Arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement of people with no criminal record are surging. Federal immigration agents have shot at nearly two dozen people – most of them Latino – since last year, according to The New York Times. Those include the fatal shootings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine.
Desperate Trump handed Dems the key to destroy him with this 'Nuremberg' speech
The New York Times described last week how foreign investors and allies are getting cold feet about the U.S. economy. Every other day, Trump imposes another nonsensical tariff, threatens the rule of law, lies about Iran, and remains clueless about how these actions affect the economy.
The Trumpapalooza midterm convention in Dallas, staged to spin the disastrous results of Trump 2.0 into ‘The Great American Comeback,’ confirmed Trump’s economic ineptitude. Speaker after speaker praised him so lavishly that the convention looked like his made-for-TV Cabinet meetings, as Trump used his podium time to strut his ignorance.
Almost on cue, the Fed followed the Times by announcing a rate hike, largely driven by Trump’s continuing fiscal missteps. Trump responded by attacking the board, “demanding a rate cut,” and separately threatening to punish Europe with more tariffs — a fiscal non sequitur confirming that Trump really has no idea how trade, tariffs, and interest rates work.
“Bread and circus bribes”
During the Republicans’ midterm convention, Trump spun high fuel and energy costs, an intractable war of choice, and serial divorce papers served on us by our allies as accomplishments. Such is the power of spin when truth no longer holds currency.
By now, it’s clear that the convention was just an emotional support rally for Trump, even though he is not running for office. What he is running for is his continued escape from legal accountability. If Democrats retake the House and Senate, the words ‘impeach,’ ‘corruption,’ and ‘Emoluments Clause’ will dominate headlines as they reacquaint federal governance with the rule of law.
Trump’s two widely panned, rambling convention speeches made false and familiar claims building up to the crescendo where he offered to pay every American adult $5,000 if Republicans win the midterms. He explained that the payments would be “very much like a successful company will do a cash distribution to its shareholders, or like last year when I gave our great members of the military $1,776.”
Both claims were sophomoric. Corporations don’t give bonus distributions when earnings are down and the company is $40 trillion in debt, and he didn’t “give” service members $1,776 because Congress had already funded a $2.9 billion military housing allowance in July 2025 from which those funds were taken.
A fan of renaming things, Trump simply renamed it a “Warrior Dividend,” and claimed it was his gift.
Trump still doesn’t understand how appropriations work
While most analysts assailed Trump’s $5,000 promise as an election-year sweetener at best and an illegal bribe at worst, the devastating takeaway should have been that Trump, after nearly six years on the job, still doesn’t understand how federal legislation works. Trump didn’t say he’d work with the Republican majority to authorize the payout, or help pass the law to drive it. A perennial mob boss, he said he would issue the checks, but only if he likes what he sees in the midterms.
After his repeated promises to issue checks that never materialize, Trump still hasn’t learned that massive direct-payment plans require either fast-track legislation or formal congressional approval. Even though Republicans now control the presidency, the House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court, Trump has been promising checks that never were for two years:
- He promised Americans $5,000 as "DOGE dividend" stimulus checks, a proposal that was officially scrapped when DOGE shut down with its tail between its legs after failing to realize a fraction of the “savings” they promised.
- He promised $2,000 “tariff dividend” checks that never materialized. Not only did the Supreme Court strike down Trump’s illegal tariffs, the math didn’t work either: Financial experts pointed out that sending $2,000 to every non-high-income American would cost between $450 billion and $600 billion, even though actual annual tariff revenues were far less than that amount, roughly $200 billion to $300 billion.
- He promised $1,000 to $1,500 checks from expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies. Republicans diabolically scheduled health care cuts to take effect after the midterms, but the Health Savings Account promised to soften the blow for 10 million people never materialized.
Trump’s convention speech demonstrated his continuing economic illiteracy
If Trump gave $5,000 to every adult U.S. citizen, it would cost $1.2 to $1.7 trillion, exploding the already astronomical federal deficit, which would in turn cause interest rates to skyrocket. For perspective, the entire 2025 annual U.S. budget was $7 trillion; Trump would add another 20% just to keep his unchecked power. Just as he doesn’t understand who pays tariffs, he either doesn’t understand the basic relationship between national debt and interest rates, or he doesn’t care.
