Today in our brief news roundup, which once again has plenty packed into it:
Trump is even having the replica of his Oval Office gilded. While he builds himself a monument, apparently his taste is supposed to be preserved by the government at the same time.
After a suspected terrorist plot, the U.S. Air Force is pulling its bombers out of Fairford. At the same time, Trump is keeping new attacks on Iran on the table and moving additional military forces into the region.
Brazil has to vote again on October 25. Flávio Bolsonaro is ahead of Lula, but he also fell short of an absolute majority.
In Moscow, 65 people were arrested after demonstrators called for fair elections and shouted "Down with the Czar." Eyewitnesses report people being kicked and a woman being grabbed by the hair during her arrest.
Trump is still sitting in the White House, and his opponents are already writing laws for the period after he is gone. They want to take back power the president has claimed for himself and prevent his handling of government and the Justice Department from becoming a model for whoever comes next.
The king pays tribute to himself: Trump even gilds the replica of his own Oval Office
Donald Trump has long since turned the Oval Office into a golden self-portrait. Now even the museum version of it is getting another dose of shine. At the "People's House" near the White House, the full-scale replica of his office has been remodeled to reflect Trump's second term. 24 portraits in heavy gold frames, vases, mirrors, gold-colored ornaments, decorations on almost every available surface. Specialists from several states recreated the pieces, scanned objects, printed replicas and carved frames by hand. In the real Oval Office, real gold leaf gleams. In the museum, paint had to do, because otherwise visitors would eventually walk off with pieces of it. That alone is almost funny: The replica has to protect itself from the public while the original keeps getting more and more gold.
Trump himself seems nowhere near finished with his remodeling. The Rose Garden lawn was replaced by a patio modeled after Mar-a-Lago. Presidential portraits hang between the residence and the West Wing, new flagpoles stand on the North and South Lawns, and other rooms have been changed as well. Trump is having a ballroom built for around $400 million after the East Wing was demolished. The project relaxes him, he said last week. But he is especially proud of his Oval Office. Asked what he would miss most after leaving office, Trump named that room. No one should ever be allowed to undo it later. He said he had instructed his chief of staff to have the office he redesigned designated as a federally protected landmark. That is a very special kind of modesty: The president decorates his office according to his own taste while simultaneously thinking about how the government can preserve that taste for posterity.
Just how much Trump now seems to view the White House as his personal property came out in a slip of the tongue. During the dispute over barring CNN, MS Now and Politico, he said he did not have to let them into "my..." before correcting himself and referring to the "people's house." Half a sentence was almost enough. Meanwhile, the museum is trying to keep up. First its Oval Office replica showed Joe Biden's decor, then Trump's first term, and now everything has been remodeled again. 25 people worked on it for nearly a week. Portraits are stacked above the fireplace, and along the walls it is gold after gold. Washington, Jackson, Franklin, all packed closely together. The Resolute Desk is still there, along with older rugs and drapes from previous presidents. Around them, however, Trump's own realm of frames, ornaments and personal taste keeps growing. The historical association will not say what this latest remodeling of the replica cost. It receives no government funding and lives on donations and sales. Trump already made an unannounced visit to the museum gift shop in 2025. Now he could go there and visit his own Oval Office. A copy of the copy, gilded to his taste. It is hard to fit much more self-worship into just a few square feet.
After terror suspicion at Fairford, U.S. Air Force pulls out its bombers, Trump keeps new Iran attacks on the table
The bombers are gone. The U.S. Air Force has moved every aircraft stationed at RAF Fairford back to its home bases in the United States after British investigators began looking into a possible terrorist attack on the base. Dozens of B-52s and B-1s had operated out of Fairford since the beginning of the Iran war. Observers saw a larger number of B-1s leave the base on Sunday. The timing is sensitive. Donald Trump is considering further attacks on Iran even though, at the start of the war, he had told Americans to expect a campaign lasting only a few weeks. On Saturday, he left little doubt that the military action may be far from over. Speaking about Iran, Trump said the country had been devastated and that the only question now was whether things would proceed "the easy way or the hard way."
Behind the withdrawal from England is a case that has now gone far beyond an ordinary security warning. A dual British-Iranian national was arrested in London last week after a security incident at Fairford in late September. A total of 6 people were taken into custody, and all were later released under conditions. British authorities link the incident to Tehran. Iran denies any involvement but has repeatedly said that bases used to launch attacks on Iranian territory are legitimate targets. Fairford was exactly that kind of base. It is located around 100 miles west of London and has been used by American bombers for operations in the Middle East for decades. British security authorities have long warned about groups with ties to Iran that have been blamed for arson attacks and other acts of violence.
Militarily, Washington is by no means pulling out of the war. The focus is shifting. The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is on its way to the region, along with an amphibious force carrying more than 7,000 sailors and 2,000 Marines. By the end of October, according to a U.S. official, 3 American aircraft carriers could be there. Fairford is getting emptier while additional American forces gather off the Iranian coast. Trump is now deciding on new strikes in a war whose end is already much farther away than the few weeks talked about at the beginning.
Brazil tumbles into a runoff: Flávio Bolsonaro leads Lula and forces the president into a second fight
As of 4:15 a.m. CET, the first round is effectively counted. 99.95 percent of the votes have been tallied. Flávio Bolsonaro has around 56.1 million votes, while Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has about 53.8 million. In percentage terms, Bolsonaro is at roughly 47.1, Lula at around 45.2. Neither has enough to win outright. Brazil will have to vote again on October 25. The fact that Bolsonaro of all people is ahead hits Lula where it hurts politically. The president went into Sunday expecting that he might win the first round himself. Instead, Jair Bolsonaro's son is now ahead of him, 45 years old, a senator, closely aligned with Donald Trump and with a result far stronger than many polls had suggested. Lula has lost millions of votes compared with 2022. Back then, he took 48.43 percent in the first round. Now he is well below that. The country has not voted him out. But it has made very clear that his old majority is no longer something he can simply call up whenever he wants.
Flávio Bolsonaro immediately seized on the result. Brazil wants change, he said, and the era of the Workers' Party is coming to an end. That is a big statement from a man who also failed to win the required majority. Still, Lula is now behind. 4 years ago, he ultimately defeated Jair Bolsonaro by around 2.1 million votes. This time, the son carries the family name into the runoff and goes in with a lead. The next 3 weeks will therefore be fought over the millions of people who refused to vote for either man in the first round. Augusto Cury won around 3.4 million votes. Ronaldo Caiado and Renan Santos together received about 5.3 million. Cury has so far said he will support neither Lula nor Bolsonaro. Caiado and Santos have not endorsed anyone either. Those are now votes suddenly worth more than any packed campaign stadium. Lula also has to deal with high living costs that have hurt his government politically. On top of that comes the Banco Master corruption scandal, which reaches deep into Brazil's political leadership. Bolsonaro, for his part, carries the burden of the family name. Around half the population rejects the Bolsonaro family. Opposition to Lula's Workers' Party is similarly high.
In foreign policy, the runoff would also take Brazil in very different directions. Bolsonaro wants closer business ties with Washington and openly promotes better relations with the Trump administration. He sees rare minerals as a major opportunity for deals with the United States. He also wants to get his father out of prison and back into politics. Lula, by contrast, has clashed with Washington and expanded his ties with China. His resistance to American pressure in particular recently helped him regain support. At the same time, economic dissatisfaction remains his heaviest burden. Brazil has 214 million people, the largest economy in Latin America, and now an election in which both major camps have substantial parts of the country against them. According to election observers, the electronic voting system operated without major problems, and there are no indications of significant election fraud. The first round is therefore almost completely counted. 56.1 million votes for Bolsonaro, 53.8 million for Lula. On October 25, the count starts again from zero.
Putin's police crack down because people demand fair elections
In Moscow, 65 people were arrested at a rally organized by the Communist Party. Around 2,000 participants took to the streets on October 4, officially to commemorate those killed in the violent dispersal of the Supreme Soviet 33 years ago. Among them were Communists, Yabloko supporters, Marxist groups and supporters of activist Dmitry Morozov. Then remembrance turned into the present. "Freedom for political prisoners," "For fair elections," "Down with the Czar," along with chants against United Russia. According to eyewitness accounts, the mass arrests began right after that. Security forces reportedly kicked one man, while a woman was grabbed by the hair during her arrest. Some of those detained were taken to the Krasnopresnensky police station. Moscow police provided neither their own number of arrests nor a public reason for the crackdown. The Communist Party said it was working to secure the participants' release.
The signs read:
- Upper left: "Hold Yakusheva accountable!"
- Large sign on the left: "I demand: End multi-day voting."
- Large sign on the right: "October 3-4, 1993 - a black day in the history of Russian democracy."
