eNewspaper | Crosswords | Horoscopes

On Politics

Thu Oct 1 2026

Zachary Schermele | Congressional Correspondent

@zachschermele

Hello, readers. Welcome back to On Politics. Zach Schermele here, USA TODAY's congressional correspondent. It's Thursday, and President Trump had some choice words today for the Supreme Court justices he himself appointed. More on that later.

Senate hits the trail

The Senate recessed last night until after the midterm elections in November, dispersing lawmakers across the campaign trail to fight an increasingly competitive battle to control the chamber for the last two years of Trump's term. Amid his sinking approval numbers and an unpopular war in Iran, Democrats left town feeling newly bullish. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer projected confidence to reporters, predicting a "close election" and saying Senate Democrats had drawn nearer to the "edge of victory."

"We do not want to be overconfident," he said at a news conference yesterday. "But what we're seeing, in state after state after state, is that people are sick of Trump."

The chamber's last day in session was filled with quibbling over data centers and voting reform — issues primed to shape the home stretch of campaign season. Majority Leader John Thune, for his part, said the GOP succeeded in capitalizing on the Senate's final hours to create its own contrast for voters. Some in his own party, however, were less optimistic, and wish they could've done more to address Americans' cost-of-living concerns.

"No matter how much you love us as Republicans, we're in control," said Sen. Jim Justice, R-West Virginia. "If you can't pay the bills, you've got a real problem with us."

A politics rundown

•	DOJ forever blocked from prosecuting Olympian in Reflecting Pool case
•	Judge extends diversity visa processing, blames State Department's "glacial pace"
•	Trump doesn't rule out invoking Insurrection Act around midterms

Daily photo gallery: See scenes of protests and emotional reactions as Tennessee botches Christa Pike execution

Trump says he regrets nominating Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett

Trump expressed disappointment with his three hand-picked conservative justices in an interview with Time magazine published today, as my colleague Joey Garrison reports. His comments followed a series of Supreme Court losses this year on his tariff policies, efforts to eliminate birthright citizenship and a push to restrict mail voting.

"Yeah, what can I do?" Trump said when asked whether he regrets nominating them. "I put them in. They voted against me too often. I was very — I gave them the position of a lifetime, and they vote against me often."

Enjoying On Politics? Subscribe here and stay up to date on Capitol Hill and the White House with our daily politics newsletter.

Europe faces pressure from Trump to help lower diesel prices

European countries held a call today to discuss releasing diesel stocks from their strategic reserves after the Trump administration threatened to impose a diesel export ban, two EU officials told my colleague Miles J. Herszenhorn. Read more of his reporting from Brussels here.

That's all from me for this week, folks. Until Monday...

Questions? Comments? Tips? Reach me, as always, at zschermele@usatoday.com or on Signal @zachschermele.02.