Letters from an American

September 20, 2026
Thousands gathered outside the JFK Center on Friday evening, in protest of Trump’s takeover of the building and his threat to shut it down or even demolish it, Trump is protecting his Triumphal Arch project by announcing that it will be essential for “national security,” Officials from the National Park Service agree that the construction of the arch will adversely affect dozens of historical sites, In a drone strike on a passenger train traveling from Kyiv to Warsaw, Russia appears to be sending a message to the western world, Russia has been pushing NATO countries with “hybrid attacks,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte noted that Russian attempts to interfere with help to Ukraine will only lead NATO to do more for Ukraine, Russia has been helping Iran in its fight against the US, yet Trump doesn’t feel that it is a threat to the US, Trump is suggesting that Putin will be more willing to end his war in Ukraine if the US makes business deals with Russia, In a New Yorker article, Dexter Filkins writes that the Trump administration has essentially privatized US foreign policy for their own interests, Trump, Jared Kushner, and other Trump allies may be participants in any of 10 money-making ventures, Rutte outlines what he called NATO 3.0, In this phase, the weight of NATO shifts from the US and toward the UK, Europe, and Canada. 
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September 19, 2026
350 years ago, on September 19, 1676, Nathaniel Bacon and his followers burned Jamestown - the capital of the Virginia Colony, Virginia lawmakers would respond by making sure poor men would not again make common cause by passing laws to divide them along racial lines, A year before Bacon's Rebellion, raids by both the Virginia militia and the Susquehannocks inflamed a power struggle in the colony, Since the colony’s beginning, there had been a clear line between men with land and power and those who worked for them, Enslaved people and indentured white workers worked and socialized together, and as their community grew, they migrated west, They resented the eastern government that seemed to ignore their interests, Nathaniel Bacon created a powerful coalition that marched on Jamestown, protesting taxes and corruption, They held Jamestown for several  months before they were forced to retreat, When they tried to recapture the town they ended up burning it, The rebellion fell apart after Bacon's death a month later, and the crisis convinced the wealthy elite of Virginia to drive wedges between Black slaves and white servants to avoid anything like it from happening, They gave legal rights and protections to white servants and made it costly for white and Black Virginians to socialize, Black Americans were bound more tightly into slavery while white Virginians were convinced that they were independent. 
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September 18, 2026
Diesel has hit its highest recorded average price, An advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader said Iran would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until Trump and Netanyahu are removed from power, The economic pain of this moment appears to be turning the media against Trump, Trump responded by announcing he is banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House after scoops by these outlets, The US appears to have come close to starting a war with China based on a report generated by AI, A shipment of F-35 fighters disappeared, possibly falling into China’s hands, At least four more US service members have died in the Middle East than the Department of Defense has announced, A Fox News poll shows people trust the Democrats more than  Republicans on inflation and prices, Trump’s tariffs are being hailed by Republicans in public, but in private they are looking for ways to work around them for their districts, Trump’s PAC is putting money into campaigns in districts that had elected Trump by huge margins in 2024, Prominent Republicans are speaking out against Trump’s actions and the actions of Trump supporters, Republican leaders are endorsing Democrats like James Talarico in Texas, Jon Ossoff in Georgia, and Adam Hamilton in Kansas,  Vice President Vance has asked voters for “another chance."
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September 17, 2026
In 1776, Benjamin Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence and in 1787, he urged his colleagues at the Constitutional Convention to rally behind the new plan of government they had written, The framers of the new constitution hoped it would fix the problems of the first attempt to create a new nation, A "firm league of friendship," the Articles of Confederation had given the federal government few duties, Within a decade the nation seemed on the verge of tearing itself apart, Leaders called for a reworking of the new government centered not on the states but on the people of the nation represented by a national government, The Constitution established a representative democracy, a republic, with three branches of government, the legislative branch - the Congress, the executive branch - the president, and the judicial branch - the courts, The Constitution declares that the laws made under the authority of the United States shall be the supreme law of the land, Franklin urged his colleagues to put their names to the Constitution, even with any perceived faults, and that any of them who still had objections “doubt a little of his infallibility - and to make manifest our unanimity, put his name to this instrument," And on September 17, 1787, they did.
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September 16, 2026
A US District Judge refused to perist the Kennedy Center board to return Trump’s name to the building’s facade, The board promptly appealed, and voted to close the venue for two years, Rep. Joyce Beatty of Florida, an ex-officio member of the board, confroted Trump, Panic is spreading over oil prices, Revelations about the Iran War continue to be published, from reports of extensive damage to US bases in the Middle East to the cost of the war, Thomas Massie introduced eight counts of impeachement against Defense Secretary Hegseth, Trump expressed anger that his three hand-picked appointees to the Supreme Court did not support his rule to allow the USPS to screen mail-in ballots.      
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