There’s a Weird New Twist in the Mark Robinson Scandal

North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson rejected multiple offers to connect him with I.T. specialists who could investigate a string of racist and disturbing messages posted on a porn website reportedly under his alias.

The rejection—which allegedly followed another denial for legal assistance—sowed seeds of doubt among his staffers, WRAL reported Monday. The mass exodus from Robinson’s campaign over the weekend, which included the exit of his campaign manager and finance director, could be related to Robinson’s decision to try to cover things up.

On Thursday, a bombshell CNN report revealed that Robinson had written on a pornography website’s message board about his desire to own slaves, peeping in womens’ locker rooms, and enjoying transgender porn.

The comments were made long before Robinson entered electoral politics. CNN connected the account to Robinson via a “litany” of common biographical details and a shared email address. He also used his full name on his site account.

In a meet-and-greet with voters in Wilkes County on Monday, Robinson warned that he’s considered “everything up to legal counsel to take CNN to task for what they have done to us.”

“We are going after them,” he said. “We are not gonna let CNN throw us off of our mission. Our mission is to win this race.”

Some of the former staffers on Robinson’s campaign doubted the veracity of the Hitler-quoting politico’s threat, according to WRAL. But Robinson’s campaign doubled down, insisting that the beleaguered North Carolinian would definitely follow through on suing the news media behemoth.

“That is entirely false,” Mike Lonergan, a spokesperson for the Robinson campaign, told WRAL. “Lieutenant Governor Robinson is in the process of retaining aggressive legal counsel to investigate who did this and how; we will leave no stone unturned, and will use every legal means to hold CNN and whomever else is involved accountable.”

On Friday, Senator Thom Tillis had urged Robinson to follow through on the legal action, fearing that political fallout over the investigative report could hurt Donald Trump’s chances in the battleground state.

“If the reporting on Mark Robinson is a total media fabrication, he needs to take immediate legal action,” Tillis posted on X. “If the reporting is true, he owes it to President Trump and every Republican to take accountability for his actions and put the future of NC & our party before himself.”

Melania Trump got a big check to speak at a political event—but whoever paid it isn’t known to the public.

CNN reported Monday that the former first lady received $237,500 to speak at an April event for the Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative LGBTQ group, according to her husband Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosure form. But the president of the group, Charles Moran, told the network that the Log Cabin Republicans didn’t pay her.

Melania Trump has rarely appeared publicly during her husband’s 2024 presidential campaign, but has spoken at two political fundraisers held by the Log Cabin Republicans. The other fundraiser was held in July, and an unnamed source told CNN that a request was made to a political donor about another payment. It’s not clear if Trump was paid for that appearance, and the former president has not released a financial disclosure covering that time frame.

Former ambassador to Germany and Trump ally Ric Grenell reportedly made the request on behalf of the former first lady, and has helped her with other business ventures in the past. This kind of payment to a presidential candidate’s spouse to appear at political events is not normal and ethically questionable. If the money came from somewhere other than where the disclosure form states, the former president may be in legal trouble.

The former first lady was paid $250,000 by the Log Cabin Republicans for an event in December 2022, one of three such payments she received that month for speaking appearances. Donald Trump’s disclosure forms show that she made $330,000 in the past year for a licensing agreement for NFT trading cards, and her book, Melania, is due to be released next month.

It seems that Melania isn’t missing any opportunities to make money, similar to her husband. The former president has also sold NFT trading cards, as well as his own branded Bibles and assassination-themed sneakers, and engaged in a cryptocurrency scam. Maybe the first lady wants to make sure she’s financially covered regardless of whether her husband returns to the White House. The question is how ethically questionable the source of her latest benefactor must be for it to be kept a secret.

Donald Trump’s attempt to grab another electoral vote and complicate Kamala Harris’s efforts to win the presidential election may have just hit a wall.

A conservative effort to change how Nebraska awards its Electoral College votes was shot down Monday by Republican state Senator Mike McDonnell, who said he won’t support any changes to the state’s unique system. In a statement, McDonnell said, “After deep consideration, it is clear to me that right now, 43 days from Election Day, is not the moment to make this change.”

Nebraska is one of two states (the other is Maine) that award one Electoral College vote to the winner in each congressional district and two more votes to the winner of the state’s popular vote. Republicans sought to make Nebraska’s Electoral College votes a winner-take-all system, in an effort spearheaded by Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Last week, Graham met with Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen and more than a dozen Republican state lawmakers, including McDonnell, to push a bill that would change the state’s vote allocation system in the Electoral College. Much of Nebraska leans Republican, with the exception of its 2nd congressional district, which includes the Democratic-leaning city of Omaha, represented by McDonnell.

