Donald Trump is cornered

At 7:45 tonight, Donald Trump experienced what appeared to be a serious mental health crisis while on stage campaigning for Republicans in Ohio. He had just arrived at the High School Activity Center in Vandalia, Ohio, 45 minutes late after his motorcade was forced to change its route to avoid protesters.

After making his way to the podium, he wasted no time launching into a truly disturbing speech where he told the crowd that Democrats tried to kill him and that “we’re going to put them down once and for all.” He said that Democrats rigged the elections and that the Republican Party is going to beat them, and that they would “shove it up their ass.”

He attacked the press, called Biden a “fake president,” and presented a bribe to every American over the age of 18, promising to send each one of them $5,000 if his party wins and keeps control of Congress. This was just the tip of the iceberg of the dangerous things the president said tonight.

Within minutes, it became clear that this was not going to be a regular campaign rally. As the speech went on, it only got worse as Donald Trump unraveled on live TV. Tonight marked the beginning of an even darker chapter in American History. One where the leader of the free world openly shared that he and his administration will reject, by all means possible, anything other than the outcome he wants for the midterm elections.

Trump told the crowd: “We’ve defeated every hoax and overcome every threat. Now we are on the cusp of beating the communist, socialist, radicalized lunatics and villains once and for all. We’re going to put them down once and for all.”

That is exactly what the President of the United States is saying about those he sees as a threat to his unchecked power. This includes, but is not limited to, Democrats, American citizens, journalists, and protesters. But it was the “put them down” part that is the most concerning. Most of us know that as a phrase used to mean the euthanasia of a sick or injured animal. When he added “once and for all,” he left very little room for interpretation. He was talking about ending opposition permanently.

With Donald Trump, we have to take him at his word while hoping he is just being provocative. History has already taught us how far he will go and how far others like him have gone before. Hitler did not start by rounding up his final targets and sending them to the camps. He started with the language he used and testing what he could get away with saying. He called his political opponents vermin and disease, and he told crowds at his rallies that they were a threat to the nation. The eventual horrific actions followed later.

He did not stop there. He told the crowd that Democrats had “attacked me, they’ve impeached me, they’ve arrested me, and they even tried to kill me.” He called Biden a “fake president,” still clinging to his election lie all these years later. He also said that Democrats rigged the elections and that they were “a bunch of dumb sons of bitches.” He said they, the Republicans, were going to win big and “shove it up their ass, okay?” That is the President of the United States of America, speaking from a podium with the presidential seal on it, terrified of losing and spiraling out of control.

Trump is building a narrative where he is the ultimate authority in our country. It is part of his strategy ahead of the devastating loss he expects to face during the midterms. Today he gave us a look into what that will look like and how it will play out. Part of his plan is to convince his followers that he is smarter than everyone else, and he pretty much said exactly that: “I know more about everything than anybody in this room, than anybody anywhere in the world.” He then stopped for a very quick pause, pointed at a woman sitting near the stage, and continued, “There’s a woman sitting right over there who is a housewife, but she’s very good. She’s got a natural instinct for business. She perhaps knows more than I do, but I actually don’t think so.”

And then he brought up his latest bribe. Trump told the room, and those of us watching from home, that “If Republicans win the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, I am going to give all adult citizens in the United States $5,000 each because we’re making so much money with the tariffs and other things.”

Every time he promises to send Americans money in exchange for their votes, we have to do the math because that is where the promise immediately falls apart. There are roughly 245 million adults in this country. That is $1.20 trillion. The president does not have the authority to just send out checks on a whim, and he certainly can’t spend more than a trillion dollars without approval. That is not even taking into account the practical side of things, like where the money would come from. Donald Trump also promised $2,000 tariff dividend checks. Those never came, and these never will either. He knows that, and he also knows that there is almost no realistic path for Republicans to hold both chambers of Congress. So the excuse and the scapegoat are already built in for when the checks are never sent. He will blame the Democrats. He will say he wanted to send the checks, but the radical left “Dumocrats” blocked him from sending them. He will use this as another reason to further divide us.

He also shared fear-based propaganda that he created in his mind about what is to come if his party loses. “If the Democrats are in control again, we’ll have another Great Depression like in the 1930s.” He said that if Democrats win, “you will end up in a 1929-style economic depression, and we will have a disaster on our hands.” He is trying to terrify the most vulnerable people in this country into voting out of fear, while also trying to bribe them with money he will not and cannot send. He is counting on them believing that this time will somehow be different and that he will actually deliver on the promises he makes.

