CBC News backed down on Aug. 28, when its head of standards issued updated guidance saying the term "terrorism" could be used to describe the attacks without attribution.

Marc Miller, Canada's culture minister, called the update a "welcome change to what was a piece of pedantic and foolish guidance that caused legitimate anger," according to the Times.

Some collaboration between the FBI and the RCMP stopped anyway within days, the Times reported. Bureau officials canceled meetings with their Canadian counterparts and told them they would be out of touch for some time.

The Americans wanted some form of apology, one person with knowledge of the episode told the Times, although it is unclear whether one was ever offered. The halt ended around the anniversary of the attacks.

"Unfit," New York University law professor Ryan Goodman wrote on X on Friday, sharing the Times' finding that the move jeopardized the bureau's relationship with Canada's national police.

"We value our relationship with our U.S. counterparts, as we work closely to respond to threats to national security and maintain situational awareness of emerging risks," the RCMP said in a statement, according to the Times.

A spokesman for the FBI declined to comment, the Times reported. A White House spokeswoman did not answer questions about whether the president or his advisers knew about the pause while it was happening.

The halt came as President Donald Trump escalated his pressure campaign on Canada. The United States imposed new tariffs on Canadian goods in late August and Canada retaliated, the Associated Press reported.

Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as "Lake America" in the United States on Aug. 27, the day before CBC News reversed its guidance, according to the AP. He has also said repeatedly that Canada should become the 51st state.

Until now, there was no indication that the war of words and trade had affected traditional national security cooperation, according to the Times. U.S. allies have long worried that the Trump administration could cut off intelligence or law enforcement sharing to gain leverage.

Carney described the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorism in a statement last week, the Times reported. Twenty-four Canadians were among the dead.

---

### Bessent sets off finance world alarms with Treasury visitor: 'Get me out of this timeline'

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Daniel Hampton | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/jake-paul-2677886895/.md

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spent part of his Friday hosting YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul at the Treasury Department, and the internet responded with a mixture of disbelief and mockery.

"Great to welcome @jakepaul to the Treasury Department today," Bessent posted on X. "Jake's path from content creator to entrepreneur and professional boxer is a distinctly American story."

The post drew immediate derision from finance-world commentators and ordinary users alike, many of whom questioned why the nation's top economic official was making time for an influencer as Americans face surging energy costs and a deteriorating farm economy.

"REALLY glad to see Bessent is focusing his time well on Operation Economic Outcast by spending time with… Jake Paul?" wrote finance commentator Brett Erickson, referring to the sweeping sanctions campaign against Iran that Bessent unveiled last month and compared to D-Day.

Liz Franczak simply repeated the secretary's own words back at him: "great to welcome Jake Paul to the Treasury Department today."

Others tied the meeting directly to conditions on the ground.

"Get me out of this timeline. Just utterly ridiculous," wrote a user posting as GenZGirl. "Our farmers and ranchers are hurting, diesel is $7 and running out in other places. But yes, meeting w Jake Paul will definitely fix the economy."

The finance commentator known as Dr. Parik Patel offered a mocking headline: "Jake Paul announces that he will challenge the 10Y treasury yield to a charity boxing match on November 11th in an effort to get it below 4%." The 10-year yield climbed above 5 percent this week, its highest level since 2007.

Commentator William Coffin lamented, "We'll never live this s--- down..."

YouTuber Eric Hovagim joked, "oh yeah there’s no more oil."

The visit comes at an awkward moment for the secretary, with CNN reporting this week that his surprise intervention to triple Treasury buybacks has failed to bring borrowing costs down. Bessent has also drawn sustained criticism over his attacks on the Federal Reserve's independence. Meanwhile, energy prices keep climbing as the war with Iran creates chaos in the global shipping industry.

---

### Trump uncorks bizarre brag about his polls as he hits rock bottom

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Matthew Chapman | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-polls-2677886695/.md

President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Friday to brag about his polling numbers.

"TRUMP Approval Rating in the Republican Party is now 95%, A RECORD. Second place is Ronald Reagan at 86%."

It is unclear what survey he is referring to, specifically.

Surveys of the broader electorate suggest Trump is near one of his all-time lows, with a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showing just 35 percent approval — which was a slight increase from their previous survey.

Trump was referring specifically to his approval among Republicans, not the electorate at large, but some recent polls even suggest he is losing ground with Republicans as well.

To bolster his party's prospects of holding majorities in Congress, Trump pushed his party into a midterm convention in Dallas, where he promised voters $5,000 checks for every adult if Republicans retain control. New polls show even this idea is viewed negatively.

---

### New nightmare looms thanks to Trump's war: 'Families going to be cold this winter’

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Alexander Willis | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/iran-war-2677886611/.md

As the U.S. war against Iran continues to send energy prices surging, a growing number of Americans are struggling to lock in rates for heating this winter, with one Vermont heating fuel company revealing just how steep the price increases may get.

“A lot of families are going to be very cold this winter,” journalist Ryan Grim warned Friday in a statement published on social media.

With the months of disruption to the Strait of Hormuz, coupled with the recent disruptions to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, crude oil prices have skyrocketed in recent weeks, which directly impacts the cost for Americans — primarily in the Northeast — to heat their home using heating oil.

Several media outlets have reported on the Americans’ struggles in the Northeast amid the Iran war when deciding how to plan for winter heating, but on Friday, Grim published a note excerpt that shed new light on how dire the supply crunch has become.

The note, which Grim identified only as being from a Vermont heating fuel company that was family-owned, and thereby offered “more transparency than a normal company might,” hinted at how little supply was available to heating fuel companies.

“After purchasing fuel futures for more than 25 years, I was able to secure only about 25% of our estimated needs for this season,” the note excerpt reads.

“Once the market stabilizes, we intend to bring back a pre-buy program that works in your favor — but offering one under current conditions would carry significant risk for both you and us, which is why we are not doing so at this time. This decision was not made lightly, but it is necessary to ensure continued supply for all of our customers."

ABC affiliate WMUR previously reported that New Hampshire residents were facing similar hurdles, with some local companies no longer offering customers the ability to purchase lock-in rates for the winter, some of which said it was “too risky” to do so.

“The inventories are the lowest they have been in the last 45 years right now,” warned Massood Samii, former OPEC economist and professor at Southern New Hampshire University, speaking with WMUR for its report. “So if this continues, that's going to put pressure on the price going up.”

Home heating oil companies in at least several New England states are telling customers they cannot lock in a price this winter because of volatility and supply problems.

This below is from a note one Vermont company just sent to customers. It's a family-owned company, and many… https://t.co/7vrZ9UNuC9 pic.twitter.com/UhTLYyHE9A
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) September 18, 2026

---

### Grim laughter as embattled red state GOP senator insists he doesn't live in Florida

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Anna Kaminski, Kansas Reflector | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/does-roger-marshall-live-in-kansas/.md

U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall established deeper roots than previously disclosed in Sarasota, Florida, where he had a vacation home that he traveled to on official business and said he used for visiting family.

Marshall and his wife put down roots in Sarasota, hosting fundraising events, obtaining real estate and fishing licenses and filing paperwork from the coastal Florida town while the senator worked in Washington, D.C., and claimed Kansas as home.

The Republican senator’s residence has been fodder for campaign attacks as he faces a midterm election against the Rev. Adam Hamilton, a Kansas City-area United Methodist pastor, who Marshall has pointed out owns four homes.

Marshall has faced persistent scrutiny throughout his time in the Congress for his transience in Kansas. Public records show his wife has held a Florida real estate license for half of her husband’s Senate term and has another license application pending. Records also show Roger Marshall has held fishing licenses in Florida since 2019 and used a P.O. Box in Kansas as his primary personal mailing address.

He appeared Saturday alongside Hamilton at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson in the first senatorial debate of the season, where he addressed his residency.

“My home is a short hour’s drive down a gravel road here,” Marshall said.

The crowd groaned, laughed and jeered.

