Fifteen Days 😱 ✡️🌻 😱 🚀🚢

Midterm Madness:  While most of the focus is on November 3, early voting has already begun in 32 states and is due to begin within the week in all the rest except for Alabama, Mississippi, and New Hampshire, the three outlier states with no early voting. New polls from the Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos, NBC News, and Fox News put Trump's approval at 33%, 34% and 36%, respectively. Last week the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that inflation is up to 3.7% and to quote Democratic strategist James Carville, “it’s the economy stupid” so that should be bad for Trump, Teflon coating or not, since the economy is now his main vulnerability with the WaPo poll showing just 21% approving his handling of the cost of living and NBC and Fox showing only 27% and 22%, respectively, okay with his handling of inflation.  That said though Trump’s approval among mainstream Republicans assuming there is any left has dropped to 47%, 95% of MAGA voters, still love him which explains why he’s out rallying in the reddest of places, delivering nonsensical diatribes full of his usual false claims and braggadocio.  At this point rather than trying to change minds, he’s working hard to convince his MAGA people, especially the ones who forgive him for everything and still blame Biden and Obama for the current economy and “wokeness” that they’d better show up and vote because only he can save them from communism, woke culture and trans girls playing in their daughters’ soccer leagues. With so many polls, especially those all-important Senate ones, within the margin of error who’s to say that his strategy won’t work.

🌻 🌻 🌻:Trump is no longer even pretending he cares one iota about Ukraine. Over the weekend, after cutting back on intelligence sharing and restricting Ukraine’s access to Starlink/Starshield, he weighed in on behalf of Russia by issuing an executive order suspending the new Russia sanctions passed under the Lindsey Graham Act. Even his newest gal Darline Graham was upset, or a little bit pearl twisty about that.  Trump’s rationale is that only the removal of sanctions will “keep” Moscow engaged in peace negotiations with Ukraine and anyway he, son in law Jared, and real estate buddy Witkoff really want to do enter into lucrative business deals with Russian oligarchs.  He acknowledged that in addition to bombarding Ukraine’s civilian sites Russia is helping Iran in the war where our soldiers and Middle Eastern allies are getting killed and injured but said that without sanctions relief Putin would be being doing worse things, like dropping nukes.  Kind of like giving your kids more candy and cupcakes, later curfews, larger allowances, and a souped-up car as incentives to stop them from beating up their siblings and mowing down neighbors. The Wall Street Journal reports that Putin has proposed holding a “high stakes” summit with Trump and China’s Xi to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war. No need to invite Ukraine’s Zelenskyy because it’s only his country on the chopping block so why should he have a say.  Apparently Putin raised his self-serving proposal during an October 9 phone call with Trump, where he also suggested that the US agree to purchase Russian diesel fuel and facilitate its sale on global markets. Manchurian Don already agreed to the diesel so to quote Kimberly Guilfoyle “the best is yet to come.”  

Other 💩: Eaten alive by Fox’s Sean Hannity Press, Secretary for 45% of a Scaramucci Katie Zaccharia is out, or pursuing other opportunities within the Trump administration.  Maybe she can carry the Xerox machine that binky girl/senior advisor Natalie who was her biggest supporter drags everywhere. Kristi Noem is no longer serving as Special Envoy for the Shield of Americas, the do-nothing job that she was gifted when she was fired from her Homeland Security cabinet position.  Too bad Kimberly Guilfoyle is so toxic because that would be a good landing spot for her. Just about everyone in the Trump administration asserts that the plan is to denaturalize Representative Ilhan Omar because she’s Trump’s favorite foil, not because they’ve found any legitimate reason to deport. Like her or not, the Omar situation is both despicable and weird because it’s not like Melania was really a genius when she obtained the visa that smoothed the way for her citizenship which then led to her parents getting theirs. Last week, a District Court judge told Trump to stop chopping trees down at the East Potomac Golf Links course, an order that followed her earlier order saying that he shouldn’t proceed with his plans to turn the public course into a high end, fancy “world class” facility without first sharing his plans with her so over the weekend Trump announced that he’s moving full steam ahead with his “renovation” plans.  He also asked for the judge to be replaced because any judge who disagrees with him is by definition biased and therefore shouldn’t be allowed to rule on anything affecting his interests. Trump told his MAGA supporters this weekend that the $5,000 he says he’ll give them if he holds both houses of government will barely cover a lunch at Mar a Lago, as if he’ll allow any of them at Mar a Lago, so spending $50 million plus on the Potomac golf facility on their dime seems totally in character and a bargain compared to the $800 million and growing spent on the ball room. Then again given that the $2 million Reflecting Pool fix is up to $16 million and counting who believes that the golf course renovation will come in on budget. In Europe Paris is burning, literally. And because the Israeli elections scheduled to take place on October 27 aren’t fraught enough, Trump has weighed by endorsing Bibi.