On this day last year, construction crews tore down the East Wing of the White House to make room for Donald Trump’s cherished ballroom.
asserted
crews → tear → ballroom
, the project nonetheless continues.
asserted
project → continue → ?
It’s Swin again.
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It → ’ → ?
If the polls are right, Donald Trump and his neo-Confederate gargoyles and trillionaire-aligned degenerates are in for an electoral kicking.
asserted
Trump → align → kicking
In this final sprint, Republicans in the great state of Ohio, where I’m raising my children right now, have decided to make what the New York Times dubs perhaps “the ugliest” 2026 race even meaner, nastier, more wicked and perverse.
asserted
Times → raise → what
In today’s ‘First Draft,’ we’ll get into how that happened, why Republicans think their latest attack on Democratic gubernatorial nominee Amy Acton could “backfire” immensely, and why you really need to be paying attention, even if you don’t live in Ohio.
uncertain
you → get → Ohio
Meanwhile, billionaire anti-woke warrior Bill Ackman wants you to watch a grossly Islamophobic video that uses foul tropes straight out of the antisemitic hate he decries.
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he → want → hate
Plus, Israeli forces detain NY Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander in the occupied West Bank.
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forces → detain → Bank
‘Vivek’s Struggling’
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Vivek → struggle → ?
If you’re one of the nearly 12 million residents of the red (formerly swing) state of Ohio who watch TV or streaming services, and if you knew next to nothing about Democratic or Republican politics in the state, there’s a good chance that the only thing you’ll know – or think you know – about Amy Acton is that she’s a mentally unwell, pill-popping wino who falls down a lot, and that she’s a liberal running to succeed Republican Governor Mike DeWine.
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she → ’re → DeWine
If you live in the Buckeye State, you’ve been bombarded with political ads making such claims for, seemingly, eternity.
uncertain
you → live → eternity
Such is the nature of the Ohio governor’s contest between Acton and Trump-endorsed Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, a race so nasty, so mean-spirited, so deeply personal, so tar-slinging that last month the national paper of record caught on.
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paper → endorse → record
Donald Trump and the GOP have fucked up so astoundingly since early 2025 that Ohio – supposedly solidly red, its days of voting twice for Barack Obama long gone – appears on the cusp of sending Democrat Sherrod Brown back to the U.S. Senate.
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days → fuck → Senate
Ohio also looks quite likely to make Acton, locked in a tight race with Ramaswamy, its governor, which would be yet another stunning sign of how forcefully the country is turning against Trump’s pathetic, fascist presidency.
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country → look → presidency
As ‘First Draft’ has reported, it isn’t hard to find top Republican figures, national or Ohio-based, who are palpably anxious that Ramaswamy, a 2024 GOP primary contender who once pitched himself as more MAGA than Trump, could actually blow a race once thought un-blowable.
uncertain
who → report → race
And yet, in the homestretch, Team Vivek has decided to get even more morally unhinged in their attacks on Acton.
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Vivek → decide → Acton
Early this week, Ohio politics blogger DJ Byrnes (a.k.a. “The Rooster” of “naked Shrek” fame) posted a video of an ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, who says Acton has “lied her entire life” and doesn’t deserve to be governor.
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Acton → post → life
The video didn’t say who paid for it.
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who → say → it
By Tuesday, Ohio Republicans and others familiar with the matter were telling me it was a leaked Ramaswamy ad draft that was in the middle of being focus-group-tested, and wasn’t meant for publication at that time.
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that → tell → time
(Multiple sources pointed out that when paused, they could see the video had a conspicuous “Online Survey” title.)
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video → point → title
Byrnes confirmed as much.
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Byrnes → confirm → much
The leak explained why the Ramaswamy campaign was so slow to endorse or even publicly acknowledge the ad’s existence.
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campaign → explain → existence
The Aporia
