September 18, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Texas Democrat sees a fundraising surge following opponent’s racist posts

Republican Bo French’s racist social media posts targeting South Asian university students have resulted in a fundraising windfall for his Democratic opponent in Texas’ railroad commission race. State Rep. Jon Rosenthal told The Washington Sun on Thursday that he’s raised around $150,000 — major dollars for a Democrat in what is normally an under-the-radar race — after French posted a photo of a crowd of South Asian students at the University of Texas-Austin football game celebrating the school’s comeback win Saturday, saying, “the problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” The comment drew national attention to the race. Rosenthal said his phone began “ringing off the hook” Sunday morning after the posts went viral and brought in a slate of new donors for him.

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“For me, that’s monumental,” Rosenthal said. “It’s good to have the resources for the campaign, but certainly it’s even better to have the moral support and feel like people are with me.” The Railroad Commission of Texas is a crucial regulatory agency: Commissioners, who are elected statewide for staggered six-year terms, no longer directly oversee the state’s railroads but rather its powerful oil, natural gas and utilities industries. A Democrat hasn’t served on the panel since 1999. Rosenthal said the new influx of money will allow him to travel more throughout Texas in hopes of flipping people who supported French’s primary runoff opponent, Jim Wright, who lost by 14,800 votes in May, or less than one percentage point. The state representative also hopes to put spots up on AM radio and increase digital advertising across new counties. “There’s no avoiding that this will be, in some part, a referendum on Bo French and his brand of politics,” Rosenthal said. “It does make this an opportunity to change the direction of politics in the state — and maybe even in the country.”

Weeks before the midterms, almost everything is getting more expensive

Mortgage rates close to 7%. Gas prices near their highest levels since 2022. A Federal Reserve interest-rate hike for the first time in three years. Everything from buying a house to filling up your gas tank now costs more than even a week ago—putting affordability back in the spotlight just before midterm elections that will determine control of Congress. “If you’re the average American household, you’re probably wondering, ‘What did I do to deserve this?’” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM. A robust economy driven in part by President Trump’s tax cuts, reduced regulations and historic AI spending has boosted growth and investment. But tariffs and the data-center build-out have also added to inflation. The war with Iran has set off an energy shock that is raising prices for gasoline, diesel and heating oil.

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The unemployment rate stands at a low 4.1%. Thanks in part to a gravity-defying stock market, the Federal Reserve reported that household net worth hit $186 trillion in the second quarter of this year—a gain of $26 trillion from the fourth quarter of 2024. A stronger-than-expected August retail sales report this week showed consumer spending remains strong. “Consider the geopolitical landscape of shocks and uncertainty, and you begin to appreciate the resilience of the U.S. economy,” Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said Wednesday in explaining the decision to raise interest rates. The yield on 10-year Treasurys—a critical driver of long-term interest rates for consumers and businesses—crossed 5% for the first time since 2023 this week. It closed just below that level Thursday. Futures markets indicate there is about a 50% chance of the central bank raising rates again at its October meeting, a week before Election Day. Most Fed officials project one rate increase by the end of the year. Consumer prices were up 3.4% from a year earlier in August, extending five years of price pressures on Americans.

Why Democrats are starting to feel bullish about a midterm wave

Democrats’ wary optimism about the midterms gave way to growing confidence this week. The party has seen strong post-Labor Day polls in key battlegrounds — and even in traditionally red areas. Recent escalations in the war in Iran, including an attack on a major pipeline in Saudi Arabia, mean the rising gas prices bedeviling Republicans will not be going down anytime soon. Republicans have not been able to bring prices under control more generally. And President Donald Trump’s unpopularity is at near-record levels. Considering all this, Democrats now think conditions are right for the party to retake control of the House and possibly the Senate later this year. “If the election were held today, we would win the majority,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (New York) said in an interview with The Washington Post.

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Schumer said he felt “considerably more bullish” about Democrats’ chances of retaking the Senate than he did a few months ago. He described the environment as uncannily similar to 2006, when discontent with the war in Iraq helped Democrats recapture the Senate and the House. House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Massachusetts) said Democrats’ recent momentum is driven by their focus on the economy, with voters believing that the party understands the financial pain they’ve felt in the years since Republicans swept into unified control. “That is what is driving these polls,” Clark told The Post on Thursday. Still, Democratic fears remain. Democrats need at least four more seats to take the Senate majority and would have to win at least two in states Trump carried by double-digit margins in 2024. Republicans are seeking to blunt any Democratic gains by flipping Democratic-held open seats in Michigan and New Hampshire, where polls show competitive races. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted its rating of the Senate contest in New Hampshire from “Lean Democrat” to “Toss Up” this week.

