Making Voices Count

October 16th, 2026. Trump's new pick for White House Press Secretary lasted less than five days. Katie Zachariah resigned today after a series of disastrous performances and news that she had misrepresented her legal credentials. Trump said he would let her decide if she wanted to stay, but added that if he were in her shoes, he would reconsider. Wags noted that the time unit of a Scaramucci, named for the White House communications director who lasted only 11 days during Trump's first term and used to identify an official whose stay in public office has been exceedingly brief, has been replaced by the Zachariah. Yesterday morning, Trump posted on social media, that the execution of Nidal Hassan, who killed 13 people and injured 32 others at Fort Hood in 2009, will not be live-streamed. As Amy B. Wang and Alana Safarpour of The Washington Post reported yesterday, 80% of Americans opposed live-streaming the execution to the public. A poll by The Washington Post, ABC News, and Ipsos showed that the only demographic polled in which a majority of Americans were against the execution of Alana Safarpour, the majority wanted a live-stream of the execution, was MAGA Republican men, of whom 57% wanted the event live-streamed and 42% were opposed. Veterans, Democrats, non-MAGA Republicans, Independents, and MAGA Republican women all overwhelmingly opposed the live-stream. And so, the chaos of Trump's MAGA administration continues. Chaos continues as well. And so, the chaos of Trump's MAGA administration continues as well in Trump's approach to Ukraine. And it has a deadly pattern. After SpaceX debilitated Ukraine's military defenses on October 14th, in the midst of one of the heaviest Russian bombardments of the war, by slowing down the speed of Ukraine's Starlink terminals and the Starshield system that Ukraine's military uses, Elon Musk, who owns SpaceX, and Trump, who controls Starshield, each blamed the other for the slowdown. Yesterday, Senator Gene Shaheen, a Democrat of New Hampshire, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led a bipartisan group of nine senators demanding answers from Platt Mooring, the Inspector General of the Department of Defense. Noting that the slowdown meant that U.S. diplomatic, military, and security personnel were unable to reach designated bunkers during Russian air raids, they asked whether any departments, such as the Department of Defense or other U.S. government officials, directed, authorized, approved, or had advanced knowledge of changes to intelligence-sharing agreements, warning capabilities, or Starlink and Starshield services affecting Ukraine. They also asked if the shutdown was a policy decision or a contractor action, whether U.S. personnel received adequate warning, and whether any restrictions on Starlink or Starshield services were directed, authorized, or implemented by SpaceX, the Department of Defense, or other U.S. government entities. They also wanted to hear exactly what immediate corrective measures are being implemented to make sure such a crisis doesn't happen again. Today, Trump told reporters that neither he nor Musk had caused the shortage. I didn't do that. No, we didn't do that at all. In fact, I didn't even think it was safe. We slowed down, from what I understood, because I just checked this morning. He continued, I heard about it from the news, the media, and we didn't slow it down at all, and I think it's probably functioning from what I understand. When a reporter asked if Musk had had anything to do with the slowdown, Trump said, 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. Joe Barnes of The Telegraph reported yesterday that according to four sources familiar with the discussions over the issue, as well as a high-ranking European official and two well-placed Ukrainian sources, it was Musk who approached Trump with the idea of slowing down the Starlink systems in Ukraine, and Trump agreed. But according to Barnes, the outcry over Russia's destructive attacks that night made Musk worry that European customers might turn against him, as indeed they warned him on social media. A source told Barnes he tweeted out that he was innocent and that it was the U.S. administration that did it. The reality is they were both in it. Meanwhile, Theodore Schlieffer of The New York Times reported today that Musk donated $158 million in September alone to a super PAC that immediately sent $158 million to back Ken Paxton's campaign to become the next U.S. senator from China. Instead of Democratic candidate James Tallarico. Musk donated an additional $10 million to a different pro-Paxton super PAC as well. Musk's huge donations have kept the unpopular Paxton financially competitive with Tallarico. Paxton is currently the Texas Attorney General, responsible for the few state regulations concerning SpaceX and Musk's more than 90 other companies and other legal entities in Texas. Trump has clearly decided his own personal interests require bringing the United States to the rescue of Russia's President Vladimir Putin. Just a week ago, he announced he was waiving sanctions to allow Russia to sell diesel on the global market, funneling money to Putin to continue his war on Ukraine. Tonight, in a late Friday night news dump, Trump signed an executive order waiving yet more sanctions on Russia that would have gone into effect in two days under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. The president wrote that waiving those sanctions is in the national interests of the United States, although he did not specify why. Congress passed the Graham Act just weeks ago, making clear that it expected stronger measures against Russia. Trump signed the law, but is doing the same thing again. He's doing the opposite of Congress's intent. Representative Don Beyer, a Democrat of Virginia, posted, Trump's latest surrender to Putin again betrays our Ukrainian partners and defies clear congressional intent of legislation designed to punish Russia for its illegal war of aggression. Like Putin, Trump has been determined to sow confusion and fear over the midterm elections, likely hoping to depress voters, voter turnout, and destroy faith in the outcome. Central to that is Trump's insistence that non-citizens are swinging elections against him, even though experts across the political spectrum agree that voting by non-citizens is both illegal and exceedingly rare. Jacob Bogage and Andrew Goodsward of Reuters reported on October 13th that after losing 26 of its lawsuits designed to get access to state voters, and winning none, the Department of Justice gave California officials just two days to review a list of 20,000 people it suspects are not citizens, but may have received mail-in ballots for the midterm election. The DOJ sent along a thumb drive that it said identified those voters. California officials did not do as the Department of Justice demanded, saying the scheme had no legal basis. Sarah N. Lynch of CBS News reported that Dean Logan, the Registrar-Recorder-County Clerk of Los Angeles County, said his office would not open the thumb drive because doing so would conflict with established data privacy and information security protocols. He added, federal and state laws are clear on how voter eligibility is established, and any action to remove a voter from eligibility must be taken. The Department of Justice said that the Department of Justice must be based on verifiable information, not assertions of unconfirmed data matching. Yesterday, Alana Durkin-Richer, Sophie Austin, and Sophia Riddle of the Associated Press reported that the administration is escalating its threats, suing election officials in California and asking a judge to stop the state from counting mail-in ballots from people the administration claims aren't citizens until the end of the year. Their citizenship has been verified. Today, Dewey Doshi, Alexander Mallon, Luke Barr, and Lucienne Brueggemann of ABC News reported that the administration is now threatening criminal prosecution for election workers who knowingly count ballots filled out by non-citizens. Trump added on social media, they will all go to jail for a long period of time. According to the ABC News journalist, experts overwhelmingly agree the lawsuit is unlikely to succeed. but they fear the consequences of publicly calling election outcomes into question could damage confidence in democracy. That concern is behind the No Kings events taking place across the country on Saturday, October 17th. While earlier No Kings events emphasized protest and solidarity, tomorrow's will be about nonpartisan voter participation, being in community with each other, and making sure every eligible voter has a plan, knows their options, and is ready to make their voice heard. The organizers remind Americans, our democracy depends on every eligible voter having the freedom to participate without intimidation, interference, or barriers. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dedham, Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.