Not Moving the Needle, Anywhere

Hello, this is Michael Moss. Heather won't be reading the letter today. I'll be reading it in her place. October 30th, 2026. Not much for me tonight, but I do want to call out the political signs reading, stop fraud, vote Republican, I saw today as I left Maine. They seemed especially audacious in light of today's news from Ernesto Londoño of the New York Times that last summer, the Department of Homeland Security paid more than $495 million for a 1600 bed prison the state of Minnesota declined to purchase a year ago for the asking price of $75 million. Or even a fraction of that price. They also seem to contradict the report yesterday from Wendy Siegelman of News Tracks that Trump Media and Technology Group received $350,000 for running ads on Trump's social media site for this summer's Freedom 250 events. Freedom 250 was the group Trump backed in place of the congressionally approved nonpartisan America 250 organization. Designed to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Trump owns 41% of Trump Media and Technology Group. Perhaps Republicans are hoping to attract low-engagement voters who don't pay much attention to politics. According to G. Elliot Morris of Strength in Numbers, those voters prefer Trump to Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, who doesn't pay much attention to politics. He says that the Republicans are not a good bet for the Republicans. He explains that they have swung away from Trump by 15 points and now prefer Democratic congressional candidates by 2 points. Those voters might not be highly engaged in politics in general, but they cannot miss the country's rising prices, especially the cost of gasoline and diesel and the food delivered by vehicles that use them, resulting from Trump's war on Iran. Bloomberg reported today that almost half of American spending now goes toward food and housing, the highest percentage in 15 years. Rising costs contrast painfully with reports from today that those higher prices are sending oil companies' profits skyrocketing. Steve Kopach of NBC News reported today that oil giant BP's profits have skyrocketed by more than $1 billion in the last 10 years. That's a lot of money for the oil companies, and that's a lot of money for the oil companies. The oil companies' profits are at an 18-year high, and Chevron's earnings are up more than 180 percent from a year earlier. On the campaign trail in 2024, Trump asked oil executives to donate a billion dollars to his campaign, calling it a deal, considering how much money they would make from the regulatory cuts and new permits Trump promised. That investment seems to have paid off. At a rally on October 24th, 2016, Trump announced that oil companies would be able to buy oil in 20 years. Trump commented to attendees, "I wonder if I should say this." Then went on to say that "Our country is making hundreds of billions of dollars because of what's happening in the Middle East." He continued, "My people said, 'Please don't mention that, sir,' because people are paying a little higher. But what we've done for this country, we're making money like this country has never made before." He finished, "I don't give a damn. We're making a freakin' fortune." But most Americans are not part of that "we." And they are angry not only at the soaring profits of oil companies while they pay higher prices, but also at the cuts to Medicaid, Affordable Care Act subsidies, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, medical and scientific research, and so on. At the same time that the administration is pouring money into the economy, it's pouring lives and taxpayer money into Trump's war of choice on Iran. On Wednesday, Ben Finley and Konstantin Tarapin of the Associated Press reported that the Pentagon has provided a new estimate of the cost of the war to the Pentagon: $47.1 billion. That number does not include the damage to U.S. military bases in the Middle East, which Anika Arora-Seth, a former U.S. military aide, said in a statement. "The damage to U.S. military bases in the Middle East could cost as much as $15 billion." Graphics from that story, by Carl Churchill and Catherine Chui, illustrate the extent of the damage. On Wednesday, Sumer Saeed, Shelby Holliday, Benoit Fasson, and Anat Pallad of the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. officials have warned: "Gulf Arab countries to prepare for a renewal of U.S. strikes on Iran as early as November 4th." Trump has been on the road for the midterms, convinced that his rallies will help Republican candidates struggling against surging Democratic opponents. But the rallies have drawn far fewer people than Trump likes, and his wandering monologues about how great the economy is, how he aced a cognitive test, how wonderful his ballroom will be, and how much he admires the anatomy of a certain male Republican candidate, along with his deep unpopularity, have made even allies distance themselves from him. When Trump canceled rallies scheduled for this weekend in Kansas and Iowa in favor of webcasts, one top Republican official told Kevin Liptak, Caitlin Collins, Adam Kankrin, and Elena Treen of CNN, "Thank God." He hasn't moved the needle anywhere. Officials hoped he would stay more focused in what they called "tele-rallies." But the CNN Journalist Report, Trump fumed at media coverage of the cancellations and ordered the rallies to be reinstated. So he will be in Kansas and Iowa on Sunday, trying to sell voters on his message. That may not be an easy sell. An image circulating on Blue Sky. Shows a main "STOP FRAUD, VOTE REPUBLICANS" sign. Next to it, a handmade blue sign with a big white arrow pointing to it reads, "HILARIOUS." Letters from an American was written by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dedham, Massachusetts, recorded with music composed by Michael Maul. This video was made possible by the support of the U.S. Department of State. The U.S. Department of State has provided funding to the U.S. Department of State for the prevention and prevention of the spread of COVID-19.