Warren Buffett steps down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway

Warren Buffett is stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, after more than 60 years guiding the firm that turned him into a household name for millions of investors worldwide. Buffett was named chairman emeritus effective immediately, with his son Howard G. Buffett taking over as chairman, Berkshire said in a statement Friday. “As Chairman Emeritus, Mr. Buffett will remain a member of the Board of Directors and will continue to offer his valued judgment and perspective,” Berkshire said. The announcement comes just eight months after Buffett stepped down as CEO of the conglomerate he built into a trillion-dollar company.

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“Father Time always wins,” Buffett wrote Friday in a letter to Berkshire’s shareholders. “He has, however, been generous with me. He has given me the opportunity to see Berkshire reach a point where I am more confident than ever about what lies ahead.” At 96 years old, Buffett had still appeared in interviews with CNBC as recently as July. However, his voice sounded weak of late. Buffett noted in the letter that he has “served Berkshire since 1965.” Since Buffett started to use Berkshire Hathaway as his primary investment vehicle in the 1960s, the company’s share price had risen more than 5,500,000% by the time he retired as CEO. By comparison, the return for the S&P 500 over the same period is a mere 39,000%. Under Buffett’s leadership, Nebraska-based Berkshire thrived at the intersection of Wall Street and Main Street, with investments in industries ranging from railroads and insurance to candy and ice cream. Even in the last two months, Buffett was still a highly active investors. In July, Buffett told CNBC that he initiated an investment in Alphabet by Berkshire. In the interview, Buffett said he “made a mistake” by not investing in the tech giant earlier. The investment is now worth more than $27 billion and ranks as Berkshire’s fifth largest holding. He was replaced as CEO by Greg Abel, his longtime lieutenant.

State Stories

After Medicaid funding standoff, feds approve $12B for Texas

The state of Texas will receive nearly $12 billion in federal healthcare funding, Gov. Greg Abbott’s office announced Thursday, restoring withheld funds that were costing Texas hospitals millions per day. Since Sept. 1, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began withholding billions in Medicaid funding over legal questions about Texas’ provider tax system. The withheld funds, according to a report from the Texas Hospital Association, were costing Texas hospitals $27 million per day.

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The billions in restored Medicaid funding came after months of negotiations with the federal agency, according to Abbott’s office. The governor’s office in early August wrote a stern letter to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the situation. In the letter, Abbott criticized the lack of clarity in the federal agency’s requirements on taxing, and he also said the state would be willing to collaborate on changes to the tax system. While the funding shortfall was ongoing, hospital advocates warned that if it continued, rural hospitals would be particularly hard hit and might be forced to cut back on their services. “This funding is a major victory for Texas patients,” Abbott’s Thursday statement said. “Emergency rooms will stay open, rural families will retain local care, and Texans will have access to the treatment they need. I thank CMS and the Trump Administration for helping ensure Texans get the medical care they need.”

Ken Paxton investigates Taylor AI data center parkland dispute

Hope was dwindling for a group of Taylor residents after City Hall and the courts rejected their attempts to halt an artificial intelligence data center planned on land donated to the city for a public park. On Thursday, Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate, said his office had opened an investigation into the development. The 87-acre tract off East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard was deeded to the Texas Parks and Recreation Foundation for a future public park in 1999. But after changing hands several times with no park development, the land was eventually designated for data center development. Paxton said his office will determine whether the 1999 deed’s park restriction was legally modified or terminated before Blueprint Data Centers purchased the property. The office said it will seek court intervention if its investigation finds that the tract is required to remain a park.

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“I will not allow any person or entity to disregard the rule of law or obligations owed to the public,” Paxton said in a statemen. “If the Taylor data center development is unlawful, I will do everything in my power to stop it and hold those who have violated the law accountable.” Pamela Griffin and other Taylor residents first raised concerns about the project last year after Griffin learned the property next to her home was slated to become the site of Blueprint’s proposed $1 billion, 135,000-square-foot project. Taylor approved the project in 2024. “I’m coming up here begging for a whole year, asking y’all to stop this data center because it’s going to harm human lives,” Griffin told Taylor City Council in July. “Do you all care about human lives?” Residents also filed a lawsuit against Blueprint to halt the project, but last year a state District Court judge struck down the residents' request, seemingly clearing a path for the development. The residents have appealed and filed additional suits against Blueprint. HALT, a grassroots anti-data center group in Taylor, said Thursday it was “overjoyed that there is intention to investigate.” The group said it is confident Paxton will find merit to take action on the property. The City of Taylor said Thursday that it was aware of the investigation and plans to cooperate with the attorney general’s office.

