Supreme Court Blocks Missouri Republicans' New Congressional Map

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins on Thursday from using the state's Republican-drawn 2025 congressional map, an order that puts Missouri back under the districts adopted in 2022. The order ran one page, disclosed no vote, gave no reasoning, and drew no noted dissents.

In this photo taken with a smartphone, people opposed to a congressional redistricting plan rally outside the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City, Mo., Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb)

Missouri Republicans drew the new map - known as HB 1 - during a 2025 special session called by Gov. Mike Kehoe, part of a wider redistricting push President Trump encouraged. It was intended to give Republicans seven of the state's eight House seats, reworking the Kansas City-based 5th District held by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, one of Missouri's two Democratic members.

Opponents submitted more than 300,000 signatures late last year to put the map to a statewide vote. Hoskins rejected the petition on Aug. 4 - the day of Missouri's primary - arguing the state constitution "does not authorize a referendum on congressional redistricting plans passed by the General Assembly."

The Missouri Supreme Court disagreed unanimously on Sept. 3, holding that the constitution "authorizes a referendum as to 'any act of the general assembly' and no exception applies." Because the petition was "legal, sufficient, and timely," the court concluded, the new map was never in effect and will not take effect "unless and until approved by the voters at the November 2026 general election."

The court also dismantled Hoskins' warning that abandoning the new map would cause confusion and expense, calling the argument "wholly unpersuasive" and noting that "these arguments are particularly misplaced given the secretary's delay created" the problems he was complaining about.

The constitutional argument

Hoskins went to the U.S. Supreme Court that Friday night, telling the justices Missouri was "genuinely unsure whether it can switch its governing congressional map in time to run a timely federal election." His core claim was an elections-clause theory: that the Constitution gives state legislatures, not voters signing a petition, the power to set the "Times, Places, and Manner" of federal elections. He added that the state ruling disenfranchised "hundreds of thousands" of voters by moving them into districts where they would be "forced to vote on General Election candidates they had no role in choosing."

Richard von Glahn, who led the referendum committee People Not Politicians, argued the justices had no power to review a ruling resting purely on state law, and that on the merits Hoskins' "Elections Clause theory runs headlong into more than a century of precedent recognizing that state constitutional referendum procedures may constrain congressional-redistricting legislation."

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who handles emergency matters from Missouri, turned Hoskins down Tuesday afternoon without referring the request to the full court.

Then it got complicated

Less than an hour later, a federal judge ordered the opposite. Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark issued a temporary restraining order requiring the state to use the 2025 map, in a case filed Sept. 4 by Rep. Robert Onder, a Republican representing Missouri's 3rd District, among others. Clark acknowledged that "conducting state elections in accordance with the Missouri Constitution undoubtedly qualifies as an important interest," but found the federal challengers faced irreparable harm "because many Missouri voters would have to cast their general-election votes for candidates whom they had no role in nominating."

Missouri spent the next two days under directly conflicting orders from its own supreme court and a federal one. Hoskins had instructed election administrators to implement the 2022 map immediately after the state ruling. On Sept. 8 he sent a second email telling them to use the 2025 map instead - the act that put him in contempt proceedings.

Von Glahn's team went to the Eighth Circuit Tuesday night. That court declined. They returned to Kavanaugh Wednesday afternoon with a 25-page filing, and this time he referred it to the full court. Attorney Abha Khanna told the justices Clark's order "has been in place for mere hours, but the chaos it guarantees has already taken root," and that leaving it in place would cause the disruption Purcell forbids "by subjecting election officials to irreconcilable judicial commands on the eve of an election, with a federal court inserting itself to wreak havoc on the State's elections."

Their central procedural argument: Clark lacked authority to act without convening a three-judge court, which federal law generally requires for constitutional challenges involving congressional apportionment.

What Thursday's order does and doesn't do

The order stays Clark's ruling - the second time the dispute reached the Supreme Court in a single week - and resolves nothing else. It does not decide standing, the three-judge-court question, or the merits. The stay holds while the appeal proceeds in the Eighth Circuit, and ends automatically if the justices decline to hear the case.

"The law is the law, the Missouri constitution is clear, as was the Missouri Supreme Court," von Glahn said in a statement, adding that Hoskins "has shown that he cannot effectively do the job he was elected to do."

Hoskins' lawyers had filed minutes before the ruling came down, warning that election authorities were already preparing ballots under the 2025 map and that switching back risked the Sept. 19 deadline for military and overseas ballots. The U.S. solicitor general joined the state in opposing the stay.

The order came the same morning Hoskins was due before the Missouri Supreme Court to argue why he should not be held in contempt over that Sept. 8 email. He had asked Clark to block the state proceeding. Clark declined.

