A Seismic Political Change

October 7, 2026On October 7, 2016, the story of the Access Hollywood tape broke, in which Trump told tv host Billy Bush about his approach to women, Five years later on October 7, 2021, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s draft report on its investigation into Trump's attempt to use the Department of Justice to overturn the results of the 2020 election found that Trump abused the power of the presidency, Five years later, on October 7, 2026, Trump asserted that he can do whatever he wants, including “bad things to Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama.”  Ten years we've been at this. To read this letter, click here:Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyYou can also find Heather at:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

October 6, 2026Trump’s social media posts suggest he is panicking, Trump is blaming Ukraine for driving up oil prices, He is incensed about reports that people aren’t turning out for his rallies, He accuses the New York Times of doctoring a picture of Trump National Doral where he will hold the G20 summit, He has attacked Annie Andrews, the Democratic candidate for the US Senate from South Carolina who is in a competitive race with Darline Graham, He has walked back his announcement that he will cover the $20 milllion cost of his self-promotional ads, And there has been widespread outcry against his suggestion that a nuclear attack on LA and San Diego would be acceptable, Timothy Snyder warned that Trump appears to be inviting a terrorist attack, The administration is steering money for infrastructure investment to areas with higher than average birthrates and marriage rates in an apparent embrace of the Great Replacement theory, The administration has not invited monitors from the OSCE to observe the midterm elections, the first time since 2002 that these observers have not been invited, The push to interfere with the elections is underway, with Trump hinting that he and Russell Vought have “some big surprises coming up."To read this letter, click here:Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyYou can also find Heather at:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

October 5, 2026The US Southern Command struck another small boat in the Caribbean, bringing the number of strikes to more than 70, The administration has not made its justification for the strikes public, although there was a DOJ memo, US District Judge Engelmayer has demanded that it be shown to him, Pete Hegseth told reporters that the US can move military personnel from Europe and that the US is expanding its presence in Latin America, In an interview, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said that he does not anticipate that the court will overturn the decision recognizing the right to same sex marriage because “people have come to rely on it,” but that overturning Roe v Wade in the Dobbs decision was acceptable because that was “much more abstract,” The administration is undermining the post-World War II order by abandoning the UN prohibition on violating the territorial integrity and political independence of any state and the human rights that are covered by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, It is also abandoning the rights of women, In place of the post-WWI order, Trump and his allies propose a dictatorship, FDR noted that Nazi forces were openly seeking the destruction of elective systems of government in place of rule by a handful of individuals, In a speech in March 1941, he said that “the rallying cry of the dictators … will prove to be pure stuff and nonsense."To read this letter, click here:Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyYou can also find Heather at:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

October 4, 2026Saying he will make a payment to seniors, and also pay all Americans if Republicans win in the midterms, Trump is openly talking about using taxpayer money to buy votes, Trump is increasingly worried about Democrats winning control of Congress in the upcoming elections, Democratic control of one or both chambers of Congress will mean that investigations will start immediately, The administration is asserting that executive privilege protecting conversations by the president with government advisors extends to civilians to whom the president speaks, Stories of corruption are surfacing, Sen. Ron Wyden is demanding the release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s finances and the transcript of FBI 302 reports, The administration is involved in business deals with Russia which will benefit Trump's family and donors, The deals shine a spotlight on the fact that under Trump national security is for sale, Jared Kushner’s financial interests in the Israeli military are shielded because he is not a government employee, Donald Trump Jr’s financial deals are likely to be investigated, The extensive hack of the FBI's jobs portal appears to have been the result of incompetence. To read this letter, click here:Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyYou can also find Heather at:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

October 3, 2026The Power to the People festival on October 3rd, organized by Tom Morello,  had a legendary line-up of musicians, Attendees could find ways to get involved in government and a portion of the proceeds went to VoteRiders, a nonpartisan organization working to overcome barriers to voting, The artists urged Americans to remember they have the power to build a better nation and vote the Trump administration out of office, The ten-hour concert ended with performers singing Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land,” Guthrie famously displayed the words “This Machine Kills Fascists” on his guitars,  Morello reminded people that “every act of art is an act of resistance."To read this letter, click here:Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyYou can also find Heather at:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

October 2, 2026Trump held a campaign rally in Mobile, Alabama today, Mobile is where his MAGA rallies really took off in August 2015 when more than 30,000 people showed up, In 2015, Trump tapped into the anger of people who felt they had been dispossessed, Trump promised to bring back jobs and the military and to “Make America Great Agatin,” Trump’s return to Mobile was different, with many fewer people, but he hopes to rally MAGA voters who might not otherwise turn out, Only 31% of Americans give Trump good marks for how he is handling the presidency, Trump demanded that Russell Vought come up with $20 million to run ads praising him, The Republicans have pulled their spending on the Senate race in North Carolina, In Kansas, Republicans are trying to shore up the sitting Republican Senator whose race for reelection has tightened, Trump never intended to address the real problems facing the country, People are not buying his claim that the economy is booming, Democrats are fitting into the space that Republicans once exploited.To read this letter, click here:Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyYou can also find Heather at:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

October 1, 2026The Trump administration is defying Congress, taking funds appropriated for specific purposes and redirecting them, Some of those funds were used to pay for the ads boosting Trump before the midterms, The destruction of the fundamental separation of powers at the heart of our government has gotten little pushback from Republicans, Trump’s administration has not invited U.S, allies to a meeting of NATO members next month, This seems to be an attempt to splinter NATO according to who Trump deems loyal and those whose actions he dislikes, Time Magazine released the transcript of an interview they did with Trump at the White House last week, Trump appears unable to answer questions coherently, and is angry at the media, He made outrageous claims and threats and yelled at the reporters about their questions, He is also seemingly unable to tell the difference between fantasy and reality, making claims about a South Korean investment in Alaska that has not yet been agreed to and about a steel plant in Iowa that is not a done deal, Trump again threatened Iran with annihilation, A third aircraft carrier strike group has been deployed to the Middle East, The government’s case against David Hearn for vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was dismissed with prejudice.To read this letter, click here:Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyYou can also find Heather at:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

September 30, 2026After more than two decades, the deaths of countless Iraqi civilians and more than 4,500 US troops, the wounding of more than 30,000 US military personnel, and a cost of more than $2.8 trillion, the US has pulled out the last of its forces from Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq, A small contingent of advisors had remained after the US and Iraq agreed to a withdrawal plan in 2024, At that time, Iran seemed to be on the ropes, but Trump’s war on Iran has strengthened the country’s hand in the region, The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was based on the belief that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was destabilizing the Middle East, Although Saddam had not been involved in the 9/11 attack, officials from the George W Bush administration pushed the idea that the terrorists were affiliated with Iraq, The administration warned that Saddam Hussein was amassing weapons of mass destruction and when Secretary of State Colin Powell warned in a speech at the UN that Iraq had chemical WMDs and the resources to create nuclear weapons, people were convinced it was true. Later the evidence was discredited, but enough countries backed an invasion that in March 2003 American troops invaded with the intention of overthrowing the government, Saddam’s forces crumbled and by May the US had set up a transitional government and Bush had declared “Mission Accomplished,” But it wasn’t, Now the United States is entering the eighth month of a war on Iran that Trump apparently began with the same cowboy mentality as Bush carried into the war in Iraq, And Pete Hegseth is celebrating his transformation of the military and its “patriotic cowboys.” To read this letter, click here:Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyYou can also find Heather at:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

September 29, 2026At a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Jack Smith was questioned about the case charging Trump with using fraud and deceit to overturn the 2020 election results, The courts have interpreted the language in the Constitution that protects speech in Congress broadly, Republicans have used that protection to make outrageous accusations and to spread disinformation, Smith was appointed special counsel by former attorney general Merrick Garland on November 18, 2022, In June 2023 a grand jury indicted Trump on 37 counts but after Trump was reelected Smith dropped Trump from the case, Today’s hearing focused on charges by a federal grand jury in August 2023, Trump challenged the indictment and the Supreme Court largely agreed with him in its Trump v United States decision that gave a president absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions performed as part of his official duties and Smith dismissed the case after Trump was reelected, Today's hearing seems to have been an appeal to either Trump or the MAGA base, Sen Eric Schmitt presented a conspiracy theory which was based on incorrect information, The right wing media ran with his story nonetheless, Smith’s opening statement at the hearing focused on his commitment to facts and the rule of law and emphasized that his actions were based on evidence, He expressed his belief that the rule of law faces extraordinary challenges but also his confidence that the rule of law will endure despite the pressures being put upon it.To read this letter, click here:Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyYou can also find Heather at:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

September 28, 2026Trump posted a video ad on television with the words “Paid for by the U.S. Government,”  The backlash was immediate, Social media users and lawyers alike asked why the US government was paying for a poilitical ad, The government paying for Trump’s vanity ads while at the same time announcing it is refusing to spend money on programs intended to help people was yet another headache for Republicans hoping to retain control of Congress after the midterm elections, Trump’s job approval numbers are collapsing, falling most sharply among voters who identify themselves as Republicans, Trump’s tariffs are eroding his support in the agricultural areas that used to be the backbone of his support, Republicans in battleground states are on the defense as voters turn against ICE agents conducting raids in their states, The skyrocketing price of diesel is pushing Republican candidates to call for an end to the war in Iran, Certain candidates are in the news for all the wrong reasons: Susan Collins in Maine because her campaign accepted an illegal contribution, Bo French in Texas for his inflammatory and racist posts, and Roger Marshall in Kansas for suing his patients for outstanding bills, many of them for as little as $101, Markwayne Mullins and Pete Hegseth are increasingly unpopular, And mentions of Trump’s name have dropped nearly 70% since before the 2024 election. To read this letter, click here:Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyYou can also find Heather at:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe