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CNN, MS NOW, Politico sue over denied White House access, citing First Amendment NEW YORK (AP) — CNN, MS NOW and Politico on Monday sued President Donald Trump’s administration days after they were barred from White House grounds, calling the selective ban — based on the content of their coverage — illegal and a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment. Trump said in a post that he ”cherished” a free press but not “FAKE NEWS.” https://apnews.com/article/trump-ban-ms-now-media-cnn-politico-72f9acf68244ca70e9078d9d3661c722?

September 21, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. It’s Yom Kippur. If you’re observing, I hope you have an easy fast. Here are some ways American Jews are finding meaning in their observance this year. There’s a great deal of news below. But first, you had questions about the midterm elections. We took them to our colleagues. Chase Castor for The New York Times, Saul Martinez for The New York Times, Julia Demaree Nikhinson/Associated Press, Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times Your politics questions By Adam B. Kushner I edit this newsletter. The primaries are over and the midterms are 43 days away. The final story lines have begun to take shape. The polls look grim for Republicans, and the party out of power generally fares well in midterms. Inflation, the Iran war and low approval ratings stalk President Trump. Republicans are playing defense in what would normally be safe races. Even the MAGA faithful in Congress are distancing themselves from the president. (Read these dispatches from Iowa and Florida about G.O.P. members there who’ve had enough.) But the Democrats would need an extraordinary run of victories to retake the Senate — including “at least two seats where Mr. Trump won by at least 11 points in the last election,” as Nate Cohn, our chief political analyst, put it. “That’s really tough, even in a wave year.” Meanwhile, Democrats may get control of the House, but fewer districts than ever are competitive. Today we’re answering your questions about the election and looking at the pickle in Missouri. Your questions Trump said every American will get $5,000 if Republicans sweep in the midterms. He’s offering a big check in exchange for my vote. Is that legal? — Jane Bergwin-Rand | College Park, Maryland Federal law prohibits paying individuals to vote or not vote. But because this (very) hypothetical $5,000 check would ostensibly go to every American adult, experts said it did not seem too different from a candidate’s promise to cut taxes. The U.S. Supreme Court also ruled in 1982 that such payments generally constitute protected political speech “so long as the hoped-for personal benefit is to be achieved through the normal processes of government, and not through some private arrangement.” — Bayliss Wagner, who covers politics Does donating to candidates really make a difference in the outcome? In the Florida Senate primary, Angie Nixon beat Alex Vindman even though he’d out-raised her 16-to-1. What kind of spending really moves the needle for a candidate? — Nancy Moeller | Roswell, Georgia History is full of examples of candidates being badly outspent and still winning. Just look at 2024, when former Vice President Kamala Harris spent roughly twice as much as President Donald Trump — and still lost. One way to think about money in campaigns is that while a sizable war chest is necessary to win, it’s not always sufficient. A campaign does not need to match the other side’s spending to win. It just needs enough money for viability (paying staff members and traveling to events) and getting out the message in ads. — Lisa Lerer, who has covered four previous midterm elections Not all that long ago, QAnon seemed so influential. Now I hear little about the group. Is it still active? What is it up to? Who are its leaders and adherents? — Glenn Steckler | Telluride, Colorado The QAnon movement is dead. But its conspiratorial approach to politics lives on. The movement’s figurehead, known only as Q, stopped posting, and much of his movement has been absorbed by the Republican Party, according to experts. Some of Q’s supporters stopped discussing the arrest of Democrats and pedophiles and now speak about the MAGA movement. Many QAnon followers became active in the anti-vaccine communities. Claims about sex trafficking morphed into a focus on transgender Americans and Jeffrey Epstein. Trump’s administration winks and nods at QAnon on social media. — Stuart Thompson, who covers online influence Missouri’s new map Source: Associated Press (election results). Leanne Abraham/The New York Times It’s a chaotic cycle all around: The Supreme Court has already rejected the administration’s plan to restrict certain mail-in ballots, and several states are dealing with new congressional maps. One of them is Missouri, which redrew its boundaries last year at Trump’s urging and had voters pick congressional nominees based on the new lines. Then the state’s Supreme Court said the new map was void unless Missouri residents voted for it in a referendum. (They have not.) So although they nominated their representatives to Washington on one map, they’re set to elect them on another. My colleague Mitch Smith reported this colorful story from Columbia and Jefferson City about all the confusion. More on the elections Tucker Carlson is promoting Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan. The cryptocurrency industry is mounting an aggressive ad campaign against Sherrod Brown, the Democrats’ Senate candidate in Ohio. A surprising number of pastors are running as Democrats this year. Can the party reclaim the Christian moral high ground? South Dakota’s Republican secretary of state, who oversees elections, backed a Democrat to replace her. Who’s winning? Here’s how we’re assessing the state of play. FREE TO READ Near Richardson, Texas. Jordan Vonderhaar for The New York Times Drone invasion: Residents of a Dallas suburb can get Amazon packages in as little as 30 minutes. Some say it’s not worth it. Champagne, caviar, Sinatra: The Iranian Embassy in Washington was once known for glamorous parties. Could it ever reopen? Metropolitan diary: A tight spot. Holy infestation, Batman!: Bats have taken over a 19th-century estate that served as Wayne Manor in “Batman Begins.” Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about a mother’s decision to send her child to a low-performing public school — and what happened next. THE LATEST NEWS Trump Administration Models of Trump’s arch from last year. Doug Mills/The New York Times Trump said his triumphal arch would house drones and snipers, as the administration seemed prepared to justify building it on national security grounds. Times exclusive: Trump said the United States would not join Saudi Arabia, for now, in strikes against the Houthis, the Iran-backed militia in Yemen. The administration is drafting an executive order to allow Trump greater control over government grants for biomedical research. Immigration An ICE agent shot and wounded a Venezuelan immigrant during a pursuit in Austin. It’s the latest incident involving federal agents and people in cars. Sikh truckers are on edge after one driver was ambushed and repeatedly stabbed at a Wyoming rest stop. Around the World Germany’s far-right AfD did well in more state elections, coming in first in a small eastern state and third in Berlin. An exchange of gunfire injured a police officer outside a synagogue near Ontario, Canada, as congregants gathered to mark Yom Kippur. An Israeli man was shot and killed in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli authorities said they had detained a Palestinian suspect. For decades, Mexico City has dumped waste in a reservoir known as the Endhó Dam. In the video below, our reporter Emiliano Rodríguez Mega describes what it’s like to live near a place that locals call the world’s largest cesspool. Click to watch. The New York Times Other Big Stories Patrick Clancy said he dreams about his children “all the time” in his first interview since his ex-wife Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial ended in a mistrial. Times exclusive: “Hacker house” mansions can be a place for young tech workers to make connections. One of the most prominent has also racked up an extensive police record. OPINIONS Times Opinion asked seven people, including Senator Bernie Sanders, Susan Rice, a former national security adviser, and Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter, about what role the government should take in A.I. regulation. Political neutrality for celebrities is a misguided notion, Roxane Gay writes: Just look at the way Macklemore got dropped from Ed Sheeran’s tour. Introducing the Shows tab. A new place to find and follow podcasts in audio and video. Explore Shows in The Times app. TODAY’S NUMBER 30,000 — That is how many square feet for amenities developers put into an office-to-residential conversion in the Financial District of Manhattan, including a “creator’s room” for making art, a cafe, a co-working space, a bowling alley and a lab where you can analyze your golf swing. They have their reasons. SPORTS W.N.B.A.: The Minnesota Lynx phenom Olivia Miles passed Caitlin Clark on the league’s list for most points scored in a rookie season. M.L.B.: Duane Kuiper, whose smooth voice and wit have been hallmarks of San Francisco Giants broadcasts for more than four decades, is being treated for throat cancer. RECIPE OF THE DAY Nico Schinco for The New York Times My daughter came home with a 44-ounce box of dates from Costco, and it’s going to be a week of date shakes and studded bran muffins for us. I’ll also use a bunch for this marvelous recipe for brown-butter dates with ras el hanout that Ligaya Mishan prized from the chef Michael Rafidi at Albi in Washington, D.C., a perfect accompaniment for roast lamb and couscous. Date night! WHO’S THE CLOWN? Audrey Hobert Caroline Tompkins for The New York Times Is Audrey Hobert the most honest voice in pop music right now? That’s the question Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli take up with the singer-songwriter on the latest edition of “Popcast,” The Times’s pop culture show. Hobert has a theory about why she seems so forthcoming: “The nature of this job is such that it’s rooted in an obsession with yourself,” she told them. “It’s the most self-obsessed job I’ve ever had.” More on culture The writer Emily St. John Mandel has a novel out this month, “Exit Party,” set in a near-future Los Angeles after a civil war breaks up the United States. (Our critic loved it.) T Magazine asked a former forensic artist for the New York Police Department to sketch the book’s protagonist, based on a description from the author. Meet Ari. Do you want to know the 10 things the actor Rob Lowe can’t live without? I do. “The Social Network” ushered in a stream of tech founder movies. This fall, the genre took a dark turn that reflects rising anger toward tech companies. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Matt Chase Take a “novelty audit” and it might help you stop buying new stuff. Read “County Highway,” a periodical that its founders, the writer-editors David Samuels and Walter Kirn, call “America’s Only Newspaper.” It takes a subscription — but then the paper comes in the mail every two months, tactile and dense and filled with interesting sentences, and brings joy. Keep your feet dry with the best rain boots tested by the pluviophiles at Wirecutter. (Xtratuf 4 eva.) Test yourself on this quiz. The Times is celebrating its 175th birthday. How much do you know about our history? Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were athletic and ethical. 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

THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 21 1780 Benedict Arnold commits treason Arnold became synonymous with the word 'traitor.' read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT Arts & Entertainment 1985 George Clooney makes “Facts of Life” debut Asian History 1949 Mao Zedong outlines the new Chinese government Crime 1983 A 13-year-old newspaper delivery boy is found dead European History 1792 Monarchy abolished in France Landmarks 1915 Stonehenge is sold at auction LGBTQ+ History 1955 The Daughters of Bilitis become the first lesbian rights group in the U.S. Native American History 1904 The great Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph dies in Washington Natural Disasters & Environment 1999 Earthquake kills thousands in Taiwan 1938 The Great New England Hurricane Sports 2008 Last baseball game played at historic Yankee Stadium U.S. Presidents 1939 FDR urges repeal of Neutrality Act embargo provisions World War II 1942 The Superfortress bomber takes flight

🏛️ 1 ancient thing: All roads lead to ... A street in Ostia, the ancient seaport of Rome. Photo: Tom Brughmans via Reuters The Roman Empire's roads formed the backbone of the world's first continental-scale transportation system. Now, researchers have mapped the network — 190,000 miles of routes crisscrossing Europe, the Middle East and North Africa — in unprecedented detail. Many modern highways trace these ancient roads. 🕌 The study showed the old adage "all roads lead to Rome" was not exactly true. The empire's later imperial capital, Constantinople — now Istanbul — was a better fit for that maxim. Go deeper.

👀 Top names for AI czar Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Alex Grimm/Getty Images President Trump's announcement this weekend that he's forming an "AI Force," modeled on the Space Force he launched in his first term, caught advisers by surprise, Axios' Maria Curi reports. Officials and executives inside and outside the administration are now jockeying to be Trump's AI czar, which he said he'll name soon. The czar will likely be a seasoned surrogate with Silicon Valley ties who can spearhead an AI rebranding effort, sources tell us. 🦾 Among the names to watch: Scott Kupor, director of the Office of Personnel Management. Kupor has a degree in public policy and was Andreessen Horowitz's first employee. Sriram Krishnan, former senior White House AI policy adviser. Krishnan also worked at a16z and carried the torch for former AI czar David Sacks inside the White House after he left. Chamath Palihapitiya, Social Capital founder, CEO of 8090 and co-host of the All-In Podcast with Sacks and others. Sean Cairncross, White House national cyber director. Cairncross played a role in the administration's handling of the release of Anthropic's Mythos. Emil Michael, Pentagon CTO and under secretary for research and engineering. If the AI Force is housed in the Pentagon, Michael, who's also a former Uber executive, would be an easy fit. Keep reading.

Trump's future foretold President Trump feels and acts invincible: He acts on whims, however he pleases, precedent and restraints be damned, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column. But Trump's vincibility is being exposed. Courts restrain him more. GOP candidates criticize him more. The public turns on him more. Why it matters: Time, power and support wane for all lame-duck presidents. But it's new for Trump and will only grow more true and more torturous, assuming Democrats win Capitol power in the midterms, 43 days from now. This is what the beginning of the end looks like, which is what scares Trump advisers and confidants most. Trump often retreats to his worst impulses when he feels most powerless. That helps explain Trump's decision to ban three news organizations from the White House for the sin of reporting what he doesn't like. Trump lashed out at the outlets (which vow court challenges) after a weeklong string of losses: The Fed raised interest rates against his will ... The Supreme Court rejected his plan to restrict mail-in ballots ... A federal judge blocked him from putting his name on the Kennedy Center ... A Florida Republican, Rep. María Elvira Salazar, bought a campaign ad saying ICE has gone too far and Hispanic voters "feel betrayed" ... A gallon of gas was up $1.24 from a year ago ... Diesel set a record. 🧠 How Trump's brain works: The skeleton key for unlocking Trump's mind is understanding that he thinks constantly about exercising power, and believes power is a zero-sum game — a winner and a loser. Exercising power is the explanation for banning the media, for unpopular tariffs, for bombing Iran, for demolishing the East Wing, for obsessing about a new ballroom and gilding D.C. Trump announced at 7:30 a.m. yesterday that he wants his planned golden arch to have G.I. Joe-style capabilities "to house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage." There's a method to it all: If the Arc de Trump is for national security, the courts and Congress will have a tougher time reining in the executive. Later yesterday morning, the president of the United States decided to engagement-farm on Truth Social by boosting a poll asking whether people think AI should be rebranded as either "Superior Intelligence" or "Extreme Intelligence." (You know he's gonna pick "superior," which of course will do nothing to calm Americans creeped out by the technology.) Expect more of this. Trump will act out to exert what control he can because he's lost the political argument — if not the military one — as his Iran war constantly puts the lie to his claims, raises fuel costs and, in tandem with his unpopular tariffs, saddles voters with inflation. The Fed's decision to hike interest rates can be read as a vote of no confidence in the president's economic agenda. The decision could raise mortgage rates, already at a 19-month high. 👀 Behind the scenes: Trump advisers and confidants describe him as generally in a good mood. But some privately confess he can get too cranky too quickly sometimes and that he's showing his 80 years on Earth. Senior administration officials, steeled by seasoned vets accustomed to the wild ride on the Trump crazy train, are officially acting as if it's just another day on the tracks. To them, Trump should ban more news organizations that agitate him; the Fed rate hikes aren't his fault (it's somehow Joe Biden's); the president will exert power as he sees fit; and his ballroom obsession is charming. "No Panicans Allowed," one official, using the Trumpworld version of Democrats' "bedwetters," told Axios' Marc Caputo. Between the lines: House Dems can practically taste the majority, and they're showing signs of just how much they'll investigate Trump's administration and family. As is customary, staff is leaving as Trump approaches his final midterm. It's unclear who'll come after and how experienced they'll be. You can bank on this: Trump will issue blanket pardons to those who stay and those he perceives as loyal. ⚖️ Podcaster Katie Miller, a Trump 1.0 vet and wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, wrote Saturday on X in response to a post about looming pardons: "After the first Trump administration, my family spent money we did not have on lawyers because of multiple partisan Democrat led investigations into President Trump." "I watched as many of my friends also had no idea how to pay expensive legal bills because they simply served their country," she added. "You can't convince me Democrats won't do this again." As the first president who was impeached twice, Trump began war-gaming last year for an impeachment fight in 2027-28. As long as the GOP maintains Senate control or as long as there isn't the threat of removal by a two-thirds Senate vote after an impeachment, Trump is signaling he's ready for battle. "The president can count to 67," a longtime adviser told Caputo. "And he has bigger balls than anyone in D.C." The bottom line: Yes, Trump commands loyalty or at least blind silence from most elected Republicans. They fear him. But with each passing day, Democrats, the courts, critics — even some congressional Republicans — feel more capable of restraining Trump and are starting to think about what comes after him.

