Hey everybody. Thanks for being here.
Our top story: JD Vance gave his closing message for the midterms this week, and it was a desperate appeal for voters to give this White House another chance. Apparently the strategy of inventing wins and saying everything is fine has run its course. Republicans have been in total control of the government for almost two years and they have nothing to show for it. And since Trump’s last-ditch effort of bribing voters with a 5,000 dollar check didn’t work, they’re doing the only thing they can do: beg for mercy.
We’ll also get into the Republican candidates ignoring Trump’s advice, the Fed raising interest rates for the first time in three years, the Republican shouting match behind closed doors over gas prices, and Mike Johnson sending the House home until after the election.
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Let’s get to it.
1. Vance Begs Voters for Mercy
The Vice President went on a podcast this week and was asked a simple question: What is the Republican message to voters this November? Take a look at his answer:
Give us another chance? That’s an interesting midterm strategy. As a reminder, Republicans have had control of Congress and the White House for almost two years. And their closing argument is: we know it’s bad, but don’t give up on us yet.
We’re seven months into a war with no end in sight. Record high fuel prices. The trade war with Canada has farmers feeling betrayed by the party that promised to fight for them. And the President is stuck at 33 percent approval. Even Fox News has Democrats up eight with likely voters, under the headline: “squeezed by costs, frustrated voters turn to the Democrats.”
And here’s the thing about a second chance. You have to earn it. It starts with admitting where you went wrong and laying out the steps you will take to get us back on track. But we haven’t heard anything even close to that from this White House.
In fact, it’s been the opposite. Every problem is either not real, actually Joe Biden’s fault, or a hoax cooked up by the evil Dumocrats. You can’t ask for forgiveness while insisting you’ve done nothing wrong.
2. GOP Candidates Ditch Trump
Unsurprisingly, Trump can’t resist making the midterms about himself. He’s been urging Republicans in the hot seat to run on his record, and telling voters to pretend he’s on the ballot. He was the star of the midterm convention, and even put his name on the GOP’s House recruitment program.
But the Washington Post found that Republican candidates are completely ignoring Trump’s advice. They’re running on local issues or their own legislative wins. They are running on literally anything but the President. Some who once bragged about their ties to Trump have scrubbed him from their website. Others have gone even further.
Take Maria Salazar. She’s a Republican Congresswoman from Miami, representing a district that voted for Trump by 15 points. Listen to her new ad:
That’s not a Democrat. It’s not even one of the few Republicans with an independent streak. This is a rank-and-file MAGA representative spending her campaign cash to tell Trump he’s wrong.
It’s not just bravado. This is a calculation. Latino voters in battleground districts have swung double digits toward Democrats since 2024. She knows how her constituents feel about masked raids and mass deportations.
She also knows how dangerous it is to attack Trump in today’s GOP. She knows MAGA will go after her just like they went after me. But she’s decided this is the only way to keep her job.
I don’t want to overstate it. There’s still a MAGA base out there. But it’s shrinking. Every day the corruption and chaos continues, it shrinks a little more. As that happens, more and more Republicans will make the decision to back away from Trump. That’s bad news for MAGA, but great news for the country.
3. Trump's Own Fed Chair Defies Him
Yesterday the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter point. The board’s vote was unanimous. Not one member agreed with the President, who’s been pushing for rates to come down.
Even Kevin Warsh couldn’t cook the books. Trump picked Warsh as chair because he wanted lower rates, and even joked about suing him if he couldn’t deliver. But when he looked at the numbers, Warsh’s hands were tied. Listen to his explanation for the rate hike.
There you have it: inflation remains elevated. The Fed also projects another hike before the end of the year, and no cuts at all in 2027. That’s the Federal Reserve. But what about Trump’s expert opinion? I hope you’re ready to be enlightened.
One percent, even with inflation running hot, gas prices sky high, and a war pushing both up. You don’t need to be an economist to know that’s a terrible idea.
As usual, Trump wants to have it both ways: he wants lower rates while pushing inflationary policies like tariffs. Remember that just last week he proposed dumping over a trillion dollars on the economy with 5,000 dollar bribes. Cutting rates would just pour gas on Trump’s dumpster fire of an economy. Warsh knows that. Every single person on that committee knows it. And Trump probably knows it too.
4. Republicans Shout It Out Behind Closed Doors
The Washington Sun reports that Mike Johnson called Republican House leaders into his office to discuss suspending the federal gas tax through the election.
