Wednesday, September 2, 2026

It's Chump's party (and he'll cry if he wants to)

You would cry too . . . if it happened to you.  Bennito L. Kelty (Raw Story) reports:

GOP candidates in competitive House races told a columnist they don't know whether they'll appear at President Donald Trump's midterm convention because of scheduling conflicts.

In a Tuesday column, political commentator Joe Perticone noted a "conveniently timed epidemic of GOP scheduling conflicts" ahead of next week's midterm convention, which Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters has dubbed "Trumpapalooza."
"I've come up with an easy way to determine how concerned House Republicans are about Trump dragging them down in this fall's midterm elections," Perticone wrote. "All you need to do is ask them whether they plan to be seen with him next week."

Perticone spoke with eight different incumbent Republicans running in some of the closest races in the midterms, and none of them confirmed that they planned to attend the event.

None of them confirmed that they planned to attend the event?  None.  Zero.  Zilch.

Chump is now making like Lesley Gore as he sings "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to cry if I want to cry if I want to.  You would cry to if it happened to you."

Poor Chump.  He planned his two-day self-celebration and now no one wants to come.  It's how it will be when he leaves the White House.  No one will want to come visit him.  Some suck up to him now because he has power as a president but even the suck ups will vanish when he's no longer president. 




Here's C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Wednesday, September 2, 2026.  Thomas Massie has another discharge petition for The Epstein Files, Greg Abbott does not protect girls in sports as evidenced by the predator that's been in Texas for some time and Greg's looked the other way, Chump's lies about Venezuelan oil are just the latest in a series of lies, Pete Hegseth shows how 'manly' and 'mature' he is by mocking a girl in high school, and much more.







Starting with Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Chump's roll dog of many decades who died in jail,  Todd Blanche, as deputy attorney general, as acting Attorney General and now as Attorney General, has refused to follow the law regarding the release of the Epstein files..  So now there's a move to beef the law up. US House Rep Thomas Massie named names.  Tara Suter (THE HILL) reports:

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has been a key figure in the push to release files linked to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in the last few years, read off more than a dozen names of what he said were “Epstein coconspirators” on Monday.

“On the House floor tonight, I read the names of several Epstein coconspirators who should be investigated and prosecuted,” Massie said in a Monday night post on the social platform X.

“I also began collecting 218 signatures for the discharge petition to force a vote on Epstein Files Transparency Act II,” he added.

Massie’s post included a clip of himself on the House floor, where he said it had “been a year since the president signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” referencing legislation he spearheaded alongside Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) last year that resulted in the release of some files linked to Epstein. 
“And the government continues to withhold over three million files. That’s why we’ve introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, to bring the fight to the state courts, accountability to the Department of Justice and closure for survivors. We want perpetrators of these crimes to be investigated and prosecuted,” he added.

Among the names Massie provided were Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (former Prince Andrew of England), David Copperfield (magician) and Jes Staley (whom we noted in last Friday's snapshot).  Khaleda Rahman (NEWSWEEK) provides the full fourteen names, "In the order Massie named them, they are: Jes Staley, Leon Black, Les Wexner, David Copperfield, Lapo Elkann, Tom Pritzker, Glenn Dubin, Frédéric Fekkai, Eduardo Teodorani, Jean-Luc Brunel, Daniel Siad, Ramsey Elkholy, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Lesley Groff."








A discharge petition requires 218 signatures and forces a bill or resolution to be brought directly to the House floor for consideration, even if it's previously been held up in the committee process.

The second petition is designed to force the release of files the government has redacted and gives state attorneys general, Epstein's victims and members of Congress standing to challenge the Justice Department in court over aspects of the original law it has not followed.

"I never anticipated that the highest law enforcement officer in the land would not enforce the law once it became a law. That's what this addresses. We try to dot the i's and cross the t's here," Massie told The Washington Times. "This is somewhat unprecedented that Todd Blanche is stonewalling a state attorney general, so this unambiguously gives the attorneys general in the various states the ability to prosecute these crimes by giving them unfettered access to the files."

J.D. Wolf (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) adds, "On Tuesday morning, Massie escalated the pressure on Speaker Mike Johnson, saying there were rumors that Johnson could soon recess the House until after the midterm elections and asking whether the move would be intended to 'avoid the vote'."  We all remember the positions Johnson put himself in to avoid the first discharge petition.  This included Johnson refusing to swear in  Adelita Grijalva for fifty days after her election because he knew the Democrat was going to immediately sign the discharge petition.  This included Johnson adjourning or recessing the House, it included him attacking the bill (including calling it partisan) and it included him proposing other measures.  It'll be interesting to see which stalling tactics Speaker of the Closet Johnson might resort to. 



Speaker Mike Johnson and the GOP have an even smaller House majority now after Democratic Representative Everton Blair of Georgia was sworn in on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

Republicans now have a 218–213 advantage over Democrats, and they’ll be down one more vote once California Democrat Aisha Wahab—who replaced scandal-ridden ex-Representative Eric Swalwell—is sworn in later this week.


So 214 once Aisha Wahab is sworn in later this week which means four Republicans are needed to sign on to the discharge petition. 




Chump?  He's resorting to anything and everything to try shore up midterms for the GOP.  This does involve scapegoating trans people.  Devin Dwyer (ABC NEWS) reports Chump is requesting the Supreme Court okay his immediate firing of 29 transgender service members despite the fact that they are awaiting hearings on the ban:
 
The justices will consider this fall whether to hear the case at this early stage, before any final ruling on the merits by a lower court.

In the meantime, the 29 plaintiffs – who are active-duty, reservists, National Guard members and a person seeking to enlist – will remain in the force. 

"As the Trump administration’s own attorneys admitted, these are qualified individuals who are meeting all military standards," said Jennifer Levi, an attorney representing the transgender service members with the LGBTQ legal advocacy group GLAD Law. "There is no reason to waste millions of taxpayer dollars to kick out thousands of highly trained, skilled and decorated troops based on nothing but hostility and this administration’s political whims."

This move echoes Texas Governor Greg Abbott's lies.  In his commercial that's run everywhere (Sabina says most often on PLUTO) he gives a one word sentence about how he has said NO boys in girls sports because he's protecting girls.   

Greg claims he is all about protecting girls in sports.  Really?  Because Texas has a problem coach. And Abbott has ignored this problem coach.  Yesterday, Molly Hensley-Clancy (PROPUBLICA and WASHINGTON POST) reported that Homeland Security has picked up the case:


A Texas volleyball coach who was the subject of an investigation last month by ProPublica and The Washington Post is now facing a federal child exploitation probe, according to an agent for Homeland Security Investigations, the main investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

The ProPublica and Post story detailed how Ryan Richardson continued to coach teenage girls for years at his gym in Pharr, Texas, amid allegations of misconduct, even after he was suspended in early 2025 and subsequently ruled “permanently ineligible” this February by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an oversight group. On its public disciplinary list, SafeSport said it found that Richardson had an intimate relationship with a minor, committed sexual misconduct involving a minor, and engaged in physical misconduct and bullying. 

Juan J. Flores Jr., a supervisor in a Homeland Security Investigations unit that focuses on child exploitation in the Rio Grande Valley, told ProPublica and The Post that he had launched the probe into Richardson in response to the story, which included allegations from a parent and former players that he had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old player beginning in 2022 and that he groomed and emotionally and physically abused others. 

“My plan is to turn over every rock, have every conversation. I know he’s still coaching,” Flores said. 

That was early 2025 when he was suspended.  And Abbott did nothing.  He's still done nothing.  He pretends he wants to protect girls.

Abbott is not a protector of girls.  And he has no leg to stand on when he talks about girls and sports because he allowed the predator Ryan Richardson to coach in Texas after being suspended in early 2025 for his inappropriate action with girls.  

Abbott's words are as empty as Chump's words and his meaningless boasts. Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY) reports: 


President Donald Trump's boast that cheaper gas is just around the corner after his energy deal with Venezuela didn't last long at all.

According to a report from The Washington Post, energy industry analysts and experts in oil extraction are rolling their eyes at the president's claim that "THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY" would "substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans."
That may be true in five years at best, experts fired back.

Not for at least a couple of years, if ever, many in the industry told the Washington Post — certainly not before voters cast ballots in the fall midterms, and probably not before Trump leaves office. That's because the billions of barrels of reserves the U.S. is seeking access to through the deal are "notoriously difficult to extract."
"Everyone cheering the Venezuela deal thinks a flood of cheap oil is about to hit and pull gas prices down. It isn't," Tracy Shuchart, senior economist at NinjaTrader, wrote on X. "The barrels that could actually move a U.S. pump price are 5 to 15 years out."

Mark Finley, a fellow in energy and global oil at Rice University's Baker Institute, told the Post the "ramp-up" will be slow at best.


Chump lies and lies and lies again.


Fact checking Chump is hard because there are days where every other sentence he spits out is a lie.  Aaron Blake (CNN) is someone who's addressed Chump's lies for many years now.  In his latest for CNN, he notes:

It should surprise nobody that the president who tried to overturn the 2020 election based on lies — and didn’t seem to mind his supporters rising up violently on January 6, 2021 — might try to monkey with the 2026 midterm elections.

It remains to be seen whether President Donald Trump’s efforts to interfere in the 2026 election will actually work.

But recent developments should serve as a reality check that he’s trying, with potentially ugly results.

First, CNN reported exclusively that the Department of Homeland Security is surging efforts to find supposed voter fraud in a handful of states.

While that might not sound shocking in and of itself, there is plenty about it that’s irregular.

The effort involves using an arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement called Homeland Security Investigations, which typically handles other crimes like human trafficking and drug smuggling.

But mostly, the reason it should raise eyebrows is because of the proximity to the 2026 election, now just a little more than two months away. As CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, Tierney Sneed and Gabe Cohen note, the federal government typically avoids such “overt” investigatory actions so close to an election. The reason is that mere allegations that haven’t been thoroughly examined could influence the election.

But when it comes to Trump and alleged voter fraud, that’s a feature rather than a bug.

Trump has spent a decade trying and failing to substantiate his claims of widespread fraud. In his first term, he launched a voter fraud commission that folded with little to show. His campaign paid people to find widespread fraud after the 2020 election, to no avail.

