Over the next one hour and forty-eight minutes, Donald Trump declared that the United States owns Greenland, called Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed a jihadist who is “on the side of the terrorists,” and told Jewish Americans who support El-Sayed that they should be ashamed of themselves and never speak to him again. He then invited the father of a September 11 hero onto the stage to tell thousands of people that having a United States birth certificate doesn’t make someone an American. And then, seemingly forgetting why he was even there, he stopped to talk once again about looking at another man’s “ass.”

The man Donald Trump came to Michigan to destroy was born in metro Detroit, earned a medical degree, and became an epidemiologist who once ran the city of Detroit’s health department, and if Michigan elects him in nine days, he will become the first Muslim ever elected to the United States Senate. That is what today was really about, and just three minutes into his speech, Donald Trump admitted as much: “I’m here today in Michigan for a very important reason. I’m here to keep a jihadist, Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator.” Then he promised that “the people of Michigan are going to defeat Abdul Mohammed,” a name El-Sayed doesn’t use, but one Trump repeated to make him sound more foreign and threatening to the crowd.

Trump then went after El-Sayed’s family, accusing his mother of supporting al Qaeda, his sister of celebrating the October 7 terrorist attacks, and his father-in-law of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Associated Press reported that there is no evidence El-Sayed has any connection to the Muslim Brotherhood, and Michigan Public found that the accusations against his mother were not supported by the available evidence. But none of that mattered to Trump. He was using El-Sayed’s family and his Muslim faith to portray him as a terrorist and convince Americans that he was someone to fear.

Then he moved from El-Sayed’s family to El-Sayed himself. “Anyone with that record of support for jihadists would be screened and unable to get a seat on an airplane,” Trump said. “They certainly should not give him a seat in the United States Senate. He would be the only senator that will have to go through a metal detector before he’s allowed to go into the Senate. I want him to have a metal detector.” He said that “Michigan does not need a senator who’s on the side of the terrorists,” and that El-Sayed “wants our country to go to Sharia law.”

Then Donald Trump proved just how unfit he is to lead a country built by immigrants when he tried to turn two groups of Americans, both of whom have faced hatred and discrimination, against each other. He told the crowd, “Any Jewish person that supports this guy should be ashamed of themselves, I’ll tell you right now,” and added, “You should never speak to him again.” He went on to claim that he was “polling at 99% in Israel” and that he could not understand “how anybody who’s Jewish can even think about voting for this guy.” In just a few sentences, the President of the United States told Jewish Americans to turn their backs on Muslim Americans and suggested that their votes and friendships should be based on their religion rather than their own beliefs. What Trump was trying to say is that Muslims are guilty simply because they are Muslim, and Jews are guilty if they refuse to treat Muslims like enemies. This is how authoritarian leaders divide a country. They turn people against their neighbors, convince them that other Americans are the enemy, and demand loyalty to themselves above everyone else.

Later in his speech, Donald Trump took his attacks even further, telling the crowd, “If Abdul and the Democrats win, they will open the floodgates and invite hordes of jihadists to our shores, creating a nightmare of violence and terror until you cannot even have a Christmas.”

With just nine days until the midterm elections, and Republicans facing growing anger over inflation, soaring gas prices, and Trump’s war in Iran, Donald Trump took his attacks to an entirely different level. He brought up the September 11 terrorist attacks and began telling the story of Todd Beamer, who was born in Flint, Michigan, and was one of the brave passengers aboard United Flight 93 who fought back against the hijackers and prevented the plane from reaching its intended target, saving untold numbers of lives. But Trump was not telling this story to honor an American hero. He was using it to attack Abdul El-Sayed. “Twenty-five years later, Michigan needs to stand up and fight just like Todd did to stop a jihadist from walking into the Capitol,” Trump said, before continuing, “Todd Beamer gave his life for America. And you have to give your vote for Todd Beamer, if you can view it that way.” The President of the United States had just compared voting against a Muslim American doctor to the courage shown by Americans who sacrificed their lives fighting terrorists on September 11. And then he invited Todd Beamer’s father onto the stage.

Like so many of us, I have always thought of Todd Beamer as a true American patriot and a hero, a man who spent his final minutes on earth thinking of other people. He found an extraordinary strength that morning, the kind that, thankfully, few of us will ever have to search for. That is what made what happened next so painful to watch.

David Beamer, who told the crowd he was “four score and four” (or 84 years old), spoke for nearly twelve minutes. He began by asking everyone to pray before taking a disturbing turn and comparing the enemies America faced on September 11 to the ones he claimed we face today. “The enemy has not come from abroad. The enemy is right here among us. Local terrorists. Local citizens that want to demolish our country. They call themselves Democratic Socialists of America. Do you know what the DS really stands for? Demolition specialists.” He went on to claim that the Democratic Socialists’ platform “reads like the terrorist platform of 9/11 on steroids,” that “Abdul would much prefer Sharia law,” and that “the mantra of their platform is really death to America.” A father still reeling from the unimaginable loss of his son, who was murdered by terrorists on September 11, stood in front of thousands of Americans and told them that their own neighbors, people who want things like affordable health care and public education, were terrorists too.

The rest of his words were equally disturbing, and the President of the United States of America stood behind him, listening and agreeing with every word he said. “Mike Rogers is an American. Abdul has a birth certificate. The birth certificate says he’s a citizen of America. Well, you know what? A birth certificate doesn’t make you an American.” He kept going. “He has a birth certificate, but he’s not an American. He had the choice to be an American or not. He has chosen otherwise. He has blood that’s red. However, he has chosen to remove any strain of the white and blue part in his blood. We cannot allow this man to invade and occupy our country.” He suggested that people who disagree with him should “take their energy and their money, go buy an island someplace and try that socialism thing again somewhere else,” and take Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders along with them. Then he led thousands of people in a chant of his son’s final words, words that have long stood for courage and sacrifice, but were now being used as part of a political attack against a fellow American. “On three. One, two, three. Let’s roll.”

When it was over, Donald Trump didn’t correct him or remind his fellow Americans that hatred, especially hatred directed at Muslim Americans, has no place in this country. Instead, he thanked David and Peggy Beamer and told them, “Your boy is looking down very proud of you both right now.”

David Beamer has lived through a loss I cannot imagine, and nothing I say will ever take away from his grief or from his son’s heroism. But he did not wander onto that stage, and he was not ambushed. He came as a surrogate for Mike Rogers, whom he has endorsed and for whom he has appeared in campaign advertising against El-Sayed, and he chose every one of those words. I can hold compassion for a grieving father and still hold him accountable for the dangerous things he said. The men who murdered Todd Beamer believed that an entire nation of people was their enemy, that thousands of human beings they had never met deserved to die because of who they were and what they believed. Twenty-five years later, Todd’s father stood on a stage and taught a crowd of Americans to believe the same kind of thing about their neighbors. That is the real heartbreak of what happened in Port Huron today. The hatred that took his son has found its way into him.

What Donald Trump encouraged today is not new. We’ve seen variations of this type of hatred and division before, and history has shown us where it leads. In 1935, Nazi Germany passed the Reich Citizenship Law, which declared that only a person “of German or kindred blood” could be a citizen of the Reich. Jewish Germans whose families had lived in the country for generations, who had fought for Germany in World War I, and who held German birth certificates were stripped of their full rights as citizens. They were still living in the country they called home, but they were no longer considered equal members of it. When David Beamer told the audience that a man’s birth certificate doesn’t make him an American and questioned his loyalty using the colors of the American flag, he was making an argument with a disturbing historical parallel: that belonging to a country is not determined by citizenship under the law, but by whether those in power consider you worthy of being called an American. And Donald Trump stood behind him and let him say the very things that Donald Trump himself also believes.

And we have seen this happen right here in America, too. In 1942, the United States government forced roughly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry from their homes on the West Coast and sent them to incarceration camps. Nearly two-thirds of them were American citizens, many born right here in California. They had American birth certificates, but none of that mattered because their own government had decided that their ancestry made them a threat to the country they called home. Decades later, a federal commission determined that what happened was the result of “race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership.” The United States eventually formally apologized and paid reparations to surviving victims.

I still remember reading Farewell to Manzanar in school and struggling to understand how the United States of America could have done something so horrible to its own people. Much like when I first learned about slavery, I couldn’t understand how so many people could have stood by and allowed their fellow human beings to be treated that way. I remember wondering how anyone could have believed it was acceptable, let alone participated in it. And here we are, 84 years after Japanese Americans were first forced from their homes, watching history begin to rhyme once again. We have already lived through the consequences of allowing our government to decide that some Americans are less American than others simply because of who they are or where their families came from. We should not have to learn that lesson again.

Like many Americans, I didn’t grow up around Muslim people. I’m sure there were Muslim families in my community; I just didn’t know them. I grew up with friends who were Mormon, Jewish, Catholic, Christian, and some who followed no religion at all, but I didn’t have a close Muslim friend until I went to college. In 1995, during my freshman year, I was seated next to a young Muslim man who would become a close friend.

One night, I was feeling stressed about schoolwork and wanted to go for a walk late in the evening to clear my mind. He insisted on coming with me to keep me company and make sure I was safe. It was on that walk that he told me about his faith and family. What stayed with me the most was how peaceful his religion was, and how much he cared about his mother. Through him, I met more Muslim friends, and not one of them ever tried to convert me. Not one of them ever said a word about my hair being uncovered, even though many of their mothers covered theirs, and not one of them ever made me feel anything but welcome. We were all just kids learning how to be adults, trying to figure out who we were while having some fun along the way.

Six years later, on September 11th, I didn’t think of him. I didn’t think of his family or his friends, because I had never once connected him to extremism, and why would I have? He was the friend who insisted on walking with me so I’d be safe. In the same way, I don’t hold Jewish people responsible for the Israeli government’s war in Gaza, I don’t hold all Palestinians responsible for what Hamas did on October 7th, and I don’t hold every American responsible for Donald Trump. The list goes on and on, because that is how human beings actually are. We are not our governments, and we are not the worst person who happens to share our faith.

Maybe the most important lesson that history can teach us right now is that if someone stands up and tells us that an entire group of people is evil, that they should be feared, watched, screened, or sent away, the person we should fear most is the one saying it, not the people they are trying to turn us against. Because never in history has the real threat been an entire people. The threat has always been the man with the microphone who needs us to believe otherwise. David Beamer told the crowd today that “the enemy is right here among us,” and he was right about that. But the enemy wasn’t a doctor running for the Senate. It was the man sharing that stage with him, the one who invited him up there and handed him the microphone.

Bishara Bahbah, a founder of Arab Americans for Trump, helped lead Donald Trump’s outreach to Arab American voters in Michigan during the 2024 election. Today, he told the Associated Press, “The president’s statements are out of line. They are crossing a red line. They are racist.” He continued, “The remarks are out of line and crazy. I mean, no sane individual would say these things,” before adding, “The president of the United States saying that about a person because of his religion, that is just not acceptable. And people are going to remember that on Nov. 3.” Two years ago, this man was helping Donald Trump win Michigan. Tonight, he is publicly calling the president’s remarks racist, and that tells us just how far this has gone, even for some of the people who once supported him.

Senator Bernie Sanders, who joined El-Sayed in Grand Rapids tonight, said Republicans are turning to Islamophobia because they have no answers for Americans struggling with health care, housing, and the cost of living. “All they can do is foment hatred and divisiveness,” he said. At that same rally, El-Sayed responded to Trump’s attacks with a little humor, telling the crowd, “I don’t even care that he remembers my whole name because he can just go on and call me ‘senator’ after November,” before adding, to loud cheers, “I will be Senator Muhammad to you, bro.” El-Sayed has also called the attacks on his loyalty “shameful.”

While Donald Trump was in Michigan today trying to convince Americans to fear their own neighbors, people in other parts of the world were showing us what happens when ordinary citizens refuse to be afraid anymore. In April, Hungary voted out Viktor Orbán after sixteen years in power, despite Donald Trump and JD Vance throwing their support behind him. I have written before about how Hungary felt when I visited in 2019, how the country I had once fallen in love with seemed to be holding its breath. In April, it finally exhaled.

Today, it was Brazil’s turn. Yesterday, Reuters published a disturbing investigation into how two Trump administration officials worked behind the scenes to help return the Bolsonaro family to power, pushing for sanctions to sway the election and telling American diplomats that restoring Jair Bolsonaro was United States policy. When his conviction for plotting a coup made that impossible, they shifted their attention to getting his son, Flávio, elected instead. But the Brazilian people had other plans. Tonight, President Lula defeated Flávio Bolsonaro with 51.79 percent of the vote, and people poured into the streets of São Paulo to celebrate. Despite everything the Trump administration did to interfere, the Brazilian people made their own decision to resist a far-right takeover.

In Serbia, where Aleksandar Vučić had dominated politics for nearly fourteen years, a student-led resistance movement accomplished what once seemed impossible. After nearly two years of protests against government corruption, ordinary citizens came together and defeated him at the ballot box. The student-backed movement won roughly 52 percent of the vote, and Vučić conceded defeat almost immediately. Young people who had been accused of being enemies of their own country stood together and helped bring down a government that had spent years trying to silence them.

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There is something happening around the world right now that should give all of us hope. Orbán looked untouchable. Bolsonaro and his family believed they could return to power. Vučić looked untouchable. But none of them were stronger than the people who refused to give up on their countries. These victories didn’t happen overnight, and they didn’t happen because one person came along and saved everyone. They happened because people kept showing up, organizing, protesting, and voting, even when they were told it was pointless.

Today, Donald Trump was already laying the groundwork to question the midterm election results, warning about “cheating vote counters” and singling out Detroit’s votes. With just nine days until the midterms, he is once again telling Americans that they cannot trust their own elections. But we have seen what happens when people refuse to be intimidated. The people of Hungary, Brazil, and Serbia have reminded us that no leader is invincible and that the power ultimately belongs to the people. The strongmen who rule through fear want us to believe that nothing we do matters. But this weekend, ordinary people reminded the world that it does, and in nine days, we will have our chance to do the same. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

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This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: One of my daughters was diagnosed with celiac disease not too long ago, after being very ill for a long time. She is still healing from a lot of the damage that was done, but is finally feeling well enough to start experimenting with baking gluten-free bread. Tonight she made her first loaf of white bread, and she was so proud, as was I! It was delicious.

Links to sources used in writing this article:

Trump speaks at midterm rally in Michigan: YouTube Video

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/calendar/

https://bnonews.com/whpool

https://bridgemi.com/michigan-government/fact-checks-takeaways-donald-trump-rips-dems-downplays-gas-prices-in-michigan/

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/25/trump-invokes-911-in-urging-michigan-voters-to-oppose-el-sayed.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/01/retrofitted-qatari-jet-flight-air-force-one-trump.html

https://www.michiganpublic.org/politics-government/2026-10-25/trump-escalates-anti-muslim-attacks-against-el-sayed-in-michigan-drawing-arab-american-rebuke

https://www.michiganpublic.org/politics-government/2026-10-24/fact-check-rogers-claims-about-el-sayeds-mother-dont-match-the-evidence

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-escalates-rhetoric-against-el-sayed-as-he-tries-to-undermine-democrat-in-michigan-senate-race

https://www.dailywire.com/news/father-of-flight-93-hero-lays-into-michigans-abdul-el-sayed

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nuremberg-race-laws

https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Personal_Justice_Denied_(book)/

https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10915043

https://www.mediaite.com/politics/watch-cnn-captures-all-of-budapest-hitting-the-streets-to-party-after-trump-buddy-viktor-orban-concedes-hungarian-election/

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/oct/24/inside-the-trump-administration-campaign-to-return/

https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20261025-live-voting-under-way-across-brazil-in-tight-presidential-run-off-between-lula-and-bolsonaro

https://iol.co.za/news/world/2026-10-26-a-victory-for-democracy-lula-supporters-celebrate-brazil-election-win/

https://www.euronews.com/2026/10/25/vucic-concedes-defeat-in-pivotal-serbian-elections-says-student-movement-has-won

At 7:15 last night in Perry, Georgia, Donald Trump stood before his most devoted supporters and tried to sell them a story that should offend anyone struggling to pay their bills. Oil companies were making enormous profits, he said, because of what was happening in the Middle East. To him, that meant our country was doing wonderfully. But a company making a fortune is not the same thing as a family being able to afford gasoline, groceries, or rent. According to Trump himself, his own advisers warned him not to brag while people were paying more at the pump. He understood exactly how it would sound. He even supplied the headline about Americans suffering, then said he did not give a damn and was going to say it anyway. This was not someone failing to notice the difference between corporate profits and household hardship. He acknowledged it and kept boasting.

