Today in Politics, Bulletin 221. 10/3/25

… Trump’s former spiritual advisor and donor Robert Morris just pled guilty to sexually abusing a 12 year old girl. NBC: “The Texas megachurch pastor who built Gateway Church into one of the largest congregations in the country, pleaded guilty Thurs in Osage County District Court to charges that he sexually abused a girl in the 1980s.”

… Morris pled guilty to 5 felony counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child. Under a negotiated plea agreement, he was given a 10-year sentence, but he will serve only 6 months in the county jail. He must also register as a sex offender and pay $250,000 in restitution."

… “The plea represents a remarkable fall for Morris, who founded Gateway in 2000 in Southlake, TX, and grew it into a megachurch with tens of thousands of weekly attendees. His sermons were broadcast to audiences around the world, his books became bestsellers in evangelical circles, and he served as a faith adviser to President Trump.”

… Trump went on another batshit crazy, late-night social media barrage last night. This was one of them.

… And JD Vance just got done lecturing us all week about inflammatory rhetoric.

… Russ Vought continues to freeze federal funding on infrastructure projects underway in blue states: “$2.1 billion in Chicago infrastructure projects-specifically the Red Line Extension and the Red and Purple Modernization Project -have been put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting. More info to come soon from USDOT.”

… Mike Johnson on Trump’s deranged social media posts and Vought’s impoundment of funds appropriated by Congress to projects in blue states: “He has that opportunity now to say, ‘This is a program that would serve the American people if it was not funded, because govt would be more efficient and effective.’ So they’re gonna make those decisions. Are they taking great pleasure in that? No. Is he trolling the Democrats? Yes. Because that’s what Trump does and people are having fun with this. Russ takes no pleasure in this - the president takes no pleasure in this.”

… Fox reporter to Johnson: “How can you say ‘they take no pleasure in this,’ and then the next minute say, ‘Oh, they’re just having fun and trolling?’”

… Karoline Leavitt’s press conference today: Q - “You just said this is an unenviable choice, and layoffs are an unfortunate consequence. But the president posted a video likening Vought to the grim reaper. So which is it? Leavitt: Look, the president likes to have a little fun every now and then.”

… Speaking of trolling and having a little fun, Gavin Newsom just posted this.

… Reporter: “Do you commit to doing something to address the ACA subsidies so that insurance premiums don’t spike for Americans? Johnson: Republicans commit to continuing the work we’ve already been doing.”

… That means no.

… Vance on CBS: “We inherited this really bad healthcare system from the last days of the Biden admin. We want to fix it. We just don’t want to shut down the govt while we’re fixing it. Why can’t we open up the govt and fix the healthcare problem?”

… Trump and Republicans have been promising to “fix” the health care system since 2016. Trump repeatedly said in his first term his health care plan was coming in two weeks. It never happened. It hasn’t happened this term. Now Dems are supposed to just vote for this and trust the Trump admin suddenly has a secret plan.

… Karoline Leavitt: “When an illegal alien goes to the emergency room, who’s paying for it? The American taxpayer.”

… Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich: “This is due to a law signed by Ronald Reagan and has nothing to do with this shutdown fight. But consider this... Emergency Medicaid spending in 2023 cost $3.4 billion - just 0.4% of total Medicaid spending. Now what about the $20 billion taxpayers are giving to Argentina?”

… Q: “Has the president abandoned his campaign pledge to mandate insurance coverage for IVF? Leavitt: No. Q: Is there any update on that? Leavitt: I’ll check.”

… Rep. Marge Greene (R-GA) says that Republicans can end the shutdown anytime they want without Democratic votes: “On the govt shutdown, here’s what you’re not being told. If Republican Senators wanted to pass the CR and reopen the govt they could, by using the nuclear option to override the 60 vote rule and pass the CR with a simple majority vote. We have 53 R Senators.”

… “The Senate just recently used the nuclear option to push through a large package of the President’s nominees. They know how to do it. And as far as worrying that using the nuclear option would damage partisan relations, let’s be real, that ship has sailed a long time ago. There are no partisan relations.”

… Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) on Fox: “There’s no one in America who believes that the Democrats are in charge. Trump brags about his big victories in the House and Senate. Everyone knows he’s controlling govt - in fact, too much. So the argument to blame Democrats - no one in America believes it.”

… A strong majority of Americans in every poll shows that they blame Republicans for the shutdown:

… Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) on CNN: Q - “A WaPo poll shows more Americans are blaming Republicans for the shutdown. Does that give you pause? Marshall: I discount that poll altogether. There are so many other polls that say just the opposite. Q - Which ones? Marshall: I don’t have them at my fingertips right now.”

… New KFF poll: Percentage of Americans who want to extend the Obamacare tax credits: Democrats-92%. Independents-82%. Republicans-59%. 74% of people say they would blame Republicans or Trump if credits are not extended. Just 22% would blame Dems.