What the administration has produced of late is a lot of manufactured smoke.

That includes its bogus claim about 250,000 noncitizens being registered to vote in just four states. It also includes a highly unorthodox unsigned report from the US Census Bureau last month claiming tens of thousands of noncitizens voted in the 2020 presidential election. (Experts have decried both claims.)
The DHS effort would seem to be geared toward promoting such claims, given the department’s purview.

But if other efforts to find widespread voter fraud didn’t produce anything substantive, the odds would appear slim that DHS will change that in just two months.

Of course, producing ironclad evidence of fraud probably isn’t the point. The Trump administration’s goal appears to be seeding more doubt — and possibly even creating a pretext for more federal intervention in the election (which we’ll get to).

The other big development this week was an unnamed federal whistleblower issuing a major warning about the Trump administration’s new system for verifying mail ballots. The system has devolved into what workers describe as a “sh*t show” that could lead to mass disenfranchisement of mail voters, the whistleblower says



An anonymous official with "direct knowledge" has come forward to warn about "potentially catastrophic problems" with the government's proposed takeover of the vote-by-mail system, according to a whistleblower complaint filed in federal court on Monday.

The official's concerns were documented on a docket in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by plaintiffs in one of many lawsuits challenging the rule that would have the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) wrest control of mail-in voting away from the states.

The whistleblower claims the major problem with the Trump administration's sea change is with the "secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed process for the creation and implementation of an entirely new and untested set" of information technology systems.
These systems are related to a so-called "Portal" envisioned by the USPS in which state and local election officials are expected to input each and every voter's information in order to receive a qualifying postal mail ballot and to "adhere to…data reporting standards."
To hear the whistleblower tell it, the government has simultaneously rushed the "final rule" while spending little time on the systems needed to administer the proposed national mail-in voter database.
"The Whistleblower believes on or about June 2026 work began in earnest on the USPS election ballot mail IT project, just three months (which reportedly includes a one month period when work was paused) before the date USPS is currently working toward to launch that system," the original whistleblower letter dated Aug. 30 reads.




Democrats on the House Oversight Committee issued the following statement:

Washington, D.C. — Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released the following statement after a whistleblower revealed to the Oversight Committee that the United States Postal Service allegedly built a secret tech system to implement the Trump Administration’s unconstitutional attempt to seize control of vote by mail across the country.

“The Oversight Committee has received whistleblower reports that President Trump's attack on vote-by-mail for the 2026 election is more serious than previously understood. This new secret tracking system at the US Postal Service is faulty, untested, and threatens to totally disrupt ballot delivery for millions of American citizens. We are fighting in court to protect the right to vote by mail for all and will continue to investigate. This unconstitutional and dangerous power grab must be permanently and immediately blocked,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia.

###


Turning to Pete Hegseth,














Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has become the latest high-ranking U.S. military official to leave the Pentagon amid reports of tensions with Secretary Pete Hegseth.

No official reason has been offered for Driscoll’s departure following 18 months in the role but it comes after CNN and Reuters said he had been butting heads with Hegseth for several months.

According to sources cited by The Atlantic, Driscoll recently “brought up concerns with the administration surrounding Army transformation and readiness and Hegseth’s blocking those efforts specifically by firing the generals who were responsible.” His mission was seemingly unsuccessful.

Nevertheless, President Donald Trump was said to be “surprised and concerned” about the number of the cuts to the department and the seniority of those who have left, The Atlantic reports. The department now has fewer generals than any point in recent history, the outlet adds.


It's always one scandal after another with Hegseth.  Chris Terrill (INDEPENDENT) notes:

While President Trump and his self-styled secretary of state for “War”, Pete Hegseth, dismissed it as ‘fake news’, by all accounts, life for the 5,000 men and women on board the USS Abraham Lincoln had become a living nightmare after more than 260 days at sea without respite.

The nuclear-powered warship left San Diego in November and has, until recently, been stationed in the Middle East to support the U.S. war against Iran. While the Lincoln left the Middle East on August 22 on its way home, with a planned Thailand stop, she has spent a record amount of time at sea without a port visit. Stories abound about poor food, bad hygiene, blocked toilets, intermittent showers, plummeting morale and shredded mental health. Reports in the Military Times and the Stars and Stripes claimed that sailors even tried to jump overboard as the deployment kept going.
Despite the official denials, including Trump’s tetchy assertion to White House reporters that the deployment ‘should have been longer!’, the number of accounts from families of those on board are persuasive. An emergency town hall meeting in San Diego, earlier this month, attended by roughly 200 families, saw many desperate relatives confronting Navy leadership over the prolonged deployment and worsening conditions. During the meeting, the wife of one sailor aired her tearful grievance: “They’re trapped in a metal prison in the middle of the ocean. They eat prison-like food and sleep in tiny, cramped beds just like prisoners.”

In an official statement, acting navy secretary Hung Cao confirmed the ship had completed 266 days deployed, 200 days in a combat zone and more than 10,000 sorties, and acknowledged that the sailors had been pushed very hard. “There is no question our young men and women have been pushed to their limits – but they have never been broken,” said Cao. “However, it is clear, knowing the whole story, our force and their families are not victims. They are the epitome of American strength and resilience.”

