Letters from an American - Panic

Episode Date: October 7, 2026

October 6, 2026Trump’s social media posts suggest he is panicking, Trump is blaming Ukraine for driving up oil prices, He is incensed about reports that people aren’t turning out for his rallies, He accuses the New York Times of doctoring a picture of Trump National Doral where he will hold the G20 summit, He has attacked Annie Andrews, the Democratic candidate for the US Senate from South Carolina who is in a competitive race with Darline Graham, He has walked back his announcement that he will cover the $20 milllion cost of his self-promotional ads, And there has been widespread outcry against his suggestion that a nuclear attack on LA and San Diego would be acceptable, Timothy Snyder warned that Trump appears to be inviting a terrorist attack, The administration is steering money for infrastructure investment to areas with higher than average birthrates and marriage rates in an apparent embrace of the Great Replacement theory, The administration has not invited monitors from the OSCE to observe the midterm elections, the first time since 2002 that these observers have not been invited, The push to interfere with the elections is underway, with Trump hinting that he and Russell Vought have “some big surprises coming up."To read this letter, click here:Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyYou can also find Heather at:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

October 6th, 2026. Judging from his social media posts, Trump is panicking. Shortly afternoon yesterday, he posted that it was no longer the Strait of Hormuz, driving up gasoline prices, but Ukraine strikes on Russia's refineries. In fact, some oil tankers have indeed been passing through the strait, but as Spencer Kimball of CNBC explains, only due to a major U.S. military commitment, and at a high cost to the lives of tanker crews. That policy was already too expensive to sustain,

and now increased strikes from Iran are threatening it altogether. Then, clearly incensed at reports that people are not turning out for his rallies, he posted pictures to prove the arenas were full, but those pictures were carefully cropped to avoid the empty upper decks shown in news photographs. I never have empty seats, never have and never will, he posted. The rallies are hotter than ever. He added, the New York Times and many other artificial media outlets should be arrested for their dishonesty and disservice to our country.

Then he accused the New York Times of doctoring a picture of his Miami club, Trump National Dural, where he has announced he will hold this year's group of 20, or G20, Summit of Leagues, from the world's major advanced and emerging economies this December. His attempt to hold the G7 there in 2019 created an uproar, even from Republicans, about the blatant self-dealing. There is less uproar now, leaving Trump free to complain that the New York Times is a crooked outfit that caters to lunatics who want to see our country fail,

and to warn that, someday in the not-too-distant future, the Times will be forced to close its dirty doors, and that will be a great day for America. Next to the New York Times image that showed a dirty, yellowed building looking out of the elbows, Trump posted one showing it gleaming white

with immaculate gardens. A New York Times spokesperson told Alice Gibbs from Newsweek that the 2020 photo was not doctored. Gibbs noted that multiple photos from 2023 to 2020, show the same weathering shown in the New York Times photo. The founder of the Photography Ethics Center, Savannah Dodd, told Gibbs that the image Trump shared appeared to be a promotional photograph, and, commercial photography has different standards for accuracy,

which are less stringent than journalistic standards. Then Trump posted a wild attack on Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from South Carolina, Annie Andrews in an effort to boost his hand-picked candidate, Darlene Graham, the late Senator Lindsey Graham's sister. Begging people to vote for her, he wrote, for years, my dear friend Lindsay would say that Darlene is the finest, most reliable, and one of the smartest people I have ever known. He would then always add, also the most loyal. Oftentimes I would be upset with Lindsay for saying this because I thought I had all of those qualities. Why is Trump suddenly interested in South Carolina? As William Crystal noted in the bulwark today, new polls show that Andrews, a doctor

who has refused to respond to what Crystal calls Trump's revolting bigotry, is competitive against Graham, whose major qualification for the seat is that she is Graham's sister. Crystal notes that in response to Trump's post, Andrews wrote, As a mom and a pediatrician, I'm in this race to fight for my patients, my three kids, and South Carolina. And I'm going to work with anyone to put South Carolina first, because lowering costs and making life better for families across our state is going to take all of us working together. If you care more about your bills than the politics in Washington, this can't. campaign is for you. Then, once again, Trump promised, if Republicans win the House of Representatives

and the Senate in the 26 midterm elections, I'm going to give all adult citizens in the United States of America $5,000. Then he acknowledged the bipartisan outcry over his using $20 million of taxpayer money to run ads boosting himself, writing, The Radical Left is upset with the fact I am taking ads, which I consider to be a positive promotion for our great USA, and paying for them with USA money. This is a rather standard thing to do, but rather than doing that, although nothing will make them happy, I have decided to do the patriotic ads, among others, and pay for them myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc.

Make America great again. This afternoon, Trump walked that back, telling reporters that many presidents before him had produced ads like the ones he's been running that boosted himself. So we'll decide if he should reimburse the American public for the cost of the ones he's run. Tonight, the White House said he would not reimburse the American people,

and his promise would only apply moving forward. Then, yesterday, he posted again about the Doral photo, saying, The New York Times doctored the picture of the beautiful exterior facade of Durrell in Miami, trying to make it look as bad as possible. These people are stone-cold losers, totally dishonest. That's why they're going to hell, and their subscription numbers are way down. With media stories noting that Republican candidates do not want to be seen with Trump, This morning he posted, my rally crowds and enthusiasm are unbelievable.

