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Trump snaps at reporter who questioned $5,000 checks for voters

The reporter asked President Donald Trump why voters need $5,000 if his economic policies are working.

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Sep 11 • 7:00 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
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Fact check: Trump, RFK Jr. and others make false claims on night 2 of GOP convention

President Donald Trump delivered another rapid-fire series of false claims on the second night of Republicans’ midterm convention on Thursday. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did his own barrage of wrongness. And various other speakers uttered statements that were untrue, misleading or missing critical context.

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Sep 10 • 9:46 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
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Fact check: Trump, RFK Jr. and others make false claims on night 2 of GOP convention

(CNN) — President Donald Trump delivered another rapid-fire series of false claims on the second night of Republicans’ midterm convention on Thursday. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did his own barrage of wrongness. And various other speakers uttered statements that were untrue, misleading or missing critical context.Here is a fact check of some of the assertions from the final day of the convention. This is not intended as a comprehensive list of Thursday’s falsehoods.Trump’s many false claimsTrump made numerous false claims, some of which he also made in his longer speech Wednesday.Trump claimed that there were “no empty seats” in the Dallas arena as he spoke Thursday, which was visibly untrue. CNN White House correspondent Alayna Treene, who was there, wrote in a live chat right after Trump made the claim that “I’m looking at rows of empty seats” and that “the idea that there are ‘no empty seats’ is just laughably untrue,” though she also said the room was mostly full. Trump has for years made false claims about supposedly never having had an empty seat.Trump further inflated one of his favorite fictional figures, claiming Thursday that “$22 trillion” in investment has come into the US; on Wednesday, he had put it at “over $20 trillion,” and even that lower figure has no apparent basis in reality. As of the time he spoke Thursday, the White House’s own website claimed there had been “$11.2 trillion” in “major investment announcements” this term, not “over $20 trillion,” and the White House figure was itself a major exaggeration of actual investment.Trump, talking about elections, lied that “there’s never been bigger cheaters” than Democrats; there is no basis for broadly describing Democrats as election cheaters. For the second straight night, Trump falsely claimed that the Biden administration allowed “25 million people” to pour into the country, though that number is nowhere close to correct. Trump again falsely claimed that former President Joe Biden and other Democrats “created the worst inflation in American history,” though even peak Biden-era inflation, 9.1% in June 2022, was far from the all-time record of 23.7%; it was a 40-year high, but the rate then fell sharply before Trump returned to office.Trump also baselessly claimed that Democrats would “defund the police” and give “voting rights and welfare to 25 million illegal aliens” if they won the midterms. Republicans will still control the White House in 2027 and 2028 and the president would be in position to veto any such changes if a Democratic-controlled Congress sought to make them, but there is no indication that Democrats want to do so. Also, even groups favoring strict immigration policies estimate that the total undocumented population is far less than “25 million” or even 20 million.As he did Wednesday, Trump claimed the US now has the world’s lowest prescription drug prices. The assertion is so broad that it is unclear what exactly Trump is referencing. But experts told CNN they highly doubt that the prices for brand-name drugs in the US are generally less than they are in other countries, and the Trump administration has not provided details to prove the claim.“It’s tough to claim that you’re getting the lowest prices anywhere in the world and then also not have any evidence to support that,” said Andrew Mulcahy, a senior health economist at RAND, while Diederik Stadig, senior healthcare economist at financial institution ING, said, “To say that the US now has the lowest drug prices in the world is at this moment not true.”And as he did Wednesday, Trump said “more Americans are working today than ever before” – which is true but nearly meaningless, since the number of people working in the US generally rises over time simply because the population rises over time.“There are more Americans working because there are more Americans. That’s the entire analysis,” Justin Wolfers, a University of Michigan professor of public policy and economics, wrote in his newsletter in August.RFK Jr.’s false claims on the pandemic, Trump’s record and moreFalse claim about Democrats and the 2024 electionKennedy unsuccessfully ran for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination before withdrawing to run as an independent and then eventually endorsing Republican candidate Donald Trump. In Kennedy’s Thursday convention speech, he complained of how the Democrats handled the nomination race.At one point, he said, “For the first time in history, they cancelled their own convention. No voter ever cast a primary ballot for Kamala Harris, no elected delegate was ever consulted; the party of ‘No Kings’ simply anointed a queen.”Kennedy is entitled to express unhappiness about how quickly Democratic leaders coalesced around then-Vice President Harris after Biden unexpectedly dropped out of the race in July 2024, after the primaries were over and less than four months from Election Day. But it’s not true that the party canceled its convention or that delegates didn’t get any say.The convention was held; it was a four-day event in Chicago in August 2024. Democratic convention delegates officially nominated Harris in a virtual roll call vote in advance of the convention. It’s true that Harris was the only candidate on the roll call ballot, but that’s because she was the only candidate who gathered enough delegate signatures to appear on the ballot.It’s clear that party elites’ backing of Harris played a key role in the unusual nomination process. But Kennedy’s specific allegations that the convention was abandoned and delegates were cut out of the process are not true.False claim that Democrats closed ‘every church’ during the Covid-19 pandemicWhile attacking Democrats, Kennedy claimed that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, “They closed every church in our country for a year.”It’s not true that every church in the country was closed for a year, nor even that every church in a Democratic state was closed for a year.Every state issued some type of guidance or order about social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic, but many states – including some led by Democrats and some led by Republicans – incorporated religious exemptions into those limitations on social interactions.According to a Pew Research Center analysis from April 2020, 15 states allowed religious gatherings to continue without a limit on their size. That set of states included Colorado, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which all had Democratic governors. And at least two states with Republican governors, Alaska and Idaho, were among the states that prohibited religious gatherings at least briefly.False claim that Trump ‘ended nine wars’Trump has repeatedly claimed that he has ended “eight wars.” Kennedy went one higher on Thursday, declaring, “President Trump has ended nine wars.”That’s false. Trump hasn’t even ended eight wars.Trump’s list of eight includes two situations that were never actually wars during his tenure: a diplomatic dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia and a mysterious supposed situation between Serbia and Kosovo. The list also includes a war, involving Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, that hasn’t actually ended despite a peace agreement brokered by the Trump administration.In addition, the list includes the war between Israel and Hamas, but Israel continues to conduct frequent attacks in Gaza despite a US-brokered ceasefire agreement. And it includes the brief 2025 conflict between Israel and Iran, though Israel proceeded to join the US in starting another war against Iran in 2026.Claim about reversing a decline in longevityKennedy speaking of the Trump administration, claimed Thursday: “We have now reversed a 30-year decline in longevity. “Kennedy referenced preliminary data that he said he had received from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week, but it’s unclear what metric of longevity he’s referring to.CDC data shows that US life expectancy had been steadily increasing for decades before a sharp drop during the Covid-19 pandemic. Life expectancy had already started to rebound in 2022, under the Biden administration, and reached a new record high in 2024 before Trump’s second term began.Preliminary data shared by the CDC in July suggests that life expectancy probably hit another record high in 2025.CNN has reached out to HHS for clarification on Kennedy’s comments.Claim that Democrats ‘lost 360,000 children’Speaking about Democrats, Kennedy said: “They somehow lost 360,000 children and they turned our federal government into the biggest child trafficking operation in world history.”Trump and other Republicans have made similar claims. But there’s no basis for the assertion that Democrats “lost” so many children or that the federal government was engaged in human trafficking.A 2024 report from the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security said Immigration and Customs Enforcement had reported that more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children failed to appear as scheduled for immigration court hearings after being released or transferred out of custody between fiscal years 2019 and 2023 – a period that, notably, includes two years and four months under the first Trump administration. The report also said that 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children during this period were not given notices to appear in court.The report said that ICE had “no assurances” these children “are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.” But it did not say all the children were actually “lost” and did not definitively assert that any of them were trafficked – let alone that the government was somehow involved in a trafficking operation. And, again, the report spanned parts of both a Republican administration and a Democratic administration.Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, told CNN in 2024: “Long story short, no, there are not 320,000 kids missing. 32,000 kids missed court. That doesn’t mean they’re missing, it means they missed court (either because their sponsor didn’t bring them or they are teenagers who didn’t want to show up). The remaining 291,000 cases mentioned by the (Office of the Inspector General) are cases where ICE hasn’t filed the paperwork to start their immigration court cases.”Vance on inflation, crime and taxes on Social SecurityA false claim about the media and Biden-era inflationVice President JD Vance mocked the media during part of his speech on Thursday. But he made a false claim about Biden-era inflation while lampooning how the media supposedly challenged him over another false claim on that subject.Vance said: “The president and I would go during a campaign, we’d say, ‘You know, inflation is as high as it’s been in 100 years,’ and the fake news would say, ‘No, no, no, it’s as high as it’s been in 68 years.’ That ain’t good, ladies and gentlemen.”Mainstream journalists, at least, wouldn’t say that inflation under Biden was as high as it had been “in 68 years.” Rather, CNN and others noted that peak inflation under the Biden administration, 9.1% in June 2022, was the highest in about 40 years.Vance is entitled to make his general point that this correction still doesn’t make Biden-era inflation sound good, but his specific number was, again, wrong. And he didn’t acknowledge that inflation fell sharply under Biden after hitting the 40-year high, declining to 2.9% in Biden’s last full month in office, December 2024, and 3.0% in January 2025, when Trump and Vance were inaugurated.The rate was 3.4% in July 2026, the most recent month for which data is available.Trump didn’t end taxes on Social SecurityVance claimed, “We’ve ended taxes on Social Security.” Several other convention speakers, including Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan, Rep. Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania and Ohio House candidate Derek Merrin, similarly said the administration has achieved “no tax on Social Security.”It hasn’t. The big domestic policy bill Trump signed in 2025 did create an additional, temporary $6,000-per-year tax deduction for individuals age 65 and older (which phases out for individuals earning $75,000 per year or more), but as the White House has implicitly acknowledged, millions of Social Security recipients will continue to pay taxes on their benefits even before the temporary new deduction expires after 2028.The Social Security Administration said in 2025 that “the bill ensures that nearly 90% of Social Security beneficiaries will no longer pay federal income taxes on their benefits.Claim about violent crime rate under BidenWhile criticizing the Biden administration, Vice President JD Vance claimed Thursday that the US “became a country where violent crime exploded, unless, of course, you could afford private security.”But violent crime did not explode under Biden. In fact, as FactCheck.org reported last month, data collected and published by the FBI shows that the national violent crime rate was at a lower level in 2023 and 2024, the last two full calendar years of Biden’s term, than it was in 2020, the last full calendar year of Trump’s first term. The year 2020 was highly unusual in many ways – violent crime jumped amid the Covid-19 pandemic – but Biden nonetheless left office with violent crime lower than it was when he took over. In fact, the 2024 violent crime rate was even lower than the 2019 rate under Trump before the pandemic.There was an increase in violent crime during the earlier part of Biden’s term. But given the subsequent decline, it’s misleading at best to claim violent crime “exploded” with no further context.Asked earlier this month about Trump’s similar previous claims to have reversed a Biden-era upswing in violence, crime data expert Jeff Asher said in an email: “No, crime began dropping significantly in 2023 during the Biden administration. Murder fell at record rates in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and, while 2026 may not feature a record decline nationally, it is still on track to see a sizable double-digit decline this year. Violent crime similarly fell nationally in 2023 and 2024, though the drops were more muted than the decline that was recorded by the FBI in 2025.”Other GOP speakersMike Johnson’s false claim about the inflation Republicans inherited from BidenSome other speakers at the convention took aim at inflation under Biden. House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed that “Republicans inherited from the Biden administration record-high inflation.”That’s not true. The inflation rate was 2.9% in Biden’s last full month in office, December 2024, and 3.0% in January 2025, when Trump took over. That’s lower than the most recent rate, 3.4% in July 2026, and nowhere close to the all-time record of 23.7%, which was reached in 1920, or the highest point of Jimmy Carter’s presidency, 14.8%, which was reached in 1980.Johnson correctly said moments later that inflation reached “a 40-year high of 9.1% inflation” under Biden. But a 40-year high is not an all-time record. More importantly, Johnson didn’t explain that 9.1% was much higher than the rate Trump inherited or that the 9.1% rate occurred in June 2022, with roughly two-and-a-half years left in Biden’s term.The cumulative increase in prices from the beginning of the Biden administration to the end was also not the highest in US history. Federal figures show that beginning-to-end inflation under Biden was less than half of that during Carter’s term.What Johnson left out of his claim about a congressional resolutionWhile attacking Democrats as extreme, Johnson said: “Just last week, nearly every Democrat in the House of Representatives voted against condemning socialism and Marxism. They voted against it.”But the resolution didn’t use the word “Marxism.” And Johnson didn’t mention that the resolution wasn’t only about condemning socialism. Rather, it contained other language that Democratic leadership said was the focus of the party’s opposition to the resolution.The resolution’s first provision said it “condemns and denounces socialism in all its forms, including the Democratic Socialists of America, and opposes the implementation of socialist policies in the United States.” But its fifth provision said it “calls for enactment of the SAVE America Act,” Trump’s favored elections bill, which contains various provisions opposed by many Democrats.So while it’s very possible many Democrats would have opposed the resolution even without its expression of support for the SAVE America Act, the call to pass this elections bill served as a poison pill that ensured most Democrats wouldn’t support it.“House Resolution 1490 explicitly calls for enactment of the so-called SAVE America Act, which is the top legislative priority of far-right extremists,” Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement last week.A New Mexico candidate left out key context in an attack on his opponentGreg Cunningham, a Republican House candidate in New Mexico, used some of his Thursday speech to criticize his Democratic opponent, Rep. Gabe Vasquez. Cunningham said of Vasquez: “He even voted against a resolution honoring the sacrifices and service of the brave men and women in law enforcement who protect, every day, our communities.”But Cunningham left out important context about the resolution. While its focus was expressing support for law enforcement, its preamble contained statements praising the Trump administration and criticizing “leftist activists,” “progressive politicians” and “sanctuary city policies” for allegedly making law enforcement less safe.In other words, a House member might vote against such a resolution, as the vast majority of Democrats did, because they disagreed with conservative components of it, not the general expressions of support for law enforcement. (CNN has reached out to Vasquez’s campaign and House office for comment on his vote.) It’s common for parties to write resolutions in a way that would make it difficult for opponents to support but would open those opponents to campaign attacks if they voted “no.”An Ohio candidate’s misleading attack about Democrats and votingMerrin, the Republican candidate running against Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur for a House seat in Ohio, claimed in his speech, “While Democrats talk about letting illegal immigrants vote in our election, Republicans fight for proof of citizenship, photo ID and fair elections.”It’s a big country, so it’s possible some Democrat somewhere is talking about letting undocumented people vote in some election. But Merrin’s claim is misleading at best. There is no proposal from Democrats in Congress to let undocumented people vote in the 2026 midterms – the election Merrin appeared to be referring to when he said “our election” – or vote in future federal elections.CNN has reached out to Merrin’s campaign for an explanation of his claim.House Majority Leader Steve Scalise invoked a similar theme in his speech Wednesday, claiming that Democrats had voted last week “to allow illegals to vote in our federal elections.” But there was no congressional vote on letting undocumented immigrants vote in any elections.Rather, there was a vote on the non-binding Republican resolution that included multiple provisions, including one that “reiterates the notion that American elections are for American citizens only,” one supporting Trump’s favored elections bill and one denouncing socialism.Opposing that multi-clause resolution doesn’t necessarily mean someone supports voting by any non-citizens, let alone non-citizens in the country illegally.This article has been updated with additional items.CNN’s Deja Oliver contributed to this report.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

