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Trump’s rural base is feeling squeezed by the cost of living, new AP-KFF poll finds About half of rural American voters believe the economy is worse off now than when President Donald Trump returned to office, according to a new survey that points to economic frustration among a key group that has backed Trump and other Republicans in recent elections. Read more. What to know: The costs of groceries, gas and healthcare rank as top pain points for the rural voters, who were surveyed over two weeks starting in mid-August. And a larger share than among voters overall say they are worried about being able to afford groceries or gas. At the same time, about half of rural voters approve of Trump’s job performance, more than among U.S. adults overall in separate AP-NORC polling. The findings suggest that many rural voters haven’t turned on Trump but that they also largely don’t think he has delivered the economic renaissance he promised on the campaign trail.

September 23, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. The Trump administration defended its expulsion of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House in a court filing that described access as a privilege, not a right. There’s more news below. But first, a few words about trust. In Pennsylvania. Lauren Lancaster for The New York Times The distrust election My colleague Sabrina Tavernise has been talking to Americans about the political landscape of the United States since 2016. “This is the first time I’m actually seeing a real shift among working-class conservatives on Trump,” she told me yesterday. Those guys were gung-ho for years about Trump’s drain-the-swamp outsider strength, she said, thrilled by his anti-establishment anger and his ability to make them feel good about themselves. They consistently defended him. But now? “He is the establishment” is how Sabrina put it. What she has heard from some folks on the right: Trump’s not for them any longer. They don’t trust the guy. An insulation salesman in New Orleans is one of them. “I feel like I was sold a bill of goods,” he told Sabrina. He was furious with Trump for starting a war with Iran after campaigning on a promise of no more wars. Then his rage deepened with the rise in diesel prices caused by that war, she reported. “The goods I agreed to buy were nothing like what was delivered.” And it’s not just Republicans. Americans of all political stripes have lost trust in America’s institutions, industries and politicians, Sabrina reports. “Whether on data centers, chemicals in food, the Epstein files or the war in Iran,” she writes, people feel as if “they are being lied to.” One example is Phyliss Paone, a retired utility company worker and lifelong Democrat Sabrina spoke with in Archbald, Pa. Paone said she would not vote for Gov. Josh Shapiro’s re-election because of what she saw as a political reversal on a proposed data center in her town. “He’s just saying what he needs to get votes,” she said. (She doesn’t trust the people behind the data center either. “They just lie to the people because they think we don’t know anything,” she said.) Phyliss Paone Lauren Lancaster for The New York Times Trust falls Here’s the thing. Trust is central to a healthy society. “Without it, people do not cooperate with each other or with the authorities,” Sabrina writes. “That can lead to political paralysis.” And trust is waning, especially when it comes to the government. In the 1950s, as the economy boomed, more than 70 percent of Americans said they trusted their leaders and legislators. But the upheavals of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and Watergate took their toll. More recently, so did the post-9/11 conflicts and the pandemic in 2020. Now, Sabrina notes, we’re facing outbreaks of cyclospora and terrible flight delays. Flock cameras spy on us. We hear little from the Pentagon about progress in the war in Iran. Tech executives talk about the risks of A.I., even as Trump tells voters to ignore those concerns. The health secretary downplays measles deaths even as we see cases mount. Affordability, the president says, is a “hoax,” even as Americans get stung by prices at the gas station and the grocery store. Trust in the federal government is now at just 17 percent, according to a Pew Research Center report released last year. And as the chart below shows, confidence in many other U.S. institutions is in short supply: Note: Survey conducted June 1-15, 2026. Source: Gallup. Karl Russell/The New York Times It’s always the economy Here’s the other thing. The notion that affordability is a “hoax” isn’t playing well with Republicans. The Times and Siena University released a poll last week that showed 60 percent of likely white voters without a college degree — that’s Trump’s base — disapproved of the president’s performance on the cost of living. And among Republicans overall, only 29 percent said the economy was better than it had been a year ago. That’s down from 72 percent in January. One American Sabrina spoke to helped bring those numbers to life. “We drank the Kool-Aid, and we were wrong,” she heard from Ryan Wagner, 41, a manager at a home restoration company. Wagner, who lives in northern Michigan, used to support the president faithfully. Now when he hears Trump talk about how food prices have gone down, he said, “my freaking eye is twitching.” He added, “I can’t even listen to him talk anymore.” Folks are just exhausted. Wagner said that he had taken down his American flag and that he considered the Republican Party mostly dead. He told Sabrina he didn’t think he’d vote in this election. There’s no upside to that. Read her story here. Related: Republicans in tight races are distancing themselves from Trump and calling for an end to the Iran war. FREE TO READ A replica of Trump’s proposed arch on the National Mall in June. Alex Kent/The New York Times Strategy: Trump is increasingly using national security as a justification to get what he wants. Is it working? All aboard: Some travel on private jets. Check out these folks who prefer private rail. 🚂 Take the wheel: Our reporter turned his life over to an A.I. agent. How did that go? Tech utopia: A crypto-backed “digital nation” is planning to build a city in Uruguay. See what it looks like now. Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was a video explaining why network TV cameras aren’t following Trump. THE LATEST NEWS United Nations In New York. Angelina Katsanis for The New York Times Trump told the U.N. General Assembly that he had a decision to make on Iran: to strike a deal with the Islamic republic or “annihilate” it. (Read our fact check of his speech.) Before a planned trip to address the U.N., Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel falsely accused New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, of supporting Hamas. He did so after Mamdani once again called Netanyahu a war criminal. Trump signed a security agreement on Greenland that falls far short of his demand to make it a U.S. territory. Another topic weighing on diplomats’ minds this week: Who should be the U.N.’s next leader? Politics Source: U.S. Central Command. Ashley Wu/The New York Times The war with Iran has cost $43.6 billion, according to the Pentagon. Click the chart to explore how that money breaks down. The dispute over Missouri’s congressional map returned to the Supreme Court. The justices have twice blocked the use of a new map for the midterms. Obscure online creators, many outside the United States, are being paid to overwhelm Americans’ social media feeds with political content. Health Lots of people are taking GLP-1s with no medical reason to do so, a study found. Doctors assume that many of them just want to be thinner. The Trump administration has ejected more than 750,000 enrollees from Obamacare insurance marketplaces, claiming many defrauded the government. At least six major hospitals across the country have agreed to stop providing gender-transition treatments to minors in a deal with the Trump administration. Animals C. Loberg Fat Bear Week is back. Meet some of our favorite contenders. A sea turtle laid eggs on the West Coast. It’s the first time that’s known to have happened, and scientists say it’s sign of warming ocean waters. Other Big Stories For the first time, a Black descendant of Thomas Jefferson was buried in the Jefferson family graveyard at Monticello. The actress Hayden Panettiere died from the toxic effects of fentanyl and other drugs, a coroner’s report said. It ruled her death accidental. OPINIONS The New York Tiems Ezra Klein and Jensen Huang, the chief executive of the chip-making company Nvidia, discuss A.I. competition, rogue agents and what it actually means to build intelligent machines. Click the video above to watch their conversation. The president of the Rockefeller Foundation and the YouTuber known as MrBeast make the case for filming charity work. Video “uniquely moves people to act,” they write. The Anniversary Sale ends soon: Morning readers, enjoy our best offer. Don’t miss this opportunity to expand your interests with expert coverage of news, culture, business and more. Save now: $1/week for your first year. TODAY’S NUMBER “Mittwoch aus Licht” at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. Julian Roeder 29 — That is how many hours are in the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen’s seven-opera cycle “Licht,” which got underway on Saturday with a premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. The plot involves an intergalactic camel who drinks champagne. There’s much more, including a string quartet lifted by helicopter. SPORTS N.F.L.: The New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart could miss the rest of the season after a knee injury in Monday’s loss to the Rams. M.L.S.: The Columbus Crew fired its developmental squad head coach after he told a female referee, “Don’t forget, this is a man’s game.” RECIPE OF THE DAY Sarah Anne Ward for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Amy Elise Wilson I wrote this recipe for Chinese roast pork with garlic bread back in 2020, when I really believed you needed to make the pork — the sweet-salty Cantonese barbecued pork known as char siu — yourself. You don’t. You can buy a small container of the meat from the Chinese restaurant that’s on the way home, and then put the sandwiches together for dinner in about 20 minutes flat. It’s a taste of the Catskills, delicious in the extreme. (Read how it came to be.) FORGOTTEN NO MORE “Lake Titicaca” by Alejandro Mario Yllanes. Nic Antaya for The New York Times “Lake Titicaca,” a large 1935 oil-on-burlap of an Andean boatman by the Bolivian painter and engraver Alejandro Mario Yllanes, a protégé of Diego Rivera, will soon be on view at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. It’s a remarkable change of fortune for a painting that, by several accounts, was rescued in the 1970s from a Manhattan dumpster. Read the tale of its rescue and renaissance. More on culture The six-book shortlist of nominees for the Booker Prize was revealed yesterday in London. It’s a stout roster: Marlon James’s “The Disappearers”; Douglas Stuart’s “John of John”; Elizabeth Strout’s “The Things We Never Say”; M. John Harrison’s “The End of Everything”; Luke Kennard’s “Black Bag”; and Rebecca Perry’s “May We Feed the King.” Read about them. It’s The Times’s 175th anniversary. Adam Nagourney, who writes beautifully about the paper’s history, delved into the corrections that have dogged our work over the years. (Sadly, he lays to rest the rumor that we once called the musician Meat Loaf “Mr. Loaf.”) Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” holds the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a 23rd week, surpassing the record set by Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Late night hosts had thoughts about the White House press ban. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Charles Spencer, left, with Diana and Prince Charles in 1985. Keith Butcher/Shutterstock Indulge in Charles Spencer’s memoir about his sister Diana, “the most hunted person of the modern age.” We have a review (the book is “elegant and reproving”) and delicious takeaways: “My husband,” the princess told her brother before her divorce, “is in love with his valet.” Exercise to help lessen lower back pain. (I know. But doing nothing is worse.) Manage the fallen leaves of autumn with the best cordless electric leaf blower tested by the garden gnomes at Wirecutter. Not too early in the morning, please. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was equinox. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. See you tomorrow. — Sam Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren Deputy Editorial Director: Lauren Jackson