The entire world population could fit in Texas, allotting 890 square feet per person. The area of Texas is about 262,000 square miles. James

Republican Mike Rogers courts Michigan Democrats and Trump voters as GOP hopes to hold the Senate Mike Rogers stood outside Cody High School on Detroit’s west side on a recent drizzly morning and decried Michigan's decline in reading achievement. Read More. Alaskans will decide fate of ranked choice voting system after chaotic end to state's primary Even after the last votes were counted from Alaska's primary election, the final slate of candidates was far from settled. Read More.

Tropical Storm Fay forms far out in the Atlantic as Odalys strengthens in the Pacific A new tropical storm formed Sunday in the northern Atlantic Ocean but does not appear to pose a threat to land. Read More.

In Chile, even beloved hot dogs feel the economic squeeze It is lunchtime in downtown Santiago, and dozens of businesses around the Plaza de Armas are serving up one of Chile’s most democratic specialties: the “completo.” Read More.

Rising gas prices frustrate voters. Trump says it's an 'inexpensive price to pay' for the Iran war Quinten Martinez, pumping gas under a hot South Texas sun, remembers a time when fueling up didn't require difficult decisions. Read More. ps:LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

ICE agent shoots and wounds man in Austin, Texas, officials say AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and wounded a man Sunday afternoon in Austin, Texas, local authorities said, and anti-ICE protesters quickly gathered at the scene. https://apnews.com/article/austin-texas-ice-shooting-immigration-37653feb8e2c5f5a85d64c5a6a38cba5?

Interpol has a new tool to track down loot that criminals are stashing away around the world LYON, France (AP) — Interpol is rolling out a new tool to help police track down hidden criminal assets and an Italian crime boss was one of the first to feel its effects. https://apnews.com/article/interpol-france-italy-brazil-crime-police-b2f7e1c985b737461b814fa7c5d8ac21?

Florida confirms a death from dengue as the state struggles with one of its worst recent outbreaks NEW YORK (AP) — Florida is experiencing one of its worst surges of dengue fever in decades, and the toll now includes a death. https://apnews.com/article/dengue-death-florida-mosquito-climate-57574815fdca4f8bc3336bb429a3d1fc?

Ukraine fires over 1,000 drones at Russia, including ‘largest ever’ attack on Moscow Ukrainian forces fired more than 1,000 drones at Russia overnight, including hundreds that were launched toward Moscow, officials said Sunday, as the Kremlin was wrapping up the third and last day of its parliamentary elections. https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-russia-war-drones-moscow-5f7889d027c0247ca2c2c64425b9ffa9? Ukraine Strikes Moscow Ukraine launched over 1,000 drones at Russia on Sunday, killing four people and injuring at least 20 others. Russian officials said its air defense forces shot down 450 drones approaching Moscow in what was the largest attack on the capital since the war began in 2022 (see video of aftermath). The drones struck a residential building and the Moscow oil refinery, which supplies roughly 40% of the city’s fuel. The attack came on the final day of Russia’s first parliamentary election since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The vote extended into four Ukrainian territories that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022 and in Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014 (see map of controlled regions). Russian officials say the regions have over 3.5 million voters; Ukrainian authorities contend the process is illegal. Frontline movement in the war has slowed in recent months. Russian forces advanced just 15.7 square miles from December 2025 to May 2026—a 92% decline from the same period a year earlier (see graphs).

A humpback whale was spotted in a California river, 60 miles from its Pacific Ocean home ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) — Denny Glover was hoping for a big catch when he went fishing with buddies on the Sacramento River, but he wasn’t expecting a fully grown humpback whale. https://apnews.com/article/humpback-whale-california-river-7682fa0608fb5c66b22e035f3095a33a?

Denmark’s leaders are cautiously optimistic about Trump’s announcement of a Greenland deal Denmark’s government was cautiously optimistic on Saturday following Donald Trump’s announcement of a deal on Greenland to bolster U.S. military presence there but keep the island under Danish control, after months of threats by the U.S. president to seize the semiautonomous territory of a NATO ally. Denmark and the U.S. already have a long-standing security agreement that allows the U.S. to deploy forces in Greenland, and it was not immediately clear how this deal would be different from that. Read more. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ WATCH: Residents of Copenhagen welcome Greenland deal What the EU’s offer of ‘associate member’ to Canada might mean Preparing to leave office, with world beset by problems, UN chief talks of a way forward

🖼️ 1 for the road: L.A.'s new museum The new 300,000-square-foot Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in L.A.'s Exposition Park. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images "Star Wars" creator George Lucas called his Lucas Museum of Narrative Art a "temple to the people's art." Seventeen years after it was first envisioned, it'll open to the public on Tuesday in Los Angeles. The museum mixes popular and commercial art with fine art, drawn largely from the collections of Lucas and his wife and co-founder, businesswoman Mellody Hobson. What you'll see: 💫 The "Star Wars in Motion" exhibit shows vehicles used in the original trilogy and the Lucas-directed prequels. The outdoor paths feature statues of Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia, Natalie Portman's Padmé Amidala, Yoda and Grogu. 🎨 There are paintings by Norman Rockwell and Frida Kahlo and murals by Banksy and Diego Rivera. 🐶 "Poker Game," Cassius Marcellus Coolidge's kitschy 1894 painting of a group of dogs playing cards, hangs steps from a Kahlo self-portrait — a perfect merger of high and low art. Go deeper.

🇨🇳 AI state dinner Photos: AFP via Getty Images Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in D.C. this week for the first state visit by a Chinese leader in more than a decade: AI will be a focus of the Trump-Xi summit at the White House on Thursday, and top tech moguls have scored invitations to the hot-ticket state dinner in the East Room. On the guest list, per Axios' Maria Curi and Courtenay Brown: David Sacks, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Apple executive chair Tim Cook, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Citi CEO Jane Fraser, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, plus Michael Dell, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. 🛬 When Xi's plane lands at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, Trump will be there to greet him. Trump typically meets foreign leaders at the White House. More on the visit.

💰 Trump 2.0's market Data: Financial Modeling Prep. Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals We're 20 months into President Trump's second term. Axios' Dan Primack reports on how the stock market's performance stacks up against past presidencies: The market soared during the first 20 months of President Trump's second term, but slightly underperformed the same period of his first term. Why it matters: Trump considers the stock market to be a proxy for the economy, even though many economists disagree, Dan Primack writes. By the numbers: The S&P 500 rose nearly 27.6% between inauguration day and this past Friday's close, compared to 28.5% during his first term. The gap at 20 months is closer than it was at the one-year mark, with Trump 2.0 leapfrogging former President Biden but still trailing former President Obama. Zoom in: Trump 2.0 trails Trump 1.0 on the Dow and Nasdaq, but is ahead on the Russell 3000. Dow Jones Industrial Average: Trump 2.0: 18.8% Biden: 0.3% Trump 1.0: 33.8% Obama: 28.1% Nasdaq Composite: Trump 2.0: 35.1% Biden: -12.6% Trump 1.0: 43.5% Obama: 51.4%

Trump plans AI Force Via Truth Social President Trump said he's creating an "AI Force" modeled on the Space Force and will soon name a new AI czar. Why it matters: Trump is doubling down on accelerating AI development with limited regulation, even as the industry's biggest leaders call for stronger safety rules and as public fears grow, Axios' Andrew Pantazi writes. The latest: Trump offered few details on what this AI Force would actually do, what budget it would have or where it would be placed in the federal government. His Truth Social post said the government would "not in any way hinder or stifle" AI's growth but would look for "BAD" behavior using "our already existing Criminal and Civil Justice System." The intrigue: The AI czar position would revive a role that the White House didn't plan to fill six months ago. David Sacks left the formal AI and crypto czar job in March, though he remains influential as co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Read on.

September 20, 2026 Good morning. One of the most challenging decisions parents face is where to enroll their child in school. Today we look at how one mother approached that choice. Najya Hannah-Jones Wayne Lawrence for The New York Times Reality bites By Adam B. Kushner I used to be the education editor at The Washington Post. A decade ago, Nikole Hannah-Jones made an astonishing choice. She would not send her daughter to kindergarten at one of New York’s selective elementary schools (largely populated by wealthy, white children). Instead, Najya would attend a segregated, high-poverty school. Parents usually claw at every possible advantage for their children. But Nikole argued in an essay for The New York Times Magazine that the only way to lift up the city’s segregated schools was to enroll in them. The idea made a big impression on me. My family had sent our oldest child to an unremarkable D.C. public school, and we planned to stay. We were part of the community, and that was our civic obligation. We got involved, we lobbied for better instruction, we helped raise money. Maybe you can’t improve a system by leaving it, but it turned out that joining it didn’t work either: By the time our son was in fourth grade, he was on level with his peers — and well behind where my wife and I had been growing up. We’d just had a third child. We moved to a nearby suburb feeling like we’d betrayed an ideal. Nikole stuck with it, though — until Najya began wondering, in middle school, why her education was subpar. What happened next is the subject of today’s cover story in The Times Magazine. I spoke to Nikole about it. Adam: After your 2016 piece, some readers said you were sacrificing your daughter’s future on the altar of your principles. I wondered if I was doing the same thing. Nikole: I didn’t agree with that critique. My child had many advantages, and I believed she’d be OK. Najya on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in 2016. Photograph by Henry Leutwyler Over the years, you pushed her schools to keep high standards, sometimes with frustrating results. Then your daughter confronted you in seventh grade. What did she say? She was thinking of high school and college, so she’d looked up her middle school and saw its test scores and ranking. She asked: Did I know that it was bad when I chose to send her there? Why would I do that? Was she right? It’s very hard for a 12-year-old to put her experience in a larger context of inequality and injustice. That middle school serves the kids who show up at its doors, even if they have disabilities, behavior problems or academic gaps. Educators were doing their best in an immorally unequal system. Did she get your argument? In her mind, just because other kids are suffering and there’s inequality doesn’t mean she has to suffer. She told me: “I had to live through the school. You didn’t.” She believes I was trying to help all these other kids when she should have been my primary interest. She is, and has been! But she doesn’t see it that way, and I understand why. You say you judged people who professed to believe in equality but wouldn’t do something about it. Then it became clear, as you write, that “my daughter’s sacrifice could not transform a system that those who hold the most power refuse to change.” What’s your advice for parents now? I don’t know! This experience has been so humbling to me. I hope there are still parents willing to try. But I also know, and have always known, that individual parents cannot transform the system. So it’s also important to create a political will for integration policy. When it was time to apply for high school, Najya targeted the sort of selective schools that you argue reinforce segregation. How did she make her case to you? “I want to go to the best public school,” she said, and she didn’t care about the racial makeup of the school. She wanted to go to a great college. She often said she wanted to be a doctor. She believed the education she’d received thus far wouldn’t prepare her for all that. Of course, I’m excited and grateful I have an ambitious child who wants the best education. I’m proud of her. But all children deserve these opportunities, not just those who get them because of the accident of their birth. She applied, and got in, to a competitive public high school. As the parent of a teenager, I’m awed by her industry, her force of will. How’d it go at her new school? Culturally, it was very difficult for Najya, and she thought of leaving in the first weeks. And the academics were challenging. She wasn’t used to the workload, the rigor of the curriculum. Intellectually, she could handle it, but she didn’t have the study skills yet. But given the proper supports, she was able to catch up quickly. Nikole and Faraji Hannah-Jones at home in Brooklyn. Wayne Lawrence for The New York Times You write honestly — wrenchingly — about the cost of your convictions: “I felt overcome with regret.” Najya “looked to me to protect her, to give her what she needed to thrive. And I had not chosen her.” It’s not my place, but I absolve you. What else can a family do about injustice? Even a New York Times reporter who covers school segregation was no match for this system of inequality, not even in one elementary school. You cannot expect parents alone to change the system. Politicians and policymakers have to do it. Still, my biggest fear in writing this piece is that people will feel like it gives them a license not to try. Najya is 16 now. How does she feel about you telling this story? I asked her permission to report it in the first place, and then I asked if she wanted to be photographed for the story. She’s angry about the choices that my husband and I made, and she wanted to have her say. Did she really want people to know she had failed algebra after middle school? Her answer impressed me: “Well, it’s true.” But when I showed her a draft, she didn’t feel I was hard enough on myself. So I tried to capture the conflict. In the years since my original essay, I’ve moved through the world with the unearned valor of people commending me for the strength of my choice. Now I felt I owed it to her to tell the truth. Read Nikole’s searching story — and Najya’s take on it — here. FREE TO READ Luis Antonio Rojas for The New York Times Rolling away: An annual melon race in Xalapa is not only one of Mexico’s most colorful traditions but also one of its most random. See more photos. Times Investigation: DraftKings used customer records and A.I. to create and target ads to encourage betting. It has resisted using similar technology to protect gamblers at risk of addiction. Stalemate: A fault line in Myanmar’s civil war runs through New York’s Upper East Side, where a diplomat for the ousted government shares a townhouse with officials tied to the military-backed one. Each side is afraid the other could change the locks. The Shift: The world is finally waking up to A.I.’s dangers, Kevin Roose writes. In his farewell column, he reflects on the good and the bad. Stuck: An Indiana prosecutor’s law school debt should have been canceled after years of regular payments and public service. She’s still waiting. THE LATEST NEWS Journalism Betsy Klein of CNN. Doug Mills/The New York Times Journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico had their badges confiscated when they tried to enter the White House grounds after President Trump announced a ban on the outlets. Trump’s ban fits a pattern of using the government to crack down on his perceived enemies, experts say. More on Politics A new California law could fine influencers up to $5,000 per post if they do not disclose that they were paid to make political content. Trump’s proposal to exclude some immigrants from the 2030 census could cut House seats from red states. Artificial Intelligence Economists in China are warning that the government is investing too many resources into A.I. while the economy is in crisis. Trump has proposed an “A.I. Force.” It is unclear what the effort is meant to do. When you ask a chatbot for advice, whose values are you getting? The Believing newsletter looks at the people deciding A.I.’s moral code. Public Spaces The Times documented the political takeover of the Kennedy Center. Read our investigation. Maintenance projects at U.S. national parks have been put off as Trump focuses on projects in Washington. Around the World In Papua New Guinea. Matthew Abbott for The New York Times Rugby league is practically a religion in Papua New Guinea. Now, Australia is using the sport to try to counter China’s influence in the island nation. A group linked to Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a mosque attack inside a police compound in Pakistan that lasted hours and involved a car explosion, a suicide bombing and armed attackers. Other Big Stories Ed Sheeran called the situation in Gaza “catastrophic” in his first concert since the rapper Macklemore was dropped from his tour after he said “Free Palestine” during earlier shows. Trump said that his son Donald Trump Jr. would repay a Russian businessman who helped finance his wedding party but that the payments were “totally allowed.” FROM OPINION Damon Winter/The New York Times Damon Winter, a staff photographer for Opinion, has spent innumerable hours in New York City’s subway system over nearly two decades. Take a look at the photos of what he calls the “M.T.A. Modern’s accidental art.” A Hyrox athlete soiled herself during a competition recently — and kept moving. It shows how unhinged fitness culture has become, Jessica Grose writes. Introducing the Shows tab. A new place to find and follow podcasts in audio and video. Explore Shows in The Times app. SPORTS College football: The L.S.U. coach Lane Kiffin returned to his old haunts at Ole Miss. The Rebels were out for revenge and got it — Ole Miss: 32, L.S.U.: 24. M.L.B.: The Yankees slugger Aaron Judge discussed why his calf injury was “more difficult” to play through than previous ones. He hopes to be back in time for the playoffs. BOOK OF THE WEEK By Elisabeth Egan There was a time when Ariel Lawhon felt like historical fiction’s best kept secret. That time is over; the word is out. With “The Pirate Queen,” Lawhon officially establishes herself as a talented spinner of old-world yarns. This one introduces readers to Grace O’Malley, a 16th-century Irish pirate queen previously pushed to the margins of history. Structured around the Trinity Knot, a Celtic symbol often representing the three phases of womanhood (maiden, mother, matriarch), our reviewer writes, “This propulsive 500-page book delivers a spirited, layered feminist historical chronicle of one woman who resists convention every step of the way.” To read our full review, go here. Looking for another historical novel? Go here. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE Read this week’s magazine. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Try a countertop dishwasher if you’re tired of washing and drying by hand. Give someone a spoon as a gift. No, seriously. Manage screen time (and keep your kid safer online) with one of these parental control apps. Test your knowledge of nepo babies and Ryan Murphy shows. Try this crossword we devised, full of archive-inspired trivia, for The Times’s 175th anniversary. MEAL PLAN Joe Lingeman for The New York Times For dinner this week, you’ll want to try Sheela Prakash’s new shrimp dish. It’s a clever and delicious take on peperonata, a Southern Italian staple made with bell peppers and onion. We also recommend sheet-pan chicken thighs with spicy corn, Korean BBQ-style meatballs and more. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were biltong, blotting, bolting and bottling. Can you put eight historical events — including the opening of Ellis Island, the invention of the stethoscope and the writing of “The Decameron” — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Crossplay, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. Correction: In yesterday’s newsletter, we misidentified the location of a football game. The Iowa State University players were running onto the field at the University of Iowa. We also misspelled the name of our own team member Daniel Ajootian. Sorry, Iowans! Sorry, Daniel! 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

THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 20 1973 Billie Jean King triumphs in “Battle of the Sexes” In the highly publicized tennis match, top women’s player 29-year-old Billie Jean King beats 55-year-old Bobby Riggs, a former No. 1 ranked men’s player. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 19th Century 1806 The returning Lewis and Clark reach the first white settlement on the Missouri American Revolution 1777 Redcoats kill Americans in Paoli Massacre Arts & Entertainment 1878 Upton Sinclair is born 1946 First Cannes Film Festival Asian History 1932 Gandhi begins fast in protest of caste separation Colonial America 1565 First European battle on American soil Crime 2012 Amish convicted in beard-cutting attacks Exploration 1519 Magellan sets sail from Spain LGBTQ+ History 2011 “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is repealed Natural Disasters & Environment 2002 Avalanche thunders into Russian village Sports 1988 Greg Louganis wins Olympic gold the day after suffering head injury U.S. Presidents 1881 Chester Arthur becomes third president to serve in one year 1963 Kennedy proposes joint mission to the moon

Putin’s ‘Personal Prisoner’ Issues Ominous Warning to Trump The Russian leader once vowed to hang him “by the balls.” But Mikheil Saakashvili says the day of Putin’s own violent end is growing nearer. Vladimir Putin has been thinking of ways to take revenge on his enemies for decades, but there was only one man who the Russian leader promised “to hang.” Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian president and leader of the first color revolution in the post-Soviet space, shocked Putin during the first term of his 26-year rule, back in 2003. The revolution ousted the Moscow-friendly old guard in Tbilisi, brought a pro-Western government to power, and accelerated Georgia’s integration efforts with Europe and NATO, which the Kremlin saw as a betrayal. Now behind bars on charges he says were orchestrated by a “Russian agent,” Saakashvili is sending his old friend Donald Trump a wake-up call about cozying up to Russia and its allies in the Caucasus. The American president’s son, Eric Trump, has announced plans to visit Tbilisi to unveil the latest Trump Tower, a move that has raised eyebrows for the project’s links to Bidzina Ivanishvili, a pro-Kremlin oligarch sanctioned by the U.S. Saakashvili, who in 2015 received Ukrainian citizenship and automatically lost his citizenship in his native Georgia, has urged Trump to be under no illusions about the Kremlin and what its war in Ukraine means for the rest of the world. “I wrote several letters to Trump with pleas to help Ukraine. I am happy Trump didn’t abolish the pre-existing sanctions and even introduced some new ones. But certainly, much more is needed,” he told the Daily Beast. “Being soft on Russia’s regional allies is counterproductive,” he said of Georgia’s current leadership, which has increasingly leaned towards the Kremlin and begun adopting the same laws to persecute LGBT and “foreign agents.” “You have to make this part clear: if you are helping Putin in any way, you will be punished by the U.S. That also should be true about Georgia, which is actually aiding Russia to bypass sanctions. We are looking to U.S. leadership and any ambivalence has a huge demoralizing effect. America has to regain its moral leadership, for which we all loved it,” he said. “But going back to Ukraine, I have my 5-year-old daughter Jasmine under bombardment in Kyiv. And I know that her and countless other lives depend upon President Trump sending Patriot missiles to repel Russian attacks,” Saakashvili said. While Saakashvili has been in prison in his native country for nearly five years now—serving a 12.5-year sentence on embezzlement and abuse of power charges he and his allies say are politically motivated—the Kremlin has still sought to use him as an example for other leaders who defy Moscow. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, promised late last month that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would suffer the same fate as Saakashvili. Medvedev was Russia’s president in 2008, when Saakashvili’s government ran a nation-wide vote on NATO membership. The relationship between Medvedev and Saakashvili rapidly deteriorated to open military conflict. “I am not surprised that Medvedev continues to mention me. I was demonstratively pushed behind bars—it was in many ways meant to please Putin. I was tortured and poisoned with heavy metals; it was certified by German and Californian labs,” Saakashvili said, describing himself as “Putin’s personal prisoner.” In December 2022, Saakashvili’s medical records showed “traces of mercury and arsenic” in his hair and nails, his legal team said. In June, the European Parliament demanded Saakashvili’s immediate release on humanitarian grounds so he could seek medical treatment. But even Saakashvili’s supporters agree that for as long as Putin has influence on the current Georgian government, Saakashvili will remain in jail. “Putin personally wants to see Saakashvili behind bars, using it as a warning for Zelensky, Pashinyan (the president of Armenia) and every leader who disobeys him,” exiled former mayor of Tbilisi, Giorgi Ugulava, told the Daily Beast. The current Georgian government and the billionaire who is widely regarded as its de facto leader, Ivanishvili, are doing business with both Moscow and Washington. This alignment with Moscow stands in stark contrast to the direction the country took when Saakashvili was president. By 2007, a few years after Saakashvili became president, the World Bank named Georgia the “world’s number one economic reformer.” Saakashvili won the war against corruption and built one of the world’s most successful civil societies. But his conflict with Moscow escalated to a war in 2008. In August 2008, Russian tanks rolled on Georgian soil, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy went to Moscow to broker a peace deal for Georgia. Putin told Sarkozy he had plans “to hang by the balls” Saakashvili, Sarkozy later revealed. And it didn’t sound like a joke—Russian tanks were less than 30 miles from the capital. “Sarkozy told me about the threat and when asked at an annual press conference if he promised to hang me by one place, Putin smirked, ‘Why only by one?’” Saakashvili told the Daily Beast. Saakashvili was a long-time friend and supporter of Donald Trump; the two used to discuss big real estate plans on the Black Sea. “When I was the president, Donald Trump highly praised my reforms; when I was in New York, he used to invite me to watch Broadway musicals together… Now, Russian propaganda says America used Saakashvili and abandoned him,” Saakashvili told the Daily Beast, adding that he had never requested to be on the U.S. swap list. Saakashvili took note of Trump’s envoy, John Coale, visiting Minsk earlier this week, where he announced the release of 25 Belarusian political prisoners in exchange for the U.S. lifting sanctions on two Belarusian business companies. “In one of my letters I praised him for freeing political prisoners in Belarus and asked to apply the same approach in Georgia, where the U.S. has all the leverage to achieve our freedom,” he said. But so far, his call has not been answered. In late August, when the world heard the news of the notorious “Butcher of Bosnia” Ratko Mladic dying in prison, Saakashvili recalled Mladic’s conviction in 2017 by the International Criminal Tribunal for “genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.” He thought of Putin, he said, and the inevitable outcome for the Russian leader: “I don’t see any scenario where Putin doesn’t end very badly. He either finishes like Ratko Mladic or will be hanged by those around him.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/putins-personal-prisoner-issues-ominous-warning-to-trump/?

Photos show the opening ceremony of the Asian Games held in Japan The opening ceremony of the Asian Games has marked the official start of the 16-day event.The games feature at least 11,000 athletes from 45 countries. The 43 sports being contested include Olympic disciplines like track and field and swimming along with Asian specialties like kurash, kabaddi, and sepaktakraw. Read More.