Good morning, Wake Up Right fam. Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Let’s all take a moment to remember the lives tragically taken on that day, as well as those who died in the years after from cancers and diseases contracted in the debris. And finally, remember the heroes who died overseas in the wars that followed.

Never forget.

• 🤡 Taylor Swift has endorsed Kamala Harris

• 🤑 MIT ranks #1 for top post-grad salaries

• 🎓️ 20% of student loan borrowers have made no payments

• ⬅️ 47% of voters say Kamala Harris is too left-wing

• 🆘 45k+ Americans are suffering from cancer/disease linked to 9/11

^{Sources: Swift/Instagram, WSJ, Credit Karma, NY Times/Siena}

Yesterday, I rolled out the new polling feature, and you did not disappoint! Over 2,000 votes — wow! Here are the results:

Who do you think will win tonight's debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🍊 Trump (2031)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤡 Kamala (24)

Also: Hundreds of you shared written responses that were amazing and insightful. In future polls, I will include a select few in this newsletter!

Total: 2055 Votes

The first 3 on 1 presidential debate

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris faced off in their first presidential debate, but the moderators’ over-the-top bias against the GOP nominee stole the show.

The topics: While the debate topics technically covered voters’ top concerns like the economy, immigration, and foreign wars, the moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, allowed Kamala to skate around actual answers. Meanwhile, they put an overwhelming emphasis on questions meant to be unfavorable towards Trump, like abortion, J6, and race.

What did we think about Kamala? Her performance was… performative. Objectively, I would say she probably executed her strategy just as she intended. Most of her answers were pre-rehearsed, hollow lines that never quite answered the moderator’s questions. Meanwhile, she lodged several personal digs at Trump meant to goad him into an angry response.

What did we think about Trump? I’m going to quote Raheem Kassam because he said it best: Donald Trump “displayed vivid, righteous indignation, channeling frustrated Americans on the critical topics of the economy, foreign policy, immigration, and especially trade.”

• Trump clearly came in with a mandate to remind Americans of the pain caused by Kamala and Biden. And while his frustration over biased moderators was evident, he repeatedly hammered his mandate.

Moderator bias: Muir and Davis stole the show last night for all the wrong reasons. Unline the CNN debate in July, these two moderators repeatedly interjected to “fact check” Trump while ignoring lies from Kamala like the debunked Charlottesville hoax.

• The most egregious moment of bias came when Muir fact-checked Trump’s tone when the former president said a past comment was sarcastic. Muir said, “I didn’t detect the sarcasm.”

• Democrats turned Trump supporters were shocked by the bias. Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman wrote on X: “Why do the moderators only fact check @realDonaldTrump and not @KamalaHarris ?”

The best zinger of the night went to Trump. It happened as Kamala attempted to interrupt him as he mentioned her attempts to raise funds to bail our rioters in 2020.

• Trump stopped her and said, “Wait a minute. I’m talking now. If you don’t mind. Please. Does that sound familiar?”

• This was a reference to her 2020 VP debate with Mike Pence, where she repeatedly said, “Mr Vice President, I’m speaking.”

Kamala’s face: Throughout the entire night, as Trump spoke, Kamala was making overexaggerated faces in response to what he was saying. It was clearly done intentionally to undermine his points and generate “BRAT” social media memes.

Big picture: This debate will end up being a sort of Rorschach test. If you’re a Kamala fan, you thought her empty rehearsed likes were inspiring and think she won. If you’re a Trump fan, you felt the same anger he did and thought he won. In the end, I don’t think this debate moves the needle either way.

What happens next? The Harris campaign requested a second debate immediately after last night’s event. Typically, this is a sign that you are not happy with how things went and want another shot.

Let’s break out the new polling feature…

Violent illegal alien gang takes over Texas apartment complex

A notorious illegal alien gang known as Tren de Aragua has taken over El Paso’s Gateway Hotel, turning it into a hub of violence, authorities report.

The details: Police have been called nearly 700 times to the location. Incidents include gunfire, hatchets, and knife fights—often while children are present.

• The El Paso Attorney detailed the list of crimes police have investigated at the hotel, including 

  • 11 drug cases

  • 10 aggravated assaults

  • 20 disorderly conduct calls

  • 13 fights

  • 2 terroristic threats

  • 1 indecency with a child.

Who are Tren de Aragua? They originated in Venezuelan prisons and, in the U.S., are known for crimes such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, sex trafficking, kidnapping, prostitution, and murder.

Back up: This coincides with our reporting last month on illegals violently taking over apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado.

Big picture: Tren de Aragua uses El Paso as a checkpoint before members head to major U.S. cities like New York and Chicago. Another nearby hotel, a Motel 6, is also reportedly a hideout for the gang.

What is being done? A judge ordered the hotel to be evacuated by Thursday.

[Source: NY Post]

💔 Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will both travel to NYC to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Read more.

📈 Donald Trump jumped 14 points among independents since RFK Jr's endorsement. According to the poll, Trump leads Harris 49% to 46%, up from 37% to 48% in the same poll in August. Read more.

🆘 ICE arrested a record-high 153 illegal alien sex offenders in a sanctuary city, Baltimore, this fiscal year alone. Read more.

🚬 Illicit vape products emanating from China account for more than 70% of those being consumed by children in the U.S. Read more.

🐦️ The U.S. logged its first known case of bird flu in a human being who had no known contact with infected animals. Read more.

🇨🇳 China announced it would no longer allow foreign families to adopt Chinese children, likely in response to the country's declining birth rates crisis. Read more.

🙀 Kamala Harris, who finally released a policy page on her website Sunday, lifted multiple parts directly from Joe Biden’s platform. Read more.

🚀 Elon Musk's SpaceX called out the Biden-Harris regime for delaying the next Starship launch, warning that overregulation will make us lose the modern space race. Read more.

💬 Actress Shailene Woodley defended sharing a statement from Melania Trump after the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, despite backlash from the left, saying, "I thought it was a beautiful message of human compassion." Read more.

🥪 Boars Head was warned that it posed an "imminent threat" due to below-standard conditions years before the recent listeria outbreak. Read more.

🥈 Ali Truwit won two silver medals for swimming in this year’s Paralympics, 16 months after losing her leg in a shark attack. Read more.

🆘 An illegal alien from Brazil was indicted for committing serial child rapes on Matha's Vineyard. Read more.

📚️ While political leaders promote "gender fluid" restrooms and let boys into girls’ lockers, our education system continues to fall apart. That’s why we need to support groups like PragerU that are fighting to bring sanity back to our schools. Please sign their petition to show the left we have strength in numbers and DEMAND the end of woke education. *

🎥 Jocelyn Nungaray tells Congress she blamed Harris and Biden for her 12-year-old daughter’s brutal rape and murder at the hands of illegal aliens. Read more.

🎥 Melania Trump says "there's more to the story" about the attempted assassination against her husband. Watch.

🎥 Grieving mother GOES OFF on smug Democrat saying grieving moms are being 'exploited.' Watch.

🎥 Two Delta airplanes collided while taxiing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. No injuries were reported. Read more.

🎥 Rep. MTG destroys Andrew Cuomo to his face when he blames Trump for his own Covid failures. Watch.

🎥 Illegal alien thug brags that America will be finished in two years. Watch.

🎥 An unearthed video from 1995 shows Kamala Harris being mistaken for Willie Brown's daughter. Watch.

🎥 Trump asks Kamala if she supports abortion in the 7th, 8th, or 9th month. She refuses to answer. Watch.

*indicates this is a sponsored partnership