mike murphy

President Donald Trump has been hit with a fresh blow with an unwelcome October surprise just before the midterms, which contradicts his final pitch to American voters on the campaign trail.

Within a week of the president declaring that “prices are coming down very fast,” inflation is climbing again, and the latest numbers from his government are much worse than economists projected.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that the Consumer Price Index rose 3.7% year-on-year in September, up from 3.4% in August, while economists had anticipated 3.6%. During the month, prices rose 0.6%, up from 0.4% in August.

This is the final inflation report before voters make their decision on November 3. This presents a new challenge for the president and Republicans, battling to keep their majority in Congress to convince voters that the economy is doing fine.

Most of the increase came from gasoline, which rose a whopping 9.1% in a single month and was 34.2% higher than a year earlier. In total, energy costs climbed 5.2% for the month and 20.4% annually, per the Labor Department figures.

Core inflation rose to 2.6% annually from 2.4%, and shelter costs increased 0.4% in September. Airfares, used cars, and recreation got pricier, but food prices, however, were flat for the month, with grocery prices coming down slightly.

At the G7 summit in June, Trump claimed that the U.S. has “the strongest economy we've ever had” and called affordability a “fake word made up by the Democrats.” During a Pennsylvania rally in December 2025, he also called affordability a hoax. However, he has toned down that rhetoric at the campaign rally amid voter backlash.

Poll after poll has shown that Americans care about the prices of everyday goods that affect their lives. A CBS News poll released earlier this month found nine in 10 Americans said prices are the No. 1 factor in determining their view of the American economy.

The promises are clashing with the reality that families are spending more on essentials while their incomes struggle to keep up. Per an MS Now report, the price of goods is outpacing workers' salaries for the last five months.

From a political standpoint, the timing could not be worse: Trump is trying to reassure voters about the economy with fewer than three weeks to go, but the next CPI report won't arrive until Nov. 10, a week after Election Day.

The September figures will therefore be the last official look at consumer inflation voters will have before they decide who will control Congress.

A now-former ambassador departed the Trump administration amid a mounting scandal, but according to President Donald Trump's one-time biographer, there was a much more personal and "fatal" issue that really led to her ouster.

Last week, reports emerged that Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump's ambassador to Greece and ex-fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., had pressed a GOP donor to help pay off her $100,000 credit card bill. On Tuesday, after days of increasing heat, she resigned from the office after the new White House Press Secretary, Katie Zacharia, said during his first briefing that she had been asked to leave the administration.

Michael Wolff, meanwhile, claimed there was a deeper reason behind her ouster. Wolff is a longtime reporter and author known for his coverage of Trump's political career, including several books about his first term. In the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, "Inside Trump's Head," he told co-host Joanna Coles that while Trump was "not happy" about Guilfoyle's scandals, other major factors were at play in the call to push for her resignation, namely, Trump's family.

"Kimberly Guilfoyle is a reflection of so much that goes on in Trumpworld... Donald Trump sets the model for this," Wolff explained. "It’s ‘gimme gimme gimme,’ across the board. ‘We’re using this position where we can’t believe we’ve gotten into this position where we can effectively extort money from everybody. You have to give me money.' So the question: Why are we hanging Kimberly? One of the answers there is that she’s low-hanging fruit. And the other answer is that they can’t stand her. I mean, the Trumps can’t stand her."

He added: “I think they’ve been asking this question for a long time: ‘How do we get rid of her? How did Don Jr. ever end up with her?’... Everyone is holding their nose. I feel a little bad for her, actually. I mean, this has been a desperate—her climb—a desperate, indefatigable, just clawing up... I mean, just think of how preposterous it is that she became an ambassador.”

Wolff mused about what might be next for Guilfoyle, perhaps another position in or around the Trump administration. Coles suggested that she could end up on a track similar to Kristi Noem, who was ousted as Homeland Security secretary in the spring and moved to a new role as a special envoy for Trump "Shield of the Americas" initiative.

“And Kimberly looks like Kristi Noem, so that might trigger Trump,” Coles said. “He might think, ‘Oh, we have to do what we did for Kristi for her.’”

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) lashed out at reporters after his debate Tuesday night, the Baltimore Banner reported, and the video they uploaded of the incident sent reporters rushing to fact-check.

"You do not have my permission to record. If you record, we will refer you to the prosecutor," Harris threatened reporters.

The debate didn't go well for the lone Republican in the Maryland delegation. The Baltimore Banner noted that he "scolded" the audience during the debate with Democratic challenger Dan Schwartz.

"Everyone in here is recording," the reporters told him.

"But you're not allowed to!" he said, wagging his finger.

