Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
Ken Paxton Partied in Dubai With Fugitives Ahead of High-Stakes Texas Senate Race — Trump backed the scandal-plagued Paxton in one of the riskiest bets of the midterms — As President Trump weighed endorsing Ken Paxton over incumbent Texas Sen. John Cornyn this spring …
Discussion:
Forbes, Mediaite, Washington Examiner and HuffPost
RELATED:
Politico:
High on hopium — With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner — Good Tuesday morning. We're exactly three weeks out from Election Day, and early voting begins today in Georgia and Idaho. Get in touch. — In today's Playbook ... — Abdul El-Sayed and Chris Pappas show off Democrats' doubtless demeanor.
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
Billionaire Elon Musk has already funneled at least $366 million into the midterms to try to make sure voters elect Republicans. …
Alex Isenstadt / Axios:
Scoop: Top Trump operative enlisted to rescue Kansas senator's campaign
Scoop: Top Trump operative enlisted to rescue Kansas senator's campaign
Discussion:
Kansas City Star, MS NOW, The Hill, NewsMax.com, Newsweek and The Daily Caller
Nicholas Riccardi / Associated Press:
What to know about the search of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar's home — Federal agents searched Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington, D.C. home on Monday, only three weeks before the frequent target of President Donald Trump's criticism stands for reelection in her congressional district in Minnesota.
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Politico:
GOP readies for an underwhelming lame duck — IN TODAY'S EDITION: — Johnson scrambles leadership outlook — Emmer endorses Trump's raid on Omar — Dems gear up for trade oversight — Republicans' dreams of a productive lame-duck session are dimming.
RELATED:
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Trump picks fight with GOP senators over Russia diesel deal — President Trump is picking a fight with Senate Republicans right before the midterm elections with his surprise deal to allow Russia to export diesel to the United States. — Four Republican senators — Sens. Susan Collins …
Discussion:
Axios, Associated Press, ABC News, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, DCReport.org, Scripps News, American Greatness, Politico and Political.org
Alex Nguyen / Mother Jones:
Pete Hegseth's Firing Squad Livestream Is Finding Fans in the Defense Industry — Co-founders of Palantir and defense tech firm Anduril are defending “public and brutal” executions. — “I have been outspoken on wanting public executions for over a decade.”
Discussion:
vaticannews.va, Daily Mail, Political.org, MS NOW, The Independent, Business Insider, Mediaite, New Republic, NewsMax.com and Axios
RELATED:
Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice:
The fascist spectacle of streamed executions
Discussion:
Axios, The Transom and The Moderate Voice
Mariana Alfaro / Washington Post:
Mike Johnson says execution video could be ‘recruiting tool’ for terrorists
Mike Johnson says execution video could be ‘recruiting tool’ for terrorists
Discussion:
New York Post, Reason, CBS News, Wonkette, The Independent, NewsMax.com, Political.org, twitchy.com, New Republic and Mediaite
New York Times:
U.K. and Europe Recoil From Trump's Diesel Deal With Putin — Shocked by the U.S. agreement with Russia, which Ukraine has called “a gift” to President Putin, officials in Europe have coalesced around a cautious diplomatic message. — European and British officials were stunned …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, HotAir, CNBC, National Review and Politico
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Anne Applebaum / The Atlantic:
Trump's Message to Ukraine Is Now Crystal Clear
Discussion:
New York Post, New York Times, Washington Examiner, The Counteroffensive …, Wonkette, Politico and NextDraft
Vic Verbalaitis / The Daily Beast:
How Trump Just Became America's Biggest Traitor: Political Guru
How Trump Just Became America's Biggest Traitor: Political Guru
Discussion:
The Atlantic
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
Trump's new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, claims she's a lawyer. Is she? — There is no evidence Zacharia has ever been licensed to practice law — and the White House did not provide any — When President Trump plucked Katie Zacharia from obscurity and appointed her as his new press secretary, he called her “an attorney.”
Discussion:
Associated Press
Louise Radnofsky / Wall Street Journal:
Judge Yells at Trump Administration for Cutting Down Golf Course Trees — Several government officials called to testify about hasty removal on Washington site where president dreams of building championship-level course — An angry federal judge overseeing litigation challenging President Trump's plan …
Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
White House has asked Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign, new Trump press secretary says … The White House has asked U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign, press secretary Katie Zacharia said Tuesday in her debut briefing. — “We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign …
Discussion:
Axios, Bloomberg, Reuters, NBC News, Associated Press, CBS News, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Fox News, RedState, TMZ.com, New York Times, ABC News, MS NOW, Breitbart and New York Post
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Laura Chung / New York Times:
Trump Says He Is ‘Looking at’ Firing Kimberly Guilfoyle
Trump Says He Is ‘Looking at’ Firing Kimberly Guilfoyle
Discussion:
The Hill, Bloomberg, Reuters, CBS News, Wall Street Journal, Daily Mail, Politico, Semafor and News Talk 105.9
Kate Shaw / New York Times:
Democrats Need a Plan for Supreme Court Reform. Here's a Start. — The Supreme Court justices took the bench last week to hear oral arguments, but the start of this term feels different from previous ones. For one thing, with the sharp increase in activity on the shadow docket …
Discussion:
The Nation
Eli Hager / ProPublica:
Scammers Are Stealing Millions From Food Stamp Recipients. Congress Could Fix It — but Won't. — It wasn't the kind of call a grocery store gets every day. A customer with a thick Eastern European accent was on the phone saying he wanted to buy several thousand cans of Red Bull.
Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:
House Dems launch ads in four more Trump districts — House Democrats' campaign arm is expanding its target list just three weeks ahead of Election Day, going on the air for the first time in four more districts with coordinated ad buys with the candidates.
Leigh Kimmins / The Daily Beast:
RFK Jr. Shows Off Son's Lavish 3-Day Pop Star Wedding in Rio … Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pulled back the curtain on his son's lavish three-day wedding to a pop star in Brazil. — Conor Kennedy, 32, reportedly married Giulia Be, 27, in a civil ceremony in Los Angeles in March.
Tariq Panja / New York Times:
FIFA's Trump Tower Deal: 7 Years, $4 Million, One Mostly Unused Office — The deal is another sign of how Gianni Infantino, the leader of soccer's global governing body, has sought closer ties to President Trump. — About a year before the World Cup, FIFA held a splashy opening for its latest office …
Alex Miller / Fox News:
Trump vanishes from GOP senator's campaign website as poll numbers plunge weeks before election — Sen Mike Rounds' campaign says it is ‘not abnormal’ to focus in on ‘general election messaging’ — A Senate Republican running for re-election in ruby-red South Dakota has joined a growing number …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and Mediaite
Jessica Hill / Associated Press:
AI data centers are coming for federal land. They are roiling the Nevada governor's race — Janelle Sorenson loves the clear night skies in Boulder City, less than an hour's drive from the bright lights of the Las Vegas Strip. It's a small, quiet town, and she thinks …
Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:
New White House press secretary has a history of conspiracy-laced social media posts — Donald Trump Fighting disinformation Social media Epstein files — President Donald Trump's incoming White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, repeatedly made baseless accusations of pedophilia …
Discussion:
NPR, more at Mediagazer »
Bayliss Wagner / New York Times:
Republicans Promoted a False Rumor That James Talarico Was in Ohio — The Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas spent nine days off the trail with what he and his campaign said was a bad case of the flu. His opponents fueled rumors, including one that spread widely before it was debunked.
Discussion:
HotAir, CBS News, twitchy.com, Off Message, Washington Post, Fox News, Mediaite, HuffPost, New York Post, NBC News, NewsMax.com, Straight Arrow, Scripps News, Daily Mail and Breitbart
Jeff Stein / The Washington Sun:
The FTC Is Beginning to Probe the Sports Gambling Industry — Officials at the Federal Trade Commission are probing the $167 billion online sports gambling industry, which has been celebrated by the White House but faces mounting skepticism from some conservative activists.
Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:
Top G.O.P. Groups Pull Support From First House Incumbents — Two major Republican super PACs are said to be withdrawing cash from the races of the incumbent Representatives Thomas H. Kean Jr. of New Jersey and Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa in an effort to triage the midterm map.
Discussion:
The Bulwark
Associated Press:
Trump says he cares for Americans. They think he's more focused on his wealth, an AP-NORC poll finds — Most Americans think Donald Trump is profiting off the presidency in unethical or illegal ways and is focused more on his wealth than helping people like them, a new AP-NORC poll finds.
Discussion:
AP-NORC
Mike Zapler / Axios:
Dems' red-state showings raise prospect of a bigger 2028 map — Move over Wisconsin and Arizona. … Sure, this could be a blip — or a reminder that it's a 50-50 moody nation, even in a bunch of red states. — The conditions that helped Barack Obama carry conservative states like Indiana …
Discussion:
New York Magazine
German Lopez / New York Times:
We Know How to Fix Homelessness. Why Don't More Cities Do It? — Homelessness, all appearances to the contrary, is a long-solved problem. We know both the causes and the cure. You wouldn't think that's the case from visiting many U.S. cities. Stymied by political and financial hurdles …
Rebecca Beitsch / The Hill:
DOJ apologizes after campaign-style Trump ads air in violation of judge's order — The Department of Justice apologized late Monday that a controversial ad featuring President Trump continued to run after a court sided with government watchdog groups in temporarily blocking the ads.
Discussion:
CourtListener, JURIST and Crooks and Liars, more at Mediagazer »
Lisa Kashinsky / Politico:
Mary Peltola raises $17M in Q3 in Alaska's Senate race — Former Rep. Mary Peltola raked in $17 million over the last three months, her campaign shared first with POLITICO, a sizable haul for the Democratic challenger in one of the biggest Senate battlegrounds.
Discussion:
Newsweek
Andrew Chung / Reuters:
US Supreme Court to hear asylum fight involving Nigerian cook — The US Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear a bid by President Donald Trump's administration to deny asylum to a man who was forced to prepare meals for an apparent separatist group in Nigeria, in a case that could expand …
Greg Stohr / Bloomberg:
Supreme Court to Consider Halting Bid for Information About DOGE — The US Supreme Court will consider derailing efforts to get more information about the Department of Government Efficiency, the Elon Musk-led project that drove a sweeping purge at federal agencies in the opening months of Donald Trump's second presidential term.
Discussion:
The Hill, NBC News, Associated Press, CBS News and Political.org
Siobhan Hughes / Wall Street Journal:
Republicans Spend Big to Defend Nebraska Senate Seat — In latest sign of GOP's Midwest angst, Senate Leadership Fund plans to pour $8 million into race to help Sen. Pete Ricketts — WASHINGTON—The big-donor group aligned with Senate Republicans disclosed that it plans to spend heavily …
Discussion:
Politico and NewsMax.com

