‘The vibes are very bad’ in Texas  —  With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner  —  Good Wednesday morning.  We're here in Dallas for the convention — and we're already getting a pulse check around the extravaganza before the speeches kick off.  Get in touch.  —  In today's Playbook ...

Trump administration proposes changes to census that could exclude millions  —  They could also reshape congressional representation and federal funding allocations.  —  Summary  —  Millions of residents could be excluded from the U.S. census, congressional representation could be reshaped …

Trump's PAC Unloads War Chest, With $49 Million Headed to Key Midterm Races  —  A recently created Republican group tied to the president's super PAC is pumping cash into half a dozen key midterm races, with the largest amounts going toward Senate contests in Michigan and Ohio.

Bessent's political turn in GOP speech tests his bond-market credibility … Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's push to calm the bond market is colliding with a more political role, as his planned Republican convention speech raises questions about the credibility he needs to manage U.S. debt markets.

Missouri court opens contempt probe into Republican official over redistricting fight  —  The Missouri Supreme Court has asked Secretary of State Denny Hoskins to respond to claims that he is defying a ruling that bars the state from using a new, GOP-friendly congressional map.

Anthropic insiders warn AI could kill all humans  —  Three Anthropic researchers went public last night with chilling concerns about out-of-control AI, warning it could destroy humans this decade.  — Anthropic AI researcher Jacob Coxon wrote on X, after resigning Tuesday to sound the alarm …

The AP Will Keep Using ‘Lake Ontario’ Despite Trump's Renaming Effort  —  The Associated Press said it will not refer to Lake Ontario as “Lake America” unless it's deemed “relevant,” despite President Donald Trump's executive order to rename the body of water.

Qatari-gifted Air Force One deploys inflatable slide before departing for GOP convention in Texas  —  An emergency inflatable slide on the Qatari-gifted Air Force One was deployed at Joint Base Andrews before President Trump departed for the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday.

Trump's midterm mess collides with a courtroom time crunch … - President Trump insists his push to reform America's elections will protect the sanctity of votes. … - It comes as Trump has spent years spreading unproven claims of widespread voter fraud, fueling a government crackdown that critics say oversteps his power.

“We're the Outliers Here”: UK-Led Sanctions on Israeli Settlements Isolate the US  —  On September 8, the British government banned the import of goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.  —  Eleven other nations—Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway …

60 Posts in 10 Hours: How Trump's Social Media Reflects His Version of Reality  —  With an assist from A.I., President Trump offers a window into how he wants to be seen — and, critics say, a barometer of his mental state.  —  Just before noon on a holiday weekend, while many Americans were at the beach …

Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled.  It's Worse in States With Abortion Bans.  —  The number of women who died after an ectopic pregnancy has spiked in recent years, a ProPublica analysis found.  The mounting deaths in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data have drawn little scrutiny or response.

Trump's Convention Offers an Unusual Fund-Raising Opportunity for Republicans  —  Republicans are hoping to use the Dallas extravaganza as a fund-raising opportunity, with some local parties charging as much as $20,000 to be an “honorary delegate.”  —  President Trump's unusual midterm convention …

Trump Tells Weird Lie About Where He Was on 9/11  —  President Trump took part in the Tunnel to Towers Foundation's Steel Across America tour Tuesday, delivering remarks from the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., in honor of the upcoming 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Anthropic Researcher Quits Over ‘Out-of-Control’ AI Fears  —  Concerns are rising inside AI labs that competition is pushing tech companies to race toward self-improving models that risk spiraling out of human control  —  An Anthropic researcher is quitting the artificial-intelligence industry …

Ballot seizures seemed impossible.  But judges and officials are prepping for them now  —  The idea of federal law enforcement seizing ballots in the middle of an active election would have once been considered impossible.  —  Now, as President Trump continues his unprecedented hunt for voter fraud …

Thousands of overseas voters could be disenfranchised by Trump mail voting rule, advocates warn  —  As they've sought to implement President Donald Trump's executive order attacking mail voting, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) have maintained that the restrictions …

‘Shoot Him!’:  Police Threaten Third-Country Nationals Imprisoned in African Hotel  —  A police officer aimed a loaded assault rifle at unarmed immigrants expelled to Equatorial Guinea by the Trump administration in a chaotic incident on September 3 in which the officer's supervisor ordered him to shoot, multiple cellphone videos show.

Iran attacks US base in Jordan, ships near Hormuz after tankers sunk  —  Iran said on Wednesday it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. sank five Iranian oil tankers, in the biggest declared wave of tit-for-tat attacks on shipping by both sides since the start of the six-month-old war.

Treasury CIO pulled from AI work after upsetting West Wing  —  Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reassigned his chief information officer away from AI policy after the adviser relayed private misgivings over White House policy to AI companies.  —  Sam Corcos, a former DOGE official …

Exclusive: 3 Lindsay Clancy jurors speak out on holdout, prosecution, defense and more  —  “He admitted he had reasonable doubt and I started filling out the forms, I was so excited,” the foreperson of Lindsay Clancy's jury said. … Three jurors from the Lindsay Clancy murder trial …

Trump says he'd consider pardoning Michael Cohen  —  President Trump said Friday he would consider pardoning attorney Michael Cohen, while complaining about how the legal system treated his former fixer.  —  Trump was asked about whether he would pardon Cohen, who was the star witness …

Maine and Michigan Senate races are neck and neck, CNN polls find  —  Election polls Congressional news Senate election US elections  —  The critical Senate contests in both Maine and Michigan feature tight races with no clear leader, according to new CNN polls conducted by SSRS.