He not only told us that he will be targeting political dissent over the next couple of years, but he also made it very clear that he is coming after the media and anyone committed to fact-based reporting. He pointed up at the press section and told the crowd, “Some of the fake news media are sitting right there.” The crowd loudly booed, with someone even screaming, “F*CK CNN!” Trump stood there grinning and smirking as he stared directly at the journalists, letting the hostility in the room build toward them. He went after Kaitlan Collins again, calling her “such an unhappy person,” and said that “she’s a young, nice person, but she never smiles.” He said, “the fake news media refuse to talk about our record-setting numbers.” The President of the United States continues to try to humiliate journalists who haven’t bent to his demands for only positive coverage. He also said, “It’s the golden age of America. Our nation is doing better now than ever before, and fake news like CNN, sitting right there, doesn’t want to run.” Then he offered us a new name for the press: “We could call the media ‘artificial media.’ That would be accurate. We could call them ‘artificial news.’ They’re artificial news, meaning fake, but I like ‘fake’ better. I made that up a long time ago, and it seems to be quite accurate.”

This is why Trump is so focused on destroying trust in the media. He needs his supporters to believe that every reporter, news outlet, and really anyone who says something Donald Trump doesn’t like is lying to them. Trump knows his numbers and polls are both terrible, so he needs to convince his supporters that the only person they can trust is him. So that it doesn’t matter what anyone else reports. He is setting the stage for what comes next. If the midterm results are not what he wants, he will say the media lied and that there was rampant fraud. He will tell his supporters that the election was stolen from them, and many will believe him. We saw what happened on January 6th, and we have watched him pardon the insurrectionists. We know Donald Trump’s part in what happened, and how he has convinced those who carried that out for him, and the next round of people like them, to think they will ultimately be protected the next time he asks people to do his dirty work for him.

The difference this time is that Donald Trump is sitting inside the White House with the power of the federal government behind him. Everything he said tonight was in preparation for what may be one of the darkest chapters in the history of our country. We got a glimpse of just how dark the next 30+ days and the months that follow could become. There were multiple moments during this rally that would have warranted serious discussions about the 25th Amendment with any other president. But things have become so normalized that we don’t even talk about that like we did even a year ago. Our country has fallen so far over the past 21 months that even the president accusing Democrats of trying to kill him or calling them “dumb sons of bitches” is no longer enough to shock us.

The big picture is that this is what we are going to see until the midterms if Donald Trump isn’t stopped. And then the worst of the Big Beautiful Bill is purposefully set to happen shortly after that, devastating everyday Americans. The months after that may very well be even worse. He is going to push everything through he possibly can before the new Congress is seated. At the same time, he will have set the tone with his radicalized followers that anybody, including the legacy media, independent journalists, and writers such as myself, are all part of the “fake news” and can’t be trusted. He will challenge every election result that does not go his way. He will say that foreign governments meddled in our elections and that the results have been manipulated. There will be court cases, and games played to try to keep the new, duly elected members of Congress from being seated.

This may be a very trying time for our country. We will get through it. We will come out on the other side. What it takes to get there is another story. And even after all of that, we are looking at a sitting-duck president at a level this country has never seen, with nothing left to hold him back and nothing left to lose. With his diminished physical and cognitive abilities, we won’t truly start to feel safe and see a path forward for this country until at least early 2029, and even then, we will be dealing with the damage for years to come.

We knew these dark times were coming. We knew it would get worse the closer we got to the midterms. Today he showed us exactly what that is going to look like. He is coming after dissent, the truth, and anyone who refuses to fall in line. But no matter what he tries to take from us, we need to remind Donald Trump and each other that we are not helpless. There are still things we can do. We can vote, and we can get louder. If you’ve been on the sidelines, this is the moment to step off them. If you’ve been scared to speak out, I understand that fear completely. I know what it costs and the threats that come with it. I’ve lived it for a year and a half, and I’m still here, and it has not slowed me down. Because I also know what silence costs, and that price is higher. It always has been, and it always will be.

I made a promise when I started writing these posts. Every time Donald Trump or his administration attacked the press, the First Amendment, or the rights of the American people, I would call it out. Today Donald Trump took his attacks even further. His public threats were meant to cause ripples of fear through all of us. They want us to hesitate the next time we go to speak, and they want us to question our next vote for a Democrat for fear that they will usher in the next Great Depression.

