Trump Dodges Key Question About Russian Plague Outbreak

Donald Trump is dragging his feet in dealing with the recent pneumonic plague case in Russia.

Speaking with reporters on the White House South Lawn Tuesday evening, the president appeared completely disaffected and uninterested in the matter, offering short replies about his approach to the worrisome outbreak.

However, in doing so, Trump also revealed that he hasn’t yet spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Have you spoken to President Putin about the plague in Russia?” one reporter asked.

“I have a call scheduled, yup,” Trump said.

“When is that call scheduled for?” the reporter followed up.

“Very soon,” Trump added.

When asked by another reporter if American intelligence agencies had more intel on the suspicious death, Trump relented that he was in “deep discussions” with U.S. officials and could speak about it “probably tomorrow.”

But Trump did not answer any other questions on the matter, including an attempt to specify if the timeframe for speaking with Putin was contained to sometime this week.

Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old laboratory technician who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia, died of severe pneumonia on the night between October 1 and October 2. Russian health officials have not yet confirmed that her death was the result of pneumonic plague, or explained how she got ill, but her death sparked enough regional concern to place 200 people who had been in contact with Shipilova into quarantine.

Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s health watchdog, announced Wednesday that 90 percent of the people placed into quarantine had been released after thousands of lab tests came back negative for dangerous pathogens, according to Reuters.

The agency rejected assertions that the lab worker fell ill from exposure at her workplace, noting in a statement that Shipilova was vaccinated and therefore “immune to the dangerous infections with which she worked.”

President Trump wants to bring his own personal Camp David to Palm Beach.

The Palm Beach Post first reported last month on the president’s plans to turn his Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach into a private, Camp David–style club for leaders and foreign dignitaries. In a September 3 letter to Palm Beach County commissioners, the president proposed that he would “provide access to all” club facilities at “no cost to the federal government.” While the Trump family owns the property, it lies on land leased by Palm Beach County, hence the gracious proposal letter.

The plans have appeared to progress significantly, with the county seriously considering the proposal, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The president has long found Camp David to be undesirable for his tastes, saying in 2017 that he could only enjoy the historic retreat center “for about 30 minutes.”

“Just as Camp David, Windsor Castle, or the Elysee Palace are known worldwide, so too will the Presidential Golf Course in Palm Beach County,” attorney Harvey Oyer, who is representing the property, wrote in his letter to the county commissioners. “It would further cement Palm Beach County as one of the most recognizable brands and destinations in the world.”

“The property is minutes away from the Donald J. Trump International Airport, does not have buildings looming, does not have houses along the course, has great security features, is close to law enforcement, and happens to be a highly-rated golf course,” an anonymous White House official told the Post. “These are features that are necessary for any presidential retreat.”

This is the most corrupt president in modern history trying to use his own private property to replace a historic presidential retreat center—which is in perfectly fine condition and was more than adequate for every other president and diplomat before him. But while we may see this new property, which Trump intends to keep under his own company, as another grift, Trump is framing it as a “gift” and a “lasting contribution” to all future presidents, even offering to comp membership fees for them. Thanks. Now he’ll never need to leave Palm Beach ever again.

Maine Senator Susan Collins, one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the midterms, faced a humiliating reality check Tuesday night during her debate against Democratic challenger Troy Jackson.

In the first of four televised debates, Collins struggled to defend her efforts to rein in President Donald Trump’s disastrous policies.

“Troy mocked it, but I was successful in getting concrete, pulp, and road salt removed from the tariff list,” Collins said.

“I didn’t mock the fact that she got road salt back, I mocked the fact that, what about everything else? We can’t eat road salt,” Jackson said. “And the thing about it is, is that everything that she’s doing with Iran war, stuff like that, there’s going to be so many less people that’ll be able to afford to drive that I’m not even sure the road salt is going to be worth anything, either.”

It was a startling moment dealt by a comparatively novice challenger against a five-term senator, highlighting just how Collins has failed to truly stand up to Trump.

Collins has voted five separate times to extend Trump’s military campaign in the Middle East. A study found that as of July, the average Maine household has had to pay $3,900 more for goods and services during Trump’s second term.

President Trump isn’t going to like how the European Parliament is allowing him to be depicted.

An eight-foot-tall statue covered in 23-karat gold leaf has been erected at the building in Strasbourg, France, showing a naked, overweight Trump being carried on the back of a much smaller man, while the president holds a golf club, a tiny world-shaped ball, and the scales of justice. The base is inscribed with the words “I am sitting on the back of a man. He is sinking under my burden. I will do anything to help him. Except stepping down from his back,” attributed to “The King of Injustice.”

The statue’s creator, Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt, calls his creation The Orange Plague, and said it’s a satirical outcry against volatile U.S. environmental and foreign policy.

“Trump represents one of the greatest threats to the rule-based world order, democratic values, and our common effort to solving the climate crisis,” Galschiøt said in a statement. “We must address this issue and stand together against such destructive influence.”

“If someone is so thin-skinned that they cannot tolerate this sculpture being exhibited in the European Parliament, then they have no place on the world stage,” said Danish member of the European Parliament Per Clausen at the statue’s unveiling.

Trump has been mocked by statues before. Before the 2024 presidential election, a 43-foot-tall naked statue of the president toured the U.S., appearing in Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Nevada. The president’s supporters at the time called the statue “political violence.” Golden statues of Trump also appeared at the time in Portland and Philadelphia behind statues of naked women with the inscriptions, “In honor of a lifetime of sexual assault.”

More recently, statues and art installations addressing Trump’s association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have popped up in Washington, D.C. Trump himself usually avoids commenting directly on these satirical art pieces, instead condemning them through spokespeople. He has yet to comment on this statue in France.

Yet another leaked recording of Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton has landed. 

“It’s the war, it’s gas prices.... It’s over $6 a gallon for diesel,” Paxton said at a donor meeting when asked what issues were “dragging” on him and his campaign, according to audio obtained by Axios. “People are feeling that pinch. So I’d say that’s probably the biggest problem … food prices, everything else.... That’s by far our biggest problem, and I think that’s why we’re having a hard time with numbers.” 

“How do you respond to it?” a reporter asked. Paxton went on to give his spiel on his tax cut plan called “Protecting the Texas Promise Plan.” He said he wants people to use it on everything from “gym memberships” to “GLP-1s.” 

He went on to note that he was essentially powerless to stop President Trump’s war on Iran—the very thing causing the problems he previously listed. “I have no control over the aspects [of the war]. So many of the factors of this federal race are uncontrollable. I don’t make the decisions, I don’t know what’s behind some of the decisions.” 

This is at least the third time Paxton has unknowingly been recorded sending either subliminal or direct messages to Trump in recent days. Just a week ago at a fundraiser, he told someone that Trump’s GOP midterm convention in Dallas was having a direct negative impact on his numbers. And two days ago, an audio was released of Paxton essentially saying his own Senate race was being operated by outside forces in Washington. 

“I’ve never been in a race where I felt less control over the campaign and, like, what issues are going to matter because it’s all coming—you know—from D.C.,” he said last month. “I don’t control the message or what we’re doing.... I don’t have ability to change anything,” Paxton continued. “So I have to live with whatever I’ve got. So it is a challenge.”

This amount of leaks from one of the GOP’s most important Senate campaigns this cycle feels shocking, especially when each leak is Paxton indirectly blaming Trump for low poll numbers and affordability issues that he has to cover for. It seems obvious that he’s upset with the Trump administration—as he keeps confirming to donors over and over again.