Playbook: Trump's media backout  —  With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  A ONE-TWO PUNCH — With 18 days left until Election Day, VP KAMALA HARRIS will be hitting the road with the two most popular members of her party: BARACK and MICHELLE OBAMA.

Trump delivers profanity, below-the-belt digs at Catholic charity banquet  —  The only person off limits for Trump's roast was himself.  —  NEW YORK — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump used his remarks at a Catholic charity banquet here on Thursday to skewer prominent Democrats, often in off-color terms.

“I did make a mistake”: Baier apologizes for playing edited Trump clip in Harris interview  —  The Fox News anchor's deceptive video clip left out Trump's remarks about “enemies from within”  —  Fox News anchor Bret Baier is apologizing for playing a misleadingly edited clip in an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump overcharged Secret Service agents to stay at his D.C. hotel, new Democratic report says  —  Then-President Donald Trump also benefited from U.S. officials and others seeking jobs and pardons who paid for stays at his downtown Washington hotel, House Democrats allege.

Trump Is Speaking Like Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini  —  To support The Atlantic's journalism, please consider subscribing today.  —  Rhetoric has a history.  The words democracy and tyranny were debated in ancient Greece; the phrase separation of powers became important in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Trump's age finally catches up with him  —  The man who would (once again) be the oldest president in history has reportedly scaled back his campaign due to fatigue.  So who would run his White House?  —  When Bloomberg News editor in chief John Micklethwait raised the question …

Majority of Americans Feel Worse Off Than Four Years Ago  —  Economic Confidence Index remains negative at -26  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than half of Americans (52%) say they and their family are worse off today than they were four years ago, while 39% say they are better off and 8% volunteer that they are about the same.

Julian Zelizer on Trump's increasingly dire rhetoric  —  “He doesn't even really use code words or anything.  He's just all in.”  —  ∙ Paid … In the closing days of the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump is talking a lot about “the enemy within.”  He's threatened to deploy the US military against his domestic political foes.

JD Vance Campaign Event With Christian Right Leaders May Have Violated Tax and Election Laws, Experts Say  —  Ziklag and the Courage Tour, the far-right groups that hosted the Republican vice-presidential nominee, are charities that can't legally intervene in political campaigns.  —  Co-published with Documented

Former GOP adviser: White House race is Harris's to lose  —  Mark McKinnon, a longtime GOP political adviser, says he thinks Vice President Harris will win the election, now just 18 days away.  —  “I'm going to make a bold prediction here because I just don't give a sh- if I'm wrong …

Biden tells Netanyahu it's time to end Gaza war after Sinwar's elimination … - Israeli and U.S. officials say Sinwar's death on Wednesday creates an opportunity to resume talks on a deal to release the 101 hostages still held by Hamas and establish a ceasefire in Gaza.

October 17, 2024  —  In a new rule released yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission requires sellers to make it as easy to cancel a subscription to a gym or a service as it is to sign up for one.  In a statement, FTC chair Lina Khan explained the reasoning behind the “click-to-cancel” rule …

When the Top General in the U.S. Says You're ‘Fascist to the Core’  —  Toward the end of his tenure, Gen. Mark Milley, who was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2019 to 2023, told Bob Woodward of The Washington Post that Donald Trump was a fundamental threat to the safety and integrity of the United States.

How Silicon Valley Billionaires Became Trump's Biggest Donors … Last February, the billionaire financier Nelson Peltz summoned a group of about 20 wealthy, predominantly Republican donors and a handful of G.O.P. strategists to dinner at his $334 million waterfront estate in Palm Beach …

Even Fox News's Bret Baier Admits Harris Outsmarted Him in Interview  —  Fox News's Brett Baier went on the offensive during an interview with Kamala Harris Wednesday night, but even he had to admit she got the best of him.  —  In a segment reacting to his own contentious interview …

Judge orders state to end threats against TV stations: 'It's the First Amendment, stupid'  —  In a sharply worded order, a federal judge issues a temporary restraining order after a lawsuit was filed against the state by a group campaigning for the abortion-rights amendment proposal.

Trump says Fox shouldn't air negative ads  —  Former President Trump criticized Fox News in an interview Friday for airing negative political ads attacking him, saying he would appeal directly to media mogul Rupert Murdoch to remove them from the network.  —  “In the old days, you never played negative ads.