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With the 2026 midterms a little over two months away, Democrats are not only feeling cautiously optimistic about their chances of flipping the U.S. House of Representatives — they are also hoping to recapture the U.S. Senate as well. The Trump administration, desperate to keep GOP majorities in place, is desperately looking for ways to make voting more difficult — including suppressing voting by mail. And Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, according to CNN, is issuing a dire warning about Trump's voting scheme.

CNN's Dana Bash, during a Wednesday panel, noted that a "pretty big percentage of the electorate" will "determine the outcome of the Senate race" and the "balance of power in the Senate."

Bash's colleague Alayna Treene agreed with her point, noting that "the timing of this is what really is the issue."

Referencing a whistleblower's warning that Trump's campaign against mail-in voting could create major chaos for the U.S. Postal Service, Treene added, "I thought this whistleblower report was fascinating to read through. I mean, the things that they were describing. Another thing they had brought up is this isn't even tested. We won't even have time to test it for kinks and make sure it works before we're starting to send out these ballots … The concern in there, I think, too, we don't know what's going to happen with this if — I mean, it's still tied up ... But even if it's not something that happens for these midterm elections in 62 days, it still could be something that they try to do in 2028."

Treene continued, "So the stakes are still very high, even if they're not implemented for the midterms. The other thing I'd point out is this is kind of what the president wanted when he issued this order back in the spring. He does not trust mail-in voting. He's often said, falsely, that it's rife with widespread fraud, I should note, even though he's voted by mail a couple times this year for his trust it for him. And it's something that he wants to do away with."

Treene pointed out that "Democratic states" vote by mail more often.

Bash noted, however, "That's true. Although I spoke to the secretary of state in Nevada yesterday who was saying that in some of the rural counties that tend to be more red, they have like 90 percent mail in voting."

The Nevada Independent's Jon Ralston, in a Wednesday post on X, observed, "Nevada's top elections official said he believes the Trump administration intends 'to disenfranchise and discourage voters' as the U.S. Postal Service moves forward on setting up a new system for delivering mail ballots."

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Conservative "Squawk Box" host Joe Kernen is concerned that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has a conflict of interest.

Speaking to Lutnick on Wednesday, Kernen brought up the Commerce Department's $1.6 billion investment in the company USA Rare Earth.

The concern is that Lutnick's former financial services firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, served as placement agent for the deal and may have benefited financially. Lutnick swears that his sons run the company now, a similar point that President Donald Trump makes about his sons running the Trump Organization.

Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Cantor Fitzgerald Chairman Brandon Lutnick in July seeking information about the firm’s role, fees and communications surrounding the transaction. The inquiry does not establish wrongdoing; it asks whether Lutnick’s government position, family ties and prior leadership of Cantor Fitzgerald created an improper overlap in a deal involving strategically important rare-earth minerals.

“It is imperative your company provide complete transparency about the substantive conflict of interest concerns raised by the circumstances of this investment,” the letter said, which was led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma.). “Secretary Lutnick appears to have played a part in facilitating USAR’s deal with Commerce.”

"So, USA Rare Earth, I understand this, you ran Cantor [Fitzgerald]. You had a relationship. You ran their IPO before you became a commerce secretary. So, no surprise there. You put it in a trust and your sons are now running a Cantor. And you know, there was a pipe financing deal done. Where to get, I think, the financing is from the Commerce Department was involved with raising some of the, some of the equity and obviously they get a fee. So, the perception is that you're sitting now at Commerce and you're able to control what Cantor is getting in terms of fees. With your sons running that company, it looks like a conflict of interest. How do you respond to that?"

Lutnick responded by saying, "It's just not."

He swore he had no idea what was going on with USA Rare Earth until pal Ken Moelis flagged it. USA Rare Earth acquired Texas Mineral Resources in March 2026. According to a report from the Junior Mining Network, "Moelis & Company LLC acted as financial advisor and White & Case LLP acted as legal advisor for USA Rare Earth. Roth Capital Partners LLC acted as financial advisor and Loeb & Loeb LLP acted as legal advisor to Texas Mineral Resources Corp."

The government announced its funding deal with USA Rare Earth in January 2026 and made it official in June.

Lutnick told Kernen that the U.S. must gain an edge over China in rare Earth minerals because China is "weaponizing" them.

"These are small businesses, right? In the larger scheme of the US economy," Lutnick said about USA Rare Earth, which has a market capitalization of between $3.9 billion and $4.3 billion, depending on the stock price.

"And I got to tell you I didn't put my companies in a trust. My kids bought my company, so I am no longer involved in my old company at all. My kids bought it from — from me," said Lutnick. "This is minor stuff, anyway. You know that I am well-to-do. I don't worry about this kind of stuff."

By renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America, President Donald Trump has aroused the wrath not only of most Canadians, but of a majority of Americans as well. Indeed, his swipe at the nation against whom he started a trade war has even angered a community that overwhelmingly supported the Republican's election campaigns — and which shares the same name by which the lake in question is known to the rest of the world.

"In the upstate New York town named after Lake Ontario, some supporters of Donald Trump oppose his executive order renaming the body of water 'Lake America,'" reported The Daily Beast's William Vaillancourt on Tuesday. At a different point in the article, Vaillancourt added that "according to a new Reuters/Ipsos survey, only 14 percent of respondents approved, while 63 percent did not. The same poll found that only one in five respondents supported Trump’s tariffs on Canada."

The outlet also observed that as a result of Trump's renaming, Google Maps changed the lake’s name for American users, prompting a resurgence in the app MapQuest that caused it to become the No. 1 overall free app in Apple's U.S. App Store by Monday.

Residents of Ontario echoed that ire.

“I don’t think the lake’s name should be changed because it’s history,” Dave Rupp, the operator of Ontario’s liquidation store and a 2024 supporter of Trump, told The Washington Post's Laura Beveridge on Tuesday. “And I don’t like changing history.” Similarly Cassandra Tylenda, a farmer and Trump voter, admitted that “I like Lake Ontario better, but there’s nothing I can do about it.” (She continues to support Trump's tariffs against Canada.)