Missouri's deadline to finalize general election ballots has already passed. Some counties paused work on congressional ballots entirely while others prepared the portions unaffected by the fight. Voters will decide the map itself in November as Proposition A. The first ballots go out Sept. 19.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 16:40

When Grievance Enters The Huddle

Authored by Andre Billeaudeaux via American Thinker,

The NAACP is asking some of America's best black high-school football players to consider withholding commitments from public universities in eight states because of congressional redistricting. Current athletes are encouraged to consider transferring and using their NIL platforms to support the cause. The slogan is direct: "No Representation. No Recruitment. No Revenue."

The campaign followed the Supreme Court's 6-3 decision striking down Louisiana's intentionally created second majority-black congressional district as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Rather than leaving that dispute in the courthouse and statehouse, the NAACP is asking black athletes to carry it into their college choices, campuses, and locker rooms.

That is a heavy psychological load to place on a 17-year-old who may have spent a decade developing the talent, discipline, and confidence required to be recruited by Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Texas, or another major program. Universities want him, NIL money may follow, and the NFL may eventually follow that. At the moment when his talent has given him control over his future, he is being encouraged to see himself as a victim and act on that grievance.

Black Studies professor Elwood Watson called it "grossly irresponsible and unfair" to enlist young athletes in such a political fight, warning against turning them into "athletic guinea pigs or pawns." Educator Rann Miller questioned asking young black athletes to sacrifice NIL and career opportunities when comparable sacrifices are not being demanded from the adults asking them to join the fight.

Sports psychology supplies another warning: mental fatigue. It is not simply being tired, but a state associated with sustained cognitive demands, reduced cognitive efficiency, impaired attention, and increased perceived effort. The athlete's body may be capable of performing while his brain is required to process too much.

Now consider the NAACP's ask, particularly the age of the people being asked. Research following decision-making from adolescence into adulthood has found that younger people place greater value on immediate rewards and that the capacity for planning ahead continues developing into young adulthood. The NAACP is asking athletes at this stage to weigh immediate political and social rewards against educational, financial, and professional opportunities that may not fully materialize for years - maps, representation, family expectations, teammates, transferring, and whether to use his NIL identity politically - all while coaches try to get him to read a defense and execute the next play.

A 2026 BMC Psychology meta-analysis involving 19 study records found mental fatigue associated with poorer reaction time, technical execution, and decision-making. The measured effects were roughly one-half of a standard deviation for reaction time, six-tenths for technical performance and two-thirds for decision-making, where the results were the most consistent.

Elite athletic performance seeks the opposite condition: flow. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi described flow as complete absorption in an activity, where action and awareness merge, concentration intensifies and irrelevant thoughts are excluded. The athlete's attention is consumed by what he is doing now.

I was a student of Stanford psychologist Philip Zimbardo, who used Walter Mischel's famous marshmallow experiment to demonstrate the importance of time perspective. The child faced an immediate reward - one marshmallow now - or delayed gratification for two later. When researchers returned 14 years later, those who had resisted the immediate reward averaged 250 points higher on the SAT, got into less trouble and were described as better students, more self-confident, and determined. Zimbardo's point was that "they were future-focused rather than present-focused."

Put that against the NAACP's call. The immediate reward is obvious: take a stand, demonstrate solidarity, and receive the approval accompanying the cause. The delayed reward may be worth millions over a lifetime: choose the university and coach offering the best chance to develop talent, earn an education, maximize NIL value and perhaps reach the NFL.

The marshmallow has simply become considerably more expensive.

Elon Musk supplied the cultural shorthand "woke mind virus," warning against replacing individual "skills and integrity" with race and group identity and describing the constant injection of race into issues as "divisive and corrosive to society."

Former college coach Tommy Tuberville put the football problem this way: if a quarterback effectively takes himself out of the common mission, "that tends to tear down your team" and takes the "moral loyalty out of it." Before a game his players stood to honor America and afterward knelt to honor God. Coaches build common identity, loyalty and concentration because eleven individually talented players still have to perform as one.

Reverse that process - introduce distraction, immediate political reward, victimization and racial division - and then expect it to disappear when the ball is snapped.

Colin Kaepernick gave us an opportunity to see what happened next.

On August 26, 2016, Kaepernick sat during the national anthem before a preseason game against Green Bay, explaining that he would not stand for a flag representing a country that "oppresses black people and people of color." He subsequently began kneeling, turning an ordinary pre-game ritual into a national argument involving race, police and America.

The 49ers were already expected to be bad, with Las Vegas setting their preseason win total at only 5½ games. They finished 2-14, a 64% shortfall from that already miserable expectation. Kaepernick started eleven games and went 1-10, while his individual statistics - 16 touchdowns, four interceptions and a 90.7 passer rating - were hardly disastrous.