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Sep 10 • 9:46 PM EDT • Politics • applevalleynewsnow.com
Hinson doesn’t rule out Trump’s pledge of $5K to adults; calls for relief for families

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ashley Hinson said Thursday she wants to look at all proposals aimed at improving affordability for working families, including recent comments from President Donald Trump to pay out $5,000 to U.S. adults.

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Sep 10 • 6:48 PM EDT • Politics • kcci.com
Virginia Beach sailor pardoned by Trump after weapons conviction

NORFOLK, Va. — A Virginia Beach sailor was pardoned by President Donald Trump last week after spending four years in federal prison for possessing and selling unregistered weapons. Patrick Tate

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Sep 10 • 5:34 PM EDT • Entertainment • thederrick.com
Trump’s pledge for $5K checks catches officials and allies off guard, sparks GOP blowback

President Donald Trump blindsided many of his own administration officials and allies with his vow to pay all American adults $5,000 if Republicans keep control of Congress, prompting an internal scramble on Thursday to backfill the proposal’s specifics, two people familiar with the matter told CNN.

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Sep 10 • 5:24 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
President Trump’s $5,000 pledge surprises Wisconsin Republicans

President Donald Trump promised that if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in November, every American adult will get a $5,000 check.

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Sep 10 • 5:15 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumnews1.com
Trump’s $5,000 Promise and Other Takeaways From the GOP Midterm Convention

The Republican midterm convention may have lived up to the nickname “Trump-a-palooza” after President Donald Trump promised a $5,000 dividend for adult Americans – if Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate after the midterm election. “Pretend that I’m on the ballot,” Trump said in his ...

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Sep 10 • 4:48 PM EDT • Politics • usnews.com
Trump promised $5,000 checks if Republicans win the midterms. How would that work?

President Donald Trump promised on Wednesday to send every American adult a $5,000 check if Republicans keep control of the U.S. House and Senate after the midterm elections. "If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000," Trump told the crowd at the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas. "It will be called the Trump dividend." WATCH: Trump promises $5,000 'dividend' for Americans if GOP wins midterms Trump said the rationale behind the

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Sep 10 • 4:24 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Trump administration offers rare muted response on new sanctions against Israel

(CNN) — President Donald Trump and his top foreign policy aide, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have not condemned the United Kingdom, France, Canada and others for their planned sanctions

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Sep 10 • 2:00 PM EDT • Politics • kten.com
Trump to send $500 rebate checks to nearly one million Obamacare enrollees

A day after promising to send $5,000 dividend payments to all Americans, President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he would distribute $500 rebate checks to nearly one million Affordable Care Act enrollees in 30 states.

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Sep 10 • 1:46 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
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Supreme Court again rejects push to use Trump-backed congressional map in Missouri

The U.S. Supreme Court again rejected Missouri congressional maps backed by President Donald Trump on Thursday, a loss for Republicans trying to maintain control of the House in the pivotal midterm elections.

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Sep 10 • 1:23 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Sick Of It! Fix Health Care Now: Reversing The Trump-GOP Medicaid Cuts

This month, Protect Our Care is highlighting the first of our policy proposals to fix health care now: reversing the Trump-GOP Medicaid cuts. Last year, Donald Trump and Republicans cut...

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Sep 10 • 7:40 AM EDT • Health • protectourcare.org
Republicans try to defy history with convention in Dallas

President Donald Trump and party leaders believe that by talking about all the good things that have happened over the last two years, they can boost GOP energy nationwide.

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Sep 10 • 7:00 AM EDT • Politics • houstonchronicle.com
WATCH: Trump promises $5,000 'dividend' for Americans if GOP wins midterms

President Donald Trump promised on Wednesday to send every adult American citizen a $5,000 "dividend" if Republicans keep control of both the Senate and House of Representatives in the midterms.

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Sep 9 • 11:41 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
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Trump makes stunning first-of-its-kind cash promise in bid to rally GOP voters at Dallas midterm convention

President Donald Trump promised a $5,000 "Trump dividend" to every adult citizen if Republicans keep Congress at the GOP midterm convention.

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Sep 9 • 11:20 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com
In pictures: The first-ever Republican midterm convention

Republicans are gathering in Dallas for an unusual 2026 GOP midterm convention, an event backed by President Donald Trump and designed to energize voters, raise money and highlight key Republican candidates ahead of the elections in November.

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Sep 9 • 10:48 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
The Latest: Trump highlights his own record at midterm Republican convention

Republicans are gathering in Dallas for a unique two-day midterm convention, focusing on President Donald Trump. Trump plans to speak both nights and Vice President JD Vance will also address

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Sep 9 • 9:59 PM EDT • Politics • kdhnews.com
Politics or NFL? Trump’s Dallas rally conflicts with season opener

President Donald Trump’s Republican midterm convention in Dallas has competition Wednesday night: the NFL season opener.

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Sep 9 • 7:51 PM EDT • Politics • dallasnews.com
Sen. John Fetterman makes a surprise cameo praising Republicans at the GOP convention

The Democratic senator appeared on video promoting the efforts of President Donald Trump and Sen. Dave McCormick in shaping the U.S. Steel deal with Nippon Steel.

