Good morning. I’m Thom Hartmann. Before getting into today’s news, take a quick second to hit that ❤️ and restack this newsletter. That’s how independent journalism breaks through to reach the people who need it.
Raw America White House correspondent Brian Karem joined CNN to talk about Donald Trump’s ban on several news outlets, just hours before a federal judge weighs whether that ban is even legal. Trump’s aides are reportedly drawing up a list of new places to slap the president’s name on, and one of them is Ford’s Theatre, where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. A Republican former Texas lawmaker who voted to impeach Ken Paxton is now appearing in an ad supporting Democrat James Talarico, vowing he’ll never support Paxton. And a sitting Republican congresswoman is predicting the midterms will be a bloodbath for her own party, as polls, forecasters, and even GOP candidates start running away from Trump’s war with Iran.
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Raw America’s Brian Karem Joins CNN to Discuss Trump’s Media Ban
Raw America’s own White House correspondent Brian Karem appeared on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” last night to talk about President Donald Trump’s decision to ban several news outlets from the White House.
Karem is uniquely familiar with Trump banning reporters. Not only was he the key plaintiff in the Karem v. Trump case — in which a court ruled in his favor when his credentials were revoked during the first Trump administration — but earlier this month, he found out his day pass to cover the White House had been revoked without advance notice or even an explanation.
Not long after Trump blocked our reporter from the White House, the president announced he was revoking CNN, MS NOW and Politico’s credentials. Trump wrote on Truth Social last Friday that he was “banning Fake News” outlets that he claimed “constantly report FICTION and LIES.” Those three outlets officially filed a lawsuit on Monday.
This afternoon at 3:30 PM Eastern Time, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly — a Trump appointee — will hold a hearing on whether to temporarily restore their access while litigation plays out.
The outlets argue the White House violated their First Amendment and due process rights when reporters were blocked from the grounds and their badges were turned off. The administration argued that access to the White House is a privilege, and the president has claimed that inaccurate or malicious reporting is a national security concern.
While nobody disputes that a president gets to decide who rides on Air Force One or who can be in the Oval Office for a small event, the big question is why Trump singled out these particular outlets. And Trump’s own words may be what buries his legal argument, given that he tied the ban directly to his feelings about their coverage.
There’s precedent here. Last year, another Trump-appointed judge, Trevor McFadden, ruled the White House couldn’t punish the Associated Press for refusing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico by Trump’s chosen moniker. A divided appeals court panel later put much of that ruling on hold while the appeal moved forward.
Back in 2018, Judge Kelly ordered the White House to give CNN’s Jim Acosta his hard pass back after it was yanked following a heated White House presser. The outlets are also leaning on a 1977 appeals court case called Sherrill v. Knight, which said that once the White House sets up a press pass system, it can’t deny previously issued credentials on an arbitrary basis.
Just yesterday, Judge Neomi Rao, another Trump appointee, wrote that even in spaces where the government has control, press restrictions have to be viewpoint-neutral and based on clearly established standards.
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley wrote that the White House seems ready to take a swing at overturning the precedent set in Sherrill. But he warned the strategy is risky, because a loss could end up strengthening that precedent. Trump himself seems to see the writing on the wall. On Monday he predicted Judge Kelly would likely rule against him and that he would appeal any decision that didn’t go his way. By Tuesday, he admitted he would “probably” lift the ban if he loses.
Colonial New York tried this back in 1735, when the royally appointed governor jailed printer John Peter Zenger for criticizing him. A jury of ordinary colonists ended up acquitted him, telling the British Crown that truth is a defense. A president who punishes reporters for what they write is actually reviving the one power the founders wrote the First Amendment to bury.
Trump Now Wants to Add His Name to Another Sacred Site
Donald Trump’s team is reportedly planning to put the president’s name on another sacred American monument.
According to MS NOW, the White House has been quietly drafting a list of public institutions that could become the next presidential vanity project. One of those places on that list is Ford’s Theatre in downtown Washington, where John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
A Trump administration official confirmed that the idea had been discussed, though it remains unclear if they’ve made any official moves so far. The Interior Department owns Ford’s Theatre and the National Park Service maintains it.
According to Trump’s track record is any guide, he’s got an uphill battle in front of him. His push to rebrand the Kennedy Center has been plagued by legal trouble from the start. In May, a judge ordered his name removed from the building’s facade, along with its website and marketing materials.
Then there’s Palm Beach International Airport, which had carried that name for nearly 80 years. It was just renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport, making it the first airport ever named after a sitting president. The New York Times reported that when the airport code switched from PBI to DJT, chaos ensured when global air traffic systems scrambled to keep up. Travelers got alerts saying their itineraries had siddenly changed, adding to the confusion.
A former Trump administration official told the network that staffers often pitch ideas cloaked in flattery in order get on Trump’s good side. The source described the president’s thinking as: “’Why would I say no? Everybody’s trying to please me.’” The source added that staffers know “flattery gets them everything.”
And Trump himself revealed in a recent New York Magazine article that he’s pushing to put his name on everything because he knows no one else will after he leaves office. Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia has said the same. Last month, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said Trump is “focused on saving our country – not garnering recognition.” But the president’s own words tell a different story.
Congress didn’t authorize the Lincoln Memorial until 1911, and the country didn’t dedicate it until 1922, more than half a century after Booth killed the 16th president. That’s because in a republic, honor is something bestowed by history, not something a man grabs for himself while he still controls the National Park Service. Trump seems to know history won’t judge him kindly.
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Former Texas GOP Lawmaker Says He’ll ‘Never’ Vote for Ken Paxton
As GOP donors pour millions of dollars into shoring up Texas Republican Ken Paxton’s U.S. Senate campaign, one group backing Democrat James Talarico has found a new messenger.
