Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
Homeland Security Money Financed Pro-Trump Television Ads — White House calls the spots public-service ads, but critics argue using taxpayer money for campaign-like messaging may violate federal law — WASHINGTON—The Trump administration used federal funds from the Department …
RELATED:
Alex Isenstadt / Axios:
Scoop: Trump's hand-picked, taxpayer-funded ads about to ramp up … - “This is just the beginning,” an administration official told Axios. … - The ads are being produced inside the White House. — Trump liked videos the White House digital team — which regularly churns out aggressive …
Discussion:
MS NOW, CNN, The Independent, Associated Press, Time, Vox and PolitiFact
Kristen Holmes / CNN:
Trump personally helped orchestrate taxpayer-funded ads promoting himself and his policies, source says
Associated Press:
Homeland Security taps $20M in taxpayer funds for pro-Trump ads
Homeland Security taps $20M in taxpayer funds for pro-Trump ads
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Roll Call, The Hill, The Independent and HuffPost
Will Saletan / The Bulwark:
Congratulations, You're a Trump Campaign Donor
Congratulations, You're a Trump Campaign Donor
Discussion:
MS NOW, Rolling Stone, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Message Box, The Dean's Report, Military.com, Deadline and NBC News
Politico:
Sen. Eric Schmitt pins down Jack Smith — as a Caitlin Clark fan — Sen. Eric Schmitt thought he caught Jack Smith in a lie. Instead, he outed him as a fan of former Iowa Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark. In a quest to frame former special counsel Jack Smith as a liar during his testimony …
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Melissa Quinn / CBS News:
Jack Smith defends handling of Trump probes at heated Senate hearing — What to know about the Jack Smith hearing today: — Jack Smith, the former special counsel who led two prosecutions of President Trump, defended his handling of those probes during a Senate hearing that grew contentious at several points on Tuesday.
Discussion:
Fox News, The Washington Sun, NBC News, Roll Call, Associated Press, Mediaite, RedState, The Hill, National Politics, New Republic and Breitbart
Molly Parks / Washington Examiner:
Grassley says Smith subpoenaed nearly 5,000 checks from Trump donors as part of Arctic Frost
Discussion:
United States Senate Committee …, twitchy.com, American Greatness, RedState, The Daily Wire, Mediaite and The Federalist
NBC News:
Senate GOP to press Jack Smith on Trump Jan. 6 probe as DOJ targets investigators
Senate GOP to press Jack Smith on Trump Jan. 6 probe as DOJ targets investigators
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, The Hill, abc7NY, Blaze Media, Bloomberg, Deseret News, The Daily Caller, Newsweek, Scripps News, National Politics and Mediaite
Rebecca Beitsch / The Hill:
Jack Smith stresses strength of Trump cases, says he will not be ‘silenced’ by threats
Jack Smith stresses strength of Trump cases, says he will not be ‘silenced’ by threats
Chris Marquette / Politico:
Darline Graham rips Jack Smith for obtaining her late brother's phone records
Darline Graham rips Jack Smith for obtaining her late brother's phone records
Discussion:
CBS News
Axios:
“Brace for losing everything”: Farm crisis fears grip GOP in Iowa — Iowa is on the verge of a farm crisis that threatens to wreck the agricultural heart of the state and hurt the fortunes of Republicans at the top of the midterm ticket, GOP strategists acknowledge.
Discussion:
MS NOW and Mother Jones
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Collin Binkley / Associated Press:
Trump announces a new $15B Iowa steel plant and claims it will be the nation's biggest
Discussion:
CNBC, The Post Millennial, Iowa Starting Line, One America News Network, NewsMax.com, American Greatness, NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT, The Independent, New Republic, Associated Press, Breitbart, Deseret News, Radio Iowa, Mediaite, Al Jazeera, Washington Examiner, MPR News, National Politics, The Hill, Newsweek, New York Post, Bloomberg, Reuters, Daily Mail, American Iron …, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Fox News and Politico
Politico:
‘On a scale of 1 to 10, 10’: Trump's midterm travel schedule underscores GOP troubles
‘On a scale of 1 to 10, 10’: Trump's midterm travel schedule underscores GOP troubles
Discussion:
New York Magazine, MS NOW, CNN, Daily Kos, PoliticusUSA, NewsMax.com and No More Mister Nice Blog
Paul Krugman:
The Beclowning of Scott Bessent — One iron law of current politics is that nobody who associates themselves with Donald Trump emerges with a shred of credibility. For some, that's not a big loss — it's not as if anyone respected Pete Hegseth even before he decided that the key …
Discussion:
NewsMax.com and Townhall
Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
Supreme Court allows Trump's ‘third country’ deportation policy — This is the second time the court has rejected lower court rulings that immigrants must be able to object before being sent to countries to which they have no previous connection. — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday …
Discussion:
New York Times, CBS News, CNN, Washington Examiner, The Gateway Pundit and Reuters
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Lindsay Whitehurst / Associated Press:
Supreme Court lets quick deportations to third countries resume for now while it weighs Trump policy — The Supreme Court on Tuesday let President Donald Trump's administration continue deporting people to countries other than their own for now, while the justices consider whether the policy is legal.
