Trump's Cash Promise, AI Doomsday? & First Foldable iPhone - Thursday, September 10, 2026

Erica Mandy (0:00)

Today is Thursday, September 10th. We'll tell you what President Trump promised at the first ever Republican midterm convention, and which Democrat made a surprise appearance. Also, who could be left out of the next census? And could AI pose an existential threat? Some people building it say the risk is very real. Plus, both California and Hawaii are cleaning up major storm damage, the most significant change in the history of the iPhone. And it might be time to dust off your old CD player. Those stories and a lot more news to know, next.

Welcome to The NewsWorthy, all the day's news in less than 15 minutes. I'm Erica Mandy. Thanks so much for being here. Let's do this.

President Trump is now giving voters a first-of-its-kind incentive to vote his way in the upcoming midterm elections. At the first day of the Republican convention, he promised to give every American adult $5,000 if the GOP holds on to a majority in the US House and Senate. The president called it a Trump dividend and compared it to the payouts companies give their shareholders. But Democrats immediately criticized the offer as an attempt to buy votes. Either way, Trump has not said where the money would actually come from, and the effort would cost more than a trillion dollars. The president also promised to travel extensively over the next couple of months to help Republican candidates in the midterms. And he once again told the audience to, pretend I'm on the ballot, even though he's not running. The president wasn't the only Republican to speak, but everyone seemed to share a similar message. For example, there was also the RNC chairman and Republican House and Senate candidates. They spent much of the night criticizing Democrats as radical and socialist, while defending Trump's policies on everything from border security to the war in Iran to tariffs. There was also an unexpected moment when Democratic US. Senator John Fetterman appeared in a video supporting Republican Senator Dave McCormick. The convention will continue today. To be clear, no nominations or formal party business are happening the way they would in a presidential election year, instead, it's basically a big two-day rally. Today's speakers include Vice President JD Vance and once again, President Trump.

Rhode Island voters just delivered one of the biggest primary upsets in years. They made Governor Dan McKee the first sitting governor in nearly a decade to lose a primary. He was defeated by former CBS executive Helena Foulkes, who is now the heavy favorite to win the general election in November. But McKee wasn't the only incumbent to suffer defeat in Rhode Island. Providence mayor Brett Smiley also lost his Democratic primary to a young progressive challenger. 27-year-old David Morales is now just one of several Democratic socialists expected to win in November on both the local and national level. The results come as the 2026 primary season nears its end. Delaware is the last state set to hold its primary next week. Then the countdown to the general election really begins.

Millions of people could soon be left out of the US. Census under a new proposal. We're talking about what's essentially a population count, which the US. Constitution requires every 10 years. The Trump administration wants the census to count only US citizens and permanent residents, something the president first tried to do during his first administration. That means undocumented immigrants and people here legally on temporary status would not be included. And this could have pretty big implications for public policymaking, scientific research and business decisions that all rely on the census data. For the government, these changes would affect population numbers used to figure out how many representatives each state gets in Congress, as well as how many votes they get in the electoral college. They would mean redrawing maps of voting districts for all levels of government, and reconfiguring the share of federal funding states get for public services. Also, for the first time in more than 200 years, the administration wants to stop asking about race and ethnicity, saying that information is not relevant to the count. But many civil rights advocates and researchers warn that could take away data used for redistricting, enforcing the Voting Rights Act, and other anti-discrimination protections. Another part of the proposal would ban any question about people's sexual orientation. The census has not directly asked that question before, but the 2020 census did ask couples living together whether they were same sex or opposite sex. It is now open for public comment for the next month, and the Trump administration wants the changes to go into effect by the time the 2030 census goes out. That said, the proposal is expected to face legal challenges, and there's the possibility that whoever gets elected president in 2028 could reverse any changes after taking office. So, to be continued.