Trump's approval hits a record low before the midterms
Today is Thursday, October 22, 2026
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- Good morning, and welcome to Hark News. Here's what the world got up to while you slept. First, the weather in New York. A high of 66 and a low of 42, with clear skies.
- President Trump's approval rating has hit a record low just two weeks before the midterms. CNN's final pre-midterm poll puts it at 32%, with Republican approval down to 74%.
- Vice President JD Vance defended an attack ad from Vivek Ramaswamy's Ohio governor campaign that features the estranged mother of Democrat Amy Acton. Vance told Republicans to stop whining about it, while other Republicans have started distancing themselves.
- The Supreme Court turned down the Trump administration's emergency request to block hormone therapy for transgender federal prisoners. The vote was 7 to 2, with Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting. Politico noted the court gave no explanation for the rare defeat for the administration.
- US envoy Steve Witkoff called Vladimir Putin a humanitarian after Russia released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American retired teacher held for more than four years. Republicans, including Susan Collins, pushed back hard.
- The relationship between Washington and Kyiv is under strain. Ukraine says its access to SpaceX's Starshield satellite service was throttled. Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported the slowdown came from the White House or from Elon Musk, while Trump and Musk deny it.
- Riots in France burned Limoges' city hall, and the unrest is shaking the political system ahead of next spring's presidential election. Axios says French 10-year yields hit a post-2002 high, with the spread over German bunds the widest in 15 years.
- Israelis vote Tuesday, and polls show Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc narrowly trailing his challenger Gadi Eisenkot. Semafor and Politico both report Netanyahu is pushing Trump to resume strikes on Iran. Trump has reportedly said he'll wait until after the US midterms on November 3.
- Oil has rebounded past prewar levels, with about 24 million barrels a day flowing out of the Middle East. But traders think prices stay high into next year. January 2027 futures are up 17% since September, above $97 a barrel.
- A Houthi strike on Riyadh's airport on October 10 killed 13 people, the deadliest attack on Saudi Arabia in more than a decade. The airport is only partly open, and the Davos in the Desert conference was canceled.
- Meta reported record quarterly revenue of $64.6 billion, up 26%, and will issue a new non-voting Class C stock to fund AI spending without diluting Mark Zuckerberg's control. Tesla's revenue was flat, but capex was still below expectations, and the company started Optimus humanoid production.
- A newly discovered web vulnerability is being called one of the most serious AI-found flaws yet. The co-founder of Google's Wiz cybersecurity team told the Wall Street Journal it's the most severe AI vulnerability ever found, and said humans probably couldn't have spotted it without AI's help.
- Researchers at Frenos tested ten AI models on attack planning against industrial systems. Three of them built working attack plans about 90% of the time. Axios reports a former utility security executive said the clock is moving faster than ever. The firm did not name the models.
- Anthropic's coming IPO may be a numbers problem. A draft prospectus seen by the Wall Street Journal lists up to $750 billion in computing commitments, and the company reported $16.3 billion in first-half revenue alongside an $80.7 billion net loss.
- Investors are starting to pull back a little on AI. Axios's Emily Peck describes the boom as moving into what she calls a rational exuberance phase, borrowing a term from the last tech bubble. The money is now demanding more proof that the spending will pay off.
- A Charter survey found that 32.8% of executives say they trust AI more than their own judgment, double the rate for individual contributors. Charter's co-author called it a feature that suits leaders who want to look quick. The survey measured self-reported trust, not actual decisions.
- Garbage Day says Meta's Muse assistant briefly lost the top iOS spot to Dave's Hot Chicken, which gives away sliders through its app. Muse has about 10 million downloads, but Sensor Tower says 20% of users still have it after two weeks.
- Netflix reported a third straight quarter of slowing revenue, with growth at 12% and its lowest in three years. Shares fell more than 5%, and Ted Sarandos said the company could do better.
- A measles outbreak in Pennsylvania has now become the largest and deadliest in the United States in decades. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has cleared Homeland Security to test a military heat ray for possible use at the southern border, according to a CNN report.
- Italy has had its own weekend of riots, fed by anger at the political establishment. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is trying to see off a challenger from further to her right, and the unrest is landing in the middle of that fight.
- And that's your world for today. The full stories and the links are waiting in the app. Tap through, bookmark what matters, and share what's worth sharing. And if you want to see what stuck, take today's quiz in the app: five quick questions. And if Hark is making your mornings a little better, share it with a friend. It's the best way to help us grow. I'll see you again tomorrow morning. Until then, have a great day.