Something that has never happened in American history is underway in Dallas right now: the first-ever midterm Republican National Convention. Past midterm conventions have been about righting the ship, the party coming together, figuring out its message, getting organized. This one is about Trump. He is the keynote speaker both nights. The topics on the schedule are his policies, his accomplishments, his agenda. Senate Majority Leader John Thune is not attending. At least 70 congressional Republicans told Politico they weren't planning to go. Swing state candidates in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Iowa are staying home to campaign.

The ones who did go paid for the privilege. A single ticket for a member of Congress: $25,000. A roundtable with JD Vance: $75,000, plus $35,000 more for a photo with him. A photo with Trump: $89,000. A roundtable with Trump: $250,000. A leadership breakfast with Mike Johnson: $100,000.

There are now serious questions about where this money is going, specifically whether some of it is being funneled into Trump's MAGA Inc machine, which has been spending the bulk of its campaign cash on national ads about Trump rather than helping vulnerable Republican candidates in close races.

Before Dallas: the mail-in ballot rule got blocked again, the DOJ ran to the Supreme Court the same hour, the USPS Inspector General officially opened an investigation into the whistleblower's disclosure, and an appeals court blocked DHS from using a voter database a federal judge already said was built from illegal data. Canada's retaliatory tariffs went into effect targeting steel, aluminum, milk, cheese, and more — hitting Michigan hardest. And Trump posted AI images of himself as a Warhammer 40K emperor, a Space Force uniform based on Nazi SS costumes, and admitted on social media to trading stocks while in office.

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