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As Iran War and Economic Struggles Persist, Trump Approval Rating Hits Record Low
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Article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
US President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit, on June 16, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“It’s clear: Americans are fed up with Trump and Republicans.”
As US diesel prices are hitting record highs, President Donald Trump’s approval ratings are hitting record lows.
A poll from Reuters released on Monday shows Trump’s approval rating clocking in at just 32%, the worst rating recorded over either of his two terms.
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One reason for Trump’s rock-bottom ratings has been increasing dissatisfaction from Republican voters, who in the past have stood by him even after he incited a violent attack on the US Capitol that sent lawmakers running for their lives.
Overall, Trump’s job approval ratings among Republicans fell by nine points in the span of a week, going from 82% to 73%. The survey also finds for the first time that Republican voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the cost of living, with 51% registering dissatisfaction.
The Reuters survey wasn’t even the worst poll for Trump released on Monday, as a poll from American Research Group shows the president with an approval rating of 29% and a disapproval rating of 68%.
Notably, American Research Group said Trump’s approval rating now is 10 points lower than it was in September 2018, shortly before the Republican Party lost 41 seats in the US House of Representatives in that year’s midterm election.
The next midterm elections are less than two months away, and the biggest difference between 2018 and 2026 is the state of the economy, as Trump’s illegal war with Iran has led to skyrocketing energy prices with no end in sight.
Data released by the American Automobile Association on Monday shows the average price of gasoline in the US rising to $4.48 per gallon, with the average price of diesel fuel hitting another record high of $6.51 per gallon.
Economists say the record diesel prices are likely to lead to further increases in grocery prices, as the fuel is used to power both farm equipment and delivery trucks. According to a Monday report from Axios, higher costs for farmers are set to “reach store shelves in the coming months, starting with bread, meat, dairy, and eggs.”
In a Monday social media post, Trump tried to cast blame for high diesel prices exclusively on Russia’s war with Ukraine, without mentioning the illegal war with Iran he started more than six months ago.
“Russia has unfortunately lost control of its Diesel Oil Industry due to its War with Ukraine,” Trump wrote. “A large number of their Diesel refineries have been blown up and are, at least temporarily, out of commission. This ridiculous and never ending War with Ukraine must be ended.”
The social media account for House Democrats pounced on the record-low approval numbers for the president.
“It’s clear: Americans are fed up with Trump and Republicans,” they wrote.
Article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
22 September 2026
‘Effectively a Boycott’: Major TV Networks Ditch Pool Coverage of Trump in Solidarity With CNN
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Article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
A television camera is pointed at the entrance to the West Wing of the White House on September 18, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Daniel Heuer/Getty Images)
“There will effectively be no TV coverage of Trump’s UN visit or other presidential events,” said one media reporter. “This is a very big deal.”
The major US television networks launched what was described as a boycott against TV pool coverage of President Donald Trump on Monday after the White House dropped CNN from the network’s scheduled pool assignment, escalating the administration’s assault on the country’s most prominent media organizations and press freedom.
CNN was set to act as the television pool network accompanying the president during his trip to the United Nations General Assembly this week, but the administration stripped the network of its assignment shortly after Trump banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, prompting a retaliatory lawsuit from the three outlets.
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The major television networks typically rotate responsibility for traveling video coverage of the president. Bryan Boughton, Washington, DC bureau chief for Fox News and current chair of the TV press pool, said Monday morning that “effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the president.”
“This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties,” Boughton added. “There will be no replacement pool put in place.”
Scott Nover, a media reporter with The Washington Post, noted that “it’s effectively a boycott by the fellow members—ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX.”
“There will effectively be no TV coverage of Trump’s UN visit or other presidential events, though I imagine smaller networks may take the White House’s own feed,” Nover wrote on social media. “This is a very big deal and one only possible because of solidarity from the whole pool.”
The TV press pool developments unfolded as CNN, MS NOW, and Politico announced early Monday that they intend to sue the Trump administration for banning them from the White House. The outlets argued that the ban, which Trump announced late last week, endangers press freedom and “the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”
CNN, MS NOW and Politico announced the lawsuit in a joint statement, describing the legal action as an effort to “protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes.”
“Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting,” the news organizations said. “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom.”