Discussion:
Axios, Bloomberg, The Hill, Reuters, The Washington Sun, MS NOW, Politico, NPR, SCOTUSblog, Courthouse News Service, The Daily Wire, The Intercept and Law.com
Politico:
Navarro warns Canada against election interference — White House trade adviser Peter Navarro warned Canadians not to interfere in U.S. elections, a rhetorical escalation in the ongoing trade war between the two countries. — At an economic event hosted by a communications and policy firm …
Discussion:
NewsMax.com
RELATED:
Joe Deaux / Bloomberg:
Navarro Tells Canadian Lobbyists to ‘Get the Hell Out’ of US
Discussion:
New York Times and Mediaite
Chrystia Freeland / The Atlantic:
The Art of Dealing With Trump
The Art of Dealing With Trump
Discussion:
Al Jazeera, Global News, Deseret News and Breitbart
Filip Timotija / The Hill:
Hegseth to cut 20 percent of admirals, generals in major Pentagon overhaul — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to announce a 20 percent cut to slots slated for admirals and generals at the Pentagon as part of his push to overhaul the outlook of the department, a Pentagon official confirmed to The Hill on Tuesday.
Discussion:
NewsMax.com
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Jay Willis / Slate:
It Was the Essential Home of Supreme Court News. Now It's a Joke. What Happened? — Earlier this month, SCOTUSblog hosted its annual Supreme Court “summit” in Washington. For nearly a quarter century, SCOTUSblog has been the go-to outlet for information about the court and its docket …
Jim VandeHei / Axios:
Sen. Eric Schmitt is drawing buzz as a possible Vance VP in 2028 — First-term Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) — who was a tough-on-crime state attorney general, and now is vice chair of the Joint Economic Committee — has grown close to Vice President Vance and is seen as a top prospect to become a potential 2028 running mate.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, MeidasTouch, New York Magazine, MS NOW, The Daily Caller, HuffPost, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Washington Examiner, Mediaite and NewsMax.com
Sara Dorn / Forbes:
Trump Says He Sees A Lot Of ‘Self-Policing’ In AI After Execs Signed ‘Constitution’ — Topline — President Donald Trump said billionaire artificial intelligence executives agreed at a White House meeting Tuesday that the industry needs “tremendous self-regulation,” but stopped short …
Discussion:
New York Post and NewsMax.com, more at Techmeme »
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Edward Luce / Financial Times:
A Republican midterm defeat will not be an earthquake — Democrats are likely to make gains in Congress but divided government is unlikely to derail Trump's agenda — America is at a point in its political cycle where phrases like “groundswell” and “wheels coming off” engulf us in historic waves.
