Today in Politics, Bulletin 220. 10/2/25 Ron Filipkowski Oct 2 ∙ … Albanian PM Edi Rama had a good laugh with Azerbaijan President Aliyev and French President Macron about Trump repeatedly claiming that he ended the war between their two countries when were never at war with each other. Rama walked up to Macron as he was talking to Aliyev and said: “You should make an apology to us because you didn’t congratulate us on the peace deal that President Trump made between our countries.” … They started laughing and Macron replied: “Yeah, I am sorry for that.” … Rep. Madeline Dean (D-PA) confronted Speaker Mike Johnson in the hallway of Congress. Dean: “The president is unhinged. He is unwell. Johnson: A lot of folks on your side are too. Dean: Oh my god, please! That performance in front of the generals? Johnson: I didn’t see it. Dean: It’s so dangerous! Our allies are looking elsewhere. Our enemies are laughing. You have a president who is unwell.” … Trump basically admitted today that Project 2025 was the blueprint for his admin all along: “I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent. I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity.” … Trump’s post on July 24, 2024, when Project 2025 was wildly unpopular in the polls and hurting his campaign: “I have nothing to do with, and know nothing about, Project 2025. The fact that I do is merely disinformation put out by Radical Left Democrat Thugs. Don’t believe them!” … Trump and Vought are seizing on the govt shutdown as an opportunity to launch an even more draconian version of DOGE 2.0. He posted this morning: “Republicans must use this opportunity of Democrat forced closure to clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud. Billions of Dollars can be saved.” … Trump on OAN: “There could be firings, and that’s their fault, and there could also be other things. We could cut projects that they wanted, favorite projects, and they’d be permanently cut. A lot of people are saying I wanted this. And I didn’t want it. But a lot of people are saying it because I’m allowed to cut things that should have never been approved in the first place and I will probably do that.” … Trump: “A lot of good can come from shutdowns. We get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t want. And they’d be Democrat things.” … Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA): “‘Democrat things’ — universal healthcare, affordable childcare, accessible education, clean energy, and economic opportunity. ‘Republican things’ — tax cuts for billionaires, handouts for big business, subsidies for dirty drillers, and a free pass for corporate abuse and corruption. Which do you prefer?” … Vought posted: “Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled. More info to come from ENERGY . The projects are in the following states: CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, IL, MD, MA, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA.” … CNN’s Aaron Blake: “These are, of course, blue states. But I just did a check: Of 39 House districts rated ‘toss-up’ or ‘lean’ by Cook Political, 41% are located in these blue states.” … Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA): “Many of the vulnerable Republican Congress Members are not in red states. The voters in these swing districts will know their Republican representative is afraid to oppose the illegal infrastructure cuts by the Trump Admin. We will have a blue tsunami in the midterms.” … Gavin Newsom: “Reminder, 20% of all investment from the IRA and CHIPS Act went to Texas … yet, not on the list. We’re sure it was just an oversight and not politically motivated retribution.” … Vought: “Roughly $18 billion in NYC infrastructure projects have been put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles. Specifically, the Hudson Tunnel Project and the Second Ave Subway.” … Mikie Sherrill seized on the move by Vought just a month out from her election for NJ governor: “Here we have the president saying he’s going to freeze the money to construct the gateway tunnel. This means almost 100,000 jobs to the region. It’s $12 billion that we got denoted to this and Jack Ciattarelli literally has once again sat by and said nothing to Trump about attacking the economy of NJ.” … NYT: “Hours after Russ Vought pledged to revoke some climate-related funding, the Energy Department offered scant details about its cuts. The agency said it had terminated 321 awards for more than 223 projects, claiming the investments did not ‘advance the nation’s energy needs’ and were not ‘economically viable.’” … “Soon after govt funding lapsed, the Trump admin suspended all news broadcasts from Voice of America and furloughed all of its journalists, a break with past practice in funding lapses. The closure came two days after a judge reinstated about 500 of the broadcaster’s employees.” … Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA): “Trump and Vought are gleefully using the shutdown they have caused as a pretext to inflict even more pain. The American people deserve so much better than a president and an admin that treat their families and their livelihoods like pawns in some sort of sick political game.” … SPINELESS MAGA Mike Johnson: “Russ does this reluctantly. He takes no pleasure in this. Because Russ has to sit down and decide which policies, personnel, and which programs are essential and which are not. That’s not a fun task and he’s not enjoying that responsibility.” … Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) seemed to disagree with Johnson’s assessment of the situation: “Russ Vought has been dreaming about this moment since puberty.” … Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) is concerned that Vought is going to hurt Republicans politically the way he is handling the shutdown. To Semafor: “Russ is less politically in tune than the president. We, as Republicans, have never had so much moral high ground on a govt funding bill in our lives. I just don’t see why we would squander it, which I think is the risk of being aggressive with executive power in this moment” … Sen. Tom Tillis (R-NC) warned that targeting projects in blue states “can create a toxic environment here.” … Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV): “I wouldn’t just go off the deep end thinking OMB’s just going to slash, slash, slash. If this thing corrects itself in a very reasonable short of time, we’ll step back and make a more moderate approach.” … MD Gov Wes Moore on MSNBC: “Trump has been shutting down the federal govt since he’s been in office. Trump has now fired over 15,000 federal workers in the state of Maryland. I don’t think he has an interest in ending the govt shutdown.” … Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) on CNN: “Things are already really expensive. Everyday Americans are paying more for cars, housing, and food, and now Republicans—led by Donald Trump—are increasing insurance premiums on 24 million Americans by over 50%.” … Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA) on CNN: “ Insurance companies are sending out letters to people literally today saying premiums are gonna go up because of what the Trump admin and Republicans in Congress have done. We’re going to see irreversible damage to healthcare in this country.” … House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries: “In that Oval Office meeting, which lasted over an hour, the amount of time spent talking about health insurance for undocumented immigrants was less than 10 seconds. You know why? Because they know it’s a lie. They didn’t even bother to bring it up—because the cameras weren’t rolling. But then they go out to their press conferences, where we can’t fact-check them in real time, and keep trying to spout that lie. The American people aren’t buying it.” … WaPo shutdown poll: 71% want ACA tax credits extended. 47% blame Trump and Republicans for shutdown, 30% blame Democrats, 23% aren’t sure. … SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler on Fox: “This admin is unbelievable, my fellow cabinet members are doing a great job, and that’s exactly why the Democrats want to shut it down. They don’t like the success that the American dream is delivering for all Americans.” … NBC: “Dept of Education employees furloughed this week discovered their email accounts had been manipulated while they were out of office to include partisan talking points that blamed a govt shutdown on Democrats. Five employees who spoke with NBC News and provided copies of their out-of-office messages said the wording was altered from how they originally had composed them. All of them are civil servants, not political appointees.” … One employee: “None of us consented to this. And it’s written in the first-person, as if I’m the one conveying this message, and I’m not. I don’t agree with it. I don’t think it’s ethical or legal. I think it violates the Hatch Act.” … Another employee: “I took the statement that they sent us earlier in the week to use. And I pasted it on top of that — basically has a standard out-of-office. They went in and manipulated my out-of-office reply. I guess they’re now making us all guilty of violating the Hatch Act.” … WSJ: “The US shed 32,000 private-sector jobs in Sept, payroll-processing giant ADP said. That is down from a revised loss of 3,000 in Aug. Economists polled by WSJ had expected an increase of 45,000. ADP’s report doesn’t include govt workers, but economists are giving it a closer look this month. That is because the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly jobs report, which was scheduled to come out this Friday, will be delayed if the govt is still shut down.” … Former Jeffrey Epstein acquaintance Howard Lutnick said a lot of the quiet parts out loud in an appearance on NY Post reporter Miranda Devine’s podcast. He said Epstein showed him his “massage room” while giving Lutnick a tour of his NYC townhouse in 2005: “I say to him, ‘Massage table in the middle of your house? How often do you have a massage?’ And he says, ‘Every day.’ And then he gets, like weirdly close to me, and he says, ‘And the right kind of massage.’” … “They get a massage, that’s what his MO was. ‘Get a massage, get a massage,’ and what happened in that massage room, I assume, was on video. This guy was the greatest blackmailer ever, blackmailed people. That’s how he had money.” NUTLICK BULLSH*T! JUST A DISTRACTION & SPECULATION FROM TRUMP'S SHUTDOWN! NO EVIDENCE...NUTLICK'S CONCOCTION! … “I assume way back when they traded those videos in exchange for him getting that 18-month sentence, which allowed him to have visits and be out of jail. I mean, he’s a serial sex offender. How could he get 18 months and be able to go to his office during the day and have visitors and stuff? There must have been a trade. So, my assumption, I have no knowledge, but my assumption is there was a trade for the videos, because there were people on those videos.” … WSJ’s Josh Dawsey: “A lot of people around the president shaking their heads about this Howard Lutnick interview. They are amazed he said all of it after months of the admin saying … not that.” … Oversight ranking member Robert Garcia on CNN: “The Oversight Committee must hear from Secretary Lutnick. His claims are explosive. Oversight Democrats won’t stop this investigation until we get to the bottom of what members of the Trump admin know about Epstein and his crimes.” … Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) on MSNBC: “It is not lost on anyone that shutting the govt down allows them not to swear in our new colleague Adelita Grijalva who would be the 218th signature to discharge the Epstein files. So it’s convenient for them to shut the govt down.” … “The surprise job loss in Sept is the latest sign that the labor market is weakening. Job growth has slowed to a trickle this year even as the unemployment rate has held mostly steady. The Federal Reserve last month lowered short-term interest rates by a quarter percentage point and signaled more cuts are likely, citing weak hiring. The leisure and hospitality sector shed 19,000 jobs last month, the largest decline among major sectors.” … MarketWatch: “The hiring rate among private-sector businesses fell again in Aug to 3.5%, matching a 5-year low. The slowdown in hiring is glaring in the most recent US employment reports. The economy added an average of just 25,000 new jobs a month from May through Aug, marking the weakest 4-month stretch since 2010, ignoring the COVID-19 era. Not only that, but employment actually fell in June for the first time since 2020.” … “As a result, the number of people collecting unemployment benefits has climbed to almost 2 million. They are higher now than they were just before the pandemic started in early 2020. Just a few years ago, record numbers of Americans were job hopping for better work and better pay. Now that work is harder to find, the number of job quitters has fallen to a post-pandemic low.” … Trump to farmers he put out of business: “The Soybean Farmers of our Country are being hurt because China is, for ‘negotiating’ reasons only, not buying. We’ve made so much money on Tariffs, that we are going to take a small portion of that money, and help our Farmers. I WILL NEVER LET OUR FARMERS DOWN! It’s all going to work out very well. I LOVE OUR PATRIOTS, AND EVERY FARMER IS EXACTLY THAT! I’ll be meeting with President Xi, of China, in 4 weeks, and Soybeans will be a major topic of discussion.” … Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on CNBC: “It’s unfortunate that Chinese leadership has decided to use American soybean farmers as a hostage or pawn in the trade negotiations. American farmers overwhelmingly voted for President Trump. You should expect news on Tues on substantial support for our farmers.” … Economist Justin Wolfers: “It is also unfortunate that WH leadership has decided to use American consumers as a hostage or pawn in the trade negotiations. American consumers also voted for Trump (not sure why that’s relevant). When are we getting substantial support for our consumers?” … So the only people who get govt welfare because they lost money from Trump’s tariffs are people who used to sell soybeans to the Chinese because they overwhelmingly voted for Trump, but no other businesses or people get any relief. … Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins: “The president has been extremely forward leaning and aggressive in casting this new vision for America, getting our great American products out across the world. A piece of that includes this bridge to ensure that those who make the food and the fuel and clothe America will be supported while we’re in this time of moving to the next round of the America economy, which will be a golden age for America.” … Christian Broadcasting Network host David Brody weighed in on Trump’s deal with Qatar: “Sorry if I don’t understand ‘Ten dimensional geopolitical chess’ (sarcasm) but shedding AMERICAN BLOOD in defense of Qatar is a HARD NO. This ain’t America First. Not by a long shot. Establishing a working relationship with Qatar is one thing. I get that (to a degree) but this is a whole other level. This makes the gifted Qatari plane look