October 17, 2026 - Trump Pauses New Russia Sanctions

Jeremy Gruber, senior vice president of Open Primaries, joined me in the studio on Thursday, and he made a point I can’t shake. We’ve been conditioned to talk about primaries in the possessive: the Republican primary, the Democratic primary. As if the parties own them.

They don’t pay for them. Taxpayers do. They don’t run them. Government election officials do. Yet in 16 states, Pennsylvania among them, an independent who helps foot the bill can’t cast a ballot.

The usual retort is: just join a party. Gruber calls that compelled association, and plenty of voters are already complying under protest. His group’s polling found roughly 40 percent of registered Democrats in New York City consider themselves independents who signed up only to get a say.

And the primary is where the say is. With most general-election races uncompetitive and many uncontested, being shut out in the spring means being shut out, period.

A caller from Maryland pressed the strongest counterargument: parties have a First Amendment right to decide who picks their nominees. Gruber’s answer was that parties are free to choose nominees privately, on their own dime, whenever they like. What they shouldn’t get to do is borrow the government’s machinery and then lock the door.

He also pushed back on my favorite selling point. Open primaries, he said, aren’t about producing moderates. They’re about representation. If a district leans conservative, its representative will likely be conservative, and if it leans progressive, so be it. The point is that the winner should answer to everyone in the district, not just the narrow slice who vote in a closed primary.

That isn’t a left or right value. It’s one person, one vote.

Our full conversation is well worth your time. You’ll find the link to watch the interview on YouTube in today’s newsletter.

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President Donald Trump has suspended a sweeping new package of Russia sanctions he recently signed into law, citing the national interest and drawing criticism from Democrats who accused him of backing away from putting pressure on Moscow.

Associated Press

Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said a teacher tackled the 16-year-old gunman inside a Silver Rail Elementary special-needs classroom before a 36-year-old father retrieved a pistol from his car and fatally shot him, after the teen killed three young students and 25-year-old staffer Megan Lambert.

The Oregonian

Elon Musk reportedly approached President Donald Trump about slowing Starlink’s military-grade service in Ukraine, a move that disrupted Kyiv’s ability to defend against Russian drone and missile attacks despite Musk later denying responsibility.

The Telegraph

Anthony Scaramucci reacted to Katie Zacharia's departure as White House press secretary after just five days, quipping on “X” that "records are made to be broken" — a nod to his own 11-day stint as communications director in President Trump's first term.

The Hill

Forecasts point to Democrats flipping the House and threatening the Senate on Nov. 3, but a decade of Trump-era polling misses has both parties wondering whether surveys are once again undercounting Republican voters.

Yahoo! News

A little-noticed measure of bond-market risk, the term premium, has climbed to a 12-year high, raising concerns that investors are increasingly wary of economic and geopolitical uncertainty despite uncertainty over what is driving the surge.

CNN

Americans will turn their clocks back an hour on Nov. 1 after Congress adjourned without passing the Sunshine Protection Act, despite President Donald Trump's push to make daylight saving time permanent and House approval of the bill in July.

USA Today

Ford CEO Jim Farley and biographer Walter Isaacson argue America should treat skilled trades as prestigious, well-paid careers and invest in training the next generation, invoking Eisenhower's 1958 National Defense Education Act as a model for a national push.

The Washington Post

Republicans are facing growing competitiveness in traditionally red Montana, as the state’s 1st Congressional District is now a tossup with an independent Senate candidate, Seth Bodnar, narrowly leading in one recent poll.

Newsweek

Retired University of Pennsylvania Professor and Author Carolyn Marvin was charged with disorderly conduct after Philadelphia police said she repeatedly stepped in front of an Uber delivery robot near Reading Terminal Market and ignored orders to move, part of what she calls a First Amendment protest against robots replacing human workers.

6abc Philadelphia