… Emma Wagner: “Since the enhanced PTCs were introduced, the number of people who receive health coverage through the ACA Marketplaces has more than doubled. In 6 states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia and West Virginia), enrollment has more than tripled in 5 years.”

… Health care policy analyst Larry Leavitt: “This is a remarkable statistic: 18.7 million out of the 24.3 million Obamacare enrollees are in states won by Trump in 2024. 80% of all ACA premium tax credits go to people in states won by Trump in 2024.”

… Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio: “If the Republican candidate lets the premium tax credit expire, the Republican trails the Democrat on the general ballot by 15-points.”

… WaPo: “Three days into the govt shutdown, it’s increasingly unclear where the US economy is headed - not because of a direct hit from the federal closures but a lack of official data. The absence of the Labor Dept’s monthly jobs report, which was scheduled to be released Friday morning, is the first casualty in what is likely to be a string of delayed or missed economic data.”

… “The timing could hardly be worse. Policymakers have been watching closely for signs that a cooling job market, rising unemployment and worsening inflation could be weighing on the economy. The Sept jobs report was expected to provide a much-anticipated snapshot of the US labor market, after a summer of rapid cooling. The lack of data is a particular problem for the Federal Reserve, which will meet later this month to decide whether it should keep cutting interest rates.”

… “The central bank, responsible for keeping inflation stable without hurting the job market, relies heavily on govt data to guide its decisions. Without updated figures to gauge the state of the labor market or inflation, the Fed will be in an extraordinary difficult spot.”

… Erica Groshen, who was the head of BLS during the 2013 shutdown: “It’s a bad time to be missing data. We are flying blind right as the economy could be turning.”

… Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer on CNN: Q - “Construction jobs fell in Aug, private sector payrolls plunged in Sept. Why is it heading in the wrong direction? DeRemer: All indicators shows we have the strongest economy in the world. What we inherited from the Biden admin... Q - Jobs economy? Do we have the strongest jobs economy compared to last year when when there were hundreds of thousands of jobs added each month? DeRemer: Absolutely.”

… Politico: “The Trump admin is planning to roll out the first tranche of bailout payments for farmers in the coming weeks, likely using billions of dollars in funding from an internal USDA account. But it won’t be enough: USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation fund - which Trump previously tapped to provide $28 billion in farm aid during his first-term trade war with China - has just $4 billion left in the account. Some Republicans estimate they will eventually need to provide $35-$50 billion in aid to farmers hit by Trump’s tariffs.

… “Trump officials, including those at the Treasury Dept, are looking at how to tap tariff receipts or other funding to supplement the payments without triggering a messy fight in Congress. Trump has said he would use tariff revenue to provide cash bailouts to farmers, but Congress would likely need to vote to authorize such a move. GOP lawmakers could also move to refill the internal USDA fund in their govt funding fight later this fall, but that will be a battle with Democrats.”

… Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) on Newsmax: “Unfortunately, our farmers do need that assistance. They don’t like it. They consider it welfare. They want trade, not aid. So we really need to see some of these new markets opening up around the globe. We lost a lot of soybean contracts due to these elongated negotiations. But if there’s anybody that can make a deal, it’s President Trump.”

… Kristi Noem was fuming today after a municipal city building in Illinois wouldn’t allow her in to use their restroom: “The city police wouldn’t even let us use the restroom. A municipal worker at the city building here at Broadview would not allow us to go in to use the restroom. So as much as these local leaders talk about cooperating, this is what we have to put up with every single day.”

… CNBC: “The top 10% of Americans added $5 trillion to their wealth in the second quarter as the stock market rally continued to benefit the biggest investors, according to new data from the Federal Reserve. The total wealth of the top 10% - or those with a net worth of more than $2 million - reached a record $113 trillion in Q2, up from $108 trillion in Q1.”

… “The top 0.1% saw their wealth grow by 10% over the past year. Since the pandemic, the top 0.1%, or those with a net worth of at least $46 million, have seen their total wealth nearly double to over $23 trillion.”

… CNN: “FBI Director Kash Patel has fired a longtime bureau employee who displayed a Pride flag in his workspace during a past assignment. The employee was undergoing new agent training at the FBI’s academy when he received a letter from Patel ordering his immediate dismissal. In a previous non-agent role with the FBI, the employee, who received multiple awards for service during his career, had also been a field office diversity program coordinator and displayed a Pride flag at his workstation.”

… “In notifying the individual of their dismissal, Patel said the agent trainee was being summarily dismissed for past ‘poor judgment’ and ‘an inappropriate display of political signage.’”

… Meanwhile, Patel is now handing out these.

Photo - Ken Dilanian, MSNBC

Reminder no Bulletin tomorrow because I am off Saturdays. The next two weeks are peak fall foliage season here and we are going on a 4-hour train excursion tomorrow through the lakes region of southeast New Hampshire.

I will be back with my Weekend Bulletin on Sunday night. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.

… Trump continues to escalate his war on American cities. Karoline Leavitt made this announcement today: “President Trump will end the radical left’s reign of terror in Portland once and for all. The president has directed Secretary