From the attorney general stumping for Republican candidates to federal agents raiding the home of a Democratic congresswoman up for re-election, the department is violating long-standing norms
Donald Trump’s justice department has aggressively inserted itself into the midterm elections in the contest’s final weeks, shattering the department’s longstanding practice of political neutrality and leaving little doubt about the department’s willingness to help should the president attempt to subvert elections where his party is forecasted to lose seats and ultimately control of Congress.
In the last few weeks, federal agents have raided the home of a Democratic congresswoman up for re-election. It has touted criminal charges and arrests of non-citizens charged with voter fraud. The attorney general has hit the campaign trail to stump for Republican candidates. And the department gave California election officials 48 hours to investigate the citizenship of 20,000 people, and then sued the state when it refused to comply. The FBI also recently published a video criticizing Michigan senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and other Democrats, drawing an immediate rebuke from one watchdog, who said the video “has no place in a democratic society”. Continue reading...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/oct/18/trump-justice-department-us-midterms?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger
@progressivepower
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Saturday, October 17, 2026
GOP Lawmaker Pronounces Trump Agenda 'Dead' Following Russia Sanctions Reversal
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) on Saturday warned many fellow Republican lawmakers will no longer be supporting the president’s agenda.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/don-bacon-trump-agenda-is-dead-russia-sanctions_n_6ad3c6a8e4b00caf853c9ee0?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/don-bacon-trump-agenda-is-dead-russia-sanctions_n_6ad3c6a8e4b00caf853c9ee0?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger
Of course Trump is helping Russia in Ukraine – he’s a master of the art of betrayal | Jonathan Freedland
The old certainties have gone. We will have to spend whatever it takes to protect ourselves in this new and dangerous world
Donald Trump must find it oddly frustrating. He keeps showing the world exactly who he is, and yet the world keeps refusing to believe it. As clearly as he can, he is announcing that he is not the leader of the free world, that he is not even a reliable member of the democratic west, that he is in fact an ally of its enemies – but the west, including Britain, either doesn’t fully get the message or can’t quite bring itself to draw the obvious conclusion.
Trump had another go this week, finding multiple ways to declare that in the war between Russia and Ukraine, he is no mediator or peace broker but a partner of Vladimir Putin. In fairness to him, the US president had loudly issued that declaration within weeks of his return to the White House when, in February 2025, he delivered an on-camera dressing down of Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, seeking to humiliate the Ukrainian leader by telling him “you don’t have the cards”, even as JD Vance demanded their visitor show gratitude. That should have made Trump’s position sufficiently plain, but in the past few days he has all but put it up in lights.
Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist
US midterms: Trump, war and America’s future
On Thursday, 5 November join Jonathan Freedland, Devika Bhat, Professor Adam Smith in London and David Smith and leading US commentator Tara Setmayer live from the US to discuss the results and their implications for the future of Trump, the US and global politics.
Book tickets here or at guardian.live Continue reading...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/16/donald-trump-russia-ukraine-protect-world?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger
Donald Trump must find it oddly frustrating. He keeps showing the world exactly who he is, and yet the world keeps refusing to believe it. As clearly as he can, he is announcing that he is not the leader of the free world, that he is not even a reliable member of the democratic west, that he is in fact an ally of its enemies – but the west, including Britain, either doesn’t fully get the message or can’t quite bring itself to draw the obvious conclusion.
Trump had another go this week, finding multiple ways to declare that in the war between Russia and Ukraine, he is no mediator or peace broker but a partner of Vladimir Putin. In fairness to him, the US president had loudly issued that declaration within weeks of his return to the White House when, in February 2025, he delivered an on-camera dressing down of Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, seeking to humiliate the Ukrainian leader by telling him “you don’t have the cards”, even as JD Vance demanded their visitor show gratitude. That should have made Trump’s position sufficiently plain, but in the past few days he has all but put it up in lights.
Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist
US midterms: Trump, war and America’s future
On Thursday, 5 November join Jonathan Freedland, Devika Bhat, Professor Adam Smith in London and David Smith and leading US commentator Tara Setmayer live from the US to discuss the results and their implications for the future of Trump, the US and global politics.
Book tickets here or at guardian.live Continue reading...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/16/donald-trump-russia-ukraine-protect-world?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger
Friday, October 16, 2026
Is JD Vance campaigning for the midterms … or 2028? – podcast
The US vice-president is following the Donald Trump playbook, attacking the Democrats, attempting to make jokes and even swearing more. Jonathan Freedland talks to Arwa Mahdawi about why Vance is making such an effort to court voters
Buy your tickets to the Guardian’s post-midterm live event, hosted by Jonathan Freedland
Watch Jonathan Freedland on our new Politics Weekly YouTube channel
Send your questions and feedback to politicsweeklyamerica@theguardian.com
Watch Today in Focus’ episode on the Trump administration investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar
Read David Smith’s piece on Katie Zacharia’s first press conference Continue reading...
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/audio/2026/oct/16/jd-vance-campaign-midterms-or-2028-podcast?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger
Buy your tickets to the Guardian’s post-midterm live event, hosted by Jonathan Freedland
Watch Jonathan Freedland on our new Politics Weekly YouTube channel
Send your questions and feedback to politicsweeklyamerica@theguardian.com
Watch Today in Focus’ episode on the Trump administration investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar
Read David Smith’s piece on Katie Zacharia’s first press conference Continue reading...
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/audio/2026/oct/16/jd-vance-campaign-midterms-or-2028-podcast?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger
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