… While repulsive creatures like JD Vance and Donald Trump continue to defend and promote it, the fallout continues from the disgraceful ad being run by Republican Vivek Ramaswamy against his Democratic opponent Dr. Amy Acton in the OH governor’s race:
… OH Republican Gov. Mike DeWine: “The ad, on its face is, deeply, deeply troubling. But when you know the rest of the story, when you know the backstory, when you know that the husband of the mom was indicted by a grand jury after hearing testimony, and then he took off along with the mother. When you know that, it just makes it more serious. It makes it just more wrong. So it’s wrong to run this. I would just urge the Ramaswamy campaign to take this down.”
… Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) on CNN: “This ad is going to go down as the most shameful, disgusting, offensive ad this election season. I know that sometimes the things I say are offensive to your audience. Ramaswamy somehow managed to limbo under the lowest bar of decency in this country. The idea that the VP would go to the mattresses to defend this ad might have cost Vance the presidency.”
… Former OH Republican Rep. Jim Renacci:
“For those who follow the daily polls and political trends, the floor may have just fallen out from under the Republican campaign for OH Governor. And any Republican who fails to distance themselves from this ad risks taking on water as well.
Vivek Ramaswamy needs to pivot, and quickly. Stop defending the ad and start talking about his policies, his vision for OH, and why he believes he is the better candidate. If he chooses to double down, I don’t see anything good coming from it.
Here’s what too many people in politics seem to forget: Voters don’t always elect the most qualified candidate. They often elect the candidate they like, trust, relate to, or even sympathize with. You can have the strongest résumé, the best policies, and the most impressive background, but none of that guarantees victory if voters don’t like what they see or hear.
And when voters believe someone has been treated unfairly, sympathy can become a powerful political force. Elections aren’t won simply by convincing voters that your opponent is worse. They’re won by convincing voters that you’re better. That is a lesson every candidate, Republican or Democrat, would be wise to remember.”
… Trump posted:
Vivek Ramaswamy put up a very powerful Ad about a mother saying that her daughter, Amy Acton, is a liar, and much worse. The Press, in a concerted and well coordinated attack, is trying to get Vivek Ramaswamy to “take down the Ad.” Frankly, anybody whose mother spoke about a daughter in that way would normally lead to the daughter being precluded from serving in Office, let alone Governor. If my mother, the legendary Mary MacLeod Trump, said anything bad about me, the Fake News would play it up.
Our RINO Governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, who I unfortunately helped get elected years ago, as usual, disloyal to the Republican Party. He strongly suggested that Vivek should, “take down the Ad.” He probably wants a Dumocrat to win, and certainly doesn’t want someone who will do a much better job than he is capable of doing. I suggested, on the other hand, that Vivek should keep it up.
The Press is trying to convince everyone that this Ad is bad, because it’s so good! Who wouldn’t use such an Ad? I would, it’s called, “hitting pay dirt.”
… Conservative journalist Pedro Gonzalez:
“When Vance first asked me to meet with him before he entered for Congress, I could tell he was still trying to figure out his personality and for the most part settled on this kind of softer populist who tried to ‘humanize’ Trumpism. He even asked me once for help on how to deal the very same white nationalist crowd he now winks at during Trump rallies.
Watching him transition from that to someone who is willing to downplay child sexual abuse and as a result make it harder for other victims to come forward for fear that they won’t be believed or will be ridiculed while simultaneously promoting a memoir about his fake faith, well.
I think Vance will be a footnote in the history of MAGA, but it’ll be a footnote about a man who sold his soul for a crumb of power and who never actually stood for anything.”
… JD Vance at a campaign rally today in Nebraska: “This Democrat Party needs an ass kicking.”
… WSJ: “Bipartisan lawmakers are calling for an investigation into Elon Musk after WSJ reported that the SpaceX chief restricted Ukraine’s access to the company’s satellite-based Starlink network.”
… Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) told CNN that Congress must have Musk testify and could block funding for any federal agencies or agency heads that played any role in throttling the network: “We got to investigate. We got to call the witnesses, got to bring them in, put them under oath and get to the bottom of it because this is a very, very serious matter.”
… Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said the Senate must put Musk under oath: “National security decisions should be made in our national security interests, and not based on the personal whim of an unstable executive.”
… SpaceX investor Ross Gerber on CNN:
“As a SpaceX shareholder I’m disgusted with Elon Musk. I think these decisions were strategically horrendous and from a humanity perspective just horrible. Now they’ve given everybody a reason not to use Starlink, that Starlink isn’t reliable for national security for anybody but Trump.
Maybe he’d turn it off on the US if he didn’t like the president. So it imperative now that competitors to Starlink be made. They literally proved that we can’t just have Starlink.”
… Politico: “Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) said that he had concerns about Elon Musk’s influence over national security matters after Ukraine was blindsided by a disruption of a satellite communications service developed by Musk’s SpaceX.”
Cramer: “We’re putting too many eggs in one company’s basket when it comes to our space assets. One individual and one company has control over America’s ability to protect the domain of space, which is a war-fighting domain.”
… “Cramer received a briefing from AF Secretary Troy Meink that he said focused on getting an update on Starshield. Cramer told reporters before the briefing that he wanted Congress and the Pentagon to ‘pour a lot of resources into making sure there’s lots of competition both for satellite production and satellite launch.’”
Cramer: “I’m uncomfortable with the potential vendor lock in space, and I think the events of the last couple of weeks have demonstrated greater concern, even than just simply cost.”
… Musk responded with this post: “Live by the sword, die by the sword. Those who pick fights with me should understand that I will find out who is really pulling the strings and come for them, not just their puppets.”
