Trump News for Wednesday, September 30, 2026

An amazed US President Donald Trump relayed the story of how an ‘Israeli plumber’ helped land a Flydubai flight.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has tapped Newt Gingrich, Palmer Luckey, and Elon Musk to write a report on the future of warfare.

With the 2026 midterm elections fast approaching, polling increasingly suggests that the GOP is in for a bad time. As the Iran war drives up inflation and fuel prices, Republicans are on the back foot not just in swing states like Michigan, but in redder part…

The defense secretary's newly unveiled plan to get the US military ready for future wars turns in part on autonomous warfare and big names in tech.

Changes are coming to the US passport's appearance and the application process.

Seven Minnesota judges face ethics complaint after speaking publicly about US president's immigration crackdown.

Karoline Leavitt’s accidental Instagram Live drew 1,157 viewers and quickly sparked comparisons with Trump TV, a 24/7 streaming channel entirely dedicated to White House content.

Zuck drafted White House AI pledge! (Second column, 4th story, link) Related stories:Spells United States wrong on 'super intelligence' executive order... NYT: How META Uses Data Centers to Avoid Billions in Federal Taxes... Tech Giant…

President Donald Trump still thinks Republicans have a shot. His aides are less convinced.

At the D.C. War Memorial, 3 free arcade cabinets turn President Donald Trump’s push for Greenland into a playable satire. Visitors steer Trump north, fight Danish people alongside “Woke…

Pete Hegseth’s “State of the Force” address Wednesday was a bizarre journey in which he rehashed or remixed his most common talking points in Ted Talk fashion. Hegseth got to the culture war stuff early on in his address, bragging about firing a slew of longt…

Some 600 attendees at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s State of the Force speech at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia Wednesday received an unexpected keepsake during the officer-reduction announcement: a 144-page “field manual” filled with Hegseth’s “no…

Mayor Mamdani and President Trump address reporters after their meeting at Gracie Mansion on Sept. 21, 2026. The mayor’s clearance comes about a week after his meeting with President Trump. [ more › ]

America.gov wants to answer questions about government services. Just don’t ask it to play Minecraft, or type in the word “hotdog.”

Sarsour’s lawyers say the decision threatens free speech protections and plan to fight the ruling.

As the midterm elections approach, the GOP grows doubtful of winning the Senate races in Georgia and North Carolina as the party looks to shift resources to other races

FTC investigates AI firms amid concerns over rogue agents and potential threats to humanity within the next decade.

Trump announces voluntary pact on AI, urging companies to self-police amid growing calls for strict safety regulations.

The president got Big Tech leaders to sign a voluntary agreement for overseeing AI safety. But it leaves big questions unanswered.

Whatever it is, it's probably good for people who've been buying Slovenian domain names.

Series of publicly-funded television spots have been criticised by Republicans and Democrats as self-promotion by Trump.

The renovation costs became a focus of Trump’s pressure campaign against former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

The Federal Trade Commission is looking into the actions of leading AI labs Anthropic (ANTH.PVT), OpenAI (OPAI.PVT), and other AI firms to determine if they've harmed or misled consumers.According to the New York Times, the investigation centers on whether th…

GOP Senate candidate Ken Paxton told donors at a fundraiser that President Trump’s midterm convention had hurt him politically ahead of the midterm elections.

The chairman of the FCC dismissed concerns about the White House use of taxpayer money to pay for a series of ads promoting President Donald Trump. Noting that the administration has defended the spots as public service announcements “that you see all the tim…

The cost to buy new subway cars has skyrocketed since President Donald Trump returned to office, according to the MTA. New York's train cars and buses are manufactured in the United States, but they rely on loads of components manufactured all over the wor…

The White House launched America.gov on Tuesday, an AI chatbot meant to be a single front door to federal services. On its first day, it contradicted President Donald Trump. Within hours, some of its answers had changed. Trump signed an executive order at the…

The US Senate is set to leave Washington soon for election-season campaigning after two failed votes Wednesday on highly charged issues: AI data center costs and lawmakers' stock trading.The Ratepayer Protection Act and the Stop Insider Trading Act were block…

The investments come as Trump seeks to tout the Republican Party's economic record ahead of the US midterm races.

US has gradually loosened restrictions placed on Syria during the Assad era to aid country's recovery from conflict.

Republicans aren't just attacking one of Trump's enemies. They're trying to rewrite history

The U.S. ban on Canadian goods took effect Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. Eastern, covering alcohol, certain dairy products and motorcycles. Trade policy researcher Jacob Jensen estimates the affected imports at $967 million using 2025 figures.

Three-quarters of ICE’s own 2025 death reviews, briefly posted online, raised substandard and “inappropriate” care of ill detainees. The post ICE Deleted Reviews for Deaths in Custody That Cited Shoddy Medical Care appeared first on The Intercept.

fahrbot-bot shares a report from CNN: President Donald Trump on Tuesday unveiled America.gov, a government website meant to serve as a one-stop shop for people trying to accomplish basic tasks like renewing a passport, enrolling in Medicare or applying for di…

The Supreme Court will simply allow the Trump admin to conduct deportation to African prisons while they figure out if it's torture.

The Trump administration on Wednesday began mailing $500 checks to more than 950,000 Americans who bought health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's federal marketplace. The administration says the payments are being sent to families who were overchar…

The withdrawal ends two decades of foreign intervention in Iraq as part of 'global war on terror' and anti-ISIL fight.

The US Federal Trade Commission is investigating OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI labs over the risks their technology poses to consumers. An FTC spokesperson confirmed the probe on Wednesday to CNBC and CBS News. The New York Post first reported the probe earl…

The Supreme Court just keeps giving Trump a free pass to engage in what Mike Masnick correctly called “human trafficking.” It’s stuff this nation has never done before because it’s never been run by someone quite like Trump before. To maximize the cruelty inf…

Thanks to a 1980s anti-drug trafficking program, cities across the U.S. are being forced to turn over their license plate reader data to the Trump administration. 404 Media reports that the federal government is using the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area …

On Tuesday, President Trump met with tech executives at the White House to have them sign a "morally binding" agreement on artificial intelligence. Rather than pushing for government regulation, Trump called for "tremendous self-regulation" among companie…

The White House's new AI bot, America.gov, is apparently still a work in progress as it contradicts Donald Trump and gives bizarre answers.

Another Republican senator is begging the Trump administration to reduce its immigration raids. West Virginia Senator and Trump loyalist Jim Justice—mostly known for parading his massive bulldog around Capitol Hill—drew a line in the sand in a Tuesday intervi…

A school bus travels through New York City. State officials say New York’s protections against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation remain in place. [ more › ]

Saphier’s nomination now heads to the full Senate for a vote

The overhaul could reshape the US military as Hegseth faces scrutiny over senior officers’ removal.

At the MAHA summit, RFK Jr. says that A.I. is more trustworthy than your doctor, so you should probably trust your life to it.

The Trump administration is launching its new "Default Resolution Hub" for student-loan borrowers as part of the transfer of accounts to the Treasury.

Trump and Silicon Valley are selling the idea that AI will save us. It's a dangerous bet

“These are not the people I interviewed to serve.”

Allegations about “woke nonsense” imperiled a crucial source of Americans’ common identity.

If the Trump administration can find a way to make life a little worse for any federal employee, even a TSA agent, they'll undoubtedly do it.

Since 2007, Jezebel has been the Internet's most treasured source for everything celebrities, sex, and politics...with teeth.

Crude flows through Hormuz have recovered, but tanker insurance costs and geopolitical risks remain barriers to a return to normality.

Elon Musk has told reporters at the White House that AI and humanoid robots will most likely make everyone better off. He spoke on Tuesday outside the West Wing, beside President Donald Trump, after the president’s lunch with tech leaders. He began by praisin…

The New Republic writes “President Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans.” Yes, but do note that no student is banned from any major and the lending rule is mild. Undergraduate programs must s…

Ken Paxton privately said the midterm convention hosted by Donald Trump had dragged his poll numbers down.

A viral image had already put Natalie Harp’s relationship with Donald Trump under scrutiny when the White House aide gave a revealing interview, with several of her answers drawing fresh attention to the president and her role beside him.

The following is a lightly edited transcript of the September 30 episode of the Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here.Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network. I’m your host, Greg Sargent.This wee…

Voters aren’t falling for Trump’s taxpayer-funded ads and phony promises to pay them $5,000

A new rule from the Office of Management and Budget is part of the Trump admin’s broader efforts to restrict voting

“Hoax.” “Witch hunt.” “Russia, Russia, Russia.”For a decade, Donald Trump has incessantly claimed that there was no Moscow assault on the 2016 election and that the subsequent investigations of Vladimir Putin’s covert interference in that contest, and the con…

Fifty years ago, in his most famous work, the prolific intellectual Carlo Cipolla argued that stupid people, as a group, are “much more powerful than the mafia, or the military industrial complex.”Today, as we witness one of the dumbest wars in history unrave…

“We’re going to hold the crooks accountable,” House Democratic leader Hakim Jeffries told the Associated Press last week in anticipation of the Democrats’ likely retaking the House on November 3. (The political forecaster Charlie Cook says a Democratic House …

James Talarico may or may not win the Senate race in Texas. But here’s something we can say right now: Given how close Talarico is coming in this red state after running such an overtly pro-immigrant campaign—which Talarico has done on and off from the outset…

Trump's lunch with tech leaders like Elon Musk produced a "morally binding" safety accord, a new name for AI, and a handful of eye-catching moments.

President Donald Trump has now renamed a gulf, a lake, and a technology. On Tuesday, he signed an executive order telling every federal agency to stop saying ‘artificial intelligence’ and to call it ‘super intelligence’, or SI, instead. Also, on his Truth Soc…

Containers are seen at the container terminal of Nanjing Port, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on September 8, 2026. Most Chinese goods shipped to the United States have faced a minimum 12.5% tax. - AFP/Getty Images Here we go again: President Donald Tr…

He's scared of already-existing capabilities, not just spooky far-future hypotheticals.

The report is the agency's latest effort to chip away at trust in established health care models for transgender people. Critics say it frames transgender identity as illegitimate or even dangerous.

US president's comments came after he was asked why North Korea can have nuclear weapons when Iran cannot.

Pentagon official says the plan will be announced in the defence secretary's 'State of the Force' address in Virginia.

Political strategist Celinda Lake says that young voters don’t usually cast their ballots in midterm elections.

Despite support from other Democrats, the Senate voted 51-47 against a resolution to force U.S. probes on killings of Americans in the West Bank. The post Fetterman Sole Dem Against Investigating His Constituent’s Killer appeared first on The Intercept.

TORONTO (AP) — Mark Carney built a global profile in 2026 by standing up to U.S. President Donald Trump. If some prediction-market traders and prominent admirers are right, the Canadian prime minister could end the year with the Nobel Peace Prize and Time mag…

US President Donald Trump and leading tech companies have signed a voluntary agreement to regulate AI development.

The president also signed an executive order requiring his government to refer to AI as Super Intelligence.

Trump seems to be claiming that private sector AI leaders are on board with this.

Also requires name change to 'Superintelligence'

Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is getting divorced, according to South Dakota court filings.

It's the second time the U.S. has withdrawn all military forces from Iraq.

US President Donald Trump reiterates that Tehran will not have a nuclear weapon.