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October 7, 2026 On 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 Spotify You can also find Heather at:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

October 6, 2026 Trump’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 Podcasts Listen on Spotify You can also find Heather at: YouTube Bluesky Instagram Facebook Threads TikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

October 5, 2026 The 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 Podcasts Listen on Spotify You can also find Heather at: YouTube Bluesky Instagram Facebook Threads TikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

October 4, 2026 Saying 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 Podcasts Listen on Spotify You can also find Heather at: YouTube Bluesky Instagram Facebook Threads TikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

October 3, 2026 The 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 Podcasts Listen on Spotify You can also find Heather at: YouTube Bluesky Instagram Facebook Threads TikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

October 2, 2026 Trump 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 Podcasts Listen on Spotify You can also find Heather at: YouTube Bluesky Instagram Facebook Threads TikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

October 1, 2026 The 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 Podcasts Listen on Spotify You can also find Heather at: YouTube Bluesky Instagram Facebook Threads TikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

September 30, 2026 After 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 Podcasts Listen on Spotify You can also find Heather at: YouTube Bluesky Instagram Facebook Threads TikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

September 29, 2026 At 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 Podcasts Listen on Spotify You can also find Heather at: YouTube Bluesky Instagram Facebook Threads TikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

September 28, 2026 Trump 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 Podcasts Listen on Spotify You can also find Heather at: YouTube Bluesky Instagram Facebook Threads TikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

September 26, 2026 Last night, the White House would not allow reporters from CNN on Air Force One as part of the press pool, With bad news plaguing the administration, Trump has reasons for wanting to control the press, A key prosecutor in the case of the Broadview Six resigned, in a scathing letter, The cases against the Broadview Six fell apart because of prosecutorial misconduct, The term of Andrew Boutros, the US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois has been problematic, Whistleblowers who worked at the Kennedy Center claim that $1.4 million that had been allocated to make repairs to the building’s roof was redirected to painting the building’s columns, While 69% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the war in Iran, Trump has told aides that he is planning to resume bombing Iran after the midterms, Trump told heads of state at the UN that his administration is seeking a “fundamental change” in the government of Cuba, Marco Rubio told reporters that Trump has invited Vladimir Putin to the meeting of the G20 in December, but 14 senators have urged Trump to rescind the invitation, The US and Russia worked together to weaken a UN plan to regulate AI weapons, The administration is refusing to spend $810 million approved by Congress for research, but the Constitution places the power of the purse in Congress and such “pocket rescissions” are illegal, Director of OMB, Russell Vought, claims otherwise, And while opposition to his moves continues to grow, Trump is considering hosting a Major League Baseball game at a national park. To read this letter, click here: Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify To read this letter, click here: Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify You can also find Heather:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

September 25, 2026 September 25 is Dolly Parton Day and also National Lobster Day, National Lobster Day honors the cultural and economic history of the lobster industry, Lobsters have been vital to Maine’s coastal communities, but were once scorned as poor man’s food, It was fish that were central to the English settlement of North America, Scholars have called the discovery of fish in the Atlantic and the trade it sparked, the “Fish Revolution,” Fishing meant big money and British fishermen fished the Grand Banks and had moved into the Gulf of Maine by 1600, European fishermen brought diseases for which the Indigenous populations had no immunities and tribes were wiped out, The fish trade was so important to New Englanders that access to fishing grounds was written into the third article of the Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the Revolutionary War. To read this letter, click here: Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify You can also find Heather at:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

Early today, US District Judge Timothy Kelly granted the request of media outlets to stop Trump’s order banning members of their organizations from the White House, Kelly ordered the credentials of 78 journalists restored immediately but the White House continued to deny White House access to reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, While they were allowed in after the judge ordered the administration to respond, CNN and MS NOW were then blocked from access to the White House state dinner with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Trump’s response was to issue claims to try to convince voters he is winning but that is a hard sell, The Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants was stopped by a federal appeals court, whereupon Solicitor General Sauer asked the Supreme Court to step in to permit renditions to third countries, A GAO report found that ICE had not figured out how to spend the $45 billion that Congress gave it last year and it has wasted tens of millions of taxpayer dollars, In California, 650,000 ballots were confiscated by Republican sheriff Chad Bianco, The California Supreme Court ordered him to return the ballots, Trump’s claims of voter fraud took a hit as the claim that almost 16,000 noncitizens were on the voter roles in Nevada proved to be completely false, Trump’s approval rating continues to drop, Trump is running an ad, which was paid for by the US government, Democratic lawmakers are demanding that it be taken down, and that it is government propaganda more fitting for North Korea than the US. To read this letter, click here: Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify You can also find Heather at:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

September 23, 2026 When Trump returned to the White House in 2025, he fired the investigators in the anti-corruption group of the FBI who were investigating Sen. Susan Collins for engaging in a pay-to-play scheme, He largely stopped investigating public corruption, The Gilded Age was known for lawmakers rewarding business followers with government contracts and political office, The relationship between MAGA Republicans and the misuse of tax dollars is becoming more obvious, HHS Secretary Kennedy has taken funds from his department’s Office of Minority Health to fund security for himself, Kennedy has accepted gifts and his wife has accepted consulting fees from allies, Tax dollars are being used to pay authoritarian governments for imprisoning immigrants from the US, The administration is reversing its previous emphasis on resettling refugees, focusing instead on expelling them, often to places where they will be tortured, and all with little oversight, In Texas, an ICE agent shot a Venezuelan food delivery driver who had a valid work permit, The ICE agent was a recent hire, among those hired when the workforce was doubled after billions of dollars were provided by Congress, The NSF, NOAA, and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality are all running far behind in funding for the fiscal year, Trump’s ballroom will cost taxpayers more than $300 million, in spite of his early promises, And the ballroom’s design does not meet fire codes, a concern that Trump dismissed. To read this letter, click here. Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Get full, free access to Letters from an American here. You can also find Heather: YouTube Bluesky Instagram Facebook Threads TikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

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