… Vance was asked about it: Q: “Elon Musk said any decision on Starshield would come from the Pentagon or president. Do you agree with some Republicans that there should be an investigation? Vance: Fundamentally, Musk runs a private corporation, and I think it’s completely understandable that he doesn’t want to get in the middle of a war without the US govt directing him on what to do. I don’t think this is about Elon.”
… Sen. Cramer on Steve Witkoff’s disgraceful meeting yesterday with Putin where he called him a “humanitarian” after he released an American he illegally imprisoned for 4 years: “All I can say is, if I’m ever captured by Vladimir Putin, I’d rather die in in a prison in Russia than have somebody on my behalf refer to Putin as a humanitarian.”
… NYT: “Putin has never been so close to his goal of normalizing relations with Washington without having to make any compromises on Ukraine. Over the past week and a half, Trump has set aside years of US foreign policy by openly embracing Putin and easing the economic pressure on the Kremlin. At the same time, Trump has vilified Zelensky.
… On Oct. 9, Trump announced that the US would buy Russian diesel, asking for no concessions from Putin in return. The Trump admin went on to pressure Ukraine to stop striking oil refineries - Kyiv’s most powerful lever - and suspended Russia sanctions that Trump had just signed into law. Trump declared that ‘Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine.’
… Newly emboldened, Moscow is moving to assert itself as a global power equal to the US and China, promoting a trilateral summit among them in Nov.
… Pro-Putin Russian journalist Marina Akhmedova: “In my personal view, victory has already been achieved. It is not just a matter of the 20-25% of territory we have liberated. It is also about how the US now engages with Russia.”
… Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) on MS NOW: “There’s every reason to believe that our foreign policy with respect to Russia and Ukraine is being influenced by deal making Jared Kushner and Witkoff are undertaking in their negotiations with Putin that will directly benefit the first family’s cronies. It is like a kaleidoscopic spectacle of corruption unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the history of our republic.”
… Kash Patel was asked about reports he’s going to Russia: Q - “Were you ever planning to go to Moscow? For what purpose? Is going to Moscow something you would still consider doing? Patel: We’re not going to announce where we’re gonna go and when we’re gonna go, except to tell you that this DOJ is going to go wherever we need to go to mete out justice for the American people.”
… Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukraine’s Presidential Commissioner for Sanctions Policy: “So tomorrow, the first tanker carrying 40,000 metric tons of Russian diesel is set to depart for the US. Let’s do the math:
40,000 tons is roughly 300,000 barrels. The US consumes about 4 million barrels of diesel per day. That means this entire tanker covers less than two hours of American demand. At the same time, the US exports around 1.5 million barrels of diesel a day—meaning this shipment is equivalent to just 4.5 hours of US exports.
The voyage from Ust-Luga to US terminals takes 2.5 to 3 weeks. By the time the tanker arrives, the US will have exported over 4 million tons of its own diesel—a hundred times more than what this single tanker is delivering.
So, one of the world’s largest diesel exporters is buying diesel from an aggressor state just to cover two hours of domestic consumption?”
… NYT: “Even as Trump pursued a thawing of relations with the Kremlin this week, a covert Russian influence operation targeted the Democratic candidate for the US Senate in TX, James Talarico, by spreading a fabricated claim of misconduct.
… Several groups of researchers who track Russian disinformation operations attributed the claim to Storm-1516, a covert group that in 2024 peddled a similarly unfounded accusation against Gov. Tim Walz.
… The attack followed a flurry of Russian posts on social media in recent weeks and provided the latest indication that Moscow is once again targeting an American election with online influence operations. In recent weeks, Russia has ramped up those efforts.
… Most of the Russian content so far, spread by bot networks around the world, has targeted Democratic candidates, especially in closely contested Senate races that could determine control of Congress in Trump’s remaining two years in office. The initial post, followed by others on the same account, received little attention until 12 hours later, when 3 verified accounts on X with large followings reposted it.”
… JT Ennis, spokesman for the Talarico campaign: “The most powerful people in the world know they can’t beat James Talarico with the truth, so they’re slandering him with AI deepfakes, foreign bots and conspiracy theories to protect their broken, corrupt political system.”
… Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball ratings change. US Governors:
Alabama: Safe R —> Likely R
Michigan: Lean D —> Likely D
Oklahoma: Safe R—> Likely R
Ohio: Toss-up —> Lean D
… CNN: “More than 18 million people have already cast ballots in this election. We’re seeing the Democratic enthusiasm that we read about in polls show up in the early vote. What you’re looking at here is across some of the key states where we have information about party registration of the ballots that were cast.”
On my weekly podcast Uncovered, we talked about Witkoff praising Putin, Vivek’s despicable ad, Vance making it even worse with his disgusting comments, Starshield being withheld from Ukraine by Musk and Trump, Trump using disaster aid and cancer money to bribe voters, Trump obsession with Husted’s butt, another corrupt pardon - this time featuring Alina Habba, and lots more! Link to the show is here.
We have made all our content available to free for the 6 weeks leading up to the midterm election. After that, free subscribers will still be able read the first third of each daily Bulletin and the entire Weekend Bulletin. Thank you to all subscribers and people who watch the podcasts. Link to the last Bulletin is here.
… NBC to Republican nominee for senate it IA Ashley Hinson: “I just saw a report that said you were asking your supporters for gas money for your bus? I mean, is that how bad things are? Hinson: No. I’m out there, uh, campaigning through the state, um, on my bus. What I’m hearing from Iowans is they want a leader, a common sense mom.”
… Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) to Politico: “In the first quarter of Trump’s term I was hoping that it was just a little bit of bullshit that we had to work through. But when the bullshit becomes policy, that’s problematic. So you get this November, which I have labeled on my countdown clock on my phone as ‘Whoop ass’ day.”
… Democrat Adam Hamilton was excellent in his senate debate against Sen. Roger