“The event was garish, lurid, and crass—perfectly calibrated to appeal to the president. A massive military flyover. The use of honor guards to usher UFC fighters into the cage. ‘Octagon Girls’ in sequined red-white-and-blue costumes parading around the cage between rounds… The main event, a lightweight championship bout between Justin Gaethje and Ilia Topuria, left Topuria bloodied and battered, his face mangled, his vision so impaired that he was hospitalized after the fight…”

“It was Trump’s version of the Roman imperial games—state-sponsored brutality as public entertainment, staged to please the emperor and his courtiers, desecrating a public space. He clearly relished every second of it. But the MAGA movement—and the 80-year-old man who leads it—is breaking apart.”

A new Public Opinion Strategies poll shows Kurt Alme (R) with a commanding lead in Montana’s U.S. Senate race, taking 44% of the vote.

That’s not a majority. But in a three-way race, it may be more than enough.

“But that optimism does not extend to what Americans see as a broad gulf between the wealthy and those who are not wealthy.”

“But this deal is the least bad way for Trump to extricate himself from a crisis he ought never to have ignited.”

“The oil industry has said throughout the conflict that its top priority is to restore shipping flows through the Hormuz to the way they were prior to the war, when the waterway carried 20 percent of the world’s oil and was fully open to vessels without any tolls or fees. The Trump administration said it shared that goal, but analysts said the agreement appears to throw that into question.”

“His absence has drawn notice across foreign policy circles — not only because Rubio has served as chief architect of the administration’s global strategy thus far, but also because he has become one of the president’s most effective communicators, both at home and abroad.”

“The star-studded event that will feature an address from Obama and performances by Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen and Jennifer Hudson is also expected to be the biggest gathering of donors, fundraisers and business leaders aligned with the Democratic Party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.”

Said Trump: “I didn’t want to see economic catastrophe. If you kept this going, that could have happened, but all I know is every time we talked about the possibility of peace, the stock market shot up like a rocket ship.”

“The remarks provide the starkest example to date of Trump describing Wall Street as the barometer for consequential decisions of his presidency.”

“That they did — an achievement far from guaranteed for the leaders of the world’s seven largest economies and democracies, convening at a lakeside resort in France during a moment of acute global uncertainty. And in the Trump era, it’s another example of how success often means avoiding the worst-case scenario rather than sweeping breakthroughs or concrete policy directives.”

“Gerrymander everywhere possible, get rid of the filibuster, fire the Senate parliamentarian and pass the SAVE America Act.”

“None of it is likely to happen, and the gap between what is likely and what is possible explains Trump’s frustrations with many in Congress and the anger the White House channels at operatives and pundits who say the president isn’t doing enough to help retain control of Congress.”

“The diet is the brainchild of Dr. Sean O’Mara, who advises his high-profile patients to eat fermented foods such as sauerkraut and kimchi, alongside grass-fed steak—and to abstain from alcohol and sugary food.”

“The agreement lifts the U.S.-imposed naval blockade of Iranian ports and, most crucially, grants Iran waivers to begin exporting its oil even before the negotiation of a final agreement on its nuclear program. That will give Iran a critical economic lifeline. In recent years, its economy has been in a tailspin, with a collapsing currency and sky-high inflation.”

Wall Street Journal: “The U.S.-Iran peace agreement includes a huge boost to Tehran’s oil industry, potentially restoring the regime’s economic lifeblood while generating more than $60 billion a year of revenue.”

Obama’s standing among political independents is more than twice as high as either Biden’s or Trump’s. Unlike Biden or Trump, he also has the near-universal backing of his own party.

“Forty-one percent are ‘cost insecure’ — meaning either they don’t have access to good, affordable care or were recently unable to pay for care or medicine they needed.”