It appears that McDonnell’s opposition will doom the effort, which would have taken away a critical Electoral College vote for Harris and the Democrats. Nebraska’s legislature has 33 Republicans, 15 Democrats, and one progressive, registered nonpartisan. So far, 17 legislators have pledged to vote “no” on changes to the electoral law, including McDonnell, according to the Nebraska Democratic Party. In Nebraska, 33 votes are required to overcome a filibuster.

If Nebraska would’ve changed its electoral vote allocation, it would have pushed Maine to try and do the same to make up for the loss, since it delivered one vote to Donald Trump and three to Joe Biden in 2020. But Maine’s laws prevent any such changes so close to Election Day. It seems that yet another of Trump’s election schemes has been foiled.

Kamala Harris’s campaign doesn’t intend to let Donald Trump simply walk away from his second debate with the vice president. They plan to humiliate him over it. 

The Democratic National Committee has planned a series of static and mobile billboards to follow Trump around the country that attack him for his cowardly behavior, NBC News reported Monday. The billboards depict the former president in a chicken suit beside the words, “There’s no debate: Donald Trump’s a chicken.”

The first billboard is set to appear outside of Trump’s rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Monday. A pro-Harris study group at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where Trump is scheduled to speak, will send inflatable chickens, according to NBC News.  

The DNC’s foray into psychological warfare comes after Harris accepted CNN’s invitation to  appear in another presidential debate on October 23. Trump claimed on Saturday that it was “too late” for another presidential debate because early voting had already begun in some states. 

At a Democratic fundraiser in Manhattan on Sunday, where Harris raised $27 million according to her campaign, the Democratic nominee taunted Trump for avoiding another face-off. 

“My opponent seems to be looking for an excuse to avoid when he should accept,” said Harris. “I feel very strongly that we owe it to the American people and to the voters to meet once more before Election Day and continue the conversation.”

According to polling from the The Washington Post, Harris saw a slight improvement compared to Trump following the debate on September 10. 

In an 2023 interview with The New Republic, George Conway suggested that this kind of localized ad campaign would be the perfect way to make Trump go crazy. “The more he gets attacked the more he will talk about things he shouldn’t be talking about,” Conway said. “I think you could even get him thrown into jail, by running the right ad.”

Donald Trump’s cozy relations with Middle Eastern leaders are causing him to bleed support.

The backlash began after the Republican presidential nominee took to Truth Social Sunday to share some of the details of his recent caucus with foreign heads of state at Mar-a-Lago, reported RawStory.

“It was great seeing my friends His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Amir of Qatar and His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Prime Minister of Qatar at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida,” Trump wrote.

“The Amir has proven to be a great and powerful leader of his country, advancing on all levels at record speed,” he continued. “He is someone also who strongly wants peace in the Middle East, and all over the world. We had a great relationship during my years in the White House, and it will be even stronger this time around!”

But Trump’s MAGA followers weren’t appreciative of his buddy-buddy relations with the Middle Eastern rulers, whom some critics pinned as antisemitic for their country’s positions against Israel.

“Come on President Trump. We luv ya, but I don’t think the hostages and families are thrilled about Qatar hosting the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist freaks!” wrote one user who identified as a “constitutional conservative.”

Other users questioned why Trump would be spending one-on-one time with supposed opponents to the Jewish state when there were still hostages in Gaza. Qatar has been hosting the unsuccessful negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a cease-fire in Gaza.

“Qatar? Are funding and housing Hamas leaders, WTF are you doing,” wrote another Truth Social user. “You can meet with the devil, but you don’t bargain with him in your home!”

But other users saw the far-right revelation as an early predictor for November, suggesting that such relationships could cost Trump the race.

“Hey Don. You should really start watching your mouth. It’s going to cost you the presidency,” wrote another user on Sunday.

Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, was attacked Monday for supposedly claiming that Michigan’s attorney general is going after pro-Palestinian protesters solely because she’s Jewish. The only problem is, Tlaib never said anything of the sort.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, posted on X Monday addressing Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer while alleging that Tlaib had made an antisemitic statement about Attorney General Dana Nessel. Nessel is pursuing charges against pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan, alleging some had assaulted police officers and engaged in ethnic intimidation.

Greenblatt wrote, “When your attorney general prosecutes people for violating the law, harassing Jews, and attacking police officers, it’s in the interest of public safety. When a congresswoman accuses the attorney general of prosecuting protestors simply because she’s Jewish, it’s bias.”

In his post, Greenblatt linked an article published by Jewish Insider Sunday, which discussed an interview of Whitmer earlier that day on CNN. Host Jake Tapper had asked Whitmer to respond to Tlaib’s so-called argument that Nessel was “only doing it because she’s Jewish.” It’s unclear what Tapper’s source was for such a claim.

Whitmer declined to respond, saying, “I’m not going to get in the middle of this argument that they’re having.”

The Jewish Insider article stated that Tlaib “has also claimed that Nessel is only charging the protesters because she’s Jewish.” As evidence, that article repeatedly linked to yet another article, this one from the Detroit MetroTimes—which included no quote from Tlaib referring to Nessel’s Jewishness at all.

Nessel’s religious background was only mentioned as part of the description from the article’s author, who wrote, “Tlaib also criticized Nessel, who is the first Jewish person elected Attorney General of Michigan, for what she believes is a biased approach to the protest.”

A closer look reveals that Tlaib’s statement was not about Nessel being Jewish but about systemic anti-Palestinian bigotry.

“We’ve had the right to dissent, the right to protest,” Tlaib said, according to the MetroTimes. “We’ve done it for climate, the immigrant rights movement, for Black lives, and even around issues of injustice among water shutoffs. But it seems that the attorney general decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs.”

It should surprise no one that Greenblatt is attempting to blur the lines here. The ADL has reportedly held that all pro-Palestinian demonstrating is equivalent to antisemitism, even though it is often carried out by Jewish protesters and usually serves as a condemnation of the policy decisions of Israel, rather than the personhood of its Jewish citizens.

Speaker Mike Johnson has gone against Donald Trump and MAGA by dropping the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act from his proposal to fund the government.

On Sunday, Johnson announced the short-term spending bill to keep the government funded until December 20 will not include the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship when people register to vote. In a letter to his House colleagues, Johnson said the bill would be a “very narrow, bare-bones [continuing resolution] including only the extensions that are absolutely necessary.”

A previous government funding bill with the SAVE Act was voted down by House Democrats along with 14 Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that a government shutdown before November’s election would be “politically beyond stupid.”

The House plans to vote on Johnson’s new proposal this week, which is the result of a deal the speaker made with President Biden and top Democrats. If the bill doesn’t pass by 12:01 a.m. on October 1, the government will shut down. Last week, Trump called for a government shutdown if the SAVE Act wasn’t part of a government funding bill, setting up a showdown between Johnson and the former president.

Trump has yet to weigh in on Johnson’s new bill, but MAGA personalities have already started attacking the speaker. On Sunday, Trump gadfly Laura Loomer lamented the SAVE Act’s exclusion from the funding bill, posting on X that “it’s so pathetic how inept these people are.”

Johnson also faces opposition from some of the far-right members of the House Republican caucus. Representative Warren Davidson called the resolution “disappointing,” adding that “unfortunately the surrender caucus came together to make sure we keep the status-quo plays going.”

If Trump decides to speak up and possibly tank this government funding bill, it could hurt Republican chances to keep the House and Senate in November, and come back to bite Trump’s presidential chances as well. Earlier this year, Republicans on two separate occasions killed a bipartisan border security bill in order to appease the former president and convicted felon.

The logic back then was that a successful border bill would help President Biden ahead of November’s election. This time, Trump and his Republican supporters could end up hurting themselves as well as the economy just over a month before November.

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta called Israel’s pager attack in Lebanon “terrorism.”

Last week, pagers, walkie-talkies, and solar panels exploded across Lebanon, as well as Syria, in a series of deadly attacks reportedly carried out by Israel. On Tuesday, a wave of attacks, supposedly targeting pagers held by members of Hezbollah, killed at least 12 people including two young children and injured thousands more. A second wave of detonations on Wednesday killed another 20 people and injured more than 450 people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

During an interview with CBS News on Sunday, Panetta warned that Israel was conducting a “war of terror.”

“The ability to be able to place an explosive in technology that is very prevalent these days, and turn it into a war of terror, really, a war of terror—this is something new,” Panetta said.

When asked whether Israel’s attack constituted terrorism, Panetta was unequivocal. “I don’t think there’s any question that it’s a form of terrorism,” he said.

Panetta served as the secretary of defense from 2011 to 2013 and director of the CIA from 2009 to 2011, both under President Barack Obama.

Panetta was then asked if he believed members of the international community, including the United States, should condemn Israel’s actions.

“I think it’s going to be very important for the nations of the world to have a serious discussion about whether or not this is an area that everybody has to focus on, because if they don’t try to deal with it now. Mark my word, it is the battlefield of the future,” he replied.

Israel’s deadly tactics in Lebanon have been condemned by Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, for violating international law by weaponizing ordinary devices. Türk explained that international law prohibits the use of booby-trapped items used in daily life, and “it is a war crime to commit violence intended to spread terror among civilians.”

Israel has continued to target Lebanon with impunity, firing off a series of airstrikes Monday that have killed more than 274 people and wounded more than 1,000 more. Israel’s illegal attacks are a blatant attempt to broaden a regional war and draw U.S. forces into a fight against Iran.

J.D. Vance attempted to point out high prices in a recent campaign stunt at a grocery store, only to be caught with egg on his face.

On Saturday, the Trump War Room account on X posted a video of Vance visiting a grocery story, in which the vice presidential nominee complains that prior to Kamala Harris taking office, eggs cost less than $1.50 a dozen, but they now cost around $4 thanks to “the Inflation Explosion Act.”

But, easily visible in the video are the prices of the eggs behind him, which clearly cost between $2 and $3, which commentators on X quickly pointed out.

The Republican vice presidential candidate is also holding a package that clearly looks like two dozen eggs, not one dozen.

It’s no secret that grocery prices in the U.S. have gone up in the past few years. But the Republican vice presidential nominee should have probably thought to look at the prices behind him before waxing poetic about high prices. It’s only the latest misstep from Vance, who has recently shown ignorance about labor law, angered a crowd of firefighters, and even flubbed a question about what makes him smile.

The inflation in grocery costs has less to do with the president’s actions and more to do with the corporations that own grocery stores. But Vance missed what would have been a very easy jab at Harris, and the campaign somehow didn’t see the clear problems in the video they posted. And yet, Vance and Donald Trump remain neck and neck with Harris and Tim Walz in the polls.

The Ohio sheriff who likened migrants to “human locusts” and threatened local supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris is reaping the consequences of his own actions.

In a 3–1 vote on Friday, the Portage County elections board agreed to strip Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski of his election security duties, formally removing the sheriff’s office from providing security during in-person voting, reported The Daily Beast.

Earlier this month, the Ohio sheriff willingly threw himself into electoral politics in a Facebook post that referred to Harris as a “Flip-Flopping, Laughing Hyena,” inviting his constituents to send him the personal addresses of locals with Harris’s campaign signs in their yards.

He then proceeded to double down on the dangerous rhetoric after a county commissioner from the local Republican committee resigned over the comments.

“I believe that those who vote for individuals with liberal policies have to accept responsibility for their actions!” Zuchowski wrote.

The Ohio secretary of state’s office decided Tuesday that Zuchowski’s divisive statements didn’t break state election laws.

“Our office has reviewed the comments and determined they don’t violate election laws,” Dan Lusheck, deputy communications director for the Ohio secretary of state, told the Akron Beacon Journal. “The sheriff can speak and answer for himself about the substance of his remarks. We’re focused on running an election that begins with military and overseas ballots going out this Friday.”

The area’s local NAACP chapter responded to Zuchowski’s statements by holding an emergency meeting, which drew more than 100 attendees.

“They’re afraid to vote. They’re afraid to put signs in their yard,” Frank Hairson, the communications chair of the NAACP chapter, told the Ravenna Record-Courier.

Zuchowski’s posts were seemingly made in reference to a virulent conspiracy theory spread by top Republicans, including Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, about Haitian immigrants eating other residents’ pets in Springfield, Ohio—roughly 200 miles away from the sheriff’s district.

Since Vance and Trump began elevating the myth around the time of the second presidential debate, Springfield has received at least 33 bomb threats, forcing it to evacuate and temporarily shutter several of its schools, colleges, festivals, and a significant portion of its government facilities, including City Hall, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Ohio License Bureau, the Springfield Academy of Excellence, and Fulton Elementary School.

Multiple city officials, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, and even Vance himself have stated in no uncertain terms that the conspiracy is false.