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- Trump’s Dream World in Dallas
Photographs by Joseph RushmorePresident Trump began his midterm-convention address last night by casting his spell on the crowd in Dallas. “This place is packed,” he announced from the stage, pointing to the back of the American Airlines Center, where everyone could see hundreds of empty seats. Those who looked up saw thousands more, whole sections without any people at all. But the crowd cheered anyway. A deal had been struck. Reality would be ignored. After more than a decade in politics, Trump is facing his last great electoral test—his popularity is waning, his party is down in the polls, Republicans could lose control in the U.S. House and maybe the Senate. He demanded greater complicity minutes later, seeming to invent a person in the back of the room. “He’s leaving for the bathroom. He’ll be back in two minutes,” he said, pointing. “They’ll take a picture of his seat while he’s gone. And they’ll say Trump did not fill up the arena.” Laughter joined with the cheers for their political wizard. It was working. Trump could say that he had passed “the largest tax cut in the history of our country,” even if that was not the case. He could claim to have won the presidency three times, when he’s actually done so twice. He could describe the recent past as “the most successful two years financially and every other way in the history of the presidency,” despite six in 10 voters saying he had made the economy worse. He could promise to pay every adult U.S. citizen $5,000 if Republicans held both legislative houses, as if that sum did not amount to about 80 percent of the federal discretionary budget. He might even be able to convince the country to embrace the big fantasy, a chance to defy history and seal victory for Republicans in November. “I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot,” he said. “I’m on the ballot. I’m on the ballot. Just one more time.”Joseph Rushmore for The Atlantic The night was all about Trump. He was the alpha and omega, the focus and the solution. Attendees wore pictures of the president on lanyards around their necks, the ticket for entry to the arena. VIP boxes were stocked with Trump was right about everything hats. Oversize photos of the president lined the hallways. Five hours before he arrived, he received his first standing ovation. A video montage played… [TheTopNews] Read More.1 week ago - 25th Anniversary of America’s 9/11 Ride: Never Forget
Twenty-five years later, hundreds of motorcyclists continue a journey connecting the three sites of September 11th and honoring the people America promised never to forget. I was supposed to be riding near the front of America’s 9/11 Ride this year, alongside founders Ted and Lisa Sjurseth; Keith Costanzo, my best friend since we were little kids growing up in Oradell, New Jersey; his colleague from The Blue Knights International Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club; ride leadership; police motor officers; and hundreds of fellow motorcyclists gathering in Somerset, Pennsylvania. I had been invited to participate as a VIP and planned to cover the experience for Rider from the perspective I know best: behind the handlebar. From Somerset, we would travel to the Flight 93 National Memorial, continue to the Pentagon, and ultimately make our way to New York City, connecting the three places forever linked by September 11, 2001. A car accident in my wife’s Alfa Romeo shortly before the ride made that impossible. I was deeply disappointed, but it didn’t take long to put my disappointment into perspective. Thousands of people left their homes on an ordinary Tuesday morning 25 years ago and never returned. Their families didn’t lose a motorcycle trip or an experience they had been looking forward to. They lost husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends and co-workers. There was also a personal reason I wanted to approach this story carefully. One of the people killed in the World Trade Center was someone I had gone to high school with. Behind her name is a family and friends that have lived with her absence for 25 years. I wanted to honor her memory, and theirs, without making their loss part of my story. I have long believed that one of the best ways to honor people is to carry something good forward, and that became an important guide for how I approached this assignment. So instead of reporting what I would have seen from behind my BMW R1200GS windscreen, I researched, asked questions, and listened. I listened to Ted and Lisa, to people who have made this journey, to the first responders and volunteers who make it possible, and to the communities that have lined the route year after year. Then, as the 2026 ride unfolded, I followed what was happening from a distance. Reports from along the… [TheTopNews] Read More.1 week ago - The Election Deniers’ Long Game
In the anxious days following President Trump’s 2020 election loss—before his supporters stormed the Capitol, before his vengeful return to the White House, before the mass pardons for cop beaters—some Republican figures sought to cast his attempt to overturn the results as nothing more than a coping mechanism.Trump was merely blowing off steam, people close to the president told me and other reporters. “What is the downside for humoring him for this little bit of time?” one asked, suggesting that in the end, his antics would amount to no more than a footnote in the annals of presidential history.The January 6 insurrection a few weeks later would, of course, turn those predictions into punch lines. Nearly six years on, they look worse still: The election denialism that inspired Trump’s MAGA loyalists to attack the Capitol has metastasized into an animating feature of Republican Party politics.Trump himself remains at the forefront of this movement. Since returning to office, he has insisted that American elections are “rigged” against the GOP, fired Democratic election officials, threatened to “take over” voting across the country, and issued executive orders that would tightly restrict the vote. The president’s most far-reaching efforts have largely been blocked by the courts or Congress, at least so far. As in 2020, Trump in fact has little legal authority to interfere with elections, and this has given comfort to many Americans.But as November approaches, the most serious threats posed to free and fair elections no longer come from the White House itself. Instead, they are local, where much of the power over elections actually resides, and they stem from the continuing absorption of Trump’s Big Lie into our political culture. In statehouses and county offices, a cohort of election deniers has taken control of significant parts of the nation’s electoral infrastructure. Some of its members have replaced the officials and legislators who rejected Trump’s push to corrupt the 2020 race. A grassroots movement of Big Lie believers has meanwhile been organized and trained as poll workers or informal observers to sound alarms over local elections they deem suspect in any way.The November elections represent something new in American politics: For the first time, a coalition of partners at the local, state, and federal levels is ready to pull off the kind of election heist that eluded the president back in 2020. At the very least, the midterms could serve as a… [TheTopNews] Read More.1 week ago - TruckSmarter Shuts Down After Acquisition, Leaving 500,000 Carriers Seeking Alte...