The lawsuit came after journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico were denied access to the White House grounds early Saturday, hours after Trump announced in a social media tirade that he was banning the outlets. Trump, without providing any examples, accused the three outlets of publishing “fiction and lies when they’re covering the president of the United States”—and suggested other news outlets could also be banned in the near future.
When Politico reporter Cheyenne Haslett attempted to enter the White House on Saturday in the wake of Trump’s social media post, Secret Service denied her access and confiscated her press pass. Journalists from the other two outlets reported similar experiences.
“We stand by her and all reporters here covering the White House,” Jonathan Greenberger, Politico’s global editor-in-chief, wrote in response to the incident involving Haslett. “We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights.”
The media outlets’ lawsuit is set to be filed Monday in a federal district court in Washington, DC. The suit aims to restore the outlets’ White House access and alleges that Trump’s ban violates free press and due process protections.
“The president’s ban of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House is a direct assault on the First Amendment and a blatant violation of due process,” said Ted Boutrous, an attorney for the outlets. “The president has been explicit that this ban is intended to punish reporting he doesn’t like and to intimidate journalists and news organizations covering him and his administration. This ban on the free press harms the American people, who are entitled to rigorous, fact-based coverage of the president of the United States. The law is on our side across the board, and we look forward to presenting our arguments to the court as soon as possible.”
Jameel Jaffer, executive director, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, applauded the news outlets’ lawsuit and said his organization would support them in court. The Knight First Amendment Institute has previously supported The Associated Press and other news outlets in successful legal fights against the president, who has shown blatant disdain for press freedom during his two terms in office.
“We’re glad to see that these news organizations are suing,” said Jaffer. “The president’s decision to bar them from the White House for the content of their reporting is a flagrant violation of the First Amendment. It’s an attack both on press freedom and the public’s right to independent information about the government.”
Article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
22 September 2026
Trump Greenland Deal Panned as ‘Largely a Rebranding of the Status Quo to Claim a Win’
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Article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Demonstrators rally outside the US Consulate in Nuuk, Greenland on January 17, 2026 to protest President Donald Trump’s designs on the autonomous Danish territory.
(Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
“Trump did an incredible job negotiating for things we already had in Greenland,” said one US critic.
Danish and international commentators dismissed President Donald Trump’s claim that the deal he announced Friday gives the United States “permanent control” over Greenland’s security as what one journalist called a “repackaging” of long-standing agreements spun as a foreign policy win.
Trump—who has repeatedly threatened to gain control of the autonomous Danish territory, including by military force—said on his Truth Social network: “I am pleased to announce that the United States of America has entered into an Agreement with The Kingdom of Denmark, and Greenland, that gives the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many US concerns. There will be NO COST to the United States!”
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“Additionally, from now on, no US adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval,” the president continued. “This is an ‘Infinite Life’ Agreement, there is no end!”
“We look forward to working with the wonderful people of Denmark and Greenland toward a magnificent future with respect to this large, and highly strategic, parcel of land,” Trump added. “We will be very protective of it! This is a dream come true for the United States of America, one that is very important, historic, and special.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hailed what he called a “historic deal” and “a huge win for the United States and the American people.”
A joint statement released by the office of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who chairs the Naalakkersuisut—Greenland’s governing body—confirmed that “Greenland, Denmark, and the United States are expected to sign an agreement on strengthened security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic area next week” at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Frederiksen stressed that the agreement “recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom [of Denmark] and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination,” while Nielsen said the pact “is to the benefit of us all.”
While the official text of the deal is not yet public, observers said it is unclear how it differs from the terms of a Cold War-era agreement that already gives the US broad military access to Greenland.
“In terms of rights, they were already allowed quite a lot under the original agreement,” Mikkel Runge Olesen, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies in Copenhagen, said of the United States in a Saturday interview with The New York Times. “Is there anything here that one could not have achieved without this crisis?”
Trump did an incredible job negotiating for things we already had in Greenland.
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2026-09-19T01:10:45.944Z