One Ontario resident who did not support Trump, Serena Eaton, told The Washington Post that she believes Trump renamed the lake in order to distract from the US-Israel war against Gaza and his refusal to release files related to his close friend, the late child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

“America doesn’t just own the lake,” the 24-year-old Eaton pointed out. “I’m not going to call it Lake America. But my town is really redneck. I’m sure a lot of people will just switch their brains off and tune out sensible reason.” Another individual who lived near Ontario, Cayuga Nation member Charles Smith, made a deeper historical argument, telling the Post while standing outside a Dunkin that “it’s been Lake Ontario for a very, very long time, and it will always be Lake Ontario.”

Not every Ontario resident opposed Trump's behavior.

“I would like it if they changed the name here to the Town of America: The Town of America on the Lake of America,” Serafino Rosso, a 41-year-old telecoms manager and Trump supporter, said to The Washington Post. “It makes me feel really patriotic. It felt Canadian before.”

Similarly a 33-year-old man named Frankie Amalfi echoed Trump's rhetoric, declaring that "he will tell you right off the bat that Canada’s been getting us for years. He doesn’t let them walk all over us.”

He added, “We have the Gulf of America, the Lake of America. All we need now is the Ocean of America.”

Despite what Amalfi claimed, Canada did not provoke the trade war against the United States. To understand how so many Trump supporters could bully a weaker nation and enjoy it, AlterNet spoke in August with Dr. Stephan Lewandowsky, a cognitive scientist and professor of cognitive science at the University of Bristol.

"I used to live in Oklahoma for five years, so you can imagine — I'm familiar with farmers and that mindset, though that was a long time ago (laughs)," Lewandowsky explained. "Look, human beings do all sorts of things, and sometimes you just look at it and think, "What on earth?" Being hypocritical — feeling pain for yourself but not making the connection that maybe this other person is also in pain, and maybe we should support each other rather than throwing welfare recipients under the bus so I can have my subsidy — different people come to different conclusions about that."

AlterNet also spoke in August with Dr. Steven Hassan, cult expert and author of "Combating Cult Mind Control" and "The Cult of Trump," who shed light on how they can change their views on issues like US-Canada relations purely on the word of a cult-like leader such as Trump.

"These destructive groups, like the Trump movement, are lying all the time," Hassan told AlterNet. "And part of the appeal is really about using emotionally leading rhetoric to scare people, to create "the other," to demonize. I'll quote Eric Hoffer's 1951 book, 'The True Believer.' He said, 'The strength of a mass movement is proportionate to the vividness and tangibility of its devil.'"

As for Trump's tariffs, economist Dr. Robert J. Shapiro — who advised Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — told AlterNet in August that they will only worsen America's ongoing inflation problem.

"There's no good news on inflation," Shapiro said. "Just this week, Trump announced 50 percent tariffs on our largest trading partner, Canada, which will further increase inflation."

President Donald Trump controversially renamed Lake Ontario as Lake America as part of his escalating trade war against Canada — and pro-Trump podcaster Joe Rogan has a theory why.

"The real reason Trump made the move, Rogan said, is to 'distract you from the fact that we’re in a war that we can’t win in Iran,'" according to a report by The Daily Beast's Eboni Boykin-Patterson. "Rogan went on to assert that the renaming 'doesn’t make any sense' otherwise. 'Like, who cares? It’s Lake Ontario. It’s a good name. We’ve had that name forever.'"

The Daily Beast provided further detail on why Rogan's criticism of Trump is so important — and why there are also limits to its significance.

"Rogan, who endorsed Trump in 2024, may have made it known that he was one of many Americans who find the renaming pointless—but that doesn’t mean he’s come to his senses," The Daily Beast wrote. "The podcaster also dedicated a portion of his show to peddling more conspiracy theories about the COVID vaccine. He echoed Republican Sen. Ron Johnson’s revival of an old and inaccurate theory that the vaccine increases the risk of miscarriage in the first trimester."

The Daily Beast added, "The theory gained traction after senators released text messages during their investigation into the former COVID czar that showed Fauci expressing apprehension during the shots’ early rollout."

Even so, Rogan's separation from Trump on the issue demonstrates that he has lost his populist touch in getting supporters to believe anything he says, at least according to one analyst.

"Throughout his political career, Trump’s signature skill has been to drive the conversation where he wanted it to go. He declares victory when things have not been won," wrote Slate's Ben Jacobs on Monday. "He ducks attribution with the rhetorical tic 'many people are saying,' frequently followed by things that people are decidedly not saying. He posts outrageous graphics on social media. And, of course, he renames things: Political opponents get nicknames, buildings get Trump’s name, and bodies of water get America’s name."

Speaking with AlterNet in August, cult expert Dr. Steven Hassan explained how Trump's cult-like hold on his followers could weaken when acolytes like Rogan began to part ways with him.

"So if they really love Joe Rogan, they're going to follow a lot of his views. And consequently, when he turns against Trump, Trump loses a lot of followers,"

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Democratic strategist Maria Cardona did not let President Donald Trump’s former communication director Mike Dubke write off Speaker Mike Johnson’s attempt to duck blame for the party’s rampant unpopularity.

The Tuesday exchange began after CNN anchor Phil Mattingly spoke with reporter Manu Raju about his confrontation with Johnson in the halls of Congress.

“On Iran, you said repeatedly that this war was going to be over soon. You said that this would be a temporary blip on short term on gas prices. It is more than six months. People are getting hurt still at the pump,” said Raju, trailing Johnson during a scrum. “Should the American people not also judge you on your projections here that were clearly off base?”

“Manu, that is one of the stupidest questions you've ever had,” Johnson said. “I have nothing to do with the prosecution of the war across the globe. I am—”

“You are responsible,” Raju insisted, interrupting him. “You are selling this [war] to the American public, are you not?”

“So should the House speaker be held responsible for the duration of a military conflict around the globe? You answer that question,” Johnson fussed.

“There is authority,” Mattingly insisted, turning to Dubke on the panel. “He is the Speaker of the House.”

But Dubke called Johnson’s answer accurate, if delivered brusquely.

