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Donald Trump threw a jungle-themed Halloween bash at Mar-a-Lago complete with caviar and drag performers. Trump said he expects to become “Mr. Veto” if Democrats retake control of Congress. Former Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens endorsed MAGA Senate candidate Mike Rogers on the eve of the election, triggering mass staff resignations. And Trump personally helped failed right-wing Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro flee to the United States.
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Rules for thee, sequins for me.
Donald Trump hosted a jungle-themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago Saturday night, just three days before midterm elections where affordability is voters’ top concern. The ballroom featured a king crab and caviar bar from Golden Goat Caviar, and a live zebra behind a cage in the corner.
Trump arrived at the party with the White House press pool around 8 p.m. He told reporters he hosted “rich members” of his private club, where membership is thought to cost at least $200,000 a year.
Instagram posts from guests showed a man in makeup and a skirt performing onstage at a party hosted by a president who banned drag at the Kennedy Center, calling it “anti-American propaganda.” Trump has also signed executive orders banning transgender service members from the military and defining sex as a male-female binary against medical consensus.
Last year, Trump threw a Great Gatsby-themed party amid a government shutdown that lasted weeks. That event was also criticized for being a gross display of wealth while regular Americans struggle to afford gas.
Six months is a long time to prepare for something you say won’t happen.
Trump told the New York Post that if Democrats take Congress, he expects to become “Mr. Veto,” blocking bills for “a month or two” before negotiating with the opposition. The White House is now identifying executive actions on immigration, tariffs, housing, and federal spending that Trump can take without Congress’ approval.
Deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, budget director Russell Vought, and White House counsel Will Scharf have been spearheading the project since April. Scharf’s team is mapping out which presidential powers can withstand a court challenge and preparing to defend the ones that likely cannot.
Federal agencies have already submitted policy proposals and legal reviews for steps the administration could take without Congress. Among the proposals being considered are fresh tariffs on wind turbines and other critical minerals, stricter visa requirements for foreign workers and international students, and actions to reduce housing costs.
The White House has publicly dismissed any suggestion that Republicans might lose, with spokeswoman Lauren Bis insisting the administration would continue to deliver wins. Trump has warned Republican lawmakers that he will be impeached if they lose.
Nothing unites Democrats and Republicans like agreeing Haley Stevens sucks.
The former Democratic representative betrayed her party Sunday and endorsed MAGA candidate Mike Rogers for U.S. Senate in Michigan on the eve of the midterm elections. The announcement came after she spent months backing Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed following his victory over her in August’s primary.
Stevens and El-Sayed repeatedly clashed over Israel during the primary, with El-Sayed criticizing AIPAC, which had backed Stevens’ campaign. Stevens backed El-Sayed after her loss, but grew increasingly critical of his positions on Israel and demanded he denounce an outside ad she claimed was antisemitic.
Stevens appeared with Rogers at a church Sunday, posting a video accusing El-Sayed of standing for “hate” instead of Michigan values. She said El-Sayed told her she was “no longer welcome” in his campaign and should “stay away,” which is why she was endorsing Rogers.
Stevens’ chief of staff and communications director both resigned immediately after the endorsement. Her former Senate campaign communications director Arik Wolk called the move “ridiculous and pathetic” on social media.
“Many amazing staffers went to work for Haley Stevens to fight for shared democratic values and keep this Senate seat blue. Some of those incredible people are now working their asses off to elect Abdul,” he𝕏 wrote. “There are two Supreme Court seats … and so many other values Haley claimed to care about on the line. By endorsing Mike Rogers, she has betrayed all those values.”
Fleeing criminal charges? The Mar-a-Lago halfway house has a bed and a private jet waiting.
Trump personally helped failed right-wing Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro flee to the United States after he lost Brazil’s presidential election to incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, according to the New York Times. White House communications official Jason Miller arranged for a private jet to fly Bolsonaro from Argentina to Ecuador and then to Miami, where he landed Wednesday.
Brazil’s Supreme Court had ordered Bolsonaro to hand over his passport by Monday as he faces criminal investigation for a massive money-laundering scheme. He entered the United States on a special kind of parole usually reserved for urgent humanitarian reasons.
His green-card application is being fast-tracked, much like that of his brother Eduardo, who was given permanent residency last year. Bolsonaro’s father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is currently under house arrest in Brazil for attempting his own version of January 6, and also briefly fled to Florida after his arrest.
Trump, without providing any evidence, said the election was “rigged” against Bolsonaro and told reporters it “looked very bad” to him. Bolsonaro has not conceded, and in a letter posted last week, declared himself the leader of Brazil from the United States.
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Federal Judge Throws Out DOJ Lawsuit Seeking to Block Alaska Senate Election Results. U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking to segregate ballots and delay certification of Alaska’s Senate race, ruling that the federal government lacks standing and that the move would violate voters’ right to a secret ballot. Trump personally directed the Justice Department to file the lawsuit, which was intended to block certification of the results should Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan fail to win the contest against Democrat Mary Peltola in a race complicated by a second candidate also named Dan Sullivan. Alaska’s elections director said the suit had “no legal basis,” while Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski wrote that the Justice Department should never have brought it.
Judge Tosses Trump’s $10 Billion Defamation Lawsuit Against WSJ Over Epstein Letter. A federal judge permanently dismissed Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and the Murdoch family, finding that Trump could not prove actual malice and was “nowhere close” to proving defamation. The lawsuit was filed after a Journal report that Trump had sent a gaudy birthday letter to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that included a doodle of a young woman’s body and the words “may every day be another wonderful secret.” The suit was dismissed in April by District Judge Darrin P. Gayles, an appointee of Barack Obama, but he allowed an amended complaint that he also found equally unsatisfactory. Trump’s lawyers said they planned to move forward with the case but dismissal with prejudice means the president cannot bring the same claim again.
** Federal Judge Orders Trump Administration to Stop Threatening Election Officials.** A California federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to stop demanding that local and state election officials set aside or refuse to process certain ballots that the administration says were cast by noncitizens. In letters to the California secretary of state and Los Angeles County, the DOJ asked that they impound the ballots of 20,000 registered voters, and armed Department of Homeland Security officials subsequently delivered letters to county employees threatening criminal charges if they did not comply. The administration’s actions were likely to interfere with election administration and disenfranchise lawful voters, the judge wrote, as the county said it could not comply with the demands without violating state and federal election law.
Alaska Sued Over Shuttered Rural Polling Sites That Left Native Voters Stranded. Democrats filed a lawsuit in Anchorage Superior Court Friday, accusing Alaska election officials of failing to properly operate at least 18 rural polling locations, most of them in remote, predominantly Alaska Native communities. The complaint says state-advertised absentee voting sites either didn’t open, opened late, had irregular hours or had no ballots available, and some voters traveled to their designated voting location by boat or plane only to be turned away. State Senator Bill Wielechowski wrote the elections division earlier this month about the precincts. Alaska elections director Carol Beecher confirmed later that 12 had opened, three had declined to open and three could not be reached.