Chris Rufo — Known For ‘DEI’ and ‘CRT’ Panics — Tries to Make ‘the Indian Question’ a Thing  —  Rufo often gets treated as a “respectable” conservative.  His latest podcast episode — framing Indian-Americans as a problem in need of solving — is more evidence that he shouldn't be.

The reverend's run  —  With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner  —  Good Friday morning.  We're kicking off today with some nastygrams you won't want to miss.  Read on, and get in touch.  —  FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) lashed out in private texts …

US adds disappointing 29,000 jobs and unemployment ticks up to 4.2% in September  —  U.S. employers added a disappointing 29,000 jobs and the unemployment rate ticked up last month, the government reported Friday, a month before voters go to the polls in pivotal midterm elections …

Who was behind a $250K mystery donation to super PAC backing Ken Paxton?  —  Last year, a super PAC supporting Texas Senate hopeful Ken Paxton received a $250,000 donation from a man calling himself “Paul McLaren,” a supposed “entrepreneur” living in Plano, Texas.

Trump Tourism Effects  —  In the past day or two on social media I kept seeing this graph from a Semafor story on the declining volume of international visitors to the United States.  —  It seems to show, and was being remarked on as showing, that the second Trump administration …

Democrats put $3.4M behind Susan Collins allegations  —  The Democrats' main Senate super PAC is turning an explosive ProPublica investigation into Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) into a 30-second, $3.4 million attack campaign in one of the closest Senate races of the midterms.

Hochul Names Letitia James as Special Prosecutor in Cornell Case  —  Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed the New York State attorney general to investigate allegations by a former Cornell University student that several men sexually assaulted her.  —  Gov. Kathy Hochul has named Letitia James …

Trump Says Europe Has Agreed to Release Diesel Reserves ‘Immediately’  —  He didn't say which countries were releasing reserves or at what volumes.  — Copy  —  President Donald Trump said Friday that Europe has agreed to release some of its diesel reserves “immediately,” …

Top GOP group pauses Senate spending in N.C., goes up in Kansas  —  Senate Republicans' top super PAC is making a tactical change, pausing its ad campaign in North Carolina's Senate race and launching a new one in Kansas.  —  Senate Leadership Fund is plowing seven figures into Kansas …

JD Vance Says Black, Socialist Candidate for Senate Doesn't ‘Belong in America’  —  A New Chapter in Vance's Effort to Police Who's American  —  JD Vance visited Florida yesterday, stumping for candidates in races that for a few cycles have been safely red.

MAGA podcaster Benny Johnson sued for defamation over ICE ride-along videos calling protesters ‘terrorists’  —  Johnson accompanied top DHS officials last year to an ICE protest, where he pointed out “left-wing terrorists” for his millions of followers across social media.

US deploys thousands of troops to Middle East as Donald Trump weighs strikes on Iran  —  Aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt expected to arrive in the region by the end of November, a US official says  —  The US is deploying seven additional warships to the Middle East carrying at least 9,000 troops …

White House Officials Told the DOJ to Delay Action on Abortion Ahead of the Midterms  —  The White House has instructed the Justice Department to move slowly on any abortion-related actions ahead of the midterm elections, The Washington Sun has learned.  —  In a series of discussions …

“Strange bedfellows”: Bernie Sanders, Florida Dems and a benchmark $250k donation … It's a relative pittance in the Sunshine State — but the check signals a big political shift. … But political changes and financial need have brought the two together like never before:

A “Who You Gonna Believe?”  Election  —  If you're arguing, you're losing.  Trump is arguing.  —  They're still doing it!  Click on any White House press release and the image above pops up.  The tone-deafness is almost surreal.  Even if you're a Trump loyalist who really believes …

Friday (10/2) News Roundup: Trump “Is Not Well”; Russ Vought, “Shadow President”; Hegseth Needs to Be Impeached ASAP  —  DOJ “Trying to Recast Richard Nixon as the Victim of Watergate”; National outrage over Cornell rape case, barbaric botched execution  —  Here are a few international …

MLB drops proposal to host a baseball game at Grand Teton National Park  —  After The Washington Post reported on the proposal, local leaders sent letters to the Trump administration and the MLB commissioner expressing strong opposition.  —  SummaryLoading...

How The GOP's Signature Law Is Fueling One Of Its Biggest Political Problems  —  Republicans are scrambling to deal with a data center boom they cheered on not long ago.  —  WASHINGTON — When Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year, they knew Democrats would hit …

Not To Alarm You, But Trump's Brain Is Melted  —  Just how bad has Donald Trump's leadership been for the Kennedy Center's financial health?  CNN reports that, after Trump slapped his name on the building late last year, donation pledges plunged more than 100 percent compared to the previous three-month period.

The mendaciousness of the latest DOJ attack on judges  —  Ahead of PN's 5th anniversary next week, we're offering paid subscriptions at the special yearly rate of $40 (or about 16¢ per edition).  This newsletter is only possible thanks to the support of paid subscribers.

Who's calling for the Trump administration to send federal agents to polling places?  —  Right-wing media personalities have pushed for the Trump administration to send federal agents and the military to polling places and interfere with vote counting, but voting rights groups are pushing back

Here's Who Democrats Want to Impeach Next  —  As Democrats have grown more hopeful that they might win control of the U.S. Senate, congressional investigators have gathered regularly in a conference room in the office of Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, who is on track to lead the body's key oversight committee if they do.

Amid rising diesel prices, Republicans turn against Trump for first time on handling inflation  —  It's election season.  Here's my pitch to you to support this work with a paid subscription.  —  The next four weeks are like an extended Super Bowl for election analysts.

Is There Anything Kash Patel Won't Do for Trump Before the Midterms?  —  Earlier this year, FBI Director Kash Patel vowed before God, Fox Nation, and Donald Trump that he would punish the “deep state” for its manifold transgressions, especially the (actually nonexistent) conspiracy to steal the 2020 election.

Democrats regain ground on voter registration in key states after steep post-2024 drops  —  An NBC News Decision Desk analysis of voter file data in seven states found that Democrats managed to reverse or slow their registration decline over the past year.  —  After having suffered massive …

How Local Police Get Paid Big Money for Just a Few Immigration Arrests  —  Department of Homeland Security gives local agencies as much as $2 million for each arrest in a nationwide task force  —  Doddridge County Sheriff Clinton Boring committed his department to work on behalf …

Michael Lewis on the Lone Security Guard Who Resisted DOGE  —  In an exclusive excerpt from ‘Blockers,’ the inside story of the high-stakes D.C. standoff where security chief Colin O'Brien fought off DOGE operatives.  —  COLIN O'BRIEN was the chief security officer at the United States Institute of Peace.