“The question was really about should they should you be held accountable for making a statement, a guess or whatever on the prosecution of the war? I did not like how the speaker said ‘I'm not qualified.’ I thought that was a terrible way to address it. On the earlier thing, I think I think his answer here is fine. I don't like to use of the word ‘stupid,’ but I think he's fine pushing back and saying, ‘look, I'm not the person that is in control of the prosecution of this war.’ Uh, and that's and that's what he was referring to when he was giving his comment back to Manu.”

“But he does have responsibility for the budget of the war for controlling what kind of money goes into the war,” countered Cardona quickly. “So a big part of that is the prosecution of the war. … [T]o me, it continues to underscore this notion, Mike, that I think voters are aware of and are going to hold Republicans accountable for, which is they have completely given up any control whatsoever that they ever had about anything that President Trump does.”

“What voters want more than anything in this election is to hold this president accountable, to have some kind of guardrails on what he is doing or not doing, because they believe — and we have seen this in poll after poll after poll — that he has betrayed the American people on so many issues, including the Iran War," added Cardona. “... They have done nothing to reign Trump in."

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New York Times reporter and co-author Maggie Haberman confirmed MS NOW anchor Jonathan Capehart’s claim that the White House is in a ‘constant state of chaos’ as employees lose purpose and leap from windows as the midterms encroach.

“There’s a sense of grind and a lack of having fun or common purpose in this White House right now,” said Haberman on MS NOW’s “The Weekend” Saturday morning. “They want to see him succeed, but [Trump] is not doing much to help himself.”

Show co-host Eugene Daniels then played footage of U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick admitting that “the one thing” Trump likes to do in the middle of the week is construction — as opposed to acting like a president.

“[Trump’s staff] are all aware of what Howard Lutnick just said, except I was pretty surprised, Eugene, to hear him say that publicly, that they are ‘trying to keep the president happy’ because he prefers focusing on building projects on the day job over what he was elected to do as president,” said Haberman. “I don't think that's going to make voters very thrilled. But that certainly is true that that is what the president prefers. So, nobody is really trying to rein him in that hard. They're just trying to figure out how to balance it heading into November.”

She repeated her claim that staff don't deliver bad news to Trump in troublesome doses, but instead introduce portion of truth carefully couched in other, happier topics — because staff’s top priority is apparently Trump’s happiness over all else.

“People are very careful about what they say to him. He intimidates people [and] his own staff,” Haberman said.

While speaking, Haberman pushed back on White House attacks on her after she published a story revealing Trump was ducking a ceremony in Manhattan for the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, in part because he was refused the opportunity to make a speech, according to four sources with knowledge of the events.

“When we tried to follow up and confirm your reporting, a senior White House official told me that actually the reason for Trump going to the Pentagon instead of New York is because JD Vance is going to be attending, and the vice president and the president cannot be at the same place at the same time,” co-host Jacqueline Alemany told Haberman.

But Haberman dismissed that claim outright as White House after-the-fact cleanup work.

“Look, we stand by our reporting and the Times put out a statement explaining that this is based on multiple sources, that we went to the White House. We were quite transparent with them about what we were reporting, including [that] … part of the reason why he was not going to New York was because they didn't let him speak, and the White House did not say anything or push back on what we were reporting. And then 24 hours later, the president started attacking the piece.”

“You know, so readers can make their own assessment about a denial that comes a day later,” Haberman snapped.

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While First Lady Melania Trump has profited from her office — whether by releasing a documentary about her life or dumping a self-named memecoin onto the crypto market — she has been conspicuous in her absence from President Donald Trump's White House. Now a journalist who specializes in covering the Trumps explains why.

"It took six months, in Trump’s first term, for his wife to relocate from New York to Washington D.C. — and then, even with separate bedrooms in the White House, she was hardly there," journalist Michael Wolff wrote on his Substack on Monday. "Their son, Barron, was virtually never there. Rather, they “often stayed with,” in White House parlance, her parents in a house in Maryland. Likewise, at Mar-a-Lago, Melania and Barron’s move was actually into a Palm Beach house with her parents — rather than into the country club quarters."

Wolff added, "During the two active years of the 2024 campaign, her only appearances included the Republican Convention, during the days after the attempt on her husband’s life, when she refused to sit next to him, and one event during the final week of the campaign. She refused to attend any of the myriad courtroom appearances related to his four criminal indictments. She published a best-selling book shortly before the election, in which her husband was, at best, a peripheral character — a book neither Trump nor his campaign team saw much before publication."

Ultimately, Wolff wrote that "by the end of the campaign, aides, when queried, were actively seeking new language for the situation: 'She’ll be more like a part-time First Lady.''"

The writer continued that Melania Trump has appeared to have never spent a single night at the White House during Trump's second term, even though she has profited off of being First Lady during that same period to the reported tune of $17 million. When Wolff asked one close Trump aide why she behaved like this, the aide responded that “she hates his f—— guts."

Wolff elaborated on the odd nature of the arrangement between the President and First Lady.

"It’s a new kind of pretend, a particular Trump-style pretend," Wolff wrote. "You pretend so little, and make such a limited effort at it, that everybody knows you’re pretending. Therefore you’re not really pretending. This is a sham marriage, a cynical arrangement, a business deal, or, even an extortive situation, and the American people have a right to know. The only problem with that is they do know."

In fact, Trump's mysterious interactions with staffer Natalie Harp — who reportedly leaves him adoring letters, is invited into his private spaces and rarely leaves his side — can be attributed to his distant relationship with the actual First Lady.

“Trump doesn’t have a wife around him,” The Daily Beast journalist David Rothkopf said on Sunday. “He doesn’t have kids around him. I don’t think he likes his kids — he certainly didn’t go to Don Jr.’s wedding. People beyond, like, one degree of separation can’t be trusted. He’s paranoid.”

A self-described "3-time Trump voter" complained on Twitter that she is upset with President Donald Trump's policies — but also refused to admit she voted wrong in the 2024 election.