He is a hateful, little boy trying to ass himself off as a man.  But grown men do not mock children.  And he's such a piece of trash that he's now taken to publicly mocking children.  Dexter Brinson (MOUNT OLIVE CHRONICLE) notes:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is under fire for a recent social media post mocking a Canadian youth cadet instructor’s appearance, drawing widespread condemnation amid a growing leadership crisis at the Pentagon. The controversy comes as top officials continue to resign and internal conflicts threaten the stability of the U.S. Department of Defense under Hegseth’s tenure in 2026.

On Monday, Hegseth shared a photo originally posted by the Vernon Cadet Training Center in British Columbia, which depicts a smiling cadet receiving a medal. The Canadian facility is a youth program for ages 12 to 18 that teaches military-style leadership and drills under the Department of National Defense. However, Hegseth singled out one image, added a Canadian flag, and captioned it with the dismissive remark, “(this is real),” seemingly mocking the cadet’s physical appearance.

The post quickly drew backlash from veterans, military supporters, and social media users who criticized the Defense Secretary for body-shaming a volunteer-led youth group rather than focusing on his responsibilities. A Canadian veteran remarked, “The Secretary of Defense is body shaming cadet groups. This is a youth group, not a military unit. They are kids seeking adventure and service values.” Others questioned the appropriateness of Hegseth’s comments during a time of ongoing conflict, labeling the attack as “unhinged” and “embarrassing.”


Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:


***PHOTOS AND B-ROLL HERE***

Port Townsend, WA – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), toured Jefferson Healthcare and discussed the new challenges health care providers are facing over a year after Republicans passed the largest health care cuts in history in their Big Ugly Bill. Throughout the tour, Senator Murray heard from providers about the impact of the Republicans’ cuts to Medicaid and their failure to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits—causing massive premium hikes for families in Washington state.

The Republican reconciliation bill, which was signed into law in July 2025, cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA over the next 10 years and will make health care more expensive and harder to access. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that Republicans’ health care cuts will terminate health insurance for roughly 15 million Americans nationwide.

“Republicans passed the largest cuts to health care in history and have singlehandedly created a national health care crisis. Meanwhile, providers are left to wonder how they will keep their staff paid and their doors open,” said Senator Murray. “Providers are doing incredible work, but they’re being asked to do a more with a whole lot less. If that weren’t damaging enough, Republicans refused to extend the health care tax credits—which millions of people relied on to afford health coverage. The fallout from that has been devastating. Families saw their premiums double, triple, or even worse. When families in Jefferson County can’t afford coverage, they don’t get less sick—they just end up in emergency rooms where hospitals eat the cost and everyone else foots the bill. Congress needs to repeal Trump’s cuts to health care—getting there won’t be easy, but we must fight hard and make sure all Americans understand the harm these cuts are doing.”

ABOUT TRUMP’S MEDICAID CUTS:

Nationwide, the Republican health care cuts represent a more than $400 billion hit to America’s hospitals—with one estimate finding that over 170 rural hospitals will likely be forced to close or scale back their services, which will force more Americans to travel further for maternity care and emergency room visits, and face longer wait times. Washington state is one of the states most at-risk, with 22 hospitals at-risk of closing or reducing services. An estimated 477,000 health workers will lose their jobs as a result of the Republican cuts to Medicaid. Senator Murray has consistently advocated for rural health care access across the state, hosting numerous events to emphasize the importance of investment into rural communities.

Hospitals in Washington state could lose at least $662 million in Medicaid revenue every year under the One Big Beautiful Act (OBBBA)—forcing hospitals to lay off staff, cut services, or close their doors entirely. Overall, Washington state is expected to lose between $31 billion and $51 billion in federal Medicaid dollars over the next decade. In 2024, Washington had an uninsured rate of 4.8 percent—the lowest in the country—but the Republican bill is expected to balloon that number into the double digits.

In Washington state, nearly 2 million people—roughly 1 in 5—are enrolled in Apple Health, the state’s Medicaid program. Washington’s 4th Congressional District has the highest Medicaid enrollment in Washington state, with nearly 300,000 people—38 percent of all residents—reliant on Apple Health, including 70 percent of all children in the state.

ABOUT GOP REFUSAL TO EXTEND ACA TAX CREDITS:

Senator Murray forced the issue of the ACA tax credits at every opportunity before Republicans ultimately refused to take any action, speaking out nonstop about the urgent need to save health care and calling on Republicans to come to the negotiating table to work out a bipartisan deal to extend the ACA tax credits. She took to the Senate floor in November 2025 with her Democratic colleagues to call for a clean one-year extension of the ACA tax credits, and held numerous virtual press conferences with Washingtonians, as well as residents of neighboring states Idaho and Montana, about the exploding health care premiums that Americans would see due to the expiration of the tax credits. As the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray led legislation supported by the Democratic caucus that would have addressed the health care crisis during the government shutdown last fall. Senator Murray has also cosponsored multiple pieces of legislation over the past year—the Health Care Affordability Act and the Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act—that would make the ACA tax credits permanent.

