Happy Wednesday and welcome back to today’s edition of Common Sense with Ally Sammarco—your daily briefing on U.S. politics. Let’s break it down.
Trump Cancels Meeting with Democrats, Shutdown Risk Grows….President Trump abruptly called off a scheduled meeting with House and Senate Democratic leaders—saying their demands were “unserious and ridiculous”—as the government heads toward a partial shutdown on October 1. Senate Democrats had already blocked the GOP stopgap bill funding operations through November, setting the final showdown.
Common Sense takeaway: Refusing to talk is easier than negotiating—but avoiding government collapse isn’t beneficial for anyone. Sorry Don, we know you want to be a dictator but you still have to work with Democrats sometimes.
ICE Office Shooting Treated as Political Violence….A gunman opened fire on an ICE facility in Dallas, wounding several detainees, before dying by suicide. FBI Director Kash Patel described the attack as “targeted violence” and Vice President JD Vance posted, “the obsessive attack on law enforcement, particularly ICE, must stop,” although the only known victims were detainees, not law enforcement.
Common Sense takeaway: At a time when political violence is becoming more common, it’s more important than ever to be right about the details. Posting recklessly as a government official only fuels more conspiracies and chaos.
Trump Pushes Controversial Autism & Tylenol Agenda….Trump and HHS Secretary RFK Jr. unveiled their plans yesterday to fast-track a medication (leucovorin) for certain autism-related speech deficits and to issue safety notices about acetaminophen (Tylenol) during pregnancy. A lot of professionals argue that these moves lack sufficient scientific backing and may fuel misinformation. Trump also had trouble pronouncing “acetaminophen” during their press conference.
Common Sense takeaway: If you’re going to make claims about a medication, you should probably know how to pronounce the name of it. Currently, Tylenol is the only pain reliever that is approved for pregnancy, so it’s not a shock that our right-wing government is fine with restricting pregnant women hastily and without enough evidence.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading Common Sense with Ally Sammarco. Check back tomorrow for more.