What came later in the speech disturbed me even more. Trump acted out an imaginary call from Jon Ossoff asking for money for Georgia and told the audience he would refuse to take it. The people who would suffer if a president withheld help are not just politicians he dislikes. They are the roughly eleven million people who live in Georgia, pay their taxes, and may need their government when the next hurricane hits. That money has never belonged to him. His remarks about the National Guard, his talk of Cuba, and his willingness to treat presidential power as something personal leave me thinking about what comes after November 3. I worry about what he might do if Democrats win Congress, and I remember Mike Johnson’s refusal to seat Adelita Grijalva for 50 days. I also worry about what two more years without congressional accountability could bring.

While Trump was speaking in Georgia, Barack Obama was in Detroit reminding people that they can say enough is enough. He asked them to find people who might not otherwise vote and help them make a plan. That is something each of us can do over the next ten days. Trump told Georgians he did not care what their senator wanted. On November 3, we get to show how much we care about one another.

See the full story in the video.

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We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent media is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

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I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 10-24-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

WATCH LIVE | President Trump set to address voters at rally in Perry: YouTube Video

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/24/france-braces-for-another-day-of-mass-protests-as-security-on-high-alert

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/12/nx-s1-5606350/adelita-grijalva-swearing-in

https://politifact.com/article/2026/mar/19/SAVE-America-Act-women-vote-citizenship-Trump/

https://aa.com.tr/en/americas/trump-says-us-will-take-care-of-cuba-on-its-way-back-from-iran/4099050

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/24/trump-says-he-may-move-white-house-press-corps-to-new-location

https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/24/politics/live-news/midterm-election-congress

https://bridgemi.com/michigan-government/fact-checks-takeaways-barack-obama-blasts-trump-touts-el-sayed-in-detroit/

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2026/10/24/obama-rally-detroit-michigan-senate-abdul-el-sayed-jocelyn-benson--live/92416061007/

https://law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-5/exclusion-and-removal-of-non-u-s-nationals

https://ingest.abcnews.com/blogs/entertainment/2013/04/jason-aldean-splits-from-wife-jessica-ussery/

After being introduced at this latest rally by country music singer Jason Aldean, a man whose marriage reportedly ended not too long after he was seen kissing a woman in her 20s who was over a decade younger than he was at the time, while still married to his high school sweetheart, Donald Trump slapped his upper right thigh and used both hands to pull himself up the stairs.

Once on stage, he embraced Aldean, whispered into his ear, and then began speaking with a hoarse voice. At one point, he appeared to forget why he was even giving this rally when he went on a tirade about how it is fine for Americans to suffer through high gas prices because American oil companies are making “hundreds of billions, trillions of dollars.”

His whole explanation was even worse. He started by acknowledging high oil prices, saying: “And while oil prices are temporarily high and will be falling dramatically in a short period of time, as soon as that war is over, because there’s so much oil all in the Hormuz Strait.”

Then he jumped straight to the truth, calling the candidates he was there to campaign for monsters: “The United States oil and gas business is making hundreds of billions of dollars. So I said, I wonder if I should say this. I’d like a little advice from my two people, my two big monsters that are going to do so well. They’re going to be the biggest stars in the country in a week.”

He was talking about the enormous profits being made by oil and gas companies while everyday Americans are facing an affordability crisis. He was so excited to share just how much money his friends and enablers are making that he decided to ignore the warning about how terrible it would sound to the millions of Americans struggling to afford gasoline.

After that, he went into a deeper explanation about how oil companies were making all of this money because of the war in the Middle East: “So, our country is making hundreds of billions of dollars because of what’s happened in the Middle East because they’re coming to Texas and they’re coming to Oklahoma and they’re coming to Louisiana and they’re taking that oil. They’re making hundreds of billions of dollars, our country is, on oil.”

The President of the United States was trying to twist a global fuel crisis that was caused by the war he started in Iran into a net positive for the American people who are actively suffering because billionaires are getting richer. He tried to convince us that the war is actually good for the economy, even as people struggle to afford basic necessities like groceries, housing, and gasoline. He thought he could really convince the American people that record corporate profits were somehow a sign of economic prosperity for everyone, as though they were benefiting the families who are paying more every time they fill up their cars.

“And then on top of it, we have Venezuela and we have Greenland because Greenland has a lot of oil. So we’re making hundreds and hundreds of billions, trillions of dollars. But my people said, ‘Please don’t mention that, sir, because people are paying a little higher.’ That number is going to come way down. But what we’ve done for this country, we’re making money like this country has never made before.”

Greenland is not ours, and neither is Venezuela. Maybe he has convinced himself that they are, but their people would beg to differ with him. His own advisers, according to Trump himself, had warned him not to brag about the money being made by these oil companies while Americans were paying higher prices. But he does not care about people suffering or how his comments could be received, especially so close to the midterms.

“So I said, Let me say it very gingerly, very softly. Because somebody would say the fake news he’s bragging about making money while people are suffering at the you know because you know you’re still paying lower than Biden and Obama and they don’t have nuclear weapons but they’re going to be coming.”

He is absolutely right that this will be something the news covers, and for good reason. He has lost all touch with reality and the ability to control his words. Actually saying this and expecting anyone other than his sycophants to believe that this is somehow good news is beyond absurd. And then shifting the blame to Biden and Obama all these years later makes absolutely no sense. But what was perfectly clear was that he understood exactly what he was doing. He knew that Americans were suffering because of high gas prices, and he knew that bragging about oil companies making enormous profits would make him look terrible. And he did it anyway.

“No, I could just see the fake headlines. President Trump is talking about all the money they’re making while people are suffering at the pump. That’ll be the headline. But I said I don’t give a damn. I’m going to say it. We’re making a freaking fortune. Our country is getting stronger and stronger all the time, and those pump prices are going to come down.”

He got that exactly right. I couldn’t have said it better myself. Right after those last few words, he went straight back to reading from his teleprompter.

What he said about oil companies and the money they are making might be the thing that gets the most people talking, but he said something else that was even more disturbing. Deeper into his speech, Donald Trump told the audience, and those watching from home, exactly how he plans to use the power of the presidency against any state that dares to elect someone he doesn’t like. “There’s a big difference when a president, president has a lot of power,” he said. Then he acted out an imaginary phone call from Georgia’s Democratic senator, Jon Ossoff, who is up for re-election and whom he loves calling Peewee Herman: “Sir, Peewee Herman’s on. Tell him I’m not in. I’m not in. But he needs money for Georgia. I don’t give a damn what he wants. I’m not in.”

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He even stopped to admit that he probably shouldn’t be saying that because people would say it wasn’t appropriate, and then he said the rest of it anyway: “When other people call me, I’m terrible. I’m just terrible.” What we all know, and the President seems to forget, is that he isn’t really talking about Jon Ossoff when he says that. He is talking about hurting the very people in that room, and the others who voted for him, who will need help the next time a hurricane hits. They and the roughly 11 million people who live in Georgia, and who pay their taxes like everyone else, are the people who would suffer if he refused to send help. That money has never belonged to Donald Trump, yet he still stood there and acted like it was his to use to help or hurt those he likes or doesn’t like.

He also spent time bragging about sending the National Guard into American cities, describing the soldiers as “the best looking people you’ve ever seen,” and then told a very strange story about National Guard members who “happen to be very large people” going up to supposed gang members and saying to them, “Why are you guys here? Why you standing here? Don’t hit us because we will hit back. Really?” Then he told the audience that they “beat the sh*t out of them and they send them back to the countries from where they came.” Why he felt the need to tell what sounded like a made-up story about soldiers beating people on American streets and shipping them out of the country right before the elections is anyone’s guess. Maybe he is foreshadowing what he plans to do soon?

The rest of the rally was filled with more Trump absurdities. He told Jason Aldean, with his second wife sitting right there in the audience, “The day you stop selling records, she’s gone,” because he sees everything as transactional, even relationships, although he might be right on this one. He said, “You know, I know more about stone than any human being outside of Italy,” and he once again twisted the unrest in France into an attack on immigrants, claiming that “France is right now burning down because it opens its borders to people who hate it,” when the people marching there are protesting over teacher shortages and crumbling conditions in their schools, a movement that has since grown to include many of the same rising costs Americans are struggling with here. Each one of these absurd statements could pass for the ramblings of a man in mental decline, and they very well may be, but this is the President of the United States of America, who has access to nuclear weapons and the ability to start wars and send our military members into harm’s way.

He has completely abandoned any and all restraint, and it raises the question of exactly what Donald Trump will do if Democrats take back Congress in ten days. This is one of my biggest concerns right now. Will there be another January 6 moment? Will he send another mob to storm the Capitol to stop the certification of another election his party lost?

I also keep asking myself whether he will lean on Mike Johnson to keep people from being seated, because we already know Johnson is willing. Remember last year, when Adelita Grijalva won her special election in Arizona in September, and Johnson wouldn’t allow her to take her oath for 50 days, the longest any member of Congress has ever waited, while two Florida Republicans had been sworn in the day after their own special elections. Remember how her signature was the one that forced the vote to release the Epstein files, and Arizona’s attorney general had to go to federal court while more than 800,000 Arizonans went without a voice. That feels like a lifetime ago now. I had to read through my posts from last year to remember all the details because there is so much corruption and so many anti-American actions by this administration that the details start to fade so new atrocities can take center stage in our minds.

Then there is the fear I carry that is just as heavy when I think about us not taking back Congress. What if the elections are rigged? I don’t mean rigged the way Trump uses that word, as an excuse for losing. I mean actually rigged, by Trump and his yes-men. Or what if not enough people show up, because they are exhausted and have convinced themselves their vote no longer matters? Trump told us tonight what comes next if Republicans hold on: “We will pass voter identification, proof of citizenship, and the Save America Act to defend our sacred American elections very soon,” which would make it harder for millions of eligible Americans, especially married women who changed their names, to register and vote during our next big presidential election in 2028, which will be here before we even know it.

We have to think about what our country will look like at the end of next January. I’ve been finding myself thinking about this more and more, usually late at night, right after I finish writing. I think about the generations that will come after us and what will be left of the country they inherit, whatever version we end up handing them. The answer splits into two very different Americas depending on what happens on November 3rd. In one, a Congress with real power starts asking questions under oath, the courts that have been holding keep holding, and the long, hard work of accountability finally begins. In the other, we face at least two more excruciating years of Donald Trump’s unchecked power.

There could be more wars. Just yesterday, at a rally in Fort Myers, Florida, Donald Trump said, “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of Cuba on our way back from Iran. We’ll do a little stopover.” Then he described exactly what that stopover would look like: “Those beautiful ships will pass Cuba. We’ll have one of them stop about 50 yards off the coast. They’ll raise up their hands, and then we’re going to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal.” There could be more troops in our cities, and they might not stop at their current targets. They could begin rounding up others whom this administration has already started targeting. Our LGBTQIA+ neighbors, those who are neurodivergent, especially those on the autism spectrum, politicians like Ilhan Omar, whom Donald Trump singled out again in his speech tonight. The press, whom Donald Trump threatened just today to move out of the briefing room, writing on Truth Social that he “may move the Fake News to a less obnoxious location.” Writers and content creators, and anyone sharing the truth about what is happening in this country. And once he has removed or silenced those voices, what is to stop him from coming for the rest of us who have resisted and refused to remain silent? That is just the authoritarian way.

There is still time to stop this, and it starts with getting as many people out to vote over the next ten days as we possibly can, and more people are stepping up in even bigger ways to make sure that we do. Because while Donald Trump was spreading hate and trying to further divide us, Barack Obama was in Detroit today doing the opposite. He was reminding us what real leadership looks like. He was making us remember that we do not have to live this way and that we each hold the power to change it. He said, “After ten years of chaos, and cruelty, and corruption, and incompetence, tomfoolery, nonsense, the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times at least, you get to say enough is enough.”

Donald Trump saw the writing on the wall today and tried to dismiss Barack Obama’s crowd in Detroit as “empty,” when in reality, more than 4,300 people had shown up, filling the gymnasium and an overflow area at Cass Technical High School. The contrast between what he was claiming and what was actually happening speaks for itself.

Most of us want this to end. We don’t want Donald Trump’s masked men patrolling our streets and kidnapping our neighbors without the constitutional protections of due process, which apply to everyone on American soil regardless of immigration status. We want our kids to grow up with leadership that does not find joy in anyone getting the sh*t beat out of them, and we do not want our brave members of the military risking their lives in another one of Donald Trump’s wars or military actions, whatever he is calling them today. Barack Obama told that overflowing room exactly what we need to do: “find some people who might not otherwise vote,” and make sure they know what is on the line and then help them make a plan to cast their ballot.

Tomorrow, my whole family will be under one roof again, including my two adult daughters, and we are going to drop off our ballots together. It has become our tradition ever since my oldest turned 18 and could vote for the first time. Her first presidential election was in 2020, the year the world felt like it fell apart. Her being able to cast her vote felt like a beacon of light in a very dark time. Standing beside her, I felt the weight of every generation that came before her, the ones who crossed oceans for a chance at this country’s promise, the ones who were kidnapped and enslaved and still fought for it, and the women who marched and were jailed so that she and I could have a say in our own futures.

This election feels every bit as important as that one did. Maybe more, in a different way, because the generations that came before us are counting on us to protect what they fought for, and so are the ones who will come after us. The responsibility we carry extends far beyond our own families and even our own borders. So many people around the world are also affected by the decisions made by the President of the United States, and the responsibility we have to them is resting on us as well.

Donald Trump told the people of Georgia tonight that he doesn’t give a damn what their senator wants. On November 3rd, we get to show him how much we give a damn about each other, about our families, and about a country that has never belonged to him, but has always belonged to us and those who come after us. In ten days, we will make them proud. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

Subscribe now

Share

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: I’m back to my bird-watching days. This little one and her partner have been visiting us for a few months now, stopping by to sit on our windowsills and peek inside, apparently very curious about Pete when he is working on his computer. Curiosity eventually got the better of our little visitor, who actually flew right into our house and seemed perfectly content to stay. Thankfully, our unexpected houseguest was happy to be gently escorted back outside without any ruffled feathers. I hope it keeps coming back, preferably staying on the outside of the windows next time. With everything happening in the world, these little moments with nature are such a welcome reminder that there is still so much beauty and joy right outside our doors. Sometimes all we have to do is look up from everything else long enough to notice it.

Links to sources used in writing this article:

WATCH LIVE | President Trump set to address voters at rally in Perry: YouTube Video

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/24/france-braces-for-another-day-of-mass-protests-as-security-on-high-alert

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/12/nx-s1-5606350/adelita-grijalva-swearing-in

https://politifact.com/article/2026/mar/19/SAVE-America-Act-women-vote-citizenship-Trump/

https://aa.com.tr/en/americas/trump-says-us-will-take-care-of-cuba-on-its-way-back-from-iran/4099050

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/24/trump-says-he-may-move-white-house-press-corps-to-new-location

https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/24/politics/live-news/midterm-election-congress

https://bridgemi.com/michigan-government/fact-checks-takeaways-barack-obama-blasts-trump-touts-el-sayed-in-detroit/

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2026/10/24/obama-rally-detroit-michigan-senate-abdul-el-sayed-jocelyn-benson--live/92416061007/

https://law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-5/exclusion-and-removal-of-non-u-s-nationals

https://ingest.abcnews.com/blogs/entertainment/2013/04/jason-aldean-splits-from-wife-jessica-ussery/

At 6:07 last night, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis walked toward reporters waiting on the tarmac in Fort Myers, holding a gold-plated coin that turned another presidential appearance into a spectacle. Behind that distraction was something far more consequential. Trump’s Justice Department filed a lawsuit seeking to delay certification of Alaska’s Senate election if a close result could be affected by confusion between incumbent Dan Sullivan and another candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. The state’s Supreme Court had already allowed Sullivan Jr. to remain on the ballot, with steps to distinguish the candidates. Now the federal government is trying to intervene before the votes have even been counted. Asked about it, Trump did not pretend he knew nothing. He said, “I’m the one who said, ‘do it.’” This is an attack on the foundation of our democratic republic: a president personally ordering a case that could potentially block certification of a Senate election his party might lose.

