Dear Everybody:
The big news of the day is that video has emerged of Trump returning from one of his rallies, “slumped over and struggling to walk.”
–Photos shared by Meidas Touch showed the president arriving back in Washington, DC, after 11 p.m. with his mouth agape, seemingly struggling to breathe. Another showed his head resting on his chest while standing there.
–Trump has also been seen zigzagging when he walks, wandering around and getting lost, and standing awkwardly. Doctors say these symptoms fit a textbook case of Lewy Body Dementia, which manifests as imbalance, wandering, and inability to walk a straight line, followed by agitation, mood swings, and cognitive malfunctions.
–Defenders pointed out that by 2 a.m. he was rage-posting again, threatening to boycott Fox News, etc. Others pointed out that Natalie Harp (who was with him when he returned) does all the posting.
The other big news of the day is that Trump and his lackeys are pulling out all the stops to try to rig and/or stop the elections:
–The Department of Homeland Security is threatening to send armed ICE agents to the polls to intimidate voters.
–AG Todd Blanche announced he will send troops to the polls “if necessary.”
–Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is ordering all commands to “stand down” for one day so the troops can vote. He sent a memo to troops, telling them to vote in the midterms to overwhelm blue cities like Milwaukee and Detroit. (So not just telling troops to vote, but who to vote for, which is blatantly illegal.
–Trump is now telling Republicans to vote by mail, even though he has repeatedly called mail-in voting a hoax and has done everything he could to try to outlaw and/or impede mail-in ballots. Since none of that worked, he is now urging Republicans to vote by mail.
–Democracy Docket: “Each election year, the US Postal Service takes extra steps to ensure ballots sent through the mail arrive at election offices on time. This year, it’s delaying those efforts. The USPS has pushed back the start date for its ‘extraordinary measures’ by five days, in comparison to past elections, according to a memo sent out to all USPS employees Wednesday.”
–There are rumors from inside the administration that Trump plans to invoke the Insurrection Act and/or martial law right before the election, seize ballot boxes, etc.
–Daily Kos: “They tried a bunch of dirty tricks and none have worked out the way they thought they would. Now watch out for the old favorites. They will try to disrupt polling places and spread election disinformation.”
The good news is that Democrats are taking these rumors VERY seriously and doing everything THEY can to make sure Trump’s assortment of dirty tricks doesn’t work:
–The Kansas Court of Appeals denied the Secretary of State’s request to revive a GOP-backed law that would throw out mail-in ballots received after Election Day, even if they were cast on time.
–The NAACP filed a lawsuit in federal court to ensure the Trump administration doesn’t send armed federal agents to voting sites.
One of the biggest impediments to Republican wins is the Republican candidates themselves:
–Vivek Ramaswamy tried to lift up a kid and nearly dropped him.
–Ohio Republicans are admitting that Max Miller (remember? he’s the guy who’s accused of domestic violence against his wife and toddler) is dragging down the ticket. (In good news, Ohio TV stations are ignoring Miller’s legal threats against him and are airing commercials for the Dem candidate which directly address the domestic violence charges.)
Trump’s vice-henchman isn’t doing very well either:
–When he got heckled at a rally this week, he ordered the protester removed and then watched in approval as the guy (who is a candidate for the Florida House of Representatives) was abruptly slammed to the ground by what looked like law enforcement, though who knows, even though he was not resisting.
–Vance had the heckler jailed for trespassing (at a public event?) and resisting arrest without violence.
–Before that, though, the protester, Ben Braser, got to say this, which all made it onto the video: “Thank you so much Vice-President Vance, for the gas prices! Thank you for helping us win the war in Iran! Thank you, President Trump! Thank you so much, JD, You are such a good vice-president, you pedophile protector! I’m excited for the $5000 check, I’m so excited!”
–All Chronology media Group: “Holy heck, this man just ended JD’s presidential ambitions in three sentences.”
