Week 99 — The Return – The Weekly List

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” — Animal Farm.

That was how I described Trump’s lavish state dinner, thrown for Chinese President Xi Jinping, which included billionaires, chief executives, Fox News hosts, three Supreme Court justices, cabinet members, and a slew of Trump loyalists, donors, and insiders. One expert noted that normally such dinners were hosted for close allies or to celebrate a diplomatic breakthrough. Even Senate Republicans publicly questioned and criticized the dinner, and the three days of posh ceremony provided to Xi.

Notably, the dinner came at a time when consumer confidence hit its lowest reading since 2014, and Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill had resulted in millions of Americans losing access to SNAP food benefits. It also comes amid more stories highlighting members of his regime eating at the proverbial trough — enriching themselves while in office. The dinner was also not covered by a press pool, as Trump lawlessly thumbed his nose at the federal court, while ironically praising China’s tightly controlled state media.

With midterms a mere five weeks away, Trump tried his last gasps of impacting election day. He used taxpayer monies to pay for campaign ads aired on national television, likely unlawfully. He won a Supreme Court case allowing some use of his highly inaccurate national voter roll. And he ramped up deportations, even facing pushback from his own base and elected Republicans, to have an issue to crow on. Overall, Trump appears increasingly out of touch with both the American people and on-the-ground reality, and polling suggests voters will have something to say about this on November 3.

A survey by Echelon Insights found that among Republicans, 56% said they primarily supported the party, and 34% primarily Trump. The same poll in February 2025 found 33% said the party and 63% primarily Trump — marking a 52 point swing in 19 months.
CNN’s data analyst reported aggregate polling found 50% of Americans ‘strongly’ disapproved of Trump, a record high, ahead of midterms, while just 18% ‘strongly’ approved. Ahead of the 2018 midterms, Trump’s strongly approve was 27%, and 45% strongly disapprove.
Politico reported that the White House was considering a 90-day diesel export ban in a bid to bring down record prices ahead of midterms. The move was strongly opposed by the oil industry, which said it would have little impact. Others criticized the move as akin to socialism.
A judge in Iowa dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and pollster J. Ann Selzer over a 2024 poll, saying the the lawsuit and its “faulty” claims could have a chilling effect that “can discourage others from reporting on and debating public affairs.”
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Trump had invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the upcoming G20, which will take place at a Trump property in Florida. If Putin attends, it would be his first G20 visit since 2019.
NYT reported a group of hackers, calling themselves ShinyHunters, stole a tranche of sensitive personnel data on thousands of current and former FBI agents, including home addresses, phone numbers, names of spouses, certain medical information and other data.
Reuters reported that ShinyHunters, which announced the breach on Tuesday, had also stolen psychiatric and medical evaluation records of FBI personnel in the hack.
NYT reported current and former FBI employees feared their data could be leaked, harming them or their families, sold to criminal or nation-state groups, or acquired by foreign spies to build dossiers on agents. ShinyHunters demanded the FBI remove an advisory about the group.
On Friday, FBI Director Kash Patel removed two counterterrorism leaders, each with decades of experience, after his displeasure with the pace of their investigation into harassing phone calls made to conservative podcaster Katie Miller, White House aide Stephen Miller’s wife.
On Monday, Andrew Bailey, one of Patel’s top deputies, resigned after roughly a year, amid turmoil and mass departures at the agency, claiming he wanted to spend more time with his family.
CBS News reported that Bailey, who was seen as a possible successor to Patel, resigned after Patel kept him at arm’s length and cut him out of meetings that the deputy FBI director should attend, after Bailey constantly flagged things that were unconstitutional.
Military Times reported a data breach lasting 10 months at the Pentagon’s human resource system exposed sensitive personnel data, including Social Security numbers, of millions of current and former military officials, raising national security concerns.
