Monday, September 28, 2026 · Evening Edition

Today

By StaffNews Desk

Good morning. President Donald Trump's war in Iran has exposed a "growing vulnerability" with no easy solution, argues Max Boot, a Washington Post columnist and Council on Foreign Relations member, in a new op-ed. The rebrand of a faltering forever war has not slowed the toll: Iran has wounded and killed more Americans since Operation Epic Fury ended. The Pentagon's top policy official told lawmakers that allies back a "NATO 3.0" in which Europe maintains its own non-nuclear defense, as European capitals brace for US troop cuts. In Britain, police are investigating five British nationals over a possible plot at an American airbase.

At home, the administration spends public money to sell itself. The federal government has spent at least $1.7 million to air three TV ads featuring Trump in recent days, according to AdImpact — a taxpayer-funded propaganda blitz, echoed by The Atlantic, that turns the state's coffers into a campaign fund.

The same administration is bending elections. A judge ruled that FEMA cannot condition anti-terrorism security grants on whether local governments check voters' citizenship status. Kurt Olsen, the election denier assigned to a "grand conspiracy" investigation targeting Obama- and Biden-era officials, has resigned from the Justice Department. The playbook is fear — even Marjorie Taylor Greene says the GOP uses fearmongering to rile voters before elections. One expert, Justin Levitt, offers the corrective: "Treat the president the same as the guy screaming by the freeway exit."

The ground may be shifting: recent polling has Democrats eyeing both chambers in November, an AARP poll showing Roy Cooper up 11 points on Michael Whatley. But the war on working people grinds on — Trump's dismantling of student loan aid is crashing down on debtors this week, with organizers calling to stop the collections, the wage garnishments and the credit-score reductions.