That was not the only story of corruption. Vanity Fair published allegations from Matthew Cole’s new book, Princes and Thieves, about Russian military intelligence allegedly hacking Jared Kushner’s phone while he served in the first Trump White House. The account describes screenshots revealing access to foreign government funds and approximately $700 million in transfers. Four former senior administration officials told Cole they knew of no presidential authorization that would have permitted that access. Kushner said the allegations were “completely insane and never happened,” and Trump called the story false. Kushner’s lawyers said he does not know whether his phone was hacked or monitored. The unresolved question is what Russia may have collected and whether it could create leverage over someone so deeply involved in American foreign policy.

The consequences do not stop at our borders. Decisions made here can leave people elsewhere living with the damage for years. This week, the United Kingdom’s “Be Ready” campaign urged households to prepare at least three days of supplies, citing Russian hostility, Middle Eastern conflict, and cyberattacks. Most Americans want peace and care about our allies, but they rarely hear enough about what people abroad are experiencing. In eleven days, we are voting for ourselves and for people caught in the consequences of our decisions. I still believe we can show up, begin the work of rebuilding, and become a country that stands by its friends and treats others with respect.

See the full story in the video.

Subscribe now

We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent media is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

Subscribe now

I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 10-23-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

President Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Arrival at Fort Myers, FL, Oct. 23, 2026: YouTube Video

President Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Departure from the White House, Oct. 23, 2026: YouTube Video

https://www.democracydocket.com/cases/united-states-v-alaska/

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6168997-donald-trump-justice-alaska-senate-lawsuit/

https://alaskapublic.org/news/politics/elections/2026-10-23/alaskans-legal-experts-condemn-federal-lawsuit-as-attempt-to-invalidate-the-vote-in-u-s-senate-race

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jared-kushner-pushes-back-report-hacked-phone-spies-transfer/

https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/journalism/jared-kushner-vanity-fair-book-legal-threat/

https://www.npr.org/2026/10/23/g-s1-149534/justice-fbi-charged-hunter-biden-laptop

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/23/fbi-hunter-biden-criminal-charges.html

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/households-encouraged-to-take-small-simple-steps-to-stay-prepared-in-an-emergency

https://semafor.com/article/08/26/2026/uk-urges-public-to-stockpile-food

https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/12/world/live-news/hungary-election-orban-magyar

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/13/hungary-election

What was apparently intended to exaggerate his “near-death experience” in Butler, PA, also made a perfect distraction from the news of the rampant corruption in Donald Trump’s administration.

On the eve of one of the most important elections of our lifetimes, Donald Trump is already trying to interfere with the election process before the votes are even counted. Yesterday, Trump’s Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Alaska seeking to delay certification of the Senate election if the results are close between incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan and another candidate on the ballot, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., in case there is confusion over their similar names. The DOJ argues in the lawsuit that if the margin is narrow enough for those potentially confused votes to change the outcome, the state should not certify the results until the issue is resolved.

The Alaska Supreme Court had already addressed this situation after state election officials tried to block Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. from the ballot, claiming his candidacy was intended to confuse voters. In June, after he challenged the decision in court, the Alaska Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling allowing him to stay in the race, with the state taking steps to prevent any such confusion by making sure the ballot clearly distinguished the two candidates with party designations and an incumbent label. The issue had already been settled by the state’s highest court, but the federal government still filed its lawsuit before a single vote had even been counted.

Derek Muller, a Notre Dame election law professor, described the case as “strange and unusual.” Former DOJ voting rights attorney Justin Levitt said he knew of no legal path for blocking certification simply because the government believed a candidate should not have been permitted to run. Democracy Docket identified this as the first Trump administration lawsuit seeking to block certification of a 2026 midterm result.

Earlier today, reporters had a chance to ask Donald Trump about the case, and he didn’t play his usual game of ignorance. Instead, he admitted he was the one who personally ordered it, saying, “I’m the one who said, ‘do it.’” That is the president of the United States of America admitting to meddling in our elections by personally ordering his DOJ to file a federal lawsuit against a state. All to potentially block the certification of a Senate election his party might lose, simply because he wants them to win instead. It is an insult and an attack on the very foundation of our democratic republic.

This was just the tip of the iceberg as far as the corruption coming out of the White House. We also learned about a different type, this time coming from inside the Trump family. Vanity Fair published an article with details from investigative journalist Matthew Cole’s new book, Princes and Thieves. His investigation details how Russian military intelligence allegedly hacked the personal iPhone of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, while he was serving as a senior White House adviser during Trump’s first term. It also shares a disturbing account of how Dutch intelligence supposedly discovered the breach after flipping a Russian hacker who gave them access to screenshots taken directly from Kushner’s phone. What they reportedly found went far beyond the regular messages that many of us might have on our own phones and allegedly exposed Kushner’s access to at least two foreign bank accounts containing roughly two billion dollars in funds linked to the leaders of Middle Eastern countries and showed that he transferred approximately 700 million dollars, some of which went to a mercenary, a warlord, and a hit man.

Beyond the enormous question of what the president’s son-in-law was doing paying these people and what the payments were for, Cole’s investigation featured four former senior Trump administration officials who told him that they knew of no presidential authorization that would have allowed Kushner to access a foreign government’s bank account. What this investigation alleged was that the president’s son-in-law, who held a security clearance he initially could not even obtain on his own, had access to billions of dollars in foreign government money while his White House position involved helping shape American policy in the Middle East.

Kushner called the allegations “completely insane and never happened.” Trump called it “a totally false story.” Kushner’s lawyers stated that he “does not know if his iPhone was hacked or monitored while serving in the White House.” They threatened legal action, but did not deny the possibility of a hack, which raises an urgent national security question: What did Russia collect, and could it give them leverage over a man who has played such a significant role in Donald Trump’s foreign policy while we are embroiled in a war in the Middle East and supposedly working hard to stop Russia’s war in Ukraine?

That is where we are right now, but we do not have to keep living like this. We do not have to wake up every morning wondering what fresh hell this president has unleashed or what we are going to learn about him trying to interfere in our elections or how much someone in his family or inner circle has profited at our expense.

It’s not just us in the United States being rocked by everything Donald Trump is doing. He continues to cause havoc and mayhem across the entire planet. His increasing instability is making nations rethink so many things, including their own protection, their very survival, not to mention their economies and financial stability. My heart hurts just thinking about the impact this is having outside our borders. I think back to a conversation I had in Hungary with a taxi driver back in 2019 and how he felt like they were just starting to fully recover from the Great Recession all those years later, long after our economy had recovered. And here we are again, causing economic hardship and uncertainty for people who are stuck living through the consequences of our failure in voting this corrupt man back into office.

When I learned that the United Kingdom had launched a nationwide emergency preparedness campaign this week called “Be Ready,” urging every household to stockpile at least three days of supplies, my stomach dropped. The government cited increasing hostile Russian activity, conflict in the Middle East, and major cyberattacks as part of a changed security environment. Without explicitly saying so, the United States is not innocent in its role in creating the very instability these countries are now scrambling to protect themselves against.

Of course, the UK is not the only one doing this. The European Union issued similar guidance last year, and Sweden has also begun building national reserves of food, fuel, and power. CNN reported that the EU’s renewed push for emergency preparedness was driven by Russia’s war in Ukraine and also by “the Trump administration’s confrontational approach towards Europe, particularly on contributions to NATO and on the war in Ukraine, which has sparked a race on the continent to shore up its own military readiness.”

Most Americans care about their fellow human beings. They want people to be fed and housed, and they want peace for all people. They do not want wars, and they don’t want our allies suffering. They want to have good relations with our friends around the world. They simply don’t know how this is impacting people around the world. Our news organizations rarely cover news outside the US, especially during the Trump years when there are nonstop scandals coming from inside the White House. That is why it is on those of us who think as globalists to continue speaking out and make sure more Americans know how far Donald Trump’s destruction actually reaches.

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We are not just voting for ourselves and the future survival of our country in eleven days. We are also voting for every person on this planet who has been caught in the crossfire of Donald Trump’s reckless decisions. I still believe in our country and the people in it to do the right thing. Donald Trump and his enablers have put us through hell, forcing us to live in a constant state of chaos and uncertainty, but that is going to change very soon. We are going to show up and vote in numbers never seen before and start the slow and painful process of building our country back into one that doesn’t cause fear and instability across the planet. One that stands by our allies, treats other nations with respect, and understands that our actions have consequences for people far beyond our own borders. We are going to vote like our lives and the lives of people everywhere depend on it, because they do. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

Subscribe now

Share

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: I was so excited to hear about a shop in my town whose owner is on the right side of history, so my daughter and them paid it a visit. It was part of our economic resistance, where we support those taking a stand against this authoritarian takeover. That includes supporting independent media, individuals, and businesses that are putting their livelihoods and often their safety on the line to make sure the truth about what is happening here gets out and that people know they are not alone in standing up against it. I bought a new sweater, perfect for the weather finally getting a bit cooler, and some other odds and ends, including these stickers. I’m planning to put them on my laptop so there is no question where I stand on what is happening today when I am out and about.

Links to sources used in writing this article:

President Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Arrival at Fort Myers, FL, Oct. 23, 2026: YouTube Video

President Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Departure from the White House, Oct. 23, 2026: YouTube Video

https://www.democracydocket.com/cases/united-states-v-alaska/

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6168997-donald-trump-justice-alaska-senate-lawsuit/

https://alaskapublic.org/news/politics/elections/2026-10-23/alaskans-legal-experts-condemn-federal-lawsuit-as-attempt-to-invalidate-the-vote-in-u-s-senate-race

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jared-kushner-pushes-back-report-hacked-phone-spies-transfer/

https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/journalism/jared-kushner-vanity-fair-book-legal-threat/

https://www.npr.org/2026/10/23/g-s1-149534/justice-fbi-charged-hunter-biden-laptop

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/23/fbi-hunter-biden-criminal-charges.html

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/households-encouraged-to-take-small-simple-steps-to-stay-prepared-in-an-emergency

https://semafor.com/article/08/26/2026/uk-urges-public-to-stockpile-food

https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/12/world/live-news/hungary-election-orban-magyar

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/13/hungary-election

At 2:38 in the afternoon, the President of the United States shared a post praising a campaign ad that used a childhood abuse survivor’s estranged mother against her. He called Dr. Amy Acton “defective,” described the ad as “very powerful,” and said it should win awards. I had already woken up feeling sick to my stomach over that ad, before Donald Trump decided to endorse it. Acton is a physician, a former state health director, and a woman who survived horrific abuse as a child. Her mother lost custody of her when she was twelve and stayed married to the man charged with raping her. Now Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign is putting that mother in front of voters to call her own daughter a liar. After initially refusing to confirm responsibility for the ad, Ramaswamy acknowledged it was his, and his campaign plans to spend four million dollars promoting it across Ohio. This is what they are willing to do to win a governor’s race.

Instead of insisting that the ad come down, Trump praised the mother’s courage and told Ramaswamy to keep going. He attacked Mike DeWine for objecting, then described using the ad as “hitting pay dirt.” Almost two hours later, reporters on the White House South Lawn reminded him of Acton’s history and asked why her estranged mother should be believed. Trump’s answer was, “Well, I know nothing about it.” He kept returning to what the press would do if his own mother said something bad about him, as though that explained any of this. JD Vance told Republicans criticizing the ad to “stop whining.” DeWine urged that it be withdrawn, although he kept his endorsement of Ramaswamy. Jon Husted, Nikki Haley, and Nancy Mace also criticized it. Even within his own party, there are people willing to say this has crossed a line, and Trump chose to push further.

We are 12 days from the midterms, and our votes are going to say whether we accept this cruelty as normal. Acton still showed up on the campaign trail after everything they put her through this week. Asked about the ad, she spoke of a mother who struggled, and the neglect and abuse she and her brother experienced. If she can keep going, we can show up for her and for every survivor who watched the president use those names against one of them. We are voting against his authoritarian takeover and for people who have retained the basic human decency he keeps destroying. Between now and November 3, we need to make sure our friends, families, and neighbors understand what is at stake. None of us can sit this one out. We owe it to each other, to our country, and to the world waiting for us to fight our way back to the right side of history.

See the full story in the video.

Subscribe now

We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent media is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

Subscribe now

I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 10-22-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

Links to sources used in writing this article:

President Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Departure from the White House, Oct. 22, 2026: YouTube video

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ramaswamy-ad-amy-acton-mother-trump/

https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/22/politics/amy-acton-response-mother-ad-vivek-ramaswamy

https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/20/politics/amy-acton-mother-video

https://www.npr.org/2026/10/21/nx-s1-6010530/vivek-ramaswamys-attack-ad-features-mother-of-amy-acton-who-alleges-childhood-abuse

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ramaswamy-campaign-says-it-produced-ad-with-amy-actons-mother-and-will-spend-millions-to-promote-it

https://abcnews.com/Politics/amy-acton-campaign-slams-ramaswamy-controversial-ad-featuring/story?id=137421475

https://ohiocapitaldispatch.com/2026/10/21/ramaswamy-takes-responsibility-for-controversial-ad-featuring-actons-estranged-mother/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/amy-acton-attack-ad-ohio-governors-race-rcna604601

https://www.scrippsnews.com/politics/america-votes/ohio-democrat-amy-actons-childhood-abuse-thrust-into-governors-race

The President of the United States looked at everything that Dr. Acton had survived and overcome and still chose to endorse the ad, calling it “very powerful.” He went on to call Amy Acton “a DISASTER who, uncontrollably, lies, cheats, and steals.” He called her mother brave, while saying the ad should win awards.

With that single post, he fundamentally changed how politics are practiced in this country, turning the sexual abuse of a child into a weapon for a governor’s race. He destroyed the bar of decency once expected of our elected leaders, and with it, he struck at the very sanctity of our elections, reducing what should be a serious democratic process to a system in which the pursuit of political power takes precedence over even the most basic obligations of human decency.

I woke up this morning feeling sick to my stomach thinking about that ad, and that was before Donald Trump decided to publicly endorse it. I felt a heaviness I just couldn’t shake for the rest of the day, and it only got worse as the day went on. Dr. Amy Acton is one of the best of us. A former state health director who earned a master’s degree in public health, a physician who completed residencies in both pediatrics and preventive medicine, and a survivor of one of the most heinous acts imaginable at the hands of her stepfather, who was arrested, pleaded not guilty, and fled while out on bond, causing the case against him to stall. Acton and her brother were removed from their mother’s custody, and their mother chose to stay married to the man who abused her daughter.

This was not a secret that Acton shied away from talking about. It is part of her story, and she has spoken openly about it for years. In an interview this week with Spectrum News, she said: “I won’t normalize somebody who says my childhood is something I’m just complaining about.”

The ad at the center of this whole ordeal was released by her opponent, MAGA Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech billionaire who ran unsuccessfully for president back in 2024 and is now running for governor of Ohio. The disturbing ad was first seen on social media back on Monday without a disclaimer identifying who paid for it. For an entire day, Ramaswamy’s campaign refused to confirm whether they had made it, and it wasn’t until a town hall event on Tuesday evening that Ramaswamy finally told reporters it was his ad. He said Acton’s mother was not compensated, and he defended the decision to run it by saying he wished the race could be about “substantive issues.” He also admitted that he had never met Amy Acton or her mother. His campaign has since announced that it plans to spend four million dollars promoting the ad across Ohio.

Acton’s brother, Philip Stearns, released a heartbreaking statement of his own, saying: “It’s not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at twelve years old from our birth mother’s husband into a political talking point.” He continued, “After he was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died. This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core, a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants.”

The one man who holds, or should hold, responsibility for not only the conduct of his own party, but also the moral standards of the entire nation weighed in too. But instead of demanding this ad be immediately withdrawn and an apology be issued, the President of the United States shared a post on social media that went even further and called Dr. Amy Acton “defective, dishonest, and incapable.” It said Vivek should “keep it up, and let everyone listen to the mother of a defective, dishonest, and incapable Candidate, explain how the daughter is a DISASTER who, uncontrollably, lies, cheats, and steals!” He praised the mother who stayed married to her daughter’s rapist, saying what she did “took a lot of courage to do but, essentially, what she was really doing was saving Ohio from making a truly horrible choice!”