On Wednesday, Trump greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping at Joint Base Andrews, rolling out a red carpet for his arrival. Major networks refused to air footage without assurances that CNN would be restored, leaving only second-tier networks to cover a major media event live.
AP reported that among the Trump regime’s “reporting incidents” that had led to the ban were six Politico reporting instances, including one citing a “senior administration official…granted anonymity.” The senior official was revealed by another outlet to be Vice President JD Vance.
On Thursday, at 1 a.m., a federal judge restored access to CNN, MS NOW, and Politico for 14 days, finding the Trump’s revocation “likely violated their constitutional due process rights,” and raised doubts about the national security concerns argument given Trump’s public statements.
Despite the court ruling, access was denied at the White House complex on Thursday morning. CNN, MS NOW, and Politico filed an emergency request for a hearing, and the judge ordered them to be allowed in. Their press badges were reactivated at 12:29 p.m.
Ironically, while some U.S. media outlets were denied access, Chinese state media was allowed access. An AP photographer in the room with Trump and Xi said, “Trump made a joke about how the Chinese had the friendliest press corps.”
Notably, China, which operates a tightly controlled media and had 111 journalists and media workers in prison, ranked 178th out of 180 countries for freedom of press by Reporters Without Borders. Under Trump, the U.S. had fallen to 64th.
Trump lavished Xi with praise, saying they had “forged a friendship, a truly great friendship,” a compliment that Xi did not return. Unlike past U.S. presidents, Trump failed to mention human rights abuses in China.
Trump gave Xi a tour of the White House, including the Presidential Walk of Fame, pointing to an image belittling former president Joe Biden by depicting him as an autopen, and saying, “Trump, and then Trump, and this is the autopen.” Xi and his entourage laughed.
Later Thursday, Trump attacked the media, posting “CNN and MSDNC” on Truth Social, saying their “Ratings have dropped considerably” because they had “NO CREDIBILITY!” while praising “the Highly Respected President of China” and “his beautiful wife, Madam Peng.”
Later Thursday, Trump again denied access to CNN and other journalists to cover a White House dinner thrown for Xi. An hour prior, the White House said only a CNN camera crew could attend with no reporter. As such, there was no pool camera inside the event.
Trump also falsely claimed on Truth Social that CNN and MS NOW “refused to cover” the arrival of Xi at the White House. The five networks in the press pool again refused to cover with camera crews unless assurances were given that CNN was restored.
Trump hosted a state dinner that included billionaires, A.I. chief executives, Fox News hosts, three Supreme Court justices, cabinet members, and Trump’s family members. Experts noted that typically state dinners were for important allies or diplomatic breakthroughs.
Seated at the head table with Trump and the First Lady were Xi and his wife, along with CEOs Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Lisa Su of AMD, Elon Musk of Tesla, and Apple Chairman of the Board Tim Cook. No Chinese businesspeople joined Xi on the trip.
WSJ reported that the summit with Xi was “heavy on ceremony but light on outcomes,” producing almost no concrete results. Several Republicans spoke out about Trump seeming to flatter and cozy up to Xi, and on the spectacle and pomp.
U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue later told Fox News that Trump had asked Xi if he wanted to buy U.S. arms, an offer that if consummated would break generations of U.S. policy towards China and Taiwan, which has viewed China as an adversary.
Trump disputed Perdue’s account on Monday, telling reporters, “I never heard of that one. I’m going to have to ask him,” then adding that “maybe it’s a good idea” to make such an offer to China.
WSJ reported Trump’s DOJ intervened in a legal dispute between Musk and the EU after the European Commission found X liable for violations of the EU’s Digital Services Act, saying it was protecting a U.S. company from “foreign extraterritorial enforcement action.”
On Friday, the Trump regime’s Office of Budget and Management said it had used a rare authority, called a “pocket rescission,” to claw back $810 million in funding approved by Congress, Trump’s latest move to take power away from Congress, in this case the power of the purse.