"I say this as a 3-time Trump voter, a lifelong Republican who spent an embarrassing amount of money on merch and travel to Trump rallies and DC," Lucy Riles posted on X. "I was duped. The past 14 months have been betrayal after betrayal. It sucks admitting I got it wrong. No, I’m not saying Kamala [Harris] would have been better. But Trump is a politician, a glorified snake oil salesman. He is not God nor should he be worshiped as one. And we need to hold our politicians accountable. Especially the ones we voted for and sacrificed friendships, jobs and family over."

Riles added, "Trump is now attempting to bully his base into supporting another reckless foreign war, ignore the Epstein files and now, accept data centers or else you want to be 'backwards and poor.' I’ve never been in an emotionally abusive relationship[,] and I’m not about to start now."

She concluded, "Thank you for your attention to this matter."

Earlier in August, a separate three-time Trump voter complained on MS NOW that even though the president promised to reduce inflation once in office, "the prices haven't gone down. I don't know, I'm just, I'm over it, I think, over the Trump thing, the Trump wagon — whatever you want to call it."

Another Trump voter griped, “It's hard. It makes me feel like I'm a horrible mother sometimes because I'm stressing about what I'm going to do — do I have enough money to put gas in, or do I need to buy eggs and milk for my child? Or do I need to not go to work every day to make that money because gas prices are so expensive?”

That voter concluded, “And mind you, it could be my fault — I do work in cleaning, but still, that's a 45-minute drive. We're putting 80 bucks in every three days, tops, maybe. It's just hard to feel good when everything's going downhill, I feel like. It's supposed to be going up, and sometimes, yes, it is up, and then all of a sudden it just goes down. And then we're always told, you know, ‘this is going to change’ or ‘I'm going to make this better’ or ‘we're going to make this better’ — but where's it at? We're not seeing it at all.”

Also earlier in August, a Trump voter and Iowan named Stephen Foot observed to MS NOW that "the prices haven't gone down. I don't know, I'm just, I'm over it, I think, over the Trump thing, the Trump wagon — whatever you want to call it." Still another Trump voter proclaimed earlier in August that, regarding the war in Iran, “Enough! Bring our guys and girls home. I don't want to see it — I don't like seeing war, that's all. We need to protect our borders and keep our family here safe.”

More recently, and also on Monday, former MAGA lawmaker ex-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) accused Trump of "disloyalty" to his own base.

"I hear this from people literally every single day," Greene posted on X. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying this and demanding your elected leaders deliver exactly what they promised you when you voted, donated, and supported them. The disloyalty comes from Trump, not people like this."

President Donald Trump's former communications director revealed on Friday that the Republicans she's talking to think it's a huge waste of money to throw a Republican convention at a time when candidates need the money.

CNN host Wolf Blitzer reported, "Republicans are privately questioning ... the president's upcoming midterm convention in Texas." One of the fears, he said, is whether it can "strike the right tone, given the electorate's concerns about the cost of living."

Alyssa Farah Griffin, who now appears on "The View," told Blitzer she's hearing anger from her Republican friends.

"Listen, I have yet to find a Republican operative heading into these midterms who thinks that this GOP convention makes any sense whatsoever. It's going to be extraordinarily expensive for the Republican Party to put on," said Griffin. "And what I keep hearing is every single dollar that the party has should be going toward fighting for vulnerable House Republicans to try to retain control of the House, in supporting must-win Senate seats again to try to retain control of the Senate."

She cited an Axios report from Friday morning, noting that the first two days of the GOP convention will overlap with the NFL season opener.

"So, you're going to be counterprogrammed by something that you just cannot pull Americans' eyes away from. Even the most tried and true Republican voters," Griffin added. "Voters are probably going to tune in to the NFL over this convention."

She then said that another problem is that the party doesn't have much to sell. Promoting Trump's tariffs and the war with Iran hasn't proven successful thus far. She also argued that Democrats don't appear to be selling anything other than anti-Trump.

"But what Republicans have been struggling with is what do they proactively tell voters they've gotten done to make things better for them, to make things more affordable? Because right now, people look at high gas prices," she continued. "They look at increasingly high inflation, and they say, 'This administration hasn't delivered enough for me.' So, I don't know that this convention is going to accomplish the goals that it sets out to."

Blitzer said he might have a hard time choosing between the convention and his beloved Buffalo Bills. Though he quipped, that he has a pretty good idea of which he'll choose.

As of the end of August, polls show that President Donald Trump is 21 points underwater.

CNN data analyst walked through where Trump stood with Americans since May on CNN Friday.

According to Harry Enten, Trump's ratings are so bad that he's "stuck" in the basement.

"How low does he go?!" Enten kicked off the segment. "Well, this is a president who is stuck on empty. Stuck on neutral. Whatever kind of gas analogy you want to make."

Prediction markets show a 46 percent likelihood that there will be a Democratic sweep in November.

"The president's approval rating, simply put, is low. His net approval rating is low. It is staying low, and there is no sign he's getting out of the basement. He's stuck on the ground," said Enten.

CNN host John Berman said that it's only the end of August, "surely" there's some way that Trump could come back from such horrific numbers.

He compared it to former President George W. Bush, who lost his huge majority after the September 11 attacks.

"Surely, you can't be serious!" mocked Enten. "He is stuck in the mud, and there's no reason for me to believe he will get himself out of the mud."

He explained that over the past 20 years, midterm polling for the president hasn't shifted that much, on average.

With less than 70 days before the election, Enten said that it's clear he's "stuck" because the approval has been down anywhere from 18 to 20 points. Enten said he simply doesn't see it going anywhere.

The new "Strength in Numbers/Verasight" poll published Thursday found that only 37 percent of Americans who approve of his job performance and 60 percent disapprove.

Trump's weakest rating is on prices and inflation, where net approval fell to a record −48; only 24 percent approve of his handling of costs. Border security, formerly his strongest issue, has now also slipped to −5. Democrats lead the generic congressional ballot 49–43 and are trusted more on eight of 12 issues, including prices, jobs, health care and education. The White House disputed the poll’s implications, citing its economic record.

The most significant impact may be turnout: poor presidential approval can energize opposition voters, discourage the president’s party’s voters and make independents more willing to vote Democratic. It will certainly make the November 3rd election difficult for Republicans.

