… As every indicator increasingly suggests a wipeout for Republicans in the midterms, their nominees in key races continue to attempt to distance themselves from Trump, including the ones who fully embraced all things MAGA just weeks ago.
… NYT: “In Georgia, Republican strategists are privately discussing whether the Senate race has drifted beyond the party’s reach. In Kansas, JD Vance campaigned for a Senate Republican, even though a Democrat there has not been elected to the chamber since 1932. In Nebraska, a new Republican super PAC just sprang up to spend to defend a billionaire incumbent.”
… “Across the country, Trump’s political operation is suddenly investing in what once appeared to be bright-red Senate races and House districts, including several in TX that his party claimed to have safely gerrymandered only a year ago. Less than 7 weeks before the midterm elections, the political environment has deteriorated so badly for Republicans that the battlefield now extends deep into states and districts Trump carried 3 times, often by double digits.”
… “Trump’s diminished standing, as well as voter anger about high prices brought on by tariffs and the war with Iran, is causing serious problems for Republicans across the map. And economic trends appear to be going the wrong way for the party. The Fed raised interest rates on Wed, which will drive up the cost of borrowing at a time many voters are already paying high rates for mortgages, auto loans and credit card debts. Trump has said not to expect gas price relief before the midterms.”
… “A NYT/Siena poll released this week found that Democrats entered the fall with an advantage of nearly 9 percentage points over Republicans on the congressional ballot - an edge similar to 2018, the last time there was a so-called blue wave.”
… Punchbowl: “Trump’s trade wars have helped push costs higher, a fact Democrats are hammering on the campaign trail. The escalation with Canada - one of America’s biggest trading partners - shows how painful the tariffs have been for the GOP. The standoff hits hardest in border and farm states where there are a handful of key Senate races.”
A Republican senator on the ballot this year: “The WH putting a noose around all of our necks” by escalating a trade war this close to the election.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME): “I’m concerned about the fact that it hurts families, small businesses and large manufacturers in the state of Maine, and farmers.”
GOP nominee for senate in NH, John Sununu: “It doesn’t make any sense to engage in a trade war with Canada.”
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS): “We are a state that exports. That’s what we do for a living, and Canada is an important component of that.”
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS): “We don’t want to rock that boat.”
… Lots of calls from the MAGA faithful for Trump to revoke his endorsement of Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) after she posted a video filmed in front of the WH denouncing him for his immigration policy. Obviously, she is hearing it big-time from her south FL constituents, who are also not happy about Trump plundering Venezuela while refusing to push for elections in that country:
“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far. In July, 50% of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record. Be careful what your advisers are telling you about immigration policy.”
“The same Hispanics who helped you get to the WH in 2024 feel betrayed today. You can be for immigration what Lincoln was for slavery and Reagan was for communism. I’m not talking about giving them amnesty. I’m talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land.”
… Marianna Sotomayor, Capitol Hill reporter for Puck: “Rep. Salazar has been saying just this on the Hill publicly and directly, behind the scenes, to the WH. But this is a clear escalation and an indication of political shifts in Miami.”
… Miami-based MS NOW political analyst Fernand Amandi: “This ad is the best evidence that Salazar knows she’s losing her reelection bid against Elliott Rodriguez. It’s too late, Maria Elvira Salazar. Everyone knows you are lying. You voted for this, you wanted this. Spare us the phony Alligator Alcatraz tears.”
… I completely agree with Amandi. The only thing this video is going to do is cause Trump supporters, who are fuming about this video, not to show up and vote for her.
… Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) was asked about the midterms by CNN’s Manu Raju: “It’s going to be a bloodbath. Q: Speaker Johnson says the reason why you guys can go home is because you guys have done such a great job up here. Mace: No, absolutely not. We have the lowest ratings ever in history.”
… Red Lion Politics: “The vibes on the ground are the worst I’ve seen in my life. No one wants to promote candidates, no one wants to knock doors, no one wants to do shit. Attendance for any right wing event is at all time lows anywhere I go. Thank you Donald Trump for ruining it for us… and handing the country over to socialism.”
… NYT reporter Bayliss Wagner on the Republican nominee for senate in Iowa: “Rep. Ashley Hinson’s campaign tells me she will not attend JD Vance rally in Council Bluffs because of previously-scheduled events.”