Bud Kennedy: Why won’t Fort Worth, Tarrant leaders speak up against Bo French?

Bo French hates Texas. But he has oil money and a cadre of trash-talkers behind him, so most Fort Worth leaders are too gutless to criticize him. There is no other way to explain the events of the last week, when a spoiled son of Westover Hills went on his latest public tirade and was met with loud pushback across America — but mostly embarrassed silence in Fort Worth and Tarrant County. This time, the Republican candidate to regulate the oil industry on the misnamed Texas Railroad Commission complained about some of Texas’ top college students — just because they don’t look like him. French posted a photo on X.com of a crowd of happy Indian-American students. They were wildly cheering the University of Texas Longhorns’ come-from-behind football victory over the No. 1 team in the country.

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His comment: “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. ... The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” French explained later in so many words that he was referring to residency status, not race. Children of immigrants here on work permits are counted as residents up to age 21, meaning they count toward the state requirement that UT admit 90% residents in each freshman class. But when reporters found students in the photo, the first two identified were both American citizens. About one-third of U.S. college students are first- or second-generation immigrants, but a majority are American citizens. In other words, what French saw was mostly a section of cheering American college football fans, because a lot of the smartest kids in Texas and America today are Indian-American and Asian-American. He thinks that’s all wrong. Then, Fort Worth leaders sat in near-complete silence. They shook their heads and tut-tutted the French family’s wayward boy just as if he were a curly-haired brat wreaking havoc in the grand ballroom at a blue-blood country club. Look, Bo French is not a TCU frat boy anymore.

Ted Cruz pushes back on calls for government testing of AI models

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is working behind the scenes to block a proposal that would require advanced artificial intelligence technologies to undergo federal testing before they are released to the public, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations. The Texas Republican has warned the measure, being pushed by Democratic U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, would hurt U.S. companies and give a leg up to Chinese competitors, according to the person, who asked to not be not be named because they weren't authorized to speak about closed-door discussions. Instead, he is pushing for a broader requirement that AI companies take steps to prevent their models from developing "advanced threat capabilities," and that they disclose to the federal government any active or imminent security breaches.

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Cruz, who leads the powerful Senate Commerce, Science and Technology Committee, is involved in negotiations with U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Senate Majority Leader John Thune on a bipartisan response to warnings from a former Anthropic employee this month that AI models are growing dangerously advanced. Cantwell, a ranking member on the commerce committee, has been arguing publicly that pre-deployment testing is necessary to try and stop up-and-coming AI models from developing dangerous capabilities like creating a deadly virus or hacking into nuclear weapons systems. "Meaningful legislation would require the most powerful AI models undergo testing by scientists and experts at our national laboratories to assess whether they could enable sophisticated cyberattacks or aid the development of biological or nuclear weapons," she told reporters earlier this week While Cruz called openly last week for "guardrails" to protect against catastrophic risks, he has also suggested that AI developers are already incentivised to police themselves. "If any company sells a product that causes massive harm, they’ll get sued into oblivion," he wrote on X Wednesday. "That’s how companies go broke and rich people become poor people."

Poll shows Social Security reform could sway Texas voters

Growing concerns about the viability of Social Security may emerge as a deciding factor this midterm election, according to a nonpartisan poll conducted among voters in states with competitive Senate races, including Texas. According to the newly released survey by Peter G. Peterson Foundation, candidates with a plan to reform Social Security are more likely to do well among voters in battleground states such as Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. Across the country, 91% of voters support Social Security reforms, according to the survey. In Texas especially, about 57% of voters vs. 49% overall, and want lawmakers to prevent benefit cuts by reforming the program.

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Democratic firm Global Strategy Group and Republican firm North Star Opinion Research conducted a phone and text-to-web survey on behalf of the foundation. They spoke to 2,500 voters in key Senate battleground states, including 500 voters in Texas, between August 20 and August 27. By 2032, Social Security’s primary Trust Fund is projected to run dry if the program continues to pay out more than it receives in income. If Congress doesn’t act sooner, the program will become insolvent, causing an automatic 22% cut in retirement checks for current and newly retired Social Security beneficiaries across the U.S. In Texas, this would reduce each retirement check by nearly $500, according to a June analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal policy think tank. Yet pollsters found half of Texas voters (49%) were unaware of the impending Social Security benefit cuts and more than 89% of voters said lawmakers should talk about it more. Once they were made aware, nearly all respondents (91%) said it was important for lawmakers to have a plan to reform Social Security to prevent cuts.