That would be former Republican Texas state legislator Glenn Rogers. Back in 2023, as a member of the Texas House of Representatives, he voted to impeach Paxton. In a new 30-second ad for the pro-Talarico Lone Star Rising PAC., Rogers said he will “never trust Ken Paxton,” and that “the last place he should be is the United States Senate.”
Rogers’ ad is running statewide on digital and streaming platforms as part of the group’s eight-figure general election push. He also has currency with Texas voters as a rancher and veterinarian from the Fort Worth area, and he’s been an outspoken critic of the Texas GOP under the second Trump administration.
The former Texas lawmaker lost his seat in the 2024 primary after Governor Greg Abbott campaigned against Republicans who opposed his school voucher plan. In addition to getting opposition from Abbott, Ken Paxton also endorsed Rogers’ Republican primary opponent as payback for the impeachment vote.
Paxton’s 2023 impeachment has been a key point of Talarico’s attack strategy. At the time, the Republican-controlled Texas House voted overwhelmingly to impeach Paxton after he was accused of abusing the powers of his office to help a wealthy GOP donor. However, GOP-led state Senate acquitted Paxton several months later after Trump led a pressure campaign.
Now Talarico’s campaign is making it known that multiple Republicans are breaking with their party to endorse him over Paxton. He’s rolled out a “Republicans for Talarico” coalition, touting endorsements from former Paxton impeachment attorney Dan Cogdell and David Maxwell, who is one of Paxton’s former senior staffers who testified at his impeachment trial. Paxton’s team is doing their best to shrug off the attacks and insisting that his impeachment was a political witch hunt.
The timing of the Rogers ad is particularly noteworthy, given that Republican groups are now ramping up their spending in Texas. Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC just wrote $15 million in checks to run pro-Paxton ads, giving the GOP an edge heading into October.
Still, Talarico has been one of the most prolific fundraisers for Democrats in 2026. And he has a significant chance of being the first Democrat to win statewide office in Texas in more than 30 years. He’s polling within the margin of error against Paxton, who knocked off incumbent Senator John Cornyn in the GOP primary thanks to Trump’s endorsement.
In August of 1974, three Republicans — Barry Goldwater, Hugh Scott and John Rhodes — walked into the Oval Office and told Richard Nixon his own party wouldn’t save him. Today, Glenn Rogers is doing the even more difficult version of that. Whether Texas rewards that kind of courage will tell us whether accountability can still survive anywhere inside today’s Republican Party.
GOP Congresswoman Predicts a ‘F**king Bloodbath’ for Republicans in Midterms
Two weeks ago, Donald Trump stood in front of Republicans and dangled the promise of $5,000 checks in front of voters, while warning that America would become a “communist country” if Democrats win. But one Republican member of Congress said that despite all of that, the GOP’s outlook is uniquely grim heading into the midterms.
Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who will leave Congress in January, told the Guardian that the midterms would be “a f**king bloodbath” for her party. She predicted the GOP would lose control of both the House and Senate in November.
She may be right: despite Trump’s promise, polls still show Democrats with a strong lead on the generic congressional ballot. Democrats are also within the margin of error or leading in key Senate races in both North Carolina and Georgia, where Trump won just two years ago. Top election forecasters have shifted their ratings in Democrats’ favor, even after Republican-led states gerrymandered Congressional redistricting maps earlier this year.
The president’s approval ratings are also in the gutter, near the bottom, with some surveys finding Trump’s numbers hitting historic new lows thanks to gas and diesel prices climbing through the roof because of Trump’s war with Iran. Even Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, is publicly demanding Trump do more for farmers who’ve been hammered by record-high diesel prices and crippling tariffs.
Republicans are now playing defense in solidly red states, with Vice President JD Vance recently campaigning in Kansas. The Sunflower State hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in nearly a century, but Democrat Adam Hamilton is hot on the tail of Republican Senator Roger Marshall.
In the House, Democrats forced another vote on a War Powers Act resolution to rein in Trump’s ability to strike Iran. Three Republicans who had opposed the previous five attempts voted with Democrats, and the measure passed. Mace was one of those new converts.
Other Republicans in tight races have started to distance themselves from Trump’s war given how many Americans hate it. That includes Mike Rogers, who is the GOP nominee for Michigan’s open Senate seat. In a new ad, Rogers said Trump’s war “needs to end, and end quickly.”
Other Republicans running against Trump’s war include Iowa Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson and Michigan Republican gubernatorial nominee John James. Even though both of them voting against the War Powers Act resolution in Congress, they’re now they’re both calling for a quick end to the war.
Longtime election analyst Charlie Cook wrote that Republicans has said the three most plausible outcomes are “bad, really bad, or truly horrible.” The one thing Republicans have going for them is their significant cash advantage, with political analyst Rob Pyers pointing out that Republicans and allied groups have so far spent $384.5 million on Senate races, while Democrats and affiliated PACs have spent just $112.7 million.
However, Politico reported this week that a lot of the GOP’s House money is flowing into congressional districts Trump won in 2024, which is a sign Republicans are spending a significant chunk of that money just to stop the bleeding on their own home turf.
Independent voters seem to have made up their mind about who they’ll support in. the midterms, with the latest New York Times/Siena poll finding that 57 percent of independent voters plan to vote for Democrats in the midterms, compared to just 34 percent casting their ballots for Republicans. Mail ballots have already gone out in several states, meaning the GOP is quickly running out of time to make their case to voters.
The founders put the power to declare war in Article I, Section 8, in the hands of Congress and not the president, precisely because they’d watched kings drag their subjects into unpopular wars nobody wanted. When a party has to run against a war its own president started, that’s simply the Constitution reasserting itself through the electoral process, which the founders trusted above all others.
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