Week 96 — The Return

This week, as we passed Labor Day and head into the final stretch before midterms, Trump and his regime were frantically trying to find ways to impact voting. The regime filed two emergency applications with the Supreme Court, and ginned up involvement of federal agencies, including continual attempts to prove Trump’s baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, and efforts to have a presence at polling places on Election Day.

Despite Trump and Vice President JD Vance claiming that the U.S. was not really at war with Iran, escalating attacks and the ensuing spike in oil, gas, and diesel prices proved otherwise. Trump can’t lie his way out of what consumers are paying at the gas pump! Yet, reporting made clear that Trump and Defense Department Sec. Pete Hegseth have no clear strategy to extricate the U.S. from a war we are losing, and are instead actively working to silence dissent.

This week, there continues to be widespread dissatisfaction among the American people with Trump’s priorities, which include his legacy projects and enriching himself and his circle, their corruption, the economy, the cost of living, and Trump’s Iran war. Trump spent Labor Day weekend sending more than 100 Truth Social posts, many directed at our longtime allies, while aggrandizing himself, raising questions about his judgment and mental health.

1. A Gallup poll found a record-high 89% of Americans said government corruption is widespread, up 10% from 2025, and well above readings in the 72% to 79% range between 2010 and 2025. By party, 91% of Democrats, 90% of Independents, and 83% of Republicans agreed.
2. WAPO reported Interior Sec. Doug Burgum and White House Domestic Policy Director Vince Haley sent a letter to the Smithsonian threatening to end cooperation unless the institution abandoned “an ideological agenda that seeks to transform both the Smithsonian and the country.”
3. Days later, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, the first Black American to serve in the position, announced his retirement, amid Trump and his regime’s relentless attacks on and efforts to reshape the institution.
4. On Wednesday, the president of the American Postal Workers Union said none of the 200,000 post office workers had received any training on the mail-in ballot screening system being quietly rolled out at the U.S. Postal Service, despite the ongoing court battle.
5. On Friday, a federal judge extended her temporary block on Trump’s mail-in voting order through the November midterms, citing, “Nothing is hypothetical” of the alleged harm to states, as mail-in ballots had already started to go out in the mail in North Carolina and Wisconsin.
6. On Sunday, Trump’s DOJ again appealed the ruling blocking his mail-in voting order to the Supreme Court in an emergency application, arguing Trump’s rule “simply imposes reasonable preparation requirements for certain election-related mail.”
7. DHS Sec. Markwayne Mullin asked Attorney General Todd Blanche in a letter to have the DOJ examine whether commonly used voting machines that tally votes through bar codes or QR codes were a “reliable record for a manual audit.”
8. The letter raised questions of whether the regime was laying the groundwork to claim that some ballots cast in the midterms should be considered invalid. Critics of the voting machines claimed they can be hacked, while election experts said they are safe.
9. On Thursday, Trump’s DOJ filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court to lift a second federal court order blocking the USPS from implementing Trump’s mail-in voting order, claiming, “once those ballot envelopes enter the mailstream, there is no retrieving them.”
10. WIRED reported that the Department of Homeland Security planned to pay $5 million to establish a nationwide database of voters, which would include their party affiliation and voting history, as part of its “fraud detection” and “data segmentation” efforts.
11. On Friday, DHS announced in a video that it had made five voter fraud cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Wisconsin. One woman arrested in PA was shown being shackled at her door. One U.S. citizen was charged with helping his wife, who was not a citizen, vote.
12. Harmeet Dhillon, head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, sent an email to the division’s 1,000 employees encouraging them to sign up for Election Day monitoring, writing, employees have “the opportunity and obligation to ensure the upcoming midterm elections are free and fair.”
13. NYT reported according to documents and training videos, hundreds of DHS federal agents were assigned to an intensive, weeks-long blitz to look for noncitizens among registered voters, as part of Trump’s effort to baselessly pursue alleged widespread voter fraud ahead of midterms.
14. On Tuesday, Trump’s DOJ asked the Supreme Court in an emergency application to allow the regime to use a federal citizen database, which was currently blocked from rolling out, and to make it available to states to use as a voter-screening tool.
15. WIRED reported that data published by the U.S. Census Bureau last month, as part of Trump’s efforts to prove nonexistent widespread voter fraud, had significant flaws. The authors were Republicans with ties to Trump, including one with DOGE affiliation.