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Will McDuffie / MS NOW:
A Kansas Democrat's red-state pitch: A two-term limit and no Trump trials
A Kansas Democrat's red-state pitch: A two-term limit and no Trump trials
Discussion:
New York Times, Breitbart and Reuters
Simon Shuster / The Atlantic:
Trump's Latest Appeal to Russia Could Outrage Even His Allies — Trump's envoy wants to trade Russian political prisoners for U.S. sanctions relief, creating a path to business deals before the war in Ukraine ends. — A few months ago, Donald Trump's envoy to Eastern Europe came …
Discussion:
Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Bloomberg and The White House
Matt Gertz / Media Matters for America:
Fox News is running its midterms migrant caravan playbook again — President Donald Trump's extreme unpopularity has the Republican Party seemingly on course for a midterm elections drubbing — which means it's once again time for Fox News to try to scare its viewers to the polls with frantic coverage of a …
Discussion:
PJ Media, Breitbart, NewsMax.com, Fox News, HotAir, Daily Kos, Townhall and The Post Millennial
RELATED:
Nikki McCann Ramirez / Rolling Stone:
Surprise! Republicans Found a Migrant Caravan Just in Time for the Midterms
Surprise! Republicans Found a Migrant Caravan Just in Time for the Midterms
Discussion:
The Hill, Townhall, Breitbart, The Maine Wire, Houston Public Media, The Gateway Pundit, American Greatness and Yahoo News
Wall Street Journal:
Treasury Will Auto-Enroll 60 Million Children in Trump Accounts — New rules also ease path for wealthy donors to contribute stock — The Treasury Department will automatically enroll tens of millions of children in the government's new Trump Accounts as soon as this week …
Discussion:
NewsMax.com and The Hill
RELATED:
David Gilbert / Wired:
A Pentagon Influencer Called Liberal Women a ‘Pestilence’ Who Will End Western Civilization — Kurt Schlichter was part of a task force rooting out so-called woke ideologies at the military's war colleges. He has called to bar childless adults from voting.
Jenna Monnin / The Washington Sun:
Lone Republican Senator Derails a Bill to Prevent Demolition of the Kennedy Center — Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) blocked a bipartisan bill that would have prohibited the destruction of any national memorial honoring a U.S. president — a measure meant to protect the Kennedy Center from a full demolition — without congressional approval.
Discussion:
The Guardian, Washington Post, Merkley, Townhall, Deseret News, Washington Examiner and New Republic
Lauren Green / Washington Examiner:
Huckabee Sanders slammed for ad featuring white man on welfare — Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders's (R-AR) new campaign advertisement has been the subject of backlash on the Right after she released a new ad portraying an unemployed white man as a welfare recipient.
Discussion:
MS NOW, Straight Arrow, New Republic, Fox News, Forbes, Newsweek, The Gateway Pundit, American Thinker, HuffPost, The Daily Caller, The Post Millennial, Mediaite and Rolling Stone
Filip Timotija / The Hill:
Hegseth freezes hiring of civilian tenured faculty at US military academies — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed departments on Tuesday to halt appointments of civilian staff to tenured positions at U.S. military service academies and develop hiring plans that prioritize …
Michael Kunzelman / Associated Press:
Appeals court weighs fate of judge's contempt probe over Trump administration deportation flights — A federal judge must end his “unlawful, unnecessary and futile” contempt investigation into whether the Trump administration ignored an order blocking the deportation of planeloads …
Discussion:
Politico, Talking Points Memo, Courthouse News Service, Newsweek and Talking Feds Substack
Avani Kalra / The Washington Sun:
Senate Democrats Force an Uncomfortable Vote on Health Care Costs — Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic effort on Tuesday to overturn a Trump administration rule they say will make it harder for people to enroll in Affordable Care Act health insurance plans and raise costs for existing participants.
Marist Poll:
Midterm Elections in Ohio, September 2026 — Democrats Lead in Ohio's Senate & Gubernatorial Contests... Impressions of Trump Loom Large — Brown (51%) leads Husted (43%) among registered voters statewide in the race for U.S. Senate in Ohio. Independents break for Brown (58% to 33% for Husted).
Discussion:
Mock Paper Scissors, The Contrarian, Newsweek and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Andrew Day / The American Conservative:
Yes, the Iran War Has Destroyed Trump's Presidency … No one would claim that the Iran War has been a political godsend for President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. But some Israel-First conservatives are willing to say—and lately have been incessantly saying—that the Iran War hasn't been a political scourge.
Quinnipiac University Poll:
Generic Ballot For Control Of U.S. House: Dems 51%, GOP 39%, Dem Party Ahead On Key Issues, Boosted By Independents, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; 71% Prefer Candidates Who Support Stricter AI Guardrails — mail_outline — Five weeks until Election Day …
Discussion:
PoliticusUSA
Jim Wyss / Bloomberg:
Trump Slaps New Banking Restrictions on Cuba's Private Sector — The US is barring banks from working with Cuba's nascent private sector and is further restricting travel to the island, as President Donald Trump's administration presses to end nearly seven decades of one-party rule in the country.
Discussion:
Miami Herald