Democrats need a net gain of four seats to control the Senate chamber and must defend vulnerable seats of their own. Key competitive contests include Alaska, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas, while Michigan and Georgia remain crucial Democratic holds.

Journalist and podcaster Chuck Todd said President Donald Trump is insisting on drumming up a marvelous political environment for Democrats in red and swing states as Republicans toil to sell their message to voters.

“I think back to a couple of midterms that I covered, where the president was unpopular. In 2006, George w Bush, in 2010, Barack Obama — both of those presidents were self-aware of their unpopularity. And they at least tried to practice what I call ‘do no harm politics.’ That's not Donald Trump,” Todd told anchors of CNN News Central.

Todd performed his own analysis of the Senate battleground, which is about 12 races on the outer edge of competitive, including Kansas, South Dakota, and New Hampshire. Eleven out of 12 of them, said Todd, count Canada as either their No 1 or No. 2 trading partner, which is a huge problem after Trump declared economic war on Canada this week.

“So, this is across the board. I mean, this is our neighbor to the north, and more than half the states count Canada as that,” said Todd. “Then you layer on the anger that the beef industry has. Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, they're all breach states for Democrats, but they're not out of the question. So, take Iowa, a state that has the beef issue and Canada is the No. 1 trading partner, right? It is a double whammy. Ditto on a South Dakota. Ditto on Nebraska.”

“Look at what the president has already done,” Todd added. “Never mind the Iran war itself, which is driving up fuel prices. And who pays fuel prices sort of more acutely? Those that drive more, those that live in rural states. What states did I just talk about? Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota. So now you've got a triple whammy of Trump policies: His trade war with Canada. This decision on beef [deal with Argentina] and his decision to go to war with Iran. These aren't things you're going to be able to easily say, ‘well, this is we're still trying to clean up after Biden.’”

Over the last 48 hours, Todd said more elected Republicans were already distancing themselves from certain Trump policies, with a Republican nominee in Wisconsin — a Trump endorsee, no less — blast Trump’s import deal with Argentina. Two Senate candidates in New Hampshire have also pulled back on Trump’s trade war with Canada.

“So you're going to start to see more Republicans feel like they have no choice if they want to speak to the independent swing voter to find some distance with the president,” said Todd. “… did you catch his comment when somebody said, ‘hey, you know, the American industry is hurting. And [Trump] goes, ‘well, so are Argentinian ranchers.’ And you're like, ‘that's not very America first.’”

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Dairy farmer Abby Swan took to TikTok to complain that Republican policies she voted for are now destroying her business. Now her feelings are hurt because people responded by telling her it's what she voted for.

In a series of videos with her cows, Swan talked about how hard things were for her. She addressed the huge labor shortage, making it difficult to help her milk 300 cows. At the same time, seed, fertilizer and diesel fuel prices are only going up. Trucks that are hauling milk are passing fuel costs onto the farmers too as a fuel surcharge. All of it is raising the costs of milk but not the profits for dairy farmers, Spectrum News wrote last week.

“This summer, it’s just gotten really bad,” Swan said.

She confessed she recently called the suicide and crisis hotline, not because she's suicidal, but because of her stress.

“While the lady was very nice, wanted to help me, there was really nothing for her to do,” Swan complained of the hotline on her TikTok. “It would really be nice if there would be some follow-up to somebody having a mental health struggle. It’s been a rough summer."

It's not the first time there's been a dairy crisis. Seven years ago, in 2018, challenges in the international markets caused problems for U.S. dairy farmers too, a PBS News report explained.

Swan then began getting responses from people who said that she's only getting what she voted for.

Swan replied to the reactions in the comments with another TikTok rant, saying she couldn't believe how much "hate" she was getting. She defined "hate" as people asking her who she voted for.

"Well I can guarantee you from now on I would never ever vote for a Democrat, liberal, socialist, communist ever in my life if this is the way I would ever be treated by people that vote this way," Swan ranted.

She has now made her account "private."

Someone reposted the video Tuesday, digitally adding a red hat that reads "MAGA Moron."

"If you voted Republican, then you get what you voted for. I do not hate good people but anyone who allowed Republicans to harm those less fortunate. How do you feel about children being separated by Trump Military DHS. You are getting off easy," replied one Facebook commenter named Paul Grzesiak.

"I mean keep voting against your own best interest sweetie. Look where it got you," another person commented on Facebook.

"I voted Republican and Republicans are ruining my business so I'll never vote Democrat [because] you guys were mean about it," replied another person with an angry frown emoji.

"So Trump and this administration has destroyed her farm and she’s mad at Democrats for pointing it out to her?" asked Scott Henry, a content creator with 1.3 million followers on Instagram.

"Does she not understand farm subsidies ARE socialism? ... They’re really so stupid," replied Emily Brooke.

Satirical content creator "Stinkster Reborn" filmed his own reaction, pointing out her selfishness.

"She thinks she's the only one going through pain right now financially," he said. "Of course she would think that! Because she only thinks about herself. You see, she didn't vote for her business. She didn't vote for her farm. No. She voted for something else."

He then walked through policies outlined during Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign in 2024 that specifically dealt with helping milk producers like Swan.

"You voted against all that," he continued. "You know what you are? You are a roach who voted for rain. You think you're the only one going through financial hardship. How about the rest of us?"

In another video, Swan complained that she can't get workers to come work for her other than high school students. She said that she doesn't have housing for them and that people can't afford housing in the area. One man, she said, stopped by the farm and offered to work for $20 an hour and free housing.

Stinkster Reborn slapped back, "You voted for mass deportations. Where's your ICE, ICE, Baby t-shirt? ... Those same people getting deported used to help you on your farm." He then explained that these "policies were put forth by a party" and she voted against it. "You know why? Because you will always vote red."

The president of the Black Farmers and Ranchers Association, John Boyd Jr., told CNN that their members were already under significant strain due to President Donald Trump's trade war. Things got worse last week when the president announced he'd import beef from other countries, driving down the costs so that struggling ranchers aren't making any money. It made him wonder what Trump is getting in return for hurting his own people.

Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy (R) complained that the overall problem is a monopoly in meatpacking plants in the U.S., and it is disproportionately hurting small ranchers.

Trump's decision to bring in foreign beef has more to do with his desperation to fix grocery prices and the affordability crisis, he announced to the press over the weekend.

Boyd said that Trump's policies have put cattlemen out of business.

"We can't afford to take a 25 percent reduction in price because the president wants to do some side deal in Argentina," Boyd said. "He was on you guys talk to him about his relationship there with Argentina. He said they were losing farms, and they were struggling, and all of these things. But we're struggling right here at home too."

There are about 400 pending farm foreclosures, "and no one has helped us," he lamented.

"This is the lowest cattle count in the United States since 1951. That's a very, very long time. And we're not investing in America's farmers," he added.

"You know, we don't want this beef from Argentina. There was a recall of 30,000 metric tons in Florida and Texas, and even China doesn't want this beef from Argentina," Floyd explained.

So, he asked. "Why are we being forced to take this? We have an issue with screwworms, you know, from beef coming from the southern part of the country and Mexico and other places. This is not what America's farmers need right now. When we're struggling, we're struggling with the president's tariffs. We're struggling with the high input costs on fuel and diesel and fertilizer from the war. And Iran. So it's a ripple effect."

Trump might think it's the best solution, but to Boyd, it sounds like a solution that may help Trump and not ranchers.

"And those are many of the deals that the president does. There's always something in it for himself and the administration, he added. "None of the cattlemen like myself was notified about this deal. There hasn't been any talks with the academy like myself."

In fact, Boyd said, there hasn't been a meeting with this administration at all to chat about this issue. He particularly took issue with Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins, who said on Tuesday that she can't reveal where the beef is coming from. No one in the administration flagged it for the ranchers.

"The first thing the president and the secretary can do is reach out to leaders like myself and tell them what the plan is," he asked.

He closed by saying that at the same time Trump is doing this, family farms are being lost because they simply can't survive in the Trump economy. If Trump wanted to help, Boyd said, he could start there.

President Donald Trump's name was booed on Tuesday night at a Republican's rally in deep red South Carolina.

The Daily Beast noticed Tuesday night that when Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) conceded to Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.), he mentioned Trump's involvement in the race and the room booed him.

Graham won on Tuesday night in the special election primary runoff. She squeaked through the race with 52.5 percent to Norman's 47.6 percent.

Graham said in her victory speech, “Our victory would not have been possible without you. South Carolina truly is Trump Country.”

Norman came from another perspective, confessing that he didn't think that they were going to lose.

Norman said, “I hate it for the state.”

“But you know, the president got involved. He has that right. That’s his prerogative,” Norman continued.

The audience broke into loud boos.

“Well y’all, his policies are good,” Norman said in defense of Trump. “I never understood why he got in this race. But it is what it is, and I’ll accept it. Something good will come out of this. I don’t know what it is, but something good will come out of it. We’ll move on. But we could have broken the chain of so many things in a good way.”

“I don’t like it, but I’ll accept it,” he confessed.

He also mentioned that $8 million was dumped into the race at the last minute against him.

“I couldn’t come up with that much money," Norman said. "All of our money came from South Carolina and from my personal account.”

Norman lost the gubernatorial primary in June before throwing his hat in the ring for the U.S. Senate seat after late Sen. Lindsey Graham's sudden death.

“I will support her, Darline, as best I can,” Norman promised, but some in the audience laughed at the remark as he stumbled over her name. The Beast noticed that when Norman's wife saw him refer to Graham as the winning candidate, she shouted out, "Whatever her last name is!"

Forecasters consider the seat a safe or solid Republican seat, and prediction markets give Republicans roughly an 87–88 percent chance of keeping it immediately after her victory. Democrats have not won a U.S. Senate race in South Carolina since 1998.

Democrat Annie Andrews has had months to organize after winning the nomination outright in June, while the GOP spent August in a crowded primary and runoff, PBS News reported. That gives Democrats a plausible contrast, saying that an experienced physician versus a Trump-backed novice, given the healthcare crisis in the U.S.

On Sunday in Charlotte, North Carolina, Manolo Betancur — owner of Manolo's Bakery, a prominent Latino business in the area — got into a heated debate with former U.S. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who was kicked out of the bakery. And According to the Charlotte Observer, Betancur refused to let him in.

Observer reporters Mark Price and Mary Ramsey, "A Charlotte Latin bakery known for championing immigrant causes says staff members confronted the former commander of U.S. Border Patrol in its parking lot Sunday."

Bovino, according to Price and Ramsey, "was told 'he was not welcome' inside the bakery or on its property" in a Sunday post on Facebook.

Betancur told the Observer, "It's kind of sad, kind of scary. I just want to serve bread, man. I want to serve cakes, and I just want to keep chasing the American Dream. I didn't apply to be this face of this situation, and I keep asking God for wisdom with my words. You know, I don't want to create more division, more hate. I don't want to be part of the division. I want to be part of the solution."

Betancur's question, according to the Observer, is "why this bakery?"

According to reporting from WCNC-TV Charlotte, Betancur "said he is paying a steep financial price for" ongoing tensions between him and the Trump administration.

WCNC's Richard DeVayne explains, "The owner of one of Charlotte's best-known Latino-owned businesses said he is paying a steep financial price for standing up for his community, while the former Border Patrol commander at the center of the confrontation is disputing his account of what happened. Manolo Betancur, owner of Manolo's Bakery, said his decision to speak out against immigration enforcement became personal Sunday when he confronted former U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino outside his east Charlotte bakery."

DeVayne continues, "The encounter became tense as the two talked about immigration enforcement and its impact on immigrant families, workers and small businesses. According to Manolo's Bakery, Bovino questioned Betancur about why he regularly carries his passport. Betancur responded that people are being targeted because of the color of their skin, rather than their nationality. He ultimately told Bovino he was not welcome inside the bakery or in Charlotte. But Betancur said the confrontation is just one moment in a much larger struggle, one that has already cost his businesses tens of thousands of dollars."

