Evelyn Reynolds

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    Trump administration says it will partially fund Snap food aid benefits– live

    The Trump administration has said in a court filing that it plans to partially fund food aid for millions of Americans after two judges ruled last week that it must use contingency funds to pay for the benefits in November during the government shutdown.This is per a snap updated from the Reuters news agency and I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.Nearly two dozen states have sued the Trump administration over its new rule that limits student loan forgiveness for people who work for non-profits or the government. The lawsuit is being led by New York Attorney General Letitia James and has been joined by 20 attorneys general in states including Arizona, Illinois and Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia’s attorney general.The US Department of Education issued the final rule last week, which changes the definition of “qualifying employer” and excludes organizations “that engage in unlawful activities” such as “supporting terrorism and aiding and abetting illegal immigration”. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness law was signed into force by George W Bush in 2007.“Public Service Loan Forgiveness was created as a promise to teachers, nurses, firefighters, and social workers that their service to our communities would be honored,” James said in a statement. “Instead, this administration has created a political loyalty test disguised as a regulation.”Donald Trump has long criticized student loan forgiveness programs and has aimed to roll back debt relief bolstered during the Biden administration, which included making it easier for people to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

    The Trump administration has said in a court filing that it plans to partially fund food aid for millions of Americans after two judges ruled last week that it must use contingency funds to pay for the benefits in November during the government shutdown. The administration laid out the US Department of Agriculture’s plan in a filing in federal court in Rhode Island at the direction of a judge who had last week ordered it to use emergency funds to at least partially cover November’s Snap benefits. While the administration said it would fully deplete the $5.25bn in contingency funds, it would not use other funding that would allow it to fully fund Snap benefits for 42 million Americans, which cost $8bn to $9bn per month.

    As the ongoing government shutdown enters its 34th day, Republican leaders maintain they have no plans to abolish the filibuster. Speaking to reporters today, House speaker Mike Johnson said his colleagues in the Senate saw the 60-vote threshold needed in the Senate to end debate on a bill, as an “important safeguard” from the “Democrats’ worst impulses”. This, despite Donald Trump decrying the measure on social media, and in a recent interview with 60 Minutes. Johnson said today that the president is simply very “passionate” about this issue. “I think what you see in this debate – we’re having on our own side is a reflection of the anger that we feel, the real desperation that we feel, because we want the government to be reopened,” he added.

    As election day inches closer, candidates to be New York City’s next mayor spent the day traversing the city with eleventh-hour pitches to voters. Early voting in the closely watched mayoral race ended on Sunday. More than 735,000 New Yorkers cast their ballots ahead of Tuesday’s election. The Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani, is still the frontrunner in the race, much to the ire of the president. In his 60 Minutes interview, Trump said that he’s “not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other”, but he would rather see the former governor – who is running as an Independent – win against the progressive assemblyman leading the polls. “If it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you,” Trump said.
    The inspector general for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is being removed from his role, according to Reuters. Citing three unnamed people familiar with the matter, the outlet reports that Joe Allen is being removed from his role overseeing the office responsible for rooting out waste, fraud and abuse at the FHFA.Reuters also noted that the website for the FHFA’s Office of Inspector General listed the position as “currently vacant”. It was unclear when the website was updated.In recent weeks, the agency’s leader, Bill Pulte, has made himself known as a loyal supporter of Donald Trump’s efforts to target those he sees as political adversaries. He’s accused Federal Reserve governor, Lisa Cook, of mortgage fraud, and pushed the justice department to investigate New York attorney general Letitia James – who recently plead not guilty after being indicted on two charges of bank fraud, and making false statements to a financial institution.In response, Elizabeth Warren – the top Democratic senator on the banking committee – issued a statement today.“What happened to the watchdog overseeing his agency? What does Pulte have to hide as he continues to use his role to investigate President Trump’s perceived political enemies while failing to lower housing costs for the American people?,” the lawmaker representing Massachusetts said.As election day inches closer, candidates to be New York City’s next mayor spent the day traversing the city with eleventh-hour pitches to voters.Democratic nominee, and frontrunner, Zohran Mamdani, former governor Andrew Cuomo who is running as an Independent, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, all spent a jam-packed weekend attending campaign events and getting as much face time with New Yorkers as possible. A reminder that early voting, which ended on Sunday, saw a record high turn out throughout the city.My colleague, Anna Betts, has been covering the latest on the ground. You can read more of her reporting below.The city of Miami’s mayor Francis Suarez is weighing in on Tuesday’s mayoral race in New York, with none-too-complimentary comments about Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate and frontrunner.Suarez, a Republican, was speaking to reporters this lunchtime ahead of the two-day America Business Forum in Miami on Wednesday and Thursday, which Donald Trump will attend.“New York seems to be on the precipice of electing a Democratic socialist, a young charismatic leader. But we’ve been to that movie before, here in Miami,” said Suarez, the termed-out, eight-year mayor whose successor will also be elected on Tuesday.“In this city we’ve had young charismatic leaders that promised us, you know, ‘Give us all your businesses, give us all your property, we’ll make everybody equal’. And they did. They made everybody equally poor, equally miserable and equally repressed,” he said.Suarez says the impact on Miami if Mamdani is elected will be significant, and he predicts an exodus from New York. “There’s going to be a 20, 30, maybe even 40% spike in demand and in real estate prices here in Miami, it’s an inevitable consequence,” he added. “I don’t have a border, you know, I can’t prevent people from coming.”Trump is the headline speaker at the conference, which features luminaries from the worlds of politics, business and sport. They include sports stars Lionel Messi, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams; Javier Milei, the far-right president of Argentina; Steve Witkoff, Trump adviser and Middle East envoy; and María Corina Machado, winner of the 2025 Nobel peace prize that Trump was angling for.As is customary during these dueling press conferences throughout the shutdown, each party continues to blame the other for failing to reopen the government.Jeffries just called Donald Trump the “puppet master” of the Republican party, and said that GOP lawmakers refuse to negotiate due to their ongoing deference to the president.Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, is now speaking to reporters at the US Capitol. A reminder that the lower chamber is still out of session as the government shutdown enters its 34th day.Further to that, the Trump administration said $600m would be used to fund states’ administrative costs in administering Snap benefits, leaving $4.65bn that will be obligated to cover 50% of eligible households’ current allotments.The partial payments are unprecedented in the program’s history. A USDA official warned in a court filing that at least some states, which administer Snap benefits on a day-to-day basis, would need weeks to months to make system changes that would allow them to provide the reduced benefits.US district judge in Rhode Island John McConnell and another judge in Boston, US district judge Indira Talwani, said on Friday the administration had the discretion to also tap a separate fund holding about $23bn.Patrick Penn, deputy under secretary for food, nutrition, and consumer services at the USDA, said in a court filing the agency was carefully considering using those funds but determined they must remain available for child nutrition programs instead of Snap.Per my last post, the administration laid out the US Department of Agriculture’s plan in a filing in federal court in Rhode Island at the direction of a judge who had last week ordered it to use emergency funds to at least partially cover November’s Snap benefits.The justice department said the USDA is complying with US district judge John McConnell’s order and “will fulfill its obligation to expend the full amount of Snap contingency funds today”.But while the administration said it would fully deplete the $5.25bn in contingency funds, it would not use other funding that would allow it to fully fund Snap benefits for 42 million Americans, which cost $8bn to $9bn per month.The Trump administration has said in a court filing that it plans to partially fund food aid for millions of Americans after two judges ruled last week that it must use contingency funds to pay for the benefits in November during the government shutdown.This is per a snap updated from the Reuters news agency and I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.Per that last post, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer quipped on social media today.“Maybe I should file a complaint with the FCC against the Trump White House for editing his unhinged 60 Minutes interview,” the top Democrat wrote on X. “It will use the exact same language Trump lodged against Vice President Harris.”The CBS News program 60 Minutes heavily edited down an interview with Donald Trump that aired on Sunday night, his first sit-down with the show in five years.Trump sat down with correspondent Norah O’Donnell for 90 minutes, but only about 28 minutes were broadcast. A full transcript of the interview was later published, along with a 73-minute-long extended version online.The edits are notable because, exactly one year before Trump was interviewed by O’Donnell at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday he had sued CBS over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which he alleged had been deceptively edited to help her chances in the presidential election.While many legal experts widely dismissed the lawsuit as “meritless” and unlikely to hold up under the first amendment, CBS settled with Trump for $16m in July. As part of the settlement, the network had agreed that it would release transcripts of future interviews of presidential candidates.At the beginning of Sunday’s show, O’Donnell reminded viewers that Paramount settled Trump’s lawsuit, but noted that “the settlement did not include an apology or admission of wrongdoing”.Ahead of election day across the country, my colleague Carter Sherman, has been covering how reproductive rights will be back on the ballot in this off-cycle year. Carter notes the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia could have sweeping consequences for abortion access in two states that have become havens for women fleeing abortion bans. In Pennsylvania, what should have been a relatively sleepy judicial-retention election has evolved into the most expensive race of its kind in nearly 50 years, largely due to heated fighting over abortion. With voters weighing whether to keep three Democratic justices on the state supreme court, advocates fear that liberals may lose control of the bench and, ultimately, lose abortion access in the purple state.Read more of her reporting here. When asked by reporters about the president’s insistence for lawmakers to abolish the filibuster, Mike Johnson said that he had spoken to Donald Trump over the weekend and shared his thoughts with him.“I hear my Senate Republican colleagues, some of the most conservative people in Congress, who say it’s an important safeguard. It prevents us, it holds us back from the Democrats’ worst impulses,” Johnson said. “What would the Democrats do if they had no filibuster impediment, no speed bump at all?”The House speaker added that he speaks “frankly and honestly” with the president and noted that he was very “passionate” about this issue. “I think what you see in this, this, this debate we’re having on our own side is a reflection of the anger that we feel, the real desperation that we feel, because we want the government to be reopened,” Johnson said.Mike Johnson has said that issuing payments to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) beneficiaries in the midst of the shutdown is “not as easy as hitting go send on a computer”.In recent days, two federal judges ordered the administration to use the program’s contingency funds to pay to Snap recipients. Today, Johnson said this was more complicated than it looked.“It costs over $9bn to fund Snap for a month, and we only have, I think it’s $5.2bn in the contingency fund. So you have a big shortfall,” he said. “You got to go through and recalculate partial payments to the 42 million recipients of the program.”Johnson noted that the president was not appealing against the rulings from the respective judges. “He wants that to be done,” Johnson said. “But he doesn’t see the mechanism to do it. So you have treasury, you have USDA, you have the other agencies involved that are working overtime, literally around the clock over the weekend, trying to figure out how to do this. But everybody needs to know, it’s not the full amount, assuming they could get this done and processed.”Throughout today’s press conference, Mike Johnson has continued to blame Senate Democrats for shuttering the government for 34 days. He, and many congressional Republicans, have claimed that the reason that lawmakers on the left have consistently rejected the House-passed funding bill is due to pressure from the progressive wing of the Democratic party.“They fear that personally for their own political future,” Johnson said today. “And they care more about that than they care about Snap benefits flow into hungry families, about air traffic controllers being paid so they can keep the skies safe, border patrol, troops and all the rest … It is extremism on the left that is the direct cause of American suffering right now.”In a short while, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson will hold a press conference, on the 34th day of the government shutdown.We’ll bring you the latest lines, particularly when it comes to reopening the lower chamber, as the shutdown is poised to be the longest on record (likely to beat the 35 days during Donald Trump’s first administration).In an interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes, Trump said that he’s “not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other”, but he would rather see the former governor win against the progressive frontrunner and state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani to be the next mayor of New York City.“If it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you,” Trump said.Early voting in the closely watched mayoral race ended on Sunday. More than 735,000 New Yorkers cast their ballots ahead of Tuesday’s election. More