The St. John home is a three-bedroom house that sits on more than 300 acres, surrounded by ponds, he said. Others have described it as a hunting cabin.

He sold the Great Bend home where he said he and his wife raised their kids within days of being sworn into the U.S. Senate in 2021. He previously had a rental property in Santa Cruz, California, which he sold in 2019 for between $1 million and $5 million, according to U.S. House financial disclosures.

The Marshalls bought the Sarasota vacation home for $1.2 million in 2019. Since then, Roger Marshall held active fishing licenses in Florida until May, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission records.

His wife, Laina Marshall, held a Florida real estate license from 2021 to 2023 and currently has an application for another pending, according to records from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Her main address is listed on the application as the Marshalls’ Florida home. It is unclear whether she brokered any real estate transactions.

When the Marshalls sold their Great Bend home, the deed was notarized in Sarasota on Jan. 13, 2021, while Congress was on a weeklong break.

The family appears to own more valuable assets in Florida than Kansas, paying roughly five times as much in property taxes in the Sunshine state than the Sunflower state during Marshall’s time in the U.S. Senate, according to county property records in both states.

Marshall has claimed the rural Stafford County house as his home base for years, while voting records show his ballot is mailed to a P.O. Box that is also used as his official campaign committee mailing address. He also used his old Great Bend address on candidate filings until Sept. 11, when he changed it to the Stafford County address, according to Federal Election Commission records.

After initially acknowledging Kansas Reflector’s detailed list of questions, a spokesperson for Marshall’s campaign did not respond to questions about Marshall’s primary residence, personal travel to Florida and his wife’s real estate dealings.

“I only wish I had a home in Florida,” Marshall told reporters in August, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.

He told the state fair crowd Saturday: “You’ll be glad to know it was struck by two hurricanes and has been uninhabitable for two years.”

The home is mostly rebuilt and on the market for $1.45 million, according to a real estate listing.

He said he used the home to visit his grandchildren, who live in the area.

“I don’t think anybody in Kansas would hold it against somebody for wanting to go visit their grandchildren,” Marshall said.

Members of the crowd heckled Marshall throughout his explanation, and a chant swelled from the bleachers.

“You don’t live here,” the crowd shouted like they were in a basketball arena.

Hamilton encouraged Marshall to “spend all the time you can in Florida with your grandkids,”

Even after the hurricanes’ destruction, Marshall’s ties have remained in Sarasota. He hosted a “Sarasota retreat” fundraiser in conjunction with his own political action committees and the Kansas Republican Party in 2024 and 2025. Politico in 2025 published the invitation to the second annual retreat at the St. Regis Longboat Key Resort.

Janette and Stan Gray, a couple from Paola who own an internet company that serves rural areas of Kansas and Missouri, said Marshall’s time in Florida won’t factor into their vote for him in November.

“Come wintertime, anybody that’s smart and has the money heads south,” said Stan Gray, 61.

Janette Gray, 54, said she would “probably do the same” as Marshall.

The couple attended a campaign rally Monday in Olathe, where Vice President JD Vance and half of Kansas’ congressional delegation stumped for Marshall.

Stan Gray said it has remained apparent that Marshall is from Kansas.

“He still is from here,” he said. “You don’t leave Kansas. You just spend some time away from the cold.”

Reporting by the Kansas City Star revealed Marshall took official trips from Washington, D.C., to Sarasota, spending more than $18,000 in taxpayer funds from 2021 to 2024. The trips reportedly stopped after a hurricane destroyed the area. It is unlawful for a senator to use taxpayer money for personal travel.

Marshall has criticized Hamilton for owning four homes. Hamilton is registered to vote in Stilwell, where he said he and his wife live. He also owns a lakefront vacation property in the Missouri Ozarks and two additional houses, which he said he bought for his adult daughters, in Lawrence and Kansas City. The Hamiltons’ trust has owned the Climax Springs home since 2012, according to Camden County property records.

Tyson Brody, a spokesperson for Hamilton’s campaign said Marshall’s ties to Florida “are more evidence Marshall abandoned Kansas, doesn’t care, and simply isn’t doing his job.”

