The Narativ | Know Sooner
Wednesday, October 7, 2026
👀 THE FRONT PAGE
🦠 PUTIN KEEPS TRUMP ON HOLD
Donald Trump says he has a call scheduled with Vladimir Putin about the plague death in Siberia. The Kremlin says no arrangements have been made. The story broke Oct. 2, five days ago. We have known Darya Shipilova's name since then, and we still know almost nothing else. Trump told reporters on the South Lawn Tuesday that the call would come "very soon." On Wednesday Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "no substantive arrangements have been made." Hours later at the White House, asked whether he had spoken with Putin, Trump said: "I have a call set up. Today is his birthday." Asked whether Russia was giving him the same line China gave at the start of COVID, he said: "China didn't say much, and Russia's not saying much either." The story is twelve days old. On Sept. 25, Darya Shipilova, 28, a technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, broke a test tube holding the plague agent, according to regional reporters at Lyudi Baikala and Novaya Gazeta.
🗳️ SENATE IS IN PLAY
Senate Democrats need four seats. The map now offers them seven. The Cook Political Report moved Kansas to a toss-up on Tuesday, moved North Carolina to Likely Democrat, and set the Democratic pickup range at "two to six seats," which it says sits "squarely within the range of the four seats they need to net for a majority." Inside Elections projects two to four. Republicans hold the chamber 53-47. Ranked most likely first: Which three more seats get Democrats to four?
⛳ GOLF CLUB LAND GRAB
Harvey Oyer wrote to Palm Beach County on Sept. 3 and asked it to turn Donald Trump's golf club into the next Camp David. Oyer is the lawyer for Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. The county owns the land under the course and leases it to the club. Future presidents would get free memberships. County Administrator Joseph Abruzzo told The Washington Post the county is "seriously considering the proposal" and will pick a parcel.
🏛️ THE UNTOUCHABLE FOUR: BLACK, ZAMPOLLI, LUTNICK & TRUMP
Two dozen people stood outside the Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday and asked the museum to drop Leon Black from its board. MoMA said nothing. Black is still a trustee three weeks after the House held him in contempt. He skipped a Sept. 3 deposition about Jeffrey Epstein, the House voted unanimously on Sept.
🛢️ WAR'S BILL
Donald Trump told a rally in Grand Island on Monday that the war with Iran is "a very small price to pay" and "gonna be over very soon." Congress's researchers put a different number on it the same day.
🧭 THE BIGGER PICTURE
Trump answers impeachment by threatening to prosecute the men he beat, and Democrats can check him this fall only if they win the Senate.
📺 LIVE TODAY
The FiveStack, 3 PM ET, with Dean Blundell and Zev Shalev, and Ellie Leonard on the Epstein untouchables.
📖 READ THIS
Did Lethal Virus Kill Researcher At a Russian Lab? Our first report on the Siberian plague death, from Oct. 5:
Did Lethal Virus Kill Researcher At a Russian Lab?
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Donald Trump told a rally in Grand Island on Monday that the war with Iran is "a very small price to pay" and "gonna be over very soon."
So, what's stopping Trump from ending right now his war against Iran? But, how is it "a very small price to pay", when his Defence Secretary is begging Congress for more money to carry on this war and to restock the ammunitions that have been expended while fighting the much smaller country?
As for Putin not planning on a phone call with Trump, what can the Liar-in-Chief do about it? Not much, unless Trump wants to risk having his role in the Epstein saga exposed for the whole world to see.