16. Commerce Department Sec. Howard Lutnick apologized after drawing widespread criticism for saying, “There haven’t been American deaths” in the Iran war, while defending Trump in an interview on CNBC, posting on X, “I misspoke” and “so sorry” to the families for their losses.
17. On Wednesday, WSJ reported that Defense Department Sec. Hegseth had quietly extended deployments of 50,000 troops in the Middle East into 2027, including 19 warships, air-defense units, fighter squadrons and paratroopers, part of an open-ended military strategy.
18. Trump was privately having discussions with senior aides about whether to declare the war was over, and reportedly favored that idea, while believing the economic boycott would cause Iran to capitulate. Aides warned extending the war would hurt Republicans in midterms.
19. On Wednesday, WAPO reported the Pentagon had pulled decades of Secretary of Defense Orders Books from the secret computer system used by defense officials and U.S. troops, after reporting by the Post in Week 95 on the “non concur” and other contents of the recent report.
20. On Thursday, NYT reported that the Pentagon gave polygraph tests to roughly 50 members of the U.S. military’s Joint Staff, looking to identify leaks that had led to reporting on the crucial shortages of munitions. The scope of the investigation of top ranks was unprecedented.
21. Notably, the last time Hegseth briefed the press corps was on May 5, despite the ongoing Iran war, now in its seventh month. Hegseth had also restricted media access, and moved to fire senior staffers at Stars and Stripes, which is government funded.
22. On Thursday, Reuters reported the Pentagon temporarily rescinded its new, mandatory testosterone deficiency screening policy, quietly removing it from its website. Doctors had raised concerns that testing would result in unnecessary or potentially harmful treatment.
23. On Thursday, VP Vance subbed in to host a White House press briefing, the first since Karoline Leavitt resigned 42 days ago. Asked if the Iran war would be over by midterms, Vance said, “I wouldn’t call it a war right now,” the day after an intense exchange of fire.
24. On Friday, Trump also downplayed the Iran war, saying, “A lot of people don’t call it a war,” calling it “small potatoes.” He also demeaned the fallen soldiers, saying, “we lost 18 people,” comparing it to 100,000 in Vietnam and in “other conflicts you lost tens of thousands of people.”
25. On Friday, NYT reported a video analysis confirmed a U.S. strike had hit an Iranian wedding taking place in a small town on Tuesday, killing at least five and wounding at least 67. The Pentagon denied reports, saying, “the U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC.”
26. On Friday, AAA data showed that prices for U.S. diesel reached an all-time high of $5.85 a gallon, up nearly 60% from a year ago, as Trump’s Iran war dragged on.
27. On Monday, Labor Day, the price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas rose to $4.15, a record high for the holiday, according to AAA.
28. On Tuesday, despite regime claims of the U.S. not being in a war, the U.S. destroyed five Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps oil tankers, including one near Kharg Island. The price of oil rose to over $100 a barrel, and the price of gas spiked to levels not seen since May.
29. On Wednesday, a federal judge blocked Trump’s August executive order expanding categories of noncitizens whose children would be ineligible for birthright citizenship, finding it advanced a “distorted interpretation” of the high court ruling that struck down his first order.
30. NYT reported on a whistleblower complaint by an ICE unit chief to the DHS Inspector General which cited an “unprecedented lowering of standards” amid a hiring surge last summer, that exposed the agency to “grave national security risks,” and asked for an outside investigation.
31. He cited applicants were given job offers before they passed basic fingerprint, identity, or credit checks in a preliminary vetting process. Political appointees avoided background investigations. He was interviewed twice by the DHS IG as part of an ongoing audit.
32. On Thursday, ICE officer Christian Castro, who was charged with lying to investigators about the events leading up to his shooting a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis, turned himself in after fleeing to Texas, and the Texas governor refusing to extradite him.
33. On Thursday, Trump’s DOJ fired Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans, a federal prosecutor in Minnesota who was investigating Castro for making false statements, and planned to possibly charge him for civil rights crimes.
34. USA Today reported the Trump regime proposed raising the H-1B visa fee to $200,000. Trump’s idea to charge a $100,000 fee was ruled “unlawful” by the courts, and led to a 87% drop in applications, resulting in the agency collecting $28 million less than in the prior year.
35. The White House posted an arcade website on X that allowed users to build a border wall, then deport and terrorize families using ICE.