“Kansans have taken note of his absence and deserve to know what exactly the ‘official business’ was that cost them $20,000 for routine trips to his home in Florida,” he said.

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.

---

### US military chaos as AI chatbot 'almost started a war' inventing nuclear smuggling threat

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Tom Boggioni | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/penatgon-ai-war-china/.md

A chatbot's bad guess about a cargo ship nearly dragged the U.S. into a shooting war with China this spring, CNN exclusively reported on Friday.

A U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific analyst asked an AI chatbot to analyze a Chinese vessel's manifest in the Middle East amid the war with Iran, four sources familiar with the episode told CNN's Katie Bo Lillis and Zachary Cohen, who added the bot "fused together open-source intelligence with secret signals intelligence in government holdings" to wrongly conclude the ship was "hauling components" for a nuclear weapons program. The analyst then used AI again to package the finding into "a standard intelligence report" that was sent up the chain of command.

According to the report, "The US military swung into action with plans to intercept the vessel, according to four sources familiar with the episode. According to two of the sources, armed members of the US military were preparing to board the ship. Military planes were in the air, one of those sources and another source familiar with the incident said. It was only just before the planned operation that officials dug deeper into the report put together by a special operations command analyst and found it had been generated with the help of artificial intelligence (AI)."

"Entirely false," one source called it before admitting to CNN that it "almost started a war," since any U.S. assault on a Chinese ship carried the possibility of retaliation.

The scare comes as the Pentagon races to embed AI into everything from targeting to logistics, following Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's January push to "unleash experimentation" and arm three million personnel with AI tools.

Critics say the technology remains dangerously unready, with a top Army cyber general recently warning AI has caused a "tenfold" spike in vulnerabilities across the Pentagon's aging networks. Insiders have described a Pentagon under Hegseth already gripped by dysfunction.

Special Operations Command Pacific and the Pentagon declined to comment when pressed by CNN.

---

### 'Unspeakably pathetic': White House fried for weird Wendy's humblebrag

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Erik De La Garza | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/trump-fast-food-2677886490/.md

The White House took a bizarre victory lap after Wendy’s this week announced the return of its iconic yellow packaging — even though the fast-food chain credited fans of the 90s-era bright color, not President Donald Trump.

Pop culture account Pop Crave shared the news on X alongside a photograph of a Wendy’s burger, fries, and drink displayed in the throwback design.

“Thank you, President Trump!!!!!” the official White House account replied, without explaining what the president had to do with the company’s decision.

The post quickly left users confused.

"Unspeakably pathetic," replied independent journalist Aaron Rupar.

“You will NOT believe what this is in response to,” internet personality Sheel Mohnot wrote Friday.

“Wild post from the White House,” X user Jay D3po told his over 50,000 followers.

“I don’t even know anymore man,” another user, QuoProQuid, posted.

Wendy’s offered a different explanation for the packaging revival that had nothing to do with Trump.

“Fans have been asking for its return for years, making it one of the most requested comebacks in Wendy’s history,” a company spokesperson told Today.com. “Yellow has been part of Wendy’s since the very beginning and is something many fans instantly recognize.”

The return is scheduled to begin later this month, but customers will reportedly have only through early 2027 to time-warp back to the old-school fast-food packaging.

Thank you, President Trump!!!!!
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 17, 2026

---

### 'Tell me if it's real': White House bigwig accused of perfecting his look with 'paste'

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** David Edwards | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/el-sayed-vance-beard/.md

After weeks of attacking Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee, a White House bigwig has been accused by the candidate of using paste to complete his look.

Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for an open Senate seat in Michigan, levied a fake-beard accusation at Vice President JD Vance during an interview with TMZ reporter Jacob Wasserman posted Friday on X. The Democratic candidate faces Republican Mike Rogers in November in a contest that could decide which party controls the Senate.

El-Sayed brought up the vice president while describing the Democratic candidates he is campaigning alongside this fall, according to the video.

"Ohio, JD Vance, amped up on TRT with a beard that, you know — I don't know," El-Sayed said. "Frankly, somebody should tell me if it's real."

