Day 1750: "A living hell."

1/ At 35 days, the federal shutdown has tied the record for the longest in U.S. history, matching the 2018–19 closure during Trump’s first term. The Senate rejected a Republican stopgap bill for the 14th time, leaving Congress no closer to reopening the government. The shutdown has left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay and disrupted food aid for millions. The Trump administration, meanwhile, circulated notices implying that only employees who worked during the shutdown will be paid once it ends, despite a 2019 law guaranteeing back pay for all furloughed staff. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the White House is “open to discussing” back pay with Democrats, indicating it could be used as leverage in negotiations. (NBC News / The Hill / Politico / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Washington Post)

2/ Trump is preparing to make life “a living hell” for Senate Republicans who refuse to eliminate the filibuster. Trump reportedly plans to personally target holdouts, “call them at three o’clock in the morning,” and accuse them of being “un-American” and “old creatures of a dying institution.” Trump, frustrated over the government shutdown blocking his agenda, warned that if the 60-vote rule remains, “nothing will be passed, and Republicans will be blamed” and they’ll “lose the Midterms.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, however, said the “votes aren’t there” to change the rule. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, meanwhile, said Trump “feels really strongly about this” and urged Republicans to “play tough and play smart.” (Axios / Politico / New York Times / The Hill)

3/ The White House walked back Trump’s threat to block SNAP payments “until the Radical Left Democrats open up government […] and not before!” in defiance of a federal court order to keep the program running during the shutdown. Trump claimed benefits had “increased by Billions and Billions of Dollars (MANY FOLD!)” during “Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous term.” Press secretary Karoline Leavitt, however, said the administration was “fully complying” with the court and would send partial payments using roughly $4.65 billion from a contingency fund. The Department of Agriculture told states to distribute about half of November benefits for the program that serves roughly 42 million people. (Bloomberg / Politico / Semafor / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Axios / CNN)

4/ Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that parts of U.S. airspace may be closed next week if the government shutdown continues. Duffy said that if air traffic controllers miss another paycheck, “you will see mass chaos […] mass flight delays […] mass cancellations,” and that the Federal Aviation Administration “will restrict the airspace when we feel it’s unsafe.” Duffy offered no details on how such closures would work, but repeated that flights remain safe for now. 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 TSA workers are currently working without pay, leading to widespread delays and absences. (Politico / Reuters / Axios / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / ABC News)

5/ The Pentagon credentialed far-right activist Laura Loomer to its press corps after nearly all mainstream reporters resigned over new rules requiring preapproval for coverage not cleared by the Defense Department. Loomer, a close Trump ally known for spreading conspiracy theories and calling herself “anti-Islam,” has publicly attacked senior defense officials and claimed credit for their dismissals. Her addition follows a broader overhaul that replaced traditional news outlets with pro-Trump media willing to sign the new policy. “I have joined the Pentagon Press Corps,” Loomer wrote on X, saying her reporting “has had a massive impact” on national security personnel decisions. (Associated Press / Washington Post / The Hill / New York Times / Mediaite)

6/ Heritage Foundation chief of staff Ryan Neuhaus resigned after President Kevin Roberts defended Tucker Carlson’s interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Neuhaus reposted messages that supported Roberts’s defense of Carlson, including one saying Heritage staff who were “virtue signaling” over the remarks should “resign if so outraged” and that their exit would be “addition by subtraction for the institution.” In his video, Roberts called Carlson’s critics a “venomous coalition” and said “canceling him is not the answer,” later clarifying that Fuentes “is fomenting Jew hatred” and that his views are “immoral and un-Christian.” Meanwhile, Ben Shapiro called Carlson “an intellectual coward” and “the most virulent superspreader of vile ideas in America,” accusing him of “laundering” Fuentes’s antisemitic beliefs. Shapiro, however, said he wasn’t trying to “cancel” anyone but to “draw moral lines” within the conservative movement. (New York Times / New Republic / Axios / The Hill / National Review / The Hill / The Atlantic / Mother Jones)

7/ Wyoming man who helped convince the world to invade Iraq on the false pretense that “there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction” (he didn’t), that Iraq had “reconstituted nuclear weapons” (it hadn’t), and that Americans would be “greeted as liberators” (they weren’t), died November 3, 2025, at 84 from pneumonia and heart complications. Dick Cheney left Halliburton with a $34 million payout before steering billions in no-bid Iraq War contracts as Vice President of the United States back to Halliburton, defended torture as “enhanced interrogation” that he’d “do it again in a minute,” and once shot a friend in the face, who apologized to him for the trouble. When told most Americans thought the Iraq War, which killed more than 4,000 U.S. troops, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, helped give rise to ISIS, and destabilized the region for decades, wasn’t worth it, Cheney replied: “So?” No weapons of mass destruction were ever found. (Associated Press)

⏭️ Notably Next: Your government has been shut down for 35 days; the 2026 midterms are in 364 days.