What happenedAlterNet reports that CNN’s John King said some Trump voters reacted with disbelief to reporting about President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency ventures. One voter called Trump “out of his mind,” then asked whether the story was legitimate. CNN’s Anderson Cooper cited financial filings that he said show the ventures putting more than $1 billion a year in Trump’s pocket.King also described a Georgia voter who said she lost about $20,000 after investing in two Trump crypto funds and now

What happenedRawStory reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a Wednesday “State of the Force” speech to declare that the Pentagon was no longer “woke” or “weak,” while deriding categories of people he considered physically or culturally unacceptable. On Friday, MS NOW’s Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist mocked the presentation as insecure and “really weird,” answering the headline’s teaser by calling Hegseth’s performance “full beta.”The hosts focused particularly on Hegseth’s repeated

What happenedAlterNet reports that Sen. Eric Schmitt accused former special counsel Jack Smith of coordinating with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, relying on the false claim that Smith attended an Atlanta Hawks game in February 2024. Smith denied it, and Schmitt escalated by accusing him of perjury.The game was actually an Iowa Hawkeyes women’s college basketball game. A local news segment reviewed Fox Sports footage, located Smith in section 109, row 1, and noted that the cited seat

What happenedRawStory reports that President Donald Trump pressed Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas to support legislation making daylight saving time permanent, casting the bill as a political victory Republicans needed ahead of the midterms. Cotton said he would oppose it because Arkansans did not want children traveling to school “in the pitch dark.”Trump answered by attacking Cotton’s ego and electoral support. He also cited unnamed “very distinguished people” who supposedly hated returning home after

What happenedRawStory reports that President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that his administration would “immediately” send checks of nearly $100 to more than 20 million seniors to help cover Medicare Part B premiums. The report, published five weeks before the midterm elections, says Trump did not explain who would qualify or when payments would arrive.Trump said the money would come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, created by Congress in 2008 to finance improvements to traditional

What happenedAlterNet reports that Mary Lou, a Trump supporter who appears with her children Chad Kultgen and Hailey Pop on The Necessary Conversation podcast, said during a Friday MS NOW segment that she might not vote for Trump again. Asked about a hypothetical future election, she answered that she would first have to see his opponent—a response that visibly surprised her children.Pop called MAGA a “cult,” while Kultgen described their mother’s attachment to Trump merchandise as psychological

What happenedAlterNet’s headline overstates the evidence: the Fox Business segment did not identify a “Trump debt bomb.” Host Liz Claman and Empower strategist Marta Norton discussed rising corporate borrowing for artificial-intelligence infrastructure. Norton warned that heavy capital spending had depleted cash flow at major technology companies and could require still more debt.AlterNet also cited Bloomberg reporting that markets remained focused on Middle East conflict, inflation and U.S

What happenedHundreds of residents and University of South Alabama students protested President Donald Trump’s Friday appearance at the school’s Mitchell Center, according to AlterNet’s account of AL.com reporting. The protest challenged both Trump and the university’s decision to welcome him; supporters and demonstrators traded angry shouts as protesters marched across campus.The headline’s “coming to an end” language came from Indivisible Mobile organizer Maura Mandyck, who told Trump’s supporters

What happenedRawStory reports that MS NOW host Jen Psaki argued Donald Trump’s support was fading because his Friday rally in Mobile, Alabama, appeared to leave more than half of a 10,000-seat venue empty. Psaki called the turnout a visual sign of political decline and contrasted it with Trump’s much larger rally in Mobile during his 2015 campaign. The article provides no official attendance figure or calendar date, so the “half the seats” claim rests on Psaki’s description and the footage aired by

What happenedRawStory reports that former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones said President Donald Trump’s rally in deep-red Alabama was not primarily about the midterms. Jones argued that its timing—on the day of a major bridge project’s groundbreaking—showed Trump was campaigning to have the bridge named after him.Jones, now the Democratic nominee for Alabama governor, told Jen Psaki that Trump had “virtually nothing to do with” the bridge. Psaki noted that most of its funding came from former President Joe

What happenedAt a Thursday rally in Durant, Oklahoma, President Donald Trump called White House communications adviser Margo Martin onto the stage, praised the 31-year-old aide as “beautiful” and attributed her appearance to her parents through what he called the “racehorse theory,” according to RawStory.Another aide, Natalie Harp, was also present. Daily Beast podcasters framed the moment against recently published photographs that appeared to show Trump shouting at Harp; Joanna Coles suggested,

What happenedThe supplied AlterNet text does not establish that any member of Congress supplemented a $174,000 salary with public money. Beyond the headline, it provides no reported transaction, payment, program, date, location, evidence, or response.The body consists only of disconnected names and phrases. It does not identify the congressman teased by the headline, explain what “on your dime” means, or support the salary figure with reporting.The missing answerA headline built around “your

What happenedRawStory reports that President Donald Trump promised “nearly $100” checks to more than 20 million seniors to help cover Medicare Part B premiums. The Friday-night announcement provoked backlash from some Trump supporters on Truth Social, who called the amount inadequate, insulting, or a political bribe.Trump also tied a proposed $5,000-per-citizen “Trump Dividend” to Republicans winning the midterm elections. Supporters cited rising Medicare costs, caregiving burdens, medical bills,

What happenedRawStory reports that a Republican super PAC aired a 30-second ad featuring Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, the estranged wife of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, as he campaigns against James Talarico for a Senate seat. The ad, funded by an affiliate of Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s Senate Leadership Fund, asks voters to support the Republican ticket without naming Ken Paxton.That omission became the story. Angela Paxton filed for divorce on “biblical grounds” after her husband

What happenedRawStory reports that voting-rights journalist Ari Berman believes the likeliest opportunity for Trump administration interference in the midterm elections would come after voting ends, during ballot counting and certification, when close margins could make targeted federal action more consequential.Appearing on the debut episode of the “Stress Test” podcast, Berman said the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, or other agencies could invoke a pretext to intervene. He

What happenedAccording to RawStory, Wesley Britt ended a posting silence dating to August 2023 after a reaction shot of his wife, Republican Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, became a meme. He captioned the image as her watching him sleepwalk and eat leftovers; she reposted it with “Nailed it.”The image came from a Tuesday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt accused former special counsel Jack Smith of perjury after Smith denied attending an Atlanta Hawks game on Feb. 3, 2024

What happenedAlterNet reports that Republicans face unexpectedly weak Senate prospects in five Republican-leaning states. Citing New York Times/Siena polling, it says Donald Trump’s approval across those states stood at 40 percent, with 57 percent viewing him unfavorably—a five-point decline since comparable June polling in four of them. The Times attributed the broader deterioration partly to rising fuel prices and mortgage rates.The reported contests include Democrat James Talarico leading

What happenedRawStory reports that Vice President JD Vance and Sen. Ted Cruz publicly accused each other of positioning for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination. After Vance told NBC News that Cruz was “obviously” already running, Cruz told Politico on Saturday that political attacks often come from people who feel “insecure.”Both men claimed their immediate priority was electing Republicans in the midterms. Cruz cited campaign appearances across several states and planned stops later that

What happenedRawStory reports that Donald Trump’s Justice Department is reviewing claims that Watergate prosecutors committed misconduct, though the department told The Wall Street Journal that no formal investigation is underway. The review followed a two-hour Justice Department presentation by former Nixon aide Geoff Shepard, who alleged that special prosecutors secretly met with judges and withheld evidence.The headline’s suggested favor involves Roger Stone, who worked on Richard Nixon’s

What happenedAlterNet reports that a Senate hearing intended to discredit former special counsel Jack Smith instead exposed Republican senators’ factual sloppiness and fixation on defending Donald Trump. Senator Eric Schmitt accused Smith of lying about attending an Atlanta Hawks game in February 2024, but the messages Schmitt displayed reportedly placed Smith in College Park, Maryland, for an Iowa–Maryland game—not Atlanta.Smith testified that his investigation had developed evidence he believed