In 2015, the season before the kneeling controversy, San Francisco surrendered 387 points. By 2016 it finished 32nd in yards and points allowed, surrendering 480 points - 93 more than the previous season, a 24% increase. Kaepernick did not play defense, but his teammates shared the locker room, media attention, anthem controversy, and decisions about whether to participate, disagree or remain silent.

I began describing the phenomenon at the time as Self-Inflicted Degradation of Performance Syndrome, or SIDOPS - my term for grievance and resulting distraction degrading individual performance and spreading through a team's shared environment. Work I published in 2017 - 18 compared protesting teams against Vegas expectations and asked whether a victim-based mental state and social contagion might show up in athletic performance - years before the 2026 mental-fatigue research reported measurable degradation in reaction time, technical execution and decision-making.

"Hands Up, Don't Shoot" became a national rallying cry following the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, but Eric Holder's Justice Department later found no credible witness who could establish that Brown was shot while clearly surrendering. Witnesses supporting that account were contradicted by physical evidence, changed their accounts or recanted, while investigators found no eyewitness who said Brown uttered "don't shoot."

The slogan survived the facts, just as grievance can survive the event that created it.

Ten years later, Kaepernick says the NFL is still "actively blackballing" him and that he no longer watches professional football: "I watch college football."

Before the kneeling, Kaepernick had quarterbacked a Super Bowl team and earned a contract potentially worth more than $100 million. During the kneeling season he went 1-10 and never played another NFL game. Ten years later, he still describes himself as a victim of the league that once made him a star.

Now the NAACP is encouraging young black athletes to bring a similar grievance into decisions that may determine their own futures. Kaepernick's career cannot prove what SIDOPS predicts, but it provides a warning of what may follow.

Before asking another gifted young athlete to organize his future around grievance, look at the scoreboard - and remember what happened to the last quarterback who took a knee.

Image generated by ChatGPT.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 16:20

Fetterman Condemns Socialism In Surprise Video Message To GOP Convention

Pennsylvania's Democratic senator made a surprise video appearance in Dallas on Wednesday night in front of a sea of Republicans at the GOP midterm convention.

In a short video message, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) condemned the rise of socialist politicians in the United States and welcomed his Republican counterpart, Sen. Dave McCormick, as the next speaker for the event.

"Yes, I'm a Democrat. Why am I here talking to you today? Because, well, I'm a common sense Democrat," he told the crowd.

"I'm always going to stand with America. I'm always going to reject the extremes of socialism and that anti-American way of life."

As Troy Myers reports for The Epoch Times, Fetterman has, for years, distanced himself from socialist policies promoted by people in his own party. His Wednesday appearance stoked further speculation that he may leave the party altogether. Democrats and Republicans are vying for the majority in Congress in the midterm elections on Nov. 3.

If the Democrats wish to achieve that, they will need to flip four seats in the Senate and hope that Fetterman doesn't vote with Republicans or switch parties before he is up for reelection in 2028.

Fetterman described his close relationship - both professionally and personally - with McCormick, despite their being from opposite parties.

"Dave McCormick is the kind of senator that gets the job done, and he's going to fight for Pennsylvania," Fetterman said. "I'm proud to count him as my friend."

Standing in front of a Pennsylvania steel mill in his video, the Democratic senator reaffirmed his and McCormick's combined goals in working together, along with President Donald Trump, to boost the steel industry in their state.

"That's exactly the kind of thing that will work together and will work with President Trump to fight and defend: the steel way of life right here in the Steel Valley," Fetterman said.

As the notoriously casually dressed senator has distanced himself from his fellow Democrats in Congress, he's seen a boost in support from Republicans in his state.

In fact, a recent New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena University poll found that Fetterman has more support among Pennsylvania Republicans than McCormick does.

The rift between Fetterman and his Democratic colleagues from other states has widened in recent years over his support for Israel. The Pennsylvania senator has maintained a staunch support for the country since the horrific Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas.

He has said he will leave the Democratic party if it ever officially adopts an anti-Israel position.

"If they put that in our platform - no aid for Israel - and officially become the anti-Israel party, then yeah, that's a red line for me," Fetterman told NBC News July 16. "Democrats, we always should support Israel. That's our special ally."

On July 27, he specifically distanced himself from progressives and socialists in the party's far-left wing.

"These people aren't Democrats. That's not a big tent situation," he told reporters.

Fetterman has also repeatedly voted with Republicans on major issues such as rejecting a war powers resolution on July 23 and July 30 to end U.S. military operations in Iran. On this topic, he was the only Democrat to join the majority on the other side of the aisle.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 15:40

Charlie Kirk Built A Conservative Institution. Can It Survive Him?

Authored by Brigham Tomco via Deseret News,

Just inside the Turning Point USA Freedom Center in Phoenix, Arizona, there is a gold-framed painting, about three feet tall, glowing in a warm spotlight mounted on the wall.