As then-chair of the Senate Health Committee, Senator Murray played a critical role in passing the ACA enhanced premium tax credits into law in the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and extending them in the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022.

###




The following sites updated:



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Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Geezer Chump is fat and weak (also John Boorman's EXORCIST II)

 Old man Chump is bald and overweight and unable to stay awake during the day -- even in public.  William Vaillancourt (The Daily Beast) notes:



Occasionally during Monday’s hour-long, mid-afternoon gathering, Trump appeared tired, shutting his eyes for sustained periods of time. In the president’s second term, this has been more frequent than during his first—to the point where White House staffers are reportedly trying to prevent it in part by shortening their presentations. At an Oval Office event earlier this month in which Kennedy was also present, Trump appeared to doze off multiple times.

He's old, fat, and weak.  That's Chump at 80.  And it's only going to get worse as the months pile on.  


John Boorman, the celebrated director of “Deliverance” and “Hope and Glory,” is one of David Kittredge’s favorite filmmakers. But when Kittredge, a Los Angeles director and writer, got the idea for a documentary about his hero, he didn’t want to focus on either of those Oscar-nominated movies or on the times Boorman won best director at Cannes.

No, Kittredge wanted to look at Boorman’s “Exorcist II: The Heretic.” When that big-budget sequel was released in 1977, it was lambasted as one of the worst movies in recent memory, if not all time. The thing was, Kittredge actually liked the movie. And he wanted Boorman, decades after the film drove fans to pelt theater screens with garbage, to talk with him about it, on camera.

“That was a bit of a courtship,” Kittredge admitted.

In the end, Boorman relented, baring his soul and still remarkable memory.

“It was the first time I’d really talked about a very hard period of my life,” Boorman said by email from his London home.

I actually liked Exorcist II. I was under age so I had to sneak in (with friends) to a showing, but it was weird and scary.  It wasn't The Exorcist.  That was a more straight forward film following a good and evil path.  This was a wilder film with a broader concept of evil as well as with a broader concept of natural.  I enjoyed it a great deal when I first saw it and I still love it to this day. 


Here's C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Tuesday, September 1, 2026.  Chump keeps pimping unpopular data centers, his own popularity numbers remain in the toilet, Pete Hegseth remains an unqualified Secretary of Defense, and much more.






Chump's happy talkers keep preaching a rebound in his popularity.  But so far I'm not seeing it.  In fact, REUTERS reported late yesterday:

President Donald Trump's approval rating was stuck at the lowest level of his political career amid broad dissatisfaction over the war in Iran and the Republican's economic stewardship, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded on Monday.

Just 33% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing in the White House - the third straight Reuters/Ipsos poll with that share of respondents giving the president a thumbs up.

Trump's political brand looks increasingly like a potential weight on his Republican Party, which will be defending slim congressional majorities in the November 3 midterm elections.


Also late yesterday, Tom Durante (MEDIAITE) noted:

An eye-opening new poll has shown that President Donald Trump’s approval rating has dropped to its lowest level in either of his two terms, as a growing number of past supporters say they wouldn’t vote for him again.

The UMass-Amherst survey of 1,000 people, conducted between August 21 and 26, found growing dissatisfaction with the president, due mostly to the ongoing war in Iran and financial pain at the gas pump and grocery checkout. The margin of error in the poll was 3.5%.

“With no end in sight to the ongoing war in Iran, the continued rise in the price of gas, groceries, utilities, and housing, an escalating trade war with Canada, and the likelihood of higher interest rates, it comes as no surprise that Trump’s approval rating remains at a paltry 32%, a 1-percentage-point drop since we last polled in March 2026,” Tatishe Nteta, poll director and provost professor of political science at UMass Amherst, said in a statement.

The poll also noted growing regret among those who cast a ballot for Trump in the 2024 election, with about 16 percent of respondents saying they wouldn’t back him again if they could do it all over again.

Are farmers growing disillusioned with Chump?  Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) reports:

Republican senators are increasingly convinced the battle for Senate control will be decided in the Midwest, and that agricultural voters angered by tariffs, fuel costs and beef imports could hand Democrats the majority.

Democrats need a net gain of four seats to flip the chamber, and strategists say that becomes attainable if they capture Republican-held seats in Ohio and Iowa while holding Michigan, then find a fourth seat in North Carolina or a longer-shot state, reported Politico.
"He's in serious trouble in farm country," Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) said of President Donald Trump. "He being Trump — and Trump is us. I'm not very optimistic."

Farm-state Republicans point to a combination of tariffs, expensive diesel and fertilizer, and administration moves to ease tariffs on imported beef as driving frustration among agricultural voters who have historically backed the party.


Meanwhile the Iran War has been good for some . . . with the last name Chump.  Tanya Rawat (BENZINGA) reports:


The war has cost the U.S. tens of billions of dollars and reduced projected global output by hundreds of billions, according to the Fortune report. At the same time, businesses and investments connected to President Donald Trump’s family have benefited from higher defense spending and oil prices.

Military contractor Powerus, which Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. were preparing to take public, won an Air Force contract with a ceiling of up to $90 million for drone interceptors.