He even made a comparison to his own mother, adding that “If my mother, the legendary Mary MacLeod Trump, said anything bad about me, the Fake News would play it up. The Dumocrats would be totally supportive, and it would go down as the Ad of the Decade, Maybe the Century! It would win Awards for Excellence in Advertising.”

He also went after Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, for suggesting the ad should be taken down. He called DeWine a RINO and said he was “disloyal to the Republican Party” and that he “probably wants a Dumocrat to win.” He called Amy Acton “Lyin’ Amy Acton, who I’ve never even heard of before.” And he shared how empty he is as a human being when he wrote, “Who wouldn’t use such an Ad? I would, it’s called, ‘hitting pay dirt.’”

Almost two hours after he made that post on Truth Social, he had an odd interaction with reporters on the White House South Lawn, when they told Trump the full backstory to Dr. Acton and the ad. They reminded him that Acton had not spoken to her mother in nearly fifty years, and that her mother had stayed married to the man charged with raping her. CBS News senior White House reporter Weijia Jiang asked why anyone should listen to what the estranged mother has to say.

Trump snapped back at her and said: “Well, I know nothing about it. All I know is the mother said very bad things about Acton, who I guess is running for governor against Vivek. And all I can say is Vivek is great. And I know one thing: if my mother said bad things about me, it would be a major news story, that’s for sure. So I don’t know what it is, but I guess the mother said very bad things about the one who’s running for governor, and I think you have to take that seriously.”

When asked whether anything in a campaign ad should be off limits, he said: “I know one thing: if my mother said that about me, it would be, you would have hit goals. You would have been very happy about it. So I know nothing about it other than the mother said horrible things about a person that’s running for governor of a great state, right? A great state, and if it’s even a little bit true, you don’t want her as governor.”

When pressed further on why he was defending it while Ohio Republicans were calling for it to come down, he said: “I’m defending it because I know that if that ad were about my mother, you would love it. You would love every inch of it. And what’s happened is the press has teamed up because he’s a Republican, and they’ve tried to make it like it’s a horrible thing. This is a mother saying very bad things about her daughter, and I don’t know why that should be shielded.”

Trump posted his Truth Social statement at 2:38 PM, speaking as if he was very familiar with the entirety of the ad and the outcry around it. Then, hours later, when reporters asked him more about it, Trump said: “Well, I know nothing about it.”

That leaves two deeply troubling possibilities. Either he wrote that entire post without spending thirty seconds to learn who she is and what happened to her, which raises serious questions about his judgment and responsibility as president. Or he knew, and he claimed ignorance on camera to avoid accountability, which would be a serious failure of presidential responsibility.

His former White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has said in the past that everything Trump posts on Truth Social is “straight from the horse’s mouth” and “should be taken as the policy of the Trump administration,” and “When you see it on Truth Social, you know it’s directly from President Trump.”

Vice President JD Vance also defended the ad and told Republicans who criticized it to “stop whining.” Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, chose a different path, instead publicly breaking with his party’s candidate over the ad. He said: “It is wrong to run this ad. I would urge Ramaswamy’s campaign to take this down.” Although he did not rescind his endorsement of Ramaswamy. Republican Senator Jon Husted said he “would not have run that ad.” Former Ambassador Nikki Haley called Ramaswamy a “bad guy.” Republican Representative Nancy Mace called it the “most shameful, disgusting, offensive ad this election season.”

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We are now just 12 days from the midterms, and every vote that we cast is one that is either for this kind of heinous new normal or one that demands an end to this cruelty. We are voting against Donald Trump’s authoritarian takeover and for people like Dr. Acton, who, even with how painful this week has been, still showed up on the campaign trail and, when asked about the ad, said, “It is hard. It is the big elephant in the room, isn’t it? My brother and I had a mom who struggled, and we experienced a lot of neglect and abuse.”

If she can do that after what they did to her this week, we can do this. We owe it to her and to every survivor who watched the President of the United States call one of them such unthinkable names. We owe it to our country and to the world that is waiting for us to fight our way back to the right side of history. That is the message our votes are going to send when we go to the polls on November 3. And between now and Election Day, we are going to make sure our friends, our families, and our neighbors understand what is at stake, and that none of us sits this one out. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

Subscribe now

Share

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: I, like so many of us, am feeling the weight of the moment. I’m struggling to do something I have always loved doing, write. It’s not because I don’t want to do it. I think it has more to do with feeling overwhelmed by the sheer amount of cruelty being thrown at us and even more to do with listening to Trump speak for hours each and every day for nearly 20 months. No matter how hard it gets to keep writing, I will never stop because it has to be documented, not just the things he is doing and saying, but also the human and emotional side of what he has done to us and our country.

When I woke up this morning, I immediately felt a sense of doom. Not to be confused with not having hope, more just a feeling that this is the calm before the storm. So I decided to go for a drive to get a coffee and see if some fresh air and a change of scenery would help. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, it didn’t. Instead, I saw MAGA-aligned candidates putting up signs all over, so I did what I could and contacted a candidate I support to ask for some signs so that, as I told Pete, “We can light up our house like a freaking democracy defender Christmas tree.” Pete assured me that didn’t really make sense, but that knowing me, he knew exactly what I was trying to say!

I’m happy to report that I ended up with more signs than I ever imagined having, and some of the candidates themselves and their campaign managers hand-delivered them just hours later. Now my house is lit up like the freaking democracy defender Christmas tree I told Pete it would be! I’m still feeling unsettled, but taking some concrete action helped, even if it was just putting signs in our yard.

Links to sources used in writing this article:

President Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Departure from the White House, Oct. 22, 2026: YouTube video

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ramaswamy-ad-amy-acton-mother-trump/

https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/22/politics/amy-acton-response-mother-ad-vivek-ramaswamy

https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/20/politics/amy-acton-mother-video

https://www.npr.org/2026/10/21/nx-s1-6010530/vivek-ramaswamys-attack-ad-features-mother-of-amy-acton-who-alleges-childhood-abuse

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ramaswamy-campaign-says-it-produced-ad-with-amy-actons-mother-and-will-spend-millions-to-promote-it

https://abcnews.com/Politics/amy-acton-campaign-slams-ramaswamy-controversial-ad-featuring/story?id=137421475

https://ohiocapitaldispatch.com/2026/10/21/ramaswamy-takes-responsibility-for-controversial-ad-featuring-actons-estranged-mother/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/amy-acton-attack-ad-ohio-governors-race-rcna604601

https://www.scrippsnews.com/politics/america-votes/ohio-democrat-amy-actons-childhood-abuse-thrust-into-governors-race

Just after 4:00 this afternoon, Donald Trump walked out of the Oval Office and spent barely seven minutes with reporters before turning questions about Russia sanctions into another ugly attack on women. He called CNN’s Kaitlan Collins a “dummy” and a “low IQ person.” Minutes later, ABC’s Karen Travers asked about the same subject, and he demanded to know whether she was a “stupid person.” Then he headed to South Carolina for a rally that was supposed to promote Darline Graham, only to spend almost an hour and a half talking about himself. Protesters interrupted him at least a dozen times in the first 20 minutes. When a supporter punched one of them, he praised it: “That was great, man. Wow. Man, I loved that.” Just the night before, he had explained that saying “Please don’t hurt them” was a way to keep the press from getting him. Now he was openly celebrating the violence again.

As I watched, my youngest daughter walked into my room, and I immediately paused the television. She is old enough to understand what is happening, and she needs to recognize the warning signs of a would-be dictator. But I also wanted to preserve what little childhood she has left without the narration of a madman filling the background. I kept thinking about how impossible it would have been to imagine Barack Obama calling a female reporter a dummy for asking a question. There used to be a minimum standard of human decency attached to the presidency. Now we are watching a man praise violence, insult anyone who questions him, muse about renaming oceans, confuse the Nobel Peace Prize with the Pulitzer Prize, and insist that he is in a very good mood. Something is very wrong, and I keep thinking about what another two years of this will do to our country and to the young people learning what power looks like.

Taking back Congress will not make Donald Trump stop. It can slow him down, force hearings and subpoenas, create public records, and buy time for legal challenges and the institutions still functioning. We also have to prepare for the period after election night. He is already saying Republicans cannot lose unless the other side cheats, laying the groundwork for another attack on results he does not like. We could see pressure to keep winners from being seated and renewed attacks on anyone reporting that the election was fair. We are voting for the elections that follow this one, too, and for the next president to actually take office. More Americans are willing to confront him even when surrounded by hostile supporters. Their courage and coordination make the growing resistance visible. We can meet this moment by turning that determination into votes against him and the enablers who keep his cruelty and chaos in power.

See the full story in the video.

Subscribe now

We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent media is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

Subscribe now

I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 10-21-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

President Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Departure from the White House, Oct. 21, 2026: YouTube video

President Trump holds midterm rally in South Carolina: YouTube Video

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-cheers-on-violent-attacks-on-protesters-at-chaotic-rally

https://wlos.com/newsletter-daily/trump-graham-south-carolina-election-president-senator-republican-democrat-candidate-voters-protesters-midterms-darline-donald-politics

https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/trump-darline-graham-annie-andrews-rally-sc/article_580503ae-81e7-4746-90b9-b937c76f7e35.html

https://www.thedailybeast.com/live-cnn-segment-captures-chaotic-moment-at-trump-rally

https://ground.news/article/trump-rally-derailed-by-series-of-protesters-in-opening-minutes

https://www.foxcarolina.com/2024/11/06/watch-live-scgop-discusses-election-results-after-ap-calls-presidential-race-donald-trump

Barely 3 minutes later, another reporter, Karen Travers from ABC News, tried to question him on the same subject, the sanctions he chose not to impose on Russia, and he erupted once more, snapping at her with, “Are you a stupid person? Who do you work for? You’re a stupid person. And by the way, your network is the worst of all.”

That is two reporters from two different networks both asking about the sanctions he refused to impose on Russia, and Donald Trump unable to answer either of them, because he was on the verge of completely snapping.

With his frustration and anger boiling over, he stopped taking questions and made his way to Marine One to begin his journey to South Carolina for yet another midterm rally, or at least that was what he was supposed to be there for. The event was supposed to promote Darline Graham, Lindsey Graham’s sister, who is running to hold his Senate seat. But that is not what ended up happening. Instead, he spent almost an hour and a half talking all about himself, giving Darline barely a fleeting acknowledgment when he brought her up on stage for less than two minutes.

The rally was held inside the T. Ed Garrison Arena on Clemson University’s campus, though the university made it clear it was not sponsoring the event. And what he was hoping would be a much-needed show of support for him, especially after such embarrassing confrontations with the media back at the White House, didn’t turn out that way. Because not only was Donald Trump unable to keep the focus on the midterm candidates, he also faced at least a dozen interruptions from protesters within the first 20 minutes alone. They stood up, they shouted at him and the people who were there to worship Donald Trump, and one by one they were dragged out. Donald Trump, for his part, tried to keep talking, but each time the commotion interrupted his thoughts, and he had to regroup. As each new protester stood up, the president grew more visibly frustrated, eventually resorting to claims about why so many people were willing to interrupt him. He tried to tell the audience that the protesters were paid instigators who were being paid 250 dollars each, and he complained that they kept ruining his punchlines.

After one of the protesters was punched by a Trump supporter, Donald Trump praised and encouraged the violence rather than condemning what had just happened.

“That was great, man. Wow. Man, I loved that,” he told his radicalized audience. He even stopped to ask who had thrown the punch, and compared him to Evander Holyfield, who happened to be sitting in the audience.

Just the night before at a similar rally in North Carolina, President Trump told a story about how he used to tell his supporters to “beat the hell out of” protesters, before explaining that he had learned not to say things like that anymore. “Today I say, ‘Please don’t hurt them,’” he said, and then added, “This way, the press can’t get me.” He told everyone watching that he wasn’t trying to protect his fellow Americans from violence; he was just trying to avoid criticism from the media. Here we are just one day later, and he was standing on stage telling the crowd how much he loved watching someone get punched for using their voice.

After more than an hour of interruptions, insults directed at anyone he doesn’t like, and even encouraging violence against protesters, Donald Trump returned to some of his favorite talking points. He mused about renaming the Strait of Hormuz after himself, joking about how the Arabs would feel about it. He talked about how he still needs to rename a lake and an ocean, just as he did with the Gulf of Mexico, which he now refers to as the Gulf of America. He even proposed renaming the Pacific Ocean, but then wondered whether Europe would be okay with that, apparently confusing the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, or perhaps forgetting that Europe is on the other side of the world from the Pacific Ocean.

Then he stopped and looked out into the crowd and told them he was doing well. “I hope you’re having a good time today cuz I’m in a good mood. I’m in a very good mood.” But almost immediately, he went off on another tangent, this time about how the media would describe his speech. “Because the fake news would say he rambled. I don’t ramble. I got I know everything I’m doing. I got aptitude that they dream about.” Then he asked the crowd, “Why would I be unhappy?”

Something is very wrong with what we are watching, and it keeps getting worse. He wandered through a 90-minute speech saying things that made no sense at all. He complained about prizes he hasn’t won, confused the Nobel Peace Prize with the Pulitzer Prize, and barely mentioned the candidate he flew there to help.

Tonight’s troubling performance made me think about what the next two years are going to look like with him holding the most powerful office on the planet while he continues to lash out with nobody there to stop him. I think about what this is doing to the young people living through his corruption and cruelty and how it is shaping their understanding of the world and their expectations of the people in power.

As I was watching his rally on TV, my youngest walked into my room, and I immediately paused him talking because I didn’t want my daughter to hear the president of the United States call a woman a dummy and a low IQ person for asking a question. It’s not because I don’t think that she could handle it or that she isn’t old enough. It was more about preserving what little childhood she still has left and not having it filled with the narration of a madman in the background.

That’s not to say that she hasn’t or couldn’t hear what he said. She watches it herself and she is old enough to absorb it, and in many ways she should be seeing it, because there is something important in what is happening and she will need to recognize the warning signs of a would-be dictator in the future. She and all future generations need to see what this looks like so they can recognize it when it rears its ugly head again in the next authoritarian takeover attempt.

As I sat there, I kept thinking about past presidents and how none of us could ever have imagined Barack Obama calling a female reporter a dummy, stupid, or low IQ. Regardless of party, the office of the presidency used to carry a basic understanding that there was a minimum standard for how you treat people. There used to be a bare minimum of human decency until Donald Trump, and now it just keeps getting worse.

We are already starting to see a more unhinged Donald Trump, and this is just the beginning. He is going to push through everything he can, regardless of the outcome of the midterms. Win or lose, he still has two years. He can do it the easy way by still controlling Congress, or the hard way if he loses it. Taking back Congress does not stop him either, but it does slow him down. It forces hearings and subpoenas. It creates public records of what he did to our country, and it buys time for legal challenges, for public scrutiny, and for the institutions that are still functioning to catch up. That is what is on the line with our vote.

We also need to prepare for what comes after the vote, because what we saw today is not even his worst. Right now, ahead of the midterms, he is still holding back in a desperate attempt to maintain control. The moment the election is over, the restraints come off entirely, and the most dangerous window will start. That is the period between election night and the day the new Congress is seated in January, and it could extend into 2029 with the seating of a new president too.

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He is already creating the story to explain the Republican Party’s loss: “They can’t win unless they cheat like they did in 2020.” He is planting the seed right now that the election was rigged and that the results cannot be trusted. From there, it could get even darker with him insisting that the winners should not be seated, and we could see him pressure Mike Johnson to agree. We are probably going to see a new attack on the media every single night, because he does not want any outlet telling the country that the elections were free and fair. He only wants voices that tell his brainwashed base that their votes were stolen. We have never had a constitutional crisis quite like the one that could be coming. Past presidents, even the worst of them, respected the transfer of power because they had some baseline of self-control and respect for the process, even when they didn’t like the outcome. Donald Trump has neither. He has spent years radicalizing people who will do anything to keep him in power, and they are not going to stop because an election told them to. We’ve already seen how this played out in January of 2021 when he sent his followers to the Capitol, and people died.

We are also voting for free and fair elections for the ones that come after this one, especially the 2028 presidential elections, and making sure the next president is actually inaugurated even if Donald Trump doesn’t like them.