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    Trump approval rating falls to second-term low of 37%

    Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to one of its lowest points, with only 37% of Americans expressing approval of his performance as president.The new CNN/SSRS survey released on Monday shows a sharp decline in Trump’s approval ratings compared with the early days after he began his second term in January, when his approval stood at 47% by mid-February.The latest survey, conducted among 1,245 adults from 27 to 30 October, shows a 63% disapproval rating, just a percentage point higher than his lowest mark ever recorded by CNN, which came in the week following the January 6 Capitol Hill riot in 2021.When asked how things are going in the US, today, a majority of Americans, 68%, said “pretty/very badly”, while 32% said “very/fairly well”.The survey, conducted as the federal government appears to enter what will be the longest shutdown in American history, also found that 47% of Americans view the economy and cost of living as the most important issue facing the country.Coming in second is the state of American democracy, indicated by 26% of Americans. By comparison, only 10% cited immigration as a top concern, even though the issue continues to be a major focus of Trump’s administration, marked by intensified ICE raids, steep cuts to refugee admissions and ongoing immigration battles in federal courts.Other issues lower on the list include crime and safety, cited as a concern by only 7% of Americans, despite Trump’s vow to rid major American cities – which he has called “hellhole” and “war-ravaged” – of “crime, bloodshed, bedlam”.Among those surveyed, only 27% said they believe Trump’s policies improved the nation’s economic conditions. In contrast, 61% think his policies made the economy worse while 12% believe they had no effect. The survey comes amid growing concern in rural Republican towns where Trump’s tariffs have driven factory layoffs and production slowdowns across various industries.In regards to foreign policy, 32% said they believe Trump’s decisions helped the US’s global standing. By contrast, 56% believe that he hurt the US’s standing in the world while 12% said he made no difference at all. These results follow repeated White House claims that Trump has ended eight wars in eight months of his presidency.Moreover, the survey found that a majority of Americans, 61%, believe Trump has gone too far in using his presidential powers. Meanwhile, 31% say his use of power has been about right, and 9% believe he has not gone far enough.Since taking office in January, Trump’s expansion of his presidential authority – through actions including authorizing international strikes without congressional approval, deploying national guard troops despite opposition from state officials, and issuing executive orders that make independent regulators answerable to the White House – has raised widespread concern.The survey’s findings on public attitudes toward Trump’s presidential power also come as experts warn that his investigations into political opponents risk turning the justice department into his “personal weapon”.With the midterm elections coming up next November, 41% of Americans said that if they were voting for Congress today, their vote would be a way to show opposition to Trump. Meanwhile, 21% said their vote would signal support for Trump and 38% said their vote would not be about sending any message to him.The Guardian has contacted the White House for comment. More

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    Trump administration will provide half of usual funds to Snap recipients in November

    The Trump administration said it would provide partial relief to recipients of food stamps on Monday as the federal government shutdown approached a record-breaking length.Amid mounting uncertainty among the nearly 42 million people on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), the Department of Agriculture said it would use contingency funds to keep benefits going, albeit just 50% of the usual funds recipients receive on their cards.The announcement, in a court filing by the government at the US district court in Rhode Island, came after Donald Trump said the administration would comply with a court order to provide emergency funding after previous refusals to do so on purported legal grounds. Before Monday’s announcement, Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, had suggested that emergency funding might not be available immediately and called for more court guidance on how to fund Snap legally.Money for the program officially ran out on Saturday as a result of the US government shutdown, now in its 34th day and showing no sign of ending as congressional Republican continued their standoff with the Democrats.The US president said on Friday that he would be “honored” to provide emergency funding for the program after Judge John McConnell of the US district court in Rhode Island ruled that the administration could not deny the program funds because of the shutdown.“I have instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible … even if we get immediate guidance, it will unfortunately be delayed while States get the money out,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network on Friday. “If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding.”McConnell promptly issued an order the following day instructing the administration to start making contingency funds available by midday on Monday.The administration had previously argued that it was legally prohibited from tapping into the contingency fund to provide Snap benefits, arguing that it could only be used in the cases such as natural disasters. The judge rejected that position as “arbitrary”.“The court greatly appreciates the president’s quick and definitive response to this court’s order and his desire to provide the necessary Snap funding,” McConnell wrote in Saturday’s order.The pause in benefits from the program is unprecedented.Bessent told CNN that funds could start flowing by Wednesday, and said he wanted more guidance from the courts on how money could be legally switched around to fund Snap benefits.“There’s a process that has to be followed,” Bessent said. “So, we’ve got to figure out what the process is.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionSome states have said it will take days and, in some cases, even weeks to give out benefits to low income recipients because the government did not disperse partial funds for it after the shutdown began on 1 October.Long queues have been reported at food banks across the country. In California and Texas, stadium car parks were converted into distribution sites amid uncertainty over the program’s continuation.Some states, including New York, Oregon and Virginia, declared states of emergency last week to provide funds that would keep benefits available. But the amounts provided were expected to amount to a fraction of normal federal government funding. The federal costs of Snap amounts to about $8bn a month across the US. More

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    Trump feels ‘very badly’ for British royal family after Prince Andrew was stripped of titles