Of the funding, $567 million was for programs for refugees and asylum seekers, a program to reduce racial tensions in policing, and programs for housing counseling for minorities. Senate Democrats could not get Republicans to agree to bar Trump from using pocket rescissions.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins posted on X that the “Government Accountability Office has concluded that pocket rescissions are unlawful,” adding that rescinding appropriated funds without congressional approval “is a clear violation of the law.”
On Friday, a federal judge ordered OMB Director Russell Vought to restore funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, of which he is the acting director, saying he violated the law by using two baseless rationales to try to defund the agency.
WSJ reported the Trump regime aired an advertisement that included a voice clip of Trump from the Republican National Convention. Ethics experts said the ad, which resembled a campaign ad and was paid for by the U.S. government, could violate federal law.
The pro-Trump, anti-communist ad first aired on Fox News, and later on Newsmax and CBS. The video first appeared on the White House TikTok account. When questioned by reporters, the Trump regime claimed the ad was a public service announcement.
Over the weekend, excerpts from a 2024 Trump campaign ad aired during “Fox News Sunday,” “Saturday Night Live,” and several college and NFL football games, in which Trump says, “This is the final battle.” “Paid for by the U.S. Government” was on the screen at the end.
The series of ads continued to draw bipartisan criticism, with Democrats calling them government propaganda that “one might expect in North Korea.” An ethics expert said the most recent ad was an even more flagrant violation, since it had been used before in the political arena.
Several Senate Republicans said it was not appropriate to use taxpayer money on the ads. Majority Leader Jon Thune said the ads “shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars.” Sen. John Kennedy said no public official “should spend public money on private ads for themselves.”
On Tuesday, ranking House Appropriations Committee member Rosa DeLauro told reporters that the OMB had moved $20 million in DHS taxpayer funding to pay for the campaign ads. The total spend was more than $2.5 million to date.
On Sunday, DHS posted a video on X quoting a tweet that, without evidence, suggested that a “huge migrant caravan” was approaching the border, and adding a video of a former National Football League Hall of Fame player, with the caption, “Our time has come.”
On Monday, WAPO reported the NFL asked DHS to remove the video that included former Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins, telling the Post, “We requested DHS take down the video.” As of late Monday, the DHS post was still up.
CNN reported according to a letter from Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to Congress, eight sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide during their prolonged deployment in the Middle East.
On Thursday, the Senate voted 49–50 to reject a resolution to rein in Trump’s authority over the Iran war, for the second time in two weeks. One Democrat voted with Republicans, three Republicans voted with Democrats, and Sen. Mitch McConnell was absent from the vote.
On Friday, WAPO reported that the Pentagon quietly added 29 sailors and eight Marines to a tally of troops injured during the Iran war, bringing the total to 861 since the war began.
On Friday, WSJ reported that Trump had rejected a proposal from Iran for a seven-day ceasefire to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear talks. Reportedly Trump told aides that he expected to resume bombing after the midterms.
On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the remaining U.S. forces in Iraq were quietly leaving after two decades there. Iraqi security officials warned pro-Iranian factions would portray the move as a victory, and seek to wield greater influence over security and politics.
CBS News reported that according to internal emails, the U.S. military was laying the groundwork for a possible military action against Cuba, communicating about whether it can provide U.S. Southern Command with police forces, medical personnel, and other support units.
Bloomberg reported that Commerce Department Sec. Howard Lutnick’s former firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, earned large fees raising $1.5 billion for magnet maker, USA Rare Earth. A week later, Lutnick announced a $1.6 billion government commitment to the company.
WSJ reported a Senate investigation found Iran relied on rampant use of digital dollars issued by Tether to bypass U.S. sanctions. Sec. Lutnick has deep financial and political ties to Tether, and it was reported in Week 97 he made significant financial gains in the past year.
