Today in Politics, Bulletin 226. 10/10/25

… Pete Hegseth announced that the Qatari Air Force will now have a base in Idaho and their military fighter pilots will be training over the US: “I’m also proud that today we’re signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatari Emeri Air Force facility at the Mountain Home Airbase in Idaho.”

… I remember MAGA absolutely melting down over a Chinese air balloon going over the US like WW3 was about to start any day because of Biden. Now Qatari jets flying over our country is apparently America First. I’m sure this has nothing to do with Qatar giving Trump a jet or doing a business deal with him to build a $5.5 billion golf resort in that country.

… Laura Loomer: “What the hell is going on? Why are we trying to train more Muslims how to fly planes on US soil? Didn’t we already learn our lesson? This is very bad for our national security. Qatar is one of the largest funders of Islamic terror. Now they are being rewarded by getting a QATARI Air Force Base in Idaho? This is outrageous. I will never support this. Now that the GOP has decided to literally harbor Islamic terrorists on US soil, I don’t really care about fighting for Republicans as much as I did yesterday. I have lost hope for 2026 and 2028 to be totally honest. It’s like a light switch. The switch has been turned off.”

… Marge Greene yesterday and Loomer today. Sheesh!

… The Blaze editor Daniel Horowitz: “So we can sign away military bases on our soil to Qatar during a government shutdown? As I said a while ago, accepting the plane from Qatar was the least of the problems.”

… Right-wing activist Amy Vandersteel: “What the hell is this admin doing now? Last week in the Oval Office, Pfizer getting deals after poisoning millions with a bioweapons that paid billions and today this in your face full frontal assault. I DID NOT VOTE FOR ANY OF THIS.”

… Right-wing talk show host Dana Loesch: “I feel like if you sponsor Hamas you shouldn’t get a base in the US. What am I missing here?”

… Jessica Tarlov: “You are missing how much Qatar is paying the Trump family in real estate deals and personal gifts.”

… Despite an intense lobbying campaign for many months by Trump and his sycophants, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to fight for democracy against an authoritarian regime seeking to suppress its political opponents with a police state. MAGA wasn’t happy.

… Statement from the Nobel Committee: “Machado meets all 3 criteria stated in Alfred Nobel’s will for the selection of a Peace Prize laureate. She has brought her country’s opposition together. She has never wavered in resisting the militarization of Venezuelan society. She has been steadfast in her support for a peaceful transition to democracy.”

… House Maj Leader Steve Scalise: “If Nobel wants to restore what used to be a dignified prize, they can restore their credibility by awarding President Trump the Nobel Peace Prize. He’s earned it. He’s done more than any leader to bring peace.”

… Stephen Miller’s wife Katie Miller: “President Obama was given a Nobel months into his Presidency without ending any wars. President Trump has now ended EIGHT wars. POLITICS OVER PEACE.”

… WH Comm Director Steve Cheung: “President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will. The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”

… Megyn Kelly: “At Fox, Roger Ailes never even allowed anyone to submit for an award because he understood how meaningless they were - a leftist celebration of leftist behavior. Trump deserves the Peace Prize, but the loser here is the Nobel Committee which has further sullied its once-stellar brand.”

… Sen. Rick Scott: “With today’s Nobel Peace Prize announcement, we can’t forget the accomplishments of President Trump. We’ve seen countless world leaders call for his nomination to receive this great honor. I hope the Committee will take this into consideration when selecting the next award winner—it should be Trump!”

… Lara Trump on Fox: “He deserves it more than anyone alive. But we know these people who establish who wins the Nobel Peace Prize hate Trump. They suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome. In our hearts he will be winning the Nobel Peace Prize.”

… NY Post’s Miranda Devine: “Not only has the social worker pipsqueak who runs the Nobel Peace Prize snubbed Trump, but now he’s insulted him by saying he is not worthy to join the pantheon of past laureates who have ‘both courage and integrity.’ It’s a leftist bauble not worth having. It’s been devalued into meaninglessness, like the Pulitzer.”

… Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT): “Apparently the Nobel Peace Prize isn’t about delivering peace anymore So what IS it about?”

… Right-wing talk show host Trish Regan: “The Nobel Prize Committee has jumped the shark. Much like Harvard is no longer Harvard, the Nobel Prize is no longer Nobel. Both have traded excellence for politics. Nothing against Machado - but ignoring Trump’s global impact? So telling. The world is moving on - new universities, new prizes, new voices will rise to replace these legacy institutions. To hell with the old gatekeepers. They’ve lost credibility, and the people know it.”

… Trump’s Kennedy Center director Ric Grenell: “The Nobel Prize died years ago.”

… Vladimir Putin: “There were cases when this committee discussed the Nobel Peace Prize for people who have done nothing for the world. In my opinion, they have caused harm with these decisions. They have caused tremendous damage to the credibility of this award. Is the current President of the USA worthy or unworthy? I don’t know. He really does a lot to solve such complex problems, crises that last for years or even decades. He sincerely aspires for this crisis in Ukraine to be resolved.”

… Trump responded on Truth Social: “Thank you President Putin!”

… The House Republican theme of the day was to claim that Chuck Schumer wants to keep the govt shutdown going to amplify the No Kings protests scheduled for Oct 18, and also claimed that the protests are acts of terrorism. Mike Johnson on Fox: “It’s being told to us they can’t reopen the govt until after that rally, because they can’t face their rabid base!”

… Johnson: “They have a Hate America rally scheduled for Oct. 18 on the National Mall. Pro-Hamas, Antifa people, they’re all coming out. House Democrats selling T-shirts for the event. I have HAD it with these people. They’re playing games with real people’s lives. We’re so angry about it. I mean, I’m a very patient guy, but I’ve had it with these people.”

… Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman: “Johnson was quite angry today. Banging the lectern. visibly frustrated with the state of play.”

… GOP Whip Tom Emmer: “This is about one thing and one thing alone - to score political points with the terrorist wing of their party, which is set to hold a hate America rally in DC next week.”

… Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS): “October 18 is when the protest gets here. This will be a Soros paid-for protest for his professional protesters. The agitators show up. We’ll have to get the National Guard out. Hopefully it will be peaceful, but I doubt it.”

… House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries: “Donald Trump’s strategy during this govt shutdown that he has created has been to play golf and issue deep fake videos. Mike Johnson’s strategy is to keep House Republicans on vacation.”

… Republicans made it clear today that their talking point about the shutdown being about “free health care for illegals” was bs all along. What it is really about is defunding the ACA. Bloomberg: “Steve Scalise takes hard line against extending ACA subsidies. Calls Obamacare a ‘sink hole’. Says answer is association health plans and HSA accounts. Majority leader says 90% of House GOP feels same way.”

… Politico: “In late July, Paul Ingrassia, the WH liaison for DHS, arrived at a Ritz-Carlton in Orlando with a lower-ranking female colleague and others from their dept. When the group reached the front desk, the woman learned she didn’t have a hotel room. Ingrassia then informed her that she would be staying with him. Eventually the woman discovered that Ingrassia had arranged ahead of time to have her hotel room canceled so she would have to stay with him.”

… “The woman initially protested the room arrangement. But, not wanting to cause more of a scene around other colleagues, she relented. So the two went to the room and slept in separate beds. Ingrassia’s female colleague filed a human resources complaint against him before retracting it days later, fearing retaliation. However, 5 admin said she complained to them that Ingrassia was making her feel uncomfortable and that it was hurting her ability to do her job.”

… NYT: “Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK) the chairman of the National Governors Association, criticized the deployment of Texas National Guard troops to Illinois as a violation of his beliefs in federalism and ‘states’ rights.’ Stitt: “We believe in the federalist system — that’s states’ rights. Oklahomans would lose their mind if Pritzker in Illinois sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden admin.”