In an interview with the Charlotte Observer, Betancur stressed that he never set out to become a symbol of a heated debate with Trump administration officials.

Betancur told the Observer, "It's kind of sad, kind of scary. I just want to serve bread, man. I want to serve cakes, and I just want to keep chasing the American Dream. I didn't apply to be this face of this situation, and I keep asking God for wisdom with my words. You know, I don't want to create more division, more hate. I don't want to be part of the division. I want to be part of the solution."

Bovino, meanwhile, doubled down on his position in a Monday post on X, writing, "We gave them hell here in this place and perhaps might again sometime. To my brothers and sisters in green - Ride Hard!!!"

Betancur told the Observer, "It has been a very tough year. You know, worse than the 2008 recession, worse than COVID. We haven't been able to get back on track."

Bovino, according to DeVayne, gave WCNC a statement "disputing Betancur's characterization of" Sunday's "encounter."

"(Bovino) said he was in Charlotte recording a podcast with Border Hawk News and stopped at the strip mall that includes Manolo's Bakery as part of a visit to several locations where he had previously commanded Border Patrol operations during last year's 'Charlotte's Web' enforcement operation," DeVayne reports. "Bovino said he wanted to show the area where he said businesses that 'potentially hire and depend on' people in the country illegally 'are flourishing,' and to argue that mass deportations are not occurring at the level federal officials have described."

Melania Trump has been notably absent from the public eye compared to past first ladies, and according to one former White House staffer, there is potentially a very good reason she is so checked out.

As The Daily Beast found in a recent audit of the first lady's public appearances throughout 2026, Melania Trump has been remarkably absent, making only 38 appearances as of August 9, with fewer than 100 appearances in total since President Donald Trump's return to the White House.

In a recent interview for his podcast, progressive commentator Jack Cocchiarella spoke to Sarah Matthews, who served as a deputy press secretary in Trump's first term, resigning from the role after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and emerging as a vocal critic of his political pursuits ever since. During the interview, Matthews claimed that the First Lady was the one top name in the White House whom she never met.

"When I was working on the campaign for a year and then at the White House for the last seven months of the first admin, I met the vice president, I met almost every Cabinet official," Matthews explained. "I met members of the first family; I met all of them at one point or another. The only person I never met was Melania Trump."

She added: "I never met the First Lady, even though I was the deputy spokesperson for the president on his campaign and in the White House. And I think that’s pretty telling ... That kind of sums it up, where it was this known thing that she was just not around, and she didn’t want to be around."

Matthews also raised the notable fact that Melania Trump, according to reports, was paid for her appearances alongside her husband while he was on the campaign trail, something that would likely not continue upon his return to the White House and which could explain her absence from the spotlight since then.

“We know too that — it’s been reported — that Melania gets paid for showing up at events when they were on the campaign trail, which is crazy to think that you have to pay your own wife to show up somewhere," Matthews said.

Beyond that possibility, Matthews noted that the first lady never liked staying in the White House, due to her perception of its condition and her own preference for New York City.

"She didn’t want to stay at the White House," she claimed. "She thought the White House was old and falling apart, and she wanted to be in New York and do her own thing."

President Donald Trump is politically “dead,” warns an adviser to former President Bill Clinton, and Democrats need to wise up and see that.

“I think the country is done with this guy,” James Carville posted on social media last week. (The expletives have been deleted from this transcript.) “The situation with Trump and the American people are simply this, it's an awful marriage. By the way, it's a marriage that on paper has over two years left to go. He's sick of the people and the people are sick of him. And if you cannot see you that, you just gotta wake up. We've been so traumatized by him so long that we hadn't noticed that he's dead. Politically, man is dead.”

He added, “He can't win anybody a Republican primary anymore. And the craziest, most anti-Trump Democrat is gonna win the primary because just because what Democrats think they're looking for is to find the craziest anti-Trump person you can find. But I, I can assure you what you seeing is a divorce. And how do we stay and live in the same house for another two years?”

Carville concluded, “I don't think we can. I think the country is done with this guy.”

In May Carville argued that if Trump cannot retain control of Congress during the midterms, he will quite possibly quit rather than stay in power to be dogged by Democratic lawmakers.

"I think if he has still got his wits about him—and I hope he does—he’ll get out of there and leave, because his life is gonna be so miserable, he won’t know what to do,” Carville observed.

Carville is not alone among Clintonians to predict the worst for Trump. Speaking with AlterNet in July, one of Clinton’s top economists, Dr. Robert J. Shapiro, warned that Trump’s tariffs are creating economic instability.

“It's about uncertainty,” Shapiro argued to AlterNet. “Every investment is based on an assessment of the likely future demand for whatever you're investing in, and how much it's going to cost to produce it. So there are assumptions about labor costs, material costs and other input costs — and again, about demand. If you have a set of arrangements that give you some confidence about the price of your inputs coming from Mexico or Canada, or about demand for goods in Canada — and don't forget, we have virtually no trade deficit with Canada; we have enormous trade, and it goes in both directions — so it's certainly right, and it's not just about investments based on these probabilities that the trade agreement can help reduce uncertainty about.”

Shapiro continued, “It's also about how much you're going to produce today, apart from investment, because you've got thousands of companies selling goods or services into Canada. And so there's uncertainty about whether this will lead to more conflict with Canada, which would hurt Canadian demand for US goods, or whether Canada will impose a new tariff in retaliation for ours that makes my goods less competitive there. Of course it's bad — it's bad for American workers, it's bad for American investment.”

MS NOW reporter Alex Tabet says there’s a very obvious reason the state of Iowa is slipping out of Republicans’ grasp this midterm, and it has everything to do with the Trump economy.

“It's chaos,” said Iowa Farmers Association President Aaron Lehman, speaking with Tabet on a Saturday morning show. “You know, we are just not on the right path at the time. When farmers are dealing with all this uncertainty, we should be doing more to help them bring stability.”

“We should be passing a farm bill that's three years overdue to provide some stability for farmers. No passage in sight yet. We should be doing more to have a trade policy that gets to fair prices for farmers with fair practices for farmers. We're not getting any closer to that,” Lehman added. “It's just chaos. So, the chaotic situation makes it so hard for farmers to plan on how they can put a crop in the ground, harvest it and expect a reasonable return.”

