Trump was angry and ‘unglued’ when he started a trade war, officials say  —  WASHINGTON — With global markets shaken by President Donald Trump's surprise decision to impose strict tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, the president went into battle mode on Friday: “Trade wars are good, and easy to win,” he wrote on Twitter.

Days before the election, Stormy Daniels threatened to cancel deal to keep alleged affair with Trump secret … The 2016 election was less than a month away, and Donald Trump's attorney had blown the deadline for paying Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about her alleged affair with the future president.

Trump to launch major donor initiative after disastrous week  —  Donald Trump is wrapping up the most chaotic week of his presidency by rolling out a major new donor push — one of his most serious steps yet to prepare for a 2020 reelection campaign.  —  Trump will appear before big GOP givers …

Roy Moore pleads for money, saying resources ‘depleted’  —  MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore is pleading for money to pay for his legal bills as he fights a lawsuit against a woman who says he molested her when she was 14.  —  Moore said on a campaign Facebook …

Texas early voting numbers a ‘wake-up call’ for GOP as Democrats double their 2014 turnout  —  AUSTIN — With one day of early voting to go, turnout in the Democratic primary had nearly doubled since the last midterm election in 2014.  —  According to the Texas secretary of state's website …

Why Italy's Insular Election Is More Important Than It Looks  —  ROME — The campaign before Italy's national elections on Sunday has been self-obsessed and often petty and unedifying.  But it has been instructive about one thing: The political forces that have torn at the global order …

Why Trump is far more likely to cave on gun control than on free trade  —  (CNN)President Donald Trump deviated from the standard Republican line this week on two fronts: gun rights and free trade.  —  On guns, he suggested that he preferred to “take the gun first, go through due process second …

California Dems' hard-left turn could be the whole party's future  —  How far left is the Democratic Party headed?  Look to California, where last month's state party convention went off the deep end.  —  The first sign of lunacy was the delegates' refusal to endorse impeccably liberal Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

“She's in Immense Personal Jeopardy”: Even for Hope Hicks, the West Wing Got Too Hot  —  “Emotionally overwhelmed” by the headlines over Rob Porter, manipulated by Kelly, and interviewed by Mueller and Congress, the president's surrogate daughter is leaving the Trump bunker at one of his toughest moments.

Kentucky's ‘child bride’ bill stalls as groups fight to let 13-year-olds wed  —  Donna Pollard describes getting married at 16 to a 29-year-old man who was her counselor.  She is behind Senate Bill 48 to raise the legal age of marriage in Kentucky to 18 years old.  Matt Stone, Courier Journal

A ‘Bright Light,’ Dimmed in the Shadows of Homelessness  —  Nakesha Williams resisted help from social workers, friends and acquaintances, some who only knew her as a homeless woman, and others who knew of her past.  —  They met on a rainy morning several years ago, at the base of the Helmsley Building in Midtown Manhattan.

Trump Swaps His Beloved Burgers for Salads and Soups in New Diet  —  Two weeks since he's been seen eating burger, one person says  —  But bacon was still on the menu at breakfast this week  —  Donald Trump has traded cheeseburgers for salads in the presidential diet — at least some of the time.

The Right Can't Fight the Future … It seems axiomatic that the past and the future cannot exist at the same time.  Thanks to the space-time continuum, people from different centuries cannot live simultaneously.  The same goes for a nation, which cannot survive pulling toward the future and toward the past at once.

Rick Ross Hospitalized, Machine Keeping Him Alive  —  Rick Ross has been hooked up to a machine that's taking over the function of his heart and lungs ... according to sources connected to the music mogul.  —  Rick is in a Miami area hospital getting treatment in the cardio unit …

APNewsBreak: Questions surround Trump's 1st wall contract  —  OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A tiny Nebraska startup awarded the first border wall construction project under President Donald Trump is the offshoot of a construction firm that was sued repeatedly for failing to pay subcontractors and accused …

Child called racial slur, spat on by firefighter at Overland Park Hooters  —  Police say a racial slur was hurled at a child at a Hooters off Metcalf Avenue.  —  KCTV5 News spoke to a witness who was at the restaurant and he said he was dumbfounded by a statement the firefighter made to police.