The bill was proposed by the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, Andy Harris, to deliver relief at the pump for Americans struggling to afford Trump’s costly Iran War.
That became a point of contention. When the chairman of the Transportation Committee walked into the meeting, he pounded on the desk and accused Harris of declaring war on his committee. And then he read a printout of a post from 2022, when Harris criticized the same proposal.
“Suspending the federal gas tax,” Harris had argued, “is just another Biden administration stunt to distract from their self-inflicted crisis.” What an incredible moment of shameless hypocrisy. But it doesn’t end there. One of the bill’s primary sponsors, Senator Hawley, had also once bashed Biden over it.
These guys didn’t change their minds. They changed presidents. And even still, they couldn’t reach an agreement about how to push his agenda.
Outside of Speaker Johnson’s office, the GOP also suffered from division on the national stage. Yesterday, I wrote a column about a GOP candidate in Texas who posted blatantly racist comments about UT students cheering at a football game. He later doubled down on those comments.
Today, Karl Rove, the former Senior Adviser to President George W. Bush, published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, joining several other prominent Republicans in condemning the remarks. And he announced that he would vote for the Democratic opponent. That’s what it means to stand up for American values, regardless of party.
Senator John Cornyn reposted Rove’s op-ed, and the excerpt he chose to highlight tells you everything you need to know about today’s Republican party: “the GOP’s stables need cleaning, and this is a good place to start.”
Now, we have a long way to go. But it’s good to see more Republicans finally growing a spine and standing up to this guy. The catch is that courage in this party still comes mostly from the retired and the retiring. Let’s hope it becomes a little more contagious.
5. Johnson Sends the House Home
Yesterday, Speaker Mike Johnson sent the House home until after the election. That’s on top of the two weeks he already cut from September. And the timing is conspicuous.
Massie had just filed articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth. And he admitted giving his colleagues no warning, after leadership had buried his push to release the Epstein files. Johnson hit back, dismissing the impeachment as a publicity stunt.
The articles should have forced a vote within two legislative days. Instead, the vote is on ice until the House returns. So Massie took the floor for an hour and said exactly what he thought:
Massie accused Johnson and the GOP of taking a Hegseth holiday, no different than the Epstein recesses from this year or the one before. The point he is making is clear: by taking time off, the Republicans are blocking legislation that might hold Trump’s associates accountable. And that’s not the extent of Massie’s frustrations. Take a listen:
Until January at least, Republicans hold the majority in both chambers. They have the power to fix the mess that they have created in pursuit of Trump’s reckless agenda. The country is at war and the national debt just crossed $40 trillion.
But they are dodging the responsibility to their constituents and to their country. And who are they serving instead? President Trump.
The House passed a sweeping Russia sanctions bill by a vote of 262 to 159, sending the measure to President Trump’s desk after more than a year of congressional maneuvering. Long championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, the bill imposes mandatory sanctions on Russia’s leadership, energy sector, defense industry collaborators, and shadow fleet. It also includes an additional 100% tariff for any buyers of Russian energy. The vote was split into two camps. Supporters, including President Zelensky, say it gives the White House the tools to choke off funding for Moscow’s war machine. But Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries argued the legislation is riddled with loopholes that let Trump skip the sanctions entirely, granting the president “more tariff power that we know he will abuse.” The vote exposed a rift among House Democrats, 58 of whom broke with Rep. Jeffries to support the bill. Rep. Jeanne Shaheen summed up what had been at stake: “the Kremlin is watching. Kyiv is watching. Our NATO allies are watching.” This marks the first major Ukraine measure Congress has passed since the 2024 emergency aid package, ending a nearly two-year lull.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury topped 5 percent this week, its highest level since 2007, and the clearest sign that global investors are getting nervous about lending to the United States. The New York Times reports that the hike in yield is part of a broader pullback. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund plans to trim its U.S. Treasury holdings, while the Netherlands and France have physically moved tons of gold out of the New York Fed, citing geopolitical unrest. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Congress on Tuesday that the financial system remains credible, insisting that “the U.S. is in fact the leader, and the leader does not fear competition.” The numbers suggest that its leadership is slipping. The dollar’s share of central bank reserves has fallen from 64 percent in 2015 to 56 percent at the end of 2025. And the global gold reserves now exceed foreign holdings of the U.S. Treasuries. Driving it all: a $40 trillion national debt, aggressive sanctions policy, and tariff threats that have allies asking what happens if Washington turns its economic leverage on them.
