Week 100 — The Return

With one month left until midterms, as polls continued to show Trump’s approval falling and Republican candidates behind, Trump deployed a new strategy: attempting to buy votes, by sending checks to millions of Americans and enrolling tens of millions of children in Trump accounts. Trump also held a series of campaign rallies, many in deep red states; yet while the script of lies and misinformation stayed the same, the crowds were paltry compared to 2024, as the practical realities of Trump’s deeply unpopular war and policies led to higher prices and rates.

Meanwhile, as Americans suffered, reporting this week revealed Trump, his family, and regime members continued to enrich themselves. Corruption is rampant not only in awarding government contracts, but also in shaping foreign policy. Stories this week also highlighted the deep dysfunction and incompetence within several federal agencies, and its impact on Americans’ lives.

This week Trump continued his attempts to silence dissent, barring CNN and Politico from press pools, resulting in limited live coverage. For a man who rose to power by being omnipresent on the media, and shaping the narrative, this strategy, if there is one, seems ill-advised at best. More likely the move is a sign of Trump’s shrinking circle of loyalists who are afraid to question him or push back, leading him to act on his worst impulses, often to his own detriment.

Trump continued this week to thumb his nose at the Republican-led Congress, which has ceded him the power of the purse, with little resistance. Attempts by Democrats to put holds on Congressionally-approved spending were ignored as funds were reallocated for Trump’s agenda. Bipartisan pushback did finally force Trump to stop using taxpayer monies for his campaign ads. Notably, the Senate and House are out of session until after midterms, and Trump this week refused to deny rumors swirling of him invoking the Insurrection Act, or that if a blue wave took hold, new members would not to be sworn in.