Captured mid-throw is Charlie Kirk, lobbing red and white MAGA caps into a mass of ecstatic students, cheering against the brilliant-blue backdrop of a September afternoon.

His outstretched arm pulls taut the word "FREEDOM" across his white T-shirt. Rendered in commemorative brushstrokes: the moment Kirk's "American Comeback Tour" arrived in Orem, Utah.

The same wall previously featured the faces of 36 Turning Point USA staffers who had showcased Kirk's signature "grassroots humility," "warrior spirit" and "persistent innovation."

Four of them were in attendance at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025, when their role model was ripped away in one of the most public acts of political violence in U.S. history.

Kirk's shocking absence continues to fill all six buildings at Turning Point headquarters.

His leather seat on the set of "The Charlie Kirk Show" sits permanently empty. On the glass table by his microphone rests a plush hand puppet and plastic moose positioned there by Kirk less than a month before he died so his two toddler-aged children would know he was thinking of them as they watched with their mother, Erika.

Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA founder and president, answers interview questions on the set of The Charlie Kirk Show at Turning Point headquarters in Phoenix, Ariz., on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Most days, the children still come by to play. Team members help with childcare while Erika works from the office her husband once used; his chair, again, intentionally left vacant.

For a while, Kirk's kids, now ages 4 and 2, got a new toy during every visit, chosen from a collection of gifts sent by well-wishers, affectionately called "daddy's friends," that took up entire rooms.

When I returned to Turning Point's campus in August the makeshift tribute had been moved for remodeling. A new eight-foot fence circled the perimeter of the nonprofit company's campus.

It was a year to the day since my first visit to Turning Point. In some ways it felt like entering a place frozen in amber. Enshrined memories converted every shelf into a time capsule.

As I came around a corner, I saw where Kirk stood a year ago after our interview beside a pair of front-page newspaper stories announcing the failed assassination attempt against President Donald Trump.

Now each department displays news clippings of Trump delivering Kirk's eulogy.

A museum-like reverence hung in the air. But around Kirk's empty chairs, team members pulsed with a restless determination to do everything they could to keep their founder's vision alive.

Tyler Bowyer, Turning Point Action chief operating officer, answers interview questions in his office at Turning Point headquarters in Phoenix, Ariz., on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

"You've got to prove that you can actually make an impact, that you can do things that we were working towards prior to his assassination," Turning Point Action COO Tyler Bowyer told me.

At Erika's insistence, Kirk's producers Andrew Kolvet and Blake Neff emerged from behind the scenes to take over his daily program, doing their best to opine on the issues as Kirk would if he were here.

Meanwhile, the political infrastructure Kirk told me was Turning Point's "lifeblood" has expanded at a pace Bowyer and Turning Point USA COO Justin Streiff are struggling to match amid maximum turnout at chapter leadership summits, record-breaking renewals for school chapters and a landslide GOP primary win in Arizona's gubernatorial election.

While Turning Point's activist machine remains a vehicle for the conservative empire Kirk built, it also finds itself at the nexus of forces tearing the American right apart in the wake of his death.

Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA founder and president, talks with employees at Turning Point headquarters in Phoenix, Ariz., on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

In interviews with the Deseret News, the leaders at Turning Point recognized Kirk as irreplaceable. His influence was unique, they said, because it ran so much deeper than the political fights that made him famous. They hope his legacy will be quieter; a movement of strong marriages, big families and full churches; something akin to a revival.

It is not lost on them that this effect might be impossible to replicate. The void Kirk left can only be filled one way, they agreed: young people putting down their phones, and picking up the mic.

The Day Everything Changed Charlie Kirk speaks before he was shot during Turning Point USA’s visit to Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

It was an unusually warm 90 degrees in Orem as Kirk sat down beneath his trademark "prove me wrong" tent at the bottom of an outdoor amphitheater overflowing with around 3,000 fans and curious onlookers.

Back in 2018, when Kirk first decided that college debates would form the core of his youth outreach, he could barely turn out 300 students. By 2025, scenes of Kirk scoring viral clips on the quad were ubiquitous.

Kirk had just finished lowering his mic after clarifying a question from his interlocutor about gun violence when a "pop" rang out. The blood, and the chaos that followed, were immediately uploaded across the internet.

Read the rest from Deseret here... Meanwhile, as the Epoch Times notes further... 

Impact Reverberates

For many, Kirk’s death became the modern-day equivalent of the 1963 assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy - an unforgettable moment of intense personal and national significance.

“It was traumatic, I think, for the entire country - of all ages, but really for Gen Z and millennials,” Kolvet said. Those groups born after 1981 grew up watching Kirk’s videos on the internet, logging billions of views.

“After his death, it was almost like round two,” Kolvet said. “Everybody rediscovered all the videos again - and a wider audience did.”

Through debates and public speeches since early adulthood, Kirk became a driving force in U.S. politics. He was credited with lassoing young voters for Trump’s election wins in 2016 and 2024. He also had contact with foreign leaders, such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

His regular themes were faith in Jesus Christ, advocacy for traditional marriages and parenthood, and his belief that America is the greatest nation to ever exist.

The crowd reacts after Charlie Kirk was shot during Turning Point’s visit to Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

But Kirk’s blunt declarations about race, gender, and politics also stoked controversy. Defenders say Kirk debated passionately but civilly, and they alleged that some critics misconstrued his remarks.

Challenges loom for those continuing Kirk’s crusade. High on their list is building TPUSA further and educating younger voters about the dangers of socialism.

At the same time, pursuing justice and the truth about Kirk’s assassination have become part of the organization’s mission, too, Kolvet said.

TPUSA tries to ignore the conspiracy theories that still swirl, he said, dismissing those as “distractions.” But questions, as well as wild speculation, continue to be raised with each stage of the criminal case against alleged gunman Tyler Robinson.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, a friend of Kirk, said during an Aug. 20 podcast that it “enrages” him when people make accusations implicating people close to Kirk such as his widow, who now heads TPUSA.

Prosecutors allege that Robinson, 23, assassinated Kirk over political differences. Yet Kirk had once stated: “We heal our divides by talking to people we disagree with. ... You heal the country when you allow disagreement.”

Turning Point Surges

Within weeks of Kirk’s slaying, 120,000 students inquired about starting a new Turning Point chapter, according to TPUSA.

Following that initial surge, growth has continued at a more manageable rate, Kolvet said, while still tallying large increases.

TPUSA reported a 300 percent jump in church partnerships, a 200 percent increase in Club America groups at high schools, and 64 percent more college chapters, he said.

More than 3,500 schools are represented, according to the group’s website.

A TPUSA women’s gathering drew 3,000 attendees to San Antonio in June.

The next month, a chapter leadership gathering in Washington attracted 2,500 young people. That was double the previous year’s total, Kolvet said, noting that two-thirds of those participants became involved with TPUSA after Kirk’s death.

More than 1,200 employees and 1 million donors - 95 percent of whom gave $1,000 or less - support the group’s activities, he said.

Kolvet cited other indirect trends that could reflect Kirk’s influence: surges in church attendance, baptisms, and Bible sales.

And across the nation, young people emulating Kirk’s “happy warrior” style sometimes make headlines. In Indiana, an angry woman confronted a 17-year-old girl who was sitting at a TPUSA table and handing out plain red, white, and blue bracelets.

Despite the woman hurling profanity and insults, the teen didn’t back down.

“There’s story after story like that,” Kolvet said. “It’s really inspiring. ... That’s an amazing legacy that just continues rolling on.”

Concerns as Midterms Approach

Longtime Florida political analyst Susan MacManus, a retired professor, said the aftermath of Kirk’s death did seem to “turn down the temperature” in politics—at first.

However, the atmosphere seems to be getting uglier again, she said, as the crucial Nov. 3 midterm elections approach.

All 435 U.S. House districts and 33 of the 50 Senate seats are up for grabs. Republicans now hold a slim majority in both chambers. If they lose too many races to Democrats in November, Trump’s second-term agenda could be greatly hampered.

“I’m fearful that we’re moving away from people trying to get along - and back toward the nastiness,” she said.

On one side, MacManus said, she sees people who “glorify” political violence or vitriol; on the other, people in “Kirk mode” are calling for “a more peaceful environment and dialog.”

She senses a strong commitment in the people who want to follow Kirk’s example and his “life model,” as well as his views on what constitutes good governance.

Many fans of Kirk adopted the slogan “I am Charlie,” showing that they were stepping up to fill the void left by his death.

“[They seem dedicated to] making sure that our voice is heard and that our way of doing politics is heard,” MacManus said. “And we won’t back down.”

Opposition Still Obvious

Try as they might, people who try to spread positive messaging have their work cut out for them in an election year, when inflammatory language seems to be on the rise, she said.

And TPUSA still sometimes encounters violent or disruptive opposition at its events.

At the June women’s summit in San Antonio, TPUSA’s video journalists documented police clashing with protesters outside the venue. They also reported that one person dressed like Kirk was mimicking his assassination.

Meanwhile, legislative attempts to honor Kirk have at times become political hot potatoes.

Although lawmakers in 20 states - chiefly Republicans - proposed Kirk-inspired laws, a designated “Charlie Kirk Day,” or physical memorials, many of the measures hit snags. While Democrats often joined Republicans in condemning Kirk’s assassination, they typically opposed honoring him.

Some of the proposals did succeed, such as a Kansas law allowing students to sue schools over interfering with free speech and a Tennessee law urging “the positive impacts of religion” to be taught in American history courses.

Carolina Estevez, a New Jersey psychologist, explained why pro- and anti-Kirk factions could both become more entrenched in their views.

“His death changed him from a political communicator to a political symbol, and symbols frequently last longer than arguments,” she said.

A political assassination such as Kirk’s “may increase in-group solidarity,” she said, noting that the victim may be seen as a symbol of “perceived threats” to the whole group.

Wildaliz Caro, a licensed clinical psychologist in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, said, “The continued influence of Charlie Kirk may well rely on collective memory.”

“After a leader dies, movements tend to simplify their image,” she said. “Complex individuals are now simply symbols of something much bigger: grievance, identity, or cause ... supporters respond not just to what he said, but to what he has come to mean.”

As a result, the opposing factions may have an even harder time relating to each other, Caro said.

Socratic Method

However, Kirk knew how to connect with different types of people.

“Charlie was a bridge-builder with the generations,” Kolvet said. “He could speak ‘Boomer,’ but he could speak Gen Z. ... He understood how to speak to donors and to the political class, but he understood how to speak to kids, too.”

Kirk decided against going to college. Instead, he schooled himself in religion, history, politics, and philosophy—forming the foundation for the way he lived and the way he approached debates.

“He created a model, a way to think about things, the way to argue through things, a way to defend our values in America, unapologetically, courageously, full-throated,” Kolvet said.

Kirk explained his methods in podcasts, including during an episode of The Charlie Kirk Show on Aug. 18, 2025—less than a month before he was killed.

A listener wanted to know how conservatives can talk to liberals without devolving into name-calling.

Kirk advised: “Always make sure they’re the ones freaking out ... and use the Socratic method.”

The method is named after the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. After a person made an assertion, he would ask questions that eventually could reveal contradictions in the responder’s own logic.

Some people will refuse to change their minds no matter what. But others who seem to be staunch can be persuaded by using the Socratic method persistently “to get toward some approximation of truth,” Kirk said.

And, Kirk said, debaters ought to remember: “You’re not just debating a person. You’re performing for the audience of everyone else. And I try to do that at our prove-me-wrong events.”

Kirk seemed to have a special ability to inspire people who were open-minded and free thinkers, Kolvet said. Those people would walk away with “a fire in [their] belly that was just so contagious.”

Opposing Spread of Socialism

Through its Pick Up the Mic initiative, TPUSA is moving its founder’s legacy forward.

“Charlie Kirk built a movement from under a tent with one table, one mic, and a line of students stepping forward to debate. Now the tent is back, and a new generation of TPUSA chapters is bringing that presence to the center of campus,” the group’s website says, calling this “free speech in action.”

Kolvet predicted that 40 years from now, the “crop of young leaders that he inspired are going to go on and do great things, and they will be the firewall for freedom that this country needs.”

Before he died, Kirk made it clear to those leaders-in-training that they must stand firm against the spread of socialism.

“We’re doing our part to tell young people that free market capitalism is the most moral, proven, and effective system,” Kolvet said. “It’s lifted more people out of poverty across the world than any other economic system has.”

In contrast, socialism leads to stagnation, despair, and seizure of private property under communist rule—the antithesis of the American bedrock of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

“It’s tempting to go down this other path, but it doesn’t work, and that’s the problem,” Kolvet said. “And so, we are winning that debate with our people, but there’s a lot of people that still need to be reached and still need to hear that message.”

Justice for Kirk

Another important objective for TPUSA is fighting against “Charlie Kirk trutherism” - the rejection of officials’ accounts about what happened the day he was killed.

A “cottage industry” has sprung up around that skepticism, Kolvet said.

The antidote is for the justice system to handle the alleged gunman’s case properly and in the open, he said, noting, “Getting justice for Charlie is actually really, really important for the country.”

While it’s healthy to question government, “there has to be a foundation of rule of law, of justice, of facts, evidence, logic that undergirds all of our institutions,” he said.

Pursuing justice for Kirk “feels like a battle for truth itself,” Kolvet said.

“It’s part of a larger mission of fighting for the country. ... We want to make sure that we don’t lose all faith in our institutions, right?” he said.

Balancing all those considerations is challenging, but Kolvet said he believes that “God is doing a work through Charlie’s life.”

“Charlie’s life will continue to be one of the most important and pivotal expressions of God’s providential hand on this country for years to come,” he said.

“And I believe, on some level, I’m comforted by the fact that, yes, we can choose to be a part of that.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 15:20

Melania Trump's Team Finally Breaks Silence On Natalie Harp Frenzy

A key advisor to First Lady Melania Trump has broken his silence against the nonstop media frenzy surrounding President Donald Trump and loyal White House aide Natalie Harp.

Evan Vucci/Reuters/Aaron Schwarz/Getty Images

The speculation, circulating for weeks across mainstream and tabloid outlets, concerns whether Trump's working relationship with the 35-year-old aide exceeds professional norms - fueled by Harp's near-constant presence at his side in the Oval Office, at public events and on weekend golf outings, and by the first lady's own scarcity. Melania has appeared in public on roughly 40 days this year, regularly skipping events her husband attends.

Marc Beckman, exclusive senior advisor to the first lady, didn't mince words in an interview released Wednesday, Sept. 9 on host Stella Escobedo's YouTube show, the Daily Mail reports.

Escobedo set up the question by accusing the press of being "endlessly obsessed with garbage tabloid gossip of Natalie Harp, who, by the way, is a hardworking White House aide to President Trump, a cancer survivor who POTUS helped get off label treatment for and saved her life."

"The liberal media is ridiculous," Beckman said. "They don't know anything about the first lady's personal and private life. They don't even take the time to put us on air to cover these incredible achievements that our first lady has accomplished."

First Lady Melania Trump’s exclusive senior advisor, @MarcBeckman, responds to tabloid gossip about White House aide Natalie Harp.

MSM would rather focus on gossip than cover our First Lady’s real achievements helping America’s youth. pic.twitter.com/FXl1HQzRPK

— Stella Escobedo (@StellaEscoTV) September 9, 2026

Beckman then defended Harp and blasted the press for its obsession with tabloid-style rumors about the Trump family instead of real reporting.

"What they need to do is look in the mirror because they're all attacking this hardworking, very talented, very intelligent person in Natalie Harp," he said. "And they're obsessed with the gossip about this first family. And I can tell you firsthand that it's time for them to become journalists and stop looking at the gossip."

Harp, the 35-year-old special assistant to President Trump, has spent years flying under the radar as one of the president's most constant aides. Insiders call her the "human printer" because she packs a portable printer everywhere, churning out hard copies of news articles, social-media posts and anything else Trump wants to see on paper, according to the anti-Trump publication The Bulwark.

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

That low profile shattered last month when Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) name-dropped her at a Georgia campaign rally, accusing Trump of preferring to "build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar" rather than fully attend to his official duties.

"The media doesn't know about the first lady's private life. Period. The media doesn't know about the first family's life. Period," Beckman added. "And what they do is they harp on the issues of gossip rather than going ahead and covering the substantial achievements that this First Lady and the President also have conducted during this past year and a half."

It is the second time in three weeks Beckman has been deployed to answer for the first lady. Last month he went on "Fox & Friends" to explain why Melania had publicly denied any connection to Jeffrey Epstein, saying she had decided "enough is enough" and had "debunked all of the lies surrounding her and Epstein." The pitch was the same then as now: cover the accomplishments, drop the rumors.

Harp first caught Trump's eye in 2019 when she publicly credited his Right to Try legislation with opening the door to experimental treatment for bone cancer, the New York Times reports. She spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention, worked at One America News from 2020 to 2022, and joined the campaign before moving to the White House staff.

Beckman's remarks come after Trump gave sizable holiday gifts to four White House aides, including Harp, according to new financial disclosures released by the administration.

The gifts of $45,000 each to Harp, communications adviser Margo Martin, and deputy director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris - as well as a $20,000 gift for director of Oval Office operations Walt Nauta - were noted in the staffers' annual financial disclosure forms published by the administration last week. The payments have drawn ethical and legal scrutiny over whether a president can make personal cash gifts of that size to his own employees.

Watch the entire interview below:

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 15:00

Trump Warns 'Activity' Seen At Iran's Pickaxe Mountain Nuclear Site: 'Don't Get Cute'

This week there's been more mainstream reporting and chatter centered on Iran's Pickaxe Mountain. The nuclear development site has been of special interest and focus to the Trump administration due to how immensely fortified it is, meaning the Iranians can conduct uranium enrichment activities deep under the mountain if they so desire.

The US and IAEA are essentially operating blind on this, and that's exactly how the Iranians want it of course. A Thursday Bloomberg report begins: "The United Nations atomic watchdog said it’s observed construction activity at Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, a heavily-fortified site suspected of housing nuclear-related activities."

Vantor/Reuters

It should be noted that Tehran has long complained that IAEA officials have leaked sensitive information to Israeli spies and leaders. The Iranians see it as a compromised organization.

Bloomberg continues, also referencing its own prior reporting: "The International Atomic Energy Agency has yet to inspect inside the tunnel complex but remote imagery indicates new movement at the site just south of Tehran’s main uranium-enrichment plant, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg Television."

President Trump has on at least two occasions drawn attention to the new reporting this week.

"We notice there’s a little activity at Pickaxe. I would advise Iran not ‌to get ‌cute because we ‌will have to hit them very hard," Trump said in a speech at Wednesday night's midterm Republican convention.

Before this, Trump has threatened major attack on the mountain, though some pundits and analysts have speculated that it would take nothing less than dropping a tactical nuke in order to destroy or at least severely damage the fortification.

Some crazy hawks appear to lately be calling for just such a nuclear escalation from Washington, amid persisting frustration over fierce Iranian resistance and lack of 'options' the Trump administration has left itself with, also with negotiations at this point appearing totally abandoned.

Pentagon build Iran NUCLEAR PICKAXE MOUNTAIN in New Mexico

'ONILY NUKE can damage facility' — Iran Observer pic.twitter.com/M0H6oBlepx

— RT (@RT_com) September 10, 2026

Trump's Wednesday warning to Tehran was coupled with this surprising statement about the war extending to after the November midterm elections: "I think the war will end immediately after the election because they can't hold out any longer," the president told reporters.

He has continued to warn - amid growing public pushback over an unpopular extended war - that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. However even the CIA has long assessed that there's no clear or high-level evidence that Tehran is actually bent on achieving weapons status. But if anything, the war itself may have pushed the country in the direction of getting a nuke.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 14:20

Record-Breaking 30Y Auction Sees Huge Stop Through, 2nd Highest Foreign Demand On Record

One day after a blowout 10Y auction, which saw massive buyside demand thanks to the surge in yields earlier after the Bessent buyback disappointed which led to a huge concession into yesterday';s 10Y auction, moments ago we got the week's final coupon auctio when the Treasury sold $22BN in 30Y paper in an auction that was on the verge of blowing away many records.

Starting at the top, the auction priced at a high yield of 5.308%, up from 5.212% in August and the 5th consecutive 30Y auction pricing above 5%. It was also the highest yield going back all the way to August 2001. Just as notably, the auction stopped through the When Issued 5.335% by a whopping 2.7bps, the second highest stop through on record!

The bid to cover was likely impressive, surging to 2.612 from 2.392, the highest going back to February. 

The internals were even more impressive: Indirects were awarded a whopping 79.5%, up from 66.9% in August and the second highest on record (only Oct 2024 was higher).

And with Directs roughly in line at 18.3%, down from 21.6% (and below the 22.1% recent average), Dealers were left holding just 2.21%, down from 11.51%, and the lowest on record by a huge margin.

Overall, this was not only a stellar auction, but was perhaps the 2nd strongest 30Y auction on record. And yet, while yields across the curve did dip after the blockbuster auction results hit, the selloff has promptly resumed and 10Y yields are once again pushing wider, set to take out a new multi-year high as they near Bessent's red line of 5.00%

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 13:36

Trump Floats $5,000 "Stimmy" Checks For Every US Adult Citizen If GOP Holds Congress

During a speech Wednesday night at the GOP's midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, President Trump proposed sending every adult American citizen a $5,000 "Trump dividend" if Republicans retain control of both chambers of Congress in November.

"If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them," Trump said, "I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000."

He continued, "It will be called the Trump dividend," adding, "Now all we have to do is win."

NEW: President Trump makes a major promise at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas: $5,000 for every adult U.S. citizen if Republicans win both the House and Senate in the midterms.

“I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for… pic.twitter.com/XqiphY7y8a

— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 10, 2026

Trump told the audience at the American Airlines Center: "Your vote will decide whether our country stumbles at the starting gate of our next 250 years or surges forward and never looks back."

Quick math: A $5,000 payout to 270 million adults would cost the US government approximately $1.35 trillion. The proposal comes as US public debt surpassed $40 trillion for the first time in recent weeks.

Bloomberg strategist Mark Cudmore warned that a large fiscal injection could intensify existing market pressures, including weaker Treasuries, dollar depreciation, and demand for commodities and other real assets.

"The general reaction from markets is very muted precisely as everyone sees almost zero chance of this happening. The US economy is strong and already at risk of running too hot, so pumping in so much extra fiscal stimulus when under funding pressure will exacerbate all the dynamics we're already focused on in markets: weaker Treasuries, a depreciating dollar and a rush to commodities and real assets," Cudmore said.

The proposal also arrives as Trump acknowledges that significant fuel-price relief may not come until after the midterms. The national average for gasoline remains above the politically sensitive $ 4-per-gallon level, while diesel prices are at record highs. Trump also indicated that the Iran conflict could continue beyond the elections.

President Trump's approval rating is around 38%, according to reporting by The Guardian.

Vice President JD Vance said that these proposed post-election direct payments to Americans could be funded by revenue from Trump's wide-ranging tariff program.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 13:00