Donald Trump loves to say that we need to pretend that he is on the ballot, and he ends his rallies with fake promises and accomplishments. But he does not need to pretend, we all know that he is. This election, we are not just voting for our preferred candidates; we are also actively voting against him and everything he has done. Watching so many people strategically protest him to the extent that they have been at his recent rallies really shows the reason Donald Trump snapped at reporters. It shows that people who wouldn’t normally be the type to take such a bold and brave stand against him are now willing to do so while surrounded by his hostile supporters. As exhausting as this time in history is, we are seeing so many signs that we are going to be okay. That we will get through this. Donald Trump is on the edge of snapping, and the sheer amount of coordination and number of people protesting at his rallies recently show how much the resistance movement has grown. More people are simply done with Donald Trump and his cruelty and chaos, and we are going to vote him and his enablers out. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

Subscribe now

Share

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: It’s a bit rainy tonight and very windy. So I won’t be able to see this kind of view when I’m out running errands for the next day or so, but I'm so thankful for some rain. As we Californians like to say, “we needed it.”

Links to sources used in writing this article:

President Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Departure from the White House, Oct. 21, 2026: YouTube video

President Trump holds midterm rally in South Carolina: YouTube Video

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-cheers-on-violent-attacks-on-protesters-at-chaotic-rally

https://wlos.com/newsletter-daily/trump-graham-south-carolina-election-president-senator-republican-democrat-candidate-voters-protesters-midterms-darline-donald-politics

https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/trump-darline-graham-annie-andrews-rally-sc/article_580503ae-81e7-4746-90b9-b937c76f7e35.html

https://www.thedailybeast.com/live-cnn-segment-captures-chaotic-moment-at-trump-rally

https://ground.news/article/trump-rally-derailed-by-series-of-protesters-in-opening-minutes

https://www.foxcarolina.com/2024/11/06/watch-live-scgop-discusses-election-results-after-ap-calls-presidential-race-donald-trump

Just after 2:08 this afternoon, Donald Trump sat behind the Resolute Desk and threatened a reporter who was asking questions he did not want to answer. He told Andrew Feinberg that he had “better be careful.” As ugly as that was, the announcement he had just made was even more dangerous. Standing with his loyalists behind him, he promised that Americans could become rich by turning other people in through his Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program. Then he told us who would decide whether those people deserved the money: Donald Trump. He would be the arbitrator. He would make the determination. We already have the False Claims Act, a law dating back to 1863 that rewards whistleblowers with a share of recovered money. When a reporter pointed that out, he claimed his program was different because the numbers were bigger. When asked whether criminal charges would be required before a payout, he said he did not think so, and JD Vance confirmed that recovering money, rather than a criminal conviction, was the point.

This is how accusations can become punishment. A journalist, activist, or political opponent could find themselves targeted by a report that drains their savings and terrifies their family before anything has been proven in a courtroom. An ally could be protected. Someone whose problem quietly disappears could find that the price of being left alone is loyalty. Trump could even try to reward loyalists under the guise of whistleblower payments. These are the dangers of placing this kind of discretion in the hands of a man who is openly threatening the press. And he is selling it to people who are struggling to make rent, buy groceries, and put gas in the car. He is counting on their desperation to turn them against their neighbors. We have seen where paid informant networks can lead. During the McCarthy years, accusations destroyed lives and careers. The Gestapo depended on ordinary people reporting each other, often out of spite, jealousy, or the hope of getting ahead. Division is a tool of control, and Trump wants us so busy fearing each other that we forget who is doing this to us.

We cannot let his cruelty make us cruel, too. We have to look out for the people beside us and protect those who keep telling the truth, including reporters like Feinberg who refuse to stop asking the questions. There are three tests in front of us: whether we have free and fair elections, whether the people we elect actually get seated, and whether we still have a free press willing to tell us the truth. We can help by getting as many people as possible to vote and supporting the reporting that has not surrendered. Movements built on fear and cruelty do fall. How much damage they do before that happens depends on us. With the ballot box just two weeks away, or sooner through early voting, we have a chance to make our voices heard.

See the full story in the video.

Subscribe now

We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent media is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

Subscribe now

I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 10-20-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

President Trump and Vice President JD Vance Make an Announcement: YouTube Video

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/calendar/

https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/are-you-a-sick-person-trump-growls-at-reporter-and-scolds-him-3-times-in-jaw-dropping-oval-office-moment/

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/reporter-who-was-chewed-out-by-trump-in-oval-office-fires-back-i-was-doing-my-job/

https://www.benzinga.com/news/politics/26/10/62485992/trump-launches-25-million-fraud-whistleblower-program-offers-1-rewards-for-tips-bernie-sanders-says-hed-like-to-report-a-theft

https://abc13.com/story/trump-vance-announce-25m-whistleblower-program-encourage-public-report-alleged-fraud/19961455/

https://thenationaldesk.com/news/americas-news-now/trump-announces-25-million-whistleblower-program-to-reward-americans-who-expose-fraud-schemes-oval-office-president

https://newrepublic.com/post/216863/you-better-be-careful-trump-lashes-white-house-reporters

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/dnc-files-lawsuit-alleging-trumps-taxpayer-funded-ads-are-illegal-propaganda

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/31/nx-s1-5662600/nick-shirley-minnesota-fraud

https://www.yahoo.com/news/meet-andrew-ferguson-chairman-ftc-012411169.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/5-people-who-lied-congress-what-happened-them-n941936

https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/resistance-responses-collaboration/german-collaboration-and-complicity/informants/

https://www.kaxe.org/news/2025-09-03/hitlers-bunker-is-now-just-a-parking-lot-but-its-a-dark-tourism-attraction-anyway

As ugly as his words were, as he once again turned on the press and verbally attacked a reporter, it was the announcement he had just made, in which he turned on the country, that was even more dangerous.

With Vice President JD Vance, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Dr. Oz, Stephen Miller, and Nick Shirley, a little-known 24-year-old conservative instigator and influencer, all standing right behind him, the President of the United States of America presented what he called the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, which he attempted to describe as a tool to fight the made-up claim of rampant fraud having overtaken our country.

What it really is, and what it was created to do, is provide a new tool to turn Americans into informants who make claims and reports about their neighbors and others in their communities. And it comes complete with a financial incentive to reward them for accusing their neighbors of crimes of fraud, while also placing Donald Trump himself in the position of deciding whose reports get paid and who gets investigated.

Here is what Donald Trump said when he announced it: “Anybody that can prove that he turned somebody in, in other words, he or she, if you turn somebody in and you, let’s say, report and you find a billion dollars, we are giving a commission to that person of 1%.”

“All of those people that are willing to do the right thing and turn people in that they know where there’s been something that happened that they know all about, they’re going to become rich.”

Then he said this: “I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions. In other words, I’ll determine whether or not the person is deserving.”

He continued: “It’ll be a binding arbitration. You’ll get your money immediately, but I’ll make the determination.”

Then he looked at the room and asked: “Does everybody trust me to do it? I promise. There’s nothing in this for me.”

When it was time for questions, a reporter asked him about the details and reminded him that there was already a mechanism to report crimes like this and be rewarded financially, the False Claims Act, which was enacted all the way back in 1863. This act already pays whistleblowers between 15 and 30 percent of the money that is recovered. Donald Trump’s reply was another non-answer. He said that his program was different because the numbers involved were bigger. When asked whether criminal charges would be required before someone received a payout, Donald Trump said, “I don’t think so.” Vance jumped in and confirmed that it wouldn’t require charges, because the administration’s intention with this program is to reward people when accusations lead to recovered money, not when those accusations result in criminal convictions. That means accusations do not have to be proven to have happened under the same standard of proof that courts use. They do not have to hold up in a courtroom or meet the standard required for a criminal conviction. The accusation might very well be enough, because it is already the punishment and another weapon this administration can use to punish dissent and keep people in line.

Donald Trump made it sound like the opportunities for reporting your own community members could be very lucrative. However, the DOJ’s own published rules state that rewards under the new program range from ten thousand to thirty thousand dollars. Trump told reporters today that there would be no such limit and that people could earn millions, yet the official rules describe a very different arrangement.

To make matters worse, he already has an enforcement division ready to act on all of these reports. With ICE still raiding American cities right now, these federal agents are deployed with the power to detain, arrest, and deport. But what Donald Trump did not have, until today, was a way to turn over 330 million Americans into their eyes and ears. That is what this program is really building, a police state where we all walk around in fear while a feeder network for Trump’s federal enforcement agency carries out Donald Trump’s worst abuses of power.

The horrors of how this could be used are even more concerning. Let’s say that a tip comes in about someone in Trump’s inner circle; he could simply dismiss it with no investigation or consequence. He even said as much in his own words, saying that he will personally determine who is “deserving” of the payouts, meaning that he could shield anyone he wants, without any oversight or public record.

He could also use it as retaliation. Say a tip came in or his administration fabricated one targeting a journalist, activist, political opponent, or anyone this administration views as an enemy. Donald Trump could use that accusation as a pretext to unleash the full weight of the federal government against them. The accusation doesn’t even have to be proven true to destroy someone’s life, drain their savings, terrorize their family, and send a message to everyone watching: this is what happens when you speak up.

Then there is the leverage this could provide to the Trump Regime. If someone is accused and Donald Trump quietly makes it go away, that person now owes him. He could create his own little mob-style protection racket, where the price of being left alone is absolute loyalty, and the threat of being blackmailed and having everything taken away always hangs over their heads.

The President could also try to use it to compensate January 6 defendants with federal funds earmarked for this program. He could, in essence, pay people he designates as “whistleblowers,” potentially rewarding loyalists under the guise of fraud bounties. If those decisions were made without independent verification, as he is proposing, or a meaningful appeals process, it could become another way to distribute government money as political favors.

Senator Bernie Sanders saw right through Donald Trump’s scheme, posting on social media: “That’s great, Mr. Trump. I’d like to report a theft. A man inside our government illegally spent nearly $22 million in taxpayer dollars on bogus campaign ads praising himself. He now resides on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Taxpayers want to know when they’ll get their money back.”

What makes this program especially cruel is that prices are up, and families are stretched past the breaking point. So when the President of the United States tells a struggling country that they can become rich by turning someone in, he is exploiting their suffering. They think about making rent, paying for groceries, and putting gas in the car. He is counting on desperate people doing desperate things, even sacrificing their neighbors and others in their communities for their own comfort and safety.

If we do not stop him, we will not recognize our country, and the entire world will be in increasing danger. History has seen this before; none of it is new. During the McCarthy years, the United States government maintained a network of paid informants who testified before congressional committees and in criminal trials. One man alone accused over 200 people of being Communists before eventually admitting that he had made it all up. By then, the damage was done, and thousands of Americans lost their jobs during the Red Scare because of accusations, not because they were convicted of a crime.

The Gestapo operated in much the same way. Many had imagined that Hitler’s secret police were a large surveillance apparatus, when it was actually a relatively small organization that let ordinary citizens do a lot of the work for it. They depended on neighbors reporting neighbors. Some who did this dirty reporting felt a calling to do so and acted out of ideology. But many just acted out of spite, jealousy, or personal grudges. There were also financial and social incentives that turned informing on others into a tool of self-advancement. Trump is now taking the worst parts of both of these and combining them into his own special brand of authoritarianism, using fear, intimidation, and cash payouts.

We know that Donald Trump needs us divided to complete his authoritarian takeover, so he is trying to get us to turn on each other. That has been his strategy from the very beginning. He isn’t doing this just for the sake of causing chaos, but because he knows that division can be a powerful tool for maintaining control. He wants us so busy fighting and fearing each other that we forget who actually did this to us: Donald Trump and his sycophants.

So it is going to be on us. Every single one of us, to remember who we are, not just as Americans but as human beings. To look out for each other and resist being driven into the darkness the President is trying to drag us into. We must refuse to let his cruelty win by making us cruel, too. We have to stand up and protect the people beside us, especially the ones who are being targeted for telling the truth, like the journalists in the Oval Office today.

People like Andrew Feinberg, who didn’t back down, who asked the hard questions that needed to be asked when most of the press corps stayed silent. That is what courage looks like right now. And courage is not free. It comes at a price.

With this latest round of attacks and threats to the First Amendment and against all of us speaking out and refusing to accept Trump’s takeover of our country, I want to thank you all again for supporting this work with your paid memberships. You are the reason I can do this every single night, keep it free, and never put it behind a paywall. I want the same support for as many other people as possible because we are going to need every voice out there willing to stand up during these very dark days. If you are able to, and it won’t cause any financial stress, please think beyond just my voice and consider your other favorite sources of news and information. Think about the other voices that are showing up with honesty and bravery. The reporters still asking real questions. The independent writers and journalists who are holding the line when legacy media is looking the other way. See if they have a paid subscription and subscribe.

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We have three tests in front of us right now that will determine the future of our country and the world. Will we have free and fair elections? If we do, will the candidates we vote into office actually get seated? And do we still have a free press willing to tell us the truth? If any one of those falls, the road ahead for this country gets very dark, very fast. The things we can do right now to secure the survival of our country in this moment are to make sure as many people as possible vote and to make sure the media that has not surrendered itself to pseudo-state propaganda is still standing on the right side of history by funding their survival and supporting their reporting.

In this dark period for our country, we can find comfort in remembering something that history has shown us. The last time this kind of McCarthyism tried to take hold, it did not end well for the people behind it. It did not end well for Joseph McCarthy, whose name became synonymous with shame and ruin all these decades later. It also did not end well for Adolf Hitler, whose reign of terror ended in a bunker that is now under a nondescript parking lot in Berlin, Germany. This will not end well for Donald Trump either, with hearings, investigations, and maybe even impeachment and removal. Nor will this end well for any of the enablers standing behind him. It never does. Because movements built on fear and cruelty always collapse under their own weight. The only question is how much damage they do before they fall, and that part is up to us. In just two weeks, or sooner if you have early voting, we will finally get to make our voices heard at the ballot box. This time, we are going to make sure our voices are the loudest they have ever been. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

Subscribe now

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This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: I don’t have a picture to share from Hitler’s bunker because I didn’t take one. It was nondescript on purpose, and the memory of those horrible days belongs to those we lost, not the evil that caused them. Instead, here is a picture of my family back in 2019 on a biking tour of Berlin for a travel story I was writing. It was one of the most educational afternoons I have ever experienced and another one of the wake-up moments for me about what was really happening back home under Trump’s rule. It also helped spur another round of me diving deep into trying to understand how everything happened during that time in history. And although now I understand how it happened, the German people’s vulnerability coming off of their crushing defeat and the resulting treaty after WWI, along with the economic devastation and political instability that followed, I still will never fully understand it at the same time. Because these types of atrocities can never fully be understood. What I do know is that nobody or no country is immune to authoritarianism, and that is why these elections are so important. We might not be living exactly in the early rise of Nazi Germany, but we are also not all that far removed from it either.

Links to sources used in writing this article:

President Trump and Vice President JD Vance Make an Announcement: YouTube Video

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/calendar/

https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/are-you-a-sick-person-trump-growls-at-reporter-and-scolds-him-3-times-in-jaw-dropping-oval-office-moment/

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/reporter-who-was-chewed-out-by-trump-in-oval-office-fires-back-i-was-doing-my-job/

https://www.benzinga.com/news/politics/26/10/62485992/trump-launches-25-million-fraud-whistleblower-program-offers-1-rewards-for-tips-bernie-sanders-says-hed-like-to-report-a-theft

https://abc13.com/story/trump-vance-announce-25m-whistleblower-program-encourage-public-report-alleged-fraud/19961455/

https://thenationaldesk.com/news/americas-news-now/trump-announces-25-million-whistleblower-program-to-reward-americans-who-expose-fraud-schemes-oval-office-president

https://newrepublic.com/post/216863/you-better-be-careful-trump-lashes-white-house-reporters

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/dnc-files-lawsuit-alleging-trumps-taxpayer-funded-ads-are-illegal-propaganda

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/31/nx-s1-5662600/nick-shirley-minnesota-fraud

https://www.yahoo.com/news/meet-andrew-ferguson-chairman-ftc-012411169.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/5-people-who-lied-congress-what-happened-them-n941936

https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/resistance-responses-collaboration/german-collaboration-and-complicity/informants/

https://www.kaxe.org/news/2025-09-03/hitlers-bunker-is-now-just-a-parking-lot-but-its-a-dark-tourism-attraction-anyway

At 6:58 pm, Donald Trump made his way across a stage in Wichita, Kansas, after a video explaining all the reasons that “God made Trump,” including his friendships with authoritarian leaders and his willingness to attack the press. Then came an hour and 37 minutes of some of the most racist and un-American rhetoric our country has ever seen. He complained that nobody appreciates him, threatened Canada again, and tried to turn French protests into a story about migrants destroying Western civilization. He attacked Ilhan Omar and Maxine Waters and kept telling Americans who they should hate. But protesters continuously interrupted him. They walked into a room filled with his most radicalized followers and refused to let him say these things unchallenged. As one nonviolent older gentleman was being escorted out, a man in the stands hit him while the crowd chanted “USA! USA!”