    Donald Trump has said he feels “very badly” for the British royal family after King Charles stripped his brother, Andrew, of his titles over the former prince’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the late, convicted sex offender.The ex-Duke of York, now known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, will also have to move out of his long-term residence at the Royal Lodge on the Windsor estate, Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday.The decision follows anxiety within the royal household about the damage caused by continual headlines concerning Mountbatten Windsor’s friendship with the paedophile financier. The former prince has also faced allegations of sexual assault against him by one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre.Speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One on Sunday evening, Trump – who was friends with Epstein before winning his two US presidencies – was asked about King Charles’s decision to strip Andrew of his peerages and titles.“I feel very badly,” Trump said. “It’s a terrible thing that’s happened to the family. That’s been a tragic situation. It’s too bad. I feel badly for the family.”Trump has frequently spoken of his admiration for Britain’s royal family, including during his unprecedented second state visit to the UK in September. He hailed the so-called special relationship between the US and Britain as he paid a gushing tribute to King Charles.But Trump has faced his own political woes in recent months over his own alleged relationship with Epstein, who was found dead in a New York jail cell in 2019. Before Trump was greeted by King Charles during September’s visit, several images of the US president and Epstein were projected on to Windsor Castle, with an accompanying soundtrack questioning their relationship.Meanwhile, Mountbatten Windsor has been under renewed scrutiny over his ties to Epstein after the publication of newly released emails and a posthumous memoir by Giuffre, who died by suicide in April at the age of 41. In the book, she claimed she was forced to have sex with the former prince on three occasions, including when she was 17 and also during an orgy after being trafficked by Epstein. She claimed Mountbatten Windsor “believed that having sex with me was his birthright”.Mountbatten Windsor, 65, has always denied claims he had sex with Giuffre when she was 17. He settled a civil case with her for a reported £12m ($16m) with no admission of liability.In the latest fallout from the scandal, the UK defence secretary, John Healey, said on Sunday that Mountbatten Windsor would be stripped of his last remaining naval title, which he was given in 2015.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionHe was stripped of his other honorary military titles by his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, in 2022 after he was sued by Giuffre.On Friday, a Democratic congressman called for Mountbatten Windsor to testify before the US House of Representatives committee that is conducting an inquiry into the government’s handling of the Epstein case.Interest in the case flared in July, after the justice department announced a much-rumored list of Epstein’s sex-trafficking clients did not exist, and it would share nothing further on the case. More

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    Why is Donald Trump threatening military intervention in Nigeria?

    Donald Trump has threatened to launch a “guns-a-blazing” US military intervention in Nigeria, claiming that the west African country’s government has failed to prevent attacks on Christians.Here’s what we know so far about the unfolding situation.What did Trump claim and what was the US political context?In a post on his Truth Social account at the weekend, Trump said: “Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter” and warned that if the Nigerian government failed to stop the killings, Washington would “immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria” and could “go into that now disgraced country, guns-a-blazing”.Trump’s remarks came after weeks of lobbying by US lawmakers and conservative Christian groups urging him to designate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) for alleged religious persecution – a list that also includes Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China.His statement reflected renewed domestic political pressure to appear tough on the marginalisation or persecution of Christians abroad, a theme that resonates strongly with parts of his rightwing, evangelical base.Do Christians face a particular security threat in Nigeria?Nigeria is officially secular but almost evenly divided between Muslims (53%) and Christians (45%), with the remaining population practising African traditional religions. Violence against Christians has drawn significant international attention, and is often framed as religious persecution. However, most analysts argue the situation is more complex.In parts of central Nigeria, deadly clashes between itinerant Muslim herders and predominantly Christian farming communities are rooted in competition over land and water but exacerbated by religious and ethnic differences. The herders often claim reprisals for the killing of their people and cattle, while local communities see the attacks as ethnic cleansing targeting their settlements.Priests and pastors have increasingly been kidnapped for ransom, as they are viewed as influential figures whose worshippers or organisations can mobilise funds quickly. Some analysts say this may be a trend driven more by criminal economics than religious discrimination.What is the wider security situation in Nigeria?In the north-east, Boko Haram and its splinter groups such as Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have waged an insurgency since 2009, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions.In the north-west, heavily armed criminal gangs – often labelled “bandits” – carry out mass kidnappings and raids that affect both Muslim and Christian communities. These groups have expanded operations into north-central Nigeria, exploiting weak state presence and local grievances.“Christians are being killed, we can’t deny the fact that Muslims are [also] being killed,” Danjuma Dickson Auta, a Christian and community leader from Plateau state in the Middle Belt, told Agence France-Presse.Meanwhile, in the south-east, separatists seeking to revive the defunct state of Biafra have been linked to violence against government institutions and civilians, with most victims being Christians. In all, thousands have been killed across multiple fronts, creating overlapping humanitarian and governance crises.How has Nigeria responded to its security crises?Successive Nigerian governments have struggled to contain these threats and security forces are stretched thin across multiple fronts. They are also often accused of human rights abuses that previously halted US support – most notably under the Leahy Law, which restricts arms sales to forces accused of violations.In the absence of state police and proper intelligence collaborations at all levels of the security hierarchy, many communities remain unprotected, and vigilante groups have filled the vacuum in some states.How has Nigeria responded to Trump?In a statement on Sunday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not name Trump directly but emphasised that Nigeria “is a democracy with constitutional guarantees of religious liberty”. He said characterising the country as religiously intolerant “does not reflect our national reality”.Meanwhile, his presidential spokesperson, Daniel Bwala, described Trump’s post as “a miscommunication” and expressed hope that both leaders would “iron out” their differences if they meet. He insisted that “a data-driven assessment” rather than “isolated reports and social media videos” should guide international conclusions.Bwala added that any military action “would only happen if it is a joint action with the Nigerian government”, reaffirming Nigeria’s sovereignty.Still, concerns are mounting that Trump’s remarks could affect bilateral relations, particularly aid and sales of arms, or be exploited by secessionist groups such as the Biafra Republic Government in Exile, which is already lobbying in Washington. More

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    ‘In this ’til the end’: Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner on refusing to quit amid furor over ‘Nazi’ tattoo

    On a recent Monday night, Graham Platner – oysterman, army veteran and Democratic hopeful for US Senate – took the stage in a small Maine town known for its oyster farming to assure voters that he was still in the game to win the Democratic primary, and ultimately unseat five-term Republican incumbent Susan Collins.He addressed a crowd of 700, the most that could fit into the school gymnasium in Damariscotta, Maine before organizers had to start turning people away. As is typical for his campaign events, the gruff, plain-talking, flannel-clad, local business owner and former marine dissected the “establishment political system that serves the interests of the ultra wealthy” in front of a captivated audience.Excitement around Platner snowballed after he announced his run for office in late August, with his campaign raising more than $3m in donations in a matter of weeks. He established himself as both a populist paragon, and a vessel for selling liberal policies that have been part of national Democrats’ ongoing autopsy since Donald Trump won back the White House in 2024.“People are sick and tired of politics as usual, and I am too,” Platner told the Guardian. “We’re just always being represented by people that come from wealth, people that come from backgrounds of power … Mainers, frankly, seem to be just champing at the bit to do something different.”But after multiple controversies from Platner’s past have come to light, he now finds himself embattled in a morass of damage control. Over the past few weeks, there has been a steady drip of reports featuring Platner’s unearthed racist, sexist and homophobic online comments. Then, Platner tried to get ahead of the story when he revealed, and then covered, a tattoo on his chest that closely resembles a Nazi symbol. Meanwhile, he’s had to justify staff turnover at the top level of his campaign while he addresses his past actions.Platner said there was a pronounced disconnect between the national media attention that his deleted posts and tattoo have received, and the impact they had on voters in his state. “It’s very surreal to have the kind of big, almost incomprehensibly huge political space be utterly convinced that this is all coming to an end, and I’m this horrifically controversial person,” he said. “And then, in Maine, everybody’s like ‘hey man, keep with it, we all make mistakes. People move through life, they learn, and we’re here for it.’”View image in fullscreenThe political outsider, who is making his first foray into public office, hasn’t shied away from talking about his past.“If you liked what I was saying three weeks ago, I’m still saying the exact same thing now,” Platner said, emphasizing that the disillusionment he felt while writing online was part of the “journey” that brought him to where he is today.“I’m still dedicated to rebuilding a politics that is more accessible for working people. I am still dedicated towards ending our horrific spending when it comes to foreign military conflicts and nothing for the American working class, those things all remain the same,” he added. “If I start walking back my commitments to the things that define me now, then absolutely begin to question and walk away from me, because I would deserve it.”The material impact of the controversy around Platner has yet to be seen. A recent poll by the University of New Hampshire (albeit before news of his tattoo broke) had him leading Mills by 34 points; his rallies and town halls across the state have attracted thousands; and his key backer, the independent senator Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, has continued to throw his weight behind the former marine. “There might be one or two more important issues,” Sanders told Axios.Various Democratic lawmakers and leaders have also come to Platner’s defense. Senator Ruben Gallego, of Arizona, told Semafor that “everyone has a right to grow and grow out of their stupidity.” The Democratic National Committee chair, Ken Martin, said that Platner’s past comments are “indefensible”, but didn’t think they were “disqualifying”. “Certainly they’re not right, and I’m glad that he apologized for them,” he added. Chris Murphy, the Democratic senator from Connecticut, said that the veteran “sounds like a human being” who “made mistakes”, when pressed about the news of Platner’s tattoo in an interview with CNN.Not everyone has been so forgiving.Platner’s troubles started with resurfaced Reddit posts spanning from 2013 to 2021, in which he claimed to be a “communist”, called police officers “bastards”, labelled white, rural Americans “stupid” and “racist”, made anti-LGBTQ+ jokes and remarks (including using slurs), questioned why “Black people didn’t tip”, and said that survivors and victims of sexual assault should “take some responsibility for themselves and not get so fucked up”.After the first tranche of revelations, his political director, Genevieve McDonald, a former Maine state representative, walked away from his campaign, and Platner issued a direct-to-camera mea culpa on Instagram, branding his past comments as inexcusable, but also a side-effect from the trauma he endured during his time in the military.Platner, now 41, has spoken candidly about the severe PTSD he battled after serving tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I witnessed violence and horror at a scale that I was not quite prepared for all in the service of something that I now believe was pointless,” he told the audience on Monday.Then, in an October interview with Pod Save America, in an attempt to get ahead of opposition research that could have beaten him to the punch, Platner admitted to getting inked with a tattoo of skull and crossbones. The illustration resembles the Totenkopf, an emblem that was used by the Nazi Schutzstaffel.The former marine said that he got the tattoo after a night drinking with military buddies in Croatia 18 years ago, but noted that, until recently, he was unaware of its meaning. “I can honestly say that if I was trying to hide it, I’ve not been doing a very good job for the past 18 years,” he told the podcast. He subsequently revealed his covered-up symbol in a local news interview.View image in fullscreenFor her part, McDonald wasn’t convinced, and wrote a scathing Facebook post undermining Platner. “He’s a military history buff,” she said. “Maybe he didn’t know when he got it, but he got it years ago, and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means.”Platner told the Guardian that McDonald’s claims were untrue. “She left using the stress of that week as her reason for leaving,” he said. “But she had had friction within the campaign for a little while, and that was kind of the culmination of it.”He also said that the resignation of his newly minted campaign manager and old friend, Kevin Brown, after just a few days on the job, was not to do with Platner’s recent political issues. “He and his wife just recently found out that