1. An AP-NORC poll found Trump’s approval hitting a new low of 31% approve, 69% disapprove. On current issues, his net approval on handling immigration was -21 net, the Iran war -43 net, the economy -47 net, and inflation -65 net.
2. On Wednesday, the Trump regime began sending $500 rebate checks to nearly one million people in 30 states whom Trump claimed were overcharged under the Affordable Care Act. Among the 30 were battleground states such as Florida, Iowa, and Ohio.
3. On Thursday, the Treasury Department said it had automatically enrolled more than 60 million children, who are under 18 and have a Social Security number, into ‘Trump accounts.’ Prior to the automatic adds, only about 10% of eligible American children had signed up.
4. There was no way to opt-out of the accounts. The accounts were expected to cost taxpayers $15 billion through 2034. Although the Dells had pledged to give 25 million children $250, only about 1.2 million eligible children had opened accounts so far.
5. On Friday, Trump pledged on Truth Social to send $90 checks to seniors, posting his regime would “begin sending ‘Checks’ of nearly $100 to over 20 MILLION wonderful Seniors to help pay for their Medicare Part B premiums.” The checks started arriving ahead of midterms.
6. The Justice Department filed a judicial misconduct complaint against judges in Minnesota who gave interviews to the NYT about Trump’s immigration surge there, and said the regime had a “disregard for court orders” and alleged its actions were unethical and partisan.
7. A federal judge ruled that Trump could not fire Roger Rogoff as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, after federal judges appointed him to the role vacated when Trump’s acting official’s time had run out. Trump had fired several U.S. attorneys this way.
8. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve inspector general found there was no basis for the DOJ to reopen its criminal probe into former Chair Jerome Powell’s handling of the headquarters renovation, clearing Powell from any wrongdoing.
9. Shortly after, Trump ranted on Truth Social that Powell “should be forced to resign, IMMEDIATELY” from the board, adding, “If he doesn’t resign, he should be sued, at the highest level,” and saying he did “not want this Building named after President Donald J. Trump.”
10. On Thursday, Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, moved to gut the agency’s IG office, which was investigating him. Pulte previously fired the acting FHFA IG after congressional Democrats called for a probe of his politicization of the agency.
11. WAPO reported that the Trump regime defied a hold top Democrats placed on aid earmarked for European countries near Ukraine, and on Wednesday diverted $52 million of those funds to Latin American countries Panama, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.
12. CNN reported the State Department redirected $177 million of funds earmarked for human rights to promote far-right causes, including Afrikaner rights in South Africa, despite the top Democrat of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee having placed holds on the funds.
13. NYT reported that the Trump regime had diverted $1.4 billion of National Science Foundation funding approved by Congress, one-fifth of the agency’s budget. The regime redirected the funds to Trump’s priorities, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
14. On Friday, NYT reported Trump directed Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought to come up with a way to use $20 million of taxpayer money to air ads praising him and his presidency. The regime claimed there was no “call to action” to vote for any candidate.
15. On Monday, after bipartisan backlash, Trump posted on Truth Social that “The Radical Left is upset with the fact that I am taking Ads,” which he claimed were “a positive promotion for our Great U.S.A.,” saying he would use his Super PAC funds to pay for the ads.
16. On Tuesday, Trump regime officials said Trump did not plan to reimburse taxpayers for the $10 million of taxpayer monies already spent on ads, again falsely claiming that the ads were public service announcements. It was unclear who paid for ads that aired that day.
17. On Tuesday, in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission, campaign watchdog group the Campaign Legal Center accused Trump of violating federal election law by directing his super PAC.
18. On Thursday, the Democratic National Committee alleged in a lawsuit that the Trump regime had quietly changed a form used by overseas voters, who tend to overwhelmingly back Democrats, making it harder for overseas voters to get a ballot.
19. MS NOW reported the Trump regime declined to invite election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, for the first time in more than two decades. The Trump regime joined Russia and Belarus in its decision to exclude observers.
20. The Atlantic reported that FBI agents across the country had been seeking counsel, including outside legal counsel, on how to respond to FBI directives related to the election, for fear they might be asked to do something illegal.
21. Andrew Bailey, who had overseen election investigations and supported Trump’s false election fraud claims, and who resigned in Week 99, had frequently raised questions about proposed law-enforcement actions, sparking doubts as to whether anyone left would push back on Patel.
22. On Friday, the NAACP sued the Trump regime, seeking records about the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ’s ‘unprecedented’ plans to deploy 1,000 election monitors to polling places for midterms.
23. On Wednesday, Defense Department Sec. Pete Hegseth gave his annual “State of the Force” address, saying, “We are no longer the woke department or the weak department,” adding, “No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors.”
