🚨 HAPPENING RIGHT NOW 🚨
President Trump used a Truth Social post early Monday to announce he’s forming an “AI Force,” modeled on the Space Force he calls a “tremendous SUCCESS,” and vowed to soon name an AI “czar” open only to “High I.Q.” applicants, promising the government will “cherish” the industry rather than “hinder or stifle” its growth. The pledge landed hours after Google confirmed its Gemini model repeatedly guessed passwords until it broke into the protected systems of three real companies during a May cybersecurity test, a disclosure that sent Capitol Hill scrambling — Montana Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy warned against letting China “eat our lunch”, while Virginia Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine dismissed Trump’s talk of AI danger as a “hoax.”
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21st, 2026
Before we get to today's news, here's what happened on this date in history. American history's most notorious act of betrayal took shape on September 21, 1780, when General Benedict Arnold met secretly with a British major along the Hudson River to hand over the American fortress at West Point in exchange for 20,000 British pounds. Arnold, a decorated war hero who felt cheated of credit and cash, ultimately collected only 5,000 pounds before George Washington uncovered the plot; Arnold escaped to the British and died in London two decades later, while his go-between, Major John Andre, was captured and hanged as a spy.
A far happier occasion unfolded on this date in 1996, when John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette exchanged vows by flashlight in a tiny, unelectrified church on Georgia's Cumberland Island, having kept their wedding plans secret from all but a handful of guests flown in under the cover of a fake corporate retreat.
🚨 ICE Shooting in Austin Draws Democrat Fire, Calls for Bodycam Release
An ICE officer shot a man during an immigration enforcement operation in North Austin, Texas, Sunday afternoon, touching off an immediate political firestorm before authorities had released basic details about what led to the gunfire.
The shooting happened around 12:56 p.m. Sunday in the 8000 block of Anderson Square; the man was hit in the torso and taken to a trauma center in serious but stable condition.
Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz said paramedics reached the scene within three and a half minutes and had the patient off-site within nine minutes of arriving.
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, said “ICE has shot a person in Austin this morning” and demanded body-camera footage and an independent investigation, accusing the agency of having “shot people and then lied about what happened” before.
🗳️ Germany's AfD Wins Second State Election in a Month, Merz Refuses to Step Down
The nationalist Alternative for Germany party was projected to win Sunday's election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, its second state-level victory in a month, deepening the political crisis surrounding Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
AfD took roughly 38% of the vote to the SPD's 36.5%, while a separate Berlin election the same day went to the hard-left Die Linke with 26%, ahead of Merz's CDU at 20%.
AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla called it a “sensational result” and said Merz should resign to give the country “relief.”
Merz, whose disapproval rating has climbed to a historic 85%, refused to step aside, saying “change takes strength” and “we take on this responsibility,” continuing instead to govern through a coalition with the election-losing SPD rather than the AfD.
📵 Trump Bans CNN, MS NOW and Politico From the White House, Effective Today
President Trump's ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico covering the White House takes effect Monday, after he announced Friday on Truth Social that he was done with what he called their “fake news.”
Trump wrote he was “proud to announce” the ban “effective immediately,” adding of the outlets' coverage, “You get sick of it,” and argued separately that no court “should allow fake news to be written day, after day, after day.”
Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the move, saying Trump “has been more accessible and easier to talk to than any president in history.”
CNN said its journalists have a constitutional right to report “without hindrance or interference from the government,” and Politico vowed to “vigorously defend” its First Amendment rights; CNN had been set to lead the pooled press coverage of Monday's UN General Assembly proceedings.
🏛️ Trump Heads to Gracie Mansion for a Third Sit-Down With Mayor Mamdani
President Trump is set to meet New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani at Gracie Mansion on Monday, their third face-to-face meeting since Mamdani's election, as both men arrive in Manhattan for the UN General Assembly.
The two first met in the Oval Office in November after Mamdani's mayoral win, then again in February; Mamdani has since described the relationship as “honest” and “productive” on NBC's Meet the Press despite their political differences.
Monday's conversation is expected to center on affordability and housing costs, the signature issues of Mamdani's Democratic Socialist-backed administration.
The sit-down comes in the campaign's final stretch before November's midterms, as national Democrats continue to argue publicly over how far the party should lean into its progressive wing.
— Fox News
📊 Poll: Democrats Are Abandoning Mail-In Ballots Ahead of the Midterms
A new bipartisan poll finds Democratic voters turning away from mail-in ballots ahead of November, a reversal for a party that leaned heavily on mail voting in recent cycles.
Just 23% of Democrats now say they'll vote by mail, down from 34% two years ago, while 36% plan to vote early in person, up six points, according to the joint survey from Democratic pollster Hart Research Associates and Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies.
Independents are shifting the same direction — mail voting down three points, early in-person voting up six — while Republican voting patterns barely moved.
Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt said the shift matters most in how the parties are performing: “Among early voters, Democrats have a 23-point advantage on the congressional ballot, but among Election Day voters, Republicans have a 14-point advantage.”