36. An FT poll found Trump’s approval at 33%, the lowest yet for the pollster, with his approval falling in every party affiliation, and at a low point of 72% for Republicans. Just 48% of Republicans said a Trump endorsement would make them more likely to vote for a candidate.
37. Gallup polling found the share of Americans who consider themselves a Democrat or Democratic leaning rose to 49%, while Republican and Republican leaning fell to 39%, the biggest pro-Democrat disparity in two decades.
38. On Wednesday, the apparel company Patagonia, conservation, and tribal groups sued the Trump regime over his July proclamation shrinking the Bears Ears National Monument by more than one million acres, or by 91%, saying presidents do not have the right to do so.
39. On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order at an event with ranchers, telling them it was okay to shoot wolves, removing the grey wolf and the Mexican wolf from endangered species protection. The wolves were considered endangered due to destruction of their habitat.
40. On Thursday, Interior Department Sec. Burgum announced on X that the groundbreaking for Trump’s arch would begin soon, “after a very long wait (over 125 years!),” adding, “This will be one of the Great Pieces of American Architecture.”
41. NYT reported that Trump’s arch did not receive final approval from the National Capital Planning Commission. Trump had named Mark Paoletta to lead the commission last month. The panel met recently, but did not consider the arch, and will meet again on Oct. 1.
42. In an interview with New York Magazine, Trump agreed that he was building the D.C. monuments for himself, saying, “That’s true,” and adding, “Nobody will do it once I’m gone. When I leave here, nobody will,” and of the ballroom, that “the people should be thankful.”
43. On Friday, ABC News reported that according to an internal email, the Kennedy Center was closed after a piece of the ceiling fell amid heavy rain. A spokesperson pushed Trump’s renovation, saying it was “another example of the urgent need to close for renovation and revitalization.”
44. On Thursday, a federal judge ordered the DOJ to disclose the names of the people who came up with the structure of Trump’s so-called anti-weaponization fund, in response to a request by plaintiffs.
45. On Thursday, the Trump regime’s Treasury Department released proposed regulations that would revoke tax-exempt status from any school that offered Black or other minority students support, including admissions or scholarships, calling it racially discriminatory.
46. On Thursday, Fox News fired Maria Bartiromo, a close Trump ally, saying in a terse statement, “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with Fox News Media,” after Bartiromo had shared internal Fox Business communications with the Trump regime.
47. After Trump’s speech in July on baseless election conspiracy theories, Fox News issued guidance to senior employees telling them not to cover his baseless claims. Bartiromo shared the text with Trump adviser Peter Navarro, whose appearance was canceled. Navarro sent it up the chain.
48. Bloomberg reported investors poured into a drone company that merged with a golf-course operator because of an ownership stake by Donald Jr. and Eric. Filing revealed both sons sold almost all their stock for tens of millions in profits, while the stock then plummeted by 31%.
49. WAPO reported that Trump planned to fly the Qatari-gifted plane for international trips, despite security concerns, including on his vacation trip to the Irish Open, which was being held at one of his golf courses in Doonbeg.
50. Democrat Rep. Suhas Subramanyam said the DOJ informed him that his phone calls with a Virginia state legislator last spring were wiretapped by the FBI, casting it as part of Trump’s targeting of his political enemies, and calling it “deeply concerning.”
51. On Thursday, the Trump regime’s Federal Communications Commission filed a motion, asking a judge to dismiss ABC’s lawsuit, claiming the agency’s regulatory probes were meant to find potential employment discrimination, and do not violate ABC’s free speech.
52. NOTUS reported the Department of HHS’s Office of Minority Health abruptly cancelled 16 grants, more than half of those awarded in areas of maternal and infant health, saying the regime was pivoting to finding the causes of infertility and promoting exercise.
53. NYT reported a draft plan by HHS would use previously reserved federal funding that helped low-income and working-class parents afford child care to instead pay parents a subsidy of $9,000 per child each year to stay at home and raise their children.
54. NYT reporting that the DOJ had been quietly investigating Dr. Anthony Fauci and at least eight other scientists involved in the Covid-19 response, including demanding phone, email, grant, and payment records, as well as grand jury testimony over the past months.
55. Part of the investigation was a claim by podcaster and former regime member Dan Bongino that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab, and that Fauci and other U.S. scientists worked to cover it up. It was unclear what evidence had been produced or the status of the investigations.
