On this day in 2018, the investor and philanthropist George Soros became the first of 16 prominent progressives and media organizations to receive a pipe bomb in the mail.
asserted
investor → become → mail
Trump supporter Cesar Sayoc was ultimately arrested, tried, and jailed.
asserted
Sayoc → arrest → ?
This morning we’re talking “ass,” and lots of it.
asserted
we → talk → it
I don’t mean to sound crass, though.
asserted
I → mean → ?
I’m merely directly quoting the president of the United States, who won’t stop talking about one Ohio politician’s sweet, manly, and above all muscle-bound behind.
asserted
who → quote → behind
In today’s ’First Draft,’ we’ll get right into why Donald Trump keeps obsessing about Senator Jon Husted’s bottom, even when he’s not physically campaigning in Husted’s state – and yes, our reporting shows there’s a deeper reason for this that you may not have considered.
uncertain
you → get → that
Plus, a new ad from Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., points to a sad truth for deputy chief of staff and White House policy vampire Stephen Miller: Voters prefer not to see him.
asserted
Voters → point → him
In we go.
asserted
we → go → ?
The Assman Cometh
“They love it!” President Donald Trump has privately said, according to a person familiar with the matter.
uncertain
Trump → love → matter
This source, along with two other Republicans close to the president, talked to me about how much Trump, during these critical final weeks of the 2026 U.S. midterm elections, has marveled to advisers and close allies about how much his rally audiences have been eating up his recurring monologues praising Ohio Republican Senator Jon Husted’s “ass.”
asserted
audiences → talk → ass
Trump, who lives and breathes by the validation he gets from his cult-driven rally-goers, pays close attention to what draws the biggest applause and the loudest laughs and boos.
asserted
what → live → applause
In recent days, he’s road-tested his “ass” fixation at multiple venues.
asserted
he → test → venues
Trump is now so all-in on Husted’s allegedly wonderful, tight “ass” that he’s using it in speeches even when he’s not in Ohio, as was the case in North Carolina this week.
uncertain
case → use → Carolina
(I’m an Ohio resident and voter, and Husted’s buttcheeks don’t have any material or political impact on my or my family’s life – that must be exponentially truer to any voter in North Carolina, or in any state that isn’t the Buckeye one.
asserted
that → ’m → state
“I did a rally in a place called Dayton,” Trump said first, in Youngstown, Ohio, earlier this month.
asserted
Trump → do → Youngstown
“I don’t do this with men very often.
asserted
I → do → men
I started examining his body because I didn’t know he was a great athlete.
asserted
he → start → body
And I looked, and I watched up and down.
asserted
I → look → ?
I looked at his ass, and I looked at the whole...
asserted
I → look → whole
And then I looked at his hands.
asserted
I → look → hands
He’s got these like claws.
asserted
He → get → claws
Then, in northern Kentucky – near Ohio, at least, if not in it – Trump said: “He came up, and he was talking very nicely, and I stood right over here, and I examined his ass.
asserted
I → say → ass
I never did that with a man before.
asserted
I → do → man
I examined his ass, and then I looked at his shoulders, I looked at his feet, I looked at his hand, I looked at his jawline, studying.
asserted
I → examine → jawline
And on Tuesday in North Carolina, the president said: “So he’s over here, I’m over here.
asserted
I → say → Carolina
And I’m studying his body.
asserted
I → study → body
I’ve never studied the body of a man before.
asserted
I → study → man
It’s not my thing.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
But I looked at his ass.
asserted
I → look → ass
And then I looked at his legs.
asserted
I → look → legs
And I said, ‘His ass is, it’s like a pile of muscle.”
asserted
it → say → muscle
So why is he doing this?
asserted
he → do → this
What do the sources say?
asserted
sources → say → What