The Morning Brief: Germany votes on far-right power; diesel hits record; judge clears Pentagon firings

Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is polling at 41% heading into Sunday's state election in Saxony-Anhalt, well ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union at 23%. If the AfD wins, it would become the first far-right party to lead a German state government since World War II. The party's campaign has centered on immigration and a "deportation and remigration offensive" shaped in part by a 35-year-old former marketing professional, Ulrich Siegmund, whose social media following has reached massive scale. Scholar Marcel Lewandowsky, who researches democracy resilience, argues that the AfD promises voters "real" democracy, a pledge with which other political parties struggle to compete. All other major German parties have ruled out forming a coalition with the AfD, and in neighboring Thuringia's 2024 state election, other parties agreed to work together without the AfD despite it winning the most seats.

Domestically, three major developments moved on separate fronts. A federal judge on Friday denied a restraining order blocking the Pentagon from firing three Stars and Stripes journalists: publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and reporter Lara Korte. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden found the government likely did not violate the journalists' First Amendment rights, ruling that Slavin and Korte's CBS News interviews were given in their capacity as Stars and Stripes employees, not as private citizens. The firings followed an article the publication ran detailing flagging mental health concerns and food and water shortages aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. Two other lawsuits accusing the Pentagon of interfering with Stars and Stripes's editorial integrity remain pending.

Diesel prices reached $5.85 per gallon on Friday, an all-time record according to the American Automobile Association, surpassing the previous peak from the 2022 Ukraine crisis. The spike follows the Iran conflict that began in late February 2026 and closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world's oil normally passes. Brent crude reached more than $95 per barrel on Friday, up from roughly $70 before the war began. The cost shock ripples through the supply chain: fuel accounts for roughly 15% to 30% of total food costs, and items needing refrigeration during transport often see price rises first. In July 2026, overall U.S. grocery prices were up 2.7% compared to July 2025, but seafood prices rose 7% and fresh fruit rose 4.9%. Supply chains have already begun adjusting through surcharges from Amazon, UPS, FedEx, and the United States Postal Service.

On the economic front more broadly, the U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August 2026, more than double economist forecasts of 53,000 to 65,000, while the unemployment rate held at 4.1%. Wage growth remained at 3.1% year-over-year, below the 3.4% inflation rate recorded in July, leaving workers' real purchasing power under pressure. President Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday threatening to halt trade with countries that maintain a trade deficit with the United States unless the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh, Trump's appointee, has separately signaled the possibility of a rate hike rather than a cut following strong August job creation.

Other developments included the Missouri Supreme Court blocking a Republican-drawn congressional map from November 2026 elections after ruling that a citizen referendum petition with over 300,000 signatures was valid, returning the state to its post-2020 district lines for the fall election. The Trump administration announced five voter fraud prosecutions on Friday in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Wisconsin as part of an election-integrity push before the midterms, though charging documents were not yet available. A jury deadlocked 11-1 in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial on Friday after seven days of deliberation, forcing a mistrial declaration; Clancy faced charges in the deaths of her three young children, with the case centered on whether severe postpartum psychosis made her unable to tell right from wrong at the time of the killings. The Department of Labor Office of Inspector General released a report documenting allegations that former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer drank alcohol during working hours on federal property, directed employees to perform personal tasks at her residence, and presided over a toxic work environment; Chavez-DeRemer denied breaking any laws. Two workers were rescued alive from a Nepal hydropower tunnel on Friday, nine days after devastating floods; about 500 workers are still believed trapped in tunnels across multiple hydropower projects in the region. The Pentagon subjected approximately 50 members of the Joint Staff to polygraph tests last month in an unprecedented leak investigation focused on classified disclosures about U.S. ammunition reserves and operations involving Iran.