The Daily Brief
Today
Good morning. The heaviest blow landed on the climate. The Trump administration on Monday gutted the nation's climate regulations for power plants, the EPA's final rule axing most, but not all, of them — a handout to fossil capital that undercuts efforts to reduce climate pollution from power plants. The gift extends to the water they drink: in Texas, Republican governor Greg Abbott directed regulators to penalize datacenters that fail to disclose their water use in a drought-prone state — a gentle threat to an industry draining it.
The state is turning its machinery on dissenters and the powerless alike. [Former CIA director John O. Brennan received a subpoena seeking his testimony before a grand jury in October, his lawyer said](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/09/14/grand-conspiracy-probe-trump-foes-goes-after-prosecutors-departure), as the grand conspiracy probe of Trump's foes grinds on. Meanwhile federal agents may have broken state laws as DHS surged personnel for what it called the Unlawful Voter Initiative, a whistleblower alleges. And the cruelty runs to the cell: a court authorized the surgical force-feeding of a Cuban immigrant at a Texas ICE detention center.
With the midterms looming, the pitch reeks of desperation. Trump's pitch to cut $5,000 checks for every adult if Republicans win the midterms shows a president out of options, analyst Juanita Tolliver told MS NOW's Ari Melber. Behind the bribe, the money is already moving: a Trump-linked super PAC reports roughly $21 million in spending across key midterm races. Kennedy Center officials warn of "certain fiscal collapse" unless Trump's name is added to the building, while Montana Senate candidate Seth Bodnar destroys a Flock surveillance camera with a shotgun in a new ad.
Bosses and markets tightened their grip. Disney is requiring more remote employees back to the office under CEO Josh D'Amaro, toward a four-days-a-week policy. Global AI stocks fell Monday after top AI leaders endorsed slowing frontier-model development — even as Trump dismissed AI concerns as a "hoax" against bipartisan calls for regulation. And Douglas Holtz-Eakin says the Fed should raise rates this week, warning that not doing so would undercut its credibility.
Zoom out: On Monday the administration gutted the nation's power-plant climate rules, turned its grand-jury machinery on Trump's foes, and dangled $5,000 checks at voters as the midterms loom.