As Texas rejects heat safeguards, thousands of workers are getting sick in extreme temperatures

On July 22, UPS driver James Francis Edelen III was rounding out his usual delivery route when Houston’s extreme summer heat caught up with him. After nearly 10 hours on the road on the hottest day of Houston’s summer, Edelen’s hands cramped as he made stops at an apartment complex. He struggled to shift gears and grip the steering wheel. Soon his arms and legs were cramping, too, and he felt dizzy and nauseated. That day, Houston temperatures climbed above 100 degrees for the first time this year, with a heat index – a measure of how it feels, accounting for humidity – surpassing 115 degrees. City data show that at least 95 people were treated locally that day for heat-related illnesses.

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Across the country, over half a dozen states — including California and Colorado — now require employers to implement measures to protect workers such as rest, water breaks and access to shade. But Texas, one of the hottest states in the country, not only lacks statewide heat-safety standards but also blocked cities from adopting their own. Experts and advocates said that lack of protection leaves workers especially vulnerable. “Every worker needs to get some training. Every worker should have access to rest, water and shade,” said Barrak Alahmad, a senior research scientist at Harvard University. “Right now, we're saying, ‘Employers, you're responsible for this.’ We're basically just handing workers over to be at the mercy of employers.” Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows Texas has recorded 1,720 heat-related workplace injuries and illnesses between 2023 and 2024, the latest available years of data, averaging about 860 a year. This marks a 60% increase in injuries compared to 2021 and 2022. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration estimates that the actual number could be up to seven times higher due to misidentified and unreported cases. In the most extreme cases, workplace heat exposure can be fatal. The same labor data has recorded eight deaths between 2023 and 2024. OSHA states that the actual number of heat-related fatalities could be up to 14 times higher.

Texas AG commissioner calls for gas tax pause

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller urged Gov. Greg Abbott to temporarily suspend the state’s 20-cent-per-gallon gasoline and undyed diesel tax as gas prices remain above $3. On Wednesday, Miller called on the governor to temporarily suspend the state’s tax on gasoline and undyed diesel. We don’t control the price of oil, but we control the taxes we put on it,” Miller said. “Governor Abbott has the tools to act. There’s no excuse for sitting around and watching our farmers, ranchers, truckers, and families bleed money at the pump. Texas producers and Texas families can’t wait any longer.

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In a press release, Miller urged Abbott and other state lawmakers to take action and provide relief to Texans while fuel prices continue to rise. “High diesel prices are a tax on everything,” Miller said. “They raise the cost of growing food, hauling freight, running a business, and putting groceries on the table. Every penny matters, and Texas shouldn’t be piling another 20 cents on top of the pain.” Miller continued, “If other states can step up when their people are getting crushed at the pump, Texas sure as hell can. Texas is the energy capital of America. We ought to be leading the charge on fuel tax relief, not watching from the sidelines.” Abbott was on his campaign trail in Amarillo on Wednesday, talking to residents about his “Affordability Agenda,” which aims to reduce costs for insurance, college, housing, and energy. There was no mention of plans to bring down the cost for Texans at the pump during his campaign stop.

Mayor says $27M question looming as data center takes Harlingen offer to Cameron County

A $27 million question’s hanging over the area as a developer launches construction of a 1,100-acre data center project between Harlingen and Rio Hondo. Days after offering Harlingen $20 million along with $7 million to fund a drainage project, Fluidstack took its proffer to Cameron County, Mayor Norma Sepulveda said. “I was told they’re getting a $27 million investment,” she said Wednesday in an interview. Meanwhile, Fluidstack’s decided not to respond to questions surrounding any negotiations with county officials. After county officials granted the company a worksite permit late last week, Fluidstack launched construction of the project’s $4 billion first phase in the area of Gomez Road and FM 1595, about 4 miles southwest of Rio Hondo in Harlingen’s northeastern outskirts.