24. Hegseth also chastised the media, calling them “anti-American losers,” over reporting about the Iran war and his leadership, and criticized the Biden administration for “promoting risk-averse, get-along to-go-along conformists,” calling it “the true politicization of our military.”
25. Hegseth also said he was “establishing the Office of Religious Affairs” that would “report straight to the top,” claiming the Pentagon was “putting on the full armor of God, because while we wage physical war, we all know the real battle is spiritual.”
26. On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered the Trump regime to turn over the DOJ memo that justified the boat strikes that had killed 234 people in the Caribbean and Pacific within two weeks, for his confidential review.
27. On Thursday, the Trump regime again blocked CNN from carrying out its scheduled press pool coverage to accompany Trump to rallies in Texas and Oklahoma, despite a federal judge’s ruling to lift the ban.
28. On Friday, in a court filing, the Trump regime argued that Trump had the authority to ban CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House and CNN from the pool, claiming presidents “have long decided which journalists should receive privileged access.”
29. On Monday, Trump refused to allow Politico aboard Air Force One, leaving the outlet unable to fulfill its press corps pool responsibilities. The regime was “unable to find a replacement,” so there was “no primary print pooler on this trip.”
30. ABC told a federal judge that FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s threats to revoke its licenses resulted in the network tempering their election coverage ahead of midterms to avoid angering Trump, saying, “We sit with our head on the guillotine,” and “We are watching everything we do.”
31. On Thursday, in an interview with TIME Magazine, Trump said he respected “the free press” but not “the fake news,” blaming the media for the negative outlook, baselessly claiming, “If I wasn’t doing a good job, I wouldn’t have won that election by a lot.”
32. Trump also blamed “lunatic” judges and former president Joe Biden for the negative outlook. Trump claimed he had “the highest of IQs” and chastised the interviewer, “You haven’t asked me one f***ing positive question.” When asked about low poll numbers he called them “fake polls.”
33. Asked how as the self-proclaimed “president of peace” he could openly say he might “annihilate” Iran, Trump said, “Because by annihilating Iran, we’ve created peace in the world,” adding, “With Iran, I don’t think you could ever have peace.”
34. Asked about the rumored possibility of deploying federal immigration agents to polling places at midterms, Trump said, “I don’t rule anything out or in. We’ll see,” and on invoking the Insurrection Act, “I’ve never used it. I could use it. A lot of people think I should use it sometimes.”
35. Trump repeatedly returned to the topic of his pet projects, saying the White House was a “disgusting mess” before he arrived, bragging about his $400 million ballroom and the helipad. Asked if he would demolish the Kennedy Center, he said, “I’m not committing to anything.”
36. On Thursday, the U.S. military sent an additional 9,000 troops to the Middle East, including a third aircraft carrier, as Trump considered further military action after midterms.
37. On Sunday, the U.S. military abruptly rushed to withdraw all 12 B-1 Air Force bombers from a U.K. airbase, a rare move in a peacetime country that was thousands of miles from the Iran war, after new threats from the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps were discovered.
38. On Thursday, at a campaign event in Texas, Trump baselessly claimed, “We have the greatest numbers ​of any president in the history of our country,” blaming, “I can’t get the word out,” and saying of midterms rallies he planned to hold, “My heart is in it like never before.”
39. Trump also baselessly claimed that the “fake news” had become “partners with the Democrats” to come up with the word ‘affordability,’ claiming “it’s a phony,” and blaming Biden for inflation.
40. WSJ reported that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates jumped to 7.28%, the largest weekly gain in rates in four years, dealing a blow to reviving the housing market after hopes of a revival in 2026.
41. The U.S. added just 29,000 jobs in September, well below economists’ expectations. Jobs numbers for both July and August were also downwardly revised. Although the unemployment rate remained low, Trump’s immigration clampdown had reduced the supply of workers.
42. The U.S. trade deficit rose sharply in August, to the highest level in 17 months, and largest monthly total since Trump imposed his tariffs in April 2025. U.S. imports hit a record $420.8 billion.
43. Bloomberg reported that Treasury Department Sec. Scott Bessent’s optimistic prognostications on the housing market, inflation, gas prices, and economic growth, in an effort to cheerlead for Trump’s policies, had all been wrong, testing his credibility with the markets.
44. WSJ reported on the turnover and tension at Treasury under Bessent’s leadership due to his temper and volatile behavior, saying he often excoriated staff when he is frustrated. Staffers frequently confer about his mood ahead of meetings. He also clashed with senior regime officials.
45. Bessent is on his fourth chief of staff already. As of August, seven Senate-confirmed officials have left the department, far more than is typical, and only one had been replaced with a confirmed staffer. Dozens had left since Bessent was sworn in.