Tonight we resist with our voices and our money. Every time this administration attacks the First Amendment, or our right to free, fair, and fear-free elections, we respond by funding the people defending it. On these nights, I donate and subscribe to those on the right side of history who offer a paid membership. To use the overplayed line about how most of these options cost about the same as a cup of coffee, I actually live by that. I rarely buy coffee outside the house anymore because I would much rather give that money to someone fighting for our country anyway.

Those of you who have been reading these posts for a while know how this goes. If we are able, and it will not cause a financial hardship, we put our money to good use. We support our local, state, and federal candidates. The other side is throwing a lot of money at these elections, so our candidates can always use more funds. We donate to nonprofits that are defending our Constitution and the most vulnerable in our communities. That includes organizations that are challenging Donald Trump’s abuses of power in court. And we also support the people taking a stand to deliver the truth about what is happening in this country under extreme threat from Donald Trump and the federal government. Thank you all for supporting me in this way. It is how I’m able to dedicate my life to this work and write these posts every night. I am grateful that I can be a part of this fight with your support.

But like I always say and will until the end of time, I’m also asking you to think beyond just my voice. Think about every writer, journalist, podcaster, and other independent outlet that you turn to when you need the truth about what is happening in this country. Think about the people writing and creating content day in and day out, without breaks, because they care about our country and the generations we will be leaving it to. Donald Trump just told us what comes next, and we need to be prepared now so that our truth tellers are funded to survive it. The most powerful thing we can do right now is make sure the people refusing to be silent can keep going. Every paid subscription to an independent voice is a vote against everything Donald Trump said today and does tomorrow.

Donald Trump didn’t have his meltdown at the podium today because the future looks good for him or the Republican Party. He is waging these attacks because he is scared. He is scared of what happens to him next. He knows the resistance is just growing and that his deficits are as well.

He knows that he is in a weak position, and nothing makes him feel more threatened than that. But while he was standing on that stage trying to make the rest of us feel the same fear he is, a group of musicians was standing in front of a sold-out crowd of close to 20,000, reminding us just how much power we still have. Just 25 miles from the White House, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine’s Power to the People Festival in Columbia, Maryland, brought together some very powerful voices in American music for a day built around the very things Trump is trying to destroy: freedom, justice, equality, and people coming together and using their voices for something bigger than themselves.

Performers included Bruce Springsteen, the Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Joan Baez, Public Enemy, Killer Mike, Cypress Hill, Serj Tankian, Brittany Howard, Dropkick Murphys, Jack Black, The Linda Lindas, and Shepard Fairey. This wasn’t just a music festival. This was a show of resistance.

Donald Trump wants us to think that the fight is over and that we have already lost our country. But we know the truth. We know that he is only going to these lengths because he knows what is coming and he is desperately trying to stop it. In 31 days, we are going to come together and show him just how much power we still have, and he is going to finally start to face the consequences of what he has put our country through. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: Tonight’s post wasn’t an easy one to write. For most of the day, I thought I was going to publish one on the destruction Pete Hegseth is causing throughout our military. That meant hours of listening to him say the most abhorrent things. Once I had my outline done and was completely caught up on his press conferences, State of the Force address to the military, and press gaggles, it was time for Donald Trump to speak in Ohio. I made it just a couple of minutes in before I knew I had to completely scratch my planned post and focus on his speech instead.

It happens more often these days than it did a year ago. The assault on our way of life, our country, our finances, and the Constitution is being waged by nearly everyone in Trump’s administration. I no longer wake up and wonder if I will be able to choose just one thing to write about that day. I now wonder how I am supposed to choose just one when so many things are happening at the same time that deserve our attention.

My writing buddy tried very hard to stay awake and support me, but at some point I looked over, and she was passed out with a stolen paper towel tube!

Links to sources used in writing this article:

LIVE: President Trump rallies in Ohio: YouTube Video

https://politifact.com/article/2026/oct/03/trump-rally-vandalia-dayton-ohio-fact-check/

https://www.michiganpublic.org/2026-09-08/the-2026-midterm-general-election-season-is-upon-us-heres-what-to-watch

https://www.jambase.com/article/public-enemy-power-to-the-people-festival-2026-lineup

https://powertothepeoplefest.com/announce

https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-hit-by-major-midterm-polling-blows-within-24-hours-12234999