🐧 1 fun thing: Penguin acupuncture Photo: New England Aquarium New England Aquarium veterinarians are turning to acupuncture to help out their oldest penguin, Axios Boston's Mike Deehan writes. Pip, a 29-year-old African penguin, has lived about twice as long as his species typically survives in the wild. Staff noticed Pip's limp and altered gait late last year, and feared arthritis-related conditions common in older penguins. After trying pain medication, vets added acupuncture and physical therapy from an outside specialist to Pip's routine.

🗳️ Trump amps up hunt for voter fraud Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images The Trump administration says Americans should prepare between now and Election Day for a wave of new arrests and prosecutions over alleged noncitizen voter fraud, Axios' Brittany Gibson writes. Why it matters: The Trump administration is deploying hundreds of federal investigators and attorneys to pursue President Trump's long-running fixation — and test a broader Republican claim that tougher enforcement will uncover far more illegal voting. A Justice Department official told reporters yesterday that the "initiative is a tier one priority. It's a top priority for the attorney general and for the White House." Across the country, there are now 1,600 open cases of potential voter fraud and 160 people have been arrested, a Homeland Security Investigations official said. To support these investigations, Homeland Security staff have shifted work time from other priorities such as smuggling, trafficking and financial fraud. Reality check: Instances of mistaken registrations and cases of noncitizen voting are rare, but they've long been investigated by the federal government. ps:The only voter fraud is trumps gerrymandering!!!!!

🚕 Uber's robotaxi edge: Human drivers Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios Uber is betting billions on a driverless future, but the secret to making the economics work could be — surprise! — its vast army of human drivers, Axios' Joann Muller writes. Why it matters: Uber believes a hybrid network of robots and people can keep its expensive autonomous vehicles busier, and therefore more profitable, than fleets made up entirely of robotaxis. 💡 How it works: In a hybrid network, AVs would handle the steady "base load" of everyday demand. Human drivers would provide extra capacity during rush hour, bad weather, concerts and other demand spikes. Keep reading ...

⚖️ Poll: Americans say rule of law is declining Data: Charles F. Kettering Foundation and Gallup. Chart: Noah Bressner/Axios Visuals A majority of Americans (56%) say the rule of law in the U.S. is weaker now than a decade ago, when Donald Trump was first elected president, Axios' Margaret Talev writes from a massive new survey of more than 23,000 U.S. adults. 78% of those responding to the survey by Gallup and the Charles F. Kettering Foundation for its Democracy for All Project say government officials must always follow laws and the Constitution. But just 28% trust that political leaders will be held accountable if they don't. Keep reading.

$2B Gaza recovery plan Workers search the rubble of a Gaza City building that collapsed last week. It had been damaged by an Israeli strike earlier in the war. Photo: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters President Trump's Board of Peace will unveil a six-month, $2.45 billion recovery plan for Gaza at a meeting of its members today, Axios' Barak Ravid reports from New York. Why it matters: The 66-project proposal offers one of the most comprehensive roadmaps yet for what the early months of post-war reconstruction and governance in Gaza would look like. The plan includes money for temporary housing, rubble removal, hospital repairs, economic recovery and the deployment of a multinational security force, according to a copy obtained by Axios. The plan estimates physical damage in Gaza at $35.2 billion and says full recovery and reconstruction will require about $71.4 billion over the next decade. A Board of Peace official said that "the plan shows how to stand up a government from nothing, an economy from shambles and a territory from disaster." 🥊 Reality check: For the plan to work, the Board of Peace needs Israel and Hamas to cooperate. While Bibi's government agreed in principle to aspects of the plan that were previously discussed, Israel refused to start implementing it, mainly for domestic political reasons ahead of next month's elections. And while Hamas has agreed in principle to disarm, that pledge hasn't been tested. More on the plan.