46. The Internal Revenue Service had also seen historic turnover under Bessent. The agency cycled through five acting IRS commissioners, and the position was vacant. Bessent created a new role, IRS CEO, and installed an ally who did not require Senate approval.
47. On Thursday, protestors, including military veterans and Democrats, demonstrated at Memorial Circle, the site of Trump’s proposed triumphal arch, denouncing it as a Trump “vanity project,” and saying it disrespected veterans and their families.
48. On Thursday, a Washington, D.C. judge dismissed the Trump regime’s criminal case against David Hearn over allegedly vandalizing the reflecting pool, and barred the regime from reviving felony charges against him in the future.
49. On Tuesday, attorneys for Hearn sent letters to the inspectors general for the DOJ and Interior Department, asking them to investigate the conduct of senior DOJ and Interior officials, claiming they ignored their own evidence to satisfy Trump.
50. On Thursday, the family and partner of Renee Good filed two civil lawsuits over her death, one against the U.S. government, and the other against ICE agent Jonathan Ross, who shot her, and senior regime officials like Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, and Tom Homan.
51. Propublica reported that 506 U.S. citizens have been detained by ICE and held against their will during the second Trump regime: at least 63 were detained while recording events; at least 70 were children or teens; 36 were held for at least one day without being able to call a lawyer.
52. On Thursday, former FBI Special Agent Stephen Friend sued FBI Director Kash Patel over his firing in a First Amendment Retaliation lawsuit, alleging Patel fired Friend over his comments on podcasts about the investigation into two pipe bombs discovered on Jan. 6.
53. On Wednesday, Trump and Commerce Department Sec. Howard Lutnick claimed at an Oval Office event that South Korea would invest $200 billion in U.S. projects, including $54 billion in Alaska LNG, a liquefied natural gas project. South Korea denied this statement.
54. When pressed, on Friday, Trump told reporters he did not “jump the gun,” saying, “If they don’t want to do it, that’s okay with me. I’ll just charge them more,” adding, “Tell them if they don’t sign shortly, I’m going to double it up.”
55. On Thursday, Trump’s promised $15 billion Iowa steel plant in Week 99 also faced questions, as Iowa officials said the deal still needed to overcome major hurdles, including land acquisition, permits, and financial incentives, before construction could even begin.
56. Washington Sun* reported crypto firm GetTrumpMemes.com was offering dinner with Trump to the largest 185 holders of the “Trump Coin,” with the top 29 purchasers also invited to a “VIP Reception” with Trump, raising ethics concerns about Trump’s financial entanglements.
57. CNN reported Jared Kushner’s private equity company, Affinity Partners, held the largest stake in Phoenix Financial, an Israeli firm backing businesses involved in Israeli military campaigns, even as he acted as Trump’s Middle East envoy.
58. Affinity doubled its holdings in Phoenix after Trump took office, and Kushner described it as Affinity’s “best investment.” As a volunteer envoy, rather than a government employee, Kushner was able to avoid filing financial disclosures and closer ethics scrutiny.
59. NYT reported that the Trump regime’s talks between Russia and the U.S. on ending the war in Ukraine included a deal for a set of oil fields, refineries, and gas stations owned by Lukoil, which would require approval by the U.S. government and the Kremlin.
60. The leading group in the deal included Todd Boehly, who had donated more than $2 million to Trump causes, two Middle Eastern groups that had done business with Kushner and Steve Witkoff’s family, and the U.S. government.
61. NYT reported that James Blair and Chris LaCivita, who lead Trump’s congressional campaign operation, traveled to Republika Srpska, where they were paid hundreds of thousands for election advice by a party aligned with Putin, that is also spending to court Trump.
62. NYT reported in her final days as DHS secretary, Kristi Noem gave a contract to her donor, Daedalus Aviation Corporation, for DHS to purchase five airplanes at a significant markup to what Daedalus paid for the planes, providing the company a windfall of tens of millions.
63. The Banker reported that Simon Andriesz, a former British banker who had worked at Wall Street firm BGC Group where Lutnick was chief executive, and who was a whistleblower about Lutnick’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, died in an apparent suicide.
64. On Saturday, at a campaign rally in Ohio, where the race for governor and senate was unusually close, Trump said, “Just get out and vote,” adding, “If you do that, we’re going to win…and we’re going to shove it up their ass.” Trump also called Democrats, “dumb son of a bitches.”
65. Trump also attacked female journalist, CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, saying, “She’s such an unhappy person,” adding, “‘Young, nice person but she never smiles. She’s a very unhappy person.” The crowd loudly booed Collins.
66. Trump also promised financial help to the state if Republicans win, but threatened to withhold federal support if the Democratic candidate won for governor, saying, “I’m not going to help her.”
67. NYT reported on the low attendance at Trump’s rallies. In Oklahoma, a venue holding 4,920 was not full; in Alabama, where previous Trump rallies had 30,000 attendees, there were empty seats in a 10,000 seat venue; in Ohio, the upper deck in a 4,500 high school activity center was empty.
68. On Saturday, Trump urged Republicans in a recorded message on Truth Social to “Vote early. Vote by mail. Or vote in person on Election Day,” after Trump had repeatedly used rhetoric to discredit mail-in voting and tried to restrict access to it, baselessly citing widespread fraud.