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About a week earlier in Harlingen, Kate Franko, Fluidstack’s head of public affairs, requested city commissioners allow the company to discharge stormwater into a major canal draining Valley International Airport, which flooded during the historic March 2025 storm. While the company offered the city $20 million to help fund infrastructure projects, Fluidstack also offered to fund a $7 million project aimed at widening the 90-foot canal running four miles from the airport to the Arroyo Colorado. In response, commissioners, facing months of residents’ opposition to data center projects, requested Fluidstack hold a town hall meeting to respond to concerns while fielding questions surrounding the company’s project. “While the city was still engaged in that process, Cameron County moved forward with permitting that provided Fluidstack an alternative drainage option,” Sepulveda said in a statement Wednesday. “The county was aware of the approximately $7 million in drainage improvements being discussed at the site. They were also aware of the proposed $20 million investment in Harlingen infrastructure.”

Arch Manning to 'learn' from Holly Rowe controversy, Sarkisian says

Days after Texas football star Arch Manning ignited a social media firestorm by laughing at an AI-generated video of his coach Steve Sarkisian slapping ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe, Sarkisian said, “Arch recognizes he made a mistake, and it's an unfortunate one.” “Nowhere do we condone domestic violence or violence against women,” Sarkisian said Thursday during his weekly Zoom meeting with reporters. “Nothing in our program says that. I think if (Arch) could take it back, he would. He has since apologized to Holly. He's made a public apology, and our goal is that we can move forward and him be the guy that that we all know that he is and what he represents.”

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The fake video after the Longhorns' 24-23 comeback win over Ohio State spoofed a postgame interaction between Sarkisian and Rowe, ending with the journalist being struck in the face. A reporter asked Monday if Manning had seen any online videos that had been posted about Saturday night's postgame scene at Royal-Memorial Stadium. Manning said he had seen an AI-edited video about the abrupt interview between Sarkisian and Rowe. After his response received some laughter and goading from media members, Manning smiled as he asked: "Y'all seen that one? That's a good one. Of him slapping Holly Rowe? Yeah, it's hilarious." Manning apologized for the comments Tuesday and Sarkisian addressed the matter for the first time Thursday. The ensuing uproar criticized Manning for making light of violence against women, Sarkisian for blowing off interviews with Rowe and fellow ESPN sideline reporter Laura Rutledge, and a roomful of reporters who chuckled at Manning’s response. On Tuesday, Manning issued an apology to Rowe on his Instagram account.

U of Austin won’t seek ABA Accreditation for new law school

The University of Austin, a five-year-old institution founded by CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss and others, says it won’t seek the American Bar Association Accreditation Council’s recognition for its legal program. UATX, which first accepted students in fall 2024, doesn’t yet have institutional accreditation, though it’s seeking it. The institution’s announcement comes after the Education Department recommended last month that the ABA Council lose federal recognition to accredit law schools, meaning its accreditation wouldn't unlock federal student aid for those schools. Some Republican-controlled states have also targeted the ABA Council, which has received criticism for its past support of diversity, equity and inclusion. Earlier this year, the Texas Supreme Court allowed lawyers who haven’t graduated from ABA Council–accredited schools to practice in the state.

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In a lengthy Substack post Thursday, UATX General Counsel Adam Biggs condemned the ABA. “The ABA is a private trade association that has spent seventy years making sure no one builds a law school that doesn’t conform to its exact vision for legal education,” Biggs wrote, adding that the “model it enforces is expensive and outdated, and it stifles anyone who tries to build something different.” He said UATX will partner with the conservative Federalist Society in its undergraduate legal education, supporting courses “that go further into the Constitution’s text, history, and tradition, taught by judges, practicing lawyers, and scholars.” He criticized ABA standards in detail, including requirements for tenured positions. He said the standards also “make creating [legal] clinics largely unavoidable.” “Students working real cases sounds good, in the abstract,” Biggs wrote. “Yet it is the most expensive way to teach anything. A professor teaching Property reaches hundreds of students. A clinical professor works with about eight.”

Iran says hackers launched a cyberattack on a massive oil tanker bound for Galveston

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating a cyberattack targeting an oil supertanker that was traveling through the Gulf toward Galveston last month. A specialized team of Coast Guard and FBI officials boarded the VL Prosperity in the Gulf on Aug. 21 after authorities learned that the South Korean-managed vessel’s computer network had been compromised, Coast Guard officials said. Iranian state media reported that hackers took control of the tanker’s navigation and propulsion systems and disabled its communications for about 30 hours. U.S. officials have not publicly confirmed those details. Rear Adm. Amy Grable, who leads the Coast Guard’s Cyber Command, said the incident highlights the potential dangers of cyberattacks targeting vessels at sea.

