◼ In his effort to reverse the rise in diesel prices—which have soared this year from $3.50 per gallon in January to about $6.20 now—President Donald Trump has lifted U.S. sanctions on exports of Russian diesel. In return, Russia will supply 300,000 metric tons (2.25 million barrels) into U.S. and global markets, which is a trivial amount, equivalent to less than one day’s demand for the U.S. transport sector. This would be followed in due course by an additional 1.5 million tons, a deal that may be in breach of the U.S. ban on Russian energy imports. Trump also unilaterally declared an “energy cease-fire” between Russia and Ukraine, which Russia promptly treated with contempt, attacking a facility in Kharkiv. Moscow is trying to grind Ukraine down. There can be no room for a cease-fire in that plan. To be sure, an American president cannot welcome the domestic price effects of the Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. And just weeks before the midterm elections, Trump knows the public is restless. But the president has not served U.S. interests well with these latest maneuvers. He has yet again delivered a message that the U.S. can be an unreliable ally, which will be heard far beyond Kyiv. Moreover, Trump has signaled to Moscow and Beijing that his domestic political weakness, something that is unlikely to improve any time soon, will be a rich source of pressure points.

◼ Trump asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign as ambassador to Greece after a damning series of reports in the Wall Street Journal. The Journal first reported that Guilfoyle had used her position to promote the Greek construction firm Aktor Group for energy deals. Apparently, Aktor Group lobbyist Christos Marafatsos attended so many meetings alongside Guilfoyle that other participants assumed he was her chief of staff. Two weeks later, the newspaper published text messages showing that Guilfoyle pushed Trump donor Eric Deters to pay her $100,000 American Express credit card bill before her confirmation as ambassador. At Davos, Guilfoyle also reportedly boasted “about her close ties to two Greek tycoons and said they were bankrolling her high-rolling trips around the world.” It is disturbing that Guilfoyle, a trusted Trump insider, apparently had such a keen eye to how her access and power could be leveraged for personal advantage. Republicans must surely worry that if Democrats take the House, their investigations will expose similar self-dealings in the Trump extended universe.

◼ There are bigger problems in the world than the newly minted White House press secretary having a shaky start behind the lectern. Trump speaks to the press so often, you could argue that this role is less important than it usually is. But once again, the Trump administration finds itself facing an entirely self-inflicted controversy. Trump selected Katie Zacharia, reportedly after being impressed with her appearances on cable news hits—though that experience in front of the camera didn’t exactly do her any favors in a brief inaugural White House press conference. When announcing her selection, Trump described her as “an attorney”; she graduated from Pepperdine Caruso School of Law but apparently never passed the bar in any U.S. jurisdiction. By itself, that’s no big deal—lots of law school graduates do not end up spending much time as practicing attorneys. But Zacharia has described herself as a “general counsel,” and she has said that she worked as an “associate” at Zhong Lun law firm, one of the largest in China, in Beijing from 2011 to 2013, where she moved with her husband. The whole thing is a little odd because foreign citizens cannot take the bar exam or practice law in China, and a partner at the firm told the New York Times that her role would have been akin to a paid internship. Does anyone at the White House do any vetting anymore?

◼ On October 9, Trump posted a long and wide-ranging screed on Truth Social that is difficult to succinctly summarize, but here’s our best shot: Trump was apparently genuinely surprised that the Nobel committee gave the 2026 Peace Prize to Navi Pillay. She is objectionable for many reasons, most notably her scapegoating of Israel and whitewashing of other regimes’ human rights abuses. But Trump’s ire was apparently driven by her obscurity. Trump fumed, “I know nothing about this woman, and neither does anyone else!” He boasted, “I settled 8 Wars, with letters being sent from every President and Prime Minister from the countries that I helped to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and I’m about to settle, or win, two more, Iran and, [sic] Russia/Ukraine.” Trump sees himself as the Susan Lucci of this honor: “In actuality, I should have won 8 Nobel Peace Prizes, not just 1.” Oh, and, “on top of it all, I have created a soon to be very prosperous Arctic.” At 590 words, call it the Pettysburg Address.

◼ In the fiscal year that concluded on September 30, the annual deficit reached a stunning $2 trillion. The size of the deficit is particularly alarming given that we are in an economic expansion and do not have a large number of troops in combat. In its latest review of federal finances, the Congressional Budget Office reported that while the government collected $169 billion more in revenue than it did a year earlier, it spent nearly $400 billion more than it had previously—bringing total federal spending to $7.4 trillion. Our federal debt has been building for decades thanks to lawmakers who have repeatedly avoided addressing the entitlements that are behind our fiscal mess. They did nothing even with advance knowledge that as the Baby Boomers retired and health-care costs rose, spending would explode. With debt held by the public now at over $30 trillion, the risks keep growing for a crisis in which investors become reluctant to purchase U.S. debt and demand some combination of sudden and severe cuts to government programs and crippling tax increases. In the meantime, we’ll continue to throw more than a trillion dollars a year at paying off interest before a single dollar is spent on any national priority, and we’ll keep depleting our military capacity and our ability to counter China or other emerging threats. The solutions to this spending problem may not be easy, but they are obvious: Lawmakers and the president need to get serious about reforming entitlement programs so that we can afford them.