69. On Monday, speaking to reporters outside the White House, CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes pressed Trump on encouraging his supporters to vote by mail given his prior statements. Trump jabbed a finger at Cordes and barked, “You are fake news!”
70. Trump also attacked correspondent Kristen Holmes of CNN when she asked about a poll that showed his support among Latino voters had dropped to 27%, saying, “You’re CNN. You’re fake news,” adding, “CNN poll numbers are fake, and your whole outfit is fake, and so are you.”
71. On Saturday, Trump posted GOP Sen. Tom Cotton’s cell phone number on Truth Social, and urged supporters to call him, over Cotton’s opposition to passing a bill to make daylight saving time permanent.
72. On Sunday, Trump complained that “Fox & Friends” had not adequately covered his rallies, posting, “Our people want to see our Rallies, and reports on our Rallies, on FoxNews, or they will very quickly stop watching (like I am doing right now!).”
73. On Sunday, Trump posted a meme on Truth Social of a split-screen of former presidents Barack Obama and Richard Nixon, writing, “One of these men is the most corrupt president in the history of the United States,” claiming it was Obama.
74. Later Sunday, Trump sent 23 Truth Social posts in less than one hour, including several on the Kennedy Center, saying it was “crumbling,” “dilapidated,” and “grotesque,” adding it would “only get worse unless the Radical Left Judge, with his Trump Hating lawyer wife, allows me to do what must be done!”
75. Trump also posted memes about taking over Greenland; several pictures of himself with Chinese President Xi Jinping; a post claiming “President Trump gets YOUNGER;” and attacks on the media, Obama, and protestors who opposed his arch.
76. On Monday, confirmed measles cases in Pennsylvania topped 1,000 for the first time in 35 years, with nearly 200 people hospitalized. New York’s governor also declared a measles emergency on Monday, with 108 cases in rural New York, the highest number since 2019.
77. NYT reported that under the leadership of Harmeet Dhillon, more than 300 nonpolitical career employees, with decades of experience, had left the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ, once a magnet for talent, after Dhillon changed the department’s mission to meet Trump’s agenda.
78. The department has struggled to hire, and restaffed with candidates with a lack of education and experience, including a former gambling executive turned conspiracy theorist; a man found liable for selling fraudulent insurance leads; and a man who violated attorney privilege.
79. Later Monday, at a rally in Nebraska, Trump defended his Iran war, saying it was necessary for “keeping the world safe,” suggesting Iran could hit California, “They could take out a city…Let them take — Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.”
80. California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to Trump on X, calling him “deranged and dangerous.” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria posted, “Keep our city out of your reckless war talk.” LA Mayor Karen Bass said Trump’s comments could “potentially compromise” the city’s safety.
81. On Tuesday, Newsom said he directed the State Threat Assessment Center to monitor for any possible threats to California, and said in a statement that Trump is “mentally ill,” and that the 25th Amendment should be invoked.
82. On Tuesday, Jill Fields, a former supervisory intelligence analyst in the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office said in a whistleblower complaint that the Trump regime pushed the FBI to investigate immigration protestors in LA, in violation of their constitutional rights and bureau policies.
83. NYT reported amid a high profile sexual assault case at Cornell University, the Trump regime’s Office for Civil Rights had yet to be involved. In the first 20 months of the first regime, the office resolved 150 cases of sexual harassment and violence; in the second regime, one.
84. Politico reported the Trump regime is considering tying Federal Transit Administration funding for infrastructure projects such as rail improvements given to state and local governments to parts of the country with higher birth and marriage rates.
85. WAPO reported Trump was planning to make part of his golf club in West Palm Beach into a new Camp David, which would be designed to host foreign leaders and future U.S. presidents, for international summits and for presidents’ vacations.

*Washington Sun was formerly known as NOTUS

Please note:

Items 61 and 62, which read as follows:
* ABC News reported that A.I. defense company Anduril Industries, a company in which Donald Jr.’s 1789 Capital has a major investment, was awarded a multi-billion deal announced by Trump on Tuesday, and had been awarded 135 other contracts with the government.

* The analysis found that defense companies backed by Donald Jr. and Eric, including Vulcan Elements, Firehawk Aeropace, and PsiQuantum, had been awarded more than $6 billion in active or promised government contracts, since the two invested in the companies.

have both been removed from this week’s list, after ABC News, the quoted source, removed the story without explanation, itself an act that was not normal.

Although no statement has been made by ABC News as to what occurred, we draw your attention to item #30:

* ABC told a federal judge that FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s threats to revoke its licenses resulted in the network tempering their election coverage ahead of midterms to avoid angering Trump, saying, “We sit with our head on the guillotine,” and “We are watching everything we do.”