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Sep 9 • 7:19 PM EDT • Politics • nbcnews.com
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WATCH: Trump says oil prices will come down after midterm elections

President Donald Trump, in an exchange with reporters before traveling to Dallas for the midterm Republican convention, added that he believes Iran will finally relent after the pivotal elections are held in the U.S.

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Sep 9 • 6:08 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Kathy Griffin jokes Barron Trump sends her notes pleading, ‘Don’t kill my daddy’

Kathy Griffin looks back on her Donald Trump photo scandal, joking to EW that Barron Trump sends her notes saying, ‘Don’t kill my daddy.’

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Sep 9 • 4:09 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com
Competing court orders add confusion to Missouri congressional elections

Dueling court orders eight weeks before Election Day left Missouri’s congressional map uncertain Tuesday as legal wrangling over a redistricting plan backed by President Donald Trump sparked fresh confusion.

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Sep 9 • 4:03 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Live fact check: Night 1 of the Republican Midterm Convention

President Donald Trump will appear at an unconventional national convention thrown by the Republican Party Wednesday night in Dallas.

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Sep 9 • 3:59 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
With AI memes, Trump promotes mythical version of himself as challenges stack up ahead of midterms

In the real world, President Donald Trump is struggling to stop inflation, rout the Iranian government and restore American manufacturing with tariffs. It's a different story in the fantastical vision that he shares with supporters on social media.

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Sep 9 • 3:26 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Republicans gather in Dallas for two-day midterm convention billed as 'Trump-a-Palooza'

The highly unusual midterm convention puts President Donald Trump at the center of this fall’s midterm elections — whether the candidates running like it or not.

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Sep 9 • 2:07 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
At 9/11 tribute, Trump adds new claim to his disputed role after attack

There is no evidence backing up President Donald Trump’s claim about firefighters carrying him to safety after the attack. It's part of his evolving — and often disputed — account of his 9/11 actions.

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Sep 9 • 12:44 PM EDT • Politics • seattletimes.com
Trump gave $45,000 holiday gifts to Natalie Harp and two other White House aides

President Donald Trump gave sizable holiday gifts to four White House aides, according to new financial disclosures released by the administration.

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Sep 9 • 10:51 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Oregon Democrats seek to calm voters’ election uncertainties

Oregon Democrats express faith in the upcoming vote-by-mail election despite ongoing legal battles over President Donald Trump's attempt to restrict mail ballot delivery.

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Sep 9 • 9:54 AM EDT • Politics • klcc.org
Ted Cruz swears off Supreme Court spot, despite Donald Trump's asking

Despite a clear affinity for the Supreme Court, Cruz said he turned President Trump down three times already.

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Sep 9 • 7:00 AM EDT • Politics • houstonchronicle.com
Donald Trump Jr.'s venture capital firm rejects House Democrat's accusations of "insider political influence"

Rep. Jamie Raskin launched an investigation last month into the president's son's investment firm and its "almost clairvoyant" business moves.

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Sep 9 • 6:05 AM EDT • Politics • cbsnews.com
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After a decade as GOP’s main character, Trump gets one more starring role at midterm convention

For a decade, President Donald Trump has made himself his party’s main character — a singular force around whom its rallies, conventions and political identity have revolved.

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Sep 9 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
An embattled Donald Trump is increasingly using sports as prop

Sports is the rare topic in which the president has succeeded in shifting the conversation to his preferred terms

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Sep 9 • 5:00 AM EDT • Sports • theguardian.com
Republicans kick off a 'Trumpapalooza' of a midterm convention Wednesday in Texas

Republicans have never held a midterm convention before. But there's also never been a president like Donald Trump. Billed as a "Trumpapalooza," the unprecedented event kicks of in Dallas Wednesday.

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Sep 9 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • npr.org
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The world’s best-paid politician is getting a $1 million pay rise

Singapore’s ministers are already among the world’s highest-paid politicians, with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong earning more than four times US President Donald Trump’s annual government salary.

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Sep 9 • 3:25 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
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Trump gave Natalie Harp and two other aides $45,000 each in cash gifts for holidays

President Donald Trump gave Natalie Harp and two other White House aides $45,000 each in cash gifts, according to financial disclosure statements.

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Sep 9 • 12:59 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
With AI memes, Trump promotes mythical version of himself as challenges stack up ahead of midterms

President Donald Trump is using memes to portray himself as powerful amid struggles with inflation and international issues.

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Sep 9 • 12:09 AM EDT • Entertainment • seattletimes.com
Trump gave $45,000 holiday gifts to Natalie Harp and two other White House aides

President Donald Trump has given substantial holiday gifts to four White House aides, according to financial disclosures released by the administration | 830 WCCO

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Sep 8 • 11:20 PM EDT • Politics • audacy.com
Can the 'best showman in politics' deliver again? GOP bets on Trump at historic midterm convention

Donald Trump headlines the first-ever GOP midterm convention in Dallas, aiming to energize low-propensity MAGA voters ahead of key 2026 races.

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Sep 8 • 10:43 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com
Saginaw County business not yet concerned about Canadian tariffs

Canada imposed tariffs on hundreds of U.S. products in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs on Canadian goods.

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Sep 8 • 7:30 PM EDT • Business • wnem.com
Canada hits US imports with tariffs, intensifying trade war

Canada imposed tariffs of 15% to 50% on hundreds of products from the U.S. on Tuesday, as Prime Minister Mark Carney bets that standing up to President Donald Trump will

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Sep 8 • 7:00 PM EDT • Politics • unionleader.com
Fact-checking Trump's stories about his own 9/11 response

President Donald Trump recounted his response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in an interview and event leading up to the 25th anniversary this week, repeating statements that lack evidence about aiding in the recovery.

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Sep 8 • 4:44 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
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Trump honors 9/11 first responders — and plugs his political priorities

President Donald Trump on Tuesday honored the heroes of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks — but couldn’t resist mentioning the Iran war and communism.

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Sep 8 • 1:48 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Canada hits US imports with tariffs, intensifying trade war

Canada imposed tariffs of 15% to 50% on hundreds of products from the U.S. on Tuesday, as Prime Minister Mark Carney bets that standing up to President Donald Trump will

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Sep 8 • 12:55 PM EDT • Entertainment • thederrick.com
Smithsonian head Lonnie Bunch to retire amid Trump administration effort to reshape institution

Lonnie Bunch III said Tuesday that he will retire as the head of the Smithsonian Institution, a role that placed him at the center of President Donald Trump’s efforts to reshape the world’s largest museum organization.

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Sep 8 • 12:17 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
What to watch as Republicans gather in Dallas for Trump's unusual midterm convention

President Donald Trump and thousands are expected to arrive in Dallas this week. What to know about candidates, road closures and security

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Sep 8 • 12:01 PM EDT • Politics • nbcdfw.com
Live Results: New Hampshire midterm primaries

The race to replace retiring three-term Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is one of a handful across the country that could determine control of the U.S. Senate for the second half of President Donald Trump’s final term.

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Sep 8 • 11:50 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
'South Park' sends brutal message to Trump after Emmy win

"South Park" isn't done sticking it to President Donald Trump.