… Former Mike Pence Chief of Staff Marc Short responded to Hinson dodging Vance: “That tells you all you need to know about how things are going in Iowa.”
… NJ Globe: “The NJ State Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Assn has endorsed Democrat Rebecca Bennett in NJ’s 7th district, flipping its support from Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in one of the nation’s closely watched House races. The NJFMBA, which represents more than 6,000 firefighters, EMTs and dispatchers, announced its endorsements at the conclusion of its 130th annual convention in Atlantic City.”
… “The firefighters union has been something of a political swing vote in the 7th district, moving back and forth between Democrats and Republicans over the last 4 election cycles. The FMBA endorsed Kean over Democrat Sue Altman in 2024. Now, the union is moving back to the Democratic column with Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot who is challenging Kean.”
… Meidas senior digital editor Acyn: “Both Mike Rogers and Ken Paxton appeared on Hannity tonight. No mention of policy or what they would do for their states if elected that I saw - just a lot of talk about Hasan Piker and drag queens.”
… Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): “In 1776, the battle cry was, ‘The British are coming.’ In 2026, the battle cry is, ‘The communists are coming.’”
… I’m not sure that strategy is working.
… Comedian Ron White to Joe Rogan: “James Talarico didn’t cost this state $6 million in fines and lawsuits, and that happened with Ken Paxton. Guess who paid that $6 million? You and me paid the $6 million settlement to the whistleblower for his bribery. His own party impeached him - 121 votes to 72, but the senate put him back in. He’s a criminal. He’s a piece of shit.”
… Rogan: “I don’t know enough about him. White: Republicans have been in control for 30 years. Let somebody else fucking drive the car.”
… Suddenly Rogan, who lives and works in Texas, doesn’t know anything about Paxton, who has been the AG of that state since 2014 and has been in the news constantly for this.
… Fox senior political analyst Karl Rove wrote an OpEd in the WSJ on why he is voting for the Democratic nominee against Republican Bo French in TX. He cited a post French made right after the Texas Longhorns big comeback win against Ohio State in football:
“So how did Bo French—a UT grad and Republican statewide candidate for Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry—mark this special moment? He posted a picture of screaming, joyous, celebrating burnt-orange-clad students.
Referring to students who appeared to be South Asian or Hispanic in the photo’s foreground, he declared, ‘I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.’
French’s not-so-subtle claim that UT has too many Hispanics and South Asians—he later said his issue is too many ‘foreigners’—is raw, uncut bigotry. UT admissions are based on merit, not race, and 90% of each class comes from Texas.
The GOP has a growing number of Bo Frenches—and not only in TX. Conservatism and the party it dominates have an increasing number of bigoted advocates of a ‘heritage America’ composed of white descendants of the original European settlers.
There are ‘just asking questions’ Jew-haters, misogynists who worship hypermasculinity, conspiracy nuts seeking clicks for profit, and religious bigots who won’t differentiate between Muslim terrorists and Muslim American patriots.
These people are diminishing the Republican Party, not building it. I’ll have no part of it. This Nov, I’ll vote for only the 2nd Democrat in my life - French’s opponent, Jon Rosenthal. The GOP’s stables need a cleaning. This is a good place to start.”
… Trump held a rally in NC for senate nominee Michael Whatley. In his speech, Trump employed the brilliant strategy of ripping the state of NC while threatening to continue to withhold disaster aid unless they send the former RNC Chair to the senate:
On disaster relief: “If Michael loses, I’m not sending it. No, I’m only kidding.”
… He’s not kidding. He has been withholding it.
… NC Gov. Josh Stein: “This is no way to respond to a tragic disaster, no way to run a country, no way to campaign for office. Western North Carolinians have been working their tails off for the past two years to recover from Helene. It’s time for Washington to match their grit and fund our $10 billion request.”
“NC is one of the most violent states. One of the worst in the whole nation.”
“I’m quite impressed with my intelligence. I’m a high IQ person.”
“If the Republicans win the House and Senate, I will issue the Trump dividend—every adult in America will get $5000 and you’ll get it. We can do it and the Democrats can’t because they don’t do the tariffs.”
“We took out Venezuela in 48 minutes. We’re taking out million and millions of barrels of oil. When they see ‘to the victor belongs the spoils,’ that’s one of the greatest cases anyone has ever seen in history.”
