This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 222.

… Trump essentially admitted today that the shutdown is really about repealing Obamacare by choking off funding for it, which was in Project 2025: Q - “Are you open to extending the ACA subsidies? Trump: We want to fix it so it works. It’s not working. Obamacare has been a disaster for the people.”

… Trump tried to repeal Obamacare in 2017 and failed. Then he promised to present his own plan. He promised it was coming several times in two weeks. Then Kayleigh McEnany presented binders with his “plan” to 60 Minutes, but they were filled with blank paper. With ACA very popular with the public, the Project 2025 plan was to kill it was to cut off funding for it in a variety of different ways to make it unaffordable. That is what this shutdown is really all about, not “free healthcare for illegal aliens.”

… Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) on Fox: “I want to fix Obamacare. I built the largest hospital company in the country.”

… Scott’s company, Columbia/HCA, paid a record $1.7 billion in fines to settle civil and criminal fraud charges and he was forced to resign as CEO. He was able to avoid criminal charges with the settlement. He pled the 5th in his deposition 75 times.

… Stephen Miller went on a fascist rampage this weekend after a Trump-appointed judge ruled that they failed to satisfy the legal requirements to sent troops into Portland: “The Democrat Party has filled our legal and judicial system with radicals who protect leftwing terrorists. This is a very real and dire crisis for our Republican form of govt.”

… US District Judge Karin Immergut wrote that her order was required to preserve America’s “longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs. This historical tradition boils down to a simple proposition: this is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law.”

… “Defendants have made a range of arguments that, if accepted, risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power - to the detriment of this nation. The President’s determination was simply untethered to the facts … and not conceived in good faith.”

… Miller: “This is legal insurrection. The President is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, not an Oregon judge. Portland and Oregon law enforcement, at the direction of local leaders, have refused to aid ICE officers facing relentless terrorist assault and threats to life. This is an organized terrorist attack on the federal govt and its officers, and the deployment of troops is an absolute necessity to defend our personnel, our laws, our government, public order and the Republic itself.”

… Oregon AG Dan Rayfield to Meidas: “Huge win at this moment in our democracy right now. This is the president that is normalizing the use of the US military in our country. So to get this strong of a ruling for the public to see - it’s incredibly important. This is a judge appointed by Trump. Hopefully this will kind of serve as a message to folks that the rule of law still stands in this country.”

… Rayfield: “Presidents don’t just get to tweet things on Truth Social and pretend that they’re facts. When you want to do the things you want to do as president, you’ve got to have real facts behind them. And if you don’t, you’ve got to be able to prove yourself in a court of law.”

… “If you’re wondering what happened in the courtroom, the first thing that might’ve told you the federal govt wasn’t doing so hot was when they started off some of their arguments by talking about Truth Social as their source of facts. And I actually got a comment from the judge: ‘Is this really how you’re going to move forward - based on Truth Social facts?’ So it’s bizarre that we have a president doing that.”

… Miller: “The issue before is now is very simple and clear. There is a large and growing movement of leftwing terrorism in this country. It is well organized and funded. And it is shielded by far-left Democrat judges, prosecutors and attorneys general. The only remedy is to use legitimate state power to dismantle terrorism and terror networks.”

… It is clear what is happening here. The Trump admin is doing everything they possibly can to instigate violence so they can satisfy legal requirements to send in the military. They are trying to instigate their own Reichstag fire. They continue to call protests “terrorism.” They call judges who rule against them “insurrectionists.”

… The federal judges who have ruled against the Trump admin have been appointed by Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Obama, Biden, and Trump. All insurrectionists, according to unhinged fascist Stephen Miller.

… Trump: “I wasn’t served well by the people who pick judges. I appointed the judge and it goes like that. If he made that decision - Portland is burning to the ground. All you have to do is look at the TV and read your newspapers. That judge ought to be ashamed of himself.”

… The protests in Portland have been pretty much confined to a single city block. The rest of the city there is nothing happening. Nothing is burning down.

… Oh, and the judge is a woman. Apparently nobody told Dementia Trump.

… Kristi Noem said on Fox that she is saving Chicago and Portland: “When people start to feel again what it can be like, that they can live a life walking down the street and eating at restaurants again, that governor and mayor will hear how wrong they are.”

… Noem: “Portland, it’s been dark and horrible for so many years. It been a train wreck.”

… Noem has never been to Portland. Like Trump, what she knows about Portland is whatever propaganda Fox chooses to show about it.

