Let’s Restore Fairness, Decency and Democracy

Commentary by Jerry Lanson

Americans spoke.

They voted this election day in anger and disgust but with purpose. They spoke up for health care and affordable housing, for sane gas prices and utility bills, for food prices they can afford. But they spoke up for more — for decency and a rollback of overt, daily corruption. For a country built by immigrants from its very inception. For a democracy, where the rule of law matters and applies to all — men and women; Black, white and brown; gay and straight; individuals and families worthy, regardless of their education, wealth, religious beliefs, ethnicity, race or physical abilities to respect, kindness and a place in community.

This was an overwhelming victory for a political party, the Democrats, not terribly well-liked by those who supported it. But more so it was an overwhelming victory for the American people. We want a new start before the gains of a century or more are wiped off the map by our egomaniac in chief. We don’t want arches or reflecting pools, more presidential golf courses, more cryptocurrency, more graft. 

The election reaffirmed for me that Americans are fundamentally a decent people. We all hold biases and even prejudices, like it or not. But at our front curbs and stoops, we meet and greet neighbors as people, regardless of their skin tone, their net worth and, yes, even their political beliefs. (At least we do if they have a dog who likes ours.)

The final numbers of this election will sort out over the coming days. It already is being hailed as likely the biggest blue wave since 1974, the second Nixon midterm. Democrats will hold 54 Senate seats. Or 55. Or maybe even 56. They will have flipped six or seven governorships, including Texas and Georgia. They will be represented in the US Senate in every region of the country. Their House majority, which as I write stands at 228, likely will rise to 245 or even 250 when the dust settles. a gain of about 40 seats.

More striking to me, however, is who holds these seats. Americans elected senators and governors in their late 30s and 40s and 50s (although my state chose a progressive octogenarian veteran who is too old for my tastes). They elected a governor in Ohio abused as a child and mocked for it by her opponent. They elected a senator in Iowa, who was a Paralympian and campaigned from a wheelchair. They elected a logger in Maine and the pastor of a mega-church in Kansas to the US Senate. They elected a Native American to the Senate from Minnesota and may yet elect an African American from the deep red, southern state of Mississippi. They elected a Muslim-American smeared as a terrorist and non-American in Michigan. They elected a Latina governor of Texas and an African American governor of Georgia. 

And they elected a 37-year-old Texan, part populist, part preacher, raised by a single mother with a closet for his nursery as a baby. He ran against Elon Musk and the $212 million Musk donated to defeat him. And he beat him, and the state’s long-term conservative incumbent governor, in part by casting the race as David v. Goliath, with the voters of Texas as his slingshot. 

Meanwhile, close to home, I am now represented by a 24-year-old state Assemblyman who took on a long-entrenched Republican well-liked in my community but nonetheless tied in some ways to Trump’s party and brand.

What an extraordinary group of candidates turned newly elected officials. What a diverse group in a country in which the president has done everything he can to deport people to countries they’ve never set foot in, to erase their history — our history, to intimidate, bully and threaten anyone who stands up to him. In truth, relatively few college presidents, members of Congress, business leaders, or law firms have. The Supreme Court has largely crumbled, but the court system, federal and state, beneath that high court has not. 

Nor have the American people.

On Election Day Tuesday, they made their voices heard.

Now Democrats must put aside their foolish internal divisions (centrist? democratic socialist? It’s really not that simple). They must work together to build a program for the American people. They must reach out to Republicans like Lisa Murkowski who might help, need to help for their own sense of decency and survival. 

As a start, the Congress needs to restore cuts in Medicaid and food stamps, find ways to bring down the cost of housing and build more, shore up Socal Security, hold this president accountable for his war and its devastating consequences, stop those blatantly skimming billions from our taxes and treasury for their personal enrichment, restore a sense of justice for all. And listen to the American people.

We, the people, spoke. We want effective policy and laws applied to all. Speechifying alone won’t cut it after January 1. Only a gradual march to restore what is lost and find new ways to build rather than dismantle our country will matter.

I bought a t-shirt in Provincetown, Massachusetts the other day when we visited with friends. It has a map of the United States on it and these words. “Built By immigrants. You Can’t Deport History.”

Nor can you destroy it, at least not if we, the people, continue to stand together.

Republished by permission from Lanson’s Substack, From the Grassroots.

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THU-FRI 11/5-6/26

His Sharpie Will Go On

Analysis by Todd Lassa

Tuesday’s midterm election Blue Wave – or call it a crush, tsunami, mushroom cloud, whatever – looks like it could be the beginning of the end of the MAGA movement and maybe remains of the Tea Party movement that preceded it. But it’s too early to declare it time to put a fork into Donald J. Trump himself.

After all, there’s the president’s new red hat. Act now; just $35.95.

The hat represents President Trump’s key weapon for resisting the new Democratic majorities’ efforts to claw back his foreign adventure in Iran, his tariffs, his questionable – corrupt – side deals, his administration’s Stasi-like deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, funded to $85 billion, his “Department of War,” his Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool rehab, his Arc d’ Trump and his ballroom blitz.

By Wednesday morning, the Blue Wave could be felt soaking dry MAGA land in Texas, Kansas, South Carolina and maybe even Mississippi.

Will this Democratic dominance last beyond 2028? Probably not. But voters in those states and once-deep red districts within may never return to MAGA even as the last of Trump’s diehard faithful cough up another $40 for the latest hat update.

Trump, who told his midterm stump rally faithful – never saw rallies that big, except when he was running for president, he says – to think of him as on the ballot for Tuesday’s election. 

Calling in to Fox News Democracy 26 after the strength of the Blue Wave had made itself clear, Trump said; “It’s been done before, as you know, numerous times. It’s the power of veto, it’s one of the stronger powers that a president has and they’ll send over things that are insane and I’ll veto them and after a couple of months of vetos, then they’ll call and they’ll say, ‘how do we get this stuff done? And we’ll work together. I have a lot of friends in the Democrats, believe it or not.”

It was not the Iran war, he said initially, Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz that everybody outside the White House predicted, and the way it pushed oil prices up, nor ICE’s killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, revocation of Temporary Protected Status for Haitian refugees, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff making side deals while shuttling diplomacy mostly to Vladimir Putin, his Smoot-Hawley-like obsession with tariffs, nor his insulting voters who reject data centers as “backwards and poor” that cost the GOP the House, Senate, several gubernatorial and many local elections. 

“They didn’t like the candidates,” he told Fox News. “And some of the candidates I endorsed, they fought me.

“I wasn’t on the ballot. If I was on the ballot, they would have got [unintelligible – maybe ‘done,’ but sounds like ‘down’].”

At the White House Wednesday, Trump reversed himself a bit, admitting that it was the war’s effect on the US economy that lost Republicans support Tuesday.

By now we can take it seriously when Trump says he will not run for an unconstitutional third term in 2028. He will take the money -- $2.2 billion last year, including $1.8 billion on cryptocurrency, the $TRUMP meme coin that lost 98% of its value for 740,000 mostly MAGA investors – and run.