they were pregnant and moving to Maine and taking this campaign on was just too much,” Platner said. “I’ll just be up front, he never was serving really as a campaign manager, everything happened within about a 24-hour period … he and I are still very close.”In the midst of it all, Maine’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills, officially launched her own long-awaited Senate bid, securing an endorsement from the minority leader, Chuck Schumer, and turning the primary race into a referendum on the populist versus establishment wings of the party in the process. At 77, Mills would also be the oldest freshman senator in Congress if elected.The state’s libertarian streak could work in Platner’s favor, as Maine voters can be “inconsistent” in their ideological positions, according to Michael Franz, a political science professor at Bowdoin College who focuses on voting behavior. “The long history of Maine politicians with national profiles and established reputations as being leaders in Washington who stand up, not only for principles, but have a deep sense of place here in the state, is sort of the special sauce,” he said.View image in fullscreenHowever, despite the seven-month runway to the June Democratic primary, Franz doesn’t see Platner’s controversies evaporating. “I still think it will be used pretty effectively and pretty consistently to point out that Platner doesn’t have a political foundation, doesn’t have a history of politics, and we don’t know much about him beyond you know what he tells us and what we’ve determined and found out from these social media posts.”This week, Mills issued a public rebuke of her primary challenger. “I obviously, vehemently disagree with the things he’s been quoted as saying and doing,” she said, stopping short of calling him to drop out of the race. “It’s up to him. It’s up to the people.”Another challenger, Jordan Wood, told the Guardian that Platner’s actions meant he was “disqualified for consideration in my mind”. Wood, who served as Congresswoman Katie Porter’s chief of staff, is the only out gay Senate candidate on the Democratic ballot in Maine. “It’s not politics,” he said. “It’s very personal. I’m a gay man and I’m married to a Jew. We have a child.” Wood did note that he would ultimately support whoever secures the nomination.In Damariscotta, at his second campaign event since he began wading through the molasses of political controversy, Platner made light of the last two weeks. “I am running as a Democrat, still, despite the fact my party is trying to destroy my life,” he said.When Platner was pressed by audience members about some of the recent revelations, including from a trans voter who wanted some reassurance that the harbormaster would fight for their community, Platner was forthright. “I have no patience for a politics that is willing to sell people out,” he said. “I also fully recognize that as a cis white man with a bunch of tattoos and a long combat record that I get to put myself out there in ways that other people don’t.”Still, Platner remains the riskier choice when compared with the “supremely vetted” and “supremely tested” Mills, according to Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine.Thirty years ago, Brewer adds, revelations like Platner’s might have rendered a Senate campaign dead in the water, but since Trump’s 2016 run – and the leaked Access Hollywood tape where the now-president is heard bragging about using his fame to have sex with women, and groping them without waiting for their consent – all bets are off.“If Platner is able to survive these kinds of things, maybe this is an area where Trump has changed the rules on what’s acceptable and what’s disqualifying,” Brewer said.Democrats remain on the hunt for congressional candidates that might offer a way out of the wilderness, and win back members of the tent – particularly disenchanted working-class men – that have since abandoned the party.Voters in the mid-coast region of the state who showed up to see Platner on Monday, cheered and applauded when he said that he had “no right” to step away from the Senate race, and held up signs that read “schuck the oligarchy”.View image in fullscreen“I thought he addressed it really well. My concerns on that are gone,” said Ann Scanlon, who lives in nearby Bristol. “I think we need somebody like him to re-energize and get it moving back in the right direction again.”Scanlon, 65, runs an art gallery and recently started receiving Medicare benefits. The future of the healthcare program for American seniors is top of mind for her. “I don’t want to see people locked out of nursing homes because they have nowhere to live,” Scanlon said.Stacie Brookes, 57, said that Platner felt “sincere”, “genuine” and unlike other politicians she’s used to hearing from. “I’m in this camp now, and I will stay in this camp as long as he grows and continues to grow.”Brookes, a waitress from Bremen, relies on Affordable Care Act subsidies to afford her monthly premiums. “It’s directly gonna impact me come January 1,” she said.Her son Sebastian Crocetti, 26, is focused on affordability, one of Platner’s key issues going into next year’s election. “I would love to buy property,” the construction worker and former carpenter said. “It just feels so hard to get ahead.”Platner often uses his own experiences to inform his economic agenda. “It is the healthcare that I get from the VA that not only gave me the treatment I needed to overcome the mental and physical scars of war, but it also gave me the freedom to build the life I wanted to build,” he told the audience at this week’s town hall. “It allowed me to start a business. It allowed me to take the risk of moving back to my home town and building a life on the sea.”While Platner says that Collins is the “charade of fake moderation”, he argues that Janet Mills is running the “same kind of old-fashioned campaign” that won’t be enough to offer lasting change.“The reason that I am in the race is because I don’t believe that the governor and I have the same politics,” he told the Guardian. “People go into power and then don’t try to do anything big. Everything is like playing around in the margins. I think that that is the kind of politics that comes out of someone who’s been in this system for as long as the governor has.”That, according to Platner, is not to say he’s averse to working in a bipartisan way with lawmakers who might disagree with him on certain issues, like Senator Josh Hawley, on getting the Senate and Congress to stop trading stocks and bonds. “I would be excited to work with him on that kind of thing again,” he said.While Platner continues to address the recent fallout over his past indiscretions, he remains resolute and undeterred. “I did not go looking for this opportunity in my life, but when it showed up, to say no to it, to not do it, would feel like an abdication of a responsibility,” he said. “I’m in this ’til the end.” More

