Trump’s New Press Secretary Flops During First Briefing

Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov start with a check in on the election map, just a few weeks out from the midterms. Can Democrats trust the polling leads they currently see in the Senate races in Maine, Michigan, and Texas?

Trump is doubling down on his decision to temporarily lift sanctions on Russian diesel, despite pushback from Republicans and European allies. The plan has Russia supplying around 300,000 tons of diesel immediately, with increasingly larger amounts to follow — but the total proposed over six months would cover just about 9 days of U.S. diesel consumption. Is this really about lowering prices — or is something else going on?

Ukrainian drone strikes hit multiple data centers belonging to Russian internet giant Yandex, knocking them offline. This led some to suggest Russian social media bot activity had been disrupted — but the traffic that dropped was largely automated search crawlers, not Kremlin-linked disinformation. Troll farms, social media accounts, and paid influencers are still fully operational. Scott and Jess ask: how dangerous is it when misinformation about misinformation makes Americans less prepared to combat foreign interference ahead of an election?

New press secretary Katie Zacharia held her first White House press briefing today — and used part of it to break the news that Kimberly Guilfoyle — Don Jr.’s former fiancee and America’s ambassador to Greece — would be resigning amidst a slew of allegations, including that she brought lobbyists to government meetings, and had a political benefactor pay her credit card bill.

Trump is now privately having second thoughts about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s announced plan to livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. Hegseth proposed broadcasting the firing-squad execution publicly as a deterrent, but bipartisan backlash has mounted. Will Trump go through with it?

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has filed paperwork with the FEC to run for re-election in 2028. He is currently 93 years old — which means he would be 97 on election day, and is currently third in line for the presidency. Scott weighs in.

And finally: What is happening to falling in love in America?

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