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Sep 8 • 11:39 AM EDT • Entertainment • centraloregondaily.com
Trump’s Bombardier threat puts aerospace supply chain at risk

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to ban the sale of aircraft from Canada’s Bombardier unless it manufactures planes in the U.S. In response, the maker of private jets noted that many components for its planes, including the wings, are produced in the U.S. and its supply chain relies heavily on U.S. companies. Since Canada-U.S. […]

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Sep 8 • 10:48 AM EDT • Business • businessreport.com
Trump threatens Canadian jetmaker Bombardier

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to ban the sale of aircraft from Canada’s Bombardier unless it manufactures planes in the United States

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Sep 8 • 10:19 AM EDT • Business • latimes.com
The Latest: Canada strikes back with tariffs on about $20 billion worth of US goods

Canada struck back at U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday with tariffs on about $20 billion worth of U.S. goods, in response to his latest round of tariffs on Canada.

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Sep 8 • 10:13 AM EDT • Politics • ksat.com
National GOP to feature Cunningham vs. Vasquez race at midterm convention

Overview: Vasquez criticizes Cunningham for appearing at event after Trump posted of renaming New Mexico "New America" President Donald Trump is headlining a first-ever “Midterm Convention” for the Republican Party this week in Dallas and at least one New Mexico candidate is on the announced agenda. This story was originally published at New Mexico Political […]

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Sep 8 • 9:05 AM EDT • Politics • nmpoliticalreport.com
Joel Pollak on LA homelessness, Gavin Newsom's bills

California Post opinion editor Joel Pollak joins Cheryl Casone to discuss Mayor Karen Bass being pressed on Los Angeles homelessness spending, President Donald Trump's tax incentives for Hollywood and Governor Gavin Newsom's progressive bills.

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Sep 8 • 9:02 AM EDT • Business • foxbusiness.com
What to know about Canada’s trade war with U.S. as tariffs take effect

Canada struck back at U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday with tariffs on about $20 billion worth of U.S. goods, in response to the latest round of tariffs on Canada

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Sep 8 • 8:25 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
What to know about Canada’s trade war with U.S. as tariffs take effect

Canada struck back at U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday with tariffs on about $20 billion worth of U.S. goods, in response to the latest round of tariffs on Canada

spectrumlocalnews.com logo
Sep 8 • 8:25 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
Canada's 20% tariffs on US goods like milk, steel and golf clubs take effect

President Donald Trump threatened to ban Bombardier aircraft sales on Truth Social just hours before Canada's retaliatory tariffs hit $20 billion in U.S. goods.

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Sep 8 • 7:44 AM EDT • Politics • foxbusiness.com
Donald Trump threatens to halt Canadian Bombardier sales to US

Cheryl Cassoni reports on President Trump's threat to halt Canadian airplane maker Bombardier's sales to the US. Vogel Group's Samir Kapadia analyzes the trade pressure campaign and its political stakes in battleground states.

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Sep 8 • 7:33 AM EDT • Business • foxbusiness.com
Trump threatens Canadian jetmaker Bombardier, which has an extensive US footprint

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to ban the sale of aircraft from Canada’s Bombardier unless it manufactures planes in the United States.

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Sep 8 • 7:03 AM EDT • Business • newsitem.com
Trump threatens Canadian jetmaker Bombardier, which has an extensive US footprint

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to ban the sale of aircraft from Canada’s Bombardier unless it manufactures planes in the United States.

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Sep 8 • 6:52 AM EDT • Business • clickorlando.com
Trump threatens Canadian jetmaker Bombardier, which has an extensive US footprint

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to ban the sale of aircraft from Canada’s Bombardier unless it manufactures planes in the United States.

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Sep 8 • 6:52 AM EDT • Business • ksat.com
Democrats see rare signs of hope in solidly red Arkansas’ midterms

Democrats are trying to capitalize on President Donald Trump’s disapproval ratings while Libertarians pitch themselves to those frustrated by both major parties.

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Sep 8 • 6:00 AM EDT • Politics • arkansasadvocate.com
Democrats enter the midterms looking to conquer red territory

With November’s midterm matchups largely set, Democrats are optimistic that they can seize control of Congress by running strong campaigns in red territory while Republicans hope that President Donald Trump’s increased involvement, and his $400 million MAGA Inc. war chest, can help them defend narrow majorities in the House and Senate.

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Sep 8 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Music legend considering leaving the U.S. because of Donald Trump: ‘I’m not aboard’

The eight-time Grammy Award winner made the revelation during a recent interview.

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Sep 8 • 5:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • pennlive.com
What to know about Canada's escalating trade war with the U.S.

Canada struck back at U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday with tariffs on about $20 billion worth of U.S. goods. The outcome could resonate far beyond Canada.

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Sep 8 • 2:04 AM EDT • Politics • npr.org
High-Signal Publisher
What to know about Canada's escalating trade war with the U.S.

Canada struck back at U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday with tariffs on about $20 billion worth of U.S. goods. The outcome could resonate far beyond Canada.

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Sep 8 • 2:04 AM EDT • Politics • kosu.org
What to watch as Republicans gather in Dallas for Trump’s unusual midterm convention

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans will descend on Dallas this week for a two-day convention dreamed up by President Donald Trump to rally his supporters ahead of th

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Sep 8 • 12:10 AM EDT • Politics • wtop.com
Trump wants voters to pretend he’s on the ballot. The Republican Party is going along for the ride

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is embracing his inner cowboy, seeking to gallop into this week's Republican convention in Dallas and save the midterm

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Sep 8 • 12:09 AM EDT • Politics • wtop.com
The GOP was confident about keeping its Senate majority. Now the fight for control is wide open

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans appeared to have a firm grip on the Senate heading into the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term. But with less than t

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Sep 8 • 12:08 AM EDT • Politics • wtop.com
Trump wants voters to pretend he’s on the ballot. The Republican Party is going along for the ride

President Donald Trump may try to channel the role of cowboy as he heads to the first-ever off-year Republican convention in Dallas beginning Wednesday | News-Talk 1380 WAOK

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Sep 8 • 12:01 AM EDT • Politics • audacy.com
Trump wants voters to pretend he’s on the ballot. The Republican Party is going along for the ride

President Donald Trump may try to channel the role of cowboy as he heads to the first-ever off-year Republican convention in Dallas beginning Wednesday | WWJ Newsradio 950

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Sep 8 • 12:01 AM EDT • Politics • audacy.com
Trump wants voters to pretend he’s on the ballot. The Republican Party is going along for the ride

President Donald Trump may try to channel the role of cowboy as he heads to the first-ever off-year Republican convention in Dallas beginning Wednesday.

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Sep 8 • 12:01 AM EDT • Politics • clickorlando.com
‘South Park’ Turns Emmy Win Into Another Donald Trump Punchline

“South Park” is known for turning political figures into punchlines, but the show apparently had no plans to leave Donald The ‘South Park’ Turns Emmy Win Into Another Donald Trump Punchline first appe...

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Sep 7 • 8:50 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com
House Ag Chair Seeks Extension, Beef Import Plan Seen as Political Sho

House Ag Committee Chair Glenn Thompson is seeking a waiver to serve another term, having reached the six-year term limit for GOP chairs.President Donald Trump announced a plan to pa

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Sep 7 • 8:00 PM EDT • Politics • aginfo.net
EU seeks to reassure a Trump-rattled Greenland with promise of a new partnership and investment

The European Union is promising Greenland a stronger partnership and hundreds of millions of euros in investment, wanting to reassure Greenland after U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to take control of the island.

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Sep 7 • 5:29 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
A whiplash election year enters its final stretch as Trump holds wild cards

As the final midterm of Donald Trump's presidency rapidly approaches, the landscape is proving especially volatile, with Trump often stirring the tumult.

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Sep 7 • 3:30 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
Trump keeps heralding an economic boom, but even a solid jobs report is causing problems for him

President Donald Trump has spent 20 months promising that America was on the cusp of an economic boom. But Friday's surprisingly positive jobs report ultimately provoked frustration from Trump.

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Sep 7 • 2:46 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Will the Trump administration send federal officers or troops to the polls? Here’s what we know

With less than two months to go until this year’s midterm elections, Democrats are becoming increasingly unnerved about the possibility of President Donald Trump deploying federal immigration officers or troops to polling places.

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Sep 7 • 6:00 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Donald Trump's deal for Venezuelan oil could be good news for Louisiana

“We’re taking out millions and millions of barrels of oil, going to Houston, going to Louisiana,” the president said.

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Sep 7 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • nola.com
Von der Leyen visits Greenland amid Trump pressure

The EU is preparing a major investment package and closer political ties with the Danish Arctic territory amid Donald Trump's demand for greater US control of the mineral-rich island.

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Sep 6 • 11:58 PM EDT • Politics • dw.com
Trump shares map that renames New Mexico as ‘New America’

President Donald Trump on Sunday appeared to suggest that New Mexico should be called ‘New America,’ posting a photo of the state with the new name days after he signed an executive order to change Lake Ontario to “Lake America.”

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Sep 6 • 10:36 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (3%)
wow
78%
angry
22%
Trump’s proposed Space Academy aims to educate a new generation of astronauts and engineers

(CNN) — President Donald Trump is proposing the creation of a “United States Space Academy” designed to offer the same type of tuition-free, four-year degree as US military academies.

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Sep 6 • 7:00 PM EDT • Politics • wxow.com
The core anti-Pangram constituency is phony writers

Welcome to The Closing Argument, our verdict on the news, plus everything The Argument published and appeared in this week. The Verdict, by Kelsey Piper A lot of people hate AI for drowning the internet in slop and displacing human creatives. You might think that these people would be thrilled by a program that can identify and flag AI-generated work. But many people who hate AI also hate Pangram, an impressively accurate AI detector that produces very few false positives, according to high-quality independent research. This loathing found its most recent expression in a bizarre Wired article that amplifies a wide range of false arguments from Pangram skeptics: that AI detectors are racist (they’re not) or ableist (they’re not)1 or don’t work (this one does)2. Rather than starting from the premise that it would be really valuable to have a working AI detector and scrutinizing Pangram to make sure it lives up to that promise, the article starts from the premise that Pangram obviously has bad vibes and sets out to discover why. (One answer: The CEO microwaved lunch during an interview!) Why aren’t writers who resent Pangram more eager to distinguish themselves from posters who are having ChatGPT ghostwrite all their work? There are a few different things at play, but I think one key dynamic is this: These are often the same people. A core constituency for arguments like Wired’s is “writers” who are using AI to write their posts but resent this fact being made public. They stand to lose from AI detectors because AI detectors call them out. Share When Substack announced a partnership with Pangram, a sizable fraction of the platform’s authors rose up in outrage. Some people had experience with other AI detectors that didn’t work, and some felt that AI writing ought to be encouraged — both of which are fair enough. But the fury was fueled by authors passionately insisting that Pangram kept wrongly accusing them on almost every post they published. Pangram can be wrong, especially on short passages. But in the overwhelming majority of cases where Pangram looked at a whole blog post rather than a single paragraph, the program correctly detected work as AI. Even if we can’t be 100% sure in any individual case, we can notice the trend in the aggregate. Wired quotes Sam Illingworth, a professor of critical AI literacy at Edinburgh Napier University, who said, “I don’t think [AI detectors] work. … I think that detectors are prejudiced against certain people.” This spring, he said that he used AI for research and editing; this summer he acknowledged that in addition to research and editing, he also uses it “now and then for a turn of phrase I keep.” Pangram informs us that most of his posts are 100% AI-written (some are mixed AI-and-human) and that 100% AI-written posts started appearing last year. The favorable interpretation is that, as someone whose recent work Pangram consistently mistakes for AI, Illingworth sees Pangram’s flaws firsthand. The unfavorable interpretation is that the tool’s credibility trades off against his own, because its account of who writes his posts is not consistent with his. Illingworth is not alone in insisting the detector does not work. “It’s a Monday night in late July, and I’m pasting my own Substack draft into an AI detector for the first time. Not because I’m worried. Because I’m curious. I wrote every word of it myself, the way I write everything, out loud in my head first, in a rhythm that still carries the accent of a language I learned to think in before I learned to write in this one,” begins one Substack post by an author indignant that Pangram flags her writing as AI. “That’s the part I had to sit with before I could write this.” If you, like me, have worked with AIs a lot, you won’t even need Pangram there. The author of that piece is AI. It is obviously AI! I checked 10 other posts on the blog, and they were also obviously AI! “I have spent 22 years as an award-winning author and essayist. And now this bullshit tool that learned from MY writing is going to accuse me of plagiarism,” popular Substack writer Carlyn Beccia wrote in an anti-Pangram post. “For the last and final time, AI DETECTORS DO NOT WORK.” Here’s what her writing sounded like in 2020: “Most success stories revolve around one person who believed enough in you to say — give it a try. We call these people muses, but they are so much more than that. They are the strong man giants whose shoulders we stand on so we can see the horizon. Throughout the editing process, I am sure my editor felt less like a giant of greatness and more like Atlas with the world on her shoulders.” Pangram says it was 100% human-written. (So were other articles of hers in 2020.) And here’s what it sounds like now: “And then there is the reshuffling, which sounds like paperwork until you remember that empires have always loved paperwork. The Trump regime recently moved special education oversight from the Education Department to HHS. That is not a minor bureaucratic transfer. It changes the frame.”3 Pangram says this is mostly AI. I am not convinced that Pangram is wrong. In my own experience, Pangram is very effective on long texts — if it marks a long essay as AI, the essay was either written by AI or deliberately written to sound like AI. On tweet-length or paragraph-length texts, it’s not perfectly reliable. It seems to work just as well for non-native English speakers as for native speakers. While I have seen dozens of claims of pre-2022 text returning a positive result on Pangram, I have tried repeatedly to corroborate those and have never once succeeded. To be clear, I’m absolutely not saying that complaining about Pangram suggests a writer is a cheat. There are plenty of other concerns. Most are mistakenly premised, such as the false claim that Pangram trains on work you put into it, but others are reasonable: It’s unreliable on sufficiently short text segments; it creates an internet witch-hunt mentality when there are defensible uses of AI; people who are open about their AI use are sometimes blamed, when the only people really doing something wrong are the ones who hide it; and it isn’t perfect, so a single positive result shouldn’t be taken as decisive proof of misconduct. I’m happy to concede that Pangram is imperfect and possible to over-rely on. If an author’s posts are mostly non-AI and one scans as partially AI, this could be a mistake. It’s also possible to defeat Pangram with intentional effort. If you think we need something more robust and more reliable, fine! But if you don’t like AI and don’t like Pangram, your attitude really ought to be that it’s a shame that our existing tools for AI detection are imperfect, and it’s important to invent better ones. If your stance is instead that AI is evil and so is looking for AI, then ultimately you’re contributing to the sloppification of the internet. You’re making it harder for people who write their own text to distinguish themselves, and providing cover for authors who are definitely not writing their own text. Subscribe Top stories this week, by Kobe Yank-Jacobs Commentators often worry that the decline of reading could mean the decline of liberal democracy — but deliberative governance actually predated widespread literacy. This week, Maibritt Henkel pointed out that many liberal cultures thrive on a culture of raucous, interactive debate, which can happen in-person as easily, if not more so, than in text. Read on, dear reader, to learn more. It may actually cheer you up: [ ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/reading-wont-save-liberalism) [ Reading won’t save liberalism ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/reading-wont-save-liberalism) Maibritt Henkel · Sep 1 [ Read full story ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/reading-wont-save-liberalism) It used to be bad to downplay climate change (if we mean denying its reality). Today, it’s actually good to downplay climate change (if we mean keeping the issue out of political fights so we can make real progress). This counterintuitive view is called “climate hushing,” and contributor Alex Trembath argued that it’s the key to enacting good policy going forward. Get up to speed on the latest in climate politics: [ ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/we-wont-stop-climate-change-by-talking) [ We won’t stop climate change by talking about it ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/we-wont-stop-climate-change-by-talking) Alex Trembath · Sep 2 [ Read full story ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/we-wont-stop-climate-change-by-talking) Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney is standing up for the forces of liberalism against Donald Trump’s assault on our closest ally. So, why is one prominent left-wing commenter attacking Carney? Columnist Matthew Yglesias explains: [ ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/when-economic-liberty-means-central) [ When "economic liberty" means central planning ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/when-economic-liberty-means-central) Matthew Yglesias · Aug 31 [ Read full story ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/when-economic-liberty-means-central) 🌟Abundance Wins of the Week🌟 Shout out to my home state of California, whose legislature passed two housing bills this week. One requires a housing density minimum in transit-oriented areas of the state’s most transit-rich cities (Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, San Diego, and Long Beach). Another bill closes two common loopholes used by third parties to delay housing projects, including an opportunity to challenge maps of a given lot created by the developer after a project has been approved. Shout out to our big-state rival, Texas, where pro-housing SB 785 took effect this week. The new state law requires municipalities to have at least one district permitted for manufactured housing without a special permit. This will promote zoning changes in 44% of municipalities. The company Fervo Energy signed a deal with Google for what is set to be the world’s largest enhanced geothermal facility, proving a technology can work at a scale that could be crucial to a decarbonized, energy-abundant economy. Share Worth watching… This week, forecasting legend Nate Silver joined Jerusalem, Matt, and Jeremiah on a crowded episode of the pod. It was a party. And speaking of parties, our round table debated the factional lines within the Democratic Party: Is it possible to be center-left and also anti-establishment? Watch or listen to find out: The Rio Grande Valley in Texas is one of the areas that swung hardest toward Trump in 2024, but musician Bobby Pulido is running to flip it back. Right now, The Argument/Split Ticket’s model has him running 1.1 points behind his Republican opponent in a district Trump won by 18 points. Tune in to find out how he differs from national Democrats and what he thinks he can to do win this seat. On Thursday, Bernie Sanders was among the first politicians to call for a ban on superintelligence. My guest this week, Andrea Miotti, has been lobbying to ban superintelligence for several years, most recently in the U.K., U.S., and Canada. I asked him how he gets legislators to take speculative risks seriously, and we dug into what plans might look like to actually pass a ban. Listen to learn more: What’s News with The Argument The Argument recommends, by Kobe Yank-Jacobs If we ever lose track of Justin Zuckerman, I’ll have the team split up and check all the movie theaters in the city. I’m shocked (and a little jealous) at how often he gets out to see good cinema. This week, he brings us It Ends, a “horror-ish movie,” which he described as a “Gen Z Waiting for Godot.” I was intrigued before he added that it was “funny, dark and existential” — at which point I was fully locked in. I guess I also had existential themes on the mind this week. One morning, a single line from a poem I read long ago just came to me: “Is death a stretch of time in which a life is just a flash?” The poem is called “From 20,000 Feet” by Heather McHugh. I suggest the version in The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry, which, by tradition, my best friend and I always bring backpacking, extra weight be damned. We’ll stay thematically dark for just one more rec from senior editor John Robert Thomason, whose upcoming trip to Baltimore reminded him to suggest Michael Clune’s memoir White Out (about being addicted to heroin in Baltimore in the 1990s). Ben Lerner’s blurb called it _“_Disturbing, brilliant, hilarious—it’s as if Proust had written Jesus’ Son.” John told me this “seems accurate, with the caveat that I’ve never read Proust.” I, personally, have also shelved Proust until retirement. At this point, I was a little concerned for the team since all of us tossed out such psychologically grim material — maybe we’re all down about the end of summer — but thankfully, at least a few of us were into more upbeat selections. Milan Singh recommended Made In’s 5-quart stainless clad saucier, suggesting he had some fun in the kitchen. Jeremiah Johnson asked if he could recommend yet more Carly Rae Jepsen. Once denied, he offered up Game Changer instead_,_ calling it “the most wildly creative game show, maybe in the entire history of the genre.” Eli Richman mentioned _Lucky, “_a B-tier show with an A-tier cast and an S-tier theme song.” I suppose he was recommending the song, Horns of a Bull. Still, despite these cheerier recs, I couldn’t help but be concerned that we were subconsciously worried about racing toward summer’s end — the end of swim trunks and splashing around. Then a message landed reminding me of the three-day weekend to come. A whole extra day for sunshine. One more swim in the lake. I was grateful this called to mind yet another line from a poem, one by Mary Oliver, the patron saint of every gorgeous summer day (and about whom a documentary is now out). Speaking to God in the poem “Thirst,” she wrote: grant me, in your mercy,a little more time. Love for the earthand love for you are having such a longconversation in my heart. We have merch! We have quarter-zips, keychains, hats, and stickers. Each one is a great conversation starter in its own way. Buy them here. Subscribe More to read: [ The Opening Argument ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/seeing-like-an-elite)[ Seeing like an elite ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/seeing-like-an-elite) Kobe Yank-Jacobs · Sep 4 What do Americans hear when they watch Sen. Bernie Sanders or Vice President JD Vance rail against the elite? Are they thinking of right-wing tech billionaires? Imperious college professors? Liberal magazine writers? [ Read full story ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/seeing-like-an-elite) [ The Weekly Scroll ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/god-is-back-on-the-timeline)[ God is back on the timeline ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/god-is-back-on-the-timeline) Jeremiah Johnson · Sep 5 This week, we’re talking about Substack’s new religious debates, the continuing MAGA influencer scandal, how to retire from YouTube, and aura battles. [ Read full story ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/god-is-back-on-the-timeline) 1 This was a legitimate thing to worry about, but doesn’t seem to be a problem given the actual technology: Marijke Van Vlasselaer, Filip Van Droogenbroeck, and Bram Spruyt’s 2026 paper looks at whether Pangram is less accurate when evaluating the work of non-native speakers of English. It isn’t. That’s because Pangram isn’t really looking at how “unusual” a piece of writing is but whether it has the characteristic patterns of LLMs. The Wired article makes an odd gesture at a different Pangram-is-racist argument. There were several controversies this summer during which upcoming books were canceled after being discovered to be AI-written: “The three novels mentioned earlier — Shy Girl, Daggermouth, and Call Me, easily publishing’s biggest AI-detection scandals — were all written by writers of color.” But come on! As Zvi Mowshowitz put it: “They were not primarily written by people of color. They were primarily written by AIs.” That’s the whole problem! And as my colleague Jeremiah Johnson recently observed with respect to Cambridge’s Arday scandal, a community being unwilling to call out fraud if it’s perpetuated by people of color is not an anti-racist tendency; it is ultimately quite racist. 2 Many non-Pangram detectors don’t work, but many possible airplane designs also don’t work, and no one considers this a general argument against aviation; the thing that matters is whether any detection works. 3 The phrase “empires have always loved” mysteriously became all the rage in the last few years. See here, here, here, here and here. Before 2025, the only use of that phrase I have been able to find is a single Tweet. The logic of the sentence, too, is incoherent in an AI-characteristic way. “...sounds like paperwork, until you remember that empires have always loved paperwork”? Does remembering that make it sound less like paperwork? It’s a craft-ful sentence, but what is it actually saying??

