“Hegseth’s ‘Arsenal of Freedom’ and ‘Send me’ tours resemble a campaign trail”, 25 October 2026 (Photo via Washington Examiner — the original report)
As it ran on the front
On October 15, a Harris poll found most key voters called the economy bad or worse than a year ago. By October 18, Republican operatives admitted they were "taken aback": voters blame billionaires, not Democrats. Republican candidates still haven't answered.
The same October 15, President Trump posted photos of the "fully renovated" South entrance and heliport, calling it "additional life" for the White House grounds. The bill for that life showed up elsewhere, in pieces.…
…(cont) On August 20, the Small Business Administration proposed raising the size standard for who counts as "small" for federal contracts and SBA-backed loans. On September 8, the Washington Examiner's editorial board asked Washington not to forget the smallest businesses in that rewrite.
Businesses that are actually small kept filing their own reports. On October 18, the Guardian found small-business sentiment holding up anyway. On October 24, the Chamber of Commerce put a number on it: 71 percent called themselves healthy. CBS, same survey, said restaurants were the exception — hit hardest, owners said, by high inflation and tariffs together.
Money moved on the other side of the ledger. On August 25, groups funded by Sergey Brin and Peter Thiel launched an ad blitz against a 5 percent wealth tax on California's ballot. On October 19, having already spent more than $100 million fighting it, Brin sat at Trump's left hand for a Mar-a-Lago fundraising dinner. On October 24, Forbes counted the billionaire ranks still climbing in California, New York, and Florida alike.
Republicans finally took the stage. Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on October 25 that Trump plans to beat midterm headwinds by touring. Pete Hegseth's "Arsenal of Freedom" tour hit Ohio and Wisconsin the same week, stumping for Senate and House candidates. Leavitt's tour drew crowds. Hegseth's drew states. Both drew the same number of dollar figures on the economy: zero.
Obama supplied the only line anyone will remember. At rallies in Cleveland on October 24 and Detroit on October 25, he called the renovations "like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory." It is a joke, not a number. It is also the closest either party has come to naming what is actually being spent.
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“You believe it? They can't find a number for the economy, but they found $500 million and wrote "small business" next to it. The guy with the coffee roaster put his house up as collateral; the guy with the $100 million put himself at Trump's left hand. That's the whole racket — the money's for the top floor, the silence is for everybody else.”
“Look, raising the size standard isn't about handing contracts to giants, it modernizes competitiveness, keeps pace with inflation — did I say inflation? That's not supposed to come up this month. Point is, the tour schedule speaks for itself: energy, enthusiasm, candidates who actually show up. That's the argument.”
Criss-crossing the country, sometimes hitting up multiple states in the same day, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has emerged as one of the most visible campaign surrogates during this midterm election campaign. Last week alone, he was in Ohio and Wisconsin, where he sang the praises of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), Rep.
Overall, economic sentiment for Trump is poor, but small businesses seem fairly confident, according to several surveys There are 34m small businesses in the United States. They employ approximately half of the country’s workers and generate about half of the country’s GDP. They’re an important voting block.
Former President Barack Obama ripped and ridiculed President Trump at a Detroit rally Saturday night where he vouched for Abdul El-Sayed and drew comparisons between the lefty Democratic Senate candidate and his own 2008 run for the White House.
The White House ballroom was announced at $200 million and now costs $400 million; the East Wing was demolished for it Fortune, 6 April 2026
Former President Barack Obama poked fun at President Trump's various Washington, D.C.-area renovation projects during a campaign stop in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was stumping for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton and Senate candidate Sherrod Brown. In his speech, Obama zeroed in on the changes President Trump has made to the…
With two weeks to go until Election Day, some small businesses say they're struggling with high inflation and the Trump administration's tariff policies. While restaurants say they've been hit especially hard, some other businesses say they're expanding. In a new survey, 71% of small businesses told the Chamber of Commerce that they're…
The White House ballroom was announced at $200 million and now costs $400 million; the East Wing was demolished for it Fortune, 6 April 2026
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