What happened in Moscow is part of a broader effort to publicly protest alleged fraud after the September elections at all. Rallies were announced or prepared in at least 14 cities. By October 4, they had been able to take place in Syktyvkar, Tyumen and Tobolsk. Altogether, around 260 people attended. No arrests were reported at those 3 events. In Moscow, another rally under the slogan "For fair elections" had been planned for Theater Square. Authorities rejected it, citing coronavirus restrictions. St. Petersburg was given the same reason. In Kazan, officials said the subject was not specific enough and that a single organizer might not be able to guarantee the safety of 499 participants. Yekaterinburg cited an existing emergency readiness order. In Ulan-Ude, a fair in the park and a citywide "cleanliness month" stood in the way of a rally. Organizers were offered October 25 instead.
In Izhevsk, a court first had to rule that the city administration had unlawfully rejected a rally because it had offered neither an alternative location nor another date. One of the applicants was Dmitry Morozov, whose release was later demanded in Moscow. In Khabarovsk, the Rassvet party wanted to protest on October 4. The organizer was taken to the police 3 days earlier, warned and questioned for several hours as a witness in another case. A day later, he withdrew the rally notice. In Lipetsk, by contrast, a rally was approved for October 10.
Putin's Russia is showing pretty openly just how little room is left. If you quietly commemorate the dead, you may be allowed to stand there. If you turn that into open criticism, demand fair elections or shout "Down with the Czar," you risk arrest, violence and more. In Moscow, 65 people were hit by it. This is not the behavior of a nervous police force. This is political dictatorship, visible right out in the street.
Washington is already planning the repair job after Trump - the fight to restore the rule of law and roll back his changes has already begun
Donald Trump is still sitting in the White House. His opponents are already drafting rules for the day when he no longer is. Jamie Raskin wants tighter limits on presidential emergency powers and public review of White House renovations. Payments from foreign governments to a president would be prohibited without congressional approval. Another proposal targets financial settlements between a president and his own government. Over the summer, a federal judge sharply rebuked Trump and the Justice Department for trying to legitimize a settlement that would have shielded Trump from IRS scrutiny and created a fund of nearly $1.8 billion. Washington is trying to put doors back in place after Trump showed just how easily they can be ripped off their hinges.
His 2nd term has dragged this question out of the law school seminar room and into everyday government. Trump declared around a dozen emergencies and used them for tariffs or accelerated deportations. National Guard deployments were also justified through them. More than 280 presidential orders followed. Chris Murphy wants to prohibit government officials from politically targeting or punishing people for what they say. Suzan DelBene and Don Beyer want to prevent a president from imposing tariffs on his own by invoking a national emergency. Rahm Emanuel is calling for a blind trust for assets above $1 million and a ban on foreign gifts. Trump traded millions of dollars in individual stocks while in office and accepted an aircraft from Qatar.
History does not excuse him, it only explains why the ground was already soft. Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 air traffic controllers in 1981. George W. Bush authorized secret interrogation methods after September 11 that were widely regarded as torture. Barack Obama expanded presidential authority through DACA and had suspected terrorists killed by drones far from traditional war zones. Tiffany Justice of Heritage Action therefore calls the Democratic reform proposals hypocritical. Trump is doing nothing Democratic presidents have not done before, she says. The White House says the administration has complied with court rulings. His impact will shape every future White House. His critics argue that Trump has gone far beyond modern predecessors in the scope and aggressiveness of his actions.
There is a temptation even within the Democratic camp. A future administration could turn Trump's methods against his own side. Michael Waldman warns against it. Rule-of-law standards would still have to apply even if the other side had previously pushed the limits. At the same time, former Justice Department officials from Republican and Democratic administrations are discussing how to strengthen the department's independence again. Under Todd Blanche, formerly Trump's personal attorney, many experienced lawyers left the department or were pushed out. Trump, for his part, reportedly said he would preemptively pardon anyone who had come within 200 feet of the Oval Office before he leaves office.
Watergate gives reformers their historical hope. After Nixon resigned, Congress restricted government surveillance and presidential emergency powers. Back then, Democrats had majorities that are almost unimaginable today. A poll last year found that 78 percent of Americans were concerned about growing presidential power. At the same time, a theory gained influence in conservative legal circles holding that the president has nearly unlimited control over the executive branch. Congress often just watched. That is exactly where the bill is still due.
Raskin talks about decades of rebuilding. The problem runs deeper than a few bad rules. Trump has shown future presidents that they can first pull authority toward themselves, test the limits and let the courts decide afterward. William Galston describes the method pretty plainly: Trump makes demands he does not expect to win every time in court. A few major victories are enough. That is exactly where the danger for the period after him lies. The next president does not have to like Trump to have learned from him. 280 orders, around a dozen declared emergencies and a Justice Department whose top official was once Trump's personal attorney are already part of the handbook of what apparently can be attempted. Washington is therefore debating new guardrails while the man whose conduct they are meant to constrain is still sitting in the Oval Office.
