Headaches for Republican Lawmakers
Letters from an American
The episode examines the growing political vulnerabilities facing Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers ahead of the midterm elections. It h
Key takeaways
- Trump utilized taxpayer money for video ads explicitly labeled 'Paid for by the U.S. Government.'
- The GAO has characterized the administration's refusal to spend appropriated funds for social programs as illegal.
- Trump's approval ratings have seen a significant decline, with only 24% of adults believing the US is better off under him than Biden.
- Agricultural associations in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas warned that ICE raids are disrupting cattle supply chains.
- Senator Roger Marshall faced intense backlash for suing over 700 patients for unpaid medical bills.
Main topics
- Misuse of public funds for political ads
- Economic impact of tariffs and the Iran war
- Political fallout of ICE enforcement in battleground states
Notable quotes
This is the final battle.
Conclusion
The episode illustrates a period of significant political instability
Transcript preview
Speaker 2 (0:06) September 28th, 2026. It's become routine for Trump to spend the weekend posting wildly on social media, and this weekend was no exception. After attacking the press on Saturday morning, at 9.18 he posted a video with foreboding music that sped up as the video played, showing a glowering Trump walking down a hall toward the camera while his voice intoned, This is the final battle. With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state. We will expel the warmongers from our government. We will drive out the globalists. We will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media. and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all. The administration clearly set out to provoke a backlash when it played what appeared to be the same ad later in the day during NFL games, Fox News Sunday, Saturday Night Live, and several college football games, with the addition of the words, paid for by the U.S. government. As Stephen Collinson of CNN noted, Trump often tries to provoke a response to his outrageous behavior in order to feed the narrative that he is under attack from an establishment deep state because he is trying to save the nation. And this did, indeed, provoke a response. While the White House maintained the ad was a public service announcement, Richard Painter, who served as a White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, said using public funds for government-sponsored propaganda could be an impeachable offense. That image worked well enough in his 2016 campaign that he recycled it for the 2024 campaign, when videos nearly identical to the one he posted on Saturday appeared repeatedly. Speaker 2 (2:12) But its power now seems to be primarily in its ability to reinforce Trump's fantasy of himself. 36,000 social media users liked a post that read, Why is there a Donald Trump ad during an NFL game when he's not running for office? And why is the U.S. government paying for a political ad? Speaker 2 (2:35) Trump seemed to be working overtime on boosting his self-image on social media on Saturday, posting a series of videos showing a triumphal movie version of his second term, narrated by MAGA supporters. One video from 2023 showed him attacking Democrats. Other videos showed him winning his second term, setting out at top speed to fulfill his campaign promises. hosting the UFC mixed martial arts fight at the White House and launching Operation Epic Fury against Iran. Still others intone heroic literature, including If by Rudyard Kipling. That's the one that starts, if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you. With Trump as the hero. While the first video