Letters from an American - September 16, 2025

Episode Date: September 17, 2025

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September 16th, 2025. The phrase that kept coming up over the last several days was, Make Fetch happen. It's a reference to the film Mean Girls when one of the characters tries to make the word fetch trendy, using it to mean cool or awesome. Another character eventually slaps back. Stop trying to make Fetch happen.

It's not going to happen. Over the weekend, it appeared MAGA leaders were trying to make Fetch happen, hoping to distract attention from popular anger about the economy, corruption, the administration's disregard for the law, and the Epstein files, by trying to gin up the idea that the United States is being torn apart by political violence coming from what MAGA figures called the left, or Democrats, or just them. Their evidence was the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk last Wednesday in Utah, although the motive of the alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, remains unclear.

Today, the state of Utah indicted Robinson on seven counts, including aggravated murder. But a 2024 report from a research arm of the Department of Justice itself noted that since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists. Julia Ornado of the Daily Beast reported that the Department of Justice removed the report from its website after the shooting. But as G. Eliot Morris explains in strength in numbers, most Americans reject political violence in all circumstances, especially when you measure it carefully.

Morris notes that only a small fraction of Americans genuinely support political violence, about 9% approve of threats against political opponents, 8% approve of harassment, 6% support nonviolent felonies, and about 4% support using violence. Morris notes that both Democrats and Republicans significantly overestimate their political opponents' willingness to use violence, and that social media elevates extremists, making them appear more numerous than they are. explains that violent acts associated with politics happen because members of that small minority respond to rhetoric coming from political leaders. Violent metaphors polarize audiences and attract high aggression followers. Reducing violence requires political elites to tone down their rhetoric. It also

helps for leaders to reinforce democratic norms. On that, President Donald Trump is in some trouble. Olivia Knox of U.S. News and World Report reported yesterday that U.S. farmers are not okay. Droughts and flooding from climate change, as well as higher costs for fertilizer and equipment, were cutting into operations even before Trump's tariffs hit. The U.S. used to be China's top source for soybeans, but in retaliation for the new tariffs, China has replaced the output of U.S. farmers with soybeans from Brazil. cuts to food programs have hit small producers, while the administration's crackdown on undocumented immigration have created shortages of workers. There were more farm bankruptcies by the end of July than in all of 2024.

The administration appears to be considering providing emergency aid for farmers as it did during the trade wars of Trump's first term, although those programs often help larger producers more than smaller ones. Knox notes that agriculture, food, and related industries contributed about $1.5 trillion to the economy, about 5.5% of gross domestic product in 2023, making up about 22.1 million jobs. Matt Egan reported in CNN today that Americans' credit scores are falling at the fastest pace since the Great Recession, as Americans struggle to keep up with the high cost of living and the return of student debt payments. The average FICO score, which assesses a borrower's creditworthiness,

dropped by two points this year, the largest drop since 2009. Meanwhile, Stuart Anderson reported in Forbes that the officials who launched the raid on a Hyundai plant in Georgia, which has caused an uproar in South Korea after U.S. officials arrested more than 300 Korean workers, had a warrant to look for four people from Mexico. According to Anderson, once the officials were there,

they decided to meet the quotas established by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller by arresting South Koreans. A deep story by Eric Lipton, David Yoffie Bellany, Bradley Hope, Tripp Mickle, and Paul Mosier in the New York Times yesterday, suggested that the Trump administration has engaged in an astonishingly corrupt deal

in which two multi-billion-dollar deals appear to be intertwined. In May, an investment firm run by Sheikh Tanud bin Zayad al-Nayon, who controls the sovereign wealth of the United Arab Emirates, announced it would invest $2 billion in World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency startup founded by the Trump family, and by Steve Whitkoff and his son, Zach Whitcomb. Steve Whitkoff is Trump's Middle East envoy. Two weeks later, the administration permitted the UAE to gain access to hundreds of thousands of the world's scarcest and most advanced computer chips as part of a new deal to turn the UAE into an artificial intelligence powerhouse.

G42, a technology company controlled by Sheikh Tanun, would receive many of the chips. While there is no evidence that one deal was explicitly offered in return for the other, the reporter's. right. The confluence of the two agreements is itself extraordinary. Put plainly, while the UAE was negotiating with the White House to secure chips for G-42, a G-42 employee was helping the Whitkoffs and the Trumps make money. Yesterday, Trump filed a $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times and some of its leading reporters for a grab bag of reasons, alleging the Times is a full-throat, mouthpiece of the Democrat Party. The case filing praised Trump falsomely for his success as a politician, entertainer, and entrepreneur. The New York Times said the case lacks any legitimate legal claims

and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting. The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics. We will continue to pursue the facts without fear or favor and stand up for journalists' First Amendment right to ask questions on behalf of the American people. Also on Monday, Trump posted on social media that U.S. military forces have struck another boat, apparently from Venezuela, killing three people. Trump said they were positively identified

extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narco-terrorists, but offered no evidence. Today, he told reporters that forces had also knocked off another boat, but the military did not respond to questions about the claim. Today, FBI director Cash Patel testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Patel is under scrutiny for his performance during the search for Kirk's killer and for cuts he's made to the agency. When pressed on the files concerning the Epstein investigation, Patel told Senator John Kennedy, a Republican of Louisiana, that the material in the case,

files is limited and does not show that Epstein trafficked girls to any people other than himself. There is no credible information, none, that he trafficked to other individuals, and the information we have again is limited. Senator Adam Schiff, a Democrat of California, expressed astonishment at this statement. Then Patel yelled at Schiff when the senator challenged Patel's assertion that the Bureau of Prisons alone made the unprecedented decision to move Epstein Associate Gilane Maxwell to a minimum security work camp after she spoke to Department of Justice officials. Haley Fuchs and Kyle Cheney of Politico noted that the White House congratulated Patel for tangling with Schiff, whom Trump calls pencil neck. But the president has not been able

to get away from the Epstein files. Activists projected an image of of Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein onto the walls of Windsor Castle, as Trump and First Lady Melania Trump landed in the United Kingdom for a state visit with King Charles III and Prime Minister Kirstarmer. Channel 4 Television announced today that while the president is in the country,

it will run a special show, listing more than 100 lies Trump has told so far in his second term. Trump versus the truth will air on Wednesday, and will offer fact-checking of the president's statements. In Washington, D.C., work crews have begun moving some trees and cutting down others around the east wing of the White House to prepare for Trump's $200 million $90,000 square foot ballroom. Letters 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.