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“Of course we’re worried about a collision, an explosion,” Grable said. Grable said malicious computer code is becoming increasingly accessible to hackers and warned that similar incidents could become more frequent. “Especially with the advent of artificial intelligence, that’s sort of accelerating the rate at which we need to take action,” she said. The VL Prosperity left Egypt on Aug. 1 bound for Galveston and was reportedly hacked near the Strait of Gibraltar. The Coast Guard said the ship’s crew and shore-based corporate staff played an important role in responding to the cyber threat. “The captain, crew and shoreside corporate staff were critical partners in helping to ensure the threats were mitigated,” the Coast Guard said in a statement. The Coast Guard and FBI intercepted the tanker before it reached Galveston. Officials have not said how close the vessel was to land when agents boarded it. Coast Guard officials are now urging vessels at sea to remain vigilant and request cybersecurity assistance when needed.

Pete Hegseth Texas trip to include Austin startup, Texas A&M game

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is visiting Austin on Friday, with his visit coming just days after the U.S. House postponed a vote on his impeachment. Hegseth will speak at Austin-based Saronic Technologies Inc., a critical commercial partner for the U.S. military. His visit comes roughly two months after the defense startup announced its $3.2 billion South Texas shipyard for the manufacturing of its autonomous military ships and drones. In July, the U.S. Navy used three of its sea drones to attack an Iranian naval base in the Strait of Hormuz — the first known U.S. use of such craft in combat. The same type of vessel was used to rescue the pilots of a U.S. Apache helicopter that had been downed near the strait — also a first.

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Late last year, Saronic landed a $392 million production contract for its 24-foot-long Corsair vessels. The speedboats, which cost about $1 million each, can travel more than 1,000 miles and carry payloads of up to 1,000 pounds at speeds of up to 35 knots. Corsairs were used in both the recent attack on Iran and last month’s pilot rescue. Hegseth will also stop by Capital Factory, the Austin-based venture capital firm and startup incubator that helped propel Saronic and other local tech companies such as Apptronik and Firefly Aerospace. He also will administer the oath of enlistment to new recruits at the Austin Armed Forces Reserve Center. Afterward, Hegseth will go to College Station to tour the Veterans Resource Center and deliver remarks to the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University. He plans to attend the Texas A&M’s game against Kentucky on Saturday afternoon. His stops in Texas are part of what he is calling his Arsenal of Freedom Tour, which is taking Hegseth across the country to “rebuild the U.S. defense industrial base and boost domestic manufacturing.” On Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson sent U.S. House members home early for their recess ahead of the midterm elections. But the early dismissal also avoided an impeachment vote for Hegseth over his handling of the U.S. war with Iran.

National Stories

RFK Jr. says anti-vaccine activists have a friend in the White House

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave the keynote address Thursday at a conference of an anti-vaccine activist group he once chaired, telling the hundreds in attendance that they had a friend in President Donald Trump’s White House. It was Kennedy’s first time appearing at the Children’s Health Defense conference since he became secretary. Kennedy took leave from the group when he launched his bid to become president in 2023, but his speech Thursday served as a sort of homecoming, offering him a platform from which to hail the administration’s steps to scale back vaccine guidance and reassure the activists in attendance that he was working to turn their priorities into policy.

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“Let me be clear: You have a strong and steadfast friend in the White House. We’ve accomplished in 19 months things that would have seemed unthinkable two years ago,” he said. The speech, peppered with questions about long established vaccine safety, also highlighted how once fringe views on vaccines have been given a prominent pulpit under the Trump administration. Kennedy boasted about the administration’s moves to downsize the childhood vaccination schedule and reshape a key vaccine advisory board — steps that have since been halted by a judge. Kennedy lauded Trump for pushing ahead with attempts to overhaul vaccine guidance, including an executive order last month calling for spacing out the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, against medical groups’ recommendations. That executive order and now Kennedy’s keynote speech at the Children’s Health Defense conference mark a pivot by the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services, who earlier this year had appeared to be moving beyond vaccine efforts and toward a less contentious agenda on healthy food ahead of November’s midterm elections. HHS promoted the speech on its social media channels.

Blanche’s political campaigning breaks an ethical norm going back to Watergate

Attorney General Todd Blanche has repeatedly participated in campaign events and spoken in partisan terms about the coming midterm elections since his confirmation last month, despite criticism that he violated a longstanding Justice Department principle of steering clear of electoral politics. This week he waded again into those waters — twice. Since August, Mr. Blanche has come under fire for making campaign-tinged public appearances and comments. Last month, at a rally-style event on Long Island, he praised Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate for governor of New York. Last week, Mr. Blanche delivered remarks at the Republican Party’s midterm convention. On Tuesday, he stood at the White House podium and disparaged Democratic lawmakers while invoking the coming election, dismissing their concerns about artificial intelligence as “nothing but an effort to influence the midterms.”