Freight technology company TruckSmarter is shutting down its driver app and Dispatch service following an acquisition by an undisclosed buyer, ending a platform that has been used by more than 500,000 carriers. TruckSmarter announced on September 1 that it had been acquired and would shut down its app on Friday, September 4, 2026. The platform offered carriers a free load board along with Dispatch, a paid artificial intelligence-powered service designed to simplify freight searching, bidding, and booking. Dispatch allowed drivers to search for freight using conversational language rather than manually scrolling through a traditional load board. Its software agents could also perform tasks such as bidding on loads, booking freight, and scheduling workflows. The service was introduced as TruckSmarter increased its focus on AI-based freight technology. According to automated company responses cited by FreightWaves, active Dispatch subscriptions were scheduled to be canceled when the service closed. Customers who paid invoices during the previous 30 days were expected to receive refunds within seven business days after cancellation. TruckSmarter co-founder and CEO Dan Kao thanked users for five years of support in a message posted within the app. However, the identity of the company acquiring TruckSmarter has not been publicly disclosed, and financial terms of the transaction remain unknown. OTR Solutions has confirmed that it is not the buyer. OTR previously acquired TruckSmarter’s factoring and banking division in November 2025, allowing TruckSmarter to concentrate on its software, load board, and AI dispatch technology. FreightWaves noted that the circumstances resemble an acquihire, an acquisition primarily focused on obtaining a company’s employees and technical expertise rather than continuing its products. TruckSmarter’s rapid shutdown, absence of a customer migration plan, and unidentified buyer support that possibility. However, neither TruckSmarter nor the acquiring company has confirmed that the transaction is an acquihire. TruckSmarter was founded in San Francisco in 2021 by Kao and Paolo Bernasconi. The company raised a $25 million Series B in 2022, followed by a debt facility in 2024. In September 2025, it raised another $16 million in equity, with the funding intended to support research, development, and talent while launching Dispatch. For carriers that relied on TruckSmarter, the shutdown created an immediate need to secure freight through alternative platforms. FreightWaves advised users to export available load histories, rate confirmations, broker contacts, payment records, and other important documents before losing access. Carriers were also encouraged to verify subscription refunds and establish accounts… [TheTopNews] Read More.1 week ago - Iran’s Strikes on Base in Jordan Caused Limited Damage, U.S. Officials Say
The latest round of fighting may result in reports of traumatic brain injuries among American service members, officials warned. [TheTopNews] Read More.1 week ago - Okay, Sure, a Folding iPhone
Nothing quickens the pulse of an Apple fan more than these three words: one more thing. Steve Jobs used the catchphrase to introduce the original iPhone in 2007. In his 15 years running the company, Tim Cook deployed it only a handful of times, including before his 2014 announcement of the Apple Watch. Today, nine days into his tenure as Apple’s CEO, John Ternus said the magic words. Apple’s next big invention, the company revealed at a launch event in Cupertino, is a $2,000 iPhone that sports—get ready—a “remarkable hinge.”This is the iPhone Duo, a foldable gadget that opens like a book to reveal a capacious 7.6-inch screen. Billed as the most versatile iPhone, it can be used in folded or unfolded form, and in split-screen or full-screen modes. The screen appears seamless when open, which is a clever engineering feat. Yet an iPhone that blossoms into an iPad Mini seems unlikely to change many lives—especially at the price of a MacBook Pro. And foldable smartphones have been on the market since Samsung popularized the category, in 2019. In the pantheon of “one more things,” the Duo feels like a dud.Apple also announced several other devices today, all pitched in superlative terms by executives to obligatory applause. The most interesting might be new versions of the Apple Watch that will listen for sounds such as sirens and doorbells, take notes on your conversations, or play back the past 15 seconds of what someone just said to you. (Exactly how all of that will work, and how well, is not yet clear.) There are also new AirPods with improved noise cancellation. The new iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max—the ones that don’t fold—offer “the longest battery life in iPhone history and the most advanced pro-camera system ever,” the company said. They also come in “a sophisticated and unique new color,” which is burgundy.Apple may have once captured people’s imagination. Now it also captures a lot more of their money. On top of its hardware sales, the tech giant is raking in subscription fees to Apple Music, Apple News, Apple TV, iCloud, and more. Earlier this summer, the company announced price hikes on many of its products and a leasing program in partnership with Klarna for anyone who blinks at the sticker prices. One thing it didn’t announce today was the base iPhone 18, or any of its other less… [TheTopNews] Read More.2 weeks ago
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