Episode October 3, 2026 12 min 38s

An Immediate Calamity

From Letters from an American Heather Cox Richardson

October 1, 2026

The Trump administration is defying Congress, taking funds appropriated for specific purposes and redirecting them, Some of those funds were used to pay for the ads boosting Trump before the midterms, The destruction of the fundamental separation of powers at the heart of our government has gotten little pushback from Republicans, Trump’s administration has not invited U.S, allies to a meeting of NATO members next month, This seems to be an attempt to splinter NATO according to who Trump deems loyal and those whose actions he dislikes, Time Magazine released the transcript of an interview they did with Trump at the White House last week, Trump appears unable to answer questions coherently, and is angry at the media, He made outrageous claims and threats and yelled at the reporters about their questions, He is also seemingly unable to tell the difference between fantasy and reality, making claims about a South Korean investment in Alaska that has not yet been agreed to and about a steel plant in Iowa that is not a done deal, Trump again threatened Iran with annihilation, A third aircraft carrier strike group has been deployed to the Middle East, The government’s case against David Hearn for vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was dismissed with prejudice.

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