University of Maryland government and politics professor David Karol said on Bluesky that “this seems to be largely a rebranding of the status quo to claim a win.”
Karol likened the Greenland deal to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that replaced the Clinton-era North American Free Trade Agreement—which Trump called the “worst trade deal ever made”—during the president’s first term. Critics noted that differences between the two pacts were “mostly cosmetic,” as one expert put it.
As the illegal US-Israeli war of choice against Iran dragged on with no end in sight, the US president also pursued a deal to end the conflict that observers noted was broadly similar, and even more favorable to Tehran, to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—better known as the Iran nuclear deal—signed during the Obama administration and unilaterally abandoned by Trump during his first term, despite Iranian compliance.
Sofie Pultz, an international policy research fellow at the progressive UK think tank Institute for Public Policy Research, told LBC on Saturday that “it does sound like the Americans have accepted a repackaging of all deals and agreements, maybe with Denmark footing some of the defense bill. But overall, there’s not a lot of new stuff in here.”
🇬🇱🇩🇰 “Don’t tell Trump, the Kingdom of Denmark won.”

Danish commentator Sophie Pultz told LBC the Greenland agreement largely repackages rights Washington already held under its 1951 defense treaty: broad basing rights, exclusion of adversaries and an effectively permanent pact.… https://t.co/W0UKI0Jtxt pic.twitter.com/TCTDYQO3cl
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) September 19, 2026

Some Danish commentators were more blunt in their assessment of the deal. Henrik Højgaard Sejerkilde wrote for Jyllands-Posten that “everything suggests that Donald Trump’s agreement on the military presence in Greenland is a flea market find, found in diplomatic recycling.”
Moderne diplomati med Trump er åbenbart kunsten at genforhandle en aftale fra 1951, sætte en stor shiney glitrende sløjfe på den og sige; "Se, Donny. Den har DU vundet, fordi du er så god!" – på sin vis er det jo smukt pædagogisk arbejde overfor narcissister.

Trump: JEG SKAL… pic.twitter.com/lRP1mENzQ8
— Mia Christensen (@RoedhaaretType) September 19, 2026

Other Danish observers expressed relief that what many viewed as an utterly unnecessary clash between two NATO allies has seemingly been defused.
“One can hope that the crisis of Greenland ends here—but one can never be sure,” Jacob Heinel Jensen of the Danish daily newspaper Berlingske said. “There is reason to be cautiously optimistic that this nonsense of taking over Greenland is now over. But with Trump, you can never be sure.”
Article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
21 September 2026
NAACP Sues to Stop Trump From Sending Armed Agents to ‘Intimidate’ Minority Voters at Polls
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Article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Voters cast their ballots at a polling place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on November 8, 2022.
(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“When the federal government puts fear between people and the ballot box, that is voter intimidation—plain and simple.”
A coalition of civil rights and labor groups led by the NAACP sued the Trump administration Friday in a bid to prevent armed federal agents from being deployed at or near polling places during November’s midterm elections, warning that the threatened presence of such officers could intimidate voters of color and repress turnout.
The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia by the NAACP, National Urban League, Mi Familia en Accion, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, SEIU, American Federation of Teachers, International Union of Painters, and United Food and Commercial Workers International.
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The complaint names senior Trump administration officials as defendants, including Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, and White House border czar Tom Homan. The lawsuit seeks an order barring the administration from “deploying agents in a manner that unlawfully intimidates voters or anyone urging or aiding voters.”
Armed agents at the polls? Not on our watch.

We're suing the Trump administration to stop the intimidation of Black, Latino, Asian, and immigrant voters this election season.

We will continue to clear a path to #midterms, because fear tactics won't have the final say. The… https://t.co/uoGcsPfiCF
— NAACP (@NAACP) September 18, 2026

