Many of the top stories of recent days are actually continuations of things that I hadn’t got around to mentioning in my previous post.

Starting with: Last Friday, President Trump announced out of the blue that, effective immediately, three major news outlets–CNN, MS NOW (the former MSNBC), and POLITICO were being banned from the White House. There was widespread agreement that this action was unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, in addition to a violation of due process.

Importantly, the other major news networks jumped to the defense of CNN et al, in a way that was almost surely of real interest to Trump. CNN had been one of five networks who shared rotational responsibility for the pool of TV cameras and microphones that cover the President at the White House. The other four pool members announced that they would suspend that television pool, in solidarity with their fellow journalists. As a result, over the course of this week as Trump has given press availabilities at the White House–including one for inauguration of the new White House helipad, something of which Trump seems inordinately proud–it has not been possible for the public at large to hear whatever Trump was saying.

Of course, there is a lawsuit, captioned CNN v. Trump. In the middle of night last night, the Trump-appointed judge who caught the case issued a temporary restraining order against the administration, which from what I read seems clearcut in light of existing case law about White House press access. However, this morning the White House did not immediately restore access to the impacted networks and individuals, raising speculation as to whether the administration was trying to foment a Constitutional crisis by refusing to obey a court order. By this afternoon, however, that crisis had passed as the networks’ access had been restored.

After banning the networks, the administration also announced the launch of what it is calling Trump TV, which appears to be a stream on YouTube carrying (for now) recordings of Trump speeches and appearances. Combined with Trump’s praise today for the Chinese press corps accompanying visiting Premier Xi Jinping, all this has created speculation that Trump’s ultimate objective is to nationalize the press coverage of his Presidency. Which sounds very American, doesn’t it?

Nine days ago, outgoing Rep. Massie (R-KY) stealthily filed articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Hegseth, and did so in a procedural posture that would have required a House vote within two days. In response, Speaker Johnson adjourned the House for the midterms earlier than originally scheduled, thus avoiding the vote until after the election. Speaking of lame duck Kentucky Republicans, Sen. McConnell made his return to the Senate recently after three months of being hospitalized, although his appearance raised concerns as to whether he’s completely competent to complete the remainder of his term.

Last week there were additional actions taken by Judge Cooper in the ongoing saga over the Kennedy Center, Beatty v. Trump. First, he enjoined the Kennedy Center Board from renaming the campus on which the Center sits to “President Donald J. Trump Plaza”, or from inscribing the words “renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump” on the face of the Center. In response, Trump threatened to demolish the Center. That led Representative Beatty to return to the courts, in response to which Judge Cooper ordered that 30 days notice be given before any action is taken to demolish the Center.

Now for some more recent news:

The U.N. General Assembly is taking place in New York City this week. Trump gave a 45-minute speech which, per the NYTimes’ sub-head, “amounted to a rejection of the founding concept of the United Nations.” Ted Widmer, writing for The Guardian, noted that “the saddest aspect of this speech was its utter lack of American idealism – the very force that led to the UN’s creation…. [i]t was just raw power; and a power that is likely to diminish in the years ahead.” Per a new CNN poll, Americans’ support for Trump’s handling of foreign policy has declined from 42% at the start of his term to 29% now.

Nate Silver’s estimate of a Democratic Senate after the midterms reached a new high today, at 69%. He now has Kansas up to 32% for the Democrats, with a few other long-shot targets moving into “maybe” range such as Nebraska (22% for the independent, Dan Osgood), South Carolina (15%), and even Florida (15%). More generally, Silver notes the oddity that the signs of a blue tsunami are stronger in red states than in blue states; he has the Republicans at 11% to flip Minnesota, for instance, and he has Collins at 28% to retain her seat in Maine. Speaking of Senator Collins, ProPublica has an interesting story this week entitled “The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins–Until Trump Got In the Way.”

Finally, the long-brewing litigation on third-country removals of deportable aliens, D.V.D. vs. DHS, has just today again reached the SCOTUS emergency docket, as last week the 1st Circuit upheld much of the original lower court injunction that SCOTUS had stayed in June 2025 (pending appeal to the 1st Circuit) over the liberals’ dissent.