Nobody has ever seen anything like it. We are flipping races all over the place. The fake news knows it, but they don't want to be truthful with their viewers. It's all happening. The Democrats never counted on this. Thanks you to the great networks that are covering the rallies in full. They are being rewarded with big ratings. Watch for the midterm surprise.

About an hour and a half later, he posted, My rallies are saving the Republican Party again. That post was likely in light of the outrage today over his statement about oil prices at a rally in Nebraska last night. And again, remember, with the war, it's just artificial. It's a little bit high. It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe.

They can take out a city. let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. The crowd cheers. That's, this is a very small price to pay and it's going to be over with very soon. It's essentially almost over with and they might keep going a little long, you know? They always say they have a big threshold for pain. They need it. Let me tell you. They need it. But it's going to end very soon. The outcry against a president suggesting a nuclear attack on U.S. cities has been rapid and profound. California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, posted, After sending the National Guard and Marines to occupy California,

Donald Trump is now saying our foreign enemies should take out Los Angeles and San Diego. He is deranged and dangerous. Newsom's press office followed up with, let's be clear, the president is advocating for an attack on 10 plus million U.S. residents in two of America's largest cities. This is not normal. None of this is. Democratic San Diego mayor, Todd Gloria, posted, San Diego is not collateral damage. We are not expendable. And we are never a small price to pay. Keep our city out of your reckless war talk. Scholar of authoritarianism, Timothy Snyder, warned that Trump appears to be inviting a terrorist attack. Telling Americans that it would be acceptable or even good if San Diego were destroyed, if Los Angeles were destroyed by Iran, tells us where his mind is. His mind is exclusively focused on staying in power. It's exclusively focused on himself.

There is no care for Americans there. There is only an obsession with perhaps having less control over things than he has now. It's a very clear sign of just how wrong things have gone when the American president can stand in front of Americans and fantasize about millions of Americans being killed. Snyder urged Americans to vote, organize, and be prepared to defend the results of the election. Meanwhile, the administration appears to be pulling out all the stops to get MAGA voters to turn out.

Sam Aghzalek, of Politico, reported today that the Federal Transit Authority is now saying it wants to steer grant money for local and state infrastructure to areas with higher than average birth rates and marriage rates. This plan reflects the administration's embrace of the Great Replacement Theory, the idea that white Americans must increase their birth rates to prevent being replaced by people of color. In an event in May, after Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator, Mehmet Oz, said that one in three Americans are under-babied, Trump called himself the father of fertility. Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat of Washington, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said,

Tying funding for transit projects to marriage rates and how many babies a woman has is the sort of bizarre and dystopian idea you'd expect in a TV show, not actual policy put forth by the U.S. government. Yet, here we are. Transportation consultant Peter Rogoff told Ogazalek, it's throwing a bone to these ideologues who want to incentivize child-rearing in marriage, but it's ludicrous on its face to try to achieve that goal through an infrastructure program. Does anyone really believe that there are couples out there saying, Hey, sweetheart, you and I should get married and raise a hassle of kids

because a dozen years from now, maybe they'll build light rail out to our neighborhood. West Seiler points out in West Seiler's newsletter that the administration has also promised major changes in hunting and fishing regulations, most of which can't possibly happen. including Trump's promise to create a task force to kill sharks and seals to reduce the economic and ecological impact of shark depredation on the recreational angling sector. Siler notes that this would require changes to existing laws and both national and international fisheries and endangered species agreements. Shark force would be a lot cooler if it was actually like a team of highly trained shark sent to remove naval mines.

from the Strait of Hormuz, Siler writes. But while removing apex predators might benefit anglers in the short term, the whole reason we have all those agreements in the first place is that we know destroying the food chain breaks ocean ecosystems. Felicia Schwartz of MS Now reported today that the Trump administration has not invited monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, to observe. the U.S. midterm elections. This will be the first time since 2002 that the U.S. has not welcomed

these observers. Until now, the only two countries of the 57 in the organization that refused such observation were Russia and Belarus. Now the U.S. joins them. Dan Baer, who served as U.S. ambassador to the OSCE during the Obama administration, told Schwartz, refusing election observers is usually something that countries in a position of weakness do, when they know that they have corrupt or unfair elections. It's very strange for the United States, which has been historically a standard setter in free and fair elections, to refuse observers. On Monday, election denier Tina Peters reportedly met with Trump at the White House.

As Matt Cohen of Democracy Docket reported, Peters and voter suppression lawyer Cleena Mitchell have been pushing the idea that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik can seize voting machines because they use some foreign-made parts. As Cohen notes, election experts are crystal clear that no law gives Lutnik that power. This afternoon at a rally in Maryland, Trump called out Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vote, a key author of Project 2025, saying, We have some big surprises coming up in another few weeks, right, Russ? He's going to be one of the very important people in the history of our country, in my opinion. He's got some great things happening. from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead in Massachusetts.

Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.