Private equity firm 1789 Capital Management, which Don Jr. joined after his father’s reelection, owns stakes in several defense companies benefiting from the war. Anduril received U.S. approval for up to $2 billion in drone-interceptor sales to Kuwait, while Space Exploration Technologies Corp. SPCX  is providing satellite services to guide U.S. drones against Iran. Firehawk Defense also won Pentagon contracts for propellants and warheads.

A spokeswoman for 1789 Capital said Don Jr. was not involved in the investment decisions.

Trump’s own portfolio, managed by outside managers, has also gained from holdings in defense companies including Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT, General Dynamics Corporation GD and Northrop Grumman Corp. NOC. Democrats said his oil and gas holdings had increased in value by as much as $15.5 million.

The estimate came as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pointed to Trump’s reported holdings in ExxonMobil Holdings Corp XOM, Chevron Corp CVX, Occidental Petroleum Corp OXY and ConocoPhillips COP, whose shares had gained significantly since the start of the year, according to a Senate Joint Economic Committee Democrats’ analysis.

While Chump and his family rake up corrupt cash, Americans are not doing that well.  Jing Pan (MONEY WISE) reports:

American consumers have kept the economy afloat for years, even as inflation, high borrowing costs and rising grocery bills squeeze household budgets. But some of the country’s biggest corporate leaders are warning that shoppers may be hitting a breaking point.

Kraft Heinz CEO Steve Cahillane offered one of the bluntest assessments of the financial strain facing lower-income consumers.
“They’re literally running out of money at the end of the month,” Cahillane said in a May 2026 interview (1). “We’re seeing negative cash flows in the lower-income brackets where they’re dipping into savings.”

The company behind brands like Heinz, Kraft and Philadelphia is now cutting prices (2) on some products that have grown too expensive, increasing promotions and rolling out smaller package sizes at lower price points.
Cahillane added that the industry has endured years of “volume degradation” because consumers had to absorb “too much price.” He also warned that another round of price increases could put more pressure on already-stretched household budgets.

“We could see more significant inflation and nobody wants to see that,” he said.

Cahillane isn’t the only CEO sounding the alarm.

McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski has flagged pressure on consumers, pointing to “heightened anxiety (3).” The company’s CFO Ian Borden also noted that higher gas prices are hitting lower-income households especially hard, saying the company was seeing those consumers pull back on spending, while higher-income customers remained much more resilient.

Elsewhere, Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer has described a sharp pullback in demand for big-ticket appliances, while North America executive president, Juan Carlos Puente, has pointed to “recession-level industry contractions,” with discretionary demand down roughly 15% (4).



Pete Hegseth, the unqualified Secretary of Defense who only got into the position thanks to JD Vance's tie breaking vote in the Senate. It was the narrowest vote for a Secretary of Defense ever.  And that's because (a) Hegseth wasn't qualified because being a weekend talking head on FOX "NEWS" doesn't make you qualified, (b) Hegseth had never supervised a department or anything as large as the Defense Dept and the minor organizations he had been in charge of all had money problems with some people pointing to him as the problem, (c) he was considered a sexist and he also had forced a woman to sign an NDA that he would not release her from to allow her to testify at his confirmation hearing, (d) he had a drinking problem and had to assure the senators that he wouldn't drink booze if he was confirmed and . . .  

He wasn't qualified.  The whole country sees that now and sees how badly things go when you put an unqualified nominee into an office.  

Now some people with no experience for the job would be eager to hear input and utilize the intelligence of others.  But Hegseth has no respect for intelligence.  Hence Joseph Gedeon (INDEPENDENT) reports: 

Pete Hegseth regularly receives formal objections from senior commanders and proceeds anyway, the Pentagon’s top spokesman has said, as he tried to discredit a Washington Post report that four generals and admirals had advised against prolonging the war in Iran.

“Of course, we demand candid military advice,” Sean Parnell wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Non-concurs are standard. The Secretary sees them constantly. That’s how you run a real military.”


Parnell's response was the response of an idiot. Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:


Shortly after the article’s publication, Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell falsely claimed on social media that the publication of the report was not only wrong, but also illegal.

“Publishing highly classified assessments from the Secretary’s orders book is a crime. It’s a betrayal of the force,” Parnell wrote. “And much of what they’re publishing is inaccurate.”

Fact check: While it’s against the law for government employees to leak sensitive or classified government details, the Supreme Court ruled in 1971 that the press’s ability to publicize that information is protected under the First Amendment. That was the outcome of New York Times Co. v. United States, which pitted the daily newspaper against the Nixon administration after it published a top-secret history of the Vietnam War known as the Pentagon Papers.


As Elaine noted last night, one of the problems with our government is people like Parnell who try to cite the law without actually knowing the law.  That kind of makes him the perfect spokesperson for Hegseth  -- they bond over their ignorance. Peter Suciu (NATIONAL INTEREST) notes:

Tensions are running high at the Pentagon on Monday, following a scathing report from The Washington Post on Saturday that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was warned by multiple combatant commanders that the ongoing war with Iran is unsustainable, and that if it continues, it will weaken the US military’s ability to address other threats.

