September 10, 2026 - Trump Pledges $5k "Dividend" if GOP Wins

President Trump's executive order on mail-in voting sounds reasonable: make sure only citizens vote, and use the U.S. Mail to enforce it. The fight now at the Supreme Court is over the enforcement half - a postal rule that lets the Post Office refuse to carry ballots to voters a state hasn't uploaded to a federal portal.

Here's what gets less attention. A gatekeeper needs a list of citizens to check. There isn't one. The United States has never kept a roster of its own citizens, and Supreme Court briefing this week records the Postal Service conceding it "has no role in verifying whether mail voters are eligible."

The order's answer: have Homeland Security and Social Security build one from scratch, deliver it to every state 60 days before each federal election, and prioritize prosecuting local officials who mail a ballot to anyone not on it. But birth records live in county courthouses. Federal files cover subsets - naturalizations, passports, a Social Security citizenship box built to pay benefits. When states ran voter rolls through a federal tool built on that data, Texas, Missouri and Alabama flagged thousands of citizens as noncitizens.

Senator Chris Coons told me Wednesday on SiriusXM that five of his Wilmington staffers do nothing but fix Social Security, VA and IRS mistakes for one million Delawareans. "We have 330 million people," he said. "How many mistaken records are there?"

Coons also noted that conservatives and libertarians have long resisted any federal list - of gun owners, of addresses, of citizens. Now a Republican administration is asking Washington to compile one. 

There's a real debate to be had about a national ID. This order skips it, and orders up the list in 60 days. 

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President Trump pledged a $5,000 “dividend” for every adult U.S. citizen if Republicans retain control of both chambers of Congress in November, though the proposal’s legality and funding remain unclear.

The Hill

The Seattle Seahawks overcame an early deficit and quarterback injury to rally past the New England Patriots 13-10, with Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s 45-yard touchdown and three fourth-quarter interceptions sealing a repeat result of the 2026 superbowl rematch.

ESPN

Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman will appear in a video at the Republican convention Wednesday praising President Trump and GOP Sen. Dave McCormick for aiding the steel industry, a stunning cameo less than eight weeks before the midterms that escalates his estrangement from the Democratic Party.

Axios

New Apple CEO John Ternus, in his first keynote after succeeding Tim Cook, unveiled the iPhone Duo, a passport-sized folding phone starting at $1,999 and shipping October 23, marking the most radical iPhone redesign in nearly two decades.

NPR

President Donald Trump told reporters the war with Iran will end "immediately" after the November 3 US midterm elections, accusing Tehran of stalling to boost Democrats and saying he is no longer seeking negotiations as oil topped $100 a barrel and further US strikes were promised.

Al Jazeera

California and 22 other states, joined by the League of Women Voters, urged the Supreme Court to leave in place a Massachusetts judge's preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from enforcing new U.S. Postal Service requirements on mail-in ballots before the November elections.

SCOTUSblog

Trauma counselor Tara Bane, whose husband Michael died in the North Tower nearly 25 years ago, shares four books — including her own new memoir, 'Evolution of the Heart' — that helped her survive loss and guide others through grief.

6abc Action News

As the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL each investigate personnel for suspicious wagers, leagues fear that the explosion of prop betting and prediction markets could erode fan trust in game integrity and, eventually, the value of their lucrative media rights deals.

The Hollywood Reporter

The NCAA said it has no authority to overturn Michigan's controversial 13-12 win over Western Michigan, even as the Mid-American Conference appeals a booth review that added a second back to the clock and allowed Bryce Underwood a final Hail Mary that produced the winning touchdown.

Detroit Free Press

Nick Dargie, one of 12 jurors in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial, said the lone holdout who blocked an 11-1 not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity verdict never cited evidence or testimony to support his position, prompting the note to Judge William Sullivan that led to the Sept. 4 mistrial.

ABC News