Wednesday, October 7, 2026 · Evening Edition

Today

By StaffNews Desk

Good morning. The clearest statement of intent came not from the White House but from one of its boosters: on his own show, MAGA host Benny Johnson celebrated Donald Trump's proposed census changes — excluding undocumented immigrants from the population count used to divide House seats — as a way to keep Democrats out of power. It is a plan to lock in minority rule by erasing migrants from the arithmetic of representation, floated even as prediction markets register an "expanding map" for Democrats, with Texas and Kansas said to be in play for November's midterms.

The people running this government are doing well by it. Trade chief Jamieson Greer reported $1.17 million to $3.75 million in assets, law-firm pay topping $650,000 and a prior $10,000 payment from Coupang. Trump has steered $6 billion in contracts to arms makers his sons have invested in, having said his children hold "inside information" about government actions. The administration is now being sued by the Democratic National Committee for airing campaign-style ads on the public's dime, a 31-page complaint alleging it broke federal propaganda law. Even their own are flinching: retiring Sen. Thom Tillis condemned a report that two Trump consultants took a large profit advising a pro-Russian Balkans government during the midterm cycle, and Michigan's Mike Rogers now wants an end to the Canada tariff war after once calling Trump's tariffs necessary.

State violence runs on schedule. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan will be shot to death on Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, the Army's first execution by firing squad since 1945. In Tempe, police slammed Arizona State cheerleader Eryn Bonner to the ground and punched her; civil rights attorneys are questioning the "level of force" in a video that drew national outcry. And capital is fighting to keep the cages dark: GEO Group has sued California to overturn a new law granting immigrant detainees privacy rights.

The squeeze reaches students too: a new Education Department rule threatens those pursuing social work, art and religious studies degrees. Abroad, Marco Rubio stood in Athens calling the US "unapologetic" in its "pursuit of national power," urging Europe to "awaken from its slumber" and fend for itself.