According to Harris, Maryland is a "two-party consent state," which means it takes two parties to consent to being recorded. Harris said he didn't consent.

One problem with that logic, according to veteran CNN reporter Jake Tapper, is that Harris was in a public place after a public debate.

"To say the very least on this, the congressman is incorrect on the law," Tapper said. "Two-party consent is relevant only to private oral conversations, and he has zero expectation of privacy here. 1st Amendment gives you the right to record public officials in public places as long as you're not interfering with their official duties."

Even if Harris' understanding of the law were correct, two reporters in that room could consent to recording.

It didn't stop Harris, as reporters not only kept reporting but had a little fun with him as well.

"With due respect, this is a public forum," a well-informed person in the room explained.

"Do you know the law?" Harris challenged without knowing the law himself.

"I'm no lawyer," the person said. "Are you? You're a doctor."

"Yeah, actually I know the law well, because we have to," he said, then put his hands on the reporter recording of their conversation. Being a legislator or thinking they "know the law" doesn't mean that a person is a lawyer or could practice law.

As a reporter asked him another question about the Iran war he motioned for someone off to his right to come and take her camera and her phone.

"In fact, I've got an officer — get an officer in here!" Harris ordered. "She's violating the law on two-party — two-party recording. We need an officer.

"Isn't that just for telephone communication?" another reporter asked.

"I don't know the law but that's just a recording," Harris confessed. "Video and audio and video have two-party approval in Maryland. Now they may not have to have it in Washington, D.C. They have to have it in Maryland. She needs my approval to record." In fact, she did not.

"Sir, we're in public," a reporter explained.

Harris went on to insist it didn't matter whether people were in public or not. He then tried to make the argument that they weren't in public.

He was then challenged about his saying he supported the First Amendment if he was trying to have reporters arrested.

"Alright, guys," Harris said, pointing to the reporter while looking off to the side for someone to jump in.

"She's ruining all your chances to get an answer about anything. See y'all," Harris said and walked off.

The only public polling in the race has Harris leading by 13 points. It was, however, a poll from July, so any shifts since then are unknown at this time.

President Donald Trump's allies are reportedly panicking about what the recently fired ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, could spill about their secrets. Some even went as far as trying to save her job to avoid a massive leak.

Guilfoyle, who is Donald Trump Jr.'s former fiancée, was asked to resign on live television as U.S. ambassador to Greece after a WSJ expose revealed a potential quid pro quo scandal.

According to a Daily Mail report, the president’s aides tried to keep her in the job due to fears that she may expose the Trump family and their political operation. One source told the outlet that Guilfoyle had spent enough years in Trump’s orbit to spill the beans on their personal lives.

"Kimberly knows everything," the insider said, explaining that she had been "way inside that family and political operation for years."

Another source told the outlet that "Having her back in America would be a nightmare."

That person added that Guilfoyle "knows where the bodies are buried," in reference to her knowledge about secrets and relationships inside Trumpworld. Another insider summed up the apparent calculation to keeping her close, stating: "Keeping Kimberly happy keeps Kimberly quiet."

The Mail reported that insiders believe Guilfoyle has kept a "burn book" about the Trumps, nicknamed "The Devil Wears MAGA," and is threatening to tell all.

In a statement after she was forced to resign, Guilfoyle claimed that she will remain loyal to Trump and MAGA, writing: “My gratitude and respect for President Trump and Secretary Rubio remain unwavering. I am proud of what we accomplished together, and I will always be a loyal supporter of President Trump and his mission to Make America Great Again.”

She continued, “While my time as Ambassador may be coming to an end, my commitment to President Trump, the America First movement, and the country I love will never end.”

She has not publicly acknowledged maintaining a diary on Trump’s inner circle. The report follows accusations that Guilfoyle traded her access to Trump for financial favors.

The Wall Street Journal reported that she begged Republican donor Eric Deters to pay her $100,000 credit card debt before her confirmation, allegedly offering access to influential figures in MAGA world in exchange

Guilfoyle's attorneys have denied wrongdoing; she herself denied the claims as “false allegations.”

Trump directly addressed Guilfoyle's controversy, saying that, "We're not happy." The next day, White House press secretary Katie Zacharia confirmed she had been asked to resign. Following the announcement, the president coldly dismissed her, saying to reporters, “No, she wasn’t a member of my family. She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago.”

President Donald Trump's mental and emotional decline is now beginning to cause international incidents, and the world is noticing.

In the morning "Daily Blast" on Wednesday, The New Republic's Greg Sargent spoke with journalist Mark Jacob, who writes the "Stop the Presses" newsletter on Substack, about how the right wing has figured out how to exploit weaknesses in the media.