On spiking gas prices: “It’s a very inexpensive price to pay for what we’ve done. Frankly, even if it was a lot more. But it’s going to come tumbling down like a rocket ship in reverse.”
On Iran: “That war is going to end very soon. You watch. Trump was right about everything. They want to make a deal so badly. They called. We could have a deal anytime we want.”
“We’re carrying the European nations. All we have to do is say, ‘you know what? We’re not trading with you anymore.’ We don’t need anything we have.’ We have cars. We have lumber. We have food. We have everything.”
“If we stopped trading with every country that we have a deficit with - which is most of them, and which would be very easy to do - we would make at least $1.5 trillion a year.”
… Trump on the tarmac heading to the rally:
Q - “Why is it so important for you to have your name on the Kennedy Center? Trump: “For me to go and fix it and subsidize it, I think the Trump Admin should have recognition. If we don’t do that, it’s going to close and get ripped down.”
… That statement was hit with a fact-check Community Note on X: “Congress recently allocated $257 million for Kennedy Center renovations. However, the funds have not been used yet. The project is halted as Trump is withholding the money amid a legal battle to add his name to the building.”
On Canada becoming the first associate member of the EU: “Canada has been a terrible trade partner. If they do that I would consider it a hostile act and I would put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe. If Europe does that, we’ll put heavy tariffs on them.”
Q: “Do you acknowledge that the Fed is raising rates to bring down prices because of the war in Iran? Trump: No, they’re doing it to make Trump do as bad as possible.”
… Every Trump nominee to the Fed voted to raise rates.
… WH trade advisor Peter Navarro trashed Trump’s new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh on Steve Bannon’s podcast while standing in front of the WH: “I’m not a Warsh guy. I see him not as MAGA. I see him as Make Recessions Great Again, or Make Stagflation Great Again. He’s selling us out. I fear it’s political. They made a monumental mistake, and it’s gonna come back to haunt us.”
… On his return flight aboard AF1, Trump was captured by Getty photographer Brendan Smialkowski looking at a placard that read, “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED”.
… Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) to Meidas reporter Scott Macfarlane on Trump’s temper tantrum at recent Kennedy Center board meeting:
“It was very unprofessional for him to engage in name-calling. Q: What kind of names? Beatty: ‘Dumb. Garbage. Incompetent.’ It was unbelievable that this was happening while we were sitting in an official Kennedy Center board meeting.
As John Lewis would say, ‘See something, do something. Hear something, say something.’ So I decided to defend myself to let him know that I wasn’t going to sit there and let him say that without a response. So when he said to me, ‘I think you’re incompetent,’ I said to him, ‘I KNOW you’re incompetent.’”
… Harry Enten: “Who hates Pete Hegseth? Basically everyone. No wonder the Speaker sent everybody home. He’s nearly 3 times as unpopular now in his net approval rating from when he first took office. No wonder Speaker Johnson didn’t want his members to vote against the American people on Hegseth.”
… He’s talking about the resolution to impeach Hegseth.
On Uncovered yesterday we talked about Trump’s meltdown after the Fed raised rates, Junior’s Russian wedding, gas/diesel prices spiking, Kash’s testimony about bestiality, AI and data center regulation, trade, Canada and the EU, Bessent getting grilled in the House, 60 Minutes and selling pardons, Roger Marshall in trouble in KS, and lots more! If you missed the show it is here.
If you missed the last Bulletin, that is here. Thank you to everyone who reads, shares and subscribes to my work and all the other contributors at Meidas.
… CNN: “Speaker Mike Johnson announced he is sending members home from Washington early for their 7-week campaigning recess ahead of the midterm elections, a move that will stave off a vote on impeaching Pete Hegseth. The next time House lawmakers are expected back in Washington will be after the Nov. elections.”
… “House GOP lawmakers were already eager to get out of town. They’d been in a dour mood, faced with growing political pressure to act on contentious issues like artificial intelligence and tariffs, all while anxiety rises over their ability to hold the chamber in the midterms.”
… “Then came a new headache: One of their fellow Republicans, Rep. Thomas Massie, announced he would be forcing an unprecedented vote to impeach Hegseth over his handling of the US war with Iran. Because his resolution carries special procedural powers, it started a legislative clock that required GOP leaders to put it on
