This Week In Every State — 9/21/26

It might be hard to believe, but we’re now only 42 days away from taking back our country with an unstoppable blue wave in the midterm elections. As such, desperation is building within Trump administration to avoid an inevitable defeat, made especially evident by this week’s headlines.

Trump Bans Non-MAGA Reporters From the White House

In his latest meltdown, the president on Friday announced he is banning all non-favorable news coverage from the White House, starting with reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico.

This ban is not expected to stand up in court, however, as Trump had previously and unsuccessfully tried to block the Associated Press from covering events at the White House after the industry-leading organization refused to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the ‘Gulf of America.’ Although parts of that ban remain in effect as it awaits an appeals court decision, a lower court ruled it was largely unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds and reinstated most of journalists’ access.

Today, media advocates are arguing the same in this case, emphasizing that reporters have an obligation and constitutional right to cover public events at the White House.

“That protection does not depend on whether the president likes a news organization’s coverage, agrees with its reporting, or approves of the questions its journalists ask,” reminded Jacqui Heinrich, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who has emerged as one of the president’s top media adversaries, believes the ban was likely motivated by Trump aide Natalie Harp, who reportedly showed her boss a sample of negative coverage from the affected outlets.

Meanwhile, during the previous administration, President Biden never restricted Fox News’ access to the White House, even though that organization is explicitly a right-wing propaganda machine that has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to settle lawsuits resulting from its decades of politically motivated defamation and misinformation.

For that matter, even Fox News has joined the blacklisted broadcasters in solidarity on this occasion, suspending its White House press coverage until the ban is lifted.

It’s a striking reminder of just how unprecedented this move is and speaks volumes about the rapid decline of this administration. As the situation with Iran continues to deteriorate, with gas and diesel prices reaching new highs, and as millions of Americans are set to be forced off their health care starting in January, the president and his press team are now fully incapable of answering hard and fair questions from journalists.

It’s the final proof that this president and the members of his corrupt administration don’t have any plans to make life better for anyone other than the billionaires to whom they owe their power.

James Talarico Surges In Texas

Meanwhile, Trump’s White House press ban isn’t the administration’s only attempt at cancel culture to have backfired this month. Despite being blocked from airing on cable television by the FCC, James Talarico’s latest interview with Jimmy Kimmel has already surpassed 12 million views only a week after being uploaded.

There’s an incredible grassroots energy growing within Texas, where voters are ready to flip the Lone Star State blue and end decades of corrupt Republican leadership — beginning with a US Senate candidate bent on restoring the American dream.

Of course, Talarico’s viral interview isn’t the only indicator of this momentum. As of this month, even conservative pollsters are giving him a slight edge against his Trump-backed opponent Ken Paxton in the general election, marking the first time in decades that a Democrat has become the favorite to win in Texas. This year, there truly are no ‘red’ states — Americans are fed up with Republicans’ backwards agenda, and everything is up for grabs so long as voters show up in record numbers.

However, the president’s statewide allies aren’t going to make it easy. Namely, the state has decided to close 92 polling locations across Tarrant County, one of the state’s most populous regions, relative to 2022. Talarico is calling the closures a targeted act of voter suppression, as November is widely expected to be one of the highest turnout midterm elections in modern history.

Moreover, over 1.2 million Texas voters have had their voter registrations suspended pending updates to their address, potentially without their knowledge. Although the state considers these purges common practice to maintain accurate voter rolls, they could become the deciding factor in such a tight race.

Texas voters have until October 5 to verify and update their registrations, and can check their status on the secretary of state’s website.

Regardless of what state you’re in, it’s important to make sure you’re registered and have a plan to vote. We can’t take the polls for granted — we’re still facing an uphill battle, and it’s going to take all of us to make this blue wave a reality.

Elon Musk Launches Scam Voter Registration Site to Steal Your Data

Nevertheless, it remains just as important to recognize and avoid voter registration scams. Trump’s allies are trying to suppress voter turnout every way they can, and that includes malicious websites designed to steal your data and leave you unable to vote.

The biggest offender is VoteSafe.org, a website that is neither safe nor will register you to vote, coincidentally owned and operated by Elon Musk’s “America PAC.”

The site asks users for a wide range of personally identifying information, including your full name, date of birth, address, email, and phone number. Its privacy policy acknowledges that it can (and will) share or sell that information to third parties and Trump-aligned business interests.

It offers no guarantee of relevant election updates or an accurate way to register, but your personal information will surely be exploited by Donald Trump and his allies for power and profit.

Instead, use your state’s registration website (often ending in .gov) or the federal vote.gov portal for easier navigation — but without the intrusive data collection of private alternatives.

Stay vigilant; let’s win this.

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