56. On Sunday, Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met with officials in Ukraine for the first time, the day after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian officials for the eighth time in Russia. Ukraine had taken a small upper hand in the war.
57. After the meeting with Russia, a Putin aide said in a statement, “Economic issues and potential major, mutually beneficial Russian-American projects were discussed in some detail.” Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, posted on X that he had attended the meeting.
58. On Sunday, Trump posted dozens of AI-generated images on Truth Social over a 10 hour period. The posts included a depiction of Iran’s defeat, Trump on horseback with George Washington, and an image of Robert De Niro holding a shirt that read, “Trump is my president.”
59. Trump also baselessly claimed that he made “Hundreds of Billions” for the U.S. and that he did it for “our Country, not myself.” CNBC reported he did not offer evidence to his claim, and his much ballyhooed investment in Intel was worth roughly $50 million.
60. Trump also posted an AI image showing the Strait of Hormuz as a “new U.S. Territory,” and another post with an AI-generated video of him changing a roadside billboard for the state of New Mexico and renaming it “New America,” one of five posts on New Mexico.
61. Trump also posted an AI-generated video of him in a USA hockey uniform, slashing at Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, calling Carney “governor,” and commanding him to “get up” off the ice.
62. On Monday, Labor Day, Trump posted a map of the U.S. that included an expansion to Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Mexico, Cuba, parts of Central America, and the Caribbean being under an American flag. No explanation was given.
63. Trump also posted that Canadian airplane manufacturer Bombardier can no longer sell in the U.S., writing, “NO MORE SELLING” in the U.S.,, and adding, “If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank.’”
64. Trump also attacked Democrats, calling them “Radical Left Lunatics, Communists, and Dumocrats” and “Deranged People,” and saying they “will do anything possible to destroy our Country,” and adding, “We’re going to win the Midterms, BIG, and SAVE AMERICA!”
65. Trump later vowed, without evidence, that “oil prices would fall,” posting, “Oil prices will drop precipitously…when we WIN the war with Iran,” adding, “ultimately, below Two Dollars a gallon,” and claiming, without evidence, that “Iran will never have a Nuclear Weapon.”
66. ABC News reported that Trump had posted more than 100 times on Truth Social over Labor Day weekend, including insults, taunts, and memes, and images aggrandizing himself.
67. Later Monday, Iceland summoned the U.S. ambassador, after Trump posted a map showing the island under an American flag. Iceland’s foreign minister said, “The position was clearly expressed that the post was completely inappropriate.”
68. On Tuesday, Canada announced retaliatory tariffs. Later Tuesday, Trump escalated, signing an order banning some Canadian products from entering the U.S. Trump cited a never-before used provision, Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, in his trade war with Canada.
69. Politico reported a Trump regime official at the White House’s office of science and technology policy pushed U.S. space companies to skip French President Emmanuel Macron’s space summit in Paris, claiming that attending would look like tacit support for EU policy positions.
70. WSJ reported that when Corey Lewandowski was a top adviser at DHS, he pitched senior government officials at Qatar and the UAE to hire him as a side deal, saying he would help with issues under the agency, including visas. Some foreigners were taken aback or confused.
71. Data-analysis company Palantir met with DHS officials for weeks in the fall of 2025 to negotiate a $2.7 billion blanket purchase agreement. Shortly after, Lewandowski requested a meeting with Palantir CEO Alex Karp, which was refused. The contract was later cut to $1 billion.
72. On Tuesday, financial disclosures revealed that Trump had given $45,000 cash bonuses to Natalie Harp and two young, female, loyal White House employees. Ethics experts said the payment could violate federal statutes, and were unusually large for a federal employee.
73. On Tuesday, at a ceremony to honor 9/11 first responders, Trump lied that he was lifted out of the rubble on 9/11, saying, “Two fireman, big strong guys, they grabbed me under the arms.” Trump was not downtown at the time.
74. Trump also lied, saying, “I was building a big building in New York and I took the whole crew right down there after this happened and they had no hesitation. Everyone went down with me.” Trump did not take hundreds of his workers to the site.
75. On Wednesday, Trump was set to host a midterm convention, the first in 50 years, which most of his cabinet would attend. The event featured Trump, and his chosen speakers. AG Blanche was set to speak, which former AG Eric Holder criticized, and called “unprecedented.”