… Noem: “Gangs, cartel members, and known terrorist organizations have placed bounties on the heads of several of our law enforcement officers. These violent riots are not about free speech. This is the rule of law vs. anarchy. We will win.”

… IL Gov JB Pritzker on CNN: “He’s saying that Chicago is a war zone. None of that is true. They’re just making this up. And then what do they do? They fire tear gas and smoke grenades, and they make it look like it’s a war zone.”

… Pritzker: “ICE is just picking up people who are brown and black and then checking their credentials. I don’t know about you, but I don’t carry around papers that say I’m a US citizen. So US citizens are getting detained and arrested.”

… Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) on CBS: “If President Trump really wanted to fight crime, then he should stop defunding the police — he diverted $800 million in crime prevention efforts that was appropriated away from our police officers.”

… Pete Hegseth to Fox: Q - “If a young man or woman signs up today, are they more likely to deploy in their career to the Middle East or to the midwest? Hegseth: Well, the era of sort of reckless adventurism around the globe is over, and President Trump is willing to stand alongside law enforcement - so in that sense they’re more likely to be in the midwest.”

… Q - “Which would be the greatest threat to the US homeland? China, Russia, or Antifa? Hegseth: Well, depends on where you are, right?”

… Sen. Ruben Gallego: “Hegseth is trying to compensate for something. Q - What do you think he’s trying to compensate for? Gallego: The fact that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. He knows that within the DOD, people think he’s a laughing stock. He’s the worst Secretary of Defense that this country has ever had. He clearly is way out of his league.”

We make the entire Weekend Bulletins available to free subscribers while about the first third of the daily Bulletins the rest of the week are available. If you missed the last Bulletin you can find it here.

Yesterday’s fall foliage train through NH was fun, but this is looking like a disappointing season. Because of a summer drought, the rivers are low and the foliage is going from green to brown. We are doing our big one-day driving foliage tour on Wed through Maine, NH and norther VT on a lot of back roads so hopefully we will find some decent spots on the rivers and ponds.

… Minneapolis Star Tribune: “Pete Hegseth considered sending an elite US Army strike force to Portland to quell protests that Trump has characterized as ‘lawless mayhem,’ according to images of messages. The messages, casually exchanged last weekend in a crowded, public space, show high-level officials in the Trump admin discussing the deployment of the Army’s 82nd Airborne, an infantry division.”

… “Anthony Salisbury, a deputy to WH top policy adviser Stephen Miller, sent the texts over the private messaging app Signal while traveling in MN and in clear view of others. Troubled by seeing sensitive military planning discussed so openly, a source contacted the Star Tribune and allowed a reporter to review images of the texts.”

… Hegseth deputy Patrick Weaver told Salisbury his boss wanted a direct order from Trump to cover his ass before he agreed to send the 82nd Airborne: “Between you and I, I think Pete just wants the top cover from the boss if anything goes sideways with the troops there.”

… “In a separate exchange, Salisbury celebrated FBI Director Kash Patel’s decision to fire several agents who were photographed kneeling during a 2020 protest. He suggested Trump would approve of the action, then insulted Patel: ‘This is how Kash survives. He will do this stuff for the man but day to day he’s a giant douche canoe.’”

… Trump gave Hamas until 6:00 PM ET on Sunday night to agree to his peace plan or, according to his Truth Social post from Friday: “If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas.”

… I’m publishing this at 6:01 PM ET on Sunday. Nothing is finalized. Trump said late today he thinks everything will be worked out “in the next few days.”

… Axios: “When Hamas came back with a ‘yes, but’ to Trump’s Gaza peace proposal on Friday, Trump called Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss what he saw as good news. Netanyahu felt differently. ‘Bibi told Trump this is nothing to celebrate, and that it doesn’t mean anything,’ said a US official with knowledge of the call. Trump fired back: ‘I don’t know why you’re always so fucking negative! This is a win. Take it.’”

… “Hamas said it’s willing to release all remaining hostages in return for an end to the war and a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza. But the group requested negotiations on many of the details. Netanyahu stressed that he viewed Hamas’ response as a rejection of Trump’s plan. Trump’s mood was very different. He had been concerned that Hamas would reject the plan outright, and saw the actual response as an opening for a deal.”

… MarketWatch: “The US economy is very close to falling into a damaging contraction - and many states are already in a recession, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. Zandi estimates that 22 states are now experiencing persistent economic weakness and job losses that are likely to continue. Another 13 states are treading water: ‘The economy is still not in recession, but the risks are very high. We’re on the precipice.’”

