Top Items:
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.
RELATED:
New York Times:
How a Planned Steel Mill in Iowa Reveals Trump's Midterm Strategy — As President Trump travels the country, he is expected to focus on his economic accomplishments at a time when Americans have expressed deep frustration with his policies. — President Trump, staring down a rough midterm season …
Discussion:
USA Today, The Hill, The Independent, Breitbart, Deseret News, The White House, NewsMax.com, Radio Iowa, Al Jazeera, Washington Examiner, MPR News, The Guardian, Bloomberg, Politico and CBS News
Politico:
‘On a scale of 1 to 10, 10’: Trump's midterm travel schedule underscores GOP troubles — President Donald Trump intends to spend the next 30 days campaigning for Republicans, many of whom are underwater in states the president easily carried two years ago. — Bastions of conservatism …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, PoliticusUSA, NewsMax.com and No More Mister Nice Blog
Emily Davies / New York Times:
In Ohio, a Humbling Question for Senator Jon Husted: Are You the Incumbent?
Discussion:
Politico, Forbes, Newsweek, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Hill, Sherrod Brown and Washington Post
E.J. Dionne Jr / New York Times:
Kansas Hasn't Elected a Democratic Senator Since 1932. Is This the Year?
Kansas Hasn't Elected a Democratic Senator Since 1932. Is This the Year?
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Breitbart
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
Kristen Holmes / CNN:
Trump personally helped orchestrate taxpayer-funded ads promoting himself and his policies, source says — President Donald Trump has personally driven the controversial, taxpayer-funded video ads promoting himself and his administration's policies, including helping select the imagery and videos used …
Discussion:
CBS News, Politico, The Independent, ABC News, Robert Reich, The Hill, Mediaite, New York Magazine, Time, Daily Kos, Mother Jones and Washington Post
RELATED:
Ali Swenson / Associated Press:
Taxpayers have funded nearly $1.5M in pro-Trump ads. Criticism is mounting, including from the GOP — The White House has spent days fiercely defending three taxpayer-funded advertisements that glorify President Donald Trump and are nearing at least $1.5 million in public spending …
Discussion:
MS NOW, Los Angeles Times, Vox, The Hill, Politico, Truthout, Washington Examiner, PolitiFact and Executive Functions
Will Saletan / The Bulwark:
Congratulations, You're a Trump Campaign Donor
Congratulations, You're a Trump Campaign Donor
Discussion:
The Message Box, Bloomberg, MS NOW, The Dean's Report, Military.com, The Independent, Deadline, Reason and NBC News
Morgan Phillips / Fox News:
EXCLUSIVE: Hegseth to double cuts to generals, admirals in major Pentagon shakeup — The War Secretary's State of the Force address doubles last year's 10% reduction target, with changes due by Jan. 1, 2027 — War Secretary Pete Hegseth will announce plans to reduce by 20% the number …
Discussion:
RedState and The Post Millennial
RELATED:
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.
Asher Price / Axios:
How Paxton vs. Talarico compares to Cruz vs. O'Rourke … The similarities … Talarico, a state legislator from Austin, was relatively unknown outside of Central Texas before he launched his Senate bid. — Cruz first won election to the Senate as a tea party insurgent who defeated a better-funded …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner
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.
Rebecca Beitsch / The Hill:
Jack Smith stresses strength of Trump cases, says he will not be ‘silenced’ by threats — Former special counsel Jack Smith stressed in prepared remarks that it was the evidence tied to President Trump's own actions that prompted him to bring charges against Trump.
Discussion:
Washington Post, New York Post, Associated Press, Washington Examiner, CBS News, RedState, Straight Arrow and The Daily Wire
RELATED:
Lisa Song / ProPublica:
“A Massive Power Grab”: White House Proposal Threatens Funding That Helps Disabled Americans Vote — Without Amy Miller, some elderly and disabled people wouldn't be able to vote. — The attorney for Disability Rights Nebraska travels the state, investigating the quality of nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
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).
Jamie Grierson / The Guardian:
Rubio says foreign actor was ‘clearly’ behind suspected RAF Fairford plot — US secretary of state, who offered no evidence for claims, also says many people ‘disturbed’ that five suspects released on bail — A counter-terrorism operation near RAF Fairford in the UK was mired in confusion …
Jonathan Edwards / Washington Post:
GOP senator blocks bill to stop Trump from demolishing Kennedy Center — The bipartisan effort to ban the demolition of presidential memorials was thwarted in the Senate by an objection from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). — Loading... A bipartisan effort to ban the demolition of presidential memorials …
Discussion:
The Guardian, Washington Examiner, The Washington Sun, Merkley and New Republic
Sarah N. Lynch / CBS News:
Top FBI official Andrew Bailey, who was once widely seen as Patel successor, resigns — Andrew Bailey, FBI co-deputy director who was once widely viewed as a potential successor to FBI Director Kash Patel, is resigning, he announced Monday. — His resignation takes effect Oct. 2, multiple sources said.
Discussion:
Wonkette, Townhall, MeidasTouch, MS NOW, Kansas City Star, The Daily Wire, Wall Street Journal, Straight Arrow, One America News Network, New York Post, Fox News, RedState, The Washington Sun, Washington Examiner, Axios, NewsMax.com, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Mail, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, New York Times, New Republic, Mediaite and Politico
Jonathan Bernstein / Good Politics/Bad Politics:
What's Gone Wrong For the GOP — And some speculation about why. — A two-part item today: I'm looking again at the state of the election, focused this time mainly on the Senate, and then shifting to some first thoughts about why things have gone so badly so far for Republicans.