The Democratic majorities in the House and Senate undoubtedly will try to impose the War Powers Act, again, introduce a bill imposing sanctions on Russia but without the escape clause allowed the president in the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 and of course attempt to claw back its own budgetary powers.

President Trump will rule to wield his Sharpie another day, maybe with his new red hat on head. This leaves us with the question of whether a sufficient number of surviving Republican senators, maybe five to seven, will be brave enough to vote with Democratic and independent senators, minus John Fetterman (D-PA), to override his vetos.

There will not be a hat for that.

Lassa is founding editor of The Hustings.

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THU-FRI 11/5-6/26

Clown Time Is Over

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

So far, during the 119th session the US House of Representatives has been in session for 309 days. To put that in context, know it was convened on January 3, 2025. 

Between then and now is 670 days.

Working Americans can only look at that figure with puzzlement — and disgust.

The Senate has worked 148 days, which is certainly better. But “worked” is an exaggeration because there hasn’t been a heck of a lot done during their days in the Capitol.

The House was out a whole lot in large part because Speaker Mike Johnson was afraid there would be blowback from members on the activities and actions of the Trump Administration — you know, things like blowing up boats and killing people based on claims and not facts. Or, imposing tariffs.

The Senate might as well have been in session for the same amount of time, based on how feckless they’ve been.

Many of those people didn’t want to do their jobs — which, incidentally, includes upholding the Constitution of the United States, which has key elements that describe their jobs — because they were afraid of crossing Donald Trump, which would, they thought, cause them to lose their jobs.

“The Base” would take them out. MAGA is all powerful!

Why stand up on principle when it means that you might have to do what regular Americans are doing, which is looking for work?

And so they kept their heads down. They were afraid of the MAGA Base.

And now they are looking for work.

Good luck. Most employers are interested in hiring people who want to get things done.

***

One of the more absurd headlines on the Morning After had it, “Trump Tells The New York Times He Will Accept the Results.”

Really? Like if he didn’t they wouldn’t count?

This whole idea of what he thinks being the end-all and be-all has to come to an end. 

He is working for us. And if he isn’t doing his job to our benefit (think only of the tariffs with Canada: there is a trade deficit with that country because the US buys lots of oil and electricity from Canada — how is it that they are “ripping us off”?) then representatives of the people ought to stand up and point that out.

Now there is something to keep in mind about the results of the election.

This wasn’t just the Democrats — and Trump is still referring to them as “Dumocrats,” which is not only childish, but really getting quite old for an 80-year-old to be saying — who caused the enormous number of victories, but the independents who evidently have had enough and the Republicans who decided to forego voting because, well, maybe they don’t feel so good about their decisions in 2024.

It is somewhat ironic that Speaker Johnson came out Wednesday morning claiming the Democrats have “Trump derangement syndrome”? Is this what he thinks of a majority of the American people (or at least the vast number of those who voted)?

Isn’t this like the old line about the guy in the mental institution who says, “I’m not crazy, it’s everybody else”?

And again, while that phrase may have been amusing for some the first couple of times, it is well beyond its sell-by date, and maybe those who use it not only ought to come up with something new but ought to grown up, as well.

The evening of Election Day, Trump took to his social media site to, in part, attack Fox News’ coverage of politics. Of course, he had to take shots at people he doesn’t like because that’s what a grown man does: Makes fun of people.

That is, of one of the co-hosts of the Fox News panel show The Five he posted:

“Watching the Pre-Election Results on FoxNews but I can’t stand Jessica Tarlov’s voice — DUMB AS A ROCK, but it’s the voice that gets me.”

I suspect there aren’t a whole lot of people who have achieved a Ph.D. in political science from the London School of Economics who are DUMB AS A ROCK.

But, again, this is the schtick that has worn so thin that it is become transparent even to those who haven’t been accused of having Trump derangement syndrome.

Here’s the thing that the Republicans in office now and who will be next year have to think long and hard about.

Again on his social media he wrote: “FoxNews Ratings are way down (27%) because they’re spending too much time covering the Trump Deranged Dumocrats! All of those people who used to watch Fox, and no longer do, get it. It’s them, not me — My numbers are better than they have ever been.”

While the pronouns are hard to sort out, think only of that last line:

“It’s them, not me — My numbers are better than they have ever been.”

The words paranoia (“It’s them, not me”) and delusion “My numbers are better than they have ever been” come to mind.

***

But a final word on the results.

Let’s not imagine for a moment that the Democrats who won up and down the ballots are sweetness and light and philosopher kings and queens.

Let’s not think that they, too, will bend to pressures that will have them keep their jobs.

Let’s be grown up about this.

Yes, that’s something evidently hard to do when you go to the official White House website and have a pop-up proclaim “WELCOME TO THE GOLDEN AGE!”

Tell that to someone refueling their F-150.

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THU-FRI 11/5-6/26

Left on Midterms

Remove the Money -- I would just ask that people who have even a toe or two in the pool of moral courage or even those who know what morality is start running for office. And we must remove Money from our politics in the United States. Otherwise, the groveling continues. I ask myself everyday how these individuals can look in the mirror and not gag. --Kate McLeod/Contributing Pundit

Repair Congress -- Congressional Republicans as a group have proven themselves unfit cowards by their refusal to reign in the grifting manager of Saddam's Cheesecake Factory. Potential Supreme Court vacancies are just one item they cannot be trusted to "advise" on, when their "consent" is predetermined. –Hugh Hansen/Contributing Pundit

Vote for Democracy -- With this election, I'm voting for the idea of democracy. I want it to continue. A vote for a Republican is a vote for fascism.

I can't say I'm voting for the Democrats as much as I'm voting against the horrible policies of the Trump Regime (“administration” is too respectful a word to use for this horrible assemblage of fascists, sycophants, and corrupt actors).

Elected Republicans have shown no spine in opposing what they must know is evil and corrupt. That leaves the Dems. Let's hope they earn the vote by holding Trump, his cronies, and his enablers accountable. –K.E. Bell/Contributing Pundit

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MONDAY 11/2/26

Blue Crush

The first 20 minutes of President Trump’s “closing argument” to vote for his party in Tuesday’s midterm elections was about his rehab of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. “I’ve actually kept far more promises than I made,” Trump said.

•What's next? – Email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings – right or left – in the subject line.

UPDATE – As of 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time Wednesday, Democrats have 54 Senate seats after Tuesday’s elections, to the GOP’s 44 seats, leaving two races, Alaska and Mississippi to be called. The House count is 228 Democrats to 139 Republicans, leaving 68 races yet to be counted. With two states still undecided, 28 governors will be Democratic and 20 will be Republican. (Per The Associated Press).

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this news item misidentified the second state, after Alaska, still waiting for its US Senate race to be called.

•••

Democrats Take House and Senate – Early Wednesday Eastern time the Democratic Party has 52 US Senate seats to Republicans’ 41, while Dems have 202 House seats to 123 Republicans for next year’s 120th Session of Congress, The New York Times reports. 

Michigan and Alaska are still counting ballots for their Senate races, but in Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is leading Republican Mike Rogers. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola has a slight lead over incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.