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    Philadelphia’s progressive district attorney seeks third term as shootings decline. Critics contend he’s soft on criminals

    This story was originally published bythe Trace, a non-profit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for its newsletters here.As Philadelphia’s district attorney, Larry Krasner, attempted to explain himself, a pensive scowl replaced the look of assured confidence usually etched on his face.With just weeks left before the 4 November general election, political rivals and community members were questioning a key decision. In May, his office dropped kidnapping and domestic violence charges against a man who, in October, was charged with another crime: the slaying of Kada Scott, a 23-year-old former Miss Pennsylvania USA beauty pageant contestant and recent college graduate. So on 20 October, Krasner floundered through a news conference he had called to announce that police had found Scott’s body in a shallow grave, and that Keon King, 21, had been charged with crimes related to her abduction.“The buck stops here, that is on me,” a sullen Krasner said. “But I also believe,” he continued, “it’s a tough situation, especially domestic cases, when you have a defendant out of custody who’s going to come in and out of the courthouse doors.”It was a convoluted explanation, one in which Krasner blamed others while also blaming himself. The moment showed uncommon vulnerability for a politician who has become one of the nation’s most prominent prosecutors, a progressive stalwart in the criminal legal reform movement.“I will acknowledge again that we could have done better with respect to … the decisions that were made,” he said. A few days later, the city medical examiner’s office said that Scott died from a single gunshot to the head.The revelation that Krasner failed to try King came to light just as it seemed he was cruising comfortably toward his third term. The case injected drama into an uneventful race between Krasner and Republican challenger Patrick Dugan, a retired municipal court judge who switched parties after losing the Democratic primary in May.But Krasner has outlasted peers in other cities, and political pundits expect he will weather this crisis, too. While Krasner has remained in his post, progressive prosecutors who rode into office on the racial reckoning wave unleashed by police killings of unarmed Black people have fallen out of favor with voters. Krasner has one key difference: attorneys nationwide took heat for the spike in violence that followed the Covid-19 pandemic. Krasner presided over a record decrease.“This tragedy and the way his office handled this is inexcusable,” said Larry Ceisler, a public relations executive and longtime Philadelphia political observer, referring to Scott’s slaying. “But it’s easy to look back on mistakes like this and criticize. It’s not going to make a difference in the campaign.”‘The DA dropped the ball’Scott’s death has stirred anger and emotion like few other crimes in recent years. More than 100 people gathered for a balloon release at the abandoned Germantown school where Scott’s remains were found. Most who spoke to the Trace there declined to discuss the political fallout, focusing instead on Scott. “Say her name, Kada Scott!” the group chanted. A man played Taps on a trumpet. Scott’s friends, and others who had never met her, gave emotional speeches and hugged before releasing white balloons into the sky.Catherine Daniel, 62, however, was in no mood to remain silent about Krasner. “The DA dropped the ball, because this guy should not have been walking the street,” she said. “We’ve got to kick him out of there, he has to go.View image in fullscreen“The whole office dropped the ball. He said things are going to change moving forward,” she continued. “Why did it take this young lady to lose her life to make changes?”Desiree Whitfield, who organized a vigil after Scott’s body was found, shared similar sentiments. “We need to blame the DA’s office because they let [King] out,” she said. “What are you going to do differently so that our beautiful, Black, educated women are not found in shallow graves?”Krasner’s staying powerLike many of his peer progressive prosecutors, critics have accused Krasner of being “soft on crime” and prioritizing reducing the prison population at the expense of locking up violent criminals. Also like his peers, he has aroused ire for convicting police who have killed people on the job.Many Philadelphians, though, credit Krasner for helping staunch the city’s bloodshed, which peaked at 562 homicides in 2021, but is projected to be far less than half that number by year’s end. As of the last week of October, there were 190 homicides, a 9.95% reduction from this time last year.That may help explain why Krasner remains popular, including among crime-fighting grassroots organizations, which his office and the city regularly provide with operating grants.“He’s on the ballot, he’s our candidate, everybody is supporting him,” said retired US representative Bob Brady, who has chaired Philadelphia’s Democratic party since 1986. “People like him; they think he’s doing a good job. I think he’s getting a bad rap from people saying he’s lenient.”View image in fullscreenDavid Kennedy, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, said that while it was impossible to know how much credit a prosecutor should receive for crime reduction, those who have remained popular, like Krasner and Brooklyn’s DA, Eric Gonzalez, have done so by moving beyond simply voicing what they oppose.“Krasner has, for example, been a really important part of violence prevention efforts in Philadelphia, including the group violence intervention that my office has supported,” Kennedy said. “Progressive prosecutors who have done well … have been important parts of those partnerships.”For his part, Krasner said his critics should give him some credit. “Do they want to go back to [former DA] Ron Castille’s 500 murders, which he had one year?” he said. “Or would they like to be in a place where we’re looking at the low 200s for homicides. Obviously, I’m not OK with 200 homicides. I wish it was zero.”Who is Larry Krasner?Before winning his first election in November 2017, Krasner, a father of two adult sons, spent decades as a civil rights and criminal defense attorney, during which time he sued Philly’s police department for misconduct 75 times.As DA, he has pursued what he calls a “reform agenda” that includes denouncing President Donald Trump; countering mass incarceration with alternative sentences; not seeking cash bail for some nonviolent crimes; prosecuting cops when there is evidence to do so; re-examining old cases to surface wrongful convictions; not charging for personal-use marijuana possession; not charging for most prostitution offenses; and charging minor retail thefts as summary offenses.Krasner’s approach has earned him supporters and detractors, including state Republican lawmakers who unsuccessfully attempted to impeach and remove him from office in 2022.That same year, San Francisco voters recalled their DA, Chesa Boudin. Portland, Oregon, DA Mike Schmidt received 76.6% of the vote when first elected in 2020, but was defeated during last year’s Democratic primary; Pamela Price, who in 2023 became the first Black female DA in Alameda county, which includes Oakland, California, was recalled by voters; the Los Angeles DA, George Gascón, lost last year’s election to former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman.Krasner rebuts the narrative that progressives are losing clout, noting that a handful of progressive prosecutors have recently won elections. As for his continued popularity, Krasner hypothesizes that the public prefers untraditional politicians.“That’s the only way that I can explain the phenomenon of people who supported Barack Obama and also supported Donald Trump. Some of them also supported Bernie Sanders,” he said. “If you try to find the common thread to their support, it’s that they were perceived in somewhat different ways as outsiders, as disrupters.”Krasner said the Democratic party had reached a point where, to stay competitive, it must “grow its tent” to hold on to young, middle-class, and Black and brown voters, some of whom he believes have been conned away by Trump.“We are in a moment when the public is looking for what feels to them like it’s not just traditional politics, like it’s speaking directly to the issues,” he said. “I intend to keep telling the truth until people listen.”The consequences of dropped chargesYears of progress on gun violence and general goodwill may not have prepared Krasner for the Scott case, which unleashed the type of chaos that took out his peers. Those who want to see him out of office are taking notice.“I believe Larry Krasner has enabled Keon King,” Dugan, Krasner’s opponent, said on Fox News. “I’m calling him a co-conspirator in her murder.”The case dates back to January, when King allegedly kidnapped and assaulted an ex-girlfriend. He was arrested in April. Krasner’s office withdrew the charges in May after the victim and a witness refused to cooperate with prosecutors, he said.View image in fullscreenWhile conceding that his office could have tried the case without the victim’s cooperation, Krasner blamed the judge who released King on a low bail, which the DA reasoned could have contributed to the victim deciding not to come to court out of fear for her safety.When asked why his office did not appeal against the bail ruling, Krasner said it was a strategic decision not to call a judge in the middle of the night, which could have antagonized the judge resulting in an even lower bail. Krasner’s critics pounced on that assertion.The city courts spokesperson, Marty O’Rourke, accused Krasner of attempting to scapegoat the judge. “With all due respect, the DA and his staff know there are assigned municipal and commons pleas court judges on call 24/7 and prepared at any hour to address emergency court matters,” he said. “The DA’s comments are appallingly disrespectful and a sad attempt on his part to find a scapegoat for his own failings.”King is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing for Scott’s killing on 10 November. Krasner’s office has refiled the charges it had dropped against him for the earlier case. More