Military leaders warned in the August 14 edition of the classified Secretary of Defense Orders Book (SDOB) that extending deployments in the Middle East could compromise global readiness and even homeland defense, the paper of record reported.

The SDOB contained classified assessments from the commanders tasked with overseeing US areas of responsibility in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Those generals expressed opposition to an extended deployment of US military forces in the Middle East. They warned that diverted warships—notably aircraft carriers—and aircraft have degraded abilities elsewhere. According to an assessment from the Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle, only a quarter of the US Navy’s destroyer fleet is currently prepared to deploy. That is a sharp decline from the prewar levels.

The conflict, which is now in its sixth month, has cost $37.5 billion to date.

Cost $37.5 billion to date.  





Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, the service’s top civilian leader, who clashed repeatedly with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the ouster of key combat-tested Army leaders, handed in his resignation to President Trump on Monday, administration officials said.

Mr. Driscoll’s resignation was expected but it comes at a tumultuous time, as the military’s largest service faces its busiest period since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Army air defense soldiers are playing the leading role in defending U.S. troops in the Middle East from increasingly sophisticated Iranian missile attacks. The Army’s command in Europe is providing critical intelligence and other support to Ukraine as it fights to hold off a larger Russian force.

And Mr. Hegseth has in the meantime initiated a series of firings and feuds that has left the Army essentially rudderless as it struggles to deal with the threat posed by cheap, deadly drones and missiles that have pounded U.S. bases in the Middle East.

Mr. Driscoll met with Mr. Trump in person to hand in his resignation and discuss the current state of the Army, said one official, who like others in this story spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues.





How bad are things for Hegseth?  Insiders are saying he'll be gone by Thanksgiving.  Alexander Willis (RAW STORY) notes:

Multiple White House insiders have named the same Trump Cabinet member they believe will become the administration's first “midterm political casualty" and predicted the official will be fired before Thanksgiving, former Obama campaign aide Christopher Hale claimed Sunday night.

“Everyone I talk to in and around the Trump White House says [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth will be the first midterm political casualty and will be fired before Thanksgiving,” Hale wrote in a statement shared on social media.

Over the weekend, the big news was that Chump was no longer depending upon Hegseth the way he once did.  Thomas Kika notes that this all has been a failure for Chump:


President Donald Trump's botched handling of the Iran war has done "irreparable damage" to his standing among voters, one veteran defense expert wrote for The i Paper, and the full extent will become clear after the midterms.

Robert Fox is a long-time journalist and war correspondent with a career dating back to the late 1960s, with experience covering conflicts in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, the Falklands and many more. On Monday, he published a new column for The i Paper breaking down why Trump's "credibility is in tatters" as his war with Iran has left the U.S. military near its "breaking point."

"The war, which was intended to last six weeks at most, has now run for more than six months. To say there is no credible peace settlement in sight might qualify as the understatement of the year," Fox wrote, citing the recent U.S. strikes on Iran's Larak Island as a sign that the conflict has fully ramped up after beleaguered peace talks.

He added later: "The latest exchange of fire means that there is little chance of meaningful peace talks before the U.S. midterm elections in early November, and Israel’s general election on 27 October. It means rising prices on the international energy markets and at the petrol pumps for U.S. voters."






When not worrying about Pete, the administration is worrying about his wife Jennifer.  Laura Esposito (DAILY BEAST) reports:

Pete Hegseth’s tenure as defense secretary has been marked by leaked Signal chats, radical religion, and a war on wokeness. But it’s his wife who has officials concerned.

Across Donald Trump’s administration and the Pentagon, concerns are spilling out over Jennifer Hegseth’s influence on her husband—and on a department with an annual budget larger than countries with the world’s largest economies.

“Jennifer Hegseth is a very heavy hand and one of his closest advisers with access inside the building, which is very unusual for a secretary of war/secretary of defence,” one official told the Times of London on Monday.
Long before the president announced that he had appointed Jennifer, 49, to lead his Military Spouse Commission, the former Fox News producer’s influence over her husband, 46, was known.

In March 2025, Pete was caught revealing details about forthcoming strikes on Yemen to his wife in a Signal group chat. Before being appointed, he credited positive changes in his life to “two Js”: Jennifer and Jesus. Just last month, more than 20 former and current DOD officials told The New York Times that Jennifer was a key part of her husband’s decision-making process.

In addition to sitting in meetings with reporters and preparing Hegseth for appearances, his wife has reportedly interviewed candidates for jobs at the Defense Department. As she serves out her unofficial role, Jennifer is a full-time mother for the child she shares with Pete and her six other stepchildren, some of whom she homeschools.


Turning to data centers.  They are unpopular and opposition to them only continues to grow.  Out of touch and out of step Chump fails to realize that.  Luke Broadwater (NEW YORK TIMES) notes Chump's declarations yesterday:

President Trump on Monday lashed out at communities that are protesting data centers, suggesting that residents who do not go along with the artificial intelligence revolution must prefer to be “backwards and poor.”

“The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” Mr. Trump posted on his Truth Social site. “If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign.”

Polling shows most Americans oppose the proliferation of data centers in their communities, a signal of worries about a quickly changing economy and the loss of jobs to machines. Residents have also cited potential negative effects on the environment and increased utility costs as reasons to oppose data centers.