James Talarico’s trouncing of ethics-challenged Republican state Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton for Senate, 55% to 43.2%, marks the first Democratic US Senate win in the state since 1988, according to The Texas Tribune. 

If that’s not enough for the Texas Democratic Party, Gina Hinojosa beat Republican Greg Abbott, governor since 2015, by 52.7% to 45.8% according to The Associated Press.

From the White House, CNN quoted President “Vote Like I’m on the Ballot” Trump; “If Greg Abbott hadn’t become a RINO in the last six months, he wouldn’t have lost.”

NBC News contributor and former Trump 45 US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called Trump’s choice of Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the primary a “big mistake.”

In Mississippi … Mississippi … with 97% of the votes in, Democrat Scott Colom leads incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 28 votes, CNN reports.

Adam Hamilton becomes the first Democratic US senator from Kansas since 1932, beating Republican incumbent Roger Marshall, 51.1% to 45.9%. 

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has lost her bid for a fourth term, losing to Democrat Troy Jackson, 53.3% to 46.6%. 

Trump also backed South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham, appointed last summer to fill in the rest of her late brother Lindsey’s term, in her bid for a full six-year term. She lost early in the evening to Democrat Annie Andrews, 51.7% to 46.7%, The Associated Press reports. 

Former Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown fought back for his seat lost in 2024 and won, beating incumbent Jon Husted, who was appointed to fill Vice President JD Vance, the AP reports. 

In Minnesota, Democrat Peggy Flanagan beat Republican and former NBC Sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya for the US Senate seat Democrat Amy Klobuchar vacates at the end of this year. Klobuchar, in turn, becomes Minnesota’s next governor with a 55.6%-42.5% win over Republican Lisa Demuth. –TL

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VOTE!

ELECTION DAY 11/3/26

The Price of Gas and Diesel – Election Day's national average for a gallon of unleaded regular is $4.1493, according to AAA, a break of 2.01 cents per gallon from Monday, but $1.18334 more than the brink of war with Iran, February 27. Diesel is $6.2875 Tuesday, 0.46-cent lower than Monday and $2.5744 higher than March 5. --TL

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The Midterms Are Nigh!

MONDAY 11/2/26

Democrat Backs Michigan Republican – After months of support for Abdul El-Sayed, who beat her in the Democratic primary for US senator from Michigan, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) has withdrawn her endorsement and thrown her support to El-Sayed’s Republican rival, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R).

Stevens told Politico Sunday that Rogers didn’t promise her anything and that she made her decision “this morning.” 

Several House Democrats told Politico they were considering kicking Stevens out of their caucus, while El-Sayed responded; “I actually don’t think about Haley Stevens.”

That appears to be the proper attitude: The latest New York Times/Siena polls, taken October 23-November 1, shows El-Sayed leading Rogers in the race 53% to 42%.

•••

Trump v. the Midterms – President Trump has lost his bid to control Alaska’s race for US Senate, The Wall Street Journal reports, with a federal judge throwing out his Justice Department’s lawsuit Sunday that would block state officials from certifying election results if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan lost to Democratic challenger Mary Peltola, because a retired teacher also named Dan Sullivan is running in the rank-choice election as an independent. Last week The New York Times reported that the Democratic Party set up independent Dan Sullivan as a spoiler for Republican Dan Sullivan. 

Peltola has denied knowledge of the scheme. 

However, consensus among legal scholars and pundits is there is no potential law broken in a party’s backing of a spoiler. And on Sunday, an NYT front page outlined how common the scheme is among both parties. 

Republicans have spent more than $2.2 million backing a socialist candidate for US Senate, where former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a centrist Democrat, is trying to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Jon Husted. 

A Republican group in Virginia has sent out mailers highlighting the Democratic-leaning positions of a “radical centrist” running in a competitive House race, according to the newspaper, and in Nebraska, Democrats and Republicans are helping third-party/independent candidates take votes from incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts (R) and his Democratic challenger, Dan Osborn.

DOJ’s ‘competitive authoritarian’ efforts … President Trump’s ‘competitive authoritarian’ efforts via his Justice Department include a plan to send more than 1,000 election monitors to polling stations in every state. The Atlantic notes that the DOJ has been sending monitors for more than 60 years, but until now they watched polls to make sure Black voters and other minorities were not impeded from casting ballots. 

Earlier this year, FBI officials seized ballots from 2020 (for the election Trump is still challenging), has gathered material from Arizona and has questioned election officials in Wisconsin, the magazine reports. None of this has uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud.

So the midterms are in the clear? … In its own monitoring of Trump administration efforts to stifle the midterms, the non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice at New York University reports that since the president has no authority over elections, “these efforts have been thwarted at every turn. His executive orders and overreach were blocked by courts, the SAVE Act died in the Senate, and state and local authorities still run elections according to the law, not the president’s whims. Trump’s plot to seize control of the midterm elections appears to have been defeated.”

But wait … This assessment comes after more money has been spent on midterm elections than in any previous year, including from individual contributions, dark money and ex-DOGE chief Elon Musk’s out-in-the-open $446 million in contributions to Republicans (The Guardian), including $150 million alone to Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton. 

Looming over this, the Justice Department in recent days has reminded election officials in all 50 states to preserve materials from their election, The Atlantic notes. 

•••

Trump’s WSJ Lawsuit Dismissed – In Miami, US District Judge Darrin Gayles threw out for the second time President Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the publisher of The Wall Street Journal. This time, the judge dismissed the case with prejudice, which means Trump cannot file it again.

The lawsuit claimed Trump had been defamed by a WSJ article identifying him as the author of a birthday poem, outlined by a drawing of a woman’s curves, to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

Judge Gayles said Trump’s allegations “are conclusory, vague, sometimes inconsistent with the article, and often irrelevant” to his argument that the WSJ published the 2025 news story with actual malice, which is the standard required to prove defamation cases.

•••

This Beats a Campaign Rally – On Thursday, President Trump cancelled weekend campaign rallies scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Kansas and Iowa, only to later reschedule them both for Sunday.

On Saturday, Trump attended his own Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago, The Washington Post reports. The party had a jungle theme, “with guests in sequined leotards, face paint, and cheetah, leopard and tiger-print dinner jackets. Circus performers hung from the ceiling.” 

•••

Prices at the Pump – You’ll save a half a buck or more if you fill up your tank on the way to the polls Tuesday. Monday’s national average for a gallon of unleaded regular eased 3.52 cents from last Friday to $4.1694 per gallon but still $1.20344 higher than on February 27. Diesel is $6.2921 Monday, down 2.8 cents from Friday and $2.579 higher than on March 5. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 11/2/26

Right on Midterms

MAGA POV -- This midterm election, it is a priority to vote for issues and candidates who promote pro-growth policies and protect American principles — which seem only to be championed by Republicans these days. We must reject the open-borders, anti-law-enforcement, weak leadership and growth-restricting measures implemented by the Biden-era administration. Where do the Kennedy, Carter and Clinton voters — many who were blue-collar Democrats — fit politically anymore? They once advocated for America, democracy and a citizen's freedom, but their party has been hijacked by socialist-minded radicals and power-hungry politicians who threaten our nation’s prosperity and promote policies that weaken the US. This midterm choice is clear: we must protect American principles and Make America Great Again. –Rich Corbett/Contributing Pundit

Restoring Balance -- Tip O’Neill, 47th speaker of the House of Representatives, is credited with the observation “All politics is local.”

So that must be kept in mind first and foremost regarding the midterm elections. Trump may lie on stage in states that aren’t Michigan about Abdul El-Sayid being a jihadist or in states that aren’t Texas that James Talarico is a vegan (or in states that aren’t Ohio that Jon Husted has a nice ass), but the citizens in Michigan, Texas and, yes, Ohio, have their particular concerns, so that must be kept in mind first and foremost.

But because all politics nowadays go back to Trump, there is a national aspect to even local races for the House and Senate. The Republican-led Congress has proven itself to be totally supine, letting Trump do whatever he wants to, even in cases (e.g., tariffs) in which it is Congress’ job. 

So should the Democrats win the House and/or Senate, those new or repeat members will have the opportunity to restore some balance to the co-equal branches, which apparently the Republicans are incapable of doing.—Stephen Macaulay/Pundit-at-Large

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MONDAY 11/2/26

To the Polls!

What are the top issues driving you to the polls next Tuesday, November 3? Whether you’re MAGA-right, progressive-left, or anywhere close to the center, in-between, this is your space (along with the column on the right) to express your thoughts and concerns regarding the remaining two years of the Trump 47 administration. 

Email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate whether you lean left or right (irrespective of the specific opinion included) in the subject line, so we can publish your opinion in the correct column.

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WEDNESDAY 10/28/26

What are your top issues in the midterm elections, November 3? If you are anywhere between Harrisburg and Philadelphia this Wednesday we encourage you to join our latest Talking With, Not At … at The Allen Theatre in Annville, Pennsylvania, to discuss this question. 

Escape social media echo chambers … Debate & Donuts VII is 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. October 28 and is free and open to anyone leaning right tor left and willing to discuss, in a civil manner, politics with people who may not agree with them. 

No matter where you are this Wednesday or next Tuesday, this column and the one on the right are friendly, open spaces for you to discuss that question (and other current issues). Email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings, right or left, centrist-moderate, hard-right or prog-left, in the subject line, irrespective of the political position taken within, so we publish your thoughts in the proper column.–Editors

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MONDAY 10/26/26

Iran War, Week 28

Real GDP Jumps – Real Gross Domestic Product was up 3.4% in the third quarter, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis reports Thursday. That’s an increase from Q2’s meh 2.2% growth. [CHART: BEA]

•Contributing Pundit Rich Corbett argues that European nations' continuing purchase of Russian energy is not drawing sufficient scrutiny. Read in The Gray Area.

UPDATE: President Trump has rescheduled rallies for midterm Republican candidates in Kansas and Iowa, which he had cancelled late Thursday, The Associated Press reports. The Kansas and Iowa rallies will now be held back-to-back on Sunday.

•••

Trump Changes General's Gender – Defense/War Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired another military general, this time three-star Army Gen. Brett Sylvia, who oversees planning at the Pentagon. Officials are alleging the general released information to a reporter about plans for Ukraine and Iran, NPR’s All Things Considered reports. The US and Israel reportedly are planning to resume heavy warfare after the US midterms next Tuesday. 

Asked about the general’s firing Thursday, President Trump apparently did not know who he was and only heard the name “Sylvia.”

“She’s got problems,” Trump replied (per Mediaite). “She’s gonna have a big problem. We’re very much looking for leakers.”

•••

Trump Cancels Rallies – President Trump has cancelled rallies for GOP midterm candidates in Kansas and Iowa, and says he will, instead, put out 19 campaign teleconferences over the weekend (NPR’s Morning Edition).

CORRECTION: The above news item listed the wrong Midwestern state, in addition to Kansas, for which President Trump had cancelled rallies planned for the weekend and misstated the campaign teleconferences planned in their place as "campaign videos." Trump has since rescheduled the rallies in the two states.

•••

Halloween Pump-Price Break – AAA’s national average price for a gallon of unleaded regular continued to ease into the Halloween weekend, to $4.2046 Friday, down 2.12 cents from Thursday and up $1.239 (+$1.23864) from February 27. Diesel is $6.3204 Friday, down 1.43 cents from Thursday and up $2.607 from March 5. –TL

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+3.4% GDP

THURSDAY 10/29/26

Dems Hand Trump ‘Election Fraud’ Fodder – In case President Trump -- who already has directed his Justice Department to sue the state of Alaska if Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) fails to win re-election next Tuesday -- doesn’t have enough fodder for his dubious and endless “election fraud” claims, the Democratic Party appears to have recruited the second Dan Sullivan that’s the subject of the president’s lawsuit threat, according to a report in The New York Times.

Sullivans’ – er, Sullivan’s – Democratic challenger, Mary Peltola has denied knowledge of the alleged scheme, according to the report. So has retired teacher Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., NPR reports. He’s on the Alaska ballot just below Peltola’s name and above Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan’s name. There’s a fourth candidate, listed as a registered Republican, on the ballot as well.

The NYT reports it uncovered the alleged scheme based on interviews and text messages showing Peltola worked with Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. and with other “would-be spoilers” to enter the race.

Trump says Peltola should be removed from the ballot (hardly an option five days before the election), The Wall Street Journalreports, while Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) ordered his state’s Department of Public Safety to investigate “evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska’s elections.”

•••

Stalemate in Israeli Elections – With 90% of votes counted, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc leads with 53 Knesset seats to Gaidi Eisenkot’s 48 seats, while the Arab parties have ‘surged’ to 19 seats, The Times of Israel reports. 

•••

Fed Rate Holds Steady – The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee voted 10-2 to maintain its key interest rate at 3¾% to 4% Wednesday “in support of its dual-mandate.” That “dual mandate” is to support employment growth while sustaining a 2% inflation rate (the annual inflation rate hit 3.7% in September). 

The two FOMC members who voted against maintaining the current rate, Lisa Cook (whom President Trump tried to remove from the Fed last year) and Beth Hammack preferred a quarter-point increase. Economists expect the FOMC to raise interest rates at its next meeting in December.

The FOMC cited strong expansion of economic activity, resilient domestic spending, strong productivity growth, robust capital investment and job gains keeping pace with the workforce – so, the “K-shaped” economy prevails.

•••

Thursday’s Prices at the Pump – AAA reports the national average for unleaded regular is $4.2258 Thursday, 2.13 cents lower than Wednesday and almost $1.26 higher ($1.25984) than on February 27, about 28 weeks ago. Diesel is $6.3347 Thursday, according to AAA, down 1.52 cents from Wednesday and up $2.6213 from March 5. –TL

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Iran War, Week 28

WEDNESDAY 10/28/26

Israeli Election Update – With 77% of votes counted, moderate-right candidate Gaidi Eisenkot’s bloc, with 66 Knesset seats, has made a slight gain on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right bloc’s 54 seats, according to Haaretz’s election counter. A coalition of at least 61 of the 120 Knesset seats is needed for the coalition to choose a PM. 

