Since returning to the White House in January, President Trump has dismantled the American government’s efforts to combat foreign disinformation. The problem is that Russia has not stopped spreading it.
How much that matters can now be seen in Moldova, a small but strategic European nation that has since the end of the Cold War looked to Europe and the United States to extract itself from Moscow’s shadow.
The Trump administration has slashed diplomatic and financial support for the country’s fight against Russian influence, even as the Kremlin has conducted what researchers and European officials described as an intense campaign to sway that country’s parliamentary elections, scheduled for Sept. 28.
The Russians have flooded social media with fake posts, videos and entire websites that are created and spread on TikTok, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube using increasingly effective artificial intelligence tools.
One post impersonated OK!, the celebrity magazine based in New York, in an attempt to smear Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, with a preposterous accusation involving celebrity sperm donors.
A year ago, when the country last held elections, Biden administration officials pushed back against such campaigns, urging platforms like Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, to do more to identify trolls or inauthentic accounts. No more.
“The Russians now are able to basically control the information environment in Moldova in a way that they could only have dreamed a year ago,” said Thomas O. Melia, a former official at the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development….
“Republicans brace for redistricting ‘catastrophe’ in California”
Republicans wield almost no power in California. But as a moribund state party gathered here over the weekend, it confronted an even grimmer reality now suddenly settling in: If the state gerrymanders its congressional map, they’ll practically be an endangered species.
“It’s a guillotine,” said Dale Quasny, a party delegate and real-estate broker from suburban Los Angeles County. “We won’t be able to pick up the pieces and move forward. I mean, we were making a little headway, but this would be a catastrophe.”
ong locked out of power in Sacramento, one thing that Republicans here and nationally have counted on for years from California was influence in U.S. House races — and the ability to help deliver Republican majorities by winning battleground races in the state’s Central Valley and Orange County.
Now they’re on the brink of losing even that — a consequence of the redistricting wars that could cost the GOP as many as five House seats in California.
It is in part the Republican president, Donald Trump, who got them here. The GOP base in the state is as ardently MAGA as anywhere. But it was Trump’s push for a Republican gerrymandering in deep-red Texas that sparked a national battle over redistricting, provoking Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic leaders to respond with a Nov. 4 ballot measure to gerrymander California’s lines.
Even Republicans here, while chiding Newsom, were critical of Trump’s redistricting effort. And as rank-and-file members of the GOP gathered in Orange County for their annual convention, the festivities were overshadowed by angst over the consequences of redistricting in a deep-blue state.
“I’m certainly frustrated that our party’s leadership has not been more proactive in trying to stop a redistricting war,” said Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley, whose seat in the Sacramento suburbs is at risk of being drawn out of existence. “We shouldn’t be having mid-decade redistricting in any state.”
If there is any bright spot for Republicans, it’s that the left has had some difficulty recently with ballot measures. Voters last year rejected statewide proposals to ban forced prison labor, raise the minimum wage and expand rent control. [Non-partisan line-drawing is overwhelmingly popular in California.] And if Republicans can defeat Newsom’s redistricting effort, they would hand him a significant setback on the cusp of a likely 2028 presidential campaign.
Even internal polling from Democrats in the state Legislature suggests the GOP’s messaging on the initiative could be effective with some voters, including that “two wrongs don’t make a right” and that it “undermines democracy.”
While polling shared with Democrats in the state Assembly last week and obtained by POLITICO found a majority of voters support a redrawn map, it also suggests the plan could be vulnerable if Democrats don’t turn out in November, with many independent voters skeptical of the concept of gerrymandering….
“How Does the Gerrymandering Arms Race End?”
Alex Keena, Michael Latner, and Natasha Romero Moskala write at the Substack of the Houston Institute for Race & Justice.
Should Representative Ronny Jackson’s Lawyers Be Sanctioned for Filing a Frivolous Federal Lawsuit Attacking California’s Proposed Ballot Measure Redrawing Congressional Districts?
This ridiculous complaint went nowhere even before federal district judge Matthew Kascmaryk given that Rep. Jackson could not prove irreparable harm before the ballot measure even passes and given that Jackson failed to give notice to the other side. Here’s a news story on the rejection of the motion for a TRO.
But look at the complaint on the merits. The first claim purports to state a violation of the Elections Clause, which gives state legislatures the power to set the rules for conducting federal elections, subject to Congressional override. Jackson’s argument made me laugh out loud. It’s a reverse independent state legislature theory argument, that the CA legislature could not put a state constitutional amendment on the ballot to reverse the use of an independent commission for congressional redistricting for the rest of the decade because that would violate the state constitution. By definition, an amendment to the Constitution that overturns an old provision of the constitution cannot be unconstitutional, and in any case it does not violate the federal Elections Clause limiting the power of the state legislature.
This argument is a frivolous embarrassment.
“The Secret Bundlers Behind Eric Adams’ Campaign Fundraising Revealed”
In October 2023, Mayor Eric Adams showed up for the opening of a new office of a big personal injury law firm, Morgan & Morgan, smiling and posing for selfies in Manhattan’s South Street Seaport. The firm made sure to post photos of the mayor’s seemingly random visit on social media.
