The Supreme Court Just Buried Trump's Gerrymander. Three More Losses Came to the Funeral.
Four losses, one theme: nobody's buying it anymore. The Supreme Court killed his favorite Missouri gerrymander for the third and final time, a D.C. judge made sure his grudge against a bike-riding Olympian can never be revived, a federal judge un-fired the prosecutor he axed in under an hour, and a new poll says only 17% of the country believes his grocery math. Pour something cold — the receipts are in.
1. The Supreme Court Rejects Trump's Missouri Gerrymander. For the Third Time. Permanently.
The Supreme Court on September 25 shut down, for the third time in less than a month, Missouri Republicans' bid to use a new congressional map that Trump personally pushed to carve up Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City district. The unsigned opinion — no noted dissents, not even from Trump's own appointees — left the current 2022 map in place for November, ruling that switching districts mid-election would 'usher in electoral chaos.' Republican Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins called it 'a disappointing blow,' while Cleaver said his reelection odds 'shot up significantly.'
Three strikes, one gerrymander, zero extra seats. Even his own justices wouldn't swing at this pitch.
2. Trump Mocked His Own Prosecutor for Dropping a Case. A Judge Just Buried It For Good.
A D.C. judge permanently dismissed the criminal case against former Olympian David Hearn on October 1, ruling 'with prejudice' specifically to stop prosecutors from reviving it 'under political pressure from Trump.' Hearn was charged with a felony for briefly touching the Reflecting Pool's peeled lining in June — even after Trump's own interim U.S. attorney, Jeanine Pirro, admitted in July that a botched contractor installation, not Hearn, caused the damage. Trump's response to his own prosecutor's admission was to say she'd 'folded like an umbrella'; the judge's response to Trump was to make sure the case can never come back.
He terrorized a pool, got cleared by his own DOJ, and still watched the President throw his attorney under the bus for agreeing with the facts. Everyone in this story is fine except Trump's case.
3. Trump Fired a US Attorney in Under an Hour. A Judge Just Un-Fired Him.
Roger Rogoff spent less than an hour as Seattle's U.S. attorney in July before Trump fired him — and on October 1, U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian ruled the firing unlawful and ordered him reinstated. Federal law lets judges appoint a U.S. attorney 'until the vacancy is filled,' Bastian wrote; it 'does not say until the president fires the person selected.' Rogoff is the first judicially appointed U.S. attorney ousted by the administration to sue over it — and win, at least while the Justice Department appeals.
Trump fired the guy faster than it takes to get a security badge photo, and the judge still took him more seriously than that.
4. New Poll: Only 17% of Americans Approve of How Trump's Handling Prices
A new AP-NORC poll released October 1 finds just 26% of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy — a new low — and only 17% approve of how he's handling the cost of living. Sixty-five percent blame his own policies for the high prices, and 69% say his cost-of-living record has gone worse than they expected, including a majority of Republicans. One self-described Republican told AP: 'He said, "Make America Great Again." And I have not seen him do that.'
Even the people who voted for the grocery discount are checking the receipt twice.
Now go back to doomscrolling. You've earned five minutes of not-doom.