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◼ Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Michigan, said in a debate that “if families want to keep their private health care plan, that’s fine by me.” As the echo of Barack Obama’s famous pledge suggests, he’s lying—and on an even grander scale than his role model. His book arguing for Medicare for All forthrightly says that Americans with employer-provided plans or with private Medicare Advantage plans—that’s most Medicare beneficiaries now, by the way—would have to “transition” to the new program and that nobody could opt out. He has repeatedly said he wants the insurance industry to end. His plan would accomplish that. The fig leaf he is hiding behind is that, according to his communications director, people would be allowed to buy insurance to duplicate their government coverage. That’s after they already paid higher taxes to fund the new system. In these conditions, obviously it would be much less viable for private insurers to offer policies in the first place. But by then, El-Sayed’s campaign would be over, and he would be able to say that his new no-opt-out system had just shown how attractive it is. It is a close question whether the candidate is more allergic to the truth or to freedom.

◼ Mike Rogers, El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, lit a long fuse in last week’s debate by hammering the Democrat over his family ties to a variety of U.S.-designated terrorist enterprises, including branches of the Muslim Brotherhood. “No,” El-Sayed told NBC News host Kristen Welker twice when she followed up on Rogers’s accusation. But his half sister said otherwise in 2012: “My family has long been MB.” That was around the time that El-Sayed himself pledged his support for the Muslim Brotherhood–aligned Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi. And that’s not all. El-Sayed’s birth mother worked for a charity accused by the U.S. Treasury of funding Hamas and al-Qaeda. His father-in-law held positions in other groups that were named as unindicted co-conspirators in landmark terrorism funding trials. His sister-in-law was on the terrorism watch list and may still be today. El-Sayed has also surrounded himself with figures who share his habit of seeing terrorist acts from the perspective of their perpetrators. That suggests that El-Sayed’s biggest problem is one of bad judgment rather than inconvenient relatives.

◼ The Ansar Allah militia in Yemen—the so-called Houthis—are less an Iranian proxy, akin to Hamas and Hezbollah, and more like Iran’s junior partner in its campaign of regional disruption. On more than one occasion, Tehran beseeched the Houthis to join the fight with the U.S. that broke out in February. For months, the terrorist group refused. When it lashed out, it did so on its own terms and timeline, primarily against its old foes, Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government that Riyadh props up. The effect of Ansar Allah’s offensive operations is still detrimental to U.S. interests. In September, the militia captured positions on the Red Sea coast, threatening shipping and sending global energy prices soaring. The billions of dollars in military aid provided by the U.S. have not enabled the Saudis to pushing the militia back. Meanwhile, the Houthis (with Chinese support) are also targeting the Saudi Kingdom with both Iranian missiles and those of their own design. One of those missiles struck Riyadh’s international airport over the weekend, killing twelve—including religious pilgrims, civilian airline workers, and even one American citizen. Trump so far is treating as operative the tentative cease-fire with the Houthis that has prevailed since early 2025, and neither the Saudis nor their regional partners appear able to beat back the Houthi onslaught. For now, the Houthis have the upper hand.

◼ After receiving surgery to remove a lobe of his right lung, Pope Leo XIV announced that he has a form of lung cancer. The Vatican has not shared further details, such as whether there was any spread of the cancer beyond what was removed, but says that his recovery is proceeding normally. Treatment may delay some of his travel plans, such as a highly anticipated November return to Peru, where he spent two decades as a missionary. Cancer can be eminently treatable these days, especially if it is caught early. We shall keep the Holy Father in our prayers.

◼ Outside of Abraham Lincoln, few truly beloved public legends have emerged from the state of Illinois. Most famous figures in the Prairie State eventually end up in prison, as befits the political climate of Chicagoland. Still, anyone in America with half a heart understands football and must briefly tip their cap at the mention of the death of legendary Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka. Once a six-time All-Pro tight end, Ditka was a force of nature on the gridiron. After “Iron Mike” passed his playing prime, he became a coach and eventually led the Bears to their lone Super Bowl victory in January 1986. All throughout the Upper Midwest, the cult of Ditka and “Da Bears” remains a fiercely guarded memory. Dead at 86. R.I.P., Coach.