While many online turn to mock press secretary Katie Zacharia's first press briefing, Kimberly Guilfoyle's firing and the upcoming election, the two men dipped into the startling fake ceasefire that Trump announced over the weekend. It has now become clear that while Trump announced a ceasefire, there wasn't one.

"He’s just getting weirder. And he was weird to start with," said Jacob.

"I mean, he announced the other day that there was an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. And of course, unfortunately—you know, my job partly is to criticize the news media, and a lot of them came out with their 'Trump says' headlines, which they should know better than to do," Jacob explained.

Once reporters finally reached President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine, he made it clear that he hadn't heard anythinga bout it. The Russians currently weren't pausing their attacks on Ukraine.

"And then they asked Trump and said, hey, nobody seems to be following this ceasefire, why did you say you had an agreement? And he responded that he told them that they needed to come to an agreement, and that was enough," said Jacob. "So, he has these bizarre delusions of grandeur, where he thinks he can just kind of magically transform reality into what he thinks it should be."

Jacob said that all of this is being caused by Republicans who "set him up" to feel like he was the king of the world and could control anything with the power of his voice.

"His idea of making a deal was just this thought that everyone had a price. And it is gratifying to see that some people don’t have a price. And also just to see that the lies aren’t working anymore," Jacob added.

He warned that this will likely start a cycle of Trump becoming more dangerous.

"Trump’s weakening power is really good for America. But this is when authoritarians are dangerous," Jacob said. "When they see their powers ebbing and they don’t know why, and all these sycophants who were on their side suddenly disappear on them—this is when they’re really dangerous."

Just in the past five days, Trump has weaponized the Justice Department to go after former aide Cassidy Hutchinson and stage a raid on the D.C. home of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) over conspiracy theories that invented crimes they can't prove and are long past the statute of limitations, even if they could charge them.

"They may take—and they’ve got ICE showing up near polling places. I mean, we have to really be vigilant about what’s going on here, and insist on a fair election, and not let them do all the crazy stuff they’ve been doing," Jacob continued to warn.

President Donald Trump ability to spin chaos to his advantage is now coming back to haunt him as Republicans who were once safe in red districts are pouring money into surviving a potential blue wave at their doorstep.

In a Wednesday opinion column for The Washington Post, Kate Andrews said the president is losing control of his chaotic brand of politics as angry voters, fed up with high prices brought on by his tariffs and the drawn-out war in Iran, head to the polls.

As the column points out, Trump is struggling to accept the increasingly likely blue wave coming in November.

“I don’t understand it, nobody does, nobody’s been able to explain it,” the president told reporters last month, adding: “Whoever wins the presidency, Republican or Democrat, automatically does poorly in the midterms. I don’t know why ... but we shouldn’t.”

Andrews pointed out that the answer is right in front of him as voters are forced to live with the consequences of his White House policies, and he simply cannot spin enough chaos to distract them from the prices they pay on a daily basis.

“The disorder the president thought he owned has spun out of his control,” she wrote.

The column cites research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which shows that Trump's tariffs added 2.9 percentage points to the price of goods by February. The study found that his tariffs are directly the cause of the inflated prices, and they would have fallen if not for his economic policy.

While Trump repeatedly claims that foreign nations will pay the prices of tariffs and billions of dollars are pouring in, the reality is that American businesses are taking the hit and are forced to pass on the cost to everyday shoppers.

Andrews also points to his war with Iran, which Trump boldly claimed would be over quickly when it began, estimating up to six weeks. But eight months later, the conflict has led to diesel and gasoline prices shooting up due to Iran’s war of attrition tactics of holding up the Strait of Hormuz.

For Republican candidates, Trump has given them little to defend, and more than a few have distanced themselves from him.

Andrews referred to polling which indicated that the Democrats were competitive in the Senate races in Kansas and Texas, states that Trump had won by large margins. She said that this change is causing even areas that have always been Republican to appear politically uncertain. In some of the close contests, Republicans are now running advertisements attacking tariffs, while in others they are unwilling to join the president on the campaign trail.

That is an awkward development for Trump since earlier on he had prospered by keeping the political discussion progressing so rapidly that his opponents found it hard to keep up. However, voters who are concerned about the cost of their groceries and gas don't need to be diverted by yet another White House show.

Andrews claimed that Trump had promised cheaper living costs and a termination of prolonged foreign conflicts but has in fact delivered the opposite.

Her conclusion summed up how Republican candidates are dealing with Trump’s economic policies and brand of politics.

“They can’t risk any more chaos,” she concluded.