like small potatoes. MAGA should be infuriated by this move.” … Fox host Mark Levin responded to Brody: “Amen.” … MAGA activist and Trump advisor LOONEY Laura Loomer: “The GOP is in a lot of trouble ahead of 2026. The party has really crumbled into a dozen factions and the people with the largest platforms aren’t even focused on races in key states. I believe this is all by design to sabotage President Trump. Distract the right while the Left takes over. Such a coordinated pysop.” Probably a lot of shutdown news in the Bulletin until it is over unfortunately. I will, of course, keep track of everything else that is going on but that will likely be the dominant story. It looks like Russ Vought is about to launch his Reign of Terror on the federal bureaucracy while Stephen Miller continues with his on American cities and Venezuelan fishing boats. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. … DOG KILLER Kristi Noem’s special friend Corey Lewandowski on Russian asset Benny Johnson’s podcast: “ICE will have enforcement at the Super Bowl. There is nowhere you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else. We will find you and apprehend you and put you in a detention facility and deport you. Know that is a very real situation under this admin, which is contrary to how it used to be.” … On halftime performer Bad Bunny: “It’s so shameful they’ve decided to pick somebody who seems to hate America so much to represent them at the Halftime Show. We should be trying to be inclusive, not exclusive. There are plenty of great bands and entertainment people who could be playing at that show that would be bringing people together and not separating them.” … “If there are illegal aliens, I don’t care if it’s a concert for Johnny Smith or Bad Bunny or anybody else - we’re going to do enforcement everywhere. We are going to make Americans safe. That is a directive from the president. If you’re in this country illegally, go home.” … Corey and Benny then came to the conclusion that the NFL should have chosen the band Creed, whose last song on the charts was 23 years ago. … Stephen Miller gave a speech to Memphis law enforcement officers with Hegseth and Bondi: “You are unleashed. The handcuffs that you are carrying, they’re not on you anymore. They’re on the criminals. Whatever you need to get it done, we’re going to get it done. The gang bangers that you deal with, they think that they are ruthless. They have no idea how ruthless we are. They think they are tough. They have no idea how tough we are. They think that they are hard-core. We are so much more hard-core than they are, and we have the entire weight of the US govt behind us. What do they have?” … Credit to Jim Stewartson who posted side by side videos of Miller and Goebbels to show how he uses the same messaging and verbiage. … NPR: “Over 550 celebrities relaunched a group first organized during the post-World War II Red Scare: the Committee for the First Amendment. Their intent is to stand up in what they call a ‘defense of our constitutional rights,’ adding: ‘The federal govt is once again engaged in a coordinated campaign to silence critics in the govt, the media, the judiciary, academia, and the entertainment industry.” … “The current group is headlined by actor and activist Jane Fonda - whose father, actor Henry Fonda, was one of the early members of the first Committee for the First Amendment, which was founded in the 1940s to oppose the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee, through which the federal gov accused many top entertainers of being communists or communist sympathizers and derailed their careers.” … “Other members of the committee include filmmakers Spike Lee, Barry Jenkins, J.J. Abrams, Patty Jenkins, Aaron Sorkin and Judd Apatow; TV show creator Quinta Brunson; musicians Barbra Streisand, John Legend, Janelle Monáe, Gracie Abrams and Billie Eilish; comedians Tiffany Haddish and Nikki Glaser; as well as actors Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Kerry Washington, Pedro Pascal, Natalie Portman, Viola Davis and Ben Stiller.” … Statement from the artists: “This Committee was initially created during the McCarthy Era, a dark time when the govt repressed and persecuted American citizens for their political beliefs. They targeted elected officials, govt employees, academics, and artists. They were blacklisted, harassed, silenced, and even imprisoned. The McCarthy Era ended when Americans from across the political spectrum finally came together and stood up for the principles in the Constitution against the forces of repression. Those forces have returned. And it is our turn to stand together in defense of our constitutional rights.” … Jacob Silverman’s new book Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley includes a passage about how Musk rigged the algorithm after buying twitter to boost posts he made as well as the people he follows: “He fired a company engineer who told him that engagement on his tweets was down because people weren’t as interested in him.” … “Employees presented Musk with internal data and a Google Trends chart showing his popularity had fallen from a peak score of 100 to just 9. Musk then told the engineer, ‘You’re fired.’” … After President Biden’s post supporting the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2023 Super Bowl got 20 million more impressions than Musk’s nearly identical post, he immediately flew to CA in a rage and forced employees to work all night to make sure it never happened again. Musk’s cousin James Musk sent out this message at 2:36 AM: “We are debugging an issue with engagement across the platform. Any people who can make dashboards and write software please can you help solve this problem. This is high urgency. If you are willing to help out please thumbs up this post.” … Silverman: “Thanks to the middle-of-the-night participation of 80 company engineers, the ‘high urgency’ issue was quickly solved. Twitter’s systems were changed to privilege Musk’s posts above all others.” … Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban was asked why he is one of only 2 countries in Europe that still buys oil from Russia: Q - “Zelensky asked you again to stop buying Russian oil, and said that you are siding with Russia. What is your response to that? Orban: I can’t change geography. I try to be a strong man, I can change policy, but I can’t change geography. Hungary is a landlocked country, so we have pipelines only. So we have to buy it from the Russians.” … Trump said a couple weeks ago that he won’t sanction Russia until Hungary stops buying Russian oil. His friend Viktor Orban said he won’t stop. So no sanctions. Trump set up a precondition that he knew his friend wouldn’t agree to in order to help his friend in the Kremlin. That is US policy. … MSNBC’s Ken Dilanian: “DOJ fired the top national security prosecutor in the E. District of VA a few hours after MAGA activist Julie Kelly denounced him on X because he has been detailed to work for the deputy AG in the last admin. Michael Ben’Ary was a DOJ lifer who worked his way up the career ranks. He was the lead prosecutor in a case the Trump admin has boasted about, against an accused terrorist alleged to have been involved in the 2021 suicide bombing in Afghanistan that killed 13 US service members.” … “The Abbey Gate terrorist case is supposed to go trial in early Dec. FBI Director Kash Patel and AG Pam Bondi made a point of going to the airport to meet the plane that brought the defendant to the US. Now the prosecutor in charge of the case has been fired because he worked for the wrong person in the last admin.” … American Journal: “A pornographic blog linked to Virginia Lt. governor candidate John Reid shared content from accounts that fetishized Nazism and sexual violence. Reid has denied ownership of the blog, which was hosted on Tumblr under the name JRDeux, the same handle he uses on Instagram and TikTok. The blog was deleted shortly after it was first reported on, but we were able to recover several posts using the Internet Archive.” … “In Oct 2015, JRDeux shared an image of a male college student in underwear from the user obedientniggerdc. That account’s bio described the user as a ‘subservient nigger who knows his place in society’ and included a solicitation for ‘superior white men’ near Washington, D.C., to contact them via email.” … “He also posted multiple images of shirtless men with white supremacist tattoos, including a close-up of a muscular chest emblazoned with a swastika and captioned, ‘fucking nice WP ink M88.’ WP is an acronym for ‘white power,’ and M88 is a neo-Nazi code phrase for ‘Heil Hitler.’” … “Other posts from this user were captioned with homophobic slurs and repeatedly referred to white men as ‘SSirs,’ likely a reference to the Nazi Schutzstaffel, known as the SS. Another post praised the attractiveness of prominent GOP politicians it described as ‘conservative alpha males,’ including Sens. John Thune and Todd Young.” … “While Reid identifies as a gay Republican, he has also taken several anti-LGBTQ positions. He is a vocal opponent of trans rights and signaling he would not cast a tie-breaking vote to protect same-sex marriage in Virginia. Equality Virginia, the state’s largest gay rights organization, endorsed Reid’s Democratic opponent, state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi.” … CBS: “The head of a presidential library resigned this week after a tug-of-war with the Trump admin over gift selection and a sword for King Charles III. Todd Arrington, a career historian who previously held posts with the National Park Service and National Archives and Records Admin, stepped down as director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home.” … “Arrington’s departure came after he resisted taking an original Eisenhower sword out of the library’s collection to give to King Charles last month during President Trump’s unprecedented second state visit to the UK. Eisenhower possessed several swords, including a Sword of Honor given to him in 1947 by the city of London for his role as allied supreme commander during World War II, an honor saber gifted to him by the Netherlands in 1947, and his West Point officer saber.” … “First Lady Melania Trump personally decided which gifts to give King Charles and Queen Camilla, and wanted to bestow an Eisenhower sword to reiterate the significance of the US-UK relationship since WWII. Officials at the State Dept who compiled an array of gift options for the first lady sought an original sword. But Arrington argued against giving away an artifact that had been accepted as a donation and had become the property of the American people.” … “Arrington told officials he could help find an alternative gift, but State Dept officials persisted. The library’s team offered to help find a replica. Ultimately, West Point provided a faux version of Eisenhower’s sword from the military academy. But some in the Trump admin were unhappy with Arrington.” … Mike Lindell associate Tina Peters, who is serving a prison sentence for tampering with voting machines that she was in charge of to try and prove the 2020 election was stolen: “Tomorrow marks one full year since the day they shackled me and dragged me out of the courtroom—my chest hurts just thinking about it. It’s seared into my mind. I’ve been deprived of everything everyone else takes for granted: going to a restaurant, driving somewhere, flying, being with whoever I want, seeing my granddaughter, visiting my mother. All of that, gone.” … “Where is everybody? I did what I was supposed to do to expose their crimes. Who has my back now? Where are the people who benefited? Has it been decided that I will be made the SACRIFICIAL LAMB to give the networks something to rally behind? The President has demanded my release 4 times—twice on Twitter, twice verbally. Why is the DOJ defying Trump’s demands? Get off your asses and get me out!” … “This is not right. The federal govt could come in right now, pluck me out, and say, ‘No, you’re violating her constitutional rights. She was performing a federal duty.’ Send in the marshals—get me! I’m a political prisoner suffering cruel and unusual punishment. Optics don’t matter. Just do it, and deal with the courts later.” … Peters was convicted in state court in Colorado, so there is not much Trump can do to help her although it is true he has repeatedly called for her release. But Peters is basically asking him to storm the prison with federal agents and break her out. Could happen. Nothing would shock me anymore.

God Knows the Man I Am On Yom Kippur, we face the truth: not the lies, not the headlines, but our raw humanity — broken, striving, forgiven, and always reaching for redemption. MeidasTouch Network and Michael Cohen Oct 2 Editorial credit: a katz / Shutterstock.com Today is Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish faith. A day of atonement, of reflection, of trying to make right what has been wrong. And for me, it is also a day of reckoning, because Yom Kippur asks us to stand before God stripped of all the masks, all the pretenses, all the excuses, and to confront the truth of who we are. Now imagine living a life where so many refuse to see you for who you truly are. Where the noise of public perception drowns out your voice, and the labels, the lies, the headlines become your identity in the eyes of others. That is my reality. It is suffocating. It is painful in a way that cuts deeper than words can ever capture — because nothing could be further from the truth. Each year, Yom Kippur gives me something the public does not: a clean slate. My faith tells me that God looks at the heart, not the caricature. That God hears the sincerity in confession, the honesty in repentance, the desire to start again. I wish the world was as forgiving as God. But too often, people are not. They cling to the narrative that suits them, even when it’s built on cruelty, distortion, or outright lies. So every day, I work to show my true character — that I am loyal, that I am honest, that I am sincere. That the person described in soundbites, headlines, and smear campaigns is not the person I see in the mirror, not the person my children know as their father, not the person my wife knows as her husband of 30 years, not the man my faith calls me to be. Trying to prove yourself to those determined not to believe you is soul-crushing. It hurts in ways that are hard to describe. It feels like walking around with a bag over your head — unable to breathe, unable to be seen, yet forced to keep moving forward. And still, you fight through it. You fight because the cause — the truth of who you are — is worth every ounce of struggle, even if it leaves you gasping for air. Judgment is hard to escape. People remember your worst mistakes and rarely forgive your attempts to make things right. They weaponize your past to deny your present. They forget that redemption is not a slogan; it’s a process. They forget that cruelty leaves scars. But I don’t forget. I feel it every second of every day. And yet, I keep going. Because I have you. All of you who still believe in me, who see me not as the caricature but as the flawed but striving human being that I am. You remind me that truth has a voice. That compassion has a place. That belief in one another matters. So today, on this Yom Kippur, I wish for you what I wish for myself: that you are inscribed in the Book of Life. That the year ahead brings health, happiness, and success. That we all have the strength to face our truths and the courage to keep moving forward, no matter how heavy the burden. On Yom Kippur, one of the central prayers we recite is the Vidui — the confessional. It is not just about personal sins, but communal ones. We say it together, because no one person carries guilt alone. We stand as one, asking God to forgive us, to cleanse us, to write us anew. Here is one of the most profound lines of the Yom Kippur prayer, in English: “Our God and God of our ancestors, forgive us, pardon us, grant us atonement. For the sin we have committed before You by hardening our hearts, by speaking harshly, by acting with arrogance. For all of these, O God of forgiveness, forgive us, pardon us, grant us atonement.” This prayer matters because it forces us to acknowledge that we all fall short. We all harm others in ways small and large. And yet, forgiveness is possible. Renewal is possible. A second chance is always possible — if not in the eyes of people, then in the eyes of God. Yom Kippur is not about perfection. It is about striving. About standing bare before the Almighty and saying: I am broken, but I want to be whole. I am flawed, but I want to be better. And isn’t that the very definition of humanity? So today, let us all reflect. Let us all find within ourselves the strength to forgive, the humility to repent, and the courage to start anew. Because tomorrow is never promised, but today — today, we can choose who we want to be. I’ll end with the words of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory: “Yom Kippur reminds us that we are not prisoners of our past. We can change. We can grow. We can begin again.” I pray this Yom Kippur brings me some much-needed peace. For I am in pain. I don’t want to be a prisoner of my past. I want to change. I want to grow. I want to begin again. And because of you, I have that chance. And together, let’s all say Amen. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. RIGHT NOW IS THE TIME FOR YOU TO JOIN THE FIGHT! SUBSCRIBE. READ. SHARE. RESTACK. Michael Cohen Principal of Crisis-X #1 and #8 NYT Bestseller Author Host of The Mea Culpa Podcast Co-Host of The Political Beatdown Former Personal Attorney To President Donald J. Trump Discharged Felon Yeah, I know — you’re tired. This shit is exhausting. Guess what? Me too. But I’ve spent the last 8 years throwing punches in the dark so truth could get a little daylight. And now I’m asking you to step into the ring with me. Because if you’re still reading this, you already get it: This isn’t just a newsletter. It’s a rallying cry. A war drum. A line in the sand. We are not passive observers of the downfall. We are the resistance. We call out the liars. We drag corruption by the collar into the sunlight. We say the quiet parts out loud — and we don’t flinch. But here’s the truth: I can’t do this solo. Not anymore. The storm is already here. We are standing in it. And it’s wearing stars and stripes like camouflage, preaching “freedom” while it sells fascism at retail. So let me ask you: Are. You. In? Because this is not a scroll-and-forget read. This is a living, breathing, fire-breathing movement — and movements don’t move unless you do. We need to be louder than spin, tougher than propaganda, and impossible to gaslight. That takes more than clicks. More than likes. It takes skin in the game. So if you believe truth matters; if you’re sick of the bullshit, if you’re ready to stop screaming into the algorithm and start pushing back with purpose, this is your next step. HERE’S HOW YOU PUT YOUR FOOT ON THE GAS: Become a paid subscriber. Fund fearless, unfiltered journalism that hits back. Share this with the loudest people you know — the ones who never sit down and shut up. Build the community. Amplify the message. Be the damn megaphone. And yeah, Founding Members? The first 240 of you will get a signed, numbered, limited-edition Substack version of Revenge. That’s not just a collector’s item. That’s receipts. Proof you didn’t sit this one out. But let’s be clear: This isn’t about a book. It’s about backbone. It’s about calling out the gaslighters and refusing to be played. It’s about locking arms and saying, “Not. On. Our. Watch.” You want to make a difference? Then make it — right now. Because if we don’t fight for truth, no one will. But if we fight together? They can’t drown us out. Let’s be so loud they wish we were just angry tweets. Let’s be unshakable. Unignorable. Un-fucking-breakable. Let’s go! Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. A guest post by Michael Cohen Principal of Crisis-X #1 and #8 NYT Bestseller Author Host of The Mea Culpa Podcast Co-Host of The Political Beatdown Former Personal Attorney To President Donald J. Trump and Discharged Felon