👀 THE FRONT PAGE
💥 THE WAR
Donald Trump's Pentagon told CENTCOM several days ago to finish its preparations for resuming major combat in Iran. The order says nothing about when. Trump did. He told a crowd in Denton, Texas, on Oct. 1 that the war would be won "right after the election." The vote is Nov. 3, 26 days away. On Wednesday Axios reported the order; U.S. and Israeli sources told Axios the strikes could come before the midterms. On Thursday Trump answered on Truth Social: the United States "Will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections." Oil had jumped on the reports. It stayed more than 3% higher after his post. The war has not waited for him. Houthi strikes on Riyadh and Abha airports this week killed three people, Saudi authorities said Wednesday. On Thursday the Houthis fired two ballistic missiles at Riyadh, which Saudi authorities say they intercepted; the fragments fell on a children's nursery and a medical clinic.
📰 CONTROL
David Ellison took charge of CNN on Tuesday. Two days later, Trump's lawyers stood in a federal courtroom and argued he can keep CNN out of the White House. Ellison closed the $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery deal on Tuesday and took the keys to the newsroom Trump has been trying to ban since September. Asked about the merger, Trump said: "They're terrific people." Ellison went on the company's livestream with Anderson Cooper the same day, promised CNN "complete editorial independence," and said he backs its fight against the ban.
💸 THE GRIFT
Twenty-six days before the vote, the people around Donald Trump are getting paid, all at once. The Narativ starts the count today. James Blair and Chris LaCivita run Trump's midterm operation. A Washington law firm whose client is the government of Republika Srpska, the Serb half of Bosnia, paid the two of them, and they helped that government. Trump bought up to $5 million of SpaceX debt on Aug. 18, his August disclosure shows.
🧾 THE RECORD
Leon Botstein led Bard College for 50 years. On Wednesday a letter from Congress ended what was left of it. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., wrote Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel about a May 2014 email in the Epstein files, which they say was sent from the president@bard.edu address.
🏅 THE LAUREATE
Anne Carson won the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday. She is from Toronto. Trump spent Wednesday on his own Nobel. Trump keeps saying a Nobel is due to him. The neighbor he mocks collected one Thursday without asking.
🧭 THE BIGGER PICTURE
Trump is timing a war to an election he does not expect to win while the people around him cash out, and the channels that would tell the public are being re-keyed one by one.
THE GREATEST HEIST
Chapter 10 of Book 2 Is Coming Soon.
Here’s a preview of the cover of THE TRIGGER
https://www.thegreatestheist.com
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Trump Calls War Cheap While Treasuries Hit 2002 High
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