The visit, however, was anything but random.
A few months earlier, Adams himself had recruited one of the firm’s lawyers to raise campaign donations for his re-election bid and had granted the lawyer an exclusive in-person sit-down arranged by his chief fundraiser. The lawyer then bundled $21,000 worth of contributions for the mayor.
None of this was in the public eye.
That’s because of a loophole in the law that says campaigns do not have to disclose bundlers as intermediaries — money-raisers who choreograph multiple donations to campaigns — if they’re doing this fundraising in connection to an event paid for, in part or whole, by the campaign. In this case, it was a performance of the musical “New York, New York” the Adams campaign had arranged at the St. James Theater off Broadway, forking over some $75,000 for seats.
The personal injury lawyer was hardly alone. An investigation by THE CITY has found that Adams did not disclose an army of these secret bundlers to the city’s Campaign Finance Board — a lapse that is legal, but ethically dubious, campaign finance experts say.
Hundreds of pages of texts with Adams’ chief fundraiser Brianna Suggs covering both the 2021 and 2025 campaigns that were released recently reveal the identities of these apparent bundlers as they exchanged detailed lists of potential donors they had identified for her and, in some cases, promised to raise six-figures worth of donations.
“U.S. Is Increasingly Exposed to Chinese Election Threats, Lawmakers Say”
Democratic lawmakers warned on Friday that severe staff cuts at an intelligence office that monitors foreign threats to U.S. elections would leave the country vulnerable to interference and subversion from Beijing, as Chinese companies use artificial intelligence as a new weapon in information warfare.
In a letter to Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois and André Carson of Indiana cited a New York Times story about technology developed by the Chinese company GoLaxy that aims to use artificial intelligence to make influence and information operations far more effective.
The representatives, who both serve on the House China committee, said the cuts at Ms. Gabbard’s office were “stripping away the guardrails that protect our nation from foreign influence.”
In recent weeks, Ms. Gabbard announced staff reductions that all but eliminated the Foreign Malign Influence Center, which tracks efforts by adversarial countries to manipulate U.S. elections and warp American dialogue.
Documents uncovered by Vanderbilt University and examined by The Times detailed new technology developed by GoLaxy that aimed to improve China’s ability to influence public debate. GoLaxy, according to the documents, had done work in Hong Kong and Taiwan and collected information about American lawmakers.
GoLaxy, according to the documents, was using artificial intelligence to track large numbers of people in order to generate pro-Chinese propaganda that could shape public debates, promote the views of China’s government and drown out voices opposed to its policies…..
“10 Alaskans born in American Samoa plead not guilty in voting case highlighting citizenship issues”
AP:
Ten Alaska residents pleaded not guilty Thursday to voter misconduct or other charges in cases that have renewed attention on the complex citizenship status of people born in the U.S. territory of American Samoa.
Those facing charges —… Continue reading
Election Conspiracy Theorist Cleta Mitchell Suggests Trump Could Declare a “National Sovereignty” Crisis and Do an Emergency Federal Takeover of the Midterm Elections (He Can’t and It Would Trigger Massive Protests and the Potential End of American Democracy)
Chilling video:
Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell says Trump may try to declare a “national sovereignty” crisis in 2026 to claim “emergency powers” over elections and override the states— People For the American Way (@peoplefor.bsky.social) 2025-09-05T18:23:54.459Z
“To Boost Turnout, Ballot Measure Proposes Moving New York City Elections to Even Years”
Pam Karlan: Why Section 2 Matters to *Existing* Minority-Opportunity Districts
The following is an important guest post from Pam Karlan:
In a recent post describing his amicus brief in Louisiana v. Callais, Nick Stephanopoulos points out a “large decline in racially-polarized voting” in many jurisdictions may preclude plaintiffs… Continue reading
“Inside Gavin Newsom’s Redistricting Cash Blitz; Total spending could top $200 million in a November contest that could help determine control of the House next year.”
NYT:
Over the next two months, Democratic and Republican donors are expected to funnel as much as $200 million into a California ballot fight that could heavily shape which party wins control of the U.S. House next year.
It is… Continue reading
“Gabriel Sterling joins Republican race for Georgia elections chief”
AJC:
Gabriel Sterling, a leading defender of Georgia’s voting system who famously called for President Donald Trump to condemn election threats in 2020, entered the Republican race for secretary of state on Thursday.
Sterling, 54, immediately becomes the most well-known… Continue reading
“In Texas, a Senate Race Turns Brutal Before It’s Even Declared; Attorney General Ken Paxton is waging ‘legal war’ against Beto O’Rourke, a possible Democratic rival, threatening jail and an investigation that could bankrupt his organization.”
NYT:
For the past month, two Texas political titans — the attorney general Ken Paxton and the former congressman Beto O’Rourke — have been locked in an escalating legal drama, complete with threats of jail time, courtroom showdowns and the… Continue reading
“House Republicans form new subcommittee to probe Jan. 6”
WaPo:
House Republicans voted on Wednesday to establish a new subcommittee to reinvestigate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, moving to reopen one of the most polarizing chapters in American politics.
Lawmakers slipped a resolution into a… Continue reading