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And on Wednesday, Mr. Blanche spoke at a campaign rally for Michael Whatley, the Republican Senate candidate in North Carolina. Echoing his convention speech, he portrayed crime rates, which continued a long-term downward trend to reach new lows in 2025, as “President Trump and Vice President Vance delivering on a promise.” Worries about the Justice Department abandoning its long-held commitment to appear apolitical in order to maintain institutional credibility may seem beside the point. Since January 2025, dozens of judges have viewed its representations with suspicion, eroding the traditional bonds of trust, known as the “presumption of regularity,” that the courts typically grant the department. The second Trump administration has also unabashedly destroyed the post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence from the White House in investigative decisions. Early on, Mr. Blanche’s predecessor, Pam Bondi, declared, “We are so proud to work at the directive of Donald Trump.” Last September, after Mr. Trump publicly demanded that she charge several perceived adversaries, the department pushed through short-lived indictments of two of them. Still, Mr. Blanche is dismantling another post-Watergate principle: that Justice Department leaders stay away from partisan politicking.

A scorned Trump gathers bulldozers for the Kennedy Center

Fall nears. The trade wars continue to rage. The Iran war drags ever onward. The midterms are coming. And what is Donald Trump doing to drag the country out of the several, concentrically deepening holes he has dug for America, the Republican Party, and himself? The answer, of course, is: preparing to demolish the Kennedy Center, rather than let anyone else have it. Washington’s official federal performing arts venue will not make it to the end of Trump’s term. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s certainly what the president wants everyone to think. He’s signaling his next move so openly at this point that he might as well be using semaphore flags.

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To recap: Trump has long betrayed a quietly deep obsession with the world of the theater arts — which he no doubt associates with the New York of his youth. He is, famously, equally as obsessed with Kennedy family glamour — why, he even found his own collectible Kennedy to add to the administration! — and desperately wants to associate his own (decidedly grubbier) name with a national martyr. Therefore, it was perhaps inevitable that he would take a heavy hand with the Kennedy Center — the federally owned and directed performing arts venue for the nation’s capital, named for the slain president in 1964, prior to opening. It was one of the shiniest baubles in (what he regards as) his personal presidential treasury to play with and admire. Nobody expected him to try to slap his name on it, however. Nobody expected him to be that crude or lawless. The building is named by statute; renaming it anything else is not optional, unless approved by Congress. Trump doesn’t care: His openly stated philosophy is to put his own name (or Trump-like “stamp”) onto everything he possibly can while still president. “Nobody else will,” he says, correctly. So he installed his faithful myrmidons on the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, who “voted” to rename it after him. Bookings immediately vanished — no artist in America with any profile would ever recover from ratifying such an imperial ego-grab with their presence — and when the courts ordered him to remove his name, he instead erected a scaffolding to permanently prevent the world from seeing the title of the venue without his name on it.

The quiet campaign to stop Kamala 2028 is growing louder

On Wednesday, LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic Party megadonor Reid Hoffman threw cold water on the prospect of a 2028 presidential campaign from former Vice President Kamala Harris. “I think it would be a very challenging path for her and it’s going to be a very noisy field,” Hoffman said when asked at a Politico event in Washington, DC, whether Harris should run again. His statement comes the same week CNN aired an interview with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who told Jake Tapper (while fly-fishing?) that he would not run for president if Harris did so — a curious move from someone who swung through South Carolina barely two weeks ago, and who has long been treated as a presumed frontrunner for 2028. Taken together — and thinking back to our America, Actually episode on the question of whether Harris will run — I think you’re seeing the early stages of what I’d call a light public pressure campaign.

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How Bessent, America's bond salesman, cornered Japan on big spending

When Japanese finance minister Satsuki Katayama called Scott Bessent for help to support the cratering yen in June, her U.S. counterpart's response was familiar: If Tokyo wanted assistance, it had to get its fiscal house in order. For months, Treasury Secretary Bessent had told Katayama and other officials privately that Japan should rein in its massive fiscal spending and that its central bank ?needed to raise interest rates, according to three people familiar with the situation. Make sense of global markets with the Trading Day newsletter. Sign up here. The Japanese worried that inflation stoked by the weaker yen would hurt Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi with voters. Bessent was more concerned that a sell-off in Japanese bonds could spill over to U.S. debt, the ?people said. Katayama's call for Washington's help in a coordinated yen-buying spree enabled Bessent to press his case.