Trump also demonstrated ignorance about how a free market works, telling his fawning audience that, “The only caveat I have is that the dividend that we’re making must be spent in the United States of America...” This is more delusional thinking. In a capitalist economy, currency cannot be stopped from moving freely; there is no way to track how or where cash is spent unless he intends to mark denominations ‘legal tender, but only inside the U.S.,’ then build a system to track it.
Given his apparent belief that he can simply print more money, wait for Trump to mint $5,000 Trump coins restricted to purchasing Trump.com products. Small wonder he is desperate for Republicans to stay in power.
During his convention speech, Trump led a Nuremburg Rally and demanded that attendees swear loyalty to him and promise to cheat in the midterms if necessary, urging voters to “pretend that he is on the ballot.”
Democrats should repeat, “Trump is on the ballot,” run his absurd loyalty pledge as a chyron at the bottom of every commercial, and display a running tally of gas, food, and home energy prices in the background of every midterm ad between now and November 3.
Sabrina Haake is a political analyst and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. She writes the free Substack, The Haake Take.
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A Trojan horse threatens to turn America into a puppet nation — and it's inside the gates
As a veteran, the oath I took to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, did not come with an expiration date. National security is not solely the responsibility of the military or even law enforcement. It begins with ensuring a government of, by, and for the people cannot be bought by the ultra-wealthy or left vulnerable to foreign influence.
A nation whose elected officials are propped up by foreign countries and shadow entities is not a sovereign nation, but a puppet. It is time to cut the strings.
As we mark Constitution Day this Sept. 17, I ask my fellow veterans to put that oath into practice through active civic participation. Take action to stand up for a country that is not run by the highest bidder.
Our nation’s Founders anticipated this exact vulnerability. George Washington called foreign influence “one of the most baneful foes of republican government,” while Thomas Jefferson warned that preserving liberty required constant vigilance against corruption and outside interference.
Unchecked dark money and foreign-backed interests are pouring into our elections, bending public policy toward priorities that do not serve the American public. Veterans, working families, and everyday citizens are being drowned out by massive financial influence from masked donors we cannot match.
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Here in Maryland, State Board of Elections filings reflect the same reality we see nationwide: Out-of-state funding and deep-pocketed donors dominate campaign finance, sidelining Marylanders. But this is not just a Maryland problem, and it is not one that we can solve alone. We need a national response.
According to an Ipsos Poll, Americans across the political spectrum agree that campaign spending is not speech that should be unregulated. Voters overwhelmingly agree that citizens and their elected representatives should be the ones setting the limits, without the Supreme Court sweeping away those protections. In 1976, in Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court determined that spending unlimited money on political campaigns is protected as free speech. In 2010, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission extended that “right” to corporations.
If money in politics is free speech, then most everyday Americans have no voice at all. Billionaires and corporate entities can spend sums in a single cycle that the vast majority of us will never see in a lifetime.
Americans of all political persuasions are uniting behind a clear objective: passing a constitutional amendment that restores the power to regulate election money to Congress and the states. The movement is real, and the moment has arrived.
The For Our Freedom Amendment, championed by American Promise, achieves exactly that by authorizing state and federal oversight of “contributions and spending in campaigns, elections, or ballot measures.” It has been introduced in Congress and needs active support to reach the floor for a vote.
Why is an amendment necessary? There are only two ways to overturn the Supreme Court: Wait for the court to reverse its own precedent, which is not happening here, or use the mechanism we learned about in high school civics, a constitutional amendment. The ultimate check and balance.
This Constitution Day cannot pass without notice. Having pledged our lives to defend this Republic, veterans hold both the standing and the moral obligation to demand a higher standard. We did not serve this country only to watch foreign wealth and billionaire mega-donors choose our leaders for us.
Fellow veterans, we no longer wear the uniform, but our duty is not finished. Our time standing in formations may be over, but our oath to the Constitution never expires. While we served, many of us were unable to be engaged in politics. That time has passed; we are home, and we are still serving, and we cannot do this alone.
Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: info@marylandmatters.org.