CNN poll: Trump approval steady, but more say he's leading in the wrong direction  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  —  Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump's approval rating holds steady in a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, but that overall stability belies declining views on how things are going in the country today.

‘A Soulless Coward’: Coach Gregg Popovich Responds to Trump  —  In an exclusive here at The Nation, the Spurs coach speaks about Trump's latest outrage.  —  We've all seen San Antonio Spurs' future Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich in a state of exasperation on the sidelines, or in post-game news conferences.

Trump Falsely Claims Obama Didn't Contact Families of Fallen Troops  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump falsely asserted on Monday that his predecessor, Barack Obama, and other presidents did not contact the families of American troops killed in duty, drawing a swift, angry rebuke from several of Mr. Obama's former aides.

McCain slams ‘half-baked, spurious nationalism’ sweeping US in passionate speech  —  Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., slammed “half-baked, spurious nationalism” in an impassioned speech while accepting the Liberty Medal in Philadelphia this evening.  —  McCain, who was presented with the medal …

How Tom Marino, Trump's pick for drug czar, made the federal fight against opioids harder  —  The Congress member's office called police because reporters tried to talk to him about this story.  —  Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA), President Donald Trump's pick for drug czar, hasn't gotten a single hearing from the Senate yet.

Jesus Campos, Vegas security guard shot before rampage, appears to have vanished  —  A security vehicle blocks an entrance at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on Oct. 4 in Las Vegas.  (David Becker / Getty Images)  —  The story seemed straightforward: The unarmed security guard approached …

How Donald Trump is negotiating like a hostage-taker  —  (CNN)As a candidate, Donald Trump sold himself as a deal maker.  As president, he's governing more as a hostage taker.  —  Across an array of domestic and foreign challenges, Trump's go-to move has become to create what amounts to a political hostage situation.

North Korea says ‘a nuclear war may break out any moment’  —  A U.S. F-35 stealth fighter is seen during the press day of the 2017 Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 16, 2017.  South Korean and U.S. troops launched five days …

Malta car bomb kills Panama Papers journalist  —  Daphne Caruana Galizia, a blogger whose investigations focused on corruption, was described as a ‘one-woman WikiLeaks’ … The journalist who led the Panama Papers investigation into corruption in Malta was killed on Monday in a car bomb near her home.

57 Things I Need You to Stop Doing to the Women You Work With  —  I'm begging you: Don't be a creep at work.  —  A female friend of mine went on a foreign business trip early in her career with two colleagues who were both male, married, and senior to her at the company.

White House brushes off House investigators over aides' use of personal email  —  The White House brushed off a bipartisan request from House investigators for details of senior administration officials' use of private email and encrypted messaging apps for government work …

The Method to Trump's ‘Madness’  —  The Democratic Party, as it did after Hubert Humphrey's close loss in 1968, seems still to be misdiagnosing its 2016 defeat.  —  Democrats see too little identity politics rather than too much as their trouble, and thus are redoubling on what has been slowly shrinking …

Corker: Trump criticism had been ‘building for some time’  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  —  (CNN)He called the White House “an adult day care center.”  He suggested President Donald Trump was setting the nation on a course to “World War III.”  And he said Trump “concerns me,” …

For each scene of his presidency, Trump casts a villain (or two, or three ...)  —  Hillary Clinton is not running for president again in 2020 — she has said so, her aides know it, and there is no political rationale that would argue otherwise.  But for President Trump, facts like those simply miss the point.