TRT stands for testosterone replacement therapy, a hormone treatment that raises testosterone levels. El-Sayed offered no evidence in the interview that Vance uses it.

"If I actually met him, I'd be like, all right, let's just actually see," El-Sayed said. "How much paste did you have to put on your face to get that little beard?"

"At least mine — what you see is what you get," he said of his own beard.

"If he thinks that my beard is somehow indicative of my strength, I'm happy to invite him to any weight room in any place," El-Sayed said. "We could do it in D.C., and let's see."

"I'd love to see him on a bench. I'd love to see him on a squat," he continued. "I'd love to understand if he's as strong as he likes to pretend."

"A bench-off. I'd be there," Wasserman replied.

"You went to Ohio State. Didn't even know how to handle the trophy when you had to pick it up," El-Sayed said, addressing Vance directly.

"And now you're on what? Like, juiced up on TRT," he said. "I'm all natural, bro."

Vance kicked off the feud over facial hair on Tuesday with a TikTok video attacking El-Sayed's beard, HuffPost reported.

"So I heard in the state of Michigan they have outlawed patchy beards," Vance said in the clip, climbing into what appears to be a police truck. "Get in, patriots. We're going to arrest Abdul El-Sayed."

Vance has joked before that he "hates good-looking guys with beards," according to HuffPost. In those remarks, he said such men make him feel "jealous."

In additional remarks on Tuesday, Vance urged House Republicans to campaign against El-Sayed instead of focusing on less controversial Democrats.

"He's got enough material for the whole country," Vance said, according to NBC News.

The two have traded personal attacks since last month, when Vance focused on El-Sayed's Muslim identity during a speech at an Ohio steel plant, and El-Sayed responded by invoking the vice president's wife, according to HuffPost.

"My issue with you is not your beard, as much as you wanna make it about my beard," El-Sayed told TMZ on Friday.

"My issue with you is that you are out here riding policy that you know is stupid," he explained. "You know the tariff war is stupid. You know the Iran war is stupid."

"And then you try to act the tough guy, because you can't be a tough guy to the actual boss, because you're afraid of him," El-Sayed said.

---

### ‘It hurts us’: GOP strategist fumes over ‘unforced error’ as party faces ‘historic loss’

**Published:** September 18, 2026 | **Author:** Erik De La Garza | **Section:** General  
**URL:** https://www.rawstory.com/midterm-elections-2026-2677885939/.md

A veteran Republican strategist is sounding the alarm over what he views as a costly, self-inflicted wound threatening the GOP just weeks before the crucial midterm elections.

“It’s frustrating to see some of these comments,” Brendan Steinhauser, who managed former Sen. John Cornyn’s 2014 reelection campaign, told Newsweek. “Because I think it hurts us.”

Steinhauser was reacting to the Texas GOP's Railroad Commission nominee Bo French’s viral online post showing South Asian students celebrating a University of Texas football victory. French suggested the image showed “foreigners” in place of Texans at the university.

Steinhauser said French was creating “extra headwinds that are unnecessary” for Republicans just weeks before the election.

“The picture posted at UT Austin, that caused all the controversy, that was just an unforced error,” Steinhauser told the outlet. “So like, what are you doing? You know, there’s no sense in that.”

The firestorm in Texas comes as Republicans confront unexpectedly competitive races in a ruby red state where Democrats have not won a statewide election since 1994.

One new poll shows Democratic state Rep. James Talarico leading MAGA favorite Ken Paxton 49% to 43% in the Senate race, while Democrat Gina Hinojosa leads Republican Gov. Greg Abbott 49% to 45%, Newsweek reported Friday.

Political reporter Jacob Rubashkin called the numbers "absolutely brutal for Republicans" and warned they could lead to a "generational wipeout" if they hold through Election Day, according to the outlet.

Steinhauser said Republicans may still prevail, but acknowledged that Democrats now have a genuine opening.

“Although Republicans still might win in the end, it could be very close,” he said. “And it is at least a possibility that the Democrats could win.”


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