Our Best Stuff on Politics as the Midterms Draw Near
The Dispatch · RC · trust 38/100
Unlocked Dispatch Weekly Our Best Stuff on Politics as the Midterms Draw Near Could a blue wave prompt multiple impeachments? Rachael Larimore / October 3, 2026 Loading President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House on September 26, 2026 in Washington. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images) President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House on September 26, 2026 in Washington. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images) = 3 && ageInMonths 3 months old . Some information may be outdated.'; } else if (ageInMonths = 6 && ageInMonths 6 months old . Some information may be outdated.'; } else if (ageInMonths = 12 && ageInMonths 1 year old . Some information may be outdated.'; } else if (ageInMonths = 12) { const ageInYears = Math.floor(ageInMonths / 12); this.message = `This post is more than ${ageInYears} ${ageInYears === 1 ? 'year' : 'years'} old . Some information may be outdated.`; } } }" { this.tooltipOpen = false; }, 200); } }" class="relative" Audio Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening.
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Hello and happy Saturday. Last week I wrote about polling showing that we could be in for a blue wave in the midterms. This week we gained some insight into how that forecast is already having consequences, and we looked ahead at the ramifications of a Democratically controlled Congress. In short, Republicans are turning on President Donald Trump, even conspiracy theories aren’t working for him, and the president and some of his Cabinet could find themselves in very uncomfortable positions come January.
On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that Texas Attorney General and Senate nominee Ken Paxton, in a speech to donors, blamed the GOP’s midterm convention for driving down his poll numbers. In Boiling Frogs , Nick Catoggio was skeptical of the notion that “Trumpapalooza” is the source of Paxton’s problems, but he was also surprised that Paxton spoke against the president. He wrote:
It would be shocking to hear any Republican on the ballot this fall admit that Trump is a liability for the party, of course, but Ken Paxton? A man who would have been removed from his office as state attorney general by his own party if not for the president’s intervention ? Who may very well have lost his Senate primary this year to John Cornyn if not for the president’s endorsement? Who’s being bankrolled right now to the tune of millions of dollars from the president’s super PAC to keep him in the game against Talarico?
For him to declare “Trumpalooza” a major unforced error feels like an act of “disloyalty” on par with Jeff Sessions recusing himself from the Russiagate investigation.
Trump, whose MAGA Inc. super PAC has more than $400 million on hand, has begun airing ads in which he vows that “America will never be a communist country,” that he will “expel the warmongers,” and yet another that touts the accomplishments of … the Iran war. Rather, I should say that the U.S. government is airing those ads, as taxpayers are the ones footing the bill. Let’s turn to Jonah for a review of the ad promising to defeat communism:
The ad transcends mere “campaign” rhetoric to become quite simply pure propaganda of the sort that in another era would require traditional conservatives to be medicated to avoid vomiting at the spectacle, and even then most could only endure watching it with the assistance of the Ludovico technique made famous in A Clockwork Orange . The ad’s soundtrack is a choir singing, “Love me.”
In Friday’s Morning Dispatch , we wrote that even some Republican lawmakers find the ads inappropriate, and they are likely illegal. But FCC Chairman Brendan Carr seems disinclined to investigate any impropriety, which leaves the matter to Congress.
Congress is now recessed until after the midterm elections, but it might have a full agenda when it gets back. It needs to figure out how to fund the government, pass the National Defense Authorization Act, and more. But there is also the matter of impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Rep. Thomas Massie introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth last month, which prompted Speaker Mike Johnson to adjourn the House early to avoid a vote. In Boiling Frogs , Nick runs through the various scenarios that could play out if the Democrats take the House.
Kevin Williamson looked a little farther out , to January, and he predicted we could see multiple impeachments. He wrote:
It is important to keep in mind that Trump has not acted alone in these matters: Consider, for example, that the Trump administration conducted an unauthorized war on Venezuela, kidnapped its president, and is operating a puppet regime in Caracas for the purpose of appropriating Venezuelan oil wealth—and this was in no small part the work of Marco Rubio, whose relatively mild public temperament should not be mistaken for moral distance from the administration and its crimes. Investigations into the administration’s financial corruption are certain to involve scrutiny of Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick. J.D. Vance’s role as an enabler of the abuse of ICE as a political weapon to be wielded against Democratic cities such as Minneapolis will be of interest. There is plenty of room inside the cordon sanitaire.
On that note, thanks for reading and have a great weekend. Don’t miss Arash Ahmadzadeh’s account of trying to get a student visa as an international student, Kimberly Mazzocco Hart’s essay on the death of “Butcher of Bosnia” Ratko Mladić, and Mike Coté’s analysis of the deal between the United States, Denmark and Greenland, all highlighted below.
The Doors to American Higher Education Are Closing Arash Ahmadzadeh / September 29, 2026 On April 13 of this year, I was teaching Fernando Sor’s Study in B minor to a teenage student at the Conservatoire de Breuillet, just outside Paris, when an email flashed up…
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