… Daily Beast: “Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking crimes will return to the Capitol to hold another press conference demanding Congress force a vote to release the Epstein files. On Wed, Oct 8, survivors will stand alongside Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) to support the pair’s bipartisan bill, the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the few Republican supporters of the bill, will be in attendance as well.”

… “A petition to force a vote on the bill is currently deadlocked in Congress. Speaker Johnson has delayed the swearing in of newly-elected AZ Democrat Adelita Grijalva, who would be the final signature needed to bring the Act to the floor. On Thur, Johnson said he would swear in Grijalva ‘next week.’ It is currently unknown if Johnson plans to uphold his promise to swear in Grivalja next week, and his office has not responded to request for comment.”

… Mike Johnson on Meet the Press: Q - “They say the house is not in session because you don’t want to swear in the newly elected democratic congresswoman that would be a critical vote to releasing the Epstein files. Johnson: It’s totally absurd. This has nothing to do with that. It’s another red herring.”

… This was an infuriating interview to watch with Kristen Welker and Johnson. One terrible question after another that left things wide open with deflection. Pitiful follow ups. Zero answers to anything and he was never pinned down to answer anything specifically. How about pointing out that the people of southern AZ have been without representation for 7 months because their Rep died of cancer and Johnson refuses to swear in his daughter who won in a landslide 2 weeks ago?”

… Sen. Gallego (D-AZ) on CNN: “Mike Johnson has sent away the Republicans to hide the Epstein list. Trump, the man who wrote ‘The Art of the Deal,’ cannot be found anywhere. There’s negotiations to be had, but two of the three people that need to be involved are gone.”

… Trump’s distraction attempt of announcing he will be releasing the Amelia Earhart files did not work with anyone. Nobody cared. What a surprise.

… Johnson then went on CBS from the Capitol, where Margaret Brennan did a better job in the interview than Welker: “It’s kind of quiet around here. It has been for the last several days. It’s very unfortunate. Brennan: Well, you did send your lawmakers home to their districts.”

… NBC: “Former President Barack Obama has stepped up his criticisms of the Trump admin in recent weeks, weighing in more forcefully and frequently than he did at the start of the president’s second term. It is an intensification that Democrats welcome at a moment when they lack party leadership, even as some say his trademark caution is still getting the better of him.”

… In the last 3 weeks, Obama called Trump’s news conference linking Tylenol and autism “violence against the truth,” and he attacked the admin in the wake of Jimmy Kimmel’s initial late-night ouster for taking ‘cancel culture’ to a ‘new and dangerous level.’ After Charlie Kirk’s killing, Obama aggressively called out Trump’s rhetoric, saying the president was further dividing the country. And before the govt shutdown, he clapped at Republicans, saying they would ‘rather shut down the govt than help millions of Americans afford health care.’”

… “Obama’s headline-grabbing comments come after private conversations over the summer with allies about whether he should speak out more and how he should approach high-stakes WH actions as they unfold. The former president recognizes the gravity of a moment when Trump is seen as stretching the limits of the Constitution, and one former aide said he is cognizant that there is a dearth of party leadership.”

… WH economic advisor Kevin Hassett was asked on CNN about the Treasury Dept moving forward to mint a dollar coin with Trump’s face on it despite the fact that fed law states that no living president can be on currency: “There have been times in the past where commemorative coins have been printed with the faces of living people. And so I think that they’re on solid ground if they decide to do that.”

… No they aren’t. It is a blatant violation of the law. No living president has ever been on currency since the statute was passed. The statute was specifically adopted because that is something monarchs and autocrats do. There was no follow up on that from Jake Tapper.

… Trump was raging at Pete Doocy and Fox on Truth Social during his interview with Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ): “Why is Fox News and Peter Doocy putting on Democrat Senator Mark Kelly to talk about, totally unabated or challenged, Healthcare? The FAKE SPIN is so bad for Republicans that it is hard to believe that we WIN. It will be very unfair, in the future, when they don’t have ‘TRUMP’ to fight for them. Therefore, we should fix it, NOW!”

… I’m watching this Interview. It just doesn’t end. Fox should either get on board, or get off board, NOW, but at this point, it just doesn’t make any difference to me. They suck up the Ratings because of us, and then spin them in the Democrats’ direction. They refuse to put up Polls that correctly show me at 65% in Popularity, a Republican RECORD, but if I have a fake bad “Poll,” many of which are done by Fox (One of the worst “Pollsters” out there is the FoxNews Poll), they put them up immediately, and with gusto. Republicans are so tired of this fight with Fox always trying to be so “politically correct!” Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

… He’s the biggest baby on the planet. Total snowflake.