Discussion:
The Hill
Washington Post:
How Trump's sweeping changes are remaking Washington — June 3, 2025. Sept. 1, 2026. — President Donald Trump has focused on remaking Washington in his second term, from blades of grass on the White House lawn to new monuments around the city. — He regularly directs the presidential helicopter …
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 …
The Texas Tribune:
ICE agent who shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston identified — The federal government has withheld his identification, even as major state and local law enforcement agencies across the country typically identify officers involved in shootings on the job soon after the incident.
Max Rego / The Hill:
Trump administration ban on $1B in Canadian imports goes into effect — President Trump's ban on nearly $1 billion worth of Canadian goods went into effect Tuesday, marking the latest salvo in a trade war between the U.S. and its longtime ally to the north.
Discussion:
New York Times, Associated Press, Washington Examiner, Canadian Press and The Independent
Washington Post:
Tennessee to execute a woman for first time in over 200 years — Christa Pike was convicted in a brutal 1995 killing committed when she was 18. Advocates pushing for her life to be spared point to abuse she suffered as a child. — SummaryLoading... A Tennessee woman scheduled …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Straight Arrow, The Guardian, TMZ.com, NBC News, Associated Press and New York Times
Damian Paletta / Wall Street Journal:
Here's What Could Happen if Democrats Win in November — Plus, RFK Jr.'s plan to get Americans to eat healthily hits White House resistance, and Iran is losing its leverage over the Strait of Hormuz — Good morning. This is the second in a two-part series where we explore what could happen …
Philip Wegmann / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Administration Launches AI Tool Aimed at Streamlining Government Online Services — America.gov website will test the administration's ambitions to improve online experience for citizens — WASHINGTON—The Trump administration has built a tool powered by artificial intelligence …
Discussion:
CNBC, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, The Hill, The White House, Straight Arrow, Newsweek and The Gateway Pundit, more at Techmeme »
Matt Ott / Associated Press:
Americans Are Growing More Pessimistic About the Economy — Americans' confidence in the economy sank to the lowest level in more than a decade this month as prices remain elevated and wages stagnate amid the ongoing Iran war. — The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence …
Discussion:
WTOP News
Echo Wang / Reuters:
Anthropic's IPO prospectus shows sweeping AI vision, surging costs — Anthropic is making a massive bet that AI will transform the global economy more profoundly than industrialization, electricity and the internet, according to its IPO prospectus seen by Reuters. — But the cost to get there will be staggering.
Discussion:
Financial Times, The Register, The Guardian, The Information, The Verge, TechCrunch, Blue Virginia and Semafor, more at Techmeme »
José Olivares / The Guardian:
Three deaths, three states, 24 hours: one day in ICE's quiet but ‘gruesome’ surge — These men in Maine, Georgia and Florida shared no ties - until they became casualties in the latest phase of Trump's anti-immigration campaign — It was 7am on 13 July this year.
Amber Neely / AppleInsider:
Unsurprisingly, Meta's new Muse AI agent blatantly ignores users permissions — In a completely unsurprising turn of events, Meta's Muse AI is stealing Apple Messages, past and present, and uploading the contents to its cloud, even if explicitly told not to.
Discussion:
Gizmodo
Washington Post:
DOJ probe into Trump foes sees another prominent departure — Kurt Olsen, who previously worked as Trump's election security czar, left the so-called “grand conspiracy” investigation Monday. — SummaryLoading... Another prominent Trump loyalist working on a wide-ranging conspiracy investigation …
Discussion:
MS NOW, CBS News, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, Daily Mail, The Independent, Associated Press and Mediaite
Maxwell Zeff / Wall Street Journal:
OpenAI Scraps Release of New AI Model Over Safety Concerns — Model dubbed GPT-6.1 Astra was due to make its debut inside ChatGPT and Codex in October — OpenAI says it is scrapping the release of its next-generation AI model over safety concerns that researchers raised during internal testing …
Discussion:
The Hill, Wired, The Register, New York Times, Associated Press, CNBC, RedState, Reuters, NewsMax.com, CBS News, The Wrap, Al Jazeera, Gizmodo, The Information, TechCrunch and Washington Examiner, more at Techmeme »
Politico:
Cotton calls for review after F-35 parts vanish — Sen. Tom Cotton is pushing the Pentagon to review military equipment shipping after sensitive F-35 components were diverted to Hong Kong early this summer — the first formal indication that a senior Republican is concerned about the incident.
Discussion:
Bloomberg and NewsMax.com
Michael Levin / Washington Examiner:
Kick the UN out of New York — and build a museum of socialism in its place — The U.N. General Assembly adjourned Friday, leaving behind a trail of unpaid parking tickets, untipped maitre D's, and the stench of its deeply venomous hatred for the United States and our allies. — It's nothing new.
Perry Bacon / New Republic:
Why Democrats Should Stop Using the Phrase “Culture Wars” — Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, who is surprisingly close in polls against Republican incumbent Greg Abbott, attributes that strong standing to her campaign strategy. She says her secret sauce is avoiding the “culture wars.”
Discussion:
The Washington Sun and HotAir
Mazie McNamara / NonStop Local Montana:
Montana Senate race: Kurt Alme tops Bodnar and Bankhead in new poll findings — HELENA, Mont. - A new poll commissioned through NonStop Local shows Republican candidate Kurt Alme with a sizable lead for the race for the US Senate seat being vacated by Senator Steve Daines.

