**The Supreme Court handed Donald Trump a major advantage in the midterms, **allowing the White House and some GOP-led states to collaborate to scrub voter rolls.
The midterms have been looking downright grim for Republicans. And you can tell they know it. Otherwise, President Donald Trump wouldn’t be heading out to campaign in the reddest of red states. That’s right: Trump is headed to Alabama next week as part of a
“thank you” tourafter a stop in Oklahoma, which iseven moreconservative.
Luckily for Trump, his buddies on the highest court in the land have his back. The Supreme Court approved one of his initiatives to seize control over federal elections, which could provide a much-needed boost for the GOP in the midterms, by potentially letting officials boot a lot of people off their voter rolls.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority
ruled todaythat Trump’s team can deploy a new federal database to check voters’ citizenship using sensitive information, such as Social Security numbers. Trump officials and red states have argued for months that they need a federal system to check for ineligible voters and crack down on (completely unfounded) voter fraud. The court’s three liberals dissented.
Voting rights groups have called the database defective and likely produce incorrect results, and expressed fears that the system could be used to remove a lot of perfectly valid voters from the rolls.
This is yet another example of conservative justices doing Trump a massive favor. The decision pauses a lower court ruling last summer, in which a federal judge said that the Trump administration’s efforts to build the database violated laws that protect Social Security numbers and other personal information from being shared.
The database was originally designed to determine who is eligible for federal benefits, said Marc Elias, a prominent elections attorney. “It can now be weaponized against voters in the United States,” Elias said
▶in a video. “It cannot go without notice that this is happening a mere five weeks before the midterm elections.”
The ruling followed a
rare, stark warningfrom Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson that the Supreme Court’s frequent use of its emergency docket — which has allowed it to greenlight many of Trump’s controversial policies — could “become an end-run around the standard review process” in the federal court system.
**Democrats are still favored to win in November. **But Republicans have a couple unprecedented advantages.
A new poll
found that52 percent of Americans would prefer Democrats to regain control of Congress after the midterms, while only 43 percent prefer Republicans — the largest lead for Dems yet.
One big problem for Democrats: They’re broke. The GOP is planning to spend $221 million more on advertising than Dems from now until November,
according to a firmthat tracks such data. Republicans are doling out more cash in eight highly-competitive states: Ohio, Texas, Michigan, Maine, Iowa, Alaska, New Hampshire, and North Carolina. (Democratic Senate nomineeshave largely outraisedtheir opponents, which is the only money advantage the party has.)
The GOP’s other advantage? Trump officials have turbocharged their efforts to crack down on election fraud claims, never mind that they’re mostly bogus.
The FBI recently visited a county in California because a state election official alleged that ballots “looked, felt and smelled funny,”
a local outlet wrote. Feds have targeted alleged noncitizen voters from more than a dozen countries —who are mostly green card holders. DHS recentlyclaimed thatnearly 16,000 people in Nevada may be noncitizens… even though records indicate that the number is literally zero.Zero!
**If cheating and boatloads of cash don’t work for Trump, **he can rest assured that the Supreme Court is looking out for him!
** Iran reportedly offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz** in one week if the U.S. lifts its naval blockade on the country.
** Artificial intelligence is powerful enough to cause **“a billion deaths,” tech mogul Bill Gates will warn on NBC’s “Meet The Press” this weekend, according to excerpts. He may be correct, but as the so-called “Godfather of AI” Geoffrey Hinton
** The Trump administration quietly carried out** its largest deportation campaign over the summer, mostly avoiding national headlines. But video footage obtained by the
The CDC isn’t recommending many new vaccines, even if they’re effective. One example: The agency recently approved a flu vaccine that tested well among older adults. Despite that, the CDC didn’t advise doctors on how to recommend it, breaking with longstanding tradition.
** Singer Ed Sheeran’s shows at Gillette Stadium** in Massachusetts — which is owned by billionaire Robert Kraft, who demanded that Macklemore be kicked off the tour for saying “Free Palestine” — were canceled due to an imminent nor’easter, according to the tour promoter.
** Ukrainian lawmakers are moving to legalize pornography **— to pay for 30,000 more drones in its war against Russia. The legalization is expected to generate $25 million in tax revenue. It’s a lucrative area: Ukraine learned that about 8,000 OnlyFans creators in its country made more than $131 million in 2023.
** Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg argued that his company’s** new glasses that are embedded with a camera are
Today is officially Dolly Parton Day, because it’s September 25. Get it? ▶9 to 5!
** You’ve probably heard of that Western Mass lesbian bar **story by now. But another small Massachusetts town is going viral after a local dressed as Krampus, the Christmas demon, satirically
** Nike co-founder Phil Knight donated $1 billion** to the University of Oregon to fund the creation of an engineering college. “At a time when we’re all feeling a little bit under siege, this is tremendous news,” University of Oregon President Karl Scholz told the
** A Gen Z staffer at NPR cracked a mystery** that had befuddled Ira Glass, the host of
** A man pulled off an intricate rescue of a cat **that had been stuck in a wall for five days in its Long Island home, likely spending most of the time upside down. This savior is known locally as “Catman,” since he has been rescuing kitties for 15 years. He has an entire
Meet William! He’s a 13-year-old “big boy.”
“Despite those nails, he has never scratched us! He does bite us when he’s hungry, but he never scratches.”
— Lanette
