Letters from an American
· collected 2026-10-13 · by Heather Cox Richardson
commentary
Billionaire Elon Musk has already funneled at least $366 million into the midterms to try to make sure voters elect Republicans.
asserted
voters → funnel → Republicans
Theodore Schleifer of the New York Times reported today that Musk has put more than $276 million of that money into groups and political action committees just since July.
asserted
Musk → report → July
More than $76 million has gone into his own super PAC, which is focused on seven Senate seats in battleground states, and more than thirty House races.
asserted
which → go → states
Schleifer notes that this is just the money that law requires must be disclosed; sources told Schleifer that in both this election and in 2024, Musk has made seven-figure donations to candidates through so-called “dark money” groups: ones that aren’t required to disclose their donors.
asserted
that → note → donors
Adam Wren, Meredith Lee Hill, and Will Steakin of Politico report that Trump’s super PAC, “MAGA Inc.,” is coordinating with other super PACs to try to salvage the Republicans’ control of the Senate.
asserted
PAC → report → Senate
The Republican Senate Leadership Fund has poured close to $100 million into Ohio alone to defeat former senator Sherrod Brown and is expecting to dump close to $200 million into Texas to defeat James Talarico.
asserted
Fund → pour → Talarico
It’s also throwing money at Iowa to defeat Josh Turek, at Alaska to defeat Mary Peltola, at Michigan to defeat Abdul El-Sayed, and even at Kansas, to defeat Adam Hamilton.
asserted
It → throw → Hamilton
Among other projects, Musk’s money is producing literature accusing Democrats of being radicals.
asserted
money → produce → Democrats
And yet the real radicalism in American politics today comes from those like Musk, those on the right who are consolidating the power of the government and the money of the American people into their own hands: Musk’s businesses depend on government contracts, after all, contracts a Democratic-run Congress would likely revisit.
asserted
Congress → come → contracts
That right-wing radicalism was on full display this morning, when agents from the Department of Homeland Security conducted a predawn raid on the Washington, D.C., home of Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
asserted
agents → conduct → Omar
According to the Fox News Channel, which appears to have been read into the raid ahead of time, the Justice Department claimed that the search “stems from a criminal fraud investigation” over immigration paperwork filled out by her late father in the 1990s when Omar was a child.
uncertain
Omar → accord → 1990s
Not only is it unlikely that evidence of a potential crime committed when the congresswoman was a child would be in her Washington, D.C., residence decades later, but also, as legal analyst Joyce White Vance noted: “To state what’s obvious to prosecutors here, we are within the period before an election where [the Department of Justice] doesn’t take overt steps in an investigation that might influence its outcome.
uncertain
that → commit → outcome
More to the point was the comment by Mark Jacob of Stop the Presses, who noted: “This search was conducted by the Homeland Security Department, where lying and harassment are routine.
asserted
lying → note → Department
Indeed, this latest attack on Omar follows Trump’s social media post of last Thursday, when he urged “[t]he people of Minnesota” to “fight back!” against Minnesotans of Somali heritage.
asserted
he → follow → heritage
Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, a MAGA Republican, promptly echoed Trump, referring to Somali-Americans as “enemy combatants” and complaining that Democrats were not “rounding them up [and] putting them in jail.”
asserted
Democrats → echo → jail
This new attack on a Democratic representative is the second attempt of the administration to cow Democratic representatives.
asserted
attack → cow → representatives
It has an ongoing case against New Jersey representative LaMonica McIver, whom it accuses of assaulting immigration agents in a skirmish outside of Delaney Hall detention center, in which no one was hurt.
asserted
one → have → which
If McIver is convicted, she faces up to 17 years in prison.
asserted
she → convict → prison
The attempt of the president to arrest and imprison his political opponents in the legislative branch is a direct assault on our democracy.
asserted
attempt → arrest → democracy
Indeed, the administration is trying to make their opponents live in fear.
asserted
opponents → try → fear
Hutchinson was working in the White House in the weeks when Trump was trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and she testified before Congress about Trump’s behavior during that time.
asserted
she → work → time
Federal prosecutors are trying to get a grand jury in Washington, D.C., to indict her for perjury.
asserted
jury → try → perjury
As the attack on Omar shows, in their attempt to grasp complete control of the country, Trump and his loyalists are working hard to divide the American people along the old culture war lines that worked in the past.
asserted
that → show → past
But Americans are concerned primarily about the economy as the war on Iran drives prices upward, so Republicans are becoming more and more extreme in their actions and their ads.
asserted
Republicans → concern → actions
As Morgan Trau of WEWS wrote in a piece reprinted by the Ohio Capital Journal, an ad paid for by the Senate Leadership Fund featuring a woman who accuses Ohio Senate candidate Sherrod Brown of “pushing transgender surgeries on minors ‘like her,’” and who, in another ad, claims she had “surgery without my parents’ consent” as “a kid,” actually shows a woman from Texas who had gender-affirming surgery in that state as an adult.
uncertain
who → write → adult
She has no connection to Ohio, where such surgery on minors is illegal.
asserted
surgery → have → minors
Brown’s statement on healthcare was that he believes families and their doctors, not politicians, should make healthcare decisions.
asserted
families → believe → decisions
An even more extreme meltdown took place over the weekend as MAGA tried to insist that Texas Democratic candidate James Talarico had suffered a mental breakdown and had been admitted to a treatment facility in Ohio.
asserted
Talarico → take → Ohio
As Will Sommer and Andrew Egger of The Bulwark explained yesterday, MAGA influencers Nick Sortor and Rhein Amacher claimed they had proof that Talarico had been at the Lindner Center of Hope in Mason, Ohio.
asserted
Talarico → explain → Mason
They claimed they had a tape of a Lindner employee telling them over the phone that Talarico had just been released.
asserted
Talarico → claim → phone
With Musk pushing it, Sortor’s social media post alleging that “proof” garnered millions of views in hours.
asserted
post → push → hours
But, predictably, the story fell apart fast.
asserted
story → fall → ?
Neither the logic (why would Talarico go to Ohio for medical treatment rather than stay in Texas?) nor the timeline (Tararico was out in public in Texas during the time Sortor suggested he was in treatment) made sense.
uncertain
he → go → sense
Then Sommer and Egger got access to the full recording of the alleged “proof.”
asserted
Sommer → get → proof
It showed Amacher lying to the Lindner employee to get her to expose private health information.
asserted
her → show → information
It also showed her repeatedly denying that anyone named James Talarico was in the system.
asserted
anyone → show → system
On Sunday night, the Lindner Center publicly announced that Talarico had never been treated there.
asserted
Talarico → announce → night
Talarico himself posted a laughing emoji beside the information that he has never even been to Ohio.
asserted
he → post → Ohio
To a reporter, he added his own assessment of his opponent’s health, “I’ve heard credible reports that Ken Paxton has a serious medical condition that causes clinical levels of cowardice,” and noted that Paxton has refused to debate Talarico about actual issues.
asserted
Paxton → add → issues
Sommer and Egger note that while HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, says medical providers can’t disclose patients’ information, it also penalizes individuals who try to get that information improperly, imposing heavier penalties for those who commit that offense “under false pretenses.”
asserted
who → note → pretenses
…and 34 more, not listed.
The Aporia