Yet Cump continues to be on the wrong side of this issue.  As Ruth noted last night, "Mr. Chump has lost his gift for speaking to the people.  He has nothing to connect with them on anymore.  The dementia has taken hold. "  Ryan Grenoble (HUFFINGTON POST) notes:


In related news, officials in El Reno, Okla., say a damaged private water line at a data center there wasted more than 3 million gallons of water before it was discovered late last week. According to KOCO News, the business in question specializes in AI storage and Bitcoin mining.
The leak forced El Reno schools and the county courthouse to temporarily close, and forced thousands of residents to go without water, KFOR reported, after levels in El Reno’s water towers unexpectedly plummeted.


Still on data centers, Nicholas Liu (SALON) reports: 

Despite efforts to tout AI infrastructure as a boon to the American economy, as well as a home-field advantage to a country steeped in capitalistic aspiration, hawkers of this technology have failed to convince 70% of Americans that AI and its data centers are anything other than a hostile intrusion. To the public, they are monoliths that pollute the environment, drive up energy costs, strip people of their livelihoods and degrade the meaning of art. But the catch for some politicians is that supporting AI is an immensely profitable enterprise, even if the money and favors come from just a few very powerful, very rich people. Oh, what are they to do? 

Some of them, like David Crowley, Wisconsin’s Democratic candidate for governor, have wisely and belatedly eschewed “turn[ing] Wisconsin into an AI and data hub . . . for the entire globe” as a talking point in favor of convincing voters that local elected boards are the vanguard of communal protection and direct democracy. Attempting to shrug off the perception of being too pro-AI, Crowley told supporters shortly after his primary win in August that “Local communities should be the end all be all when it comes down to data centers. They should be able to make the decision when it comes to data centers and if they don’t want a data center, they should not be forced to have a data center, and there’s no ands, ifs, or buts about that.” 

When Tom Tiffany, Crowley’s Republican opponent, has managed to take breaths between his incessant attacks on “Data Center David,” he has also clarified his own position in favor of “local input” and “local control” — even though he previously voted in favor of federal bills to expedite the construction of data centers and ban state and local AI regulations. 
Significantly, neither candidate’s Paul-on-the-road-to-Madison conversion includes support for a temporary moratorium on data center construction — a cause with especially strong support from the left and elected officials like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., as well as Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in neighboring Michigan. The logic behind that push — buying time to evaluate the extent of data center effects and find a more permanent solution — is a direct answer to damage that has already been inflicted and to what polls have indicated as sweeping, bipartisan opposition to their further construction. Proposals to offload data center permitting, on the other hand, use the vocabulary of democracy and autonomy to hide the fact that “local communities,” in practice, means local governments, which are structurally overmatched, underfunded and vulnerable to the pressure tactics of trillion-dollar technology monopolies. 


Let's wind down with this from Senator Tammy Duckworth's office:

[MARION, IL] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today held a roundtable with Illinois health care providers, leaders and advocates to discuss the challenges they’re facing in providing care to rural communities as a direct result of the Trump Administration’s harmful health care cuts. Since being signed into law last July, President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill made the largest health care cuts in history, destabilizing the health care system with more than $1 trillion in cuts from Medicaid and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Photos from the roundtable can be found on Senator Duckworth’s website.

“For many Illinoisans in rural communities, health care was already too expensive and too hard to get—and then came the Medicaid cuts,” Duckworth said. “Slashing Medicaid has not only put reliable health care coverage at even more risk for hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans but also added even more pressure on rural hospitals already struggling to keep their doors open. The Administration’s cuts will only make it harder for families to get care close to home when mere minutes can be life-saving—or stop access altogether. Senator Durbin and I will keep fighting to protect Medicaid, support our rural health care services and make sure every Illinoisan can get the care they need when they need it, no matter their zip code.”

“Senator Duckworth and I sent letters to Illinois hospitals last year and asked them how the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act and its devastating Medicaid cuts would impact their hospital, health care workforce, and the patients they serve,” Durbin said. “The 129 responses we received made it clear that this legislation will mean shuttering of services, layoffs, and even hospital closures—meaning patients will needlessly suffer. If you look at the numbers, 24 rural hospitals are at risk of closure in Illinois. I think we ought to make a commitment to rural hospitals and families struggling with the cost-of-living instead of slashing federal funding for health care in order to fund tax cuts for billionaires.”

The consequences of these policies will continue to be felt across our state, with an estimated 400,000 Illinoisans expected to lose health coverage by 2034. Illinois nursing homes and hospitals, primarily in rural areas, are at risk of closing and Medicaid cuts are predicted to result in more than 27,000 jobs cut across the state.

Yesterday, Duckworth hosted a women’s health care roundtable with local reproductive health clinics, obstetrics providers, federally qualified health centers and health departments to hear about the difficulties of providing reproductive and maternal care in rural Southern Illinois, where Carbondale has become a safe haven for women seeking care from across the region and surrounding states, and the impact of Trump Administration policies on access to care. Photos from the women’s health care roundtable can be found on Senator Duckworth’s website.

-30-


The following sites updated:


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