Nearly 7 million citizens, including this couple in Philadelphia, attended about 2,700 No Kings events across the US Saturday, NBC News reports. Scroll down the left column for additional commentary by KE Bell, and the right column for commentary by RJ Caster.
Shutdown Day 22
Vance Arrives in Israel – Vice President JD Vance, “Trump’s top messenger” according to USA Today, is in Israel Wednesday to “rein in” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold together the week-old peace deal with Hamas. Vance’s formidable task is to move the peace deal on to its next phase, entailing Hamas’ disarmament and Israel’s full withdrawal of troops from Gaza.
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Racism Sinks Nominee – Paul Ingrassia has pulled his name from nomination to lead the Office of Special Counsel after Politicoreported comments he made in a text chat that the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday belongs in “hell” and that he has a “Nazi streak.”
A sufficient number of Senate Republicans noticed. Ingrassia, 30, whose ties to Holocaust-denier Nick Fuentes and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate delayed a Senate committee hearing, finally was to appear before the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs committee Thursday.
But after Politico’s scoop Ingrassia pulled his own name from consideration because he knew there were enough Republican senators to vote against him.
Ingrassia tweeted and Truth Socialed Tuesday: “I will be withdrawing myself from Thursday’s HSGAC hearing to lead the Office of Special Counsel because unfortunately I do not have enough Republican votes at this time. I appreciate the overwhelming support that I have received throughout this process and will continue to serve President Trump and this administration to Make America Great Again!”
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On Japan’s First Female PM – Japan’s parliament elected the country’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, Tuesday after weeks of her serving as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party. The conservative LDP has led Japan for much of the past seven decades.
Takaichi is hardly a feminist, counting the late UK PM Margaret Thatcher as her heroine and holding über-traditional gender values, NPR’s All Things Considered reports.
Takaichi will meet with another political hero, President Trump, who flies to Japan on Monday for a three-day visit. –TL
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TUESDAY 10/21/25
Putin Drops Meeting – Officially, there are no plans for President Trump to meet with Russian dictator/President Vladimir Putin to discuss a peace deal, or ceasefire, in Ukraine, in the immediate future, The New York Times reports Tuesday. Unofficially, it’s clear Putin does not feel the need to discuss a meeting in which he would be expected to give up any Ukrainian territory Russia has captured, or which he soon expects or hopes to capture, in the foreseeable future.
Also not planning to meet are Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had a “productive” call Monday, The Kyiv Independent reports.
Trump said last Thursday following a phone call with Putin that the two would meet in Budapest in unspecified coming weeks. The next day, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Trump at the White House, Putin got what he wanted: Trump refused his request to sell long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.
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Comey Moves to Dismiss – The Justice Department’s two-count indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is considered among the weakest of the Trump retribution cases, and on Monday defense attorneys issued two dismissal motions with the court, per Roll Call.
Comey’s attorneys argue that former insurance attorney Lindsey Halligan was improperly appointed and therefore should not be able to bring the case. They argue Halligan’s appointment was contrary to the Constitution’s Appointment Clause, which requires Senate confirmation.
In the second motion, Comey’s attorneys argue the charges against him are indicative of Trump’s selective prosecution.
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Biden Spox Goes Indy – Accountability rather than defection is the reason for Biden White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s switch from registered Democrat to independent voter, she tells NPR’s Michel Martin on Tuesday’s Morning Edition. In her new book, Independent: A Look Inside the White House, Outside the Party Lines Jean-Pierre says President Biden’s disastrous June 2024 debate performance revealed “political vulnerability” and not “cognitive decline,” and the former press secretary blames Democratic disunity in part for Trump’s triumphant return to power.
Jean-Pierre told NPR’s Martin that criticism of her as press secretary reflected a deeper bias, and said that Democrats have failed Black women, taking advantage of the party’s most reliable supporters.
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White House’s Gold Period – Every act of creation begins with an act of destruction, Pablo Picasso once said, and if you’re all-in on President Trump’s $250 million privately funded White House ballroom in all its gilded glory, you’ll like this. Demolition has begun on the East Wing to make way for the 999-person capacity ballroom, The Washington Post reports. Trump had previously said the ballroom would accommodate up to 650 people and would not require any demolition of the East Wing.
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Colombian Cutoff – President Trump said Sunday he would end aid to Colombia and impose new tariffs on the country after its leftist president, Gustavo Petro, said the latest US military strike on boats in the Caribbean had killed a fisherman, The New York Times reports. The US military has attacked several boats from Colombia’s neighbor Venezuela in recent months, with the White House claiming without evidence they were operated by drug cartels. –TL
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Shutdown Day 20 -- MONDAY 10/20/25
Putin Prevails – The close, friendly relationship between Russian dictator/President Vladimir Putin and President Trump apparently has not waned in the face of Trump’s pressure on Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Last Friday President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to the White House hoping to procure Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine’s defense against Russia but left without any such commitment.
President Trump had spoken by phone with Putin on Thursday and apparently rung off convinced not to give Zelenskyy the 1,000-mile+-range missiles, The Washington Post reports.
Last Friday’s private White House meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy reportedly was as acrimonious as their public meeting back in February, with Trump pressuring Zelenskyy in a “shouting match” to accept Russia’s ceasefire terms, according to the Financial Times. Trump told Zelenskyy Russia will “destroy” Ukraine if Zelenskyy didn’t agree to the terms.
In Orbánistan … Before Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy, he had committed to a meeting with Putin in Putin-friendly Budapest, Hungary in an unspecified number of coming weeks. Zelenskyy has since said he wants to be part of the meeting.
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Trump Frees Santos – President Trump has commuted the sentence of former Rep. George Santos (R-NY), 37, who was serving a seven-year sentence at a federal prison in New Jersey after pleading guilty to wire fraud and aggravated theft, The New York Times reports. Trump Truth Socialed late Friday that he had cut Santos’ sentence short, citing their shared politics and the president’s belief the sentence had been excessive.
New York Republicans criticized Trump’s commutation.
“George Santos is a convicted con artist. That will forever be his legacy and I disagree with the commutation,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) said in a statement Saturday, according to the NYT.
– Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa