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Thursday, October 8, 2026
Donald Trump, chaos agent! The president traveled to San Antonio to support embattled Ken Paxton on the same day AXIOS reported on leaked audio of the GOP Senate Candidate blaming his poor polling numbers on the Iran War. Heckling protesters interrupted the event at least a dozen times, something we haven’t seen at rallies in a long time and could portend a trend. (People are pissed!) More notably, Trump reiterated his controversial comments that Iran could “take out” US cities, this time saying, “l Let them hit a missile into San Diego or Los Angeles,” seemingly undermining the defense by both the White House and the lot of Trump media surrogates that insisted that it was taken out of context or he was just “joking.” The annihilation of American cities is not a funny joke to anyone, especially San Diegans or Los Angelinos, but that’s another issue. Trump did clarify his comments from Wednesday night, saying We're not going to let that happen... We're not letting that happen." Meanwhile, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s hot take on October 7th did the impossible: it unified a divided nation in abject anger, suggesting his honeymoon as an effective mayor has found its expiration date. Trump Inc.’s grift is back in the news; GOP ramps up its blame of Trump, and the Iran War is back on the election calendar!
01. Trump’s Chaos Campaign Gets Messier After Hecklers Interrupt His San Antonio Rally a Dozen Times
[Gaining Traction]. Trump’s staff tried to explain away his earlier line about Los Angeles and San Diego. Last night, he said it again, at a Texas rally that protesters interrupted a dozen times.
Trump went to San Antonio on Wednesday night to campaign for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and protesters interrupted him at least a dozen times by CNN’s count. He told the crowd “many of these protesters are paid” and that they were “paid by enemies of our nation.” NBC News White House reporter Jake Traylor, who has covered hundreds of Trump rallies, said he had never seen so many interruptions at one.
He was still on the protesters when he brought back the Los Angeles line his staff had spent two days explaining. “I said it the other day,” he told the crowd. “Let them hit San Diego. Let them hit Los Angeles, and you want to see some bad things happen,” and then that “we’re not going to let that happen.”
Morning Joe and CNN This Morning both played the clip Thursday morning, and Morning Joe panelist Eugene Robinson said he was waiting for “the apologies from all the Trump apologists” who said he was taken out of context the first time. Fox & Friends aired one clip from the rally in two hours, Trump saying “a vote for Ken Paxton is a vote to save Texas,” and did not mention the protesters or the line.
TAKEAWAY: There was a lot of attention heading into this particular Texas rally, and for those watching, it did not disappoint. But you know who didn’t see it? Viewers of CNN, MS NOW, and Fox News. Each network occasionally dipped in and out, but none aired the whole thing from soup to nuts. (There was no soup or nuts in the rally)
02. Mamdani’s Honeymoon Ends After His Oct. 7 Statement Unites Democrats and Republicans Against Him
[Going Mainstream]. Zohran Mamdani is nine months into a job that was going better than his critics expected. Today both parties are condemning his Oct. 7 statement.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack with a statement that called it “the horrific war crimes of October 7,” then said “the suffering did not begin nor end that day” and accused the Israeli government of a “devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza” and the federal government of “complicity with every arms shipment.”
Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz of Florida wrote that Mamdani “basically said ‘The Jews that died, sad, but it’s their fault.’” The Anti-Defamation League’s Jonathan Greenblatt pointed out that the statement never uses the word “Jews,” and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, in a clip Fox News aired, said he was “seething.”
Fox News put it at the top of The Five and Hannity, and Fox & Friends read the whole statement on air Thursday, with Brian Kilmeade saying “his last statement will be their doctrine” for Democrats. On The Five, Jessica Tarlov called it “such a mistake” by a mayor who had been “engendering a lot of good faith from people who didn’t initially support his candidacy.” On CNN, Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts told Jake Tapper, “I didn’t read his statement,”. MS NOW didn’t mention Mamdani between 7 and 10 Wednesday night or in two hours of Morning Joe.
TAKEAWAY: Almost nothing can be said about this topic without inflaming or causing outrage, whether intended or not. Which is precisely why Mamdani may have shown the “discretion is the better part of valor” and saved the inflammation for another day. Either way, Mamdani’s honeymoon appears to be officially over, but at least most people agree!
03. The Iran War Becomes an Election Tactic as the White House Asks for Strike Options Before the Midterms
[Gaining Traction]. Republican nominees have been blaming Trump’s war for their poll numbers. Today, two outlets report the White House is looking at the war as a way to fix them.
The White House has asked the Pentagon for options to strike Iran before the midterms, The Atlantic‘s Nancy Youssef and Jonathan Lemire reported, and Axios’s Barak Ravid reported that the Pentagon told Central Command to be ready to resume major combat operations, possibly before the election. Officials told The Atlantic that Trump wants gas prices down and a “win” in a war that has gone weeks without US strikes, and neither outlet says he has decided.
Morning Joe led with it Thursday, and Lemire, a co-host of the show, said some in the administration believe “a limited, almost like for show strike would allow President Trump to look tough” and let him “claim a victory, even a false one, just to try to change the narrative ahead of the midterms,” while most strategists think it would be “deeply unpopular.”
Fox & Friends led its second hour on the Axios report, and Brian Kilmeade told viewers, “I think we’re going to realize shortly we have no other option except a military option.” CNN teased the story at 7 and never got to it. Its hour led with new CNN polls, in which about three in four likely voters in Ohio and Iowa said Trump’s policies have raised their costs.
TAKEAWAY: So let me get this straight. Attacking Iran is one of the most unpopular policies that the Trump administration has undertaken, and the White House is looking to rectify that by…attacking Iran again? Not sure that will lead to the intended narrative shift and will instead look like an underliner of why people are so angry (along with the high gas prices that have resulted)
“Here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy. We need to end this tariff war now.”
That’s Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate nominee in Michigan, in a campaign ad released Wednesday, just 27 days before an election he is running in with Trump’s endorsement. The ad doesn’t mention President Trump by name, and Rogers supported his tariff policy last year. When asked about it by a reporter during an Oval Office press gaggle, Trump said “I viewed him as saying that he thinks Canada should make a deal.”
White House Complains to Fox News About MacCallum: Axios reports that White House officials contacted Fox News on Tuesday to object to Martha MacCallum’s interview with Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, which Trump had called “softball.” (Axios)
FBI Arrests Minnesota Teen in Mall of America Plot: Federal agents arrested an 18-year-old ISIS sympathizer on Tuesday. They allege he was planning a mass shooting at the Mall of America on Oct. 24 and bought an AK-47 from a man he thought was an ISIS member but was, in fact, an undercover FBI agent. (NY Times)
Hurricane Isaias Heads for the Gulf Coast: The first Atlantic hurricane of the season is forecast to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday between Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle, and could strengthen to a Category 2 or 3 storm. (National Hurricane Center)
Based on transcripts from the 6 and 7 a.m. hours of Fox & Friends, CNN This Morning, News Central, and Morning Joe.
Trump saw how much the news chased his initial throwaway comment about “taking out” San Diego and Los Angless and couldn't resist trolling in a way that got him more attention. There was a time when “Q rating” was something news people paid attention to, and Trump isn't just from that generation, but seems to be living by the principle that there is no such thing as bad press. The mistake he’s making here, however, is that his comments aren't a distraction from his unpopular policies, but a reminder of a disastrous Iran war and the high gas prices that they have brought with them. At best, it’s a curious approach that seems entirely lacking in any cogent strategy, but guess what? Creating chaos has long been a core Trump principle, and I suspect we will see much more of it in the less than four weeks until the midterms.
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Premature to declare his end as an effective mayor, don’t you think? Certainly, perhaps, an unforced error, but that’s his first hit allowed and it’s only the third inning with his team up, say, 3-0…