Former Health and Human Services senior adviser Calley Means told Breitbart News that Iowa is positioned to play a central role in advancing the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, emphasizing the importance of the state's agricultural economy, concerns about cancer rates, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn's willingness to address difficult questions surrounding food and health policy.
CLIVE, Iowa–Republican Iowa gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn took aim at the establishment media during a Make Iowa Healthy Again rally on Wednesday, accusing the press of contributing to public forgetfulness about the past and what is at stake ahead of the midterm elections, while Steak 'n Shake Chief MAHA Officer Michael Boes challenged media portrayals of the Trump administration's efforts to improve Americans' health.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) said Thursday that President Trump will appear in tele-rallies across 19 states before Election Day, an announcement which followed his two in-person event cancellations in Iowa and Kansas “Voters across the country want to hear from President Trump before Election Day, and this 72-hour sprint will be a huge boost…
The Republican National Committee (RNC) said Thursday that President Trump will appear in tele-rallies across 19 states before Election Day, an announcement which followed his two in-person event cancellations in Iowa and Kansas “Voters across the country want to hear from President Trump before Election Day, and this 72-hour sprint will be a huge boost…
EU council president calls deadly strike ‘cruel and devastating’; fragile ceasefire holds in Oleshky.What we know on day 1,710
European leaders have reacted with outrage to a deadly attack by a Russian drone that slammed into a busy railway platform in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Ukraine had intelligence about more ballistic missile strikes to come. French President Emmanuel Macron stressed the need for “far more than a localised ceasefire”, referencing the current truce in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky. The EU council president, António Costa, who described the Dnipro attacks as “cruel and devastating”, called for greater pressure on Russia after the latest strikes against civilians. “The EU will continue to increase the pressure on Russia and to support Ukraine until a just and lasting peace is achieved,” he added. “We call on all our international partners to do the same.”
Later on Thursday, Russian forces launched an attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with ballistic missiles, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram, hitting warehouses and triggering a fire. Emergency services were headed to the scene on the east side of the Dnipro River, he said.
Describing the Dnipro train station attack – which killed at least 14 people and injured another 14 – as “horrific”, the president of Ukraine insisted “sanctions against Moscow and its war machine must not be eased for as long as this Russian war continues”. Zelenskyy warned also that Ukraine had intelligence about preparations by the Russians of new ballistic missile strikes. “We need the means to take out all this Russian evil. We are expecting relevant decisions,” he said. Another attack on Dnipro hit a student dormitory, setting it ablaze, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said, adding the assaults had cut power to 350,000 households.
The strikes came as Ukraine and Russia kept to a fragile local ceasefire in the ravaged city of Oleshky – under Russian occupation since 2022 and where residents have faced months of food, water and medicine shortages. While the truce held into a third day, strikes elsewhere in Ukraine killed at least 20 people and injured more than 70 people, according to local officials. Russia and Ukraine said on Thursday an operation to bring aid into the town and allow residents to leave was ready to begin.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military has paused its strikes on Russian oil refineries after pressure from US President Donald Trump, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, citing people with knowledge of the operations. Ukrainian units carrying out long-range strikes were told in mid-October that the campaign against refineries was effectively on hold once missions already in motion were completed, the Journal reported. The unofficial pause is expected to last until after the US midterm elections and potentially deeper into November, the newspaper said.
After the Dnipro attack, Zelenskyy renewed his criticism of a deal struck between Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to ease some US sanctions on Russia allowing Moscow to release diesel on to global markets. “How many such terrorist strikes has Russia carried out against our people since sanctions were lifted on some Russian oligarchs and the energy sector, instead of de-escalating?” he asked.
Late on Thursday, Putin said he supported any steps aimed at restoring relations with European countries, saying the outbreak of any conflict would leave a situation with no winners. Commenting on his phone call this week with the leaders of Norway and Finland, Putin told reporters after hosting a summit with African leaders: “And if anyone wants it, let them prepare, but right now they have not achieved their goal – to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. And if things go too far, there will be no winners at all. .”
A lull in the weekly parade of teachers across the U.S. being busted for sexual relationships with their students ended this week with a Minnesota teacher being hit with a jail sentence for meetups with a student and another educator in Kentucky banned from ever teaching again after pleading guilty to sexting with a pupil.
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump will welcome trick-or-treaters to the White House Thursday evening for the annual Halloween celebration. The event comes just hours after Trump returned from South Carolina, where he rallied support for Republicans ahead of next week’s midterm elections. The first couple is expected to hand out candy to children…
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump will welcome trick-or-treaters to the White House Thursday evening for the annual Halloween celebration. The event comes just hours after Trump returned from South Carolina, where he rallied support for Republicans ahead of next week’s midterm elections. The first couple is expected to hand out candy to children…
A federal judge Thursday ruled that the Trump administration’s definition of “medically frail” used for Medicaid is unlawful, issuing a temporary injunction on states having to determine medical frailty. U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns found in his ruling Thursday that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s definition of “medically frail” was “contrary to law” and…
A federal judge Thursday ruled that the Trump administration’s definition of “medically frail” used for Medicaid is unlawful, issuing a temporary injunction on states having to determine medical frailty. U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns found in his ruling Thursday that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s definition of “medically frail” was “contrary to law” and…
The Department of Homeland Security asked an Icelandic hosting company to take down data obtained through hack
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asked an Icelandic hosting company on Thursday to take down or limit access to data related to thousands of agency personnel, saying the content put them at risk, according to the request posted online by hosting company FlokiNET.
The database “places more than 40,000 identifiable individuals at risk of harassment, stalking and physical harm”, the request said.
Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign allegedly collaborated with party operatives to confuse voters in midterms
The US justice department on Thursday is reported to have issued subpoenas in response to a report that the Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign collaborated with party operatives to get a challenger with the same name as the Republican senator Dan Sullivan on the midterm ballot.
ABC News and the Associated Press reported the subpoenas, citing sources familiar with the matter. The federal investigation comes a day after the New York Times found that the effort to recruit a second candidate named Dan Sullivan in the Senate race set to be decided on Tuesday was led by Peltola’s campaign, which had for months denied involvement.
President Trump’s proposed triumphal arch would be a “generational defense opportunity,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin have argued in court declarations. Critics have dismissed Trump’s attempts to link the arch to national security needs as a smokescreen to push through a divisive construction project. In filings submitted to a federal…
President Trump’s proposed triumphal arch would be a “generational defense opportunity,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin have argued in court declarations. Critics have dismissed Trump’s attempts to link the arch to national security needs as a smokescreen to push through a divisive construction project. In filings submitted to a federal…
US vice-president writes to top Iranian security official in sign Washington has not abandoned diplomacy
Hopes of averting a major new conflagration between Iran and the US soon after Tuesday’s midterm elections could rest on Iran’s response to a personal letter from the US vice-president, JD Vance, offering to restart diplomacy.
The letter, written after predominantly Qatari mediation, was sent to the secretary of Iran’s supreme national security council, Mohsen Rezaei on Sunday. It requires Tehran to agree to make commitments on its nuclear programme at the start of a process that would lead to the opening of the strait of Hormuz within seven days in return for US sanctions relief.
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs shot back at the Department of Justice (DOJ) for asking him to order his election officials to set aside ballots for hundreds of people the federal government identified as alleged non-U.S. citizens. In a Wednesday response to the DOJ’s request, Hobbs said, “Without individualized proof of ineligibility, it would…
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs shot back at the Department of Justice (DOJ) for asking him to order his election officials to set aside ballots for hundreds of people the federal government identified as alleged non-U.S. citizens. In a Wednesday response to the DOJ’s request, Hobbs said, “Without individualized proof of ineligibility, it would…
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Thursday urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to launch a criminal investigation into Bank of America for its violations of anti-money laundering laws. In a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Massachusetts Democrat called the Treasury Department’s recent $1.21 billion fine of Bank of America a “slap on…
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Thursday urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to launch a criminal investigation into Bank of America for its violations of anti-money laundering laws. In a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Massachusetts Democrat called the Treasury Department’s recent $1.21 billion fine of Bank of America a “slap on…
The midterm elections are just days away, and while anything can happen, the broad consensus among pollsters suggests a bad night for Republicans.
Hoping to shore up a victory for his party, President Donald Trump seized upon an idea: bribe the voters.
"If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them," Trump pledged in September, "I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000."
According to Vice President J.D. Vance, this "dividend"—which would cost more than $1.3 trillion—would come from the "extraordinary amount of revenue" generated by Trump's tariffs. Of course, that math doesn't work: According to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, the U.S. took in just under $300 billion in tariff revenue between January 2025 and July 2026, not counting the amount it has had to refund after the Supreme Court found they were illegally imposed.
At that rate, it would take years of tariffs just to pay for Trump's dividend. Adding insult to injury, of course, is the fact that tariffs are paid by Americans, meaning we would be taxing ourselves to pay for our own disbursement.
But in the campaign season's closing days, Trump has made a number of other threats and offers, contingent on his party's success—a completely risible use of government power.
In September, three Ohio Republicans—Rep. Mike Turner and Sens. Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted—petitioned the president to build a planned Space Force training academy in their state.
"Every other state wants it," Trump said this month at an Ohio campaign rally. "If we win the midterms, Ohio will be very, very strongly considered."
Some of his pledges have been much more explicitly transactional.
On October 17, the Department of Defense—which Trump calls by its original name, the Department of War—announced a conditional $80 billion loan to pharmaceutical manufacturer Antheia. That same day, at a campaign rally in Kentucky, Trump made a pledge to the state's voters.
"If the Republicans win, the Department of War will be investing $100 million in the pharmaceutical company Antheia to revitalize a gigantic drug manufacturing facility in Winchester, Kentucky," he said. But he prefaced it by telling Rep. Andy Barr, the Republican running for the state's open Senate seat, "you have to win, Andy. Otherwise, forget it."
Days later in both Kansas and Iowa, Trump brought up E15, a gasoline blend that contains up to 15 percent ethanol derived from corn. It has advantages and disadvantages as an alternative to traditional gasoline, but it's a boon for corn-growing states.
"Normally, E15 is not allowed during the summer because warmer temperatures increase fuel evaporation and thus the formulation of ground ozone ('smog')," writes Benjamin Zycher of the American Enterprise Institute.
The government can waive that restriction to address disruptions in the fuel supply, which it did in March amid gas price shocks related to Trump's war in Iran. The House passed a bill in May to make the waiver permanent and allow E15 to be sold year-round, which Trump backed in June; the Senate version of the Farm Bill includes a year-round E15 amendment, but Democrats have held up its passage.
"With Roger Marshall in the Senate," Trump told Kansans last week, "we will make year-round E15 permanent. But if [Democratic candidate] Adam Hamilton is in, I'm not doing it."
He then made the same pledge in Iowa, where Rep. Ashley Hinson is the Republican Senate nominee. "With Ashley in the Senate, we will make it year-round E15," Trump said. "We'll make it permanent."
Of course, it's nothing new for politicians to make big promises in exchange for your votes. Typically, they're all hollow to at least some degree.
And Trump's pledges do reflect some version of reality: Keeping the Senate in Republican hands will make it easier for him to do certain things. But some of his others have been downright indefensible, less like typical political bribery than outright extortion.
At a rally in North Carolina last month, he tied hurricane disaster aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to Senate candidate Michael Whatley's election.
"We spent more than $2 billion [in] FEMA funding," he told attendees. "You're waiting for some additional money…and I'm gonna get that to you, Michael. Now if Michael loses, I'm not sending it." He added right after, "I'm only kidding, you're gonna get it."
Other times, he didn't take it back: Trump appeared at a campaign rally in Georgia this week, stumping for Rep. Mike Collins to unseat Sen. Jon Ossoff, and part of his sales pitch was that if Ossoff wins, he may just ignore the state.
"President has a lot of power," he said, and there's "a big difference when he likes the people representing a state. Collins could call me anytime he wants." But if Ossoff wins, he added, he won't take the call, and he even narrated a hypothetical conversation to make his point: "'Tell him I'm not in.' 'But he needs money for Georgia.' 'I don't give a damn what he wants!'"
Also this week, Trump railed about the Senate race in Alaska, where Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan faces not only former Rep. Mary Peltola but a retired teacher also named Dan Sullivan. The New York Times reported this week that the Peltola campaign actively recruited the second Sullivan to run explicitly as a spoiler, to siphon votes away from the senator.
"I have delivered for Alaska at Historic Levels," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "The Democrats are trying to steal this important Republican Seat and, if that happens, everything we've done for Alaska will come to an immediate hault [sic]."
It's one thing to say the federal government shouldn't provide aid to states—and since taking office, the administration has cut or paused such disbursements by $177 billion. Last week, the FEMA administrator indicated that going forward, states should expect to shoulder more of their own disaster aid.
But this goes much further, with the president explicitly conditioning aid on whether or not the state's voters have displeased him.
Perhaps, as in North Carolina, Trump was simply joking; the White House did not respond to Reason's request for clarification.
But there's certainly precedent to suggest he was serious.
"Last September, the Department of Energy (DOE) recommended cancellation of 624 grants for clean energy projects that had been approved by the Biden administration," Reason's Jacob Sullum wrote in July. The government then "winnowed it down to 284 grants, all but one of which had been awarded to projects in states that were represented by Democrats in the U.S. Senate and had voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election."
In March, Politicoreported that Trump had approved 89 percent of disaster aid requests from states with a Republican governor and two Republican senators but only 23 percent of requests from states with Democrats in those offices.
According to the Idle RamblingSubstack, the trend continues: Trump has rejected nearly half of aid requests from Democrat-led states in this term while only rejecting 18 percent from Republican-led states.
But perhaps worst of all, he threatened not to pay out damages to people who suffered harm.
Between 1953 and 1987, the water at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina was contaminated by leaks of fuel and dry cleaning chemicals. The government estimates that as many as 1 million people, both service members and their families, were exposed to toxic chemicals. The Department of Veterans Affairs officially recognizes eight diseases stemming from exposure, including multiple cancers and Parkinson's disease.
In 2022, Congress passed the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, which waived any federal government claims of immunity and allowed veterans to sue over exposure to tainted water. As of September 2026, the Department of Justice says it has paid out more than $879 million, out of more than $1.1 billion in settlement offers.
"We're also fighting for our great veterans, and taking care of those veterans who brought claims related to water contamination at Camp Lejeune," Trump told North Carolina rallygoers last week. "And if we win the House and the Senate, I am directing the Department of Justice to settle all remaining legitimate claims as soon as possible." But "if we don't win, there's no money. If we do win, you're getting it."
It should be clear by now that Trump values personal loyalty over all else. To that end, there is nothing he finds more disreputable than failing to do what he says.
In the closing days of this campaign season, he is making that more explicit than ever, tying his party's success in a state to whether the state is entitled to equal treatment under the law.
Trump was right that presidents have "a lot of power." He's also a living example of why they shouldn't.
Login