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Sep 6 • 6:05 PM EDT • Technology • theargumentmag.com
Trump admin renews Supreme Court ask to let mail ballot rule to take effect ahead of midterms

President Donald Trump’s administration on Sunday again asked the Supreme Court to allow the US Postal Service plan for mail ballots to take effect immediately.

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Sep 6 • 12:18 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Trump administration makes another appeal to Supreme Court to allow mail ballot restrictions

The filing came after U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani extended an order against the Postal Service enforcing President Donald Trump’s executive order for the November elections.

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Sep 6 • 11:15 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
A whiplash election year enters its final stretch as Donald Trump holds wild cards

Both parties are stepping up efforts for their candidates in contentious swing states as many consider the vote a referendum on Trump.

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Sep 6 • 8:20 AM EDT • Politics • floridapolitics.com
A whiplash election year enters its final stretch as Trump holds wild cards

The political landscape in the U.S. is volatile as the final midterm of President Donald Trump's presidency approaches

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Sep 6 • 7:23 AM EDT • Politics • abcnews.com
A whiplash election year enters its final stretch as Trump holds wild cards

The political landscape in the U.S. is volatile as the final midterm of President Donald Trump's presidency approaches. Trump often stirs the tumult, with issues such as redrawn congressional...

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Sep 6 • 7:23 AM EDT • Politics • houstonchronicle.com
A whiplash election year enters its final stretch as Trump holds wild cards

The political landscape in the U.S. is volatile as the final midterm of President Donald Trump's presidency approaches.

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Sep 6 • 7:23 AM EDT • Politics • news4jax.com
A whiplash election year enters its final stretch as Trump holds wild cards

The political landscape in the U.S. is volatile as the final midterm of President Donald Trump's presidency approaches.

clickondetroit.com logo
Sep 6 • 7:23 AM EDT • Politics • clickondetroit.com
A whiplash election year enters its final stretch as Trump holds wild cards

The political landscape in the U.S. is volatile as the final midterm of President Donald Trump's presidency approaches. Trump often stirs the tumult, with issues such as redrawn congressional districts

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Sep 6 • 7:23 AM EDT • Politics • kdhnews.com
Country music singer claims he is risking his life by speaking out against Donald Trump

He has been an outspoken critic of Trump and MAGA.

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Sep 6 • 7:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • pennlive.com
Trump’s ‘dumb’ story makes no sense

There are far more important issues to discuss. But in these divided times, surely we can all come together for a brief moment and agree that President Donald Trump’s “dumb” story makes no sense.

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Sep 6 • 6:30 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
😐 Neutral (9%)
ahah
50%
wow
50%
AI optimism vs. anxiety — podcasters debate this every night

President Donald Trump, CNBC’s “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer and entrepreneurial “accelerationists” celebrate the AI revolution and the infrastructure data-center build-out. Cramer recently gushed, “I like data centers so much that I wish I lived in one.” Trump criticized any community that opposes them as losers who will lose jobs and taxes — and will weaken […]

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Sep 6 • 2:45 AM EDT • Politics • coloradopolitics.com
Donald Trump: a ‘fuming, friendless’ president

The US president has burned through international goodwill at a pace that would have once seemed impossible – and patience is running out at home, too

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Sep 6 • 1:35 AM EDT • Politics • theweek.com
Byron Donalds heads to Texas for Donald Trump

Synergy between POTUS and his pick for Governor continues.

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Sep 5 • 10:56 PM EDT • Politics • floridapolitics.com
Here's a look at 'reach' election races where Democrats hope to pull off House upsets

The party in power traditionally suffers losses during midterm elections. Democrats managed to avoid a predicted 2022 “red wave,” but they saw Republicans flip both chambers when President Donald Trump was reelected last cycle.

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Sep 5 • 6:36 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
Why the new Trump order to shoot wolves is both illegal and a dreadful precedent for endangered species

On September 4, Donald Trump issued an executive order targeting the Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections of gray wolves and Mexican gray wolves. In the Oval Office he stated to an Arizona ranc…

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Sep 5 • 4:54 PM EDT • Science • southernfriedscience.com
Trump’s first major midterm money move: A $10M Texas Senate ad blitz

BRIDGEWATER, New Jersey — The political group associated with President Donald Trump is spending $10 million on television and digital advertisements...

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Sep 5 • 3:20 PM EDT • Politics • post-gazette.com
Trump’s PAC wades into midterms with $10 million ad buy to boost Ken Paxton

Republicans have been worried over whether and when President Donald Trump’s super PAC would spend its massive war chest on the midterms.

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Sep 5 • 3:05 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Trump’s first major midterm money move: A $10M Texas Senate ad blitz

President Donald Trump's political group is spending $10 million on ads in the Texas Senate race.

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Sep 5 • 1:47 PM EDT • Politics • click2houston.com