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He urged Japan to first address fundamental factors driving down the yen — a reference to Takaichi's big spending plans — and avoid any "inconsistency" between monetary and fiscal policies, two of the people said. In short: overhaul the policies that counter the Bank of Japan's fight against inflation. The June 22 call, the details of which haven't been previously reported, helped set the stage for massive joint intervention by Washington and Tokyo in late July, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. This account of the interactions between Japan and the U.S. shows how Bessent used Washington's leverage over currency and Treasury markets to extract policy concessions from a key ally — forcing Takaichi to navigate the competing demands of ?voters and her most important security partner. "Bessent has run out of patience with Japan," said David Boling, managing director for Japan at The Asia Group, a consultancy. The U.S., he said, wants a stronger, more stable yen, less risk of Japanese selling of Treasuries, and policy that looks more credible to markets ?on inflation and fiscal stability.

Environment, health groups sue over Trump move to wipe out climate rules for power plants

Environmental and public health-focused organizations are suing the Trump administration over its move to wipe out most climate regulations on coal and gas power plants. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), American Lung Association, American Public Health Association, Clean Air Council, Clean Wisconsin and the Environmental Defense Fund filed the suit on Thursday. The move comes just days after the administration finalized its move to gut the nation’s climate rules for coal and gas plants, eliminating the vast majority of rules that the Biden administration said would prevent 1.38 billion metric tons of carbon emissions through 2047, the equivalent of taking 328 million gas-powered cars off the road for a year.

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That’s because existing coal and new gas plants will no longer have to prevent 90 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere. As the electric sector makes up a quarter of the U.S.’s total planet-heating emissions, that move could be one of the Trump administration’s most consequential climate rollbacks. The administration estimated that it could save $310 billion. The groups that sued Thursday said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a legal responsibility to limit planet-warming emissions, and that not doing so would have significant health consequences. “Repealing these standards without a replacement is an abdication of EPA’s legal responsibility to protect public health and the environment,” said Meredith Hankins, federal climate legal director at NRDC, in a written statement. “The Clean Air Act and Supreme Court precedent demand that the EPA address climate pollution from the largest industrial source in the nation. The EPA’s legal reasoning is fatally flawed, so we are going to court.” “Emissions from power plants drive climate change, and climate change is a health emergency,” said Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association. “Measures that clean up power plant emissions also clean up other lung-harming pollutants at the same time. EPA has the authority and the responsibility to protect people’s health from air pollution.” The EPA declined The Hill’s request for comment on the lawsuit. When it put forward the rule, the agency said that its move was a money saver. “For over 15 years, the Obama and Biden administrations implemented a war on coal to destroy reliable and affordable energy. The Trump Administration has come in to protect American energy and to make sure you can afford to keep the lights on,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.

Democrats keep pressure on Hakeem Jeffries to punish rogue members

House Democrats aren’t letting rogue members off the hook for bucking their party. They hope Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries won’t either. “Obviously, there’s got to be” punishment for the two Democrats who twice this month bucked their party to advance a slate of Republican priorities, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) said in an interview. “Otherwise, then,” he said, “it’s open season.” Democrats are watching closely how — and if — Jeffries doles out consequences for Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington who have twice provided the decisive votes for GOP procedural measures this month.

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Jeffries and his leadership team condemned the two members when they first defected two weeks ago, slamming a “breach of trust” warranting a “serious response” but have yet to inflict any public consequences. On Tuesday, they defied leadership a second time, infuriating House Democrats and resurrecting questions about how leadership plans to keep its caucus in line — especially if they have a slim majority next term. “We have to all be united, and I think it’s pretty simple,” said one House Democrat who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “If there’s not [a punishment], I find it hard to see a path forward in the majority, which we’re all pushing for.” Asked if leadership should punish the two aisle-crossers, Rep. Troy Carter pointed to his time as minority leader of the Louisiana state Senate: “When I had members that did not work within the confines of the philosophical views of our party, I took them off our caucus.” “I don’t want to second-guess anybody’s timing, but I will tell you that these things cannot allow to fester,” he added. “We have to have a strict message: Either you’re with the team on those fundamental issues of governance or you aren’t.”

Copyright September 18, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved