‘Trump is not well’: President blasted for ‘tweeting badly doctored videos of fake news’

On Thursday, Axios reported that former NFL star and Trump-backed Georgia Senate nominee Herschel Walker tried to pursue an unusual campaign strategy during the summer: attacking a dog prominently featured in his opponent's ads.

"Walker's scandal-plagued Georgia Senate campaign was as chaotic and troubled behind the scenes as it seemed from the outside, according to conversations with nearly a dozen campaign officials," reported Emma Hurt. "'Alvin the Beagle' was a star of Sen. Raphael Warnock's campaign ads, and Walker and his wife, Julie Blanchard Walker, wanted the world to know that Alvin wasn't Warnock's dog. Incredulous staff ultimately complied with crafting a digital ad on the subject to appease them."

The New Yorker's Susan Glasser this week recapped the launch of former President Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, and declared that it might just be the worst political rollout she's ever seen.

Noting that she has never seen a presidential hopeful host two admirers of Adolf Hitler at their house for dinner before, Glasser asked whether there has "ever been a more awful start to a campaign?"

On Thursday, President Joe Biden managed to secure the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner from Russian prison in an exchange deal with Russia — but was not able to broker such a deal for Paul Whelan, a former Marine being held in Russia on trumped-up espionage charges, in large part because the U.S. has no Russian prisoners the Kremlin is willing to accept as part of that trade.

In an interview on CNN that night, anchor Erin Burnett prodded Paul Whelan's brother, David, to express frustration with the Biden administration over that state of affairs — but Whelan, despite being upset over his brother's situation, made clear he supported the Griner swap.