by The Associated Press | Sep 24, 2026 | elections, News
A judge on Wednesday dismissed Donald Trump’s lawsuit accusing The Des Moines Register and its former pollster of misrepresenting the state of the 2024 presidential race, rejecting the president’s claim that the newspaper’s poll coverage violated Iowa’s consumer fraud law.
Calling the case extraordinary, Iowa District Judge Scott J. Beattie said that allowing the lawsuit and its “faulty” claims to proceed could have a chilling effect that “can discourage others from reporting on and debating public affairs.” He sided with pollster J. Ann Selzer and the newspaper in affirming that the poll and coverage of it were constitutionally protected political speech, not a commercial product.
The ruling Wednesday came hours after a judge heard arguments but did not rule from the bench in a case on Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House grounds. Trump banned the three outlets last Friday, assailing what he called “fake news.”
After the ruling in Iowa Wednesday, a spokesman for Trump’s legal team said the president will take his case to the Iowa Supreme Court.
Trump filed the lawsuit against Selzer, The Des Moines Register and the newspaper’s parent company in December 2024, accusing them of fraudulently publishing inaccurate poll results to damage him and help Democrats, saying coverage of polls is not protected speech.
Trump and his team have filed several lawsuits against media organizations accusing them of bias, calling into question the boundaries of free speech protections, particularly for the press. Some of those lawsuits have ended in settlements.
Selzer’s case was taken up by the free speech advocacy group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. She said Wednesday she was grateful for the
by Hannah Marr | Sep 23, 2026 | elections, News, White House
Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska has a blunt message for President Donald Trump: The price of diesel is “too damn high.”
He’s not the only Republican sounding the alarm. Nearly seven months into the war with Iran, the conflict has driven diesel prices to record highs and squeezed the global oil market. Now, with the midterm elections rapidly approaching, GOP candidates in competitive races are backtracking their support and increasingly calling for it to end. Those candidates include Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Rep. Ashley Hinson, Iowa’s Republican Senate nominee.
The shift comes as Trump’s standing has fallen to its lowest point of his second term. A CNN/SSRS poll conducted Sept. 16-17 found that just 33% of Americans approve of his job performance, while 67% disapprove. Seventy-three percent disapprove of his handling of the war, and the same share disapproves of his handling of the economy. That discontent has Republicans in tight Senate, House and governor’s races scrambling to put distance between themselves and the president in hopes of holding their seats in November.
Hinson posted on Monday that the war “needs to be brought to a successful and immediate end.” Husted echoed that in an interview Tuesday with Politico.
“The war needs to come to an end as quickly as possible so that we can lower gas prices,” Husted told the outlet, adding that he doesn’t know anyone who doesn’t want the war to end.
Republicans running in competitive gubernatorial races are making the same case. In Wisconsin, Rep. Tom Tiffany, the GOP candidate for governor, told reporters Tuesday that the United States should “exit Iran” and that
by Marjorie Cohn | Sep 23, 2026 | 2026 election, 2026 Elections, 2026 midterms, Donald Trump, Election Certification, elections, House of Representatives, Michael Luttig, midterm elections, midterms, Mike Johnson, News Analysis, Supreme Court, Voting Rights
After the 2020 presidential election that resulted in a clear victory for Joe Biden, Donald Trump tried mightily to overturn the outcome. He has persistently insisted to this day that he won and Biden lost. On January 6, 2021, Trump ordered then-Vice President Mike Pence to violate his constitutional duty to certify the duly elected electors before the joint session of Congress by counting only…
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by Brasil de Fato | Sep 23, 2026 | Article, brazil, elections, Latin America, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint, Trump
by Steve Benen | Sep 23, 2026 | 2026 election, elections, Maddowblog
It’s not exactly a secret that Donald Trump is an unpopular president who’s become an anchor around the necks of his political allies. The question, with six weeks remaining in the midterm elections cycle, is what Republicans are prepared to do about it.
The answer is quickly coming into focus. Many, for example, were only too pleased to skip Trump’s recent midterm convention. Others are letting their constituents know they disagree with some of the president’s worst ideas and denouncing key elements of the White House’s agenda.
But one of the most interesting trends is the number of GOP officials and candidates who have begun scrubbing their websites by removing references to Trump, in the apparent hope that voters won’t associate them with their party’s failing president. This list grew longer in an unexpected way this week. The Miami Herald reported on Rep. Byron Donalds, the Republicans’ gubernatorial nominee in Florida, and his newly overhauled website:
Donalds’ campaign website was previously dominated by references [to] his Trump endorsement. A button to “Chip in to Support Trump Endorsed Byron Donalds” was at the top of the homepage. “TRUMP-ENDORSED Proven Conservative Fighter. BYRON DONALDS” was the page’s main text. A yellow banner reading “ENDORSED BY PRESIDENT TRUMP!” marked the middle of the homepage and a prominent section quoting Trump’s 2025 endorsement said “RUN, BYRON, RUN!”
All of those mentions were stripped away from his updated website. His campaign also removed a photo of Donalds and wife Erika Donalds posing with Trump.
Donalds has a page devoted to his issue positions, and up until recently, he listed “enact the Trump agenda” as one of his top priorities. As
by Hayes Brown | Sep 23, 2026 | Congress, Economy, elections
The ever-growing national debt has loomed threateningly over America’s economy for decades now. The House isn’t currently in session, but the Budget Committee still took its work addressing the issue on the road. Chair Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, held a field hearing Monday in Dallas on “examining the need for a Fiscal Commission” to tackle the problem.
Monday’s hearing is proof that Capitol Hill is ground zero for more cases of amnesia than most soap operas, notably whenever Republicans hold control of the White House and Congress. The apparent memory loss affects dozens, if not hundreds, of GOP lawmakers at a time, blocking out any concern about the national debt. Previous efforts to reduce the debt are similarly tossed out the metaphorical window, lost to the ravages of time.
The apparent memory loss affects dozens, if not hundreds, of GOP lawmakers at a time, blocking out any concern about the national debt.
How convenient then for Republicans that this affliction appears to be lifting right as Democrats seem poised to wrestle control of the House, and potentially the Senate, in the upcoming midterms. (The massive deficits spawned under President Donald Trump and George W. Bush will undoubtedly remain obscured in their recollections.) Their memories partially restored, Republicans will be free to once again insist that Democrats must be the responsible party and only the responsible GOP can bring the out-of-control debt to heel — but only by slashing spending, of course, not raising taxes on the wealthy.
Arrington rightly noted that the debt crossed the $40 trillion threshold last month, making it more than ten times higher than in the early 1990s. The