–Vem Miller: “Tackling a dude for speech is never a good look. Vance didn’t just erase his future. He broadcast his own collapse in real time. That video is the kind of moment that sticks to a politician like tar. A man yelling criticism gets slammed to the pavement while Vance’s crowd cheers, and suddenly every warning about authoritarian instincts looks justified. Vance stood there and let it happen. He looked weak, petty, and terrified of dissent. No one with national ambitions survives a moment like that. He didn’t just close the door on life after Trump. He set the whole house on fire and locked himself inside. This is better than any money the Democrats could have spent money on ads…”
And then there’s Trump himself, who is out there stumping for the candidates, even though he’s really unpopular and can’t stay on-topic:
–Trump talked about the “warrior dividend” checks, in which $1775 was sent to US service members. “You know, the amount was 1775. And I said, if we can scrap up one dollar more, we can be at 1776. 1776! I was the only one that saw it. Nobody saw it but me. I’m very proud, it was very intelligent. I’m a high-IQ person, unlike some people I can tell you about…among the highest IQs anywhere in the world.”
–Kevin M. Kruse: “”As proof of his genius, he offers a story in which he realized that if they added 1 to 1775 it would give them the number 1776. No, I’m being completely serious. And his mouth breathing crowd applauds that basic math like the man split the atom.”
–Trump: “I love Bayer aspirin. I take an aspirin every day. I don’t know if it works, but psychologically I need it. It thins the hell out of your blood, I guess. I don’t know if it works or not, but I’ve been doing it for a long time, and here I am, making speeches…They want me to go down to the 80. I take the 386, I don’t know what the hell it is. It’s a monster. They said, ‘Sir, you don’t need that!’ I sai, ‘Do me a favor. I’ve been doing okay for 35 years, leave me alone.’ I’ll switch to the little tiny one, you know, tiny! It doesn’t look right. I’ll switch to that little tiny thing and then something bad will happen. No, I keep taking the big one. They say, ‘Sir, you don’t need that!’ Thank you, doctor, I appreciate it–then I order a whole brand new stack of big ones.”
(Note: Oh, where to start? In the first place, there is no 386 mg aspirin. In the second, as I have mentioned before, stories which begin with “Sir” are made up out of whole cloth. Third, I know of no aspirin which comes in stacks. Not to mention that this was supposed to be a campaign speech.)
–And when Trump DOES remember he’s supposed to be campaigning for Republican candidates, he sounds mean and threatening.
—Trump: “We’re gonna win and we’re gonna shove it up their ass!”
–Trump: “They (the Democrats) are a bunch of dumb sons of bitches.”
Or delusional:
–Trump: “I won 86% of the popular vote (in 2020.)”
In Cornell gang rape news:
–We keep finding out more and more disgusting news.
–The victim, who had been given ketamine, which blocks the memory, texted one of the guys begging to know what had happened and how many men she had been assaulted by.
–The police department did not give the District Attorney all the details of what happened, and the District Attorney only gave the Title IX commission a summary of his report, not the actual evidence.
–Cornell has been caught in at least one lie. After the president asserted that they turned over all investigative documents to the DA, it’s been discovered that they actually withheld the transcript of the report she made to them and sent only the summary, which omitted key details, including the part where she said she was 100% certain she had been raped.
–The Tompkins County DA refused to consider additional evidence.
–A 2025 survey conducted by Cornell found that 35% of undergraduate women reported experiencing “nonconsensual sexual contact” during their time at Cornell, an increase from the 23% in the 2023 survey.
–Other women are coming forward with information about how Cornell has been covering up rapes for years. One Cornell graduate talked about how that fraternity had a special room with a peephole through which they could view and film young women having sex. When she reported it to the administration, they refused to go look at the peephole or the room, then told the young woman there was not enough evidence to do anything.
–There’s been a lot of concern online about what will happen to these poor boys and how outing them and/or charging them could ruin their future prospects. I’m worried about their prospects, too. If they don’t have to face the consequences for their actions now, they will just continue with this behavior in their adult lives. Or end up on the Supreme Court. Or as President of the United States. And I’m worried about the idea of all these predators still out there in society.
–The right is now mobilizing to find out the victim’s name and vilify her.
–They’re not alone. USA TODAY ran an editorial blaming her for what happened: “Young women must take responsibility for their actions. Regretting one’s bad decisions is a far cry from rape,” and talking about the dangers of simply “believing women.” (Yeah, that’s the problem, all righty.)
–morguemunky: “If your response to any of this as a man is ‘yes, but,’ stop yourself right now. there is literally no justification for this happening ever.”
–(Note: The thing I find so interesting is that if you’re a guy and you make a bad decision, like getting drunk, and then somebody steals your wallet or your car, it is still a crime, but somehow if you get drunk and are raped, then that’s your fault.)
In Epstein/Trump news:
–There’s been another death in Epstein world. This time it’s the British banker who outed Howard Lutnick, shared details of the business links and Epstein, and proved Lutnick had had a relationship with Epstein long after he said he did. The banker’s named Simon Andriesz, and he committed “suicide.”
–GOP Senator Thomas Massie, who has been trying to get the rest of the Epstein files released, posted about the death.
–Andriesz joins a long list (23) of people connected to Epstein who have died under mysterious circumstances. They include Jean Luc Brunel, who was found hanged in his cell shortly after he agreed to talk to investigators, Steve Bing, who jumped from his 27th floor apartment after talking to the FBI, Thomas Bower, the head of Deutsche Bank, who was found hanged, Anthony Shapiro, who was gunned down (the gunman was tied to Epstein), Daniel Siad, who was just recently found dead in his apartment, and three of Epstein’s accusers, including the girl who accused Trump of raping her when she was 13-years-old and who was found dead of a “self-inflicted” gunshot, Virginia Guiffre, who it was decided committed suicide, even though her family says that’s impossible.
–Para Power Mapping: “It’s happening again.”
–Matthew Wingell: “It’s not a game, folks.”
In promising news:
–The non-partisan Cook Political Report moved 15 House races toward the Democrats.
–The latest generic poll from NPR/PBS News/Marist showed a 12 point advantage for Democrats among registered voters.
–A former editor of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker, wrote an editorial for the paper in which he said he had started out in favor of Trump, even though he found certain aspects of him “repulsive,” because he thought the country needed shaking up, then turned against him on January 6th, and now admits to not only being against Trump but to having full-on Trump Derangement Syndrome.
–TRsCousin reports that early voting started in Virginia on September 28, and that the polling place in Arlington was packed in the middle of the afternoon, even though at that time of day there are usually a handful of voters–or none.
–Swing Left held its first weekend of canvassing last weekend and knocked on 4,677 doors over 36 canvass areas in 17 states, including Virginia, California, Pennsylvania, and Kansas. Their phone banker made 19,422 phone calls.
–And they ‘re not the only group out there. The group Hope Springs from Field knocked on 100,000 doors this weekend.
–The Democrats have been working for months to train and place election watchers, and as a consequence, Democratic watchers will heavily outnumber Trump election monitors at the polls.
In other news:
–1400 workers at an Ohio factory were just laid off, days before a Trump rally there.
–New York Attorney General Letitia James filed suit against the prediction market Polymarket, saying it was an illegal gambling operation operating in New York without a license.
In good news:
–A Rhode Island federal judge has ordered federal regulators to revive the $7 billion dollar solar energy program they canceled.
–An anonymous tip line started by the Sandy Hook families has helped prevent 20 school shootings since 2018.
–Thanks to a huge public outcry, YouTube and Meta are now running ads for the Elon Musk documentary coming out in October.
Best statistics of the day: “81,268,924 voted Democrat, 74,216, 154 voted Republican, 101,176,932 better start to give a shit.”
Finally, today is the birthday of Edward Stratemeyer, who started a publishing company which specialized in books for kids at a time when there wasn’t any such thing and published a bunch of immensely popular series, among them The Rover Boys, The Bobbsey Twins, the Dana Girls, the Hardy Boys, and the Nancy Drew books. I absolutely LOVED Nancy Drew, as did every other little girl I knew. She was brave, resourceful, smart, and great at solving crimes–and the model for every girl detective since–Charlie’s Angels, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Veronica Mars, Agent Scully. Thanks, Mr. Stratemeyer, and happy birthday!
Best comment of the day, from Merrill, on President Trump: “The man is finished. The man is TOAST. He’s Trump Toast, the greatest toast. And he’s bringing MAGA and the indistinguishable GOP with him. RIP MAGA GOP.”
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis
