‘This party is at a crossroads.’ John Oliver last night devastatingly connected lots and lots of dots among Nazis, antisemitism and the Republican Party.
■ Watch here.
‘The president’s statements … are racist.’ Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed condemns the president’s attacks on him during a Michigan campaign swing Sunday.
■ Pro-Israel Political Update columnist Steve Sheffey: “El-Sayed has clearly and on more than one occasion disavowed the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, has never disavowed Christian nationalism.”
■ Milwaukee’s archbishop is apologizing for a White House visit that he says left him feeling “manipulated.”
■ Popular Information warns Wisconsin voters to beware a “dirty-tricks operation” linked to a Republican operative in Oklahoma.
■ Ohio’s biggest newspaper is backing Democrat Amy Acton for governor, condemning Republican Vivek Ramaswamy for weaponizing the sexual abuse Acton suffered as a child.
‘It is rare that I have no complaints about NYT political reporting.’ And yet press critic Dan Froomkin says The New York Times nailed it with a “really good piece” about Trump’s plans “to interfere in the voting process before Election Day—essentially trying to nullify an opponent’s potential win before the game has been called” (gift link).
■ Law Dork Chris Geidner reviews a rare Sunday federal court proceeding: “Lawsuits in California and Alaska are expected to fail—but they also show how far A.G. Todd Blanche will go to advance Trump’s aims.”
■ Foreshadowing an Election Day “unlike anything seen at the polls in modern times,” the AP says thousands of observers will descend on polling places across the country a week from tomorrow.
■ Ready to cast your ballot? The Chicago Public Square Voter Guide Guide is ready and waiting.
‘Saddam Hussein opened up a Cheesecake Factory.’ Barack Obama’s rip on Trump’s White House makeover impressed columnist Jeff Tiedrich …
■ … who adds: “MAGA completely lost its shit.”
‘Brazil, you did it!’ Wonkette’s Gary Legum hails the outcome of that nation’s presidential runoff—despite “all the money MAGA fascists and Donald Trump’s far-right oligarchs spent” …
■ … bucking what the AP calls “a regional trend of victories for right-of-center presidential candidates allied with Trump.”
‘Snipers for Trump.’ Investigative journalist Russ Baker recommends paying attention to Trump’s security moves in Washington: “When you combine snipers on an arch, a military bunker and pulling Trump’s inner circle to live on military bases—it begins to look like preparations for something.”
■ Law professor Joyce Vance: “It’s Trump, attempting to signify that he has king-like powers over our nation’s capital itself, and that no one can stop him from acting on his whims.”
‘COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER.’ LateNighter’s Jed Rosenzweig: Two days after Bill Maher used his HBO show Real Time “to defend his second White House dinner with the president—while still making plenty of jokes at Trump’s expense—Trump responded with a 1,323-word Truth Social broadside calling Maher … a ‘major POTHEAD’ and a ‘coward,’ before ultimately telling him: ‘Bill: Don’t call anymore.’”
■ It was Trump’s longest social media post ever—out of more than 97,000 since 2011.
■ CNN’s Brian Stelter says it included “some genuine news”—confirming reports that Trump’s considering eliminating reporters’ White House workspace.
Not so fast. Repairs to the Lake Street Bridge are running behind, so CTA Green and Pink line riders will have to endure at least another couple of days of rerouting delays—with shuttle buses connecting the Clinton and Clark/Lake stations.
■ Reporter David Struett outlines the unprecedented power the Regional Transportation Authority’s successor agency, the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, has to buy and develop land near transit—options that one urban development watcher says “virtually no other transit agency across the country has.”
■ Block Club: Drivers have obstructed a bike lane outside Chicago’s main post office for years—despite free parking nearby.
So: An uptick in tricks? Halloween candy sales are running slow this year.
■ Gov. Pritzker over the weekend donned a Halloween costume that some might see as reflecting his political aspirations: “To infinity and beyond.”
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