Advocacy group Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that since Trump’s big beautiful bill became law in July 2025, SNAP food assistance was down by 5 million people, or 13%, and likely 2 million children had stopped receiving food assistance.
NYT reported that in Health and Human Services Sec. Robert Kennedy Jr.’s financial disclosures, he accepted $4 million in book advances from Tony Lyons of Skyhorse Publishing, a longtime friend and business associate of Kennedy. Kennedy also accepted $270 million in gifts.
Kennedy’s wife, Cheryl Hines, accepted $210,000 in consulting fees from MAHA Action, an advocacy group run by Lyons. Ethics experts said the gifts may violate federal rules barring government officials from profiting from their positions.
NYT reported under Kennedy, the CDC had been gutted, and was struggling to fulfill its mission. As of May 2026, the CDC had lost 30% of its staffers to the Trump regime’s mass layoffs, followed by resignations and retirements. Former employees said it was a shell of itself.
Only one of the 11 center directors remains. Most centers are being run by acting directors who were elevated one or two levels. Many of the divisions have stopped functioning. CDC communications with state and local health officials and response to outbreaks have been delayed.
Under Trump, there are 20 political appointees from HHS who communicate with CDC staff members, at times directing them to spend time and funding on dubious theories, whereas in past administrations there typically was two to three political appointees.
CNBC reported that the Trump regime’s cuts to NIH funding for some research projects had caused cancer patients who were on trials to lose time, and likely their lives.
The DOJ ended its watchdog role in more than 50 cases involving school desegregation, mostly in the Deep South, claiming the cases were relics of the past and posed an undue burden. DOJ records showed that since Trump took office, 57 desegregation orders had been dismissed so far.
On Wednesday, a federal appeals court ruled that the Trump regime must halt deporting migrants to third countries without allowing them a chance to contest their cases. The regime asked the Supreme Court in an emergency application to allow it to continue its third-country program.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court overturned the appeals court, 6–3, allowing third country deportations, for now, in a brief unsigned order. The ruling marked the second time the court rejected a lower court ruling on the matter.
NYT reported that ICE arrests surged over the summer across the country, with 43,000 in June, 49,000 in July, and 51,000 in August, as the Trump regime vastly expanded the pool of people eligible for deportation, and expanded partnerships with state law enforcement.
On Thursday, three organizations representing thousands of cattle ranchers in Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma, warned in a joint statement that ICE raids were having “a massive chilling effect on the legal, documented, skilled workers,” including workers not coming to work.
They said in the past few days, ICE operations had caused “millions of dollars in lost revenue and additional costs,” and “workforce disruptions at numerous supply chain chokepoints,” that could also lead to beef prices spiking again.
West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice also urged Trump to dial back ICE enforcement, telling Politico, “You’re dragging people away that have lived on your street corner for 15 years,” adding, “To get better, the first thing you got to do is admit you’re doing something wrong.”
NYT reported that ICE planned to hire an additional 5,000 employees before the end of the year, to meet the Trump regime’s deportation goals. Already the number of agents had grown by 8,000 to 29,000 employees since Trump took office. Many had not been properly vetted.
The Atlantic reported Trump’s deportation surge had resulted in tens of thousands of children being separated from their parents, leaving many traumatized while being shuttled around between temporary caregivers. During the second regime, fewer officials have pushed back.
CNN reported in a Texas courtroom, migrant children as young as 2 were forced to face immigration judges to make their case to remain in the U.S., many without lawyers, after crossing the border. Advocates said protections for children were undermined by the Trump regime.
A 13-year-old Honduran without an attorney told the judge, “My mom and almost my entire family are here. It’s too dangerous to go back.” But the judge said that was not enough, saying, “Would you like to request voluntary departure, or should I issue a removal order?”
On Friday, the State Department said in a notice that it would give state and local officials, and some nonprofits, access to passport records to be used in verifying voters’ citizenship, adding the sharing as an official “routine use.”
Later Friday, the Supreme Court ruled 6–3, granting an emergency request by the Trump regime to use an expanded database that includes citizenship information, Social Security numbers, and other sensitive data about millions of Americans, to allow states to purge voter rolls.
The three liberal justices said in dissent, “The harm caused by burdening or disenfranchising even a few lawful voters outweighs the nonexistent harm…from taking an action that it likely lacks the authority to take,” noting Trump’s baseless claim of election fraud.
The ruling noted that federal law includes a 90-day “quiet period” before elections, and that “limits the potential impact” of the court’s action in midterms. But the ruling would allow states to use the new system on a case-by-case basis ahead of midterms.
Notably, the Trump regime’s new system was plagued by errors. In Texas, it flagged 2,700 people as potential noncitizens, of which 578 were U.S. citizens, and only 117 were referred for investigation.
Nevada officials said DHS identified 15,903 voters in July as possibly being noncitizens, after Trump’s prime-time speech. A month later, DHS said via a manual review, 185 registered voters were confirmed as noncitizens. This week they said the 185 were in fact U.S. citizens.
NYT reported that a draft version of the Form 1040 for tax returns being floated by the Trump regime for 2026 now includes a question asking filers if they are U.S. citizens. Currently, undocumented immigrants pay tens of billions in combined taxes each year.
Propublica reported that in the first six months of the second Trump regime, while Pam Bondi was AG, the DOJ dropped 23,000 criminal investigations into terrorism, white-collar crime, drugs, and other offenses, to shift resources to pursue immigration cases.
On Friday, Defense Department Sec. Pete Hegseth urged U.S. troops and their families to register to vote in the midterms in an unusual video, saying, “Keep our nation the land of the free!” Hegseth had also campaigned for several Republicans ahead of midterms.
CNN reported that Hegseth was overhauling the Defense Department’s schools that educate 66,000 children of U.S. troops, excluding books that explore race, sexism, and LGBTQ+ issues, and, starting in January, requiring teachers to follow lesson plans provided by the DOD.
The Hill reported Hegseth was set to cut 20% of the slots slated for admirals and generals at the Pentagon, as part of his push to overhaul the department, saying he wanted “Less Generals, more GIs” and to “shift resources from bloated headquarters” to “warfighters.”
On Friday, a federal appeals court ruled 2–1 to uphold the Pentagon’s designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk, finding their A.I. agent’s restrictions and the unresolved contract dispute made it unreliable, and adding that it was not a violation of free speech and due process.
On Thursday, former employees of the Kennedy Center sent a whistleblower letter to Congress, warning that center officials had canceled a plan to start overhauling its leaking infrastructure months ago, resulting in a serious safety risk.
The letter noted that the center secured $9.3 million to address the roofing issues in Trump’s July 2025 bill, and $14 million in total, yet after an official signed off on the start of work, six months ago he stopped it from moving forward. Internal emails were shared in the letter.
On Tuesday, a bipartisan effort in the Senate to pass a bill that would block Trump from demolishing the Kennedy Center through unanimous consent was blocked by Trump ally Sen. Mike Lee.
WSJ reported that U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle has brought Christos Marafatsos, a paid lobbyist for Aktor, to many official meetings where he was assumed to be a staffer, and did not disclose his ties to Aktor or the firm’s efforts to seek energy deals in the region.
After Aktor signed Marafatsos, who has had ties to Guilfoyle since the first Trump regime, the company saw its access to the Trump regime skyrocket, including signing memorandums of understanding with gas companies in Bulgaria, Ukraine, Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
While Greek officials welcomed having a high profile ambassador, they also feared her. At a March dinner with Greek officials, in arguing with the energy minister she referenced the impending collapse of the Romanian government, and said, “We can do that here.”
On Saturday, Trump again barred CNN from traveling on Air Force One as part of its duties in the press pool, to cover Trump’s trip to Tennessee for a football game. As such, none of the press pool outlets covered the trip.
