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.
Matthew Choi / Washington Post:
Ken Paxton took campaign funds from donors with interests before his office
Ken Paxton took campaign funds from donors with interests before his office
Discussion:
The Parnas Perspective
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, Washington Examiner, ABC News, The Daily Caller, DCReport.org, Scripps News, American Greatness, Politico and Political.org
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New York Times:
U.K. and Europe Recoil From Trump's Diesel Deal With Putin
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, HotAir, CNBC, National Review and Politico
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
Anne Applebaum / The Atlantic:
Trump's Message to Ukraine Is Now Crystal Clear
Trump's Message to Ukraine Is Now Crystal Clear
Discussion:
New York Post, New York Times, Washington Examiner, The Counteroffensive …, Wonkette, Politico and NextDraft
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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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
Bridget Brown / Associated Press:
Live updates: Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump's ambassador to Greece, is asked to resign, White House says — Trump going to Kentucky on Saturday — White House press secretary Katie Zacharia said the president's midterm election blitz will take him to Kentucky on Saturday.
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Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
White House has asked Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign, new Trump press secretary says
Discussion:
NBC News, New Republic, Axios, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Washington Sun, Politico, New York Post, Washington Examiner, The Guardian, The Hill, Fox News, Deadline, RedState, The Wrap, TMZ.com, The Daily Caller, New York Times, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Wire, National Politics, ABC News, MS NOW and Breitbart
Laura Chung / New York Times:
Trump Says He Is ‘Looking at’ Firing Kimberly Guilfoyle
Trump Says He Is ‘Looking at’ Firing Kimberly Guilfoyle
Discussion:
Fox News, The Hill, Scripps News, Bloomberg, The Guardian, NewsMax.com, Reuters, CBS News, Wall Street Journal, Daily Mail, Politico, Semafor and News Talk 105.9
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:
NBC News and Associated Press
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.
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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 …
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.
New Republic:
MAGA Voters Turn on Trump in Focus Group Bombshell: “Nothing but Lies” — Sarah Longwell of The Bulwark recently held a focus group with people who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 that took an extraordinary turn. After being shown Trump's vile taxpayer-funded ad, in which he rages about expelling …
Discussion:
Newsweek and The Bulwark
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 …
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.
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, TMZ.com, Wonkette, 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
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 …
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
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:
New York Times, The Hill, NBC News, Associated Press, CBS News, Courthouse News Service and Political.org
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 …
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
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
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:
NewsMax.com and Newsweek
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
CBS News:
Multiple protesters removed from raucous Trump rally in Ohio — President Trump's rally in Youngstown, Ohio, was briefly disrupted by protesters, who Mr. Trump's supporters could be seen punching. The president also threw his support behind Sen. John Husted, trying to sell voters on his physique.
Discussion:
New York Times, Fox News, HuffPost, PJ Media, New Republic, The Gateway Pundit, One America News Network, ABC7 and National Politics
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 »
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. Theodore Schleifer of the New York Times reported today that Musk has put more than $276 million of that money into groups and political action committees just since July.
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.