Tabet, reporting from Lehman’s fifth generation corn, soybean and hay farm, said life on the farm is more expensive than ever.

“This farm operates three tractors … and about a year ago, it was $3.50 per gallon for diesel. Now it's $5.40. Each of these things guzzle about 100 gallons a day. So some quick math will show you for each tractor during harvest season, that's an additional $200 per tractor, $600 in total,” said Tabet.

But that is just one of the many factors that farmers are having to contend with, he added. Equipment and machinery purchase and repairs are significantly more expensive under Trump’s tariffs, and the food they grow, including corn and soybeans are contenting with retaliative tariffs from other countries due to Trump’s tariffs.

“Not to mention the fact that every single farm in America has to purchase fertilizer, and fertilizer costs are up 12 percent in the first quarter of 2026 because of this war in Iran, because of the strait of Hormuz,” said Tabet.

When asking Lehman and other farmers at the Iowa State Fair if their farm was profitable last year, the most common answer was ‘No.” The answer remained a solid “no” when asked if they expected to break even this season, as well.

Lehman, as president of the organization did not say who he voted for in the last election, but the state of Iowa — and farmers in particular — were deep in the fold for President Trump in the last election.

“What I can tell you is we are here in Iowa President Trump won 98 of the 99 counties in the caucuses. He won the state, beating Kamala Harris by 14 points in 2024,” said Tabet. “This is Trump country. But at the same time, the Cook Political Report just put the gubernatorial race as “lean Democratic” for [candidate] Rob Sand and a “toss up” for [Senate candidate] Josh Turek. These are races that shouldn't be this close. But because of these economic conditions, at least according to the Cook Political Report, they are.”

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CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront Host Erin Burnett did not have to work hard to unmask the duplicity of Republicans and their propaganda networks Friday night.

Republican-aligned networks were scrambling on Thursday and Friday to clean up the apparent ignorance of South Carolina Senatorial candidate Darline Graham, after her humiliating gaffe at an interview.

Graham, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump for a senate seat after the untimely death of her brother former Sen. Lindsey Graham, confessed total ignorance of even lightweight international policy topics at a recent debate.

“Are Taiwan and the south China Sea national security issues for the United States, and if so, why or how?” asked a host.

Graham admitted: “I'm just going to be honest here. I'm not on national security, that I'm not that informed on national security. So—but I do support the military.”

She quickly added that, “my brother was in the Air Force for 33 years.

After national and global press piled on Graham for her ignorance, Burnett said Republican subsidiaries on Fox immediately launched into spin mode.

“The next day she goes on Fox News Sean Hannity,” said Burnett.

“So, this issue of Taiwan came up last night. And I know people have made a big deal about it. And I'm like, I wonder how many people around the country, if I gave them a map, could pick out Taiwan?” Hannity told Graham. “I don't think many. And not, I mean, the whole country, never mind South Carolina.”

This, said Burnett, is a far jump from the rage with which those same propagandists — and Trump himself — pounced liberal Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, after a similar question about Tiawan in February.

When asked if the US should commit U.S. troops to Tiawan if China made a move against the semi-independent island nation, Ocasio-Cortez faltered, admitting she didn’t have all the answers on that.

“Her performance was horrible. I was surprised, actually. I didn't know she was stupid. She had no idea. I don't think she knew what Taiwan was,” Trump told reporters, adding that the gaffe could be “death defying” --for unclear reasons.

“That was embarrassing,” said Vice President JD Vance, joining in the scrum. “If I had given that answer, I would say, ‘you know what? Maybe I ought to go read a book about China and Taiwan before I go out on the world stage again.”

Burnett pointed out that “the very same Sean Hannity, who gave Darline Graham cover this week” said after AOC’s comments that “prodigal squad leader AOC simply could not answer basic questions about global affairs.”

Meanwhile, speaking on Graham’s flub, Trump said this week that, “all she was is being honest. She's a very smart. And she was being honest. I mean, she's into the price of groceries, the price of food, the price of beef. And it's not it hasn't been her thing, but she's surrounded by very good people.”

“But I guess the standards have changed,” Burnett concluded.

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Kansas State Rep. Pat Proctor, a Republican running for Kansas Secretary of State, lamented just how annoyed he is with female voters.

In a video revealed by his opponent, Jennifer Day, Proctor complained about the 2022 defeat of a ballot measure restricting reproductive freedom in the state.

"There's like, all these, like, women, uh, like 20 to 30-year-old women, who, you know, that you never saw at the polls before, and it's like a long line, the long line, and they're all there to vote," Proctor said.

"And it's just the — they're stealing it fair and square," Proctor said about the female voters, acknowledging that they were all legal voters. "And they all came back out, cause I can see 'em. You know, you had 700 unaffiliated female voters, 20-30, that all came out just to circle, in one circle because it was the only question on the ballot."

Procter made the statement while drawing a "circle" with his hand.

"And they all came back out for the general to vote again," said Proctor about the young female voters.

As of the last count on the Secretary of State's website, there are 575,983 unaffiliated voters in Kansas. Republican voter registration has slightly decreased in the state since January 2025, dropping by about 10,000 voters. A Kansas Reflector report noted that the vote over the ballot measure was "historic."

"Overall, Kansas women made up almost 56 percent of voters in the August 2022 election. And the younger the voters, the more women dominated. Voters between 18 and 24 years old were 61 percent female," the report said.

Retired researcher Earl F. Glynn pointed to a significant discrepancy in the gender of voters in Kansas using U.S. census data and reports after the 2022 election.

"A recent Kansas voter file with 1,975,884 voters shows 1,027,582 females, 937,011 males and 11,291 voters who did not select a gender," Glynn wrote. That math shows that there were 90,000 more female voters in Kansas than male voters.

Kansas' ballot measure is another among red states dealing with issues around reproductive freedom. In the 2024 election, seven states passed ballot measures to ensure access to reproductive healthcare, the State Court Report said after the 2024 election. Missouri affirmed access in that state in early 2026.