Every time he says something deplorable about immigrants, I think about the people who cared for me during emergency surgery in the spring of 2020. My husband had to leave me at the emergency department door, not knowing whether I would survive, and nobody from my family could stay. A Vietnamese nurse gently helped me start walking. A Hispanic nurse washed and braided my hair after hearing how much I wanted to feel normal again. A Black nurse promised to stay beside me through surgery and afterward. Another nurse, with a thick European accent, spent her break and her own money buying me a better cup of coffee. I wasn’t thinking about where they or their ancestors came from. I was thinking about how lucky I was to have them. Those are the people Trump wants us to look at and see as a threat instead of a fellow human being. And when people stand up to him, he wants them discredited as paid protesters who will ruin their lives by speaking.

He also told us he would love to sue the media and went after the protection established by New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, which allows us to criticize powerful public officials without being financially destroyed by lawsuits when they cannot prove actual malice. As someone who writes about his corruption every single day, I take that threat seriously. Every time he attacks the First Amendment, I launch my economic protest: get louder, defend our neighbors, and support the independent writers, journalists, podcasters, and outlets he wants to silence. I have written every night for a year and a half without corporate backing or sponsorship money, keeping every post free because the truth should never be behind a paywall. Community support makes that possible, and other independent voices need that support too. Voting and putting our money where our voices are remain direct forms of resistance.

See the full story in the video.

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We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent media is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

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I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 10-19-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

Trump delivers remarks at rally in Kansas just weeks out from midterms: YouTube Video

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/student-protests-grip-france-as-prime-minister-lecornu-calls-crisis-meeting

https://wjla.com/news/nation-world/massive-protests-sweep-france-over-school-conditions-as-trump-blames-immigration-politics

https://www.thedailybeast.com/republicans-show-laughable-god-made-trump-video-at-maga-fyre-fest/

https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/60-years-later-how-a-civil-rights-era-defamation-case-empowers-the-press

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/calendar/

https://bnonews.com/whpool

That was just the start of one of the most racist and un-American 1 hour and 37 minutes our country has ever seen, where Donald Trump laid out his dangerous plan for how he intends to completely dismantle the United States. But when he finally launched into his prepared remarks, he wasn’t the only one with something to say. Throughout his speech, he was interrupted by protesters six times, including one woman screaming ‘I f*cking hate you!’ directly at him, while others caused lengthy disruptions that left Donald Trump growing more annoyed with each one.

In between these brave protests, the president was grappling for something coherent to say, at one point telling his gathered loyalists that he was “Sharper now than he was 20 years ago” but also adding that he “doesn’t know why.” He spent time complaining that “nobody appreciates how great a president I am,” just as a member of his radicalized followers screamed, “I do!” He bragged that Venezuela was the “greatest probably military maneuver ever,” forgetting all that went into WW2, the Civil War, and the American Revolution, just to name a few.

His ramblings didn’t stay focused on the states, either. He also went after our friends and neighbors to the north, threatening Canada once again when he said, “I do like their national anthem and I promise them if they become a 51st state, which is actually what they should do. I said, I will let you keep ice hockey and I will let you keep your O Canada national anthem. I like it. So, they can have it as a state anthem.” But when the laughter he apparently expected never came, he added, “nah, we’re only kidding. We’re having a good time.”

In normal times, that all would have been bad enough, but these are Donald Trump times, so it got darker from there when he turned his attention to another past ally of ours, France, and immigrants from emerging countries, or as Donald Trump describes them, from “third world” places where “low IQ” people come from. He told the audience, trying to connect protests by teenagers over their education to our midterms, “If you want to see what is at stake in this election, just look at what’s happening in France. A once great nation that is being conquered, luttered (he meant looted), and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and communists who hate Christianity. They hate, frankly, the Western civilization itself.” He then tried to make the connection even clearer between Democrats here and liberal-leaning politicians in France, accusing them of having “treasonously imported millions and millions of third world migrants who are totally incompatible with Western values,” insisting that they “despise everything about France and they’re destroying that country.”

He didn’t stop there. He also called these made-up immigrants “vandals who could have never built it themselves,” people who “refuse to assimilate into their society but only want to enter the welfare state paid for by hardworking citizens of France.” After that, he decided to bring the whole of Europe into his rant, going on about how it was a widespread problem and that “They’re losing their country. They’re losing Europe.” He had just been talking about multiple European nations, and then referred to them as though they were all a single country.

Donald Trump doesn’t like facts, but they still matter. The protests in France started back in late September with high school and university students taking to the streets over severe teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, school days that can stretch to ten hours, crumbling infrastructure, and years of underfunding. It has since grown to address other concerns as well, but there has been no credible reporting establishing that this has anything to do with immigration. Even Marine Le Pen’s French far-right party has not made this claim.

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Trump got even more specific about dehumanizing immigrants back home when he went after specific Americans by name. He attacked Congresswoman Ilhan Omar by saying, “She comes from maybe the worst country in the entire world, Somalia,” and that all they do “is shoot each other.” He called Congresswoman Maxine Waters a “low IQ person,” a term he often reserves for Black folks. He told what he considered a joke that if you call someone “from that part of the world” Muhammad, “you’re about 65% sure to get it right.”

Every time I hear him say something deplorable about migrants, I think about the people who have been there in some of our most vulnerable moments and how many of them have been immigrants. I think about how, in the spring of 2020, I had emergency surgery when nobody was allowed to be with me. I think about how my husband had to leave me at the door to the emergency department, not knowing if I would survive. And I think about the people who took care of me throughout that entire ordeal, who helped me heal and made me feel human again, and how so many of them were immigrants and the children and grandchildren of immigrants.

I think about the Vietnamese nurse who gently made sure I got up and started walking after surgery. I think about the Hispanic nurse who went above and beyond by washing and braiding my hair when they heard me say how much I just wanted to feel normal again. I think about the Black nurse who promised to be right beside me through my entire surgery and afterward, because he told me he could only imagine how horrible it would be to go through something like that with no family by my side. I think about the nurse with the thick European accent who, once I was finally allowed to have coffee, went downstairs on her break and used her own money to buy me a coffee from the coffee shop because she thought it would taste better than what I was being served. In the moment, I didn’t think about their country of origin or the country their ancestors had come from. I just thought about how lucky I was to have all of them caring for me. Those are the people he is describing when he calls immigrants “vandals” and who he wants us to see as our enemies. He wants us to look at each other and instantly think “threat” instead of “fellow human being.”

The room he gave the speech in today was filled with his most radicalized super fans, but there were also people who see exactly what Trump is doing and decided they had to do more to stop him. Donald Trump was interrupted every few minutes by protesters, and each time the reaction from the crowd grew more ugly. As one protester, a nonviolent older gentleman, was being escorted out, a man sitting in the stands reached out and hit him while the crowd chanted “USA! USA!”

He also told a story about another rally he held where a Trump super fan attacked someone. “Two people were fighting, a MAGA guy and another guy,” he said. “The MAGA guy beat the crap out of him, by the way. But not that that matters.” Then he added, “The MAGA guy was pretty tough guy, good-looking guy.”

These Americans were exercising the most fundamental right this country has ever promised its people, the right to speak, dissent, and say this is not who we are or what we stand for. But Donald Trump doesn’t see it that way. He sees every person using their voices against what he is doing as a threat to his very survival. He told the crowd that the protesters were “paid,” that they receive “$250 bucks” and that they “ruin their whole lives because they get arrested.” Donald Trump is trying to portray political dissent as something criminal and something only a fool would do. He wanted every person watching to understand that if you speak up, you will be branded, discredited, and cast out from society, or worse. This is all part of his plan for what comes after the midterm elections.

He also let us in on what he plans to do with the media when he said, “Oh, I’d love to sue the media,” and then he gave his garbled thoughts on New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the Supreme Court decision that protects the press from defamation lawsuits brought by public officials who cannot prove actual malice. That ruling allows us to criticize the powerful without being financially destroyed by lawsuits. That is the protection Donald Trump wants gone so that he can sue anyone who speaks out against him. It is a shocking statement and a very concerning threat for those of us who write about Donald Trump’s corruption every single day.

But every time Donald Trump says something like this or takes action against the media, I launch what I call my economic protest. It is something that I made a promise to do every time he attacked the First Amendment and the right of the American people to speak out against his corruption. So tonight I am asking you to join me in getting louder against what he is doing. Write your own post denouncing his attack on migrants. Use my words if you need to. Let our community members know that they are safe with you. And join me in also putting our money where our voices are. When he attacks the First Amendment, we need to defend it and protect and support the people he wants to silence. This, and voting, are the most direct forms of resistance available to us right now. Independent media keeps the truth alive when every other system is captured and turned into state media. I have written every single night for a year and a half with no corporate backing or sponsorship money. I do not want anyone to be able to reach into what I write and change a word of it. Every post I write is free for everyone, because the truth should never be behind a paywall. But that is only possible because of the people who joined the resistance community with a paid membership, who understand what is at stake, and who choose to support it. Thank you to everyone who has made it possible for me to do this work. I never intended for this to be my life’s work, but in these trying times, we all have to step up when the opportunity presents itself, and I am thankful to be able to do it.

Tonight, as I say every time Donald Trump threatens the freedom of the press, don’t just think about my voice. Think about your other favorite writers, journalists, podcasters, social media content creators, and the independent outlets that you turn to every single day when you need to be able to trust what you are reading. The ones who are still standing with the truth, even when doing so comes at great cost and carries the risk of what Donald Trump will do next. They need your support so that they can keep doing this important work, and we need to make sure that they have the resources to defend themselves against threats, including those coming from the president of the United States.

I keep coming back to those protesters in Wichita, and how they walked into a room full of danger and protested anyway. I think about how concerning it is to speak out in any capacity against the Trump Regime, knowing full well how radicalized his followers have become from the emails and messages we receive, but also knowing how much more dangerous it would be if we all stopped resisting. How quickly our entire government and country could fall into an authoritarian hellscape. I think about how Donald Trump wants us to see each other as enemies and how we just see neighbors who are valued members of our community. He wants us to be afraid of each other. But we are not and never will be. Hate will never have a place in our hearts or homes. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

Subscribe now

Share

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: We went to the pumpkin patch today as a family. I was pinching myself that we all still do this together, while also acknowledging that there will come a day when the kids won’t all be in town to go with us. I’m just thankful this year wasn’t it. Today’s picture is exactly what I intended it to be when I started taking one every day back in 2020, when hope and small bits of joy were so hard to come by, when the TV and news showed death and suffering, including refrigerator trucks outside hospitals. I can’t believe that was six years ago. I remember taking a picture of my daughter’s favorite pasta shape one day because it was the thing that made me smile. As tough as those times were, they did make me realize that it really is the small things in life that have the biggest impact.

Links to sources used in writing this article:

Trump delivers remarks at rally in Kansas just weeks out from midterms: YouTube Video

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/student-protests-grip-france-as-prime-minister-lecornu-calls-crisis-meeting

https://wjla.com/news/nation-world/massive-protests-sweep-france-over-school-conditions-as-trump-blames-immigration-politics

https://www.thedailybeast.com/republicans-show-laughable-god-made-trump-video-at-maga-fyre-fest/

https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/60-years-later-how-a-civil-rights-era-defamation-case-empowers-the-press

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/calendar/

https://bnonews.com/whpool

At 4:36 yesterday afternoon, Donald Trump tried to explain why he was refusing to impose new sanctions on Russia. His reasoning was that Russia is doing “very little” to help Iran compared to what it could be doing, and he wants to keep it that way, “unless stupid people get in the way.” Those people are lawmakers from both parties who passed the law he signed just a month ago, named for his own friend Lindsey Graham. Now he is discarding the sanctions Graham worked to secure and calling it a strategy for peace. He accused Zelensky of wanting the war to continue for money. He left out the fact that Putin started this war and could end it by withdrawing. Trump is preparing his supporters to accept abandoning the country that was invaded as the reasonable thing to do.

In another post, he gave Netanyahu his “Complete and Total Endorsement” for reelection, praising a leader with an active International Criminal Court arrest warrant and making American support for Israel conditional on him remaining in power. I would never blame an entire nation for its leader. The Israeli people deserve better, just as we do, and just as the Iranian people do. But Trump keeps telling us what matters to him: he likes people who like him, even people he calls horrible. The danger goes beyond any single endorsement or sanctions waiver. He is trying to desensitize us to the United States standing beside authoritarian leaders and the cruelty they inflict, until we no longer remember being horrified by it.

Today’s young people have lived through one crisis after another: the Great Recession’s impact on their families, the pandemic, lost loved ones, racial injustice, and now renewed attacks on their rights. They deserve the chance to move toward a better future instead of constantly fighting to preserve what remains. Our responsibility next month does not end with casting a ballot. Trump may try to delay certifications, challenge the results, or prevent elected members of Congress from being seated. We must make our voices heard and insist that every vote is counted and the people’s decision is upheld. Future generations are counting on us.

See the full story in the video.

Subscribe now

We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent media is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

Subscribe now

I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 10-18-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/calendar/

https://bnonews.com/whpool

https://www.trumpstruth.org/

https://www.foxcarolina.com/2026/09/18/pres-trump-signs-sweeping-russia-sanctions-bill-aiming-choke-off-funds-moscow-ukraine-war/

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/10/16/8058264/index.amp

https://kyivindependent.com/trump-signs-sweeping-russia-sanctions-bill-into-law/

https://ncnewsline.com/2026/01/13/amid-protests-nc-elections-board-rejects-campus-voting-sites-and-sunday-voting-in-several-counties/

https://msmagazine.com/2026/08/31/north-carolina-students-campus-voting-access-photo-id-amendment/

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2026/02/14/nca-t--election-site--early-voting

https://www.icc-cpi.int/defendants/benjamin-netanyahu

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/world/trump-sidesteps/XKVXKIPPRA2R5BC6MQQUGBI66A/

https://democracync.org/news/north-carolina-state-board-of-elections-eliminates-early-voting-site-at-nations-largest-hbcu/

Those “stupid people” he felt the need to put on notice are lawmakers from both parties in the Congress his party controls, who wrote the very law, in honor of their fallen colleague, that he is now refusing to enforce. The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 was named after his own dead friend, the senator from South Carolina. Someone who spent the final months of his life fighting for Ukraine, and who died not even a day after returning from visiting the country, where he stood beside President Zelenskyy and secured the White House’s backing for new sanctions against Russia. Just one month after Congress passed the law and Trump himself signed it to impose new sanctions on Russia, Trump suddenly reversed course and waived the very sanctions Graham had worked so hard to secure.

Then in today’s social media post, Donald Trump had the audacity to say that he is doing this because he wants peace and that this is the best strategy to get it. He may very well believe that he is some great peacemaker, that Putin respects him, and that he is the only one who can broker a deal to end this war. But all that he is proving is what the rest of the world can clearly see. That he is Putin’s pawn, and that the Russians are playing him like a violin. Donald Trump is the guy who truly believes that the stripper at the strip club likes him. He has such an inflated sense of self-importance that he cannot see that he is being used, because his ego will not allow him to see it.

In that same post, Donald Trump tried to weaponize the devastation that Russia has inflicted on Ukraine, saying that Zelenskyy’s “country is in shambles, a large portion of his land is lost, his oceans and seas are gone, and his male population is low, wounded, and/or dead.” He included those details as some sort of proof of his argument that Zelenskyy and Ukraine have already lost and that Russia has won. He made no mention of the grave losses Russia has suffered and continues to sustain. He also didn’t add anything about how Putin, and only Putin, was responsible for starting this war and that he could end it right now by withdrawing from the country he has invaded and stopping the bloodshed. Instead, he accused Zelenskyy of having a financial interest in prolonging the war, writing that “with all of the money that Europe is famously giving him, and that Crooked Joe Biden gave him in the past, he doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did.”