As Trump left the White House, a female reporter from MS NOW asked him if he only wanted outlets that support him in the press pool. He answered, “No, no, no. I want real news, not fake news — like you,” and when she pressed him, Trump berated her, “Be quiet!”
On Saturday, WSJ reported that while Trump was outwardly predicting success in the midterms, his approval of 37% in their poll just before the midterms was the lowest of any modern day president, including his first regime (44%).
On Saturday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he planned to roll back fuel-efficiency rules for new cars and light trucks meant to lower gas consumption, posting, “just approved new Fuel Economy Standards,” and lying that former president Biden had an “E.V. mandate.”
Trump also posted a 459-word tirade about Byron Donalds, Republican candidate for Florida governor, whom the Miami Herald reported had scrubbed all references to Trump on his campaign website, calling it “Another Fake Story,” and that Donalds would lose if he “drops Trump.”
Trump also posted and reposted 14 messages attacking Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar for challenging his immigration policies, including, “we need a NEW Republican to Replace Salazar,” and calling for her replacement in the midterms that take place in less than 40 days.
Trump also baselessly claimed on Truth Social that “We have the BEST FINANCIAL NUMBERS EVER,” saying “the FAKE NEWS MEDIA refuses to report them!!!” A recent CNN/SSRS poll found Trump’s approval rating on handling the economy was at 27%, his lowest of both regimes.
On Monday, Education Sec. Linda McMahon rescinded a Biden-era policy that had extended the ban on sexual discrimination in educational programs, including for victims of sexual assault, under Title IX to LGBTQ people.
On Monday, in an Oval Office event, Trump promoted a planned steel mill in Iowa ahead of midterms, built by Indian company Mesabi Metallics. The company hired Trump crony Jason Miller as a lobbyist to gain favor with Trump. Experts said the lobbying deserved scrutiny.
On Tuesday, the Trump regime’s new A.I. website, America.gov, started to modify its answers, after initially correctly responding that Biden won the 2020 election and Obama’s 2009 inaugural crowd was bigger than Trump’s in 2017, to instead say it could not discuss those topics.
On Tuesday, the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for September tumbled to 81.9, well below economists’ expectations of 89, and the lowest level since 2014, as consumers fears escalated over rising prices and jobs.
NYT reported OpenAI notified the Trump regime that its A.I. bots had gone rogue and meddled in websites of government agencies, including the Commerce and Education Departments, and the Security and Exchange Commission in the summer, without OpenAI’s knowledge.
On Tuesday, Trump hosted leaders of A.I. companies at the White House, revealing he had ordered the executive branch to use the term “super intelligence” instead of artificial intelligence. A Quinnipiac poll out Tuesday found 25% approved of Trump’s handling of A.I.
CNBC reported that despite A.I. leaders calling for regulation after warning of extreme danger, along with the majority of the public, the meeting resulted in no change, other than signing a non-binding two-page document called “White House Accord on Super Intelligence.”
On Monday, Kurt Olsen, a special prosecutor who had worked on the so-called grand conspiracy investigation into Trump’s enemies, resigned, reportedly after facing questions with his security clearance. The resignation came three weeks after Joseph DiGenova quit.
On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing with former special prosecutor Jack Smith, who said in his opening statement that their investigation “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation.”
The effort by Senate Republicans five weeks ahead of midterms seemed to backfire, when national attention was centered on Sen. Eric Schmitt accusing Smith of perjury over saying he did not attend an Atlanta Hawks game in February 2024. Smith attended an Iowa Hawkeyes game.
On Tuesday, a federal appeals court declined 3–0 to pause sanctions against Trump lawyers by a lower court for trying to use the court system to settle Trump’s $10 billion IRS lawsuit by setting up a $1.8 billion so-called anti-weaponization fund.

President Donald Trump shakes hands with China’s President Xi Jinping in the East Room of the White House during a State Dinner, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)