As of Wednesday afternoon Israeli time, Netanyahu’s Likud party had 27 of his coalition’s 54 seats to Eisenkot’s Yashar party’s 22 of his coalition’s 66 seats.

Eisenkot’s gains as the count continues have been at the expense of Israel’s Arab parties, which would contribute 17 seats to his coalition.

•••

Wednesday’s Prices at the Pump – AAA reports the national average for unleaded regular is $4.2471 Wednesday, 1.9 cents cheaper than Tuesday, but $1.28114 costlier than on February 27. Diesel is $6.3499 Wednesday, 0.22-cent relief from Tuesday and $2.6365 more than on March 5. –TL

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TUESDAY 10/27/26

High Turnout in Israel – By noon local time Tuesday, turnout for Israel’s parliamentary elections was 31.5%, highest of an election since 1973, The Times of Israel reports. The center-right Yashar party’s Gaidi Eisenkot has passed ex-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in the polls to be the lead opponent versus Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of Likud. 

While coming under close scrutiny by some Israeli conservatives for his handling (and alleged pre-attack knowledge) of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in which 1,195 Israeli civilians and security forces were killed, Netanyahu has continued his scare campaign, writes Haaretz, claiming “mass voter turnout figures in Arab communities.”

Bennett, meanwhile, has urged voters to back any party in an anti-Netanyahu bloc and says being the largest party has “no significance.”  Results by parliamentary seats are expected as early as Wednesday, but it could be weeks before a winning coalition chooses a PM.

•••

Meanwhile, Texas – More than 4.5 million Texans have cast their vote for US senator since early voting began last week Tuesday, Newsweek reports. That’s 74% higher than voter turnout at the same point before the 2022 midterms.

Democrats hope this bodes well for their candidate, James Talarico … but then, we are talking about the Democratic Party, which has a history of grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory and has not won a Senate race in the state in 32 years. 

President Trump, who has been stumping for midterm Senate, House and gubernatorial candidates in red states he won handily in 2024, is to travel to Texas Tuesday to try and help out the state’s über-MAGA attorney general, Ken Paxton.

For what it’s worth, Real Clear Politics’ poll average for the race shows Talarico at 48.4% to Paxton’s 46.9%, a lead for the Democrat that's well within the margin of error.

•••

Tuesday’s Prices at the Pump – AAA reports the national average for unleaded regular is $4.2661 Tuesday, down 1.97 cents from Monday but up a buck-thirty --$1.30014 -- from February 27. Diesel is up 0.29-cent, to $6.3521. That’s $2.6387 more expensive per gallon from March 5.

•••

Three Indictments and Comey – After two dismissed indictments, the Trump administration’s Justice Department has charged ex-FBI Director James Comey with a third, alleging he leaked national security information to The New York Times for a 2016 news article, The New Republic reports.

“Well, they’re back again,” Comey responded with a video on the left-leaning MeidasTouch. “It would be almost funny if it weren’t such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice. One that we cannot become numb to. Nothing’s changed with me. I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid of these people. And I still believe in the independent federal judiciary. …”

Comey goes on to praise his family for their support. That would include his daughter, Maurene Comey, whom a judge ruled just hours before James Comey’s latest indictment, was wrongfully terminated in July 2025 by the DOJ as US attorney for the Southern District of New York. –TL

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MONDAY 10/26/26

Trump’s Pre-Midterm Defeat – Voters in Brazil handed leftist leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva victory in the country’s second round of voting to defeat the President Trump-endorsed son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving 27 years in prison for trying to overturn Lula’s previous victory in an attempted 2022 election coup. Lula turns 81 Tuesday, 

Lula had lost the first round to Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, by two points earlier in October, but came back strong for the second round, with 51.8% of the vote to Bolsonaro’s 48.2%. Lula’s surprise win comes after seven straight wins by right-wing leaders in elections in the region the last 18 months, according to The New York Times.

“I would like to thank the Brazilian people for the generosity they have shown me for a long time,” Lula said.

Not unexpectedly for the defeated son of the former right-wing leader convicted of attempting a coup in 2022, Flávio Bolsonaro has asked for the results to be annulled, after a Brazil’s judiciary ruled polls remain open Sunday for an extra two hours for an overflow of voters. Both the Bolsonaro campaign and the Lula campaign requested the voting extension, NPR’s Morning Edition reports, but the court’s ruling was directed at the Lula campaign request only.

•••

Trump Says Alaska Must Elect Dan S. Sullivan – In maybe the most baldfaced effort by the president to control the outcome of the November 3 midterms, Donald J. Trump confirmed Friday he directed the Justice Department to sue the state of Alaska over the US Senate race between two Dan Sullivans. 

“I’m the one that said, ‘do it,’” Trump told reporters in Florida Friday (per Newsweek).

The DOJ lawsuit demands that Alaska turn over election results unless Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan wins the ranked choice election. If Democratic challenger Mary Peltola beats him next week, the election results must overturn the results, according to the suit. 

An independent named Dan J. Sullivan is running against Sen. Dan Sullivan and Mary Peltola. The Republican Party alleges the independent Sullivan is a Democratic plant to drain votes from Republican Sullivan, a charge that independent Sullivan denies. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this news story had misspelled Democratic candidate for senator from Alaska, Mary Peltola.

•••

Cost of Gas and Diesel – AAA reports the national average for a gallon of unleaded regular costs consumers $4.2858 Monday, 0.68-cent less than Friday and $1.31984 higher than on February 27. Diesel prices continue to rise, meanwhile, to $6.3492 Monday, up 3.2 cents over Friday and $2.6358 higher than on March 5, AAA reports. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 10/26/26

Running on Fumes

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

When the war in Iran began in late February, there were 415 million barrels of oil in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, as of October 16, 2026, there are 282.7 million barrels of crude in the reserve.

That’s a reduction of 41.49%.

Donald Trump likes to boast about “the biggest” and “the most” and “the greatest.”

And he would be correct, for a change, were he to claim that he has caused the greatest draw-down in the reserve by percentage in history.

MAGA!

Trump, who claims he is a big supporter of the US auto industry. (“We didn’t build a car plant for 44 years in this country. Now we’re building more car plants than we ever have in history,” he said. Now it so happens that in March 2025 Hyundai opened a massive assembly plant in Georgia — which he probably takes credit for, but shouldn’t, as ground was broken for the plant in 2022, under the Biden Administration. And how can he forget his buddy Elon, who opened Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas in 2022? I’m not a mathematician, but that’s not 44 years ago.)

The traditional US auto industry is still based in Southeastern Michigan. Cars, trucks and SUVs, unless they are part of what Trump described as the “Green New Scam” (i.e., electric), operate on gasoline or diesel fuel.

According to AAA (the day this is being written, not some cherry-picked date), the average price of a gallon of regular in Michigan is $4.83. A year ago the average price was $3.10 per gallon.

If that $3.10 grew at the annual inflation rate — 3.74% according to the US Congress Joint Economic Committee — it would cost $3.22.

Yet here are those people in the auto industry in Michigan paying not $3.22 but 50% more than $3.22.

Although Michigan is associated with autos, agriculture is an important aspect of the state economy. Michigan has the second-most diverse ag industry of all US states, following California — which happens to be 69% bigger by land area, so it should have more diversity.

Ag equipment — tractors, harvesters and the like — run on diesel fuel.

Again, on October 24 the price of a gallon of diesel in Michigan was $6.68, up from $3.65 a year ago. A rise of more than $3.00 per gallon.

Farms operate on razor-thin margins. How does that diesel price affect that?

That’s not all. According to the latest data from the US Department of Agriculture, in the last year the price of fertilizer has increased 15.3% over the past year, a rise contributed to by the closing of the Strait of Hormuz.

Whether it is the auto worker or the farmer, Trump is not doing much for Michigan besides costing them more money. 

And a similar case can undoubtedly be made for the other states. Turning to The Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown University, its “Iran War Energy Cost Tracker” has it that in terms of just gasoline and diesel each household in the US has paid an additional $1,091.18 since the start of the war in Iran.

That’s money that’s not coming back.

President Trump has repeatedly said that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon.

No one (outside the Iranian administration, of course) would disagree with that.

So he travels around the country, ostensibly campaigning for Republican candidates. 

And the “no nuclear weapon” trope gets repeated.

After Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025 Trump said the Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities were “completely and totally obliterated.”

Eight months later the Iranian war began.

Perhaps that obliteration was exaggerated.

Be that as it may, the US kinetic military activities in Iran have been wound down for several months. Operation Epic Fury ended on May 5, 2026. There have been some bursts of activities since then, and Trump keeps threatening to mount new attacks.

Evidently that nuclear weapon-making capability has once again been obliterated. And then what?

There have been 24 weeks since May 5 and today.

And what has the man who claims to be a magnificent dealmaker done during this period?

Everyone who buys gas and groceries knows: Nothing.

Soon his schtick won’t stick.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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MONDAY 10/26/26

Live Debate Oct. 28 for Right and Left

Ahead of what could be the largest national turnout for a midterm in decades – if not in a couple of centuries -- The Hustings and The Allen Theatre in Annville, Pennsylvania, asks the question in our next live debate next Wednesday: “What Are Your Top Issues in this Midterm Election?”

Talking With, Not At … Debate & Donuts VII is set for Wednesday, October 25, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and is free and open to anyone willing to discuss, in a civil manner, politics with people who may not agree with them. 

The Allen Theatre is 36 East Main Street, Annville, Pennsylvania.

If you are anywhere in the Central Pennsylvania region, say, between Harrisburg and West New Jersey on the Wednesday before the November 3 midterm election, please stop by. 

No matter where you are, you also are welcome to discuss this question in the right and left columns. Email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings, right or left, centrist-moderate, hard-right or prog-left, in the subject line, irrespective of the political position taken within. –Editors

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THURSDAY 10/22/26

Iran War, Week 27

Tesla unveiled its Roadster last week with a launch spectacle featuring SpaceX boosters attached to the car (and certainly some AI). CEO Elon Musk welcomes a Tesla-SpaceX merger (scroll this column for details). [IMAGE: Tesla]

Iran Warns Back – Tehran will strike not just US airbases and warships, but also airports, pipelines and other civilian targets of its Persian Gulf neighbors if the United States and Israel carry out plans to restart its air war on Iran after the November 3 midterm elections, The Wall Street Journal reports. The warnings were issued publicly and in private diplomatic communications, according to the report.

The Trump administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly backed off plans for the resumption of air strikes in mid-October, ahead of next week’s elections in Israel, for the post-midterm plans, The New York Times and Financial Timesreported.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu warned in a speech that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is attempting to develop what the Israeli PM called “the bombs of death.” (This raises the question, ‘is there any other kind?’) Netanyahu was referring to nuclear weapons, which Trump has repeatedly stated that Iran must never have.

Netanyahu said in the speech that the only way to remove the threat of Iranian “bombs of death” is to overthrow the regime.

•••

Trump Must Be Deposed – Federal Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett has ordered President Trump to record a deposition in his $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC by December 11 or face sanctions, including possible dismissal of the suit (The Guardian). Trump’s suit alleges the BBC spliced together two comments the president made about one hour before the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol began for a Panorama documentary.

Judge Lett also rejected the Trump team’s request to prevent the seven-hour long deposition from being videotaped, even though it will be restricted to access by attorneys in the case.

Trump cancelled a deposition that was to be held last Friday, with his attorneys arguing the president had “other matters or national importance” that day. BBC attorneys countered that Trump had attended on October 16 a campaign rally in Dalton, Georgia and a Republican National Committee event at Mar-a-Lago, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

The BBC had acknowledged the specific edit in question was misleading, according to The Guardian, but said Trump had falsely claimed the British broadcaster had used AI to insert words into his speech. Trump filed suit under Florida’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, though the Panorama documentary has never aired in the state.

•••

Fuel Upped – With the Strait of Hormuz “effectively closed” according to Political.org and Brent Crude trading above $114 per barrel Friday morning, according to Business Insider, AAA reports the national average for a gallon of unleaded regular costs consumers $4.2926, up 2.25 cents from Thursday and $1.32664 costlier than on February 27. AAA’s national average for a gallon of diesel is up 0.82 cents to $6.3172, or $2.6038 more per gallon than on March 5. –TL

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THURSDAY 10/22/26

Post-Election Attack on Iran? – The United States and Israel are working on plans to possibly attack Iran after the November 3 midterm elections, Morning Edition reports, citing a person briefed on the preparations who spoke with NPR Thursday on the condition of anonymity.

The US and Israel had initially planned to resume military action on Iran in the middle of this month, about two weeks before Israel’s October 27 elections, in which Benjamin Netanyahu is fighting to retain his seat as prime minister. President Trump earlier this week endorsed Netanyahu for re-election.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded Thursday, saying Iran is ready for war with the US and Israel.

•••

Fuel Up – In an up-down week, the national average for a gallon of unleaded regular was up more than half a penny Thursday, +0.57 cent, to $4.2701, according to AAA. That’s up $1.30414 over February 27. Diesel prices fell for the second day in a row Thursday, to $6.3090 per gallon Thursday, down 0.84 cent over Wednesday and up $2.5956 over AAA’s March 5 average.  

•••

Mass Strikes on Ukraine – After real estate developer/White House special envoy Steve Witkoff met with the president of Russia in Moscow, Wednesday to discuss a potential peace agreement, “humanitarian” Vladimir Putin’s military launched a mass overnight strike on Ukraine’s capital, The Kyiv Independent reports. This, despite Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s expressed interest in reaching a deal with the Kremlin to cease attacks on each other.

Russia’s attacks come as Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo reached Kyiv in “a flurry of diplomacy” according to the Independent, bringing with him news Helsinki will allocate €2 million (US$2.2 million) in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, including for winter purposes. 

•••

MegaElon Merger? – SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk told Wall Street analysts in SpaceX’s third-quarter earnings call Tuesday the boards of both his companies have formed special committees of independent directors to consider a merger, The New York Times reports. Wall Street analysts dialing in to Musk’s Q3 earnings call for Tesla the next day were told questions about the possibility of a merger were off-limits.

“Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes,” he told the SpaceX Q3 call. 

He said he would recuse himself from participating in both committees. If the largely fanboy base of shareholders for Tesla and SpaceX voted in favor of a merger, the combined monolith would be worth an estimated $3.5 billion (NYT’s number) to $3.7 billion (NPR’s number).

Either total could restore Musk's trillionaire status, as he is largest shareholder of both companies, and would cement his position as the world's most powerful life form.  – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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THURSDAY 10/22/26

How Do You Spell Corrupt? T-R-U-M-P

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

It was one thing when he claimed that American adults would get a check for $5,000 if the House and Senate remain in Republican control.

If not, no money.

How this is not construed as attempted bribery — which is a crime under various statues, including 18 U.S. Code § 201 — is beyond me.

Here is the president of the United States trying to use money — cold, hard Benjamins (he will probably demand people stop using that term because Franklin wasn’t a president — to influence every single voter in the United States.

And as he has been out and about, making speeches in various states, he has been promising a number of things to the locales, like changing emissions regulations in Kansas so more of the corn grown there — and, yes, corn exports are down for a variety of reasons, including the fact that one of the main export markets is Mexico, which Trump hasn’t exactly been benign toward — can be used for blending in auto fuel.

Again, these carrots are only going to be distributed if voters vote Republican.

If not, no bueno.

But at a rant earlier this week in North Carolina Trump went beyond the pale with his bribery.

There are American citizens who have various cancers — e.g., kidney, bladder, liver — because of a contaminated water supply at Camp Lejune, a Marine Corps base. This wasn’t a one-off situation but lasted from 1953 to 1987.

Congress passed the Camp Lejeune Justice Act in 2022, which allows the victims of the contaminated water and their families to sue the United States. 

Trump told the crowd in Greenville, NC, that if the Republicans keep the House and Senate he would instruct the Department of Justice to settle “all remaining legitimate claims as soon as possible.”

“If we don’t win, there’s no money. If we do win you are getting it, and it is going to be finally over with.”

Think about the cruelty expressed by the President of the United States.

Do it my way — or else.

Notice that he said “legitimate claims” wouldn’t be settled if the Republicans don’t win. Shouldn’t the man who with the flick of his Sharpie to do all sorts of things simply sign an Executive Order saying that these claims should be paid right now? Oh, but he has bigger things in mind, like keeping a feckless Congress in place so he can do what he wants to.

But realize he is talking about US Marines, men and women who have pledged their lives to defending the United State of America. He is talking about the families of those brave patriots who lived on base and drank the contaminated water.

He is talking about people who have died or who are suffering from horrible, ravaging diseases.

Vote his way and things will be taken care of pronto.

Otherwise. . . .

He bloviates about how much he supports the military. And then he does this.

And consider: He is holding out the settlement of the cases to people who realize that while they may have their own vote and may be able to influence others, should some congressional districts elsewhere turn from red to blue the president will leave them hanging. Some of them undoubtedly feel helpless in the face of cancer. And now they have to worry about the election results in some far-flung state.

It is both outrageous and pathetic.

It is immoral.

The support of this behavior by anyone is absolutely unconscionable.

And those who do support it are going to have to look themselves in the mirror if, God forbid, a member of their family or themselves is stricken with a horrible disease and realize how Trump toyed with those who suffer.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

-30-

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THURSDAY 10/22/26

Next Live Debate for Left and Right

What are your top issues in the midterm election, driving you to the polls November 3?

That’s just two weeks away, and next week, The Hustings and The Allen Theatre in Annville, Pennsylvania, will hold the seventh in our regular series of Talking With, Not At … live debates. Debate & Donuts VII is Wednesday, October 28, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and is free and open to anyone willing to discuss, in a civil manner, politics with people who may not agree with them. 

You also are welcome to discuss this question in the right and left columns. Email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings, right or left, centrist-moderate, hard-right or prog-left, in the subject line, irrespective of the political position taken within. –Editors

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MONDAY 10/19/26

Iran War, Week 27

Zelenskyy on Meet the Press Sunday. [NBC News]

Witkoff Lauds Putin as a ‘Humanitarian’ – After meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Oslo Tuesday, real estate developer/White House special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to Vladimir Putin’s announcement he had released US political prisoner Stephen Hubbard, 74, The Kyiv Independent reports. Despite his age, Hubbard was sentenced by a closed court in 2024 to nearly seven years in prison for allegedly joining a Ukrainian territorial defense unit in Izium, Kharkiv Oblast after Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

"You speak so much about how my president, President Trump, is a humanitarian," Witkoff told Putin.

"You, too, are a humanitarian, sir, and I commend you for that. I offer you my respect and thank you once again," he told the Russian dictator/leader, whom The Kyiv Independent notes is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes against Ukraine.

Putin later said that Russia is ready to resume trilateral peace talks with the US and Ukraine.

President Trump welcomed back Hubbard on his social media site, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Trump wrote: “There was no ‘swap’ for this release. This major return should have taken place long ago by the Biden administration, which got nowhere in its negotiations with the Kremlin.”

And so it goes for a peace deal.

•••

Cost of Gas and Diesel – National average for a gallon of unleaded regular slipped 1.42 cents from Tuesday to $4.2644 Wednesday, AAA reports. That’s $1.29844 more expensive than on February 27, cusp of the US-Israeli war on Iran. After a slight increase Tuesday, diesel is down a quarter of a penny -- 0.25 cents -- Wednesday to $6.3174. That’s up $2.604 from AAA’s March 5 average.

•••

Jr. v. Trump – Donald Trump Jr. has long been among the most prominent attack dogs for his father on X-Twitter and on right-wing broadcasts. But since his father and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began the war on Iran at the end of February, Don Jr. and President Donald J. have privately been at odds, The Atlantic Daily reports, citing two people who have spoken directly with Trump the younger. 

“The president’s son, these people said, opposed the war from the outset and made his opposition known to his father,” the magazine reports. 

Don Jr. was also very close to the late Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, who also had broken with the White House on the war.  –TL

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TUESDAY 10/20/26

More Ceasefire Talk – White House special envoy Steve Witkoff has landed in Oslo for talks with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Axios reports. Meetings to perhaps reach a ceasefire agreement that offers some concessions to Ukraine while President Trump has lifted the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act he signed September 18 are to include Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, E4 nations’ representatives (the UK, France, Germany and Poland) and representatives from the European Union and NATO. 

This comes after Trump said he is open to meeting with Russian and Chinese counterparts (without Ukraine) in Moscow as he continues to criticize Zelenskyy and call for his removal, and has held up the transfer of Patriot interceptors to Ukraine (per Semafor).

•••

Alberta Won’t Go – Is this President Trump’s first midterm loss? Albertans roundly rejected a referendum that would lead to the province’s separation from Canada with about 75% voting ‘no,’ the Edmonton Sun reports. The vote on the province’s second binding referendum was part of a 10-question ballot reported late Monday due to extended voting at some polling stations that had experienced delays.

Alberta is Canada’s richest province, rated number four for known global oil reserves and probably its most conservative. Separatists have met earlier with Trump administration officials, according to the BBC (51st state?). 

Premier Danielle Smith has scheduled a televised address to the province for 6:45 p.m. Mountain time. 

•••

Minor Gas Relief – National average for a gallon of unleaded regular slipped 1.67 cents from Monday to $4.2786 Tuesday, AAA reports. That’s $1.2986 more expensive than on February 27, cusp of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Diesel rose 0.12 cents Tuesday to $6.3199 per gallon, or $2.5629 higher than AAA’s March 5 average. –TL

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MONDAY 10/19/26

On Handing Russia the Win --  Even Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) objected, though carefully and politely, to President Trump’s executive order issued last weekend waiving the bipartisan bill he signed into law September 18 named for the senator’s late brother, and meant to financially stifle Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s drone attacks on Ukraine.

“I look forward to talking to him” about the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, Sen. Graham said Saturday, The Hill reports. She spoke carefully and politely because she is running for a full six-year term for her Senate seat.

“The president and I share the same goal, which is to end the war, get gas and diesel prices down,” Graham said. “The sanctions bill is one of the tools he can use to do that. It’s up to him whether or not he chooses to use it.”

Lowering diesel prices in time for the November 3 midterms is Trump’s stated goal in lifting sanctions against Russia. It is also Trump’s latest indication of his fondness for Putin and for his propensity to appease Russia’s interests going back at least to 2016, including antipathy toward NATO.

“I find it more difficult to deal with [Ukrain President Volodymyr Zelenskyy] than Putin,” Trump said, providing a sort of update of “I have President Putin, he just said it’s not Russia” that interfered in the 2016 presidential election. “I will say this, I don’t see any reason why it would be.”

On Sunday’s Meet the Press, Zelenskyy told NBC News’ Kristen Welker he always seeks to be “very clear, very honest and very supportive” of Ukraine’s strategic partners. By lifting sanctions against Russia, Trump is financing Putin’s war against Ukraine by un-freezing assets as well as allowing Russia to sell gas globally, Zelenskyy said, but Putin will not succeed because Russia, facing a determined Ukrainian army, has not found success on the battlefield.

“But I can’t applaud any decision or any words of any leader if they go against Ukraine,” he said.

Zelenskyy demurred on Welker’s question of who is responsible for Starshield (the military component of Elon Musk’s Starlink) throttling Ukraine’s defense system to a 161 kp/h (100 mph) limit. This has made it impossible for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s Iranian-designed Shahed drones capable of 450-500 kp/h or more, according to Zelenskyy. Starshield throttled Ukraine’s system late last week.

According to a report in The Telegraph, Musk approached Trump about slowing down Starshield in Ukraine.

The Upshot … Zelenskyy says he wants to reach a ceasefire deal with Russia so long as Russia stops attacking Ukraine. He said he expects to meet with US negotiators in the coming week.

Meanwhile, Ukraine drones hit an oil facility, bridge and data center in St. Petersburg overnight, as Russia continues to attack civilian buildings and locations, and launched “one of its largest attacks” on Ukraine’s energy grid, according to The Kyiv Independent.

•••

About Gas and Diesel Prices – Unleaded regular gas average $4.2953 per gallon Monday, AAA reports, for savings of 3.18 cents compared with last Friday’s prices. That’s $1.3153 more per gallon than on February 27, just as the US-Israeli war on Iran started. Diesel is $6.3187 Monday, 0.74 cents lower than Friday and $2.5617 per gallon higher than on March 5. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 10/10/26

The End of Principles

Commentary By Stephen Macaulay

One of the things that was long characteristic of conservatives is they had moral principles. They believed in honesty and decency in terms of how they would behave. There were ethical standards manifest in their behavior.

Now. . .not so much.

Thanks to the example set by Donald J. Trump, behavior — public and private — is more transactional. And everything is a zero-sum game.

Rules, vetting, consideration of consequences — none of these things matter much, if at all.

This is evident in what has happened of late in terms of turnover among people who Trump had appointed and who have left their positions under, let’s say, a cloud. To be sure there are job changes occurring all the time, everywhere, but in these cases it points to the fact there was little evidence that qualification and probity matter.

First there is Kristi Noem, who had been Secretary of Homeland Security. She was fired in March 2026. One of the reasons may have had something to do with her dismissing the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota by ICE agents as the victims being associated with “domestic terrorism,” which she probably didn’t believe herself.

But that was unlikely to have been the tipping point in her cabinet career. Rather, it was likely the $220-million ad campaign regarding border security which featured Noem on horseback, like she was going to be riding the line to keep the border safe.

That focus, and that task, is something her boss holds for himself, so he put her in the position of special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, and after the six months in that job ran out, she became the senior advisor to Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. All of which seems like Swamp-like behavior, slithering from one pond to another. But at least she’s out of the limelight.

One remarkable thing is that the ads recently run starring none other than Donald J. Trump, paid for by you and me, only had a tab of $19 million, less than a tenth of what Noem spent — but that $19 million came out of the budget for the Department of Homeland Security.

Then there is Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former US Ambassador to Greece. She held that office for just under a year, far less than the amount of time she dated, and was eventually engaged to, Donald Trump, Jr., which was about 6.5 years. (Again, isn’t there the whiff of Swamp?)

Guilfoyle allegedly asked a Republican donor to pay off her personal American Express credit card bill -- $100,000. (“Honey please I need you to get this done for me today.”) 

Allegedly there was a promise to the donor that she would help him out with some tax and legal problems he was having. She denies all of this. But Trump asked her to resign.

Then there is Katie Zacharia, the White House press secretary who held the position for five days. While there was considerable questioning of her handling of her first (and only) press briefing, a bigger issue was her claim, on more than one occasion, to being a lawyer. Yes, she went to law school. Yes, she graduated from law school. But according to The Wall Street Journal, she took the bar exam in California and didn’t pass. Which means she is not a lawyer.

Zacharia was Trump Media Communications advisor for a few months before getting the position in the White House and was a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security for a few weeks (February 2026 to March 2026).

But she never practiced law because, well, she wasn’t qualified to practice law, despite having claimed to be a lawyer. Even President Trump referred to her as an “attorney.”

Here was a person who was to explain to the press and by extension the American people what is going on in the Oval Office who lied about being a lawyer — which is illegal in California, where Zacharia resides. 

In a world where standards applied there is little likelihood that any of these people — one who is evidently rather self-centered; one who likes to spend but not personally pay; one who misrepresents her qualifications — would have ever gotten these important jobs.

Someone signed off on their getting those jobs and someone, as in Donald J. Trump, put the final Sharpie signature on their getting the OK.

But in a world where standards are totally flexible, anything evidently goes.

And conservatism as a guiding position has gone with it.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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MONDAY 10/19/26