Everything Trump is doing is strategic to the extent Trump is able to think strategically, because Donald Trump knows that a significant number of his own supporters actually do care about Ukraine. They see right and wrong clearly on this one. His post today was just a desperate attempt to preemptively condition them to see the aggressor as the reasonable party and the country that was invaded, that did nothing wrong, that just wants to survive, as the problem. He is laying the groundwork now so that when he eventually abandons Ukraine entirely, or worse, helps Russia in an even more direct way, his base will see it as a necessary step toward peace and the right thing to do.

This wasn’t the only post where he cozied up to people standing on the wrong side of history. In another post, which he addressed “To the Great People of Israel,” he announced his “Complete and Total Endorsement” of Benjamin Netanyahu in his upcoming race for reelection as Prime Minister of Israel later this month. But this had nothing to do with caring about the people of Israel. He was doing a favor for another authoritarian leader, someone the International Criminal Court has an active arrest warrant for. He called Netanyahu a “Great Warrior Prime Minister” and declared that he has been “Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition.” He wrote that if Israel had anyone other than Netanyahu as its leader, “America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so.” He used the people he had just called “great” as pawns, making American support for Israel conditional on Netanyahu staying in power. Netanyahu responded with his own message thanking Trump for his “extraordinary endorsement,” adding that “Israel has never had a greater friend in the White House.”

Knowing how hard so many of us oppose what Donald Trump is doing and has done, I would never blame an entire nation for the sins of their leader. The Israeli people deserve better than Bibi, just like we deserve better than Trump, and the Iranian people deserve better than the people controlling their government.

Just yesterday Donald Trump told us exactly why he keeps standing with evil people: “I like people that like me. I just like it, and I can’t help it. It’s a character flaw. I mean, I’ve had a couple of people, really horrible human beings, horrible, horrible, terrible people, but I heard through the grapevine they really liked me a lot. So, I like them too.”

In a single day, the president of the United States refused to impose sanctions on a country that invaded its neighbor and is bombing civilians, and publicly endorsed for reelection a leader wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Donald Trump continues to carry out his campaign to deliberately desensitize us to his worst impulses and dangerous plans. He wants us to feel comfortable when he aligns our country with the worst people and the cruelty they inflict. Donald Trump wants to destroy the idea of what America is supposed to stand for, so that he can turn it into anything he wants. He is normalizing the United States as a partner with evil. And he is making it so that one day we look around and we do not even flinch when our president sides with dictators, authoritarians, and fascists, because it has simply become what we are and we don’t remember it any other way. That is how it happens. Slowly, and then all at once.

Thankfully, right now, we still remember who we are and what this country was founded on. Earlier this week, students from North Carolina A&T State University, Bennett College, and UNC Greensboro marched together for 45 minutes to cast their ballots after polling sites were removed from their campuses by the Republican-controlled Board of Elections. The board chair, a Republican named Eugene Lester, said that “voting is a privilege,” and another leader said that the campus sites “disproportionately favor one political party.” State Board member Siobhan O’Duffy Millen called it “a war on students.” The College Democrats of North Carolina filed a lawsuit, and their attorneys wrote in the filing: “Contrary to the views of Defendant Eugene Lester, the Guilford County elections board chair, voting is a right of citizenship, not a privilege.” Their attempts to make voting harder and interfere in the election didn’t work. They still voted.

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North Carolina A&T students have long been pioneers in moving this country forward while not taking any nonsense from anyone. Back in 1960, four freshmen sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro and refused to leave. Their brave act helped launch the sit-in movement and expand the civil rights movement across the South. Here we are all these years later, and students at the same school are once again fighting the good fight to make this country better and more just. Young people have always been at the center of the moments that change the trajectory of this country, and they are doing it again.

I think back to when I was in college in the mid-1990s, and how different the world felt. I was not worried about my rights being taken away and I was not fighting to preserve anything. I was spending my time with friends and volunteering with organizations focused on the AIDS crisis and the foster care system, because I thought the country was moving forward, and I wanted to be part of it. I thought that peace in the Middle East was possible, that racism could be driven into silence even if it could not be erased entirely, and that homelessness was just a problem that we needed to find the right solutions for, not treat as a crime. When I look at college students today, they do not have the luxury of that idealism. They can’t live in a world that offered the same hope and possibility that so many of us got to experience because they are constantly faced with threats to their rights and uncertainty about their futures. They are treading water instead of swimming toward progress and possibility.

I know how lucky I was to be living during that time in history when a better future felt within reach, when so many other generations faced struggles that made the future feel far less certain. But this generation in particular has been hit by one compounding crisis after another, with none of them resolving before the next one arrived. Their parents were trying to survive the Great Recession while still carrying the wounds of September 11th. Then came a pandemic that stole many of their most formative years, the years when they were supposed to learn how to be people in the world and figure out who they are. Some of them lost grandparents and parents during Trump’s botched 2020 response. Then came George Floyd and the reckoning with racial injustice, which, for a very short time, actually felt like it might lead to a better world for everyone. Then Trump was elected again, and they, like all of us, are watching what feels like the slow-motion dismantling of our entire country while the president does all he can to make us see each other as enemies.

This is why our vote next month during the midterm elections matters so much. It may very well end up being the most important election in modern history. And even if it all goes exactly as our country’s survival needs it to, Donald Trump may still do everything in his power to undermine it. He may look for every loophole he can find to delay certifications and challenge the results. We need to be prepared for attempts to prevent the duly elected members of Congress from being seated. If there is one thing we know about Donald Trump, it’s that he does not play by the rules because he does not believe the rules apply to him. But we cannot let any of that stop us. We have to make our voices heard at the ballot box and insist that every single one of our votes is counted and that the decision of “We the People” is upheld. Future generations are counting on us, and we can’t, and we won’t let them down. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

Subscribe now

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This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: Are you seeing messages like this one everywhere you go? I’m seeing them at small mom-and-pop shops and larger chains, and I hope they are spurring conversations and serving as reminders for people to make a plan to cast their ballots! This postcard in particular made me think back to when my oldest two daughters were little, and the three of us would squish into the polling booth while I cast my ballot. I remember doing much the same with my own mother and my little sister. It always felt very serious and, at the same time, very exciting. But it never felt like the fate of the world was riding on not just the right people being elected, but on enough people turning out in the first place. I look forward to the possibility of a future when voting can feel that way again.

Links to sources used in writing this article:

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/calendar/

https://bnonews.com/whpool

https://www.trumpstruth.org/

https://www.foxcarolina.com/2026/09/18/pres-trump-signs-sweeping-russia-sanctions-bill-aiming-choke-off-funds-moscow-ukraine-war/

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/10/16/8058264/index.amp

https://kyivindependent.com/trump-signs-sweeping-russia-sanctions-bill-into-law/

https://ncnewsline.com/2026/01/13/amid-protests-nc-elections-board-rejects-campus-voting-sites-and-sunday-voting-in-several-counties/

https://msmagazine.com/2026/08/31/north-carolina-students-campus-voting-access-photo-id-amendment/

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2026/02/14/nca-t--election-site--early-voting

https://www.icc-cpi.int/defendants/benjamin-netanyahu

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/world/trump-sidesteps/XKVXKIPPRA2R5BC6MQQUGBI66A/

https://democracync.org/news/north-carolina-state-board-of-elections-eliminates-early-voting-site-at-nations-largest-hbcu/

Donald Trump stood behind the bright blue curtains at Truist Arena in Kentucky and walked out to tell us how powerful he has become. Within seconds, he was wandering away from his prepared remarks. Then he said something that explained far more than he seemed to realize. He likes people who like him, even people he himself describes as “horrible, horrible, terrible people.” “It’s a character flaw,” he said, while the crowd laughed and his loyalists smiled behind him. This is the moral compass of the President of the United States. He bragged that Google will now “kiss my ass,” knowing he would be sitting beside Sergey Brin at a fundraiser hours later. He told people immigrants would kill them in their homes. His admiration goes to those who flatter him, and his threats go to anyone who might stand against him.

The same speech was meant to make his followers scared of what would happen if the Democrats were in control. He claimed that buying a MAGA hat had put them under investigation by Jack Smith, even though there is no evidence that such an investigation existed. He wants them to believe their safety depends on keeping him in office. Hours before this performance, he signed an executive order waiving nearly all of the new sanctions on Russia just before they were supposed to take effect. Putin’s envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, posted on X “Checkmate.” Russia played Donald Trump, and they are not even trying to hide it. While Ukraine faces destruction, our president keeps helping the aggressor. Aren’t we sick of waking up wondering what he has done now? Aren’t we sick of the lies and division, of worrying whether our children will have homes they can afford and a livable world to inherit?

Trump and his enablers can make voting harder, redraw districts, and tell us their power cannot be challenged. They cannot make us surrender our country. We will show Donald Trump and his enablers what we think of them on November 3rd.

See the full story in the video.

Subscribe now

We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent media is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

Subscribe now

I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 10-17-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

US MIDTERMS 2026 LIVE | Trump Rallies In Kentucky As Republicans Brace For Midterm Showdown: YouTube Video

https://bnonews.com/whpool

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/calendar/

https://www.fox19.com/2026/10/13/president-trump-coming-northern-kentucky-this-weekend/

https://abcnews.com/Politics/trump-signs-order-waiving-graham-act-sanctions-russia/story?id=137341529

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6155621-trump-waives-russian-sanctions-act-tariffs/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/10/implementing-the-lindsey-o-graham-sanctioning-russia-and-iran-act-of-2026/

https://www.cleveland19.com/2025/04/10/trump-favorite-jon-husted-launches-2026-us-senate-campaign-ohio

https://www.wcpo.com/news/northern-kentucky/president-trump-to-rally-kentucky-voters-in-highland-heights-as-midterms-loom

When he finally reached the podium, his freshly darkened hair and thick orange makeup accentuated the tired, swollen eyes he was using to read the teleprompter. Yet just seconds into his nearly hour-and-a-half-long speech, the President of the United States made it clear he would not be sticking to the script he had been given. Instead, he would be saying whatever he felt like, starting early in his remarks by telling the people in the room and those watching from home that his second presidential term is more powerful than his first and that he “can do stuff that’s unbelievable.”

He also admitted with a smug and shameless confidence that he likes even the most horrible people as long as they like him, even pointing out himself just how fundamentally flawed his moral compass really is. “I like people that like me. I just like it, and I can’t help it. It’s a character flaw. I mean, I’ve had a couple of people, really horrible human beings, horrible, horrible, terrible people, but I heard through the grapevine they really liked me a lot. So, I like them too.” The crowd laughed, and the strategically placed Trump loyalists behind him had huge smiles across their faces as he said it.

It got so bad that he even bragged for all to hear that “Google wouldn’t have taken my call in the first (presidency). Now they kiss my ass.” He said that knowing full well that just hours later he would be sitting right next to Google co-founder Sergey Brin at a “candlelight dinner” fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump just kept going today. At one point, he looked into the audience and told them that the immigrants who came into this country are murderers who will kill them in their homes. “Does anyone think those murderers would be very nice people, nice, gentle people, as your next-door neighbor? No, they’ll kill you.”

He described Jon Husted, the sitting US senator from Ohio and former lieutenant governor, as “a killer” who “takes people’s heads off,” again paying no attention to his words or how often he invokes violence. He did it again when he thought someone in the crowd might be protesting. Trump asked, “Are you friend or foe? Because being a foe in this arena can be a very dangerous thing.” That was the president once again threatening violence.

Still obsessed with Canada and seemingly unable to understand how its healthcare system works, he said that Canada should not be “allowed” to have universal healthcare and that Canadians “spend our money very unwisely.” This was a stretch even for Donald Trump and shows just how desperate his administration has become. We do not, and never have, paid for Canada’s healthcare system, yet he still said it. His goal with saying things like this is to discredit the way Canadians receive medical care, so that Americans who are suffering and struggling to afford their own should fear it instead of seeing it as something worth fighting for here at home.

When he realized the people in the room with him were not as alarmed as he needed them to be, he decided to tell them that they had been in danger of criminal investigation before he took office again. He tried to explain that anyone who had ever bought a Make America Great Again hat had been under investigation by former Special Counsel Jack Smith. “If you had a hat, if you bought a Make America Great Again, you were under investigation by deranged Jack Smith,” he said. There is no evidence that any investigation of this sort ever existed, but he doesn’t care about facts or the truth; he just wanted every person in that room to believe they had been personally targeted, and that they were and would be in danger without Donald Trump in office.

He then went off on a strange tangent, complete with different voices, to justify his weaponization of the Department of Justice against his perceived enemies, saying, “They indicted me and went after me like nobody’s ever gone after. They went after our people, probably people in this audience.” He wants his supporters to think that they are personally at risk if they do not help him hold onto power.

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Late last night, hours before either of these events, Donald Trump did something even more horrific when he signed an executive order waiving nearly all of the new sanctions on Russia under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act. This was a law he had signed into effect barely a month ago to honor his deceased friend, the senator from South Carolina. On the cusp of the October 18th deadline to put those measures into effect, Trump paused the sanctions, citing “national interest.”

By the time the news of what Donald Trump had done was made public, Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and special envoy to President Putin, had already posted “Checkmate” on social media, making a public statement that Russia already knew Trump would deliver exactly what they wanted. Russia played Donald Trump, and they are not even trying to hide it. Nearly every other country and leader sees what Donald Trump is doing, how he is aiding Russia and his close friend, President Putin, and enabling the destruction of Ukraine.

To my fellow Americans, aren’t we sick of the lies? Aren’t we sick of listening to him say things that are so absurd they would be almost impossible to believe if we weren’t hearing them with our own ears? Aren’t we sick of waking up every single day wondering whether he has once again sided with a dictator and a dangerous adversary, not just of the United States, but of the entire world?

Aren’t we sick of listening to him spew hatred and divisiveness, doing everything he can to turn us against one another? Aren’t we sick of worrying about whether our kids and grandchildren will ever be able to afford a house, whether there will be jobs waiting for them, and whether climate change will leave them a world that looks anything like the one we grew up in?

Aren’t we sick of living through months of not being able to eat fresh fruits and vegetables without worrying about parasites? Aren’t we sick and tired of waking up every morning wondering what Donald Trump has done now? Aren’t we sick and tired of living as a hostage to Donald Trump?

Today my husband and I went to a No Kings event here in San Diego, and that is what I kept thinking about when I saw how many people had turned out. We are all sick and tired of Donald Trump and the billionaires who are enabling him. I saw all of the clever signs and heard the powerful chants, but it was the look in so many of the attendees’ eyes that stayed with me. They are tired, but not giving up. I had tears in my eyes as I read all the signs and felt the power of so many people spending their day resisting the evil threatening our country. It took my breath away to see young and old come together.

It made me realize that the revolution so many of us have been waiting for might already be here. Maybe this time it’s not always loud, and certainly not violent. Maybe it is just people refusing to accept what is happening in their own ways and showing up when it counts on November third in numbers we have never seen before. Because Trump and his enablers can do whatever they want to try to break our spirit. They can make it harder to vote, gerrymander districts, and try to erase every memory of the country that existed before they took power. They can keep brainwashing their loyal devotees into thinking what they are doing is good for this country or try to convince us that they are going to hold onto unchecked power after the midterms, but we know the truth. They are going to lose, and they will never be able to break our spirit. We will never surrender our country to their demands. On November third, we will be voting them all out and taking back the future of this country and its true moral compass. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

Subscribe now

Share

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: We talk a lot about those who we have lost to the MAGA cult, but we don’t talk enough about the people who were never brainwashed or who found their way out. Today I looked around and felt hope for the future, seeing so many who are on the right side of history come together, stand shoulder to shoulder, and remind us all what real Americans look like.

