Byron York

The US appears to be readying a new attack on Iran. A leading Senate Democrat is briefed on it, and immediately goes public: "Their plan is insane. It will lead to devastating escalation, and the likely destruction of our commitment to the rule of law."

Trump is probably referring to the time in 2022 when gas hit $5.01 a gallon, according to AAA -- comparing the highest point in Biden's term to the highest point in Trump's term. But it was lower, $3.09, on the day Biden left office.

Mary Peltola keeps denying, tries the old standard reaction to her ballot-stacking scandal: "This is just another distraction, it's another diversion...This is all stuff to sell newspapers." realclearpolitics.com/video/…

In Michigan JD Vance created a picture of small midwestern towns--idyllic, upright, American to the core. And then: "Abdul el Sayed was born just north of Detroit in a town called Rochester Hills. Yet he has claimed to be--and I quote--an immigrant from North Africa. For decades, he's gone even further than that. He's told people he is an Egyptian citizen. Why? Why would you tell people that you were not from the community that you're actually from? It's an insane claim to make...Ladies and gentlemen, we have to understand what happens when our nation gives in to these kinds of people, to young men with zero attachment to its land or to its history, with a man who would lie, who is so ashamed of this state that he would lie about being an immigrant from another continent." washingtonexaminer.com/daily…

Trump, Vance, and the "jihadist" El Sayed. Trump set the direction; Vance filled in a narrative. Unclear if it will work in Michigan, but Tuesday's visit let Vance use his own life to draw the starkest possible contrast in the nation's hottest Senate race. washingtonexaminer.com/daily…

Democrats and the Mary Peltola campaign have repeatedly denied recruiting a fake Dan Sullivan to run against Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan. Now their denials have fallen apart. And the real story is even worse than Republicans thought. From NYT: nytimes.com/2026/10/28/us/po…

Harvard's class of 2030 is 66% minority--43.2% Asian, 11.4% Hispanic, 9.3% black, 2% Native American/Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. What percentage white? Following yearslong practice, the school did not release numbers for white students. Plus: The data is not totally reliable because Harvard included "only students who reported their race," and 9% did not. Via @thecrimson, a chart without white students: thecrimson.com/article/2026/… college.harvard.edu/admissio…

Over the weekend Trump held a rally in Port Huron, Michigan, in a congressional district he won by 32 points in 2024. He asked supporters to vote like he was on the ballot, which made a lot of sense, given that a 32-point victory in the district helped Trump win statewide. Also over the weekend, Abdul el Sayed mocked Trump's visit to Port Huron and sarcastically asked voters, "Please make sure to vote like Donald Trump is on the ballot." It's a Democratic crowd pleaser, but does el Sayed really want that? A look at low-propensity voters and the logic behind Trump's "Pretend I'm on the ballot" appeal: washingtonexaminer.com/daily…

Why does Trump tell midterm crowds to "Pretend I'm on the ballot"? You have to know the numbers behind the phrase "low-propensity voters." washingtonexaminer.com/daily…

The logic behind Trump's 'Pretend I'm on the ballot' appeal. washingtonexaminer.com/daily…

Schiff has already had two Trump impeachments. What about his fellow Democrats? The last Trump impeachment was 2021. There are already 60-plus House Democrats who were first elected in 2022/2024. If there's a blue wave, there will be more. What about their Trump impeachment? They'll want one, too, won't they?

I asked the president, "Do you ever think that you get such big, adoring crowds, and it's almost like a bubble? Do you think, 'These 10,000 people, man, they love me, but the larger electorate, I've got to win their votes. I mean, there are independents out there?" "I always cater to my base," Trump said. "My base is big. I think my base is close to 100 percent of the Republican Party....I think I'm close to 100... It's not MAGA, it's just --." At that moment, I interjected, "But it's not the whole Republican Party." Trump answered: "I think it's close. I think the Bushes have largely faded. They're gone." washingtonexaminer.com/daily…

This is really interesting. Interviews with El-Sayed are both useless and extremely revealing. By asking simple, straightforward questions, @bretbaier helped viewers see and understand how El-Sayed works.

"I might be wrong," Trump told me. "The country's never done better. People feel good. The gasoline's a little high, but it's coming down. You know, gasoline is lower than it was with Biden and Obama, and I got rid of the nuclear threat." Trump's critics will scoff at his "never done better" claim, and at least some of his supporters might wince. Indeed, one could make the alternative argument that Trump was elected to do one big thing -- bring down inflation -- and inflation on a yearly basis was 3.0 percent when Trump took office in January 2025, and it is 3.7 percent today. That's nowhere near where it was -- 9.1 percent -- in the worst of the Joe Biden years, but Trump promised it would go down, and it hasn't. On the other hand, there is the bill of particulars Trump offered voters in Sioux City and every other place he has held rallies. Look at the stock market, he told the crowd in Iowa, and look at your 401k. They're both up. Then: "Income for hardworking Americans has soared to the highest level ever recorded." That's true. And then: "The poverty rate has just reached its best level in American history." That's true, too, referring to the period in which the rate has been recorded. Then Trump cited other improvements, in manufacturing and exports, some of which were overstated but did indeed reflect progress under Trump. In addition, for Iowa specifically, on September 30 Trump announced the planned construction of a huge new steel plant in the state, which outgoing Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds called "transformational." Say what you want, but that's not nothing. At his rallies, Trump presents a compelling case for solid economic accomplishments -- to go along with the higher energy and food prices that have made inflation so stubborn in the months after Trump started the war in Iran. He promises, of course, that gas prices will plunge as soon as the war ends, which he thinks will be after the midterms. That will be great if it happens, although until then prices will remain a real problem. Still, the good indicators in the economy are real. So are Trump's tax cuts. Onstage in Sioux City, he polled the crowd on their opinion of his moves to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security. Reflecting the area's economic and demographic makeup, no tax on tips was somewhat popular; no tax on overtime was more popular; and no tax on Social Security was really, really popular. And that is just the economy, without considering the signature achievement of Trump's second term, which is re-securing the U.S.-Mexico border and stopping cold the massive influx of illegal border crossers of the Biden years. washingtonexaminer.com/daily…

I asked the president about his job approval number. "It's fake," he quickly said. "It's fake." He pointed to the New York Times -- "The job approval, they said it's 37, 38?" he asked incredulously. "I'm not at 38." I asked where he thought his approval rating actually stands. "I don't believe I could be beaten by anybody," he said. "I think that if I needed it, which I don't, I think 60." Link: Trump and the MAGA enthusiasm strategy. washingtonexaminer.com/daily…