“French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to prevent more rioting and looting by maintaining a heightened security presence and tasking his government to respond to some of the protesters’ demands,” Bloomberg reports.
Said Macron: “It’s not normal that six months before a presidential election, our country should be in such a state of turmoil.”
“Hundreds of enthusiastic Democrats gathered at Balloon Fiesta Park in Albuquerque on Saturday to hear from two United States senators who are considering runs for president, marking New Mexico’s first step into the 2028 Democratic presidential primary as a newly crowned early primary state,” the Albuquerque Journal reports.
“The Democratic National Committee in August moved New Mexico’s Democratic presidential primary to Feb. 15, 2028, making it the fourth primary to be held in the country. Previous New Mexico primaries took place in June, often well after the party’s nominee had emerged.”
“I can tell you that decency is on the ballot in this election.”
— Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton (D), interviewed by MS NOW, on rival Vivek Ramaswamy’s (R) controversial attack ad featuring her estranged mother.
“For 55 years, Bob Woodward has unearthed some of Washington’s deepest secrets. Now the legendary reporter is exposing a trove of his own,” the Washington Post reports.
“During his long career as a Washington Post journalist and blockbuster author, Woodward zealously protected many confidential sources who helped him uncover the Watergate scandal and penetrate the enigmatic sides of every president since Richard M. Nixon. For three decades, Woodward famously safeguarded the identity of Deep Throat, the most guessed-about anonymous source ever, until former deputy FBI director Mark Felt outed himself at his family’s urging in a 2005 Vanity Fair article.”
“Today, with many of Woodward’s other key sources deceased, the 83-year-old writer has decided to pull back the curtain and reveal who helped him score many of his monumental scoops. In doing so, he draws on a vast hoard of notes, memos, transcripts and other documents that he collected over the years.”
“Two Catholic bishops have expressed regret about agreeing to a White House meeting that produced a publicly distributed photo of them praying with President Trump,” CBS News reports.
“Milwaukee Archbishop Jeffrey Grob, in a statement titled ‘A Public Apology,’ said Sunday that he had received many questions and comments — some of them distraught — about the meeting on Thursday that he and 11 other bishops attended.”
“He said the meeting was speedily publicized by the White House with photos and a video without consent of the participants, less than two weeks away from the midterm elections.”
Simon & Schuster called Jared Kushner’s bluff in threatening legal action and quietly released Matthew Cole’s blockbuster book two days early, Status reports.
“The explosive allegations read like a spy novel, featuring a hacked iPhone, international spies, and billion-dollar ‘slush funds’ from foreign governments, all tied to Donald Trump’s son-in-law. Jared Kushner, Cole wrote, had access to $2 billion in secret foreign bank accounts from Middle Eastern countries attempting to influence U.S. foreign policy during Trump’s first term.”
“The claims, if they hold up, would be among the most serious ever leveled at a presidential family member—and one who had served in an official government role, to boot.”
“As President Trump boasts about how much money the U.S. oil and gas industry is making from the war with Iran, the president’s personal holdings in oil and gas are now worth between $22.5 million and $81.6 million, compared with $12.6 million to $46 million at the end of 2025,” CBS News reports.
“President Donald Trump went on quite the tirade against Bill Maher over the weekend, telling the ‘Real Time’ host to stop calling him for White House visits after his ‘sleazebag’ interview with Karoline Leavitt on Friday,” The Wrap reports.
Said Trump: “He’s not a nice guy, and what he spouts isn’t what he believes. He has to cater to his base, which is mostly composed of losers, and people who don’t like working.”
Deadline: Trump posts 1,300+ word diatribe about “complete and total loser” Bill Maher, nine days after praising their “great dinner.”
“Top Democrats poised for powerful roles next year are demanding that major banks and ports preserve any records they have tied to potential imports or other deals involving Russian diesel,” Axios reports.
“Probing President Trump’s agreement with Moscow will be a priority if Democrats regain control of either or both chambers of Congress.”
“They will use lies, and they will use fear, and they will use division, and their name, or your faith, to somehow suggest that you are dangerous and less than trustworthy and less patriotic and less American than they are. We have seen this movie before. I starred in it.”
— Former President Barack Obama, quoted by Michigan Advance.
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“Lula is re-elected Brazil’s president in knife-edge vote.”
— Financial Times, October 26, 2026.
Ed Kilgore: “President Donald Trump has famously and repeatedly asked his followers to ‘pretend I’m on the ballot’ this year in an effort to boost base turnout, especially in the red states where Republicans are struggling to mitigate midterm losses. He knows, of course, that his name will never actually be on a ballot again. But some other Republican’s name will head up the GOP ticket in 2028, and that election cycle will begin on November 4 no matter what happens on November 3. Up until now, the betting favorite for the GOP nomination has been Trump’s protege, Vice President J.D. Vance.”
“But the brouhaha in Vance’s home state of Ohio over Vivek Ramaswamy’s nasty ad using Amy Acton’s disreputable mom to smear her makes you wonder: Is J.D. Vance on the ballot this year — and could failure keep him off the ballot two years from now?”
The Atlantic: “It is rare for people to turn down free money from the government. But that’s what happens when a polarizing president attaches his name to a taxpayer-supported program originally pitched as a vehicle to help America’s children achieve financial security.”
“An investment idea once championed by Democrats as a pathway to stability for millions of minors is now at risk of becoming yet another casualty of the country’s partisan divide. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say the program has promise. But its greatest obstacle to achieving widespread acceptance may be its name.”
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