Washington’s cutting services, Trump’s talking about shooting leakers, and Fox News is apparently at war with journalism. Just another perfectly normal week in America. The coffee’s strong. The absurdity is stronger.
No foam, no filter. Let’s go.
1. Trump Says Leakers Should Be Shot
This barely made a blip in the news cycle, but it should have. At a Wednesday rally in Arizona, Trump declared: “In my opinion, leakers should be shot.” The crowd applauded.
He was referring to someone allegedly revealing military plans. Which raises an interesting question: Remember when Pete Hegseth shared operational details of impending strikes in Yemen in a Signal chat that accidentally included a journalist? The Pentagon’s own inspector general found that Hegseth violated department policy and created risks for American troops. Funny how Trump’s outrage over exposing military plans doesn’t seem to extend to his own Defense Secretary.
I’ve heard this rhetoric before.
In 2019, Trump compared people who provided information to a whistleblower to spies and invoked how treason was punished “in the old days.” I was serving in his administration then. Later, when people like Miles Taylor and I publicly spoke out about what we’d witnessed, we became targets of his attacks.
I also witnessed when he suggested shooting protesters in the legs during the 2020 demonstrations. It was one of the reasons I walked away from my intelligence career, resigned, and went public to warn Americans about the danger of his leadership.
There’s a difference between prosecuting unlawful disclosures of classified information and threatening people who expose wrongdoing. Consider the message this sends to the next government employee who witnesses misconduct, or to the journalist whose sources are already afraid to talk. Maybe that’s precisely the point.
🚨 Trump’s Call to Shoot Leakers (TIME)
2. HUD Was Gutted, Renters Are Paying the Price
Remember when we were told that slashing the federal workforce would make the government more efficient? Well, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) just checked the receipts.
Turns out, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) lost 29% of its workforce in 2025. HUD lost 29% of its workforce in 2025. More than half of those who left had abundant experience having served at least a decade, and Americans are feeling the consequences.
According to the GAO report, which was just publicly released, housing organizations described delayed safety inspections, slower discrimination investigations, and disruptions to rental assistance. One housing agency lost access to its federal funding system for three months, forcing it to tap reserves. Property managers delayed maintenance because rental assistance payments arrived late.
Here’s a particularly troubling example: One fair housing organization opened just 25 discrimination cases during a ten-month funding gap, compared with 82 during the previous ten months. Interesting…
So who’s getting the more efficient government? Certainly not the renters waiting for inspections, families seeking assistance, or people trying to fight housing discrimination.
HUD says it’s modernizing operations. But when GAO asked for information to evaluate those efforts, the agency didn’t provide it. Apparently, accountability isn’t part of the efficiency plan.
🏠 HUD Cuts, Real Consequences (GAO)
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3. Costa Rica Gets Its Own CECOT
The Central American country famous for rainforests, pura vida, and having no standing army since 1948 is now taking a page from El Salvador’s prison playbook.
This week, Costa Rica’s right-wing populist President Laura Fernández inaugurated a $35 million mega-prison designed to hold 5,100 inmates. It’s modeled after El Salvador’s notorious CECOT facility, where human rights organizations have documented serious abuses.
So how did Costa Rica get here?
Cartel violence has surged, with homicides reaching a record high in 2023. Fernández promised a crackdown.
Enter El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, whose sweeping anti-gang campaign dramatically reduced murders, but also resulted in more than 91,000 arrests under emergency measures and widespread allegations of arbitrary detention and abuse. And now, his prison model is becoming an export. Ecuador has already adopted a similar approach, while other Latin American governments are looking to Bukele for inspiration.
Costa Rica has a real cartel problem. Nobody’s disputing that. But when your solution comes straight from a government accused of mass arbitrary detentions and torture, we should probably be asking a few more questions. Fighting organized crime shouldn’t mean abandoning the rule of law.
If you haven’t listened to The Daily’s 2024 episode on Bukele, I highly recommend it. It’s an excellent look at how Bukele built his tough-on-crime model, and why Costa Rica’s decision deserves a closer look.
🇨🇷 Costa Rica’s CECOT Copycat (AP)
4. Fox News Attacks the Media Every 15 Minutes
Ever wonder how millions of Americans end up convinced that practically every news outlet except the one they’re watching is lying to them? Well, researchers at Duke University just put some numbers behind that question.
After analyzing 15 years of cable news transcripts, they found that Fox News disparages other news organizations or journalism itself roughly every 14.5 minutes. For comparison, MSNBC did so every 61 minutes. CNN? Every 140 minutes.
That’s roughly 10 times as often as CNN and four times as often as MSNBC.
Fox’s most frequent target wasn’t CNN, MSNBC, or The New York Times. It was “the media” itself. A news network repeatedly telling its own viewers that journalism can’t be trusted.
Meanwhile, a September 2026 Gallup poll found that just 22% of Republicans trust the news media, compared with 50% of Democrats. Overall, only one in three Americans trusts the media to report the news accurately and fairly.
The researchers haven’t established that Fox’s attacks are causing that distrust—but when millions of viewers repeatedly hear that other journalists are dishonest or deliberately misleading them, how willing are they to consider information from anywhere else? And what happens to a country when we can’t even agree on which sources of information to trust?
📺 Fox’s War on the Media (Nieman Lab)
5. Americans Are Rethinking Medicare for All
Three weeks before the midterms, Americans have a message about health care.
A new Axios–Ipsos poll finds that 43% support Medicare for All, compared with 24% opposed. Another 32% aren’t sure. And here’s another insight: Two-thirds of Americans, including half of Republicans, want the federal government to spend more to lower health care costs.
Meanwhile, Washington has been moving in the opposite direction…
Last year, Trump signed a Republican-backed law cutting projected federal health care spending by roughly $1.1 trillion over ten years, largely through changes to Medicaid. The Congressional Budget Office estimates its coverage provisions will leave 10 million additional Americans uninsured by 2034. On top of that, enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits expired at the end of 2025 after Congress failed to extend them, leaving many families facing higher insurance premiums.
Here’s the irony: Americans want more help from Washington but barely trust its leaders.
The same poll found that just 20% trust Trump for health-related information, while only 25% trust Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. To be clear, wanting lower medical bills isn’t the same as supporting Medicare for All. Only 21% of Republicans support that specific proposal.
If that’s not a disconnect between what Americans need and what Washington is delivering, I don’t know what is.
🏥 Medicare for All Gains Ground (Axios)
📍See What’s Happening in Your State
Federal funding cuts and freezes aren’t just numbers in Washington. They have real consequences for communities nationwide. States United and Grant Witness have created an incredibly valuable resource called Lost Funds that lets you explore federal funding disruptions in your own state, from health care and education to food assistance and infrastructure.
Ahead of the midterms, this tool helps connect national policy decisions to what’s happening in your community. Take a look at what’s happening in your state. The numbers may surprise you. Please share this resource so others can see for themselves.
🍋 One Thing For Your Soul
When Payton Obert was just 18 months old, a teddy bear donated to her during a hospital stay comforted her. Years later, at age eight, she decided to return that kindness by opening a lemonade stand to raise money for toys for hospitalized children. Her first stand raised $768 in 2018.
Eight years later, Payton’s Lemonade Stand has grown into a remarkable effort that has helped deliver $5 million in gifts and necessities to children and families facing hardship. In 2026 alone, young volunteers raised $170,000, with lemonade stands reaching communities well beyond Payton’s hometown of Cincinnati.
What began with one little girl remembering how much a teddy bear meant to her has become a movement of kids helping kids. Sometimes, changing the world starts with a glass of lemonade.
🧸 Payton’s Lemonade Stand (Good News Network)
I’m heading out to No Kings later today! If you’re in the DC area, come say hello. I’ll be at the Vote Early to Stop the Arch March.
Wherever you’re rallying, stay safe! I’d love to see your photos, so send them, share them, and tag me. Let’s see those crowds!
—Olivia
I'll be at our NO KINGS day event as well. Thanks for all you do Olivia!
Thank you for everything you do, Olivia. I'm sure I speak for many when I say you make these difficult times saner. Bon courage, from Canada. :)