The plaintiffs are represented by the Legal Defense Fund, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, National Immigration Law Center, Protect Democracy, and Democracy Defenders Fund. They argue that the administration’s policies and statements have created a reasonable fear among Black, Latino, Asian American, naturalized, immigrant, and mixed-status voters that they could face questioning, surveillance, detention, or force while voting.
Asked in May whether he would send National Guard troops or ICE agents to polling locations, President Donald Trump refused to rule out such a move, saying that he would “do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections.”
Other senior administration officials have similarly refused to rule out the deployment of federal forces to polling places in the name of fighting voter fraud—which is extremely rare.
The Justice Department, meanwhile, has denied that it is preparing to send agents to polling places. Spokesperson Kiersten Pels called such suggestions “fearmongering,” while Mullin has said ICE would not patrol polling locations.
The coalition is suing under Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits intimidation, threats, or coercion of people for voting or attempting to vote, as well as those assisting others in voting.
“All American voters have the sacred right to have a voice in our democracy, and should be able to exercise that right freely and without fear,” said Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund.
“Using federal law enforcement as a scare tactic to target and intimidate Black communities is illegal and antithetical to the promise of a multiracial democracy that was enshrined in the Voting Rights Act,” Nelson added. “Neither Black, Latino, Asian, or any other voters nor any other communities should ever again face the threats of terror and intimidation at the ballot box that defined the Jim Crow era.”
“We are experiencing a level of voter intimidation like we haven’t seen since the civil rights era.”
AALDEF executive director Bethany Li asserted that “when the federal government puts fear between people and the ballot box, that is voter intimidation—plain and simple.”
“We are experiencing a level of voter intimidation like we haven’t seen since the civil rights era, when local governments and the KKK openly intimidated Black voters,” Li added. “This time, it is the federal government ordering ICE and other federal law enforcement to intimidate naturalized citizen voters and immigrant communities. In 2026, voters should not have to choose between their safety and their right to vote.”
NAACP general counsel Kristen Clarke said the threatened deployment would turn polling places into “militarized zones.”
“Turning the fundamental right of exercising our vote into a high-stakes encounter with the militarized strong arm of the current administration isn’t protection and it isn’t oversight; it’s disenfranchisement, period,” she argued.
The lawsuit comes one week after a similar challenge was filed by the League of United Latin American Citizens, UnidosUS, Common Cause, and the city and county of Denver, Colorado. That case cites an 1865 federal law that generally prohibits federal officials from bringing “troops or armed men” to places where elections are being held, except when necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.
“The Trump administration has been waging a campaign to undermine American elections, and their insinuations that federal law enforcement agents might be at the polls this November are part of that effort,” Jasleen Singh, senior counsel and manager in the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, said during Friday’s announcement of the new suit. “We’re bringing this lawsuit so that voters are protected against intimidation and can have their voices heard.”
Article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
‘Democracy Is Under Attack’: Civil Rights Lawsuit Aims to Block Trump Assault on Mail-In Voting ›
21 September 2026
Trump Pushes AI Data Centers on Public Land as Big Tech Reaps Billions in Tax Breaks
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Article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Michael Smith from Beaver Dam, Utah reacts as the Box Elder County Commission announces approval of a large data center near the north shore of the Great Salt Lake, in Tremonton, Utah, on May 4, 2026.
(Photo by Natalie Behring/Getty Images)
One expert asserted that “the tax breaks are a windfall rewarding Big Tech companies for building what they would build anyway.”
The Trump administration is considering construction of at least a dozen artificial intelligence data centers on thousands of acres of public land across six Western states, reporting revealed Friday, while a separate analysis found that Big Tech is receiving tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks for AI investments they were already likely to make.
The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is reviewing proposals for at least 12 data centers and related infrastructure projects on 17,600 acres of public land across Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming, according to an investigation published Friday by The Washington Sun’s Mara Hoplamazian and Jade Lozada. Many of the proposals had not previously been publicly reported.
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The Sun’s report came on the heels of an Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) analysis published Thursday that found that five major technology companies—Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and Oracle—received approximately $70 billion in federal tax breaks in 2025.
The Trump administration is considering proposals for at least 12 data centers and data center-related infrastructure projects to be built on federal public lands — far more than previously known.
— The Washington Sun (@washingtonsun.bsky.social) 2026-09-18T11:00:20.039642249Z

Matthew Gardner, who authored the ITEP analysis, wrote that “AI leaders have acknowledged that the demand from other companies for data centers is ‘insatiable,’ suggesting that the tax breaks are a windfall rewarding Big Tech companies for building what they would build anyway.”
According to Gardner:
Few investments in the American economy look less in need of encouragement right now than the hundreds of billions of dollars the world’s largest technology companies are already racing to spend on AI. And it’s hard to think of an investment that American taxpayers value less: Polling shows that Americans dislike data centers, distrust AI, and are concerned about the economic and environmental effects it may bring.
At the same time, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has directed BLM officials to identify federal lands “ripe for data center development,” according to the Sun. State BLM officials were reportedly given only three days to compile lists, with the effort described as a “top priority.”
Burgum has also been meeting with Big Tech executives about accelerating data center development, an effort stemming from an executive order President Donald Trump signed in July 2025 directing the federal government to identify lands that could be used for data centers.
Mary Jo Rugwell, president of the Public Lands Foundation—a nonprofit advocacy group—and a former BLM state director, recently accused the Trump administration of “bending [the] knee to the tech oligarchs and letting them do whatever they need to do” without adequate consideration for the impact of data centers on public lands.
Environmentalists warn that building on public land would help tech companies skirt growing public opposition to data centers, which is increasingly transcending the political divide. It would also have outsized consequences for Western states where public lands comprise a disproportionate share of total land area.
“In Oregon, this would be a really bad precedent,” Ben Brint , the senior climate program director at the Oregon Environmental Council, told the Sun. “Some very large percentage of the state is public lands, and if we’re starting to allow that, that’s large swaths of the state that really could be at risk of further development.”
Article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
- Federal Panel Halts What Would Be First Data Center on Public Lands ›
- Trump Administration Making Aggressive Push to Use Public Lands for AI Data Centers ›
Donald Trump, the strong and smart (High IQ!) president in spades also explains that he’s a dancing fool but that YMCA is not gay young man. He says that you don’t really need Artficial Intelligence, you could ask him instead and use his Hyper Intelligence.
21 September 2026

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