What’s Going on in North Carolina?

The GOP is worried: “Republican officials, who opened the midterm season with high hopes they would keep the Senate, are growing increasingly anxious about a state that voted for Donald Trump three times and has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in nearly two decades,” reports The Washington Post. “They’re privately conceding the party appears set to lose North Carolina’s Senate seat unless Trump’s poor approval ratings—and the high prices that caused them—improve dramatically in the coming weeks.”

This Senate seat is important if Republicans want to retain hope of holding onto their Senate majority, as Thom Tillis is retiring (following some major clashing with Trump).

Up for election is Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chairman who Trump picked to run. But Whatley’s opponent, Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper, has been consistently beating him in polls. The Post reports that a Republican super PAC canceled $6.5 million in ads, pulling out of the race—a vote of no confidence in Whatley.

“Pretend I’m on the ballot,” President Donald Trump has said while campaigning for Whatley, who has struggled with a lack of name recognition. But Trump’s words may not be of much help; his approval rating in North Carolina has dropped massively (despite the state going for Trump in all three of the elections in which he has run).

It looks like North Carolina’s Senate race is yet another example of a situation where the strong Trump affiliation and endorsement is more of a liability than a help—the problem Ashley Hinson’s dealing with in Iowa, which I covered last week.

Media vs. the White House: Earlier this week, I covered the White House barring MS NOW, CNN, and Politico from its grounds, and the three outlets moving to sue the administration. Now, the White House says the outlets breached standards of conduct, “trafficking in verifiable falsehoods about national security and other issues, and publishing sensitive or classified information.”

“Access to the White House is a privilege—not a right,” reads the court filing, which argues that the president’s actions are not in violation of the First Amendment.

“U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who was nominated in 2017 by Mr. Trump, will hold an emergency hearing on Wednesday to consider the media outlets’ request for a temporary court order undoing the access ban,” reports The New York Times. Expect an update tomorrow.

Scenes from New York: 

My only thought re: the NHJ essay is that we, as a culture and a country, have no idea what to do with the “bad kids.” The “bad kids” who make classrooms impossible, who make teachers’ lives hell, who cause problems pretty much from the jump.

— Jane Coaston 🏔️ (@janecoaston) September 22, 2026

QUICK HITS

• Per the Playboy Gen Z sex survey, 42 percent “say sex is not a high priority right now.” One-fifth have never had sex (seemingly not because of their devout Christianity, if they’re respondents in a Playboy survey), while another fifth have had 10 or more partners. And a disturbing “34% of young men say porn completely satisfies their sexual desire.” Digital intimacy, as Playboy calls it, “is no longer a supplement to relationships. For a substantial minority, it’s a substitute.” (As an aside, digital intimacy is a ridiculous term, because how can you be intimate with a screen? Intimacy implies shared vulnerability, closeness, disclosure. How can each side share if only one of you is human?) I fear our Ken and Barbie doll future—perfected, in all the same ways, in the face, but with very little going on down there.
• Possibly related:

Toy sales among adult-only households have now outpaced households with children for toy sales, growing 16% through June, according to a market research group. https://t.co/YwhOhieyrZ

— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 21, 2026

• What happens to The Inn at Little Washington when its renowned chef retires?
• “Quaint, crunchy Greenfield (population 17,700) isn’t a bad place for a COVID-cautious lesbian bar in 2026, all things considered,” reports The Boston Globe. Read the full piece for possibly the most insane, ridiculous feuding of all time.
• “Cystic fibrosis once all but guaranteed an early death,” noted The Atlantic. “When the disease was first identified, in the 1930s, most babies born with CF died in infancy. The next decades were a grind of incremental medical progress: A child born with CF in the ’50s could expect to live until age 5. In the ’70s, age 10. In the early 2000s, age 35. With Trikafta came a quantum leap. Today, those who begin taking the drug in early adolescence, a recent study projected, can expect to survive to age 82.5—an essentially normal life span. CF was one of the first diseases to be traced to a specific gene, and Trikafta is one of the first drugs designed for a specific, inherited mutation. It is not a cure, and it doesn’t work for all patients. But a substantial majority of the 40,000 Americans with CF have now lived through a miracle—a thrilling but disorienting miracle.” (From 2024, but came across my desk this week and made me feel less bummed about the future. I figured you all might like it too.)
• Digital intimacy is no longer a supplement to relationships. For a substantial minority, it’s a substiLol:

$2800, east village https://t.co/fsFtAlfmdK

— Sarah Solomon (@sarahsolfails) September 21, 2026