PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ELIZABETH BROCKWAY/THE DAILY BEAST

Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson has been very busy this week, defending her own integrity under the full-frontal assault against her by the Trump administration. At least the liberal media must assume that she had no time to explain her focus on events in Niger -- because the story only emerged now on AM Joy with Joy Reid articulating Rep. Wilson's hunch about what happened in Niger.

In a nutshell, we knew that Rep. Wilson has a long history with U.S. Army Sgt. La David Johnson and his family, both as a school superintendent and family friend, and in her foundation 5000 Young Men of Excellence, which educated Sgt Johnson and mentored him for years.

Less well known is Rep. Wilson's involvement with the Chibok Girls, kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria. Her page doesn't mention the release of significant numbers of the girls -- which it should, frankly -- but it's estimated by the BBC that about 100 of the original Chibok Girls remain missing.

Rep. Wilson is demanding answers -- and praising Sen. John McCain, who is calling for a full inquiry. Wilson believes that it's no coincidence that there was an attack on these US servicemen in Niger, with Johnson being split off from the group and her own work on behalf of the Chibok Girls.

For the record, Niger and Nigeria are two different nations, separated by the Niger River. Still, in a world running rampant with conspiracy theories, Rep. Wilson's warrants serious consideration.

A quick Google search confirms that Boko Haram is definitely operating in Niger and has launched numerous deadly attacks against the local population.

The LA Times writes Sunday that the militant group responsible for the attack that took the lives of four Americans and five Nigerien troops is believed to be an offshoot of Al-Qaeda and not Boko Haram, previously associated with ISIS.

Boko Haram was taken over by the super deadly Al-Shabab in 2017, some say. However Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari this week expressed grave concern for ISIS and Boko Haram as a unit.

Whether or not Rep. Wilson's work on behalf of the Chibok girls and the assault in Niger are related is a big leap, as opposed to an understandable coincidence, given the growing and underestimated by the US violence in the region.

But what requires no clarification is the long and very close relationship between Rep. Wilson and the Johnson family. When I woke up Friday morning, I saw the term "digital lynching" in reference to Wilson. I frankly sighed a sad exhale at the moment, because lynching is not a word to throw around. At no time did I not side with Rep. Wilson in my mind, but the words "digital lynching" hit me as a dramatic escalation.

However, as I read the facts and saw Rep. Wilson's actual 2015 speech about the FBI office opening in Miami, I was filled with repulsion over the Trump administrations attempts to smear her. It's astonishing, frankly, and Trump should understand that his intense efforts to change the narrative around the deaths of all nine men in Niger, to an assault on Rep Wilson, who has her own history in the region in despicable. And it fuels her own conviction that there is a connection between the death of Sgt. Johnson and her own work on behalf of the Chibok girls.

Read more about the Trump administrations attacks on Rep. Wilson at The Daily Beast.

Trump Support Slides, But Vote 'Rigging' Rhetoric Takes Hold Morning Consult

"A POLITICO/Morning Consult poll taken October 13-15 found Trump had 36% support, while Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton holds steady at 42% in a four-way race including Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Trump had risen to 39% immediately after the vice presidential debate, but has now given up those gains since the Oct. 7 sexual assault tape was leaked by the Washington Post.

80% of Americans say they are confident their vote will be accurately counted in the election, with independent voters being less certain their votes will count. Only 68% say they are confident their vote will be correctly registered on election day, compared to Democrats, who are 91% confident and Republicans being 80% confident.

Just 50% of Trump voters are confident that votes will be registered as placed by voters, compared to 85% of Clinton supporters."

22 toxic days for Hillary Clinton Politico

“This is making me tear up, it’s so infuriating and disgusting,” a Clinton aide wrote in an email halfway through the St. Louis debate, arguably the low-water point of a general election that has had few high-tide moments. “This is not our country.”

In Trump's Mourning-in-America march to the abyss, he has rejected political norms, and his campaign has largely devolved into trashing Clinton, the women accusing him of sexual harassment, the legitimacy of U.S. elections, the media, President Barack Obama, the GOP and the time-honored idea of a presidential campaign as a sunny, aspirational enterprise.

Hillary Clinton Has a Power That No Man Can Take Away by Katherine Bell Slate

"In the fall of 1992, when I was a freshman at Yale and Bill Clinton was running for office, the best thing that happened to me was meeting Hillary Clinton. The worst was being raped by a fellow student who said he was going to run for president one day.

I tell the story of meeting Hillary all the time. I almost never tell the other one.

Threats of sexual violence—including comments like the ones Donald Trump and Billy Bush made on the Access Hollywood bus, and the ones recounted by Trump’s seemingly endless wave of accusers—aren't just a consequence of the system that has kept men in possession of nearly every form of public power for hundreds of years. They are integral to that system.

So it makes sense that we are talking about rape and sexual harassment this much. It makes sense that this showdown is so sickening and painful. Of course Hillary has to remain composed and gracious in the face of Donald Trump’s misogyny and Bill Clinton’s sordid past, and patiently remind us of everything she’s achieved. All professional women have to do this at times, to some extent. But Hillary Clinton is a master of the form. She’s had more practice at it than any of us."

What Are the New Battleground States New York Times

It seems safe to say that the majority of Americans are emotion ally and psychologically crushed by the 2016 election, whichever candidate they are supporting. This chart from the NYT gives us a snapshot of America in 15 states that will make a difference. Besides the dominating gender gap that is facing Donald Trump over his attitudes about women, the fact that college-educated whites are breaking for Hillary and not the Republican candidate is another major influence in these election results on November 8.

Ken Bone and the 4 Stages of Viral Fame New York Magazine

We hope that Ken Bone's marriage is intact after his week of fame, one that he never asked for. After the red sweater-wearing citizen asked a key question in last Sunday's week, the Internet went wild. Makers of red sweaters had web ads ready to roll Monday morning, inviting men to wear the authentic Ken Bone real man red sweater.

Within 24 hours, Bone was on MSNBC and CNN, although he wasn't arrogant about his new fame. But within 72 hr. he was promoting Uber. But then -- oh dear -- people began doing their due diligence on Bone, where they discovered that — as a partial list — the red-sweater Bone frequently commented on erotic photos, and had once written he believed that Trayvon Martin’s killing was justified. Yikes! Bone infatuation over. And just like that, America exited the Bone zone. . leaving the potential wreckage of his marriage behind him. Surely there is a chill in the air out there in Missouri.

Related: Guy Angrily Staring at Trump During the Debates Was Thinking Exactly What You Thought He Was New York Magazine

Even if Trump Loses Big, the Anger Will Remain. Here's How the Left Can Address It by EJ Dionne Jr. The Washington Post

"When I watch GOP leaders bemoaning their party’s fate under Trump (or belatedly jumping off his ship), I am reminded of John F. Kennedy’s warning that “those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.”

But progressives should resist complacency bred by the idea that the anger on display in this election will soon subside as older voters uneasy with change decline in numbers. Throughout the West, social-democratic and left-liberal parties are facing defections, divisions and decline. Their economic model — combining a market orientation with welfare states, strong unions and regulations — is no longer delivering the broadly shared prosperity that was once its hallmark. Yes, part of the problem, particularly in the United States, comes from a weakening of social protections thanks to conservative policy victories and the resistance of congressional Republicans to social reform. Nonetheless, even if Trump loses big, the left and center-left have a lot of work and rethinking to do.