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    It’s clear why Zohran Mamdani is leading in the New York mayoral race | Margaret Sullivan

    For someone who exudes positive energy and seldom stops smiling, Zohran Mamdani certainly does provoke a lot of negative reactions.“He’s not who you think he is,” one TV ad glowered over gloomy images of the 34-year-old state assemblymember who is the clear frontrunner for New York City mayor. The ad doesn’t make clear precisely what the supposed disconnect is, but the tagline clearly is meant to give voters pause.“Never ran anything,” former New York state governor Andrew Cuomo charged, as he dissed his opponent on Fox News. “There’s no time for on-the-job training when any given morning, God forbid, you could have a mass murder or a terrorist attack.” Cuomo’s campaign yanked an ad that went further, using racist stereotypes to depict Mamdani supporters.And the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page has been on an anti-Mamdani run for many weeks, churning out opinion pieces like this one from conservative columnist Peggy Noonan: “New York, You’ve Been Warned.” Or this one from Journal editorial board member Joseph Sternberg: “Sorry Republicans, There’s No Silver Lining to a Mamdani Win.”Another Murdoch-controlled newspaper, the New York Post, has not confined its views to the opinion pages but rather shouted them on its tabloid front pages. “SCAMDANI”, read one cover story, with a subheading quoting Mayor Eric Adams calling the state assemblymember a “snake oil salesman”.The pro-Trump billionaire Bill Ackman has warned New Yorkers that Mamdani’s personality is a fraud. “The whole thing is an act,” Ackman posted on X after the mayoral debate last month. “After watching him recreate his fake smile, your skin will start to crawl.” Ackman gave $1m to the anti-Mamdani effort through the Super Pac Defend NYC, while former mayor Mike Bloomberg has contributed more than that to efforts to thwart Mamdani’s rise; Bloomberg gave $1.5m to a pro-Cuomo Super Pac, after spending millions to help Cuomo in June’s primary.But if you ignore the ads, the headlines and the social media posts, another story emerges, as researchers from the Harvard Institute of Politics found when they spoke to young people during the recent early-voting period.“I think my life could really improve if he wins,” enthused one young woman, quoted in an ABC News story about the Harvard focus group. Another respondent compared him in one respect to Donald Trump: “There’s no flip-flopping.”And another approvingly described Mamdani as “badass”.The democratic socialist holds a double-digit lead in the race and right now looks like a shoo-in.It certainly feels that way to this New Yorker. I live on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, an area that split its vote in the Democratic primary between Cuomo and Mamdani, and I also spend a lot of time on a university campus. What I’ve noticed is that Mamdani energizes people and while some of that reaction is skeptical, a lot of the people I encounter – from students to seniors – want to give the newcomer a chance.New York City, after all, is unaffordable for too many, so Mamdani’s relentless focus on the cost of rent and groceries has struck a nerve. Mamdani’s embrace of his Muslim faith, his advocacy for Gaza and his willingness to stand up for immigrants has solidified his appeal.There’s a clarity about it that stands in sharp contrast to most Democratic politicians, noted Astead Herndon, editorial director at Vox who wrote a recent New York Times magazine cover story titled The Improbable, Audacious and (So Far) Unstoppable Rise of Zohran Mamdani.“He works from the premise of his beliefs,” Herndon said on CNN. “A lot of Democrats … have mastered this triangulation dance … where it feels like sometimes, they’re trying to say nothing.” And what’s more, since the primary, his campaign has become more inclusive, as he reaches out to constituencies and powerful figures who have had serious doubts about him. He’s won at least some of them over.Others, of course, will never be won over, but are becoming resigned to the reality of a Mayor Mamdani.Governor Kathy Hochul, whose political instincts are well-honed and practical, endorsed Mamdani in mid-September despite significant policy differences. (At a rally in Queens, chants of “tax the rich” interrupted Hochul’s speech and the Times described the progressive crowd’s response to the centrist governor as “tepid”.)Hochul carried on, though, and got a better reaction when she praised the candidate for refusing to “get down in the gutter” with his many critics, especially those who try to weaponize his faith or ethnicity.Instead, Hochul said: “He rises up with grace and courage and grit.”Hochul is expected to run for re-election next year.She surely has calculated that it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have the Democratic mayor of New York City in her corner. And there is little doubt who that will be.

    Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist covering US media, politics and culture. More