New AI models tout affordability Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios Cheaper, more powerful AI models could pave the way for top labs to safely slow development without going broke, Axios' Madison Mills writes. Why it matters: OpenAI, Anthropic and other labs have said they want to slow the pace of development. But as long as frontier models require ever-larger spending, the pressure to keep racing may be too strong to resist. 🖼️ The big picture: The health of the entire U.S. economy now rests in part on the AI boom. Yet the companies at the center of the race are burning far more cash than they take in, and will for the foreseeable future. To enable a slowdown, in a financial sense, the companies have to find a way to build a value proposition to users that isn't solely rooted in the most mind-blowing intelligence imaginable. 🔬 Zoom in: This week brought a spate of new models. One thing they all have in common is that they're cheaper than ever, without forgoing top intelligence. OpenAI, Anthropic and SpaceX all emphasized the relatively low costs of their new models, as well as their ability to outperform some of their own top systems from only a few months ago. Keep reading ...

The "All-In"-ization of Trump Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images President Trump's accelerationist AI doctrine increasingly bears the stamp of the "All-In" podcasters, whose tech-investor network now feeds ideas and talent directly into the White House, Axios' Zachary Basu writes. Why it matters: An unlikely marriage of convenience between MAGA and Silicon Valley has proved remarkably durable, deepening as Trump sheds support elsewhere and stakes more of his legacy on dominating the AI race. The big picture: "All-In," now including lucrative events and luxe tequila, is a smash hit that grew out of four hyperconnected tech entrepreneurs kibitzing on air during COVID, when they could no longer gather for their weekly poker game. The co-hosts, who call themselves "The Besties," are Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg. None of them has done more to bridge the two worlds than David Sacks, who spent Trump's first year as his AI czar and remains a powerful outside adviser with direct access to the president. Sacks helped build Trump's original AI agenda around a simple premise: Move fast, sweep away regulatory barriers and treat China — not catastrophic risk — as the overriding threat. 🔭 Zoom out: Sacks left the White House but not Trump's inner circle, shaping AI policy as co-chair of the Trump-created President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The broader "All-In" network is embedding itself deeper across Trumpworld: David Friedberg also serves on the science council, alongside investor Marc Andreessen, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other tech leaders. Chamath Palihapitiya, another co-host and prominent Trump booster, is among the names being floated for the new AI czar job Trump announced last weekend. The intrigue: The show routinely defends Trump. Jason Calacanis, the moderator, is the political outlier — frequently criticizing Trump on Iran and inflation, while otherwise aligning with his co-hosts on the revolutionary nature of AI. 👓 Between the lines: Few platforms better capture the zeitgeist of AI accelerationism than "All-In," where the movement's leading investors, executives and political allies increasingly converge. After former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon's safety warnings exploded across Washington, the hosts devoted much of their next episode to portraying the backlash as an orchestrated "doomer" campaign. Three days later, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang paused his live "All-In" Summit interview to take a call from Trump, who drew a raucous reception as he dismissed AI catastrophe fears as a "hoax." 👀 What to watch: "All-In" and the accelerationist wing of Silicon Valley are tying themselves unusually tightly to one president and one governing philosophy. Sacks has blessed a $100 million-plus midterm operation built to advance Trump's AI agenda and punish candidates who favor tougher regulation. Inside AI labs, that political fusion is feeding a deeper fear: that warnings about catastrophic risk will become coded as anti-Trump politics, turning AI safety into yet another partisan litmus test.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 23 1875 Billy the Kid arrested for first time Billy the Kid is arrested for the first time after stealing a basket of laundry. He later broke out of jail and roamed the American West, eventually earning a reputation as an outlaw and murderer. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT American Revolution 1779 John Paul Jones wins in English waters Arts & Entertainment 1969 “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” premieres in New York 1923 “The Prophet,” by Lebanese-American poet-philosopher Kahlil Gibran, is published Cold War 1949 President Truman announces Soviets have exploded a nuclear device Crime 1981 A two-month manhunt for a murdering writer comes to an end Exploration 1806 Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis Inventions & Science 1933 Standard Oil geologists arrive in Saudi Arabia 1846 Planet Neptune is discovered Sports 1992 Canadian woman breaks pro sports barrier U.S. Presidents 1944 FDR defends his dog in a speech

Meet the Fire Amoeba Scientists have discovered an amoeba capable of living in extreme heat, once thought inhospitable to complex life, according to a study published yesterday. The single-celled organism, dubbed the “fire amoeba,” was discovered in a geothermal spring at California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park. Researchers observed the amoeba continuing to replicate in cultures heated to 145 degrees Fahrenheit—five degrees hotter than scientists had previously seen complex life tolerate. The amoeba withstood temperatures up to 158 degrees by changing shape and forming a protective layer. These adaptations are shared with simpler life-forms that lack a membrane-bound nucleus and can survive at temperatures up to nearly 252 degrees. See a side-by-side illustration of complex and simple life here. The fire amoeba could offer clues for developing heat-resilient crops and drugs, and scientists believe some complex life-forms may survive at even higher temperatures.

A knock at the door, then gunshots: Mass shooting at a house party in South Africa kills 11 CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Three gunmen barged into a small house in an impoverished neighborhood in South Africa and opened fire on a group enjoying a party inside, killing at least 11 people including a pregnant woman, police and local authorities said Wednesday. https://apnews.com/article/south-africa-house-party-shooting-91416626e0cf789bf2f801061bb8b46a?

Venus flytraps can only be found in North and South Carolina, and they don’t grow anywhere else in the world. They’re natively found in a 100-mile radius around Wilmington. James

Trump-backed Missouri congressional map returns to the Supreme Court for the third time WASHINGTON (AP) — The fight over Missouri’s congressional map returned to the U.S. Supreme Court for a third time late Tuesday, after an appeals court ordered the revival of new districts backed by President Donald Trump. https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-missouri-redistricting-congressional-map-4359373974681c4170a6a4410ffd019d? ps:Pathetic!!!!!

Parting shot: Pelican pose Photo: Gregory Bull/AP Yogis stretch at sunset as pelicans fly overhead at Sunset Cliffs in San Diego.

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This is interesting research as many friends and family and others have issues with memory, including dementia, Alzheimer's and or runs in the ancestry . Foods and eating patterns that research has linked to memory decline A plain-language summary of peer-reviewed studies on diet and forgetfulness: which dietary patterns have been associated with poorer memory performance, what the proposed biological mechanisms are, and where the scientific consensus currently stands. Section 1 Eight dietary patterns associated with poorer memory Each item below summarizes what a specific study found, the type of evidence, and its limits. "Associated with" means the study observed a statistical relationship; it does not establish that the food causes memory loss in any individual. Ultra-processed foods were associated with faster global and executive cognitive decline in a cohort of 10,000+ adults. Ultra-processed foods In the ELSA-Brasil cohort (10,775 adults followed for ~8 years), participants whose calories came ≥20% from ultra-processed foods showed a 28% faster rate of global cognitive decline and 25% faster executive-function decline than those who ate the least. Trans fats and diets high in saturated fat have been linked to poorer word memory and higher Alzheimer's risk in observational studies [2][3]. Trans fats Among 1,018 adults, higher dietary trans-fat intake was associated with worse performance on a word-recall memory test; each gram per day of trans fat was linked to roughly 0.76 fewer words recalled, after adjustment for age, education and mood. Saturated fat–heavy diets In the Chicago Health and Aging Project (815 older adults), higher intake of saturated and trans-unsaturated fats was associated with an increased risk of incident Alzheimer's disease, while unsaturated fats were not. High-glycemic, sugar-heavy diets were associated with a higher risk of mild cognitive impairment in older adults [4]. High-carbohydrate, high-sugar diets Among 937 older adults in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, those with the highest carbohydrate intake had a higher risk of developing mild cognitive impairment over ~4 years; those with the highest sugar intake also showed elevated risk. Artificially sweetened drinks In the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort, daily consumption of artificially sweetened soft drinks was associated with a higher risk of stroke and dementia over 10 years. Sugary drinks were not significantly associated in the same analysis, and the authors called for further study. High-salt diets In mice, a high-salt diet reduced blood flow to the brain and impaired memory through an immune signalling pathway that begins in the gut. The effect reversed when salt intake returned to normal. This is animal evidence and has not been confirmed in humans. Fried and high-heat processed foods (AGEs) Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) form when foods are fried, grilled or roasted at high heat. In mice, a diet rich in AGEs led to brain changes resembling those in Alzheimer's disease; in a small human cohort, higher circulating AGEs were associated with cognitive decline. Alcohol, including moderate intake In the Whitehall II study (550 adults, 30-year follow-up), even moderate alcohol consumption (14–21 UK units per week) was associated with a higher risk of hippocampal atrophy, a brain change linked to memory, compared with abstinence. Section 2 How diet may influence memory: proposed mechanisms Researchers have proposed several biological pathways. Most were characterized in animal or laboratory studies; the degree to which each operates in people is still being investigated. Reduced BDNF in the hippocampus Brain-derived neurotrophic factor supports learning and synaptic plasticity. Rats fed a diet high in refined sugar and saturated fat for two months showed lower hippocampal BDNF and impaired spatial learning [1]. Insulin resistance and glucose handling Diets that repeatedly raise blood glucose may impair insulin signalling, which the brain uses for memory formation. This is one proposed explanation for the association between high-glycemic intake and mild cognitive impairment [4][11]. Inflammation and oxidative stress Reviews of animal and human data suggest that diets high in saturated fat and sugar increase inflammatory markers and oxidative stress in brain regions involved in memory [11]. Vascular effects and the gut–brain axis High salt intake in mice reduced cerebral blood flow via a gut-initiated immune response; ultra-processed diets and alcohol have also been linked to vascular changes that affect the brain [5][7][9]. Reading the evidence responsibly. Observational studies can be affected by confounding: people who eat more ultra-processed food may also differ in income, education, exercise or sleep. Good studies adjust for these factors, but residual confounding can remain. Randomized dietary trials on cognition are still few and mostly short. Memory changes have many causes. Forgetfulness can relate to sleep, stress, medications, hearing loss, thyroid or vitamin B12 status, depression, and normal aging. Diet is one factor among many. Persistent or worsening memory problems should be discussed with a qualified clinician. Section 3 Where the scientific consensus currently stands Major health bodies do not endorse any single food as a cure or cause of memory loss. The strongest agreement concerns overall dietary patterns. Mediterranean and MIND patterns In the Rush Memory and Aging Project (923 older adults), closer adherence to the MIND diet, which emphasizes vegetables, berries, nuts, olive oil, whole grains and fish while limiting red meat, butter, sweets and fried food, was associated with a lower incidence of Alzheimer's disease [10]. Human · prospective Whole-diet patterns in other populations In the Hisayama Study in Japan (1,006 adults, 15-year follow-up), a dietary pattern high in soybeans, vegetables, seaweed and dairy and low in rice was associated with reduced dementia risk, supporting the idea that overall pattern matters more than any single item [12]. Human · prospective What is not established No individual food, supplement or "superfood" has been shown in rigorous trials to prevent or reverse memory loss. Claims that a single ingredient causes or cures dementia are not supported by current evidence. Modifiable risk factors identified by the 2020 Lancet Commission include education, hypertension, hearing loss, smoking, obesity, depression, inactivity, diabetes, alcohol, head injury, air pollution and social isolation.

📢 Republicans find their voice Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Congressional Republicans are increasingly breaking with an unpopular president on foreign policy and pocketbook issues as they try to stop their majorities from slipping away. Why it matters: They aren't engaged in a full-scale revolt against Trump, but some Republicans are testing new ways to distance themselves from him — a sign of their election anxiety. 🚗 Driving the news: Trump — facing a barrage of demands from Republican lawmakers to impose a ban on diesel exports — pulled a rare about-face today, saying on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York that he'll support a ban. ⛽️ Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), along with Iowa GOP Reps. Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, were among those calling for a ban to ease skyrocketing diesel costs for U.S. farmers and truckers. 🗳️ Sullivan and Hinson are in tight Senate races. Just today: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) railed on the Senate floor at Trump's decision to host Chinese President Xi Jinping this week for a state dinner. Wicker urged Trump to "keep in mind that his guest is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly" at the U.S. Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) called for the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. over his foreign business dealings and the hundreds of thousands of dollars he allegedly received from a Russian oligarch for his wedding. "If your family's involved in the [presidency], then you ought to be very transparent," Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), a close Trump ally, told us last week when asked about the reporting on Trump Jr.'s wedding. 🪖 On Iran: The Senate is expected to vote this week on a war powers resolution. Leadership can't guarantee it won't get the Republican votes needed to pass. "We're constantly, of course, checking," Senate Majority Leader John Thune said. "But I would hope that, you know, the team could hang together on this." The House passed a war powers resolution last week in a rebuke to Trump's military campaign against Tehran — with the most Republican support yet. Both Hinson and Michigan's Republican Senate candidate, former Rep. Mike Rogers, have called for the war to end. On the trail: Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) told Trump his immigration crackdown has gone too far in a new campaign ad shot in front of the White House. 🔥 "I think she's saying what a lot of my constituents are thinking," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who lost his primary in May amid opposition from Trump, told us. In Iowa, Hinson recently skipped a rally put on by Vice President Vance. And Florida's GOP gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), deleted at least eight mentions of Trump from his campaign website, the Miami Herald reported. The bottom line: Trump's approval ratings have hit record lows at the worst possible time for Republicans — and that's reflected in lawmakers' willingness to publicly challenge him. "Members are generally reflecting their base. If they really feel that way, they should say so," retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters today of the GOP opposition to the Iran war. "And the administration should let these people be whoever they are to win the race." — Stef W. Kight

630-Million-Strong World Evangelical Alliance Embraces Rome’s “Creation Sunday” to Protect Our Common Home The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is the world’s largest international network of evangelical Christians, with the stated mission of strengthening and uniting Evangelical Protestants worldwide. Through its national and regional alliances, churches, denominations, and affiliated organizations, the WEA says it represents more than 630 million evangelical Christians globally. [1] In a significant development, the WEA has now officially embraced, for the first time, the Season of Creation liturgy into its Revised Common Lectionary and is promoting “Creation Sunday” as part of its growing environmental emphasis throughout its vast global network. The World Evangelical Alliance Sustainability Center published the following: • “The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) gladly joins with other Christians across traditions in observing the Season of Creation (September 1–October 4), a global time of prayer and action for God’s gift of creation and our common home.” [2] • “This year also marks an important new chapter. For the first time, the Feast of Creation in Christ has been formally included in the Revised Common Lectionary, with its first observance on Sunday, September 6, 2026. The World Evangelical Alliance supported the global effort that helped establish this celebration and is participating in the development of Creation Sunday resources for evangelical and other Free Church traditions.” [2] • “For evangelicals, caring for creation is not optional but central to discipleship. Through the WEA Sustainability Center and Lausanne/WEA Creation Care Network (LWCCN), we encourage churches and evangelicals worldwide to integrate creation care into worship, teaching, prayer, service, sustainable practices, and advocacy for environmental justice, especially for the most vulnerable. During this Season of Creation, we invite our global fellowship of 600 million believers to enter more deeply into God’s vision of renewal—bearing witness to the Gospel through faithful care for our common home.” [2] https://wea-sc.org/season-of-creation-2026?fbclid=IwY2xjawUf78BwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMW9ONUljWGdObUJZY1o5VWpzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeixyMyVBhCfZAzHaNoR24T-FH84umNivSXITInpQo4TTCN5t5ceWCfxPIdTY_aem_K3TAT-n5LMFFu5JnpwysAQ It is the Vatican who is responsible for advancing themes such as care for our common home, ecological conversion, and creation-centred spirituality, particularly through Laudato Si’. These ideas are increasingly appearing in ecumenical initiatives such as the Season of Creation and “Creation Sunday,” bringing Catholics, Protestants, and evangelicals together around environmental action and Sunday worship. Protestantism used to uphold the Bible and used to maintain a sharper separation from Roman Catholic liturgical traditions. Today, unfortunately, they are daily embracing Rome’s errors and are increasingly participating in their mission. What is especially concerning from this new climate gospel is the incorporation of climate action with Sunday worship and calling it “Creation Sunday.” Rome hasn’t changed. It is engaging in the same pattern associated with the “man of sin”—the presumption of altering divine authority, shifting attention from God’s commandments to human traditions, and redirecting the gospel’s emphasis to a new climate agenda. What Scripture presents as repentance from sin, salvation through Christ, obedience to God, and preparation for His return is being replaced with a new morality called ecological conversion, environmental sins, and a religious mission centered on saving the planet. Sources [1] https://worldea.org/weas-180-year-anniversary-message/ [2] https://wea-sc.org/season-of-creation-2026

The Affordability Trap View in browser Of all the outrages and betrayals that Donald Trump has had perpetrated against him—by ungrateful subordinates, by obstreperous prosecutors, by treacherous journalists—perhaps his saddest falling-out is with a simple word. “Starting on day one, we will defeat inflation quickly, and we will make America affordable again,” he declared in an ad during his 2024 presidential campaign. A year later, Trump confessed to still having some affinity for the word. Speaking at a summit hosted by McDonald’s, the president promised imminent prosperity: “That begins with making America, we have to do—the word is affordable—and affordable should be our word, not theirs.” These days, the word itself is, like all of Trump’s enemies, the frequent target of invective. The president describes the concept of affordability as, variously, a Democratic “con job,” as “a new word—nobody ever heard the word,” and, most damningly of all, as “fake.” The reasons for this lexical animosity are clear. The word that the president once wielded with great effect against Democrats in 2024 is now being used against him with seemingly equal effect by his opponents. Affordability is the Democrats’ unifying theme, which, despite them lacking coherence on almost every other issue, may be enough to carry them to victory in the November midterm elections. (Nate Silver estimates that in the generic congressional ballot, Democrats are leading by a crushing 7.5 percentage points.) And no wonder. Inflation remains high; gas prices, which Trump promised in 2024 would settle below $2 a gallon, are now above $4 thanks to the president’s war with Iran; mortgage rates, which Trump said would drop to 2 percent, are instead near 7 percent. But Democrats shouldn’t expect to hang on to their advantage here; far more likely, the inversion will recur. You can imagine America settling into a persistent politics of affordability, in which the arguments are always the same but the positions of accuser and accused are swapped depending on who holds power. Democrats are, for example, pledging that if they win the midterm elections, they will crusade for lower costs “of groceries, of housing, of childcare and elder care.” Perhaps such competition would be salutary; more likely, it would be Sisyphean—an unending cycle of accusation, disappointment, and recrimination. There are three reasons for pessimism. The first is that affordability politics are a breeding ground for economically illiterate policy ideas. Popular anger over inflation is usually directed at cumulative price increases over the course of years. But literally decreasing prices is exceptionally hard to accomplish, even if that is what voters want. In this heady environment, discredited ideas such as price controls and even the direct provision of goods—as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is attempting with government-run grocery stores—make their resurgence. Affordability politics also encourages unvarnished attempts at bribing voters, as Trump attempted with his pledge to give $5,000 to every American adult should Republicans keep control of Congress. (This is both a subpar reason to add another $1.3 trillion to America’s $40 trillion in national debt and a very good way to exacerbate inflation.) The second problem of affordability politics is what these proposed solutions do to what little remains of voter trust in government. Every election cycle, politicians make promises for widespread price relief, package them into neat advertisements, and relay these to voters a mind-numbing number of times, only for these promises to go undelivered—because they were unworkable from the start. This may not inspire apathy among voters so much as anger and irritability. It also encourages anti-incumbency of the kind that explains why Americans have, in every presidential election since 2016, opted for the challenging party’s candidate. The third problem is the cumulative cost of short-termist affordability politics. Neither party in this election cycle is making much reference to the national debt, even though the United States has surpassed, for the first time ever, $1 trillion in interest costs this year. Deficit spending shows no sign of slowing down, even though the American economy is not in recession and the country is only mildly at war. But there is no political incentive to suggest that such spending cannot persist. Instead, Democrats traditionally propose new social expenditures and subsidies, whereas Republicans propose general tax cuts. The new approach, favored by populists, is to offer both: Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for the Senate race in Michigan, has pitched “a cost-of-living exemption on federal taxes up to $50,000” while also establishing Medicare for All and universal child care—to be paid for by the rich. Ashley Hinson, the Republican nominee for the Senate race in Iowa, is pitching more government support for house purchases, child care, and rural hospitals while cutting taxes. Why begrudge the entire enterprise of affordability politicking? Isn’t the job of elected officials ostensibly to improve the lives of their constituents? Yes, indeed. And it is of course still possible to durably decrease prices with good governmental policy: You can, for example, slowly reduce the cost of housing by reducing restrictions on building, or reduce health costs by expanding the supply of doctors. This requires some forbearance and sophistication on the part of the politician—and, unfortunately, both qualities are negatively selected against in the current political-attention economy. It is better to make headlines with snappier pledges to freeze the rent or nationalize the health system. You can safely assume that at the conclusion of the midterms, the 2028 presidential election will begin in earnest and affordability will be one of its bywords. You can also dread the litany of bad ideas it will spawn. Related: The “consumer socialism” trap Marc Novicoff: Gas prices could cost Republicans the midterms.

🍂 1 for the road: Happy equinox Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios Astronomical fall begins at 8:05 p.m. ET tonight, when the Sun will shine directly over Earth's equator. Afterward, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, days will get even shorter until December's winter solstice. NASA explainer.

AI's next frontier: Cheaper power Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios AI companies have competed on having the best and often most dangerous models for years. Now they're pivoting to a new focus: cost, Axios' Madison Mills reports. 🎉 Driving the news: It's modelpalooza in the AI world this week, with new releases from OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX and some Chinese providers. Most of them are offering shocking levels of intelligence at prices that would've been unthinkable just a few months ago. Top companies are finding a variety of ways to make powerful systems more efficient — for example, by using smaller portions of a model for some answers. Zoom in: OpenAI is releasing GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna today, which bring down the cost for top business customers by 50% from previous iterations. Anthropic is releasing Opus 5.5 today, which the company says costs around 40% less to run than Opus 5 while maintaining top intelligence. Elon Musk's xAI yesterday released Grok 4.7, pitching the new model around price-performance. Yet in a testament to the sheer brutality of competition in the AI race, it only took 24 hours for new options to wipe out much of that price advantage. Follow the money: A recent Citadel Securities report found that falling costs are fueling more use, and that overall AI spending is increasing. That points to higher eventual profits for AI labs and related companies. The bottom line: AI sticker shock feels like a distant memory, given the massive push to deliver cheaper models. Go deeper.

Judge strikes down a Trump policy barring some immigrants from Head Start preschools A federal judge in Rhode Island has struck down a Trump administration directive that would have barred some immigrants from accessing certain federal programs, including Head Start preschools, community health clinics and adult education initiatives. Read More. Trump signs US-Denmark-Greenland agreement to bolster Arctic security after prolonged tensions President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an agreement with Denmark and Greenland aimed at strengthening Arctic and North Atlantic security, paving the way for more U.S. bases in Greenland and easing tensions over his repeated calls for the vast island to become part of the United States. Read More. Trump signs US-Denmark-Greenland agreement to bolster Arctic security after prolonged tensions UNITED NATIONS (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an agreement with Denmark and Greenland aimed at strengthening Arctic and North Atlantic security, paving the way for more U.S. bases in Greenland and easing tensions over his repeated calls for the vast island to become part of the United States. https://apnews.com/article/trump-greenland-denmark-security-agreement-084ac2a82952c2dff403c48bd3564113?

Hayden Panettiere died from an overdose involving fentanyl. She had just gone to rehab, coroner says GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Actor Hayden Panettiere died from an accidental overdose of several drugs, including fentanyl, and had been in rehab just weeks before, according to a coroner’s report obtained by The Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/hayden-panettiere-cause-of-death-drugs-fentanyl-229349e2bb6e19d985372d8524b09fc8?