Links to sources used in writing this article:

US MIDTERMS 2026 LIVE | Trump Rallies In Kentucky As Republicans Brace For Midterm Showdown: YouTube Video

https://bnonews.com/whpool

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/calendar/

https://www.fox19.com/2026/10/13/president-trump-coming-northern-kentucky-this-weekend/

https://abcnews.com/Politics/trump-signs-order-waiving-graham-act-sanctions-russia/story?id=137341529

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6155621-trump-waives-russian-sanctions-act-tariffs/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/10/implementing-the-lindsey-o-graham-sanctioning-russia-and-iran-act-of-2026/

https://www.cleveland19.com/2025/04/10/trump-favorite-jon-husted-launches-2026-us-senate-campaign-ohio

https://www.wcpo.com/news/northern-kentucky/president-trump-to-rally-kentucky-voters-in-highland-heights-as-midterms-loom

At 12:56 yesterday afternoon, Donald Trump walked out of the White House to reporters waiting to ask him about Ukraine and his troubled new press secretary. He turned away from them and began talking about a crane. When he finally answered the question about the Starshield satellite network Ukraine depends on for battlefield communications and missile defense, he couldn’t keep his story straight. First, it hadn’t happened. Then, he wasn’t sure it happened. Then, it wasn’t him or Elon, but perhaps it wasn’t anybody. This was during a 20-minute appearance, after Ukrainian lives had been lost during one of the largest Russian attacks of the war. The Commander in Chief should know what happened. He should be able to explain it. Instead, we watched him try out different answers while an ally fighting for its survival was left to live with the consequences.

Over in Brussels, Zelenskyy was asked whether he was being used as a scapegoat for Trump’s own political problems. He paused, looked down, then smiled as the room laughed. “This is my answer,” he said, and ended the press conference. I watched it live, and I laughed, too, before my heart sank. Here was the president of a country under attack, where 600,000 people had just lost their electricity with winter approaching, being asked whether the country he should be able to count on was using him as a political prop. His silence felt more honest than anything our own president had said all day.

We are already seeing what public pressure can do. Katie Zacharia lasted only five days as White House press secretary before questions about her legal credentials helped unravel her credibility. Trump called it rough treatment, but loyalty cannot substitute for competence, and misrepresenting your qualifications does not become acceptable because the president blames the press. He couldn’t keep his answers straight about Ukraine, and he couldn’t keep a press secretary for a week. Those failures show how fragile this administration really is. We have important weeks ahead of us. We can stand together, make our resistance visible, and then vote on November 3 or earlier where we can. We can send Trump’s enablers in Congress packing and show the world that the American people have not given up on our country.

See the full story in the video.

Subscribe now

We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent media is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

Subscribe now

I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 10-16-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

President Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Departure from the White House, Oct. 16, 2026: YouTube Video

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/white-house-press-secretary-katie-zacharia-out-after-5-days-rcna603912

https://abcnews.com/video/137254313/

https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/politics/katie-zacharia/6I4BM34C5Q4SBFT5ZOSCMVUYNQ/

https://www.wpxi.com/news/politics/questions-swirl/6WDG3IFMM46FPFCHDIHV45AMLM/

https://kyivpost.com/post/87041

https://newrepublic.com/post/216645/elon-musk-trump-starlink-blunder

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-new-mouthpiece-katie-zacharia-given-brutal-verdict-by-white-house-goons

https://www.aol.com/articles/katie-zacharia-leaves-dhs-weeks-143101579.html

https://www.itv.com/news/2026-10-10/russian-attacks-kill-12-in-ukraine-after-trump-strikes-diesel-deal-with-putin

https://www.foxcarolina.com/2026/10/15/no-kings-rallies-return-upstate-ahead-early-voting/

https://wisconsinexaminer.com/?p=48316

He then paused so long it became uncomfortable and then said, “It’s one of the biggest, they call it a steel lifter. It lifts the biggest steel and that’s as big as it gets. That’s something, huh? Pretty good, right?” The press looked around, confused, not sure what he was saying or why.

He once again took a long pause before eventually saying, “Okay,” with a sort of sigh. The journalists didn’t skip a beat and instantly asked Donald Trump, “Why did you guys slow down Starlink or the StarShield for Ukraine?” His response came just as fast: “We didn’t do that at all. In fact, I don’t know where it is. I don’t even think it was slowed down.”

This is the story we are not letting Donald Trump sweep under the rug, no matter what else he does to distract us. Earlier this week, SpaceX’s Starshield system, the military-grade satellite network that Ukraine depends on for battlefield communications and missile defense, was throttled without warning during one of the largest Russian attacks of the war. Ukrainian lives were lost. What happened was not just a pivotal moment for the war itself. It was also one for how Donald Trump will be remembered until the end of time.

That’s why reporters asked Trump about it again. Not even a few minutes after his first nonanswer, he was ready to try out a different response: “Well, I don’t know. I know that I think it’s the same. I’m not sure that it ever came down, but I just checked it this morning. It wasn’t us.”

Then, a few minutes after that almost completely incoherent explanation, he gave a third version: “Well, I don’t know if it was anybody because it wasn’t me and I don’t think it was Elon. And from what I understand, it’s the same as it’s always been.”

He only spoke to the press for 20 minutes, and yet he was able to contradict himself three times. First, it didn’t happen. Then, he’s not sure it happened. Then, it wasn’t him or Elon, but maybe it wasn’t anybody. Donald Trump is the President of the United States and the Commander in Chief. He should know exactly what happened, and he should have a logical response to explain it. Donald Trump had neither. He didn’t know what version of the lie he was supposed to be telling because nobody had decided what the official lie was going to be, or they didn’t think they could trust him with the truth. Or worse, he isn’t actually involved in these kinds of decisions because he doesn’t want to be or because he is too impaired to know they are happening in the first place.

Nearly every day we see Donald Trump’s decisions actively advancing Russian interests while he intentionally snubs and puts in harm’s way an ally fighting for its survival. Donald Trump is not just soft on Russia; he is acting like a Russian Asset from inside the White House.

While Donald Trump was struggling to explain himself today, President Zelenskyy was answering questions of his own at a press conference in Brussels. Sky News reporter Alistair Bunkall asked Zelenskyy this: “President Trump is facing pretty difficult midterm elections, his personal popularity is very low, diesel prices in the US are very high, and the war that he started in the Middle East is not going the way he wants it. Do you think you are being treated as a scapegoat for his own problems?”

Zelenskyy paused and said nothing for what felt like minutes but was really just seconds. He stood at the podium, looked down, and then he looked up and smiled. Nearly everyone in the room started to laugh, and Zelenskyy finally spoke and said, “This is my answer,” and ended his entire press conference on that note.

I watched that moment live during a patchy night of sleep. And even though it was funny, and I did laugh, my heart sank afterward. Because if that had been any other country, or any other president, in any other situation, it would have just been a funny moment. A leader with a sense of humor, bringing a little levity to something very serious, reminding us that sometimes humor is what gets us through the worst of times. But that’s not what this was at all. This was the president of a country that has been under attack for years, whose people have been scattered across the world, and where 600,000 people had just lost their electricity with the cold winter months approaching. And there he was, standing at a podium, smiling through a question about whether the United States, the country that is supposed to be his ally, was using him as a political prop. I kept thinking about what it must feel like to stand there and be asked that question about a country you are supposed to be able to count on. And the fact that the question even needed to be asked, and that his silence seemed more honest than anything our own president had said all day, was heartbreaking.

I’ve been thinking about that moment, and what it really means all day. How devastating and shameful it is to live in a country that is actively aiding the aggressor while the country being invaded is left to answer questions about whether it’s being scapegoated by its supposed ally. And I keep returning to something that has been sitting with me for a long time, something I think a lot of Americans are also grappling with.

I remember when I first learned about the Holocaust, the rise of Hitler, the concentration camps, and the scale of the atrocities, and thinking that a madman had essentially carried out a military takeover of Germany. That the German people were victims, too. That most of them wanted nothing to do with what was happening and were as horrified as anyone. I didn’t spend much time thinking about the ordinary people who carried out the orders, or the neighbors who turned in people they knew or looked the other way as they were dragged off. I certainly didn’t think about the millions who benefited from staying silent. There were also many who resisted and paid the ultimate price for it. And of course, there was so much more to what happened than I understood at the time. But as a child, it all seemed so simple. Why didn’t they all just say no? Why didn’t they stand together and refuse? There were so many of them. How could so few people hold so many hostage?

What I never imagined was that I would spend years of my adult life living inside that question. Because now I understand something I couldn’t as a child. It’s more nuanced than that. Sometimes they are afraid, or they truly believe nothing they could do would make a difference. Or they look around and think they are the only ones who see what is happening and they are simply waiting for someone else to go first. And the longer that goes on, the harder it becomes to speak up, because what once seemed unthinkable starts to feel normal.

That’s where America is. There are people who love the cruelty and corruption, who are benefiting from it or think that they are. Then there are people who care deeply but feel powerless to do anything about it. And in between are millions of Americans who know something is terribly wrong, who are angry and frightened by what they see happening, but don’t know what to do or where to begin. They want things to change, but they’re exhausted, overwhelmed, and trying to survive their own lives. They’re waiting for someone to show them what they can do that will actually make a difference. That’s the gray zone, and that’s where so many of us are right now.

Tomorrow is the next No Kings rally, focused entirely on voting. It is being held to remind us all that we have one powerful tool that we can still use to change the direction of this country before it’s too late. This is our time to take the lessons we have learned from other dark times in history and not waste an opportunity to stop what is happening. Hopefully it will also remind us all that we are not alone. That others see what is happening and share the same concerns and fears.

If you are wondering if they are even worth showing up for, yes. 100% yes. Because our resistance is working, and we are seeing signs of it every single day. After much pressure and public embarrassment, today, Katie Zacharia became one of the shortest-serving White House press secretaries in American history, lasting only five days. She was named to the position last Friday, gave her first and only disastrous press briefing on Tuesday, and by today she was gone. Anthony Scaramucci, who served as Trump’s White House communications director during his first term and whose name became a way of describing someone who didn’t last long in a political appointment, lasted only 11 days. Zacharia beat his record by six days. Scaramucci himself posted on X today: “Records are made to be broken. But I take no pleasure in other people’s pain.”

She failed for a multitude of reasons, one of which was that what she presented about herself wasn’t exactly the truth. When her law credentials were looked up in a public database, it was found that Katie Zacharia, who had called herself a lawyer on Instagram, in press releases, and in professional bios for years, was not licensed to practice law in any state. She graduated from Pepperdine Law and claimed she practiced law in China, but legal experts told NBC News that only Chinese citizens can sit for the Chinese bar exam. A senior administration official confirmed she never passed the California bar.

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That was it, and her entire credibility started to unravel. Trump tried to frame it as media cruelty, which is an odd way of saying being caught misrepresenting your qualifications, but the damage had already been done. He told reporters today, “I said, Katie, is this for you? Because you know she’s been treated very rough.” He told her, “Welcome to the world of Trump.” But the world of Trump is a world where nobody checks anything before they put someone behind the podium. It’s a world built entirely on loyalty, and where competence in the job doesn’t matter. Where credentials and the truth don’t matter either until someone outside the Trump regime bothers to verify it, and when they do, the whole thing falls apart quickly.

The Trump presidency is in a crisis. Donald Trump couldn’t keep his lies straight about Ukraine and he couldn’t even keep a press secretary for a week. That tells us how fragile all of this really is. That is our opening growing bigger. We have some very important weeks ahead of us. Tomorrow we take to the streets and remind Donald Trump and his enablers what is coming and we remind each other that we are here, we are seeing the same thing, that our country is under attack from within and that we are done with this chaos and cruelty. We send a message to those outside the states that there are more of us than the red hat cult and that we are taking back our country. And then on Nov 3, or sooner if we can vote early, we send the biggest message yet. We send the Trump sympathizers in Congress packing and we take back our power. We are going to show the world that the American people have not given up on our country and that we never will. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

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This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: This picture was taken in 1999, right after Pete and I got engaged. Today we are celebrating our 27th anniversary. While we were spending the day celebrating, we were asked how many years we have been married, and then we were asked what the secret was to staying married that long. It caught me off guard because we don’t feel old enough to have been married long enough to have some sort of magic secret to share. But I knew I had to give some sort of reply, so I just said, “Marry someone you actually like.” I know those were not the words of wisdom they were looking for, but it was the first thing that came to mind. After thinking about it more, I still think that was the right answer, but there’s more to it than that.

Now I know compared to so many, our marriage is still in its infancy, with many couples having been married for many more years than us. But I think if I had had more time to think about it, I would have said marry someone who you can go to with a wild idea of taking on the federal government every night, even at grave risk to your safety and your family’s, to do your part to make sure the world is inhabitable for future generations, who won’t even bat an eye and instead will jump up and say, “How can I help?” Happy anniversary, Pete! Here’s to many more.

Links to sources used in writing this article:

President Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Departure from the White House, Oct. 16, 2026: YouTube Video

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/white-house-press-secretary-katie-zacharia-out-after-5-days-rcna603912

https://abcnews.com/video/137254313/

https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/politics/katie-zacharia/6I4BM34C5Q4SBFT5ZOSCMVUYNQ/

https://www.wpxi.com/news/politics/questions-swirl/6WDG3IFMM46FPFCHDIHV45AMLM/

https://kyivpost.com/post/87041

https://newrepublic.com/post/216645/elon-musk-trump-starlink-blunder

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-new-mouthpiece-katie-zacharia-given-brutal-verdict-by-white-house-goons

https://www.aol.com/articles/katie-zacharia-leaves-dhs-weeks-143101579.html

https://www.itv.com/news/2026-10-10/russian-attacks-kill-12-in-ukraine-after-trump-strikes-diesel-deal-with-putin

https://www.foxcarolina.com/2026/10/15/no-kings-rallies-return-upstate-ahead-early-voting/

https://wisconsinexaminer.com/?p=48316

At 12:53 in the afternoon, Donald Trump walked into the Rose Garden for a luncheon honoring first responders and spent 36 minutes making it about himself. The firefighters, police officers, paramedics, EMTs and Secret Service agents in front of him deserved a president who would recognize their service. Instead, they heard that he was supposed to be sleeping, that he wasn’t a controversial person, and that he had “very severe problems.” He was talking about avoiding drugs and alcohol when he made that admission, and then he realized what he had done. “The press is going to say, what problem does he have? Let’s figure it out. I probably set myself up for that one.” He turned to Todd Blanche for help defending him. We deserve to know whether anything is affecting his ability to do this job. A president cannot make that declaration without explanation and leave the entire country with speculation and uncertainty.

Later, on Newsmax, a question about impeachment sent him into boasts about what he could do to the Clintons and Barack Obama. He talked about criminal prosecution and destroying reputations as though those were personal options he could use whenever he wanted. If he has evidence of serious crimes, it belongs with the appropriate authorities and in the proper legal process. Instead, we heard mob boss language from the president of the United States, followed by his insistence that he is allowed to pardon himself. Back at the luncheon, he had joked about missile strikes ruining fishing because people might be afraid to go boating. He was joking about his own military killing people, in front of people who spend their lives saving others. The audience barely reacted. On that same day, three children and a teacher were killed at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon. We cannot keep absorbing these headlines and then going on with our lives. Our children should not have to practice active shooter drills as though this is simply what growing up in America means.

But there was also a reminder that resistance works. Trump abandoned his plan to livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan after immediate, overwhelming backlash. Eighty percent of Americans in a national poll opposed it. Republicans and Democrats condemned it, JD Vance said he would not watch, and Archbishop Paul Coakley called it “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death.” The United Nations objected. Military families said it exploited their grief. Enough people pushed back, loudly and together, that he backed down. With Election Day approaching, we have to carry that refusal into the voting booth and beyond it. Vote early if you can. The vote is the start, but it is not the whole answer. We have to stop adjusting to the temperature of the water as it rises around us and say, in every part of our lives, enough is enough. Our country still knows right from wrong, and we have a chance to remind the world of that.

See the full story in the video.

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We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

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I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 10-15-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

https://www.axios.com/2026/10/09/jd-vance-fort-hood-shooter-livestream-execution

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/u-s-conference-of-catholic-bishops-condemns-pentagons-barbaric-decision-to-livestream-execution/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/9/barbaric-us-lawmakers-condemn-plan-to-livestream-nidal-hasans-execution

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/plan-to-broadcast-fort-hood-killers-execution-spurs-criticism

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/legal-path-seems-narrow-to-challenge-livestream-of-fort-hood-shooters-execution-experts-say

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/fort-hood-survivors-speak-pentagons-decision-livestream-hasans-137144236

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/botched-execution-plans-public-show-us-conflicted-capital-137147663

https://www.fox7austin.com/news/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-announces-senate-run