… “I was surprised that Gov. Abbott sent troops from Texas to Illinois. Abbott and I sued the Biden admin when the shoe was on the other foot and the Biden was trying to force us to vaccinate all of our soldiers and force masks across the country. As a federalist believer, one governor against another governor, I don’t think that’s the right way to approach this.”

… Daily Mail: “He’s already installed a makeup studio complete with lights and a director’s chair at the Pentagon, and now Pete Hegseth has kicked his beauty routine up a notch – by getting Botox. The Defense Secretary underwent a round of cosmetic injections last month and has been since seen with noticeably smoother skin and visibly diminished wrinkles.”

… An insider: “It’s all an ego play for Pete. He’s always been full of himself but lately his ego is off the charts. Now that’s he’s Secretary of War his sense of self-importance has gone to his head – along with his vanity. And even though he strutted about the stage like a peacock when he gave his insulting lecture to the military brass, he still doesn’t garner respect. He made a minor speech to important people, and he was still upstaged by Trump.”

… “When asked for comment, the Department of War did not directly address whether Hegseth had had Botox treatment and instead attacked the Daily Mail for writing an article about it.”

… MSNBC is reporting that Trump’s former NSA John Bolton is expected to be indicted next week.

… The stock market went into free fall today after Trump announced on Truth Social that the trade war with China just escalated dramatically: “Some very strange things are happening in China! They are becoming very hostile, and sending letters to Countries throughout the World, that they want to impose Export Controls on each and every element of production having to do with Rare Earths, and virtually anything else they can think of, even if it’s not manufactured in China.”

… “Nobody has ever seen anything like this but, essentially, it would ‘clog’ the Markets, and make life difficult for virtually every Country in the World, especially for China. We have been contacted by other Countries who are extremely angry at this great Trade hostility, which came out of nowhere. There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the World ‘captive,’ but that seems to have been their plan for quite some time, starting with the ‘Magnets’ and, other Elements that they have quietly amassed into somewhat of a Monopoly position, a rather sinister and hostile move, to say the least.”

… “But the US has Monopoly positions also, much stronger and more far reaching than China’s. I have just not chosen to use them, there was never a reason for me to do so - UNTIL NOW! The letter they sent is many pages long, and details, with great specificity, each and every Element that they want to withhold from other Nations. Things that were routine are no longer routine at all.”

… “I have not spoken to President Xi because there was no reason to do so. This was a real surprise, not only to me, but to all the Leaders of the Free World. I was to meet Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in S. Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so. . I never thought it would come to this but perhaps, as with all things, the time has come. Ultimately, though potentially painful, it will be a very good thing, in the end, for the US. One of the Policies that we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the US.”

… Trump later announced a new 100% tariff on all goods from China, in addition to the tariffs he already imposed. The Dow was down nearly 900 points. It was an even more of a bloodbath in the NASDAQ, which was down a whopping 3.56% for the day.

I did my best to keep up today but it was just nonstop unexpected craziness coming from all directions from the time I woke up until now. Nobel Prize, Qatar base, China trade war, then House GOP Leadership making their theme of the day that No Kings rallies are Antifa terrorism. All I can say is that we have to make this one on Oct 18 our biggest and best one yet. All hands on deck.

If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, which was also a torrent of insanity, you can find it here. I’m off tomorrow to go to a fall festival in Boothbay, Maine. See you with the Weekend Bulletin on Sunday night. I’m also expecting my Substack on the Top 15 protest signs from that day to be pretty epic - creativity and originality is key!

… Dean Ball, Foundation for American Innovation: “This is a very big deal. China has asserted sweeping control over the entire global semiconductor supply chain, putting export license requirements on all rare earths used to manufacture advanced chips. If enforced aggressively, this policy could mean ‘lights out’ for the US AI boom, and likely lead to a recession/economic crisis in the US in the short term.”

… Rush Doshi, China specialist on Biden’s NSC: “China is winning the trade war. They have strong cards, but the truth is